President trump issues his own warning today. Do not play games. Its not just florence on his mind, maria is, too. He praised the job he did with that hurricane. The mayor of san juan joins us later in the show with the president calling her incompetent. In washington, a different kind of concern. Why the gop leader sa sounding not so optimistic about hanging on to the senate. Plus, the threats against a different republican caught in the kavanaugh craoss hairs. The National Hurricane center is call thg the storm of a lifetime. Everybody from georgia to maryland on alert as the president tweets, moments ago, about the threat to georgia. Two words, strong and slow. Florence is 500 miles from the east coast. The people will see the rain, the high winds, the rough surf, well before then. You have hurricane warnings covering the coastline of North Carolina with mandatory evacuations for 1. 5 million people. The warning now . Today is the last day anybody should be traveling. By tomorrow, you have to be gone and you have to be ready. The message to citizens is clear, today is your last day to get out of the areas that have been placed under evacuation orders. If you dont do it now, your time is running out. Once the impacts of the storm come in, it is going to be very difficult for First Responders to get to you. We want to take you to raleigh where the governor of North Carolina is talking about the threat briefing the folks. Lets listen. North carolina, my message is clear. Disaster is at the doorstep and coming in. If you are on the coast, there is still time to get out safely. No possession is worth your life. For those not under an evacuation order, finish your preparations today, if you havent already. Move to safety, if your home is at risk. Bring in supplies, if its not. Plan to be without power for days. Understand that the rain may lost for days and not hours. This may be a marathon, not a sprint. This storm threatens life. The forecast shows a storm surge higher than many homes. The National Weather service just said it will be unbelievably damaging and they cant emphasize that enough. Violent winds can blow down power lines and trees. Heavy, sustained rain that can flood our rivers and low lying ground will be coming. Expect this storm to batter our state for days. Floodplain experts of the North CarolinaEmergency Management have been modelling the storms projected impacts. From the storm surge, alone, tens of thousands of structures are expected to be flooded in North Carolina. We are sharing that information with local officials so they can prepare. Shelters began opening yesterday with more opening today to take people in who have been displaced by evacuations. There are at least 16 shelters that are open now and we are truly grateful for the volunteers, the red cross and others for helping us. I have authorizeed more North CarolinaNational Guard soldiers to report for duty. By 7 00 p. M. Today, 2800 soldiers will be on active duty, joined by more on standby. These soldiers are directed to preserve life and safety and provide route clearance of roads and support communications and logistics. Prisons and jails in vulnerable areas are being evacuated as well. Longterm care facilities have been urged to work with local Emergency Management officials to ensure resident and patient safety. Today, our state parks and museums are closed, state universities have canceled classes and many Public Schools are closing as well. Plus, providing their buildings as shelters. No matter where this storm comes ashore, it will have widespread, significant impacts in North Carolina. The coast will feel the blast first thing in the morning with damaging, lifethreatening surge, winds and rain. Those of you in central North Carolina should be prepared to feel the impact of the storm from thursday night through the weekend due to the sustained rainfall and persistent wind. In western North Carolina, residents should be prepared for heavy rain. As we remember earlier this year, that can trigger mudslides and road closings. In short, every county and every person in North Carolina needs to stay alert and to take the storm seriously. Yesterday, i ordered a state evacuation of North Carolinas Barrier Islands from the virginia border to the South Carolina line. Thanks to our local partners, many evacuation orders are in place for other areas. I urge residents to heed those orders. For those not under evacuation orders, gather your emergency supplies, if you havent already, food, water, flashlights, extra batteries, medications, important documents, if you need to evacuate. Remember to make plans for your pets. Clear your yard of debris that can cause damage and high winds. Finally, download the ready nc app for updates and learn the weather about the storm and call 211 for information or to connect you with local resources. I want to thank everyone across the state, helping us get ready for the storm. I want to introduce part of North Carolinas team here to provide input for you to my far right here is mike, director of Emergency Management. Next is colonel glenn mcneil, the commander of the state highway patrol. Immediately behind me is dr. Mandy cohen, the secretary of the department of health and human services. We have secretary jim trogden, the secretary of transportation to my left. We have the federal coordinating officer from fema, alby lewis, who is here with us in the middle there. Of course we have the general of the North CarolinaNational Guard, Major General gregory lusk, who is here. Im going to recognize some of these for updates and then we will take your questions. So, mike well begin with you. Thank you, governor. Good morning, everyone. We continue to urge all North Carolina residents and visitors to comply with local evacuation orders from the local jurisdictions. I would like to thank our county partners. You have been watching governor roy cooper in raleigh, North Carolina warning people in his state and neighboring states about Hurricane Florence, what they describe as a disaster. This is not a one and done. It will batter North Carolina, South Carolina, as far south as georgia for days. I want to go to bill karins, who is tracking this thing. Bill, the when, the where, the what. Lay it out. We had changes and huge impacts for norfolk, virginia beach, richmond, raleigh, greens borrow, the north of that, central virginia, your forecast improved dramatically overnight because of this stall and hook and possible bend toward North Carolina. Worse forecast for myrtle beach, georgetown. You are going to get nailed. You are not going to avoid it. The area that gets hit the hardest, you will see it blowing through friday and saturday morning is from the Bald Head Island area through new hanover county, jacksonville, Wrightsville Beach and through carter where we are talking emerald isle to atlantic beach. Thats where the storm surge is going to be and the strongest winds. The storm will weaken itself out and talk about the problems with the mountains in western North Carolina and South Carolina and north georgia could get additional flooding concerns there. The most life threatening thing is water. With the storm surge that could last multiple high tide cycles. If the storm stalls in this area, to the right is the strongest winds, 100mileperhour to 120mileperhour gusts pushing the water on shore, you get 13 feet of high tide. High tide is thursday evening. The worst is friday morning, heading toward the noon hour. Thats when we could have structures going into the water and the waves lapping into the houses on stilts in some areas. Our computer models are in general agreement with the stall near wilmington. We dont know if we will get to land fall. It may have to way saturday. The european model, a more accurate run goes straight at wilmington, hits the brakes, stalls, pours rain throughout the area and parallels the coastline. This is going to be a story that lasts through the weekend. As far as the extreme damage goes from a major hurricane which should be a category 3 tomorrow, tomorrow sunset to friday sunset, 24hour period there in the wilmington greater area, 100mileperhour wind gusts for 1218 hours straight. So, thats when the destruction will be occurring. That is scary stuff. Thank you for keeping us posted on that. You heard from North Carolinas governor moments ago. We also heard from President Trump about the storm in a white house video, watch. We have the finest people anywhere in the world, fema and First Responders are out there. They are going to stand through the danger of this storm. Get out of its way. Dont play games with it. Its a big one. Kerry sanders is on the Atlantic Ocean, south of wilmington. Kerry, its not the wind, its the water, right . The concern where you are is the storm surge. Talk us through what people are doing to prepare. Reporter i think people recognize that. They have mostly left. This is a desserted town of 6000. The police and fire are going doortodoor in about two hours. Meantime, the bridges here to Paradise Island will be closed at 8 00 to prevent people from coming over. Storm surge can be complicated for people to understand. I mean, you know about this wall of water that is 20 feet. We are going to do a grade School Experiment here. This is the Atlantic Ocean. Here is the wind blowing. You see the wind, how it takes the water and thats going to happen out here with hundred plus mile an hour winds. You get almost a dome of water. Not a total wave. A dome of water that comes and comes all the way up, over the sand dunes here, a natural barrier and over to cape fear. We have a family here that lives in wilmington. We have charlie, pyper, quinn and mom katie. What are you going to do during the hurricane . Stay here. Charlie . We are going to color. We are going to just try to stay safe during the hurricane. Reporter try to stay safe. What do you think . I think we are going to do everything normally, what we do. Okay. Mom, the decision to stay, you live in wilmington. If i drive the car, i would be there in 810 minutes. First of all, why the decision to stay and not fall back further inland . From my experience, getting back into town after the storms is very difficult. Knowing that our family and friends and our home are all here, we didnt want to leave them unprotected for a prolonged amount of time. We are going to try to stay put. Reporter your family is in a brick home. What about your neighbors . Are neighbors staying put . We have several neighbors saying put. We feel there is strength in numbers. We checked in with one another. We are going band together and make it through. Reporter we wish you the best of luck. Guys, hang tight to mom. If you need to get into an interior room of your house, get in the bathroom, the bathtub. Thank you very much. You hear that often, people are anxious about leaving because of the difficulty getting back. Its a real problem. The reason the authorities do that is because theres downed power lines, electricity out. Theres potential damage that could result in death like weakened tree limbs that fall on people. We have seen that before. So, i would like to see them leave, but everyone makes their own decision. Kerry sanders, thank you. Lets talk about people who are leaving their homes. Gabe gutierrez is in conway, South Carolina near myrtle beach. A high school that is now shemter. This has been, as kerry said, a big warning from the North Carolina governor and others, get somewhere safe, out of your home and to a place like a shelter. What are you seeing . Reporter hi hallii, good morning. We have seen a shift today. The principal of Conway High School said a couple days ago when the forecast wasnt sure where it was going, there wasnt a lot of concern in South Carolina. It shifted to the north and east. People started to breathe a sigh of relief. With the slight shift overnight and jog closer to myrtle beach, theres more concern here. We are here in conway, a high school. More than 100 people are here right now. Some of them, you see their belongings behind me. They are actually going out today for the last day, the critical day of getting supplies. Its very difficult to find supplies here. Some stores may be closing later today. Im actually here with a gentleman named james. You came here yesterday. You are here with your family. Your belongings are there. Your granddaughter there. What was your decision to come to the shelter. They started saying mandatory evacuations and pushing everybody away from the coast. We were going to go that way. We got down and they told us because there were no shelters in the area. I went to the website and this popped up. Reporter so you know, this is where they started to shut down the eastbound lanes and four lanes redded the other direction. It was orderly, no huge back ups. How concerned are you . You can pick her up . Its all right. Reporter how is she doing, by the way . Good. Reporter what is the reaction on the overnight shift in the track . I stayed up until 3 00 this morning, watching the wind changes and High Pressure and stuff. Reporter you were here for hugo. Yes, sir. Stayed on the coast. Reporter are you that worried about this one . Not really. We have a lot of faith. We pray about it and the lords work will be done. Reporter thank you for talking. You are going to ride it out here . Yes, sir. Reporter thank you. There is a medical wing behind us as well. They are preparing for this afternoon for the bulk of the people to start coming in. The capacity at the shelter is 1200. There are several other shelters open in South Carolina as well. The governor saying by the end of it, they plan to have two dozen shelters open with a capacity of 12,000 people. We have been hearing from bill karins and kerry, as people head inland, theres concern for heavy rain and flooding in the inland cities. We are hearing, right now, we are seeing as well, people are streaming into the shelters after hearing about that slight shift overnight. Yeah. Especially given how big it is, just dumping water on them. Gabe gutierrez, conway, South Carolina, thank you. Florence is getting closer to making land fall as you have been hearing on the show. President trump says, its okay. Fema is ready to go. Here is what he said ahead of last years storms. This is a storm of historic, destructive potential. The biggest ever. They are saying the biggest, historic. Its like texas, if you think about it. It looks like it could be something that will be not good. Believe me, not good. The president is giving himself props for last years cat troughic hurricane in puerto rico, calling that response an incredible success. What is the mayor of san juan have to say about that . She joins me after the break. Fact is, every Insurance Company hopes you drive safely. But allstate helps you. With drivewise. Feedback that helps you drive safer. And that can lower your cost now that you know the truth. Are you in good hands . And back pain made it hard to sleep and get up on time. Then i found aleve pm. The only one to combine a safe sleep aid, plus the 12 hour pain relieving strength of aleve. Im back. Aleve pm for a better am. So, as Hurricane Florence zeros in on the carolinas, President Trump says fema is ready, tweeting, it will be arriving soon. They are supplied and ready. Be safe. A fema as ready as it could be . New documents provided to the Rachel Maddow show shows the Trump Administration transferred 10 million from the fema response and recovery budget to i. C. E. Kristen welker is joining us from the white house. Already this morning, we have heard several administration officials, several Republican Leaders say, listen, its fine. We are good. Fema is good. It has what it needs, right . Reporter that is right. First, we should say nbc news hasnt verified the documents, but dhs is not disputing. They are pushing back vigorously about the criticism and the notion that transferring the funds means they wont be ready. This from a dhs spokesperson says the money in question could not have been used for hurricane response due to appropriateuation limitations. Dhs fema stand ready to support current and future response and recovery needs. The administrator was asked about this. Take a listen to what he had to say. We have plenty of resources, monetary, staff and commodities to respond to Hurricane Florence. Again, we ask the residents to heed the warnings. Reporter they released those documents saying, look, it is impossible to think transferring those funds wont have an impact. The president dealing with the ongoing fallout from his controversial comments when he said his administrations response to maria, which ravages puerto rico, ultimately claims nearly 3 0r nearly 3,000 lives, democrats calling the comments reflective. President trump out defeating his comments and making one point. He says his administration is ready to deal with Hurricane Florence. He is going to get briefed throughout the day on this. Hallie . Kristen welker, thank you. Let me bring in dave price from North Carolina. Congressman, you are dealing with a lot, obviously. Can you tell me the main message you want to get to folks in your state. The governor talked about getting out of town or a shelter, if you can. Thats the main message, yes. The coastal areas of this state are in a grave situation. So, the evacuation orders, state level, county level are in effect and they mean what they say. People need to get to safety and get there fast. We have a good Emergency Response situation here with a 211 number and the ready nc app, which people can consult for all kind of purposes. The shelters are opening as we speak. The governor deployed 2500 National Guard troops to help around the state. We are doing everything we can to get ready. Citizens have to take responsibility and get out of harms way. Not just for their own lives, but the lives of First Responders who would be tasked with protecting them. My colleague Kristen Welker spoke about the document how the Trump Administration took money from fema and transferred it to i. C. E. Do you believe they are prepared for Disaster Relief or do you have concerns . I have concerns. I certainly have concerns about the obsession of this administration with transferring money to i. C. E. , wherever it comes from. I do believe that fema has learned from the past that the statement the president made about puerto rico is just bizarre. Fema, itself, said that they werent prepared and they have learned from this disaster. Thats what we need to do. Katrina and maria, whatever the storm is, we need to learn from the past instead of glossing over it and denying it. Brock long has been a good leader at fema. The work is preceding. We are all trying to cooperate. We dont need a side show with the president denying responsibility for past failures. Do you believe do you have confidence in fema, congressman . Do you believe fema is ready to handle the storm barrelling to your area . Yes. The short answer is yes. Okay. I think we have learned from past disasters and we are doing, making the good, cooperative effort, federal, state, local to address the storm. This is a terrible storm, though. We need to be constantly aware of ways to improve our performance. We have learned from the past. Yeah. We are going deal with this disaster. Congressman david price, thank you for joining us. Good luck to you. Stay safe. We will keep you in our thoughts. Thank you. I want to bring in a couple people. You heard the congressman take issue with a couple comments the president made in regard to Hurricane Florence. He said the response to Hurricane Maria was a success. They said you should be able to understand thousands of people died, Something Like 3,000 people. Look at that and say what are the lessons we learned from that and go forward and say this is how we are going to be different with Hurricane Florence. Because of that, people are very, very concerned. Obviously, Hurricane Harvey is something where people thought there could have been bigger, Better Things happening there. Ashley parker has a piece out in the Washington Post and she says the president long struggled with public displays of empathy and rising to the sole of consoler in chief. In a range of situations from deadly shootings and National Disasters to yesterdays response to the 9 11 attacks, he seems ill suited to the somberness of the events. This is something i heard from an ally of the president s, recently. He said, yeah, there is an empathy issue with the president. This is something this person wants him to overcome. That is clear. We saw that since he was running. We also have seen from the beginning, the president likes to take credit for things when things are going well. He likes to claim success, even when, in this situation, it is not clear that is what happened. But, we will remember the way President Trump responded to Hurricane Maria and his tweets when it was happening. The most substantive tweet came from the president a week after the storm hit in puerto rico. It was to criticize the mayor of san juan, not to talk about the strategy or what to do moving forward. Everything before that was a blanket statement of we are there for you, thinking of you. The tweet was a criticism of the mayor. That speaks to what the article is talking about. I want to bring in from myrtle beach, the mayor. This track, as bill karins explains looks like it could be more of a direct impact to where you live. Do you think people understand the urgency of this . Are you seeing a shift in taking the storm seriously . I think we are seeing a shift. We woke up this morning in myrtle beach and it felt like a sucker punch when we saw the storm turns towards us. So, people are leaving town, quickly. We just continue to stress the importance of that. Do you believe people are taking those warnings seriously, mayor . I do. Our team will work throughout today to make sure people are leaving. They will be checking homes and businesses. We will just keep pushing the message out on the critical need for people to leave myrtle beach. This is not a place you want to be this week. Clyde, you have been through a bunch of big storms. Talk to me about how this prepares, the prep pagss, what you are seeing and hearing, compared to other storms to hugo, for example. Tell me what you are seeing on the ground. What im seeing on the ground, at this point, is like what we have started with groups. Everyone coming together. We put out a call on lcn Disaster Response team, zello channel and inundated with people locally as well as our state coming in. The response, the volunteer level, the response level for the volunteers is just overwhelming. Its everyone coming together after the past experience, i think everyone learned we have to help each other and prepare together. The governor said earlier, dont bet your life in riding out a monster. You have seen people try to do that, clyde. What is your message to people who think i can hunker down, i dont want to leave my home unattended for four or five days . We started a program the last two days, which was shelter the animals, first. A lot of people dont want to leave their homes because of the animals. Theres no place for the animals. We got them out and made it easier for them to make a plan and get out and go someplace and know the animals are safe. As far as that goes. Another thing is, riding this out, you may make it through, then you have to worry about electricity, crime, just, you know, mosquitos or whatever bugs you deal with up here. Snakes. You are in a dangerous zone. If it flooded, you have to deal with the water. Its the unbearable conditions you dont know until you are in and put your family in. So, we are advising everyone to get out and get somewhere safe. Take an early vacation and come back. Take your valuables, come back, whatever will be will be. Well deal with it from there. Clyde, mayor, thank you fr being with us this morning. Stay safe. We are checking back with people. Thank you. I want to bring on the mayor of san juan, puerto rico, carmen yulin cruz. Thank you. I think the phone line is good. Caller yes, i can hear you fine. I want your reaction to the report indicating the Trump Administration took money from fema and moved it over to i. C. E. Caller we have a saying in puerto rico, you address one to address another one. What he did was take money from a life saving organization, like fema or at least thats what it should be, and put it in the hands of life pairing of family pairing organization. Thats what i. C. E. Has been doing especially in the border at the United States, just tearing families apart. It goes to tell you where the president s priorities are. They are not in ensuring the families are together. They are not in ensuring the neglect of people as in puerto rico with 3,000 people dead. They are in ensuring whatever he thinks is right gets pushed through without any, a total disregard of life and the impact this will have on them. This is what happened in maria. Actually, most apologies got changed, usually municipalities like the mayor of myrtle beach with a letter saying this is how much i have already spent on getting ready for the storm. They usually give you 50 reimbursement. That changed in puerto rico. It didnt happen for maria. That curtailed the ability of many municipalities of puerto rico to perform life saving activities. Let me ask you two questions about that. The president is talking about that storm, as you know, over the last 24 hours, the one that hit your area, san juan and puerto rico. The president tweeted, specifically targeting you, mayor, we got a plus for recent hurricane work in texas and florida and did an unappreciated great job in puerto rico and they totally incompetent mayor of san juan. We are ready for the big one that is coming. What went through your mind when the president tweeted that . Here he goes again. He doesnt understand, this isnt about him and about his ego. This is about the inability of his administration he directed to ensure the appropriate help got to puerto rico in time. This is about his administration telling the Puerto Rico Power Authority that we should not buy generators or light poles from countries outside of the u. S. , even country that is the u. S. Buy these materials from. So, you know, the president is all about political posturing. Its about how good he is going to look and, i hope for everybodys sake, that fema has learned their lesson, that the president learned their lesson and he goes to these states not to throw paper towels, not to point fingers at who is in humanitarian crisis doing everything they can but to do his job as commander in chief and ensure help gets there. We can hope. 3,000 people died. He doesnt have electricity. Look, our own government has some responsibility. Thats what i wanted to ask you about. I dont want to interrupt, but that brings me to the next question. You brought up fema and issues fema had. Brock long, the fema administrator was out this morning and because of the president s comments, he was defending the administration. I want to play what brock long had to say. Here is ha he had to say. We face a crumbling infrastructure. It was rotting and decayed. Fema cant help that. We have to deal with the deck of cards we have been dealt. Mayor, does he bring up a fair point . Do you bear some responsibility for the response to maria . It is true, there was a crumbling infrastructure. That has nothing to do with not providing the number of tarps that needed to be provided. That has nothing to do with look, 75 97 of the people that asked for relief, aid in puerto rico, fema denied them. They have admitted in congressional hearings it took longer. They have problems getting off the ground. If you are under the Emergency Management system and it takes you time to get off the ground, you are admitting to your own negligence. Now, have we did we do a lot of damage before . Telling somebody in a build tin that is an old building and it catches fire, it is their fought that they didnt run fast enough. Independent reports from George Washington university, Harvard University said the majority of the people dieed from the botched effort. I have to say, unfortunately, the majority of the puerto rican class decided to be silent. We all knew we were dying and there would be inefficiencies of the federal government by the neglect, the structure neglect that being a colony of the United States or a territory of the United States provides President Trump to look the other way. He has not tweeted once, once to say he is sorry about the death of puerto rico, but has time to tweet on me. Mayor of san juan, carmen yulin cruz. Thank you. I appreciate you joining us to talk about the president s tweets and the response from the government. Thank you. Later today, we are going to hear from brock long and have more to say about Hurricane Florence and response to what the mayor told us. He will be on Andrea Mitchell reports in about 90 minutes. We are going have a live report from the ground in North Carolina. Also ahead, threatening voice mails and threatening language. How Susan Collins has become a target for harassment as the president S Supreme Court nomination hangs in the balance. 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Florence is a cat 4 with sustained winds of 130 miles an hour, millions of people might be affected by the life threatening storm. Authorities are giving people simple advice, leave. Leave now. Joining me now, craig melvin in wilmington, North Carolina. Are people doing that . Are they taking the warnings seriously enough . Reporter it would seem as if they are. We have heard over the last day or so from local officials, statewide officials, get out. Get out. I can tell you having come last night, taking the drive from raleigh to wilmington, people are heeding those warnings. We have a stream of cars heading to higher and safer ground. We are told by a number of officials that people we should point out, we are in an area not under mandatory evacuation, yet. Thats expected to change tonight. People not waiting for the mandatory evacuation order. This is going to be an epic storm. This is an area that is used to storms. Right now, though, in terms of perspective, Hurricane Florence, the size of the state of michigan. The chief concern isnt just the size and scope of the storm, its how long the storm is going to set off the coast, how long it is going to hover over North Carolina, parts of South Carolina, dumping biblical proppr proportions of rain. We are along the Cape Fear River. This is, we are told by our meteorologist, this is one of the areas that bears the brunt of the storm. Craig melvin in wilmington, North Carolina. We are thinking of your and your extended family in South Carolina. Reporter yes. Stay safe. We want to get to the midterms. Two polls are offering ominous signs for republicans and their attempt to hold on to the house. We got a poll showing 5238 want democrats to take control of the house. When voters are asked who they want to control congress, democrats have a double digit advantage there, which is a sevenpoint advantage a few months ago in july. Kevin mccarthy was like, hey, man, all good. We can hang on to it based on what we have done in this economy. There is the ability to change the tone. They dont want to go back to nancy pelosi. It would not be a country that would get anything done. Joining the table now, president obamas former White House Deputy chief of staff of operations, jim. Jim, reaction to kevin mccarthy. Is he whistling past the graveyard or does he have a point . Sadly, its not about the economy. Its referendum on the president. His numbers have fallen nine points. Party preference is the most indicative thing we have seen. It is unprecedented and the foretelling of a wave. In the storms scenario you are talking about, we are about to see a political storm and blue wave in november. The president doesnt think so. Mitch mcconnell is more concerned, it seems. Here is what he had to say that had a lot of people saying wow. We know this is going to be a very challenging election on the senate side. Ill just list you a bunch of races that are dead even, arizona, nevada, tennessee, montana, north dakota, missouri, indiana, West Virginia and florida. All of them, too close to call. Every one of them, like a knife fight in an alley. Just a brawl in every one of those places. So, take a look at the first read Senate Takeover that our Political Team thinks could be the most important. You have this politico piece about how Mitch Mcconnell screws dems out of the election. Everybody here in washington rather than on the road campaigning. I have heard from republicans saying, dude, this is not an issue. I heard a conversation saying the republicans are going to hold the senate. I hope they think that. That is craziness. Republicans need to win eight of the ten seats. In a bunch of the seats, they are in real trouble. Look at all the, first of all, mcconnell keeping the dems in is smart. Theres one republican. The problem is, the open seats are killing Mitch Mcconnell. Who thought they would shot in. Suddenly the texas race is close. Nevada, which is a republican seat is basically off the table. The democrats are going to win that one. President obama has come out to be campaigning for some of these democrats ahead of midterm. George w. Bush is out per politico starting today doing his own campaign. We also havent seen president bush a ton on the campaign trail. What hes doing now is raising money. Bush and obama are two very good politicians. Lets taublk about the most successful and popular political figure in america, michelle obama. Shes got an 80 approval rating. That is a big moment for democrats. When you look at another republican whos kind of in this very interesting position right now, not necessarily because of the midterms, Susan Collins. We have new reporting from our team on the capitol hill showing these abusive calls that shes gotten related to her vote on brett kavanaugh. This Pressure Campaign against her. I want to play you a little bit of the kinds of things that collins is hearing about and getting. Watch. If you care at all about womens choice, vote no on kavanaugh. Dont be a dumb [ bleep ]. If you dont vote for her, you are a feckless, feckless, feckless woman standing there letting trump and his appointees steal health care from millions of americans, steal the right for women to choose what they do with their bodies. Oh, i didnt know. Im so naive. When you listen to those and having been out on the campaign trail, its the passion of people. Its obviously abusive and the language thats being used it is abhorrent, but you also feel like theyre talking about life and death issues. Theyre talking about womens rights to choose. Theyre talking about whether you can have health care, preexisting conditions. These are things that can lead people to die. Of course they shouldnt be telling it in that way. When youre on the campaign trail, these are the life and death things people are talking about. That was from two men. It shows how its an issue thats not just affecting women. It affects families. Brett kavanaughs confirmation hearings bring abortion and reproduction rights as a top election issue. Susan collins and these red state Democratic Senators are stuff in a tough place with calls like that and decisions like this. Thank you very much. I appreciate it. We want to turn now to democratic socialism, right as we talk politics. No longer two words that nobodys heard about, right . Because less than two months out from the midterms, people running on the far left are hoping to rack up a set of wins. Youve got this contentious primary in new york, Cynthia Nixon will have accomplished one thing whether she wins or loses bringing the term democratic socialist a step closer to the mainstream. Nbcs Morgan Radford is joining me with more on this growing movement. Youve been reporting on this. Youve been talking to folks about this, what can you tell us . Weve been crisscrossing to report on this, and weve seen this increase in candidates identifying as democratic socialists this year. The question is what does it really mean, and can it work in americas heartland . Take a look. A once atomic label. The establishment is terrified of that word, socialism. Democratic socialists have become a growing faction on the left hoping for big wins in this years midterm elections at all levels of government. I am democratic socialist. Theyre demanding medicare for all, free college tuition, and a 15 minimum wage. Do you consider yourself a socialist . For me what it means is i think in a modern Society People should have access to health care and education and access to housing. Polls show nearly twothirds of all voters under the age of 30 say they would vote for a socialist and 57 of democrats now view socialism positively. Some even running themselves. I consider myself definitely anticapitalist. Thank you so much. Summer lee and sarah each defeated incumbents to win their primary races. Capitalism doesnt work for my community. Its so funny. When people talk about socialism they say look at venezuela or talk about the failures of capitalism they say look at braddock, look at detroit. You can fix the existing system, you dont have to create a new socialist one . When will it get fixed . This experiment has been going on for centuries now. Are we seeing more and more people identifying as socialists . Absolutely because people are realizing how capitalism has let them down. The movement has its critics among conservative republicans. Policy positions are down right scary. Name one country that socialism has worked. Even some establishment democrats say socialism cant win in americas heartland. I dont think that you can go too far to the left and still win the midwest. Here in missouri, groups like the democratic socialists of america are out fixing cars and trying to win votes. First thing that stood out was for education, if it falls under what i believe in, i guess im socialist democrat. And its working. I dont think theres a huge difference. There are certainly people here who need socialism just the same as new york. With over 49,000 members across the country, their membership has grown 600 in the past two years, which is why socialist candidates say this is their year to win. This is what our country needs. This is what young people need so we can see a brighter and more diverse and inclusive future. A message theyll keep pushing all the way through november. The democratic socialists of america say they saw their biggest increase in membership for a single day in the hours after alexandra kas owe cortez won her primary. These midterms are a chance for voters to make sure everyday people have equal access to American Benefits and to the american dream. Morgan thank you for skroijo us on the show. Jim messina, you have an interesting perspective on what we just watched from ms. Radford. I think its really bad politics and harmful to democrats. Democrats need to focus on bread and basket issues to make the economy better, not labeling ourselves socialists or communists or anything else. Weve got to stay focused on what makes peoples lives better, and this is a side show. I think they are, though. The Democratic Leaders here in washington are pushing for the people, which is a pretty runofthemill, you know, Kitchen Table issues thing. I think we are seeing how republicans are weaponizing this Democratic Socialist Movement to your point. That is something democrats will be worried about. My thinking in reporting and talking to people, if youre looking for change in 24018, youre not goings to vote for a republican, even if they are a little farther to the left because you want something different. I covered Bernie Sanders and while people might have had issues with the term socialist, a lot of people when you looked at what they believe in, health care for all, free quality tuition, shrinking the gap between poor people and rich people, they agreed with that. I agree with that. But youre talking about democrats. Were talking about independent voters who are going to decide these battleground states. The term socialist is a term that is not helpful to the candidates in the race of their lives. Sorry, guys, but you guys get the last word on this show. Sources say as we always do to wrap up the show. What are you reporting on . What are your sources telling you . My sources are telling me that separated families that are not getting the support they need to actually be reunited, that nonprofits are the ones doing most of the work, that the government isnt doing what they were supposed to be doing. The government is essentially saying these poor families have to pay to get back from these rural airports to go to areas to pick up their kids. What are your sources telling you . The president now cares about the midterms and that he is going to play the victim card by playing up the impeachment thing. A source close to the president said that the president very much considers himself on the ballot in 2018, and hes going to play up this idea of democrats impeaching him, not removing him, and playing the victim card to try to encourage less than enthusiastic republicans to vote for republicans who they might not really care about. What a show. Thank you very much. A wild 60 minutes and more to come. We want to wrap up with our big picture. On the big story of the day, todays big picture comes to us from space. Its incredible, but a daunting moment. Look at this. Just look at the scope of this. This is Hurricane Florence churning, gaining strength in the Atlantic Ocean as it moved towards the east coast. Astronaut rick arnold captured this overhead shot of the massive storm. This is from on board the International Space station. Many people below that massive storm are running for safety, preparing for its landfall. Above it you can really see the scale and the scope of this thing. As always, wed love to hear your thoughts on facebook, twitter, snapchat, insta. Thanks for watching this hour of msnbc live. Much more with more colleagues ali velshi and Stephanie Ruhle. Good morning, everyone. Im Stephanie Ruhle. My partner ali velshi in wilmingt wilmington, North Carolina. Can you hear us . Reporter i got you, stephanie. Wilmingtons a few miles from when Hurricane Florence is tset to make landfall. This is the Cape Fear River over here. Thats east. Thats where the ocean is over there. Thats where the hurricane is coming in from. It is a wobbly one. Its not entirely clear where its coming in, but right now this looks to be where its going to be stephanie, and im going to be here for the next few days. And hi, im Stephanie Ruhle here in new york city. It is wednesday, september 12th. Lets get smarter. Storm of a lifetime, that is how the National Weather service in North Carolina is describing monster Hurricane Florence. The track of the storm right now from the National HurricaneCenter Brings it right along the coast, along wilmington friday Early Morning 2 00 a. M. At 120 miles per hour, and then it starts to parallel the coast and make its way in right over myrtle beach sometime late saturday afternoon. These rivers, the neuse river, they normally flow out