widening war as the u.s. strikes back at iranian-linked targets after u.s. forces in the mideast come under multiple attacks. plus mr. speaker. the house finally elects a speaker. louisiana's mike johnson ending weeks of chaos. >> the people's house is back in business. and just hours later, the deadliest mass shooting this year where 18 were killed in lewiston, maine. the speaker's response, guns are not to blame. >> the problem is the human heart. it's not guns. it's not the weapon. and trail mix. president biden has a new primary challenger, minnesota congressman dean philips. >> i'm running because america's demanding it. >> while former vice president mike pence drops out of the 2024 race. >> it's become clear to me, this is not my time. >> my guest this morning, florida governor and 2024 republican presidential candidate ron desantis. democratic congresswoman pramila jayapal of washington state, and former california governor arnold schwarzenegger. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell. toluse olorunnipa, bureau chief for "the washington post." former white house press secretary jen psaki, and stephen hayes, editor of "the dispatch." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> from nbc news in washington the longest running show in television history, this is "meet the press" with kristen welker. good sunday morning. the nation is reeling after a week, which saw the tenth deadliest mass shooting in modern american history with 18 people between 14 and 76 years old gunned down at a bowling alley and a bar in lewiston, maine. the election finally of a new speaker of the house. louisiana congressman mike johnson after weeks of republican infighting, the end of former vice president's pence's campaign for the white house former solidifying donald trump's hold on the republican party. but we begin this morning with the war between israel and hamas, which has entered its second stage. on saturday, israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu said israeli forces had entered the gaza strip on friday beginning the second stage of the war, but he avoided calling the campaign an invasion. the escalation has intensified domestic pressure on israel's government to secure the release of the 230 hostages seized in the october 7th attack. netanyahu met with family members on saturday. for its part, the u.s. carried out air strikes on a weapons and ammunitions storage area on friday in retaliation for recent rocket and drone attacks on american forces in iraq and syria. here's prime minister netanyahu. >> translator: our fight inside the gaza strip will be long and difficult, but we are prepared for that. this is our second war of independence. people fight for the protection of our homeland. >> joining me now is florida governor ron desantis, a republican candidate for president. governor desantis, welcome to "meet the press." >> good morning. thanks for having me. >> thank you for being here. i want to dive right in and start with israel, what israel is calling this next phase of the war. if you were president right now, governor, would you urge israel to allow for the release of more hostages and for more humanitarian aid to get into gaza? >> i would support israel's right to end this problem once and for all. obviously, we have an interest in the hostages being rescued. i would work with them and look at the intelligence to see when our options are and of course, we have a strong interest there, but israel is facing an enemy that wants nothing less than another holocaust. they would eliminate israel from the map if they could. hamas would drive every jew into the sea. so i think it's important for the united states and one of our strongest allies that we stand with them publicly and privately in word and in deed because i e think if they do anything else but eliminate hamas even about tirely, they will face these types of attacks again in the future. >> governor, if you were president, though, what would your message be to israel in terms of defending itself, but also trying to mitigate civilian deaths which are already estimated to be in the thousands? >> well, on the humanitarian aid, i've not been supportive of sending that to the gaza strip simply because hamas will commandeer that money. if you look at what israel is facing now in dealing with hamas, there's been a lot of money that's gone to the gaza strip for humanitarian purposes since hamas took power. did they use that money to make life better for the people in the gaza strip? no, they used it to build a massive infrastructure, and they have elaborate tunnels, and they've used this place to launch rocket attacks for many, many years and launched the barbaric attack on october 7th. so hamas is the problem here and israel has taken great pains to warn people to get out if you're a civilian casualty and hamas has tried to get them to stay so they can use them as human shields. >> understood that hamas is hoarding some of that aid material, but aid organizations say that some of the aid that has been sent in has made its way to civilians. my question to you, though, is how much a priority would it be if you were president to try limit civilian deaths, governor? >> well, any time you're involved in military conflict, you want to be able to achieve decisively the military objective with minimizing damage to civilians and civilian infrastructure as much as possible, so that goes without saying, but i think it's a double standard when hamas can go in and massacre babies, and massacre elderly people, rape and mute late, and you have people in the united states that are siding with hamas in the streets and cheering that. you don't hear much there, but now all of a sudden israel is under the microscope for everything they do. hamas can end this by releasing the hostages and unconditionally surrendering. so they are choosing to put people through this. there is no way that they can do what they did and not expect to have a very, very severe response. >> let me ask you about some of the statements that you've made about those protesters. this week you called for the banning of pro-palestinian students from state colleges. vivek ramaswamy says that violates the first amendment right. he writes it's a shameful political ploy, its unconstitutional, and utter high pock kracy for someone who railed against left-wing cancel culture. what is your response to mr. ramaswamy? >> this is not cancel culture. this group, they themselves said in the aftermath of the hamas attack that they don't just stand in solidarity. that they are part of this hamas movement. yeah, you have the right to go out and demonstrate, but you can't provide support to terrorism. they've linked themselves to hamas and we absolutely decertify them. they should not get one red cent of taxpayer dollars, and we have strong laws in florida against fund-raising for groups like hamas and we are enforcing that vigorously. that's a support to terrorism issue. >> just to be clear, you are citing the florida law saying one cannot give aid to a terrorist organization. do you have support that they're actually doing that? >> their own words are saying they're part of this organization, that they don't just stand in solidarity, that they don't just support what they did, but that this is their movement too. so once you hitch your wagon to a group like hamas, that takes you out of the realm of normal activity, and that's something that we'll take action against. so we believe we're totally justified within the law and things like this have been litigated time and again, but here's the broader point. are we just going to commit suicide as a country and let groups metastasize who are openly siding with brutal terrorist organizations? i don't think that's a recipe for a successful country. i want to have a country where we're protected from that stuff, so i think we made the right decision. i stand by it 100%. >> you take me to my next question. the only jewish representative in florida, randy fine, recently broke from you in an op-ed in "the washington times" saying you have not been nearly as vocal in attacking the neo-nazi attacks in your state in opposing what you believe is support for hamas, which you just laid out. what's your response to that when he's accusing you of this hypocrisy, effectively? >> he's just talking to get his 15 minutes of fame. he was singing my praises and he has his reasons for doing that. we have acted very, very swiftly and decisively. for example, after this attack, we dispatched state law enforcement working in conjunction with locals to protect our jewish institutions, jewish day schools and synagogues. there have been arrests made with people who threatened to do harm to our community, from anti-bds to financial support for security anywhere in the country. we are one of the states who have probably had the most in migration of jewish residents and we have the second highest population in the entire country. people vote with their feet. they see the type of environment we've created here that's been very strong and positive, and name me, kristen, another governor who scrambled planes to israel to bring them back -- bring americans back from the war zone. we did that. we got that job done. almost 700 people we've rescued and we're proud of stepping up and leading on that. >> governor, let me ask you because as you know, words also matter. you are a governor and a presidential candidate. your state has both from marco rubio and scott condemning the neo-nazi protests. why didn't you speak out? why didn't you use your voice to say you're not going to stand for that? >> of course, we condemn that. i mean, you just look at everything that we've done. >> you didn't at the time, governor. you didn't at the time, according to randy fine at the time. >> he's just trying to create a name for himself. that's nonsense. everybody knows that's nonsense and don't give someone their 15 minutes of fame just because they're letting you try to do a preferred narrative just to hit me. it's nonsense. our record is second to none, and we'll continue to lead on these issues. >> let's turn to another domestic issue, the horrific mass shooting in maine, and i want to get your reaction to what the newly elected house speaker mike johnson had to say this week, quote, at the end of the day the problem is the human heart. it's not guns. do you agree with him? >> well, first of all, i think this was a tragic thing and my heart goes out to all of the victims in this, truly horrific. i think in this case there was a medical intervention, health intervention. he clearly had problems. he was involuntarily committed. he would not have been -- he would have been a prohibited possessor based on that adjudication. so this is an example where clearly this is a guy very well trained, had a lot of skills, and then went off his rocker. there was an intervention, but it wasn't enough, so i'd like to know why wasn't there more done. we've seen instances throughout the country where there have been a lot of signs where people have maybe been referred, but then they don't go through with everything, and i think that's going to be probably what we end up finding out here. i am somebody that's said publicly, we've had a major push over the last 40, 50 years for deinstitutionalization of people, and i'm not saying you have to go all of the way back, but i do think we tend to pass the buck with some of these people and just kind of hope that they don't do anything wrong when there are a lot of signs. so i would be more aggressive on some of those fringe people who clearly are demonstrating signs that they're a major danger to society. >> let me ask you about your call to institutionalize people though. we are learning details about what did and did not happen. this is overnight. law enforcement chiefs said they received a statewide alert in mid-september to be on the lookout for card after he made threats against his base, against his fellow soldiers. they searched for him, they could not find him, and yet he was able to in the days before the attack walk into a store and buy guns. so if you can't find someone to institutionalize them as you have called for, why shouldn't there be a final line of defense in the form of a red flag law or some other blaring red sign that says to gun sellers, don't allow this person to have a gun? >> well, i don't think you would even need a red flag. if somebody has a mental involuntary commitment and adjudication of that nature, that usually would go into the system, and that would be on a traditional background check. i mean, i believe in due process, so i don't believe in this idea that government can just take someone's property and then go through due process later, but what i do believe is convicted felons and people that are mentally incompetent or mentally ill, i think that's been the law in pretty much every state and federally for quite some time, and i believe in strong, strong constitutional rights, but with that comes responsibility, and if you're somebody that is not -- can't conduct themselves in society because of mental illness, then that absolutely should be taken into account. >> but if you can't conduct yourself in terms of mental illness, shouldn't there be a law in this case? officials in maine are saying a red flag law would have empowered authorities to raise that red light to gun sellers all across the state and say this is someone who should not be able to own a gun, that that final line of defense never kicked in because it didn't exist, governor. >> well, no, when you do background checks, if someone has a criminal conviction, for example, that goes into the system. >> maine doesn't have strong -- maine doesn't have strong background checks. >> no. >> are you arguing for that? >> every federal -- every federal -- this is a federal firearm licenses when you have to do, everyone has to go through where they scrubbed this. the question is what are you putting into the system? if someone has a mental health involuntary commitment, that can simply be put into the existing system. you don't need additional things, and here's a problem i have with some of the proposals that have been done and particularly in some of the more blue states is that will be weaponized against people that the government doesn't like. i mean, you have a situation where someone can just make an anonymous call into a police station, let's say -- say something bad about someone and then -- >> that call have could helped -- couldn't an anonymous call have helped in this moment to block this shooter from getting a gun and going into these establishments and shooting up 18 of his fellow citizens? >> and he could have had that involuntary commitment just put into the normal system. that is something that would have been able to pop on a background check. >> how can you commit someone you can't find, governor? how can you commit someone you can't find? >> when you have an involuntary commitment, that triggers things to go into a background check system. so that should have been enough if that information was put into it. that's what i would do. i would focus on those individuals who've actually gone and either been involuntaily committed and been adjudicated and mentally ill. i think you can look, in florida, our crime rate's at a 50-year low and our violent crime rate is down 30% since i've been governor, so we're handling it strong. >> actually, governor, statistically speaking, the cdc says the firearm mortality rate is higher under your administration than it was under your predecessor's administration, and i do want to move on to the campaign. >> the what mortality rate? >> the firearm mortality rate was actually higher on than your predecessor's according to the cdc. >> well, because you had covid and all that stuff. excess mortality? that went up everywhere in the country from 2020 on. >> the firearm mortality rate, governor. the firearm mortality rate. >> let me move on to the campaign because i want you to let you respond to the state of the race right now, governor. as you know, you are trailing double digits behind former president trump. he is facing 91 felony counts. do you believe that the former president's legal troubles are the reason that you're still in this race? >> no. i mean, i think had alvin bragg not politicized this back in april, i think probably the primary would be looking different. i think that gave the former president more support. i think people felt that he was being treated unfairly which he was in that circumstance. that, i think, has been a very important inflexion point in this because it highlights the weaponization of justice by some of these left-wing prosecutors, but here's the thing ultimately. it's not about the past. it's not about all these other issues. it's ultimately about how do you get in and reverse the country's decline, and how do you get the country back on a strong plai so that we get the border secured and lead strong cities, and we need someone that can win and stwun that can actually bring this in. that's the message we're bringing to people in iowa and new hampshire and when you're on the ground you see the support building. we're doing what we need to do to be able to get the job done. >> all right. thank you so much, governor desantis, we will see you on the debate stage in miami. we'll continue the conversation. very much appreciated. >> thank you. when we come back the chair of the progressive caucus, pramila jayapal of washington state joins me next. me next. ca pramila jayapal of washingtn you want to be able to provide your child with the tools or resources they need. with reliable internet at home, through the internet essentials program, the world opened up. fellas, fellas. that's how my son was able to find the hidden genius project. we wanted to give y'all the necessary skills to compete with the future. kevin's now part of this next generation of young people who feel they can thrive. ♪ ♪ welcome back. as israel expands its ground operation in gaza over the weekend in las vegas, republican presidential candidates declared their support for israel, but the party's divide between isolationism and intervention was also on display. >> if israel wants to at long last abandon the myth of a two-state solution, israel should go ahead and abandon a two-state solution. >> the world is on fire, but here in america we are acting like it's september 10th when we were blind to the world's dangers. we need to remember what it felt like on september 12th. america has to get this right. >> i believe it's closer than ever to world war iii, and i will stop world war iii. you will not have world war iii. >> on friday, hundreds of protesters filled grand central station in new york, calling for a cease-fire in the war, and on saturday, protesters marched across the brooklyn bridge, the latest in a string of protests. joining me now is democratic congresswoman pramila jayapal of washington state who chairs the progressive caucus. congresswoman jayapal, welcome to "meet the press". >> thank you very much, kristen. it is great to be with you. >> it is great to have you on a very busy sunday. let's begin with israel. you have called for a ceasefire in gaza. do you believe there is a non-military solution to the crisis that would neutralize the terror threat from hamas and also bring home the hostages? >> well, kristen, i called for a ceasefire or at minimum a cessation of hostilities about 12 days ago and in that time since the beginning of this horrific, horrific war what we have seen is now in addition to the 1,400 israelis who were killed, in addition to the hostages that have been taken, hundreds of hostages that have been taken by hamas, what we are now seeing is 8,000 palestinians who have been killed by israeli air strikes 3,000 of whom are children. we have watched 120 premature babies who are likely to die without the fuel to run their incubators, and we see 50,000 pregnant women in gaza who are going to either have to deliver their babies or die, but about 150 babies being delivered every day without food, water, or fuel. this is not a situation that is going to help either advance our long-term strategic goals of taking out hamas, of ensuring security and peace for both ing israelis and palestinians, or, frankly, our ability to hold our moral authority on the world stage by ensuring that israel follows the international humanitarian laws or the laws of war as president biden has called for. >> congresswoman, as "the new york times" points out today hamas is actually sitting on a lot of that fuel, food and aid that you reference. their headquarters is underneath that hospital there. so ultimately, they are the ones who are depriving the civilians of gaza of all of those necessary aid items that you referenced. if there were to be a cease-fire, what's the guarantee that hamas would abide by it, congresswoman? >> well, look, kristen. first of all, nobody has any love for hamas. hamas is a terrorist organization that has deprived the palestinian people, absolutely, of many, many things in the time of their rule and let's not forget that the last election where hamas was elected was 16 years ago. half of palestinians are children. they were not part of that, and hamas is not palestinians and palestinians are not hamas. we have to be very clear about that. but humanitarian agencies have been sending aid through approved partners, and before october 7th, it with us about 500 trucks per day. now, kristen, since the beginning of this war, we have seen less than a hundred trucks delivered. israel has stopped the fuel from coming in and being delivered by trusted partners. kristen, i think we have to recognize that this is a double standard. the united states rightly called out russia for its siege of ukraine, rightly called out the attacks on the power infrastructure, the refusal to provide food and water and fuel to ukrainians, and we have to recognize that our credibility and our authority on the moral stage is greatly diminished if we do not rightly call out this siege that israel is launching on gaza as violations of international law, and we are losing credit, and, frankly, we are being isolated by the rest of the world. >> let me ask you about what some of your fellow democrats are saying, fellow john fetterman, fellow progressive said, quote, now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire. hamas does not want peace. they want to destroy israel. we can talk about a ceasefire after hamas is neutralized. going back to that original question, how do you neutralize hamas? what's your response to senator fetterman? >> my response -- my response is that we need immediate, sustained, humanitarian aid to flow into gaza. we need the bombings and you know, you can call it a humanitarian truce as 140 countries said in the resolution that was passed at the united nations. the united states was one of only 14 countries to oppose that resolution. call it a humanitarian truce. use that time to make sure we get the hostages out. both american hostages and israeli hostages. let's not forget, kristen, that we also have 500 u.s. citizens plus their families who were told to go to southern gaza because they were not safe in northern gaza. that was the part that was going to be bombed. they are now at the rafah crossing, and all these days later, three weeks later, they are still there. the united states has a responsibility to de-escalate the situation. we see the escalation on the northern border with hezbollah, and this is the moment for us to de-escalate, to call for a cessation of hostilities, and to allow humanitarian aid through and the negotiators work to get the hostages released. >> let me ask you about your comments. you have characterized israel as a racist state. after a backlash, you don't believe the existence of israel is racist. can you explain? what do you mean by that, congresswoman? >> kristen, i clarified this right away, not after a backlash. within 12 hours of making a statement, i clarified that what i meant is that the existence of israel is absolutely legitimate, and i think the world has come to see it as legitimate. however, there are racists within the netanyahu government, and there are racist policies that israel has been carrying out. i think it is important for us to recognize that we need to be able to criticize the policies of the israeli government and not be called anti-semitic. i really believe the conversation is changing in a way that is not helpful. and let me say this, too, that at the end of the day, the president and the united states is absolutely responsible because we have also been the largest military backer of aid to israel. >> yeah. >> we need to be able to question where u.s. taxpayer dollars are going and what accountability the united states has in ensuring, for example, whelp the president calls for israel to adhere to the international laws of war, that they actually are doing that. otherwise, we are complicit in a way that almost no other country in the world is. >> congresswoman, let me ask you about some developments surrounding president biden this week. one, we spoke to leaders in michigan who said they were concerned that he is losing support among arab and palestinian citizens there because of his full-throated support in israel. that also came against the backdrop of congressman dean philips announcing he is running against president biden. are you concerned that in a general election both of these things could weaken president biden's chances? >> let me say, kristen, that i have been one of president biden's biggest supporters. i have been proud to be a partner as he has been courageous and strong on the domestic front. he has really called out the injustices for average working americans across this country. >> but is he going to be weakened congresswoman? >> i feel i have to say this because what i think is that the president needs to be just as courageous on this issue so that we keep the unity within our country for the support of the incredible things he has done. he is, i think, you know, going to be challenged to explain an issue of this moral significance to people. the american people are actually quite far away from where the president and even congress, the majority of congress, has been on israel and gaza. they support the right for israel to defend itself to exist, but think do not support a war crime exchanged for another war crime. i think the president has to be careful about that, and i would call him because i know him well. i've had breakfast with him and i've had the honor of working with him. i would call him to bring us to a higher place, to let the american people -- to really call to the american people on a moral issue of this nature, and then i think we can go forward and talk about the incredible things that he has done, but i am certainly concerned about his approach to this. and, listen, my colleague dean phillips, everyone's got the right to run, but, i'm sorry, i have no idea what he is running on that is different from what president biden is running on. he took the same bold stances in this country on domestic issues, and i really don't see what he's doing. that's not the point for me. the point is i want president biden to be the next president, and he needs to call us to a higher moral place. >> congresswoman jayapal, thank you so much. really appreciate it. we covered a lot of ground here. when we come back, after three weeks without a leader, house republicans choose a new speaker, mike johnson, congressman of louisiana, with an ur jept request to fund two wars. how will he confront the challenges? 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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. the panel is here. nbc news senior white house correspondent kelly o'donnell, toe lieu oh low run pa, white house bureau chief of "the washington post," stephen hayes, editor of "the dispatch," and jen psaki, host of "inside with jen psaki." thanks to all of you for being here. a lot of ground to cover on this sunday. kelly, let me start with you with congresswoman jayapal, the fact that president biden now has a challenger in this race, dean phillips. he's basically -- he says it's time to pass the torch. how is president biden responding? how is the biden campaign responding? >> kristen, talking with biden allies about this, they want to quickly embrace the impulse to just reject dean phillips and to say it is irrelevant, and he doesn't have any democrats with him and we've heard that in your interview and his access to the ballot is even challenging, what they don't easily dismiss is the fact that he is, regardless of his own candidacy, he is a vehicle giving a voice to what many voters feel, and that is this concern, this anxiety, about a president who will be 81 in three weeks, and so that is a challenge. they will say in the biden world that that doesn't change the fact, that that's an inimmittable fact, and so what they want to do is turn and bring the focus to the things the democrats care a great deal about. fear of trump returning and certainly issues like abortion and other things that are pocketbook issues and they want to drive the attention there, and dean phillips is someone who is not going to seek advice from the white house because he's the grandson of dear abby and he's not going to be looking there for any cues. >> very good point, kelly o'donnell. a good fact there. >> toluse, let me pick up on the historical context of this, if you look back in time historically speaking, presidents who get primary challenger, gerald ford to ronald reagan, ted kennedy, george h.w. bush, pat buchanan, all went on to lose. this must be giving democrats some jitters. >> they will never say that publicly, but you also think about lyndon johnson, 196 8, who faced a pretty significant challenge from mccarthy in new hampshire with less than 50% of the vote and we have dean phillips focusing his attention there and the white house will never tell you that they're worried or they're concerned and they'll focus on the fact that dean philips has voted with president biden 100% of the time, but the fact that he's in this race now, the biden campaign will spend less time than what they want to be talking about, the gdp growth, they'll have to be spending more time talking about things like the president's age and talking about things like the high cost of living and all of the things that dean phillips is talking about his campaign and representative jayapal saying what's the difference? i think he'll spend a lot of time talking about the difference between him and president biden and that will be a difficult message. >> you set me up perfectly because i had the chance to talk to dean phillips. i'll get your reaction on the other side. >> i'm not running against president biden. i'm running for the majority of americans who want something different. >> that means you're running against president biden and that's what the definition means. >> i'm doing it and i'm running for president because america deserves to have someone listen to them. >> jen, what do you make of that message? will it fly? >> the border is an area where he sees a difference between him and the president. he says i'm running on this president. >> i think we've yet to see deanmentum. i talked to a lot of americans who say if this is an exist ten chal cry, if people were trying to run away from biden, you would have a governor newsom, a governor whitmer running, and they're not. dean phillips is not well known. if you're running for president, this is a campaign strategy where they're not awarding delegates and there's not a wide electorate which is the base of the democratic party and you have to be conscious of every factor when you're running for president and they certainly are. they certainly are in this moment. >> he's got a math problem as jen points out is he running as you a younger version of president biden and could that chip away? >> you shouldn't start your campaign by saying you're not running against the person you're running against. that's a challenge. the challenge for the biden campaign, he speaks for a lot of democrats and our own nbc poll, six in ten democrats said they wanted a challenger to joe biden. 74% of registered voters say they want joe bide on the be challenged and they're not comfortable with him. we have 53 weeks until the general election next year. joe biden does make mistakes. you don't have to be sean hannity and create conspiracy theories about joe biden's mental health capabilities. >> president biden is asking for a new aid package, jen, from congress and the newly minted house speaker mike johnson is at the helm, deeply conservative. will he be able to work with democrats? >> well, he wants to separate the aid packages according to mike johnson, according to reports. the whole point in combining them is to get them both through. he'll have pushback within his own caucus, mike johnson is, so that makes it difficult for president biden. it also makes it difficult for mike johnson to work and keep the caucus together. >> what's the strategy to try to work? will they? >> there is one and that is to give him time to demonstrate can he demonstrate leadership? there's no track record of leadership. never ran a committee. he doesn't have the baggage of broken promises and things. that question about splitting the aid is essential because people who know how legislation gets done recognize that fusing those two priorities together is the best way to get ukraine aid over the line, and where i think johnson has a moment here is that he has all of the maga views without the bluster, without the bravado, and maybe there's a chance to have things calm down for a moment. >> toluse, what do you think? will there be a grace period? a honeymoon period where republicans and democrats say let's give him a chance to work across the aisle? >> it does seem there will be a grace period, and it remains to be seen how long that could be. johnson can push forward to keep the government open next month and that is what essentially led to speaker mccarthy getting tossed out of office and the fact that he has that grace is after that, what happens? after we get to january and april and we have to fund the government and the same issues that mccarthy faced will be the same issues that johnson faces. >> very quickly, you've been talking to republicans. the mood? >> i've talked to a lot of republicans in the house, and there's willingness to give him flexibility and give him the ability to maneuver the way he needs, and they don't want to go through the what they went through the last three weeks. >> thank you so much. we've covered a lot of ground here. and when we come back, a closer look at a key lawmaker who pushed for an assault weapons ban in congress and what motivated her to fight the gun lobby. s and what motivated her to fight the gun lobby. welcome back. california senator dianne feinstein who passed away last month at age 90 was a fierce advocate for gun control, shaped by the 1978 assassinations of san francisco's supervisor harvey milk and mayor george moscone. in her first year in the senate feinstein authored an assault weapons ban which was signed into law in 1994. it remained in place until it expired in 2004. eight years later in the wake of more mass shootings, senator feinstein described how she was still determined to revive the legislation. >> what makes you think it can pass? we've had tragedies before and nothing happens. >> well, i'll tell you what happened back in '93 when i told joe biden who was chairman of the judiciary committee that i was going to move this as an amendment on the crime bill. he laughed at me. he said you're new here. wait until you learn. and we got it through the senate. we got it through the house. the white house came alive and the house of representatives. and the clinton administration helped, the bill was passed, and the president signed it. it can be done. when we come back, arnold schwarzenegger tells me he wishes he could run for president. for president. taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say, ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver. c'mon, we're right there. c'mon baby. it's the only we need. go, go, go, go! ah! touchdown baby! -touchdown! are your neighbors watching the same game? yeah, my 5g home internet delays the game a bit. but you get used to it. try these. they're noise cancelling earmuffs. i stole them from an airport. it's always something with you, man. great! solid! -greek salad? exactly! don't delay the game with verizon or t-mobile 5g home internet. catch it on the xfinity 10g network. welcome back. arnold schwarzenegger is constantly reinventing himself. now the world-famous bodybuilder, iconic action star, and two-term republican governor of california has added a new role to the list, self-help author with a new book, "be useful: seven tools for life." i sat down with schwarzenegger and asked him about the book, his improbable political career and who he'd like to see in the white house. >> governor schwarzenegger, welcome back to "meet the press." >> thank you. >> i want to read you a passage of your book because one of the things that i found so fascinating about this is that you give very practical advice including how you should think about 24 hours of every day. you write rest is for babies and relaxation is for retired people. why do you think it was so important for you to give this very blunt advice? >> well, because i feel like we have only one life, and we have to go and live this life. it's not a dress rehearsal. it's the real thing, so let's go all out. i just feel like when people say are you going to retire? i say, look, when i'm six feet under, then i can rest and retire and do all of that stuff. i always say as long as i'm above the grass, i want to fight, i want to be hungry, i want to struggle, i want to be useful. to me now, this is very important to combine all of my careers together with one and to make this a better world. >> divisions in this country are deeper than we have seen in quite some time. what do you think the state of our democracy is? >> well, you know, i also felt ever since i came to america and i started really getting into learning about the history of america and about democracy and the political system here and all of that, that democracy is very vulnerable, and it's why i always say to people it's not a bystander sport. you know, you've got to participate. >> because of the divisions in this country right now, what's the root of the vulnerability? >> i think it's always been vulnerable. i mean, don't forget that when i came over to america in the '60s, there was -- president kennedy was assassinated, robert kennedy was assassinated, martin luther king was assassinated. there was violence beyond belief at the democratic convention in chicago, that people were clubbed to death and attacked and all of that stuff by the police, and there was the vietnam war. there were wars going on. so, i mean, was there total madness, and somehow -- and there was watergate right after that. so somehow we came out of all that because there was a leader that was sane and that showed great leadership, which was ronald reagan and not because he was a republican or because he was from this or that or from california. it's just he was the right man to bring people together during this, you know, kind of big problem that the united states went through with inflation rate high and the business went down and the economy went down and the stockmarket went down. everything went down and our image was horrible worldwide, and he brought it back. i think this is what we need. we just don't know yet who is this person that could do that. >> you don't know who that leader is. you don't see that leader right now? >> i couldn't tell you because the democrats are screaming biden, and the republicans are screaming it has to be trump and all of this stuff. okay, let that playbook, let that thing play out again so we know once and for all who the people really choose. it's perfectly fine with me. but we've got to think beyond that because we need a new generation of leaders that are willing to spend as much energy as possible or as much energy as it takes to bring both of the parties together because we as a nation are democrats and republicans and independents. >> i want to get your take on the race for the white house if i can. you're been very critical of former president trump. is there any candidate in that field who you feel can bring the type of leadership that's needed right now? >> well, you know, i don't think we give those people enough chance because it's all trump, trump, trump, biden, biden, biden. so i mean these are the things that the press talks about. >> who do you think stands out? >> well, i think joe manchin is one of them that i think stands out because he's like a center guy. he comes from an energy state that is a democrat, so he knows the challenges and all of that, but he's one of the guys that i think is really a great force, but there's many others. we just have to give, in general, without endorsing anybody, i think we have to give people a chance to emerge. >> you have said you would run for president if you could. do you think you would be a better president than any of the candidates running right now? >> you know, i think that i have the ability of bringing people together. i have the ability of talking about issues without villainizing the other side because there are people that think differently than i do, but they're not evil. they're not terrible people. you know, they're good people that mean well, so, therefore, i would say we have to be able to bring people together and let everyone know they are very important to be part of the team and for us to be successful. >> does it frustrate you that you can't run for the nation's highest office? >> no, because i tell you that i have accomplished everything that i did because of america. so why would i be frustrated and angry about something -- the one thing that i can't do? there's only one thing that i can't do in america, which is run for president. why would i be upset about that? yeah, i mean, i would love to run for president. i would love to have the opportunity to do that and to show america that we can come together and to do the kind of things that ronald reagan did, but that's not the case. >> do you still feel at home in the republican party? >> absolutely. when i go up to capitol hill and meet with my republican colleagues, i have a great time meeting with them and talking about the environment and talking about the important issues and all of that stuff. i don't look at them as kind of crazies as some people do. some people are extreme, but there's no reason to villainize anybody. >> my conversation with governor schwarzenegger. that is all for today. thank you for watching. we'll be back next week because if it's sunday, it's "meet the press." israeli forces are moving further into gaza two days after prime minister benjamin netanyahu announced that the country was