Welcome to friday, this is meet the press daily. Im chuck today u todd, 18 days until election day and looks like increasingly a third surge is here right now. We are climbing towards a late peak. The white house is warning that 26 states right now are currently in the red zone. You read that right. 26 states. We have now surpassed 8 million cases, 219,000 deaths. The number of cases is going up in nearly 40 states right now according to abc da that as weve seen with this outbreak. Unless officials take actions, the number of cases will rise, if are you the governor of florida encouraging the spread by reopening everything, then are you going to see cases rise. Will the number of people requiring hospitalization go up . The Public Health impolitics are enormous, by themselves. This is all happening as tense of millions of people are gathering to vote w. 18 days until the election, President Trump continues to sew doubts of the most basic of safety precautions. Namely, wear ac mask. But as far as the mask is concerned. Im good with masks. Im okay with masks. I tell people to wear mavenlths just the other day they came out with a statement that 85 of the people that wear masks catch it. I know that study. Thats what i heard and thats what i saw. That is not an accurate interpretation of the cdcs data. Countless Public Health officials and the cdc urged, begged and pleaded with the public to simply wear a mask to help limit the spread of the virus. That is all. That is all anybody is asking the president of the United States to do. We will dive into the president s town hall in a moment. As i said last night, the president once again insisted we are turning a corner. We may be turning a corner, but we may be running into a dead end. Folks, down playing the virus has been President Trumps mantra. As they take the case, lets take a trip down memory lane. Its a very contagious virus. Its incredible. But its something that we have tremendous control of. Its going to be eradicateed. This will go away without a vaccine. The numbers are very miniscule whard to what it was. Its dying out. So we have tests. Other countries dont do tests like we do. So we showcases, other countries dont show the cases. A pandemic which is disappearing. Its going to disappear. The china plague will fade. We get to a certain number. We use the herd. Its going to go away. I have been doing well with the china virus. Its going to disappear. S the disappear zplg our deaths per capita is the highest. One of the excess mortality and what weve done has been amazing and we have done an amazing job and its rounding the corner. And he did it again as you can see there, we have been rounding this corner for quite some time. I am joined with a senior scholar at the john hopkins for Health Security and Alexis Madrigal a staff writer with the atlantic and cofounder of the tracking project. Carol, let me start with you. And that really is, is the task force an active organization at this point anymore or is this the president and scott atlas and the task force gathers data and hopes somehow the president pays attention . Yeah, i think thats exactly right, chuck. To the extent the task force is doing anything, its not in the forefront of the white houses message of who they have out there talking about the virus. You know, its 18 days before the election. Its really just the president and what you heard from him last night, well hear from him today, according to excerpts of his speech, that hes about to deliver in florida through seniors is this message of everything is fine, the virus is on the upswing. Were rounding the corner, as you said. And thats the message that he wants to perform it and also if terms to the extent that he looks backwards at all, it is, he did everything right, that there were no mistakes were made and thats what are you going to hear from him in the next few weeks. Are you not going to see him move off of that message. This is not a president who had mits when he may have done something wrong. He keeps barreling ahead and keeps doing everything right. I want to focus a second on this idea that hes basically in favor of herd immunity. He brought it up in our mash there and then so thats an important nugget to think about as you watch his answer last night. Take a listen. We have done an amazing job and its rounding the corner and we have the vaccines coming. We have the therapies coming. Do you support herd immunity as a strategy . Essentially, just let people get sick . So, the cure cannot be worse than the problem, itself. We did the right thing. We were expected to lose 2 million 200,000 people and maybe more than that. 2,000 people. Isnt that a figure 2 Million People. The 2 Million People is if you did absolutely nothing it would be 2 million. So, does the president is this where he is basically at that hes in favor of this but he doesnt want to say it because he knows that maybe birx and fauci will just absolutely go public and that itself the only thing, hes essentially endorsing this policy without saying it . Reporter hes definitely, chuck, in favor of the sort of idea of letting the virus just do what it would normally do if you werent to take really drastic intervention measures. You heard him say when he got the virus, himself, dont let it dominate your life. Thats essentially the president s message. We know there are some of his advisers who had advocate for herd immunity. The president hasnt come out and said he dits explicitly as you saw there. If you read between the lines and so much we have to do and President Trump reading between the lines, you can see that that concept of letting the virus not dominate your life, you know, dont always wear a mask. There are mixed reviews on masks. Those sorts of things. It is this idea that you dont need to take the virus as seriously as Health Experts have been saying you need to take it. The other thing he does, you will hear more from him on this today is really push the idea of a vaccine is around the corner, therapeutics, all of these elements that are going to help the virus disappear as he has been saying really since february. So, not coming directly out and saying it, but the subtext is all right there to be seen. Doctor, you have said it i guess, are we hitting a third wave or are we just weve never really got over one peak and we just sort of peaks and valleys here. I dont want how youd characterize it. I think you characterize it more that way. But what are we starring at here . We are staring at intensification of transmission. We know coronavirus can spread much more easy when it is colder, less sunny, less humid and people are indoors. Thats what we are seeing all over the country. We will see this continue as people are unable to do things outdoors and as we still dont have the ability to test, trace and isolate in many parts of this country so i do suspect we are going to hear about hospitals getting into trouble the way they are, for example in wisconsin and north dakota. This is going to be this roving holt spots that occur until we have a vaccine so this is not anything close to the levels e level of control that you would need for people to not be dominated by the virus, despite what people might say this virus is dominating us. And it has been dominating us since january. Look this may be a futile exercise, but what should we be doing right now . What should be the federal response . What should be the federal governments ask of states right now when it comes to slowing the spread of this virus . Well, the federal government needs to really help those states fortify their Public Health departments. They have the ability to test people. We still have people with turn around times in the outpatient setting for five, six days. Those tests are worthless. Those people are fought isolating and spreading the infix. We need states to come one common sense guidance tore people to think about when they do their every day activities. Reducing the harm, thinking about face coverings, mass gatherings. Not being in crowded places. These are all simple Harm Reduction views go a long way. We are not hearing that. We see the cdc guideline, were still hearing attacks on experts so all of this has gone the opposite way that you would need to go to get some semblance of control. Can you still turn this around . I mean, lets say in four weeks there is a different attitude, election delivers a certain result, there is a different attitude and there is a okay maybe we need to focus more on the virus . If we, do we need like a partial shutdown of bars and restaurants but more testing . Keep schools opened . What are we staring at here . I do think we have the ability to turn this around. We can turn it around in one minute. We can change peoples attitude and minds if people are more receptive to that and the Political Leadership wants it to happen. What can happen, we have enough data to know what to leading the transmissions, which ones are not. We can give people those tools to stop spreading the infection. I dont think we will see a return to stay home orders or shut downs. We will see it based on epidemiology and career metrix. Thats one way to stop the hot spots from popping up. Overall, we need people to know their status when they are engaging with other individuals. Thats a longerterm strategy but we need to test and isolate Public Health infrastructure the way we invest in f25 other department of defense projects. We cant allow pandemic preparedness to test it. Testing around tracing are two words no longer in the federal governments vocabulary any more. Alexis madrigal, i go es the atlantic declared the third surge has arrived. Whats this going to look like on election day . I feel like we are converging, as this peak grows, election day comes, we are going to be in a really bad spot in this country on election day, itself . Yeah. And thats particularly true if you look at the upper midwest, the states so often ha have been those battle grounds in National Politics and president ial elections. Up look at wisconsin. You look at ohio. You look at iowa, these classic states that have swung elections and theyre all on the upswing. Not just in cases. We know they have shaped by the number of tests that are done and hospitalizations are infections in the community and we see hospitalization rates going up all across the midwet right now as well as in other key electoral areas like in certain areas of texas right now, particularly say around el paso. There is a lot of viral transmission. How comfortable are you with the numbers you are seeing these days . Are we getting. Theyre terrible. These numbers. I was going to say, okay, tell me how bad they are and what are some particularly bad places . Yeah, you know, weve never really got down to any kind of baseline in this country. Like if you look at other developed countries, rich country, and you look at say their excess mortality statistics, after their initial waves, they actually got down to mortality numbers similar to baseline years. The u. S. Never got there. We never really got control of this virus in any real way, so a lot more people have died here than in other countries even more than the number that had been reported as in technical covid19 deaths. The real worry here is that were going, were not even really into the winter yet. You know, Public Health officials have been warning us this winter can be a very dark time. Were barely into the fall and we are already seeing cases on a weekly average like the sevenday average over 150,000. Were seeing hospitalizations that have jumped all over the country. And so we are not even into the period of time in which people are really going to be forced indoors and we are already seeing the lines going straight up, just like we did in summer surge and previously in the spring. It looks like if you just go by the numbers, we will hit 9 million cases in the next two weeks. Are we look at a daily case load of 100,000 by the end of november . I mean, its been tough to predict the tops for these things. You know, it looked like this south might continue to rise and rise and rise. But actually governors and state Health Officials were able to get control of the outbreak, even in places that were hit very hard, like arizona. Its really hard to tell with the intersection of the election and possible chaos around the election and how that will intersect with the pandemic, itself. You know, i think a lot of people want to think that a biden win means a return to normalcy. I think that that probably overly optimistic, particularly about the months between november and january. And i think thats something that we are watching closely is how do these systems hold up in ann an electorally election or would a Trump Administration that has lost. As if the pandemic wasnt hard enough to worry about. Throw in all of those aspects as well. Carol lee, doctor, alexis, thank you all for getting us started. Up ahead the poll numbers arent adding up for President Trump. If you ask him, his prospects for election have never been better. The Russia Campaign of misinformation and what the white house knew about Rudy Guilianis involvement. White house knew about Rudy Guilianis involvement after my dvt blood clot. I wondered. 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Tell your doctor about all planned medical or dental procedures. Whats around the corner could be your moment. Ask your doctor about eliquis. Its time for theraflu hot liquid medicine. Powerful relief so you can restore and recover. Theraflu hot beats cold. And at fidelity, youll get planning and advice to help you prepare for the future, without sacrificing whats most important to you today. Because with fidelity, you can feel confident that the only direction youre moving is forward. A good education takes you many different horizons and that sticked to my mind. So, when 1 a day came out, i said, why not . Why not just utilize that resource. And walmart made that path open for me. Without the 1 a day program, i definitely dont think id be in school right now. Each week for me in school is just an accomplishment. I feel proud every step of the way. So youre a small is just abor a big one. Nt. You were thriving, but then. Oh. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. But is it secure . Sure its secure. And even if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. So how do i do this . You dont do this. We do this, together. Bounce forward, with comcast business. There are people in the middle. There are people that arent sure. There are people who want to know why they should give you a Second Chance and how you might improve in a second term. 30 second, what would you say to that . Because ive done a great job. We have the strongest economy. We closed it up. The vaccines are coming out soon and our economy is strong and next year is going to be better than ever before. Welcome back. That was President Trump painting not surprisingly a rosie picture at last nights town hall with savannah guthrie. President trump is unable to admit his first term has been anything but a perfect success. S a majority is giving him well marks and keeping the Company Divide and we could go on. We have analysts and rammish, a Senior Editor for National Review and a columnist for bloomberg opinion. So im going to be asking you guys to talk about something that we know is probably not President Trumps toolkit and that is the mea culpa or this is what i will do better. It is something that is really struck me peter baker that we know the president is unable to admit a mistake, but as an incumbent sand whose got a whole bunch of people who are, say, more comfortable with his partys ideology than they are with him, it could actually go a long way and hes probably missing an opportunity here to at least pick up an extra two or three points at a minimum. Yeah, i think thats right. I think its also constitutionally unlike him. Its hard to imagine him doing that. I looked back and looked at the coverage of the 2012 race and i was struck by barack obama doing exactly what you are talking about. He tried to address the disappointments out there among people who thought he would be able to do more, achieve more faster and better that he did. He said, look, i am not a perfect president. You know, anybody that thinks i am perfect has learned better, but i think we are making progress and well do more in the second term if we keep going in the same direction. I cant hear President Trump making a Statement Like that. Can you . Its hard to imagine him acknowledging anything less than perfection. I think you are right. That doesnt give a window of opportunity for people that want to support him for a second time but want some assurance to think that things will be different. Ramish, i will play for you a couple tv ads from 2010 right now. They were mea culpa, at the time one was an incumbent governor of iowa and one was an incumbent governor from north dakota. But this is what a, the genre of a mea culpa ad may look like if President Trump chose it. Take a look. I know i have disappointed you with a poke here or there, but you can always count on the fact they do what i do for the right reason for the people of north dakota. Thanks, for the chance. As governor of iowa, i have made my share of mistakes. But they were honest mistakes and ive listened to your concern itself. And i have grown on the job. Now, ramish, i should remind people, so it doesnt work. The genre has worked in the past and we know that we could there is not any chance on earth that on this earth that President Trump would say, ive made my share of mistakes like chuck culver did. But it would go a long way, would it not . If President Trump were to Say Something like that, it would make me wonder if something had gone wrong with him. It just doesnt sound at all like him. Its not just that it doesnt come naturally to him. He actually opposes that kind of thing because it projects weakness. We know that that is something he cant abide. I dont know that it is in my top ten list of the problems that hes nation politically in this campaign. Because i do think he has conditioned a lot of voters to adjust for the fact that hes a man who lives for the superlatives. But, but it is a problem. It is one of the ways he doesnt allow he doesnt create reassurance or an opportunity for reassurance for people who like some of the things he does but have some real qualms about the total package. Let me take this in a slightly similar direction here. And that was another take away i had last night, peter baker and ramish was how much the president s grievances are all about himself this time. Four years ago, the president was gravy vans based, but he was channelling the grievance of a group of voters, on immigration. He was channeling grievances on trade. Right now, hes channeling grievances on the New York Times and taxes or Rudy Guiliani or the russian hoax. And hes trying to get his base to care about his grievances, rather than caring about the bases grieve vaancegrievances. That too seems to be a bit tone deaf. Thats a very smart point, in fact. Hes trying to tell his audience, his supporter, when they come after me, theyre coming after you. So thats why you should care about you know russia hoax and all these other things that theyve done. In fact. That when they are after me, it is aam your champion and thats the reason why they are persecuting me and you should support me because i am your champion. And i think that that, you are right, its less about the issues that affect a lot of people on their daily lives. People who are hurting right now, because of the coronavirus or are hurting right now because of the economy and are looking for the idea that the president understands their concerns and that, you are right, four years ago, they look to him as a heatseeking missile to blow up the washington establishment. Which hes, you know, hes done. But whether or not that continues for a second time, go everyone the results, thats a different question. He talks about issues yeah. Go ahead. No, i mean. You are so right. He talked about issues, yeah. He talked about issues that a large group of people cared about and that ought politicians werent talking about. This time hes talking about a lot of issues that not only most voters dont care deeply about but a lot of voters dont even know anything about it. If you are well versed enough in theness and oin the ins and out obama gate. You are fall over broken glass to vote for trump. He is not persuading anybody to vote for him when he complains about the bad treatment that hes got. Peter baker, i mean, have his advisers just given up . They realize there is nothing they can do, they cant get him to pivot. Theyre not going to do that so now theyre going to guide him as best as they can sort of as a bowling ball gets guided when you put up the bowling balls on the gutters. There is some hope on the part of his advisers he will do what he did in the 2016 election when, in fact, he was a more disciplined candidate. He did lay off on the ticket and he did focus a little more in a way they thought helped him close his case. We havent seen that kind of trump yet. They still think i think that they think that he can do that if he sees his election chances really dwindling. But there is a real, you know, sense of concern, obviously, among his supporters. These pollings are not moving. They have mot moved for months and nothing that they do steamed to change that. And its hard to see what in 18 days he can change the dynamic without help from joe biden. Well, there are days it feels like he is walking in wet cement. Thats for sure. I have to leave it there. I appreciate your both of your perspectives on this one. Up ahead, could Rudy Guiliani be at the center of the russian governments latest Disinformation Campaign . And dont miss a special msnbc premier tonight. What touch way i see it. A documentary offering an unprecedented look at the obama and reagan white houses, all through the eyes of the same renowned white house photographer, pete souza. See it commercialfree tonight at 10 00 p. M. Eastern on msnbc. There are pieces of photos, trust me, you dont want to miss that. Well be right back. U dont wans that well be right back. Nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel. Available over the counter. Voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. The joy of movement. Hey, son no dad, its a video call. You got to move the phone in front of you like. Like its a mirror, dad. You know . Alright, okay. Hows that . Is that how you hold a mirror . 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This comes as the president happens to be pedaling emails found on a laptop at a delaware repair shop tied joe biden to his sons hunters business dealings with the Ukraine Energy company. The New York Post claims it received those from guiliani, himself. Nbc news has not seen the emails or verify the reporting. Nbc news has learned the fbi is investigating whether those alleged hunter biden emails are connected to a larger foreign intelligence operation. With me now is shane harris, he is one of the reporters that broke the original story and michael mcfaul. You know him the former ambassador to russia now nbc News National affairs analyst. Its a little jarring, mike, to not have Stanford University behind you. Its just so weird. Its almost a part of your identity, brother. Shane, let me start with you. I bet. Lets unpack this here a minute. This seems to be if you are reporting and are reporting as accurate as it appears, it seems to be a pretty poor job by Rudy Guiliani to pass off Opposition Research or russian intelligence the way he is trying to sell it. Because this, he seemed to be caught red handed here. Yeah. Thats right, chuck. I mean to refresh people. Rudy goes to ukraine last december remember when we are right in the middle of the impeachment proceedings and meets with this ukraine law maker as well as a number of other people who u. S. Intelligence knows are russian assets, that is to say people working on behalf of russia interests and the u. S. Intelligence community is intercepting communications from some of these people that show they are in touch with Rudy Guiliani and he is seeking from them information about hunter biden and joe biden and corruption and all of these issues that were sort of at the root of his allegation about the bidens going back for some time so this is evident to equal in this country whats going on here and there is kind of a fivealarm fire that goes off at the top ranks of the Intelligence Community because people understand that rudy is there and he wants to come back and share this with the president. The question becomes how do we put a stop to that and warn the president , dont listen to haeng she telling ul. This is russia disinformation in all likelihood. Michael mcfall so december 5th when guiliani first meets derkosh in kiev, we are days away from said interference in said country i referenced there in it capital of kiev. I mean the brazen inside ness o continuing this operation while the president was being impeached for said operation is really actually hard to put my arms around. I am glad are you reminding everybody. That seems like such ancient history, doesnt it . We have morgan all these ukrainian names. Even i did. I know many of these people. But are you absolutely right. Guiliani was the agent of influence of foreign interference. The president told the president of ukraine mr. Zelensky to work with him about that. In the middle of it all he flies there to meet with mr. Derkosh. You dont need to believe me and my assessment of what he does. Its the Treasury Department of the Trump Administration that has sanctioned mr. Derkoch for interfering not in our 2016 elections but in the 2020 elections. Its President Trumps own Intelligence Community that has labeled him a russian agent. And yet, here we are again. We did it twice. Now mr. Guiliani has gone back, it appears to try one third time to work with this guy to try to undermine Vice President biden. Part two of this scoop, shane, is the National Security adviser Robert Obrien you are reporting did warn President Trump that Rudy Guiliani had been compromised. Whats the best explanation about whether the president heard him . I think the short answer is he brushed it off. You know, obrien in consultation with other senior level officials understands this is a real problem that Rudy Guiliani is about to come back and deliver the goods, he thinks. So he goes in to say to the president essentially, look, you are going to do what you want to do. Rudy is your lawyer. You need to understand he is being worked by russian assets in ukraine and you need to be very cautious about what he tells you. As this meeting from somebody familiar with us, the president shrugs his shoulders and says, thats rudy, sort of like what are you going to do . No sense the president was alarmed by this no sense he said thank you for warning me. We know Rudy Guiliani shows up a few days later, he is meeting later with the president in maralago. Very quickly, under koch, what does guiliani say about him . Guiliani told us yesterday in a tech message, he was never told at the time that derkoch was a russian asset. I think he said elsewhere he doesnt have reason to believe it. In a sense he didnt need u. S. Intelligence to tell him that. Mr. Derkosh was a wellknown figure in ukraine. His russia sympathies were not a secret at all. Rudys response is, well, nobody told me. The important thing here is somebody told the president about his personal lawyer and it appears that the president just didnt heed the advice. You know, mike mcfall, the uncomfortable conclusion one can draw here and i go es the question is this, if everything is to be believed and all this reporting checks out, Rudy Guiliani is either a russian stooge or a russian operative. Which is it . I dont know. I want to be clear, i dont know, by the way, fantastic reporting from shane and his colleagues so that we do know the actual facts that happened here. Bit seems hes desperate to try to help President Trump win reelection. Hell do whatever it takes. He is not constrained by facts and what i am struck by, chuck, is how little damage that has done. Even if everything is true in that New York Post story and we have real reason to believe that most of it is not true, what have we learned . We havent learned anything. When mr. Biden. When the Vice President was seeking to replace mr. Chokeen, a prosecutor general pressuring them to do that that was Obama Administration policy. That was imf policy. That was eu policy. Thats what human rights activists, anticorruption activists in ukraine were pushing for as well. And there has been nothing to undermine the basic facts that there was no wrongdoing here despite these incredible efforts, including engaging, programs, with russian Intelligence Officers to tray to do damage to the Vice President. They havent landed anything to disrupt the basic facts. We know that. And, shane, do we think the laptop was manufactured in order to put the emails, the a. C. T. Material on something american . We dont know that yet and, obviously, you know, nbc is reporting this a subject of federal investigation. I will say when i talk to people in the Intelligence Community, the laptop scenario looks suspicious. That does not mean that hunter biden did not drop off a laptop. But importantly, the kind of information now coming out in the New York Post is very much of the same genre and theme that Rudy Guiliani was hunting for within he was in ukraine meeting with these russian assets. I think that that connection is something we need to just keep in mind as we learn more about exactly how these alleged emails and files found their way to the press. Yeah. Rudy guilianis biggest problem is we all know too much about how often hes traveled to ukraine over the last two years. Shane harris, ambassador mike mcfaul, thank you both for adding your espertise to this segment. Appreciate it. Up ahead, is President Trump hurting down ballot republicans in the states that matter most . Well have a live county update from the key battleground of michigan. Thats next. Key battleground of michigan thats next. Wed be closer to the twins. Change in plans. At fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. Its time for theraflu hot liquid medicine. Powerful relief so you can restore and recover. Theraflu hot beats cold. With priceline, you can get up to 60 off amazing hotels. And when you get a big deal. You feel like a big deal. Priceline. Every trip is a big deal. My job is to help new homeowners who have turned into their parents. Im having a big lunch and then just a snack for dinner. So were using a speakerphone in the store. Is that a good idea . One of the ways i do that is to get them out of the home. Youre looking for a grout brush, this is garth, did he ask for your help . No, no. No. We all see it. We all see it. He has blue hair. Okay. Blue. Progressive cant protect you from becoming your parents, but we can protect your home and auto when you bundle with us. Keep it coming. You dont know him. Tonight, try pure zzzs allus. Night. Unlike other sleep aids, our extended release melatonin helps you sleep longer. And longer. Zzzquil pure zzzs all night. Fall asleep. Stay asleep. Welcome back. Its with only 18 days until election day, most voters in battleground states made up their mind who are casting their ballots. As part of our county project, we have been tracking what voters are saying and all of it is twists and turns. We find sasha burns in kent county, michigan, she has been talking to voters off and on, so dasha, as its decision time for many voters at this point. Maybe eighth decisive time at this point. Maybe theyre not waiting for one more debate. What are you finding . Reporter well, chuck, im in the ep pe center of suburbia here. Its an Apple Orchard. I smell the Apple Orchard donuts. There is a corn maze down the road. We have been focusing on the jerry ford republicans as so many call themselves here. The tough questions that theyve had to wrestle with over the course of this election cycle. Now, the group that i have been following. There is only one undecided voter still left. The others have decided they are going to vote for joe biden. Chuck, heres the interesting part, theyre also, i spoke to three today who told me not only are they voting for biden, but th voting blue up and down the ballot for the first time in their lives. Most split a ticket usually have gone republican so this is significant. I want you to hear from one of those voters. He actually has already submitted his absentee ballot. He was planning to vote for biden. But after the events with governor whitmer, that plot on his governor and the lack of condemnation from the rub party, that seemed the deal for an all blue ballot for him. Take a listen to what he had to say. He feels he has the space to do that because republicans arent standing up saying, mr. President , this is completely unacceptable. This is unamerican. This is unacceptable. So voters like me who i think have gone from historically supporting republicans to ticket splitting to now saying, you know what, i just, if they were not going to criticize him, im not going to vote for them. Reporter and, chuck, that down ballots effect could be significant here. There is a Key Senate Seat that democrats need to hang on to and key congress am seat that democrats are trying to flip. So people are, the top of the ticket is impacting how voters are look down the ballot as well. That pretty significant here, chuck. No, that is the fear, republican strategists i talk to have. Its one thing to lose that suburban voter from the trump race. Its another thing to lose the suburban voter to the Democratic Party as a whole. I am curious, dasha, is it an outlier or are you running into a lot more hows . Reporter i am running into a lot more hows. Katie morse a mom of two who introduced our viewers to before, she is doing the same thing, voting blue. She has never done that before in her life. She never thought she would. I met the former director of the Christian Reform Church here, west michigan has a huge evangelical and christian reforms community and she is also planning to vote blue for the first time all the way up and down the ballot so this is a trend that i am seeing here from the voters that i have been talking to, chuck. Well, that may be why michigan does look a bit more out of reach for donald trump this time than it did four years ago. Dasha bushes, if kent county, thank you, enjoy those apple crisps, if you can get one. Joe biden cated he would share his position before election day whether he would admit more members to the Supreme Court. He did na with a caveat. Lets see how they treat this we go in depth on the war over the court, from amy to Robert Bourque and further back. We will take a deep dive over the institution shrouded in mystery. As frequent as a resilient institution. It probably helps they get to put on the robes and close the doors and most of the work they do, they do very quietly. They are not talking at us. They are not tweeting at us. They are not a part of our public life off in a very active way. There is still a tremendous sense of mystery about the work that theyre doing. And, frankly, a lot of the work they do in the end and indeed the damage that the Supreme Court does is not all that obvious to the American People. This weeks episode of meet the press reports stream it live or watch our past episodes. Binge away on peacock. Well be right back. Binge away on peacock. Well be right back. Al, al, this restaurant is committing to higher levels of cleanliness. The expertise that helps keep hospitals clean, is helping keep businesses clean too. Look for the ecolab science certified seal. Ithe first full prescriptionis pstrength nonsteroidal antiinflammatory gel. Available over the counter. Voltaren is powerful arthritis pain relief in a gel. Voltaren. The joy of movement. Tech every customer has their own safelite story. This couple was on a camping trip. When their windshield got a chip. They drove to safelite for a sameday repair. And with their insurance, it was no cost to them. Woman really . Tech thats service you can trust. 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Your family, my family, when they drink that coffee, and go man, thats a good cup, im proud because i helped make that cup. Welcome back, as we told you the latest surge of coronavirus is hitting the midwest especially hard. According to the case counts, 2500 new cases per day. North and south dakota getting hit hard. Sioux falls is a third of the total cases and deaths. Sioux falls had a outbreak earlier in the year, but it was from a pork plant. It is one of the times we learned how much danger the meat packing employees were in. The current cases are nearly double from what we first saw. Joining me now the is mayor. I want to ask you about this current spike. Im curious, the first one was pretty isolated to the meat packing plant. I think what were seeing right now in sioux is right now we see a lot of cases here, but were seeing a real increase in hospitalizations across the state. And there is certainly a fatigue setting in in this country and across the country. And what happens is diligence starts to go down. So that forced us to say how do we need to ramp up the messaging of the practices that we know mitigate the spread of the virus. You dont have a mask mandate. I know there are mcworkers that are pushing you to. Let me ask you in this way. Is the reason that you dont have one because it is politically so different . Or is it that you dont think you need one yet . Great question. It is complicated. About 80 of the inpatients in our hospitals, and it is important to understand the geographic information, the cases across the entire statement end up in our msra. So while the covid cases are fairly low, were seeing an increase in the deferred care cases. People with diabetic needs, people skipping medication, or theyre scared to come in for care. In addition we live in a state that you know it is a cowboy state and people value their freedoms and their personal lipperties here. And when the government comes in and says were requires you to do this, that is a tough sell, so i have to look at what can i do to influence that action without a mandate, and that is really modelling the way when i can, letting people know that this has an impact. It is interesting, is there a way of using it as a carrot and stick . Everything stays open if you wear a mask. The economy doesnt change as long as you wear a mask, why is that not an easy sell . Well, because, we have been open all along. Nothing has ever closed. People say we got this far, and they say we dont need it at this point. Were surging but it is maintainable. So enforcing government restrictions now is a nonstarter in the community right now. A very difficult and touchy stopic. More importantly than that, and you eluded to it, the politics of this virus and the politics of this is difficult for us at the local level. Were trying to do what is right in our little municipality. I hope you talked to fellow mayors, what you have just expressed i have heard from all political stripes. Theyre not used to this kind of culture war politics coming down there. Youre doing just the normal stuff and it made it very difficult. I hear you. I hope your constituents also here you. I appreciate you coming out. Go ahead, this is not an r d issue, this is about lives. Thats exactly right. Thank you all for being with us on this last hour. Meet the press will be on your local nbc station. We we have two weeks to go with the country going for the third coronavirus surge. Msnbc continues can katy turr after this break. Katy turr after this break parodontax is 3x more effective at removing plaque, the main cause of bleeding gums parodontax with the ninja foodito intelligesmart xl grill. Ing just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. 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It has easytouse tools and some of the lowest prices. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. Dont get mad. Vicks vapopatch. Easy to wear with soothing vicks vapors for her, for you, for the whole family. Trusted soothing vapors, from vicks but despite the rising pain and anguish made worse during the pandemic, Insurance Companies still refused to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Until now. Senator scott wiener went to work taking them on. Passing a law requiring the Insurance Industry to cover Mental Health and addiction treatment. Now more than ever, californians need mental Health Coverage. I wont let up until the stigma of Mental Health and addiction is finally over. Good afternoon, im katy tur. It is 2 00 p. M. In the west, and it is starting to feel like a president ial election is