Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20200509

Roof. And from that place, the president said this about the coronavirus, quote, i feel about vaccines the way i feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine, and were not going to see it again. And that is not true. As we go into this weekend with close to 80,000 dead in this country after we lost just under 2,000 people just today, it is more important than ever to point out this is not just going to go away. And from that same room, the president went on to say, some people dont want our country to come back for political reasons. Then he said, quote, the real people and he defined the real people as those who want this country to be great and great again. They want to get back, as he puts it. More on the president s comments in moments. But as we delve back into the real world now, we tested 300,000 people today in our country of 327 million, give or take. And the death toll tonight stands at 77,974. The state of georgia, the first state to undergo a socalled reopening, is currently seeing a 40 spike in coronavirus cases. This is the weekend, remember, so many states are poised to relax restrictions. Part of the president s campaign to reopen the country during an active pandemic. And on a day when we learned of a second positive case in the president s circle, in the west wing of the white house. More on that in a moment. But first here just for clarity is the president from today, again beneath the quote left behind for us all from john adams, the first president to live in the peoples house. I think some people dont want it really to come back for political reasons, which is sick. But the people, the real people, the people that want this country to be great and great again, we can say they want to get back. And were going to have embers. Were going to have fires. Were going to have things to put out, and well put them out. We learned a lot. You know, things that we had no idea two months ago, weve learned a lot over the last couple of months, and were going to do a job like nobodys seen before. I feel about vaccines like i feel about tests. This is going to go away. Well have flareups maybe. Maybe not, but according to what a lot of people say, we probably will. Well be able to put them out. And now to the damage that is behind the drive to come back. The virus has already wiped out a decade of job gains. Were now in the throes of the worst economic crisis since the great depression. The Labor Department says more than 20 Million People lost their jobs in april. Thats the largest onemonth drop in u. S. History. Unemployment rate has soared to 14. 7 , the worst since 1933 when it reached 25 . Just this morning, the president predicted a swift rebound. Those jobs will all be back, and theyll be back very soon. And next year were going to have a phenomenal year. That view is not shared by a lot of economists. As we mentioned, there is another case of coronavirus within the trump inner circle. The press secretary for mike pence, katie miller, today confirmed she tested positive one day after testing negative. She happens to be married to stephen miller, speechwriter and architect of the trump immigration policy. Tonight the white house said miller had tested for covid19 just yesterday we learned a military steward for President Trump had also tested positive. Tonight politico reports fda chief stephen hahn has tested negative after coming into contact with katie miller. But tonight we are told he is still quarantining nonetheless. Here is a photo from a pence event yesterday showing on the right an unmasked katie miller speaking to members of the traveling press corps. Trump said he hadnt come into contact with katie miller and said he and pence have both tested negative. Our Network Reports the white house has now adopted new measures to try to safeguard against further infections, including offering testing and Contact Tracing, exactly what so many municipalities would very much like to be able to do. Keep in mind only roughly 2. 5 of all americans have been tested. These new measures also include requiring white house staff who serve the president , who are close to him throughout the workday, to wear face coverings. Trump himself was again without a mask today while honoring world war ii veterans on this, the 75th anniversary of v. E. Day. The men in addition to be treasured american citizens also happen to be in a High Risk Group due to old age. Mr. President , you were with seven american heroes earlier today, these world war ii veterans. I was. All in their 90s. Did you consider wearing a mask when you were with them given no, because i was very far away. I appreciate the question. I was very far i would have loved to have gone up and hugged them because theyre great. I had a conversation with every one, but we were very far away. You saw. Plus the wind was blowing so hard and such a direction that if the plague ever reached them, id be very surprised. The wind was howling, and i didnt see anybody with masks. I dont know. Maybe there were. But they were they were great. I had conversations with them but, but i was standing as you noticed would you say i was quite far away . Meanwhile, the Associated Press has new information tonight on a story it broke yesterday regarding cdc advice on how states should begin reopening. The a. P. Says it has obtained internal government emails that say, quote, the decision to shelf detailed advice from the nations top Disease Control experts for reopening communities during the coronavirus pandemic came from the highest levels of the white house. Files also show that after the a. P. Reported thursday the guidance document had been buried, the Trump Administration ordered key parts of it to be fasttracked for approval. Our own network has not seen these emails, has not confirmed the a. P. Story. As we mentioned, most stating will be reopening in some form or fashion this coming weekend. As for new york, the epicenter of the pandemic in this country, the governor says finally the beast is on the run. The good news on the overall is were finally ahead of this virus. Numbers are coming down in new york. I get the emotion. Everybody would like to see everything reopen tomorrow. But you tell me what the virus is doing, you tell me the facts on the virus, ill tell you what we can do in terms of reopening. Here for our leadoff discussion on the last night of the week, john heilemann, National Affairs analyst, cohost of the circus on showtime, editor in chief over at the recount. Shannon pettypiece, veteran journalist, senior White House Reporter for us at nbc news digital. And we welcome to our broadcast neal irwin. He writes for the upshot, the times site for analysis of economics. Shannon, id like to begin with you. Now its close. Someone close to the president , someone close to the Vice President testing positive. The president , among all the staff members, refusing to wear a mask. Im tempted to ask what could go wrong, but mostly im tempted to ask how much closer does it need to get . Well, this is almost as close as it can get aside from being you know, having a member of his direct family infected. You know, the valet who we reported earlier on this week was infected was someone who is serving the president s meals, who was in very close contact, sources tell us, you know, throughout the day up until the day he was sick. Katie miller, the Vice President s spokesperson, is someone who is in on the Corona Task Force meetings, and the president and the Vice President said they dont have close contact with her. But you can see in that photo she was traveling with the Vice President just yesterday. So, you know, many of us have experienced this where someone in our family or someone in our workplace becomes infected, gets sick, and we know that feeling. Well, im told thats the feeling thats going on in the west wing right now, that things finally got real in the white house this week. And i dont think we know yet what the full changes and ramifications of that are going to be. But our reporting indicates that the president was very upset when he found out about one of his valets infected earlier this week, felt his staff wasnt doing enough to protect him, and now were seeing them put some measures in place like having staffers wear masks. And there were some reporters who were tested today, you know, one of the few times theyve actually made Testing Available to reporters. But i think next week were going to see a little bit more of what sort of implications this could have on the president s perspective on all of this. John, indeed it got worse tonight. Kaitlan collins over at cnn reporting that the personal assistant to ivanka has tested positive for covid19. The upshot is at least the white house can boast about having the best testing anywhere in the United States though, john, maskwearing has devolved like Everything Else into things red and things blue. Were seeing blind quotes emerge from the west wing this week that masks are for panicked liberals. Was this to be expected . 100 it was to be expected, brian. I think, you know, from the moment that the president that first time came out and said, back when the daily coronavirus briefings were happening and he was still attending them on a daily basis, he came out and said, you know, masks are a good idea. You should probably wear one, but im not going to. I think no one watching that day did not think to themselves this is going to lead to a bad place. The president , as you know having covered a lot of white houses, the president sets has authority of many, many kinds in the white house and the west wing, and one of them is the power of example. And when you see the president you listen if you work in that building and you listen to what the president says, you also watch what he does. I think especially in this west wing where the people there are although they often leak and they often backbite and they often back stab, i think as soon as they looked and saw he wasnt going to wear one, most of them were not going to wear them either. That of course, as you say, is part of a political, culture, ideological overlay around the country. But the price is now going to get paid. No one is immune to this virus youve pointed out a lot of times. The virus does not see red and blue, and the white house is learning that right now. Neal irwin, i have two questions for you right off the bat by way of welcoming you into our humble confines. Number one, how bad does this get . Im guessing everyone asks you some form of that question. And number two, how many of these jobs, to quote the great lyric, aint coming back . So this is extraordinarily bad. The unemployment numbers we got this morning are really the tip of the iceberg. These are numbers based on surveys from the second week of april. Thats already nearly a month ago. Its gotten worse since then. This is a catastrophe of unemployment across the United States. You know, you raised the question will these jobs come back, when, how . I think this is really not something that economists can answer. This really depends on two what degree can people feel safe going to work, going to stores, going to restaurants . And as long as thats not the case, were going to see depressed unemployment. We might see a little bounceback as some of the shutdowns ease in some states. But the idea this economy will be anything other than depressed as long as people dont feel comfortable engaging in the kind of routines of commercial is really a pipe dream and not how it works. And is there a percentage to put on these job losses that are, as economists like to say, hopefully temporary . So officially there are numbers. How many people think theyre temporarily employed, its Something Like 18 million out of the 20 Million People who are currently unemployed in this last report that came out this morning. The problem is in normal times, that means something. If people same, im just temporarily not working but i still have this job to go back to, but what we dont know is how many businesses wont exist in a few months if this goes on, and oum of these jobs people think they might be able to go back to are not going to exist if restaurants, you know, all kinds of organizations, companies go under or have to radically scale back from where they were just two months ago. And so i dont take a lot of solace in that. The white house did you know, theres some reason to think that 18 million out of the 20 million are just temporary, but these are not these are unusual times, and i think theres reason to think that this is going to be a more lasting kind of damage than weve seen in past recessions. So, shannon petty piece, from your Vantage Point covering this white house, what is left in the president s toolbox to other than talking up the economy, talking up, quote, getting back, especially since on the unemployment and death toll front, hes been of late using the scorsesen it is what it is. Well, i think that kind of hits the nail on the head where were in a stage where theres not that much the white house can do really. Of course everyone can come up with things they can do, but theyve pulled a lot of the big levers they can pull economically. Theres things talking about liability waivers, so giving companies protections so if they reopen and someone gets sick, they cant get sued. But thats not necessarily something they can do with an executive for the entire economy. Theres tax cuts. That seems to be the president s goto move. Lets cut the payroll tax. Lets cut Capital Gains tax. That requires congress. This administration has not shown they can bring people together and build bridges in congress to get a big piece of legislation passed. And on the front with the virus, you know, theyve shifted so much focus towards reopening the economy, you know, that i dont even really hear that much talk within the administration about what are we going to do to try and get these numbers down, these 25,000 cases that were still seeing, you know, give or take 1,000 every day. John heilemann, im going to read to you what matthew dowd tweeted earlier this afternoon, and i quote. Exactly what can the incumbent president run on . He cant run on the economy. He cant run on halt caealth ca. He cant run as a moral leader. He cant run on bringing the country together. He cant run on leaders he put in power. He cant run on justice. Exactly what can he run on . When i pose that question to someone already actively involved in the antitrump campaign effort, i got a twoword answer back, china and mexico. You concur . I do, brian. I think theres something close to that simple. You know, i think this is going to be this election was already setting up to be an election where donald trump was going to try to change the terms of the election from a pure referendum on himself into a choice between him and joe biden and then seek to disqualify joe biden. Thats the standard unpopular incumbents playbook. Its, you know, barack obama did it to mitt romney in 2012. George w. Bush did it to john kerry in 2004. Bill clinton did it to bob dole in 1996. Thats what he was going to do. Thats when he had a Strong Economy to run on. He duoesnt have that anymore, o now you have the same playbook except on the economic side, trump making some kind of hypothetical prospective, theoretical argument that as he says over and over again, i built the worlds greatest economy, and im the only one who can rebuild it. Thats one side of the argument. And the other side is joe biden is horrible. And a big chunk of that will be about china. You saw the president s ads this week, the big 10 million ad buy they did this week that is all focused on biden and china. But there will be other parts of the disqualification attempts on biden, many of them much more personal and many of them much more vicious than that. Neil irwin, the tell on when the president has learned a new phrase that has been said in his presence is he then uses it daily. Im going to play this for you, what he has learned to call the coming Third Quarter of 2020. I think that the Third Quarter, its obviously a transition quarter. The Third Quarter is transitional. Were transiting into, but its a very transitional ns going to be really terrific. A very strong transition. A big, beautiful, hopefully a very good transition, a very successful transition. A tremendous transition. You could almost say a transition into greatness. I call it the transition to greatness. But thats the slogan were going to use, transition to greatness. Neil, what is the Third Quarter looking like to you . So i there is a real possibility that were going to get a yoyo effect. So suppose you have something that its at 100 and it goes to 80 and then it comes back to 90. Going from 80 to 90 feels like a really big increase, but its still youre still way below where you were. Thats what we might have the second quarter. Thats the april, may, june quarter. Its going to be terrible, like horrendous numbers all across the board. There is a real possibility that in the Third Quarter, which is july, august, september, we kind of come back somewhat and we have that kind of yoyo effect that makes, you know, headlines in september, october, right before the election look like were getting some progress and getting a rebound. That said, the odds are that the economys going to be way below where it was before this all began and that were still going to be functioning at very high levels of unemployment, very low levels of gdp, and what were seeing is kind of a statistical artifact when these things bounce around. Thats not what the president means but i think thats what most economists who really look at this stuff carefully expect us to see over the months ahead. Our thanks to neil irwin, to shannon pettypiece, and john heilemann, always a valued member of this kitchen cabinet. Coming up, the coronavirus gets as close to the president and Vice President as you can get. Will that change anything . And later, the struggle over how and when to reopen things. Well hear from two mayors living it when we continue. Okay, where were we . Yeah, im done after this meeting. Were just going over how people who switch to progressive can save hundreds. Hey mara yeah jamies the guy running it. Mara, youre not on mute. I once had to fake jury duty to get out of talking about his yogurt preferences. Mara, you know youre not on mute, right . Oh, theres a mute button . Yeah, thats flo the one who looks like shed smile while she sleeps. Flo i always smile. Mara thats why i said that. Some because ourstop. Communities need you. Which is why were working to keep you working. And ready to dig in. To help you keep your properties and towns maintained. Your farm running. And construction moving. Your work is essential. Kubotas 1,100 dealers are behind you. Together we will get through this. Call or email your kubota dealer about 0 financing. No payments for 90 days offer expires 5 31. Together we do more. So i think by memorial day weekend, we will largely have this coronavirus epidemic behind us. That was just april 24th. The prediction probably not going to come true considering cases are on the rise across our country. As we wait for things to get better, twothirds of our nation agrees the country should not be reopened. This is according to latest polling. But behind the numbers, a stark partisan divide that will surprise no one. 92 of democrats agree an immediate opening is not worth sacrificing public safety. Only 35 of republicans agree with that. Back with us again tonight, dr. Vin gupta. Hes an e. R. Doc specializing in exactly these kinds of illnesses. Also an affiliate assistant professor with the university of washingtons department of Health Metrics sciences. So, doctor, we have two positive cases in the west wing. We learned tonight ivanka trumps personal assistant tested positive. If you were white house physician, a job where you, yes, take care of the staff but you basically have one patient, would you have that patient wearing a mask and taking greater precautions during the workday . Not only for the president s own health, which is important obviously to the entire country that the president remains healthy and safe, but also for him setting an example. We need the president to stop the mixed messages on masks. I appreciate the second you just had because you talked about these mixed messages. Vice president pence at mayo clinic. Senator paul the only senator in the entire chamber to test positive for covid19 comes back to capitol hill. Hes the only senator not to wear a mask. Governor dewine, great initial strength on masks for his reopening of ohio. Walked that back. We need, whether youre red or blue, doesnt matter. Masks, theres Science Behind it. Its a critical part of a return to normalcy strategy, and it starts with the president. I want to play for you and our audience a comment the president made today and have you react to it on the other side. I feel about vaccines like i feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine. Its going to go away, and its were not going to see it again hopefully after a period of time. What evidence have you seen that this is going to go away without a vaccine . I just rely on what doctors say. They say its going to go. That doesnt mean this year. It doesnt mean its going to be gone frankly by the fall or after the fall. But eventually its going to go away. The question is will we need a vaccine. At some point it will probably go away by itself. Doctor, is it going to go away by itself . Do we not need a vaccine . So the doctors that i listen to, the experts that i listen to is that it absolutely is not. First of all, brian, as we talked about, were flying in the blind. We have saliva testing now, thank god. Now well have home testing capabilities. Maybe were going to get to mass testing. That was a piece of great news. But were flying in the blind. And any forecasting model says, look, its going to take a while for us to get to herd immunity when most of the population we think will have been exposes. So when is that actually going to happen . Were not thinking until 2022 potentially. Were thinking social distancing may be required intermittently until then. Im not sure who the president is listening to when hes quoting these statements, but thats verifiably false. Im glad you mentioned the new saliva test, approved by the fda, proud to say developed at Rutgers University in new jersey. The question becomes whats the lag time to market, and whats behind the lag in all of our good intentions . We all want everyone, what the president said, everyone who wants a test can get a test. Where are we on that . Theres a lot there, brian. Number one, this is already commercial. So the question here is how quickly can he get it home . Theres going to be a few week lag until the regulatory process but thats great new. If youre in the right clinical setting, you could potentially get a saliva test now through this rutgers test. The big issue here, and this is a broader issue, is were still advocating for certain groups to get tested. You have to be symptomatic. Thats the guidance still for the saliva test symptoms. So as an icu doc, i have to still be symptomatic. If youre the press secretary for Vice President pence, it looks like you can get a test any day you want. So we need to widen the criteria for who gets tested whether its saliva at home or still that nasal swab test. We need to start expanding it to those who are asymptomatic but will be going to the workplace just because thats how were going to restart the American Economic engine, testing everybody. This is a great piece of news, and i suspect in the next two weeks, it will be scaled at home. Around here when we go about paging dr. Gupta, he responds. Dr. Gupta, thank you as always. Its always a pleasure. Coming up for us on this friday night, two mayors of two very different cities on opposite sides of our country, but they do share one thing in common. Well talk about that after this. Ter this what makes you, you . Your cells. Trillions of them. Thats why centrum contains 24 key nutrients to feed your cells, supporting your energy so you can take care of what matters most. Centrum. Feed your cells. Fuel your life. It means being there for each other. Thats why state farm is announcing the Good Neighbor Relief Program we know our customers are driving less, which means fewer accidents. So state farm is returning 2 billion dollars to auto policyholders for the period ending may 31st. And well continue making real time decisions to best serve you our customers. Because now, more than ever, being a Good Neighbor means everything. Like a Good Neighbor, state farm is there. Petsmart has everything your pet needs being a Good Neighbor means everything. Delivered directly to your door. Or save 10 when you buy online and pick up in store. Now with curbside pickup. Shop petsmart. Com or download our mobile app today. And sometimes, you can find yourself heading in a new direction. But when youre with fidelity, a partner who makes sure every step is clear, theres nothing to stop you from moving forward. A partner who makes sure every step is clear, this virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. With this virus still spreading in many places, today the mayor of boston, marty walsh, announced that all events that require a permit this summer, including parades, festivals, will be canceled. Smaller gatherings are going to be considered on a casebycase basis. Massachusetts has 75,000 confirmed cases and at least 4,700 deaths blamed on this virus. Over 10,000 of the cases are in boston proper. Across the country in the smaller yet hardhit city of gallup, new mexico, famously one of the stops on route 66, a lockdown is being slowly lifted. Roads into that city have been closed to nonresidents. Tonight theyre back open but with restrictions. The surrounding Mckinley County accounts for roughly 30 of all cases in the state. New mexico has over 4,600 confirmed cases, over 180 deaths thus far. We welcome tonight the mayors of both of these cities to our broadcast. Marty walsh of boston and louie bone ageeddy, mayor of gallup, new mexico. Mayor walsh, first to you. Theres no bruins. Theres no celtics. Theres no sox. At some point it must feel a little less boston every day. These decisions on public gatherings must be an extremely painful part of your job. They really are. I mean were entering into a time of the year that we didnt have a marathon, we didnt have a st. Patricks day parade. We have a lot and festivals and parades this time of year. The pride parade got canceled. So its going to be a long summer. Its been a long spring. But honestly with the coronavirus, its going to be a long summer here in boston, i think, when we dont have all these Great Outdoor events that we usually have. Mr. Mayor, i havent been to fenway since the game when don zimmer got tossed during the benchclearing braulg brawl, but its not a modern era stadium. How do you go back to sox games even socially distanced as a crowd . Ive been talking to sam kennedy, the president of the red sox, and theyre trying to figure out if baseball comes back and they do that, how do they do it. You know, its going to be complicated obviously. I think this is not going to disappear by memorial day. Were going to be dealing with the coronavirus, i think, for quite some time here, and i think its going to be very complicated for people to gather at fenway park or at the Boston Garden or maybe even football when football season starts in september. I think that, you know, for us its about testing. Its about metrics. Its about looking at how can we start to interact with people safely here in the long term. And i think that we still have a ways to go. Mayor, i watched some of the local coverage of your controversial decision out there to put roadblocks up and have members of your p. D. Try to catch people coming off the interstate, especially from coming in. I know youve decided to open the door a crack. What was Public Acceptance like in the end, and what data on the curve did you were you able to act on . Well, basically i have to give you the history of it in a sense. Gallup is such a unique community because we sit in the middle of about five Indian Reservati reservations. And what happens usually on the 1st of the month, which basically is the pay week, we get an influx of around 30,000 to 50,000 people coming into the community. And because of the numbers that have been showing up, were 30 of the total number of cases in new mexico. We knew that if we got that many people in at one time, that we would definitely have problems. So it was after conferring with our governor, governor lujan, the decision was lets close off lets close the city off and see if we can stop the spread of this epidemic. I know the last thing you want, mayor bonaguidi is, you know, to cut down on your tax base, shut down local businesses, harm local families. Are you confident now that you are open the door a crack that you can track these cases and stay on top of it . Well, hopefully thats the thing. Weve been watching the numbers on a daily basis. The biggest problem is the testing is so slow. The testing takes about 2 1 2 days, and wed love to test everybody in the area, but thats impossible. So the only thing else we can do basically is try and stop the spread. And we figure were the hot spot. So what were trying to do basically is keep it from going and spreading to the reservation, which i think at this point is very vulnerable. Marty walsh, you cant shut down the hub. You cant close down the city that youre the mayor of. The mayor of gallup raises the subject of testing. We said at the top of the broadcast tonight the white house can now claim the very best testing and Contact Tracing in all of the land. What is boston doing on making sure that if you live in southie or beacon hill, you can get a test on demand . Well, let me start by congratulating the mayor and complimenting him on doing some incredible work of keeping his residents safe. I think a lot of us have to make take drastic measures, and i commend him for it. In the city of boston, what were doing is we have 21 locations around the city now for testing, and our goal is to get to 1,500 tests per day. Were not there yet, but its something that we want to be able to do. We have about 10,700plus cases of coronavirus in the city of boston as of today. We have 496 people who have lost their life. So were dealing with quite a bit of virus here in boston, in massachusetts. Were number three in the country for positive cases, and were number three in the country for deaths. So we really have to as we think about reopening and phasing it in, we really have to think about massive testing, Antibody Testing and coronavirus testing. And its not just a onetime test. It might be multiple tests. So were ramping that up here in the city and doing the best we can. Were averaging about 30 of the people being tested are testing positive for coronavirus. And in the homeless population, weve tested almost 1,800 people, and were testing at about a 33 rate of positive. So we have some work to do still here in the city, and we have a lot more work before we can really move into the opening phase here. Well, hopefully tonight we have sparked a transcontinental mayoral friendship. Great thanks, gentlemen, for spending part of your time with us on a friday night. To the mayor of boston, marty walsh, to the mayor of gallup, new mexico, louis, bonaguidi, thank you, mayors, both of you, for coming on. Coming up, 75 years ago today, a different sort of enemy was defeated. Pulitzer prizewinning author jon meacham on the many historical parallels to what were going through as people today. Wayfair has way more ways to renovate your home, from inspiration to installation. Like way more vanities perfect for you. Nice. Way more unique fixtures and tiles. Pairing. Nice. Way more top brands in sinks and faucets. Way more ways to rule your renovation. Nice on any budget, with free shipping. Wayfair. Way more than furniture. Theyre going to be paying for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Tell me, what did verizon build their network for . People. And when peoples every day is being challenged. Thats when a Network Shows what its made of. Verizon customers are making an average of over 600 million calls and sending nearly 8 billion texts a day, every day. Businesses are using verizons added capacity to keep them connected with customers. And when people are dependin whatever it takes. Has been on essential businesses due to covid19 because we are an essential business. Helping you solve your changing communication and business challenges is our commitment. Were in this together. It was just a token of our appreciation. And because we know how tirelessly you work. It meant everything to have you stop by. For the past two weeks, our incredible crew proudly served more than 10 million thank you meals to firstresponders and healthcareworkers. It was an honor to meet you. An honor to thank you. And it was our honor to serve you. I learned a lot from Richard Nixon. Dont fire people. I learned a lot. I study history, and the firing of everybody i should have in one way, but im glad i didnt because look at the way it turned out. Theyre all a bunch of crooks, and they got caught. But i learned a lot by watching Richard Nixon. And that, we thought, called for a visit from president ial historian and pulitzer prizewinning biographer jon meacham. He is the host of a wonderful new podcast called hope flew history, a fivepart documentary series exploring other trying times in American History, how we as a nation dealt with those crises like the episode i listened to last night on polio. Jon, the president says he studies history. The tell usually is something new introduced into his life is something he immediately mentions and then mentions several times again. What would you correct perhaps about his view of Richard Nixon . Well, im not sure nixon is if youre an american president facing an extraordinary problem, nixon is probably not the most reassuring place to go given what happened in august of 1974. So id start there. The other thing that just to take him seriously briefly, the thing we remember about president nixon, an immensely complicated man, that is almost universally acknowledged to be a great achievement was his going to china, opening the negotiations in 71, going in june of 72. If you hate Richard Nixon, you appreciate that he did that. What he did that, he was running against his entire political career. He was challenging the conservative base, the Orange County base of the republican party, the Cold War Base that had put him in power. And we remember president s most favorably not when they simply give their base what they want but when they challenge those assumptions and actually move the arc of history. And so to me its fascinating that he would look at nixon or talk to roger stone actually, to tell you the truth, thats what i thought, is that hes talked to stone at some point this week because of roger stones he actually has a nixon tattoo on his back. So if theres yes, he does. We would have seen the tell. Jon, because im the type to listen to your podcast with great interest, it wont surprise you to learn i made a list today of lets call them the darkest months in American History in a centurys time. I put down the december of 41, september of 01, and the most recent entrant we have to say is april of 2020. In one months time, we lost over 67,000 souls and 20 million jobs. But on this 75th v. E. Day anniversary, your task tonight as is your charge in this podcast series, remind us how we got through the other stuff. Blood, sweat, toil, and tears as churchill said when he became Prime Minister in may of 1940, another one of those months that changed everything. It wasnt easy. Its never been easy. To look back is not to be nostalgic. Its not to look back and sort of see Lowell Thomas and the march of time as if everything were inevitable. Its to remind us that people in the past felt faced seemingly insuperable obstacles before and overcame them. World war ii is the defining drama in many ways of western life certainly, global life in so many ways. But remember, we didnt get in you wrote down the month, december 1941. Hitler invaded poland on se, 1939. There were 80 of americans didnt want to even sell weapons to europe. Charles lindbergh was the head of something that a phrase that has new resonance, america first. We got in the war after we were attacked by japan and after hitler declared war on us. Its one of the great things to remember was that churchill, i think, had it exactly right when he said that you can always count on the americans to do the right thing once theyve exhausted every other possibility. And we were dragged into that. We did the right thing, but we did it. I think the lesson of the moment is we dont know the lesson yet. But we do know this, is that its going to require a kind of Marshall Plan of testing and rebuilding out of this. Jon meacham, the new host of a quarantine essential podcast along with all of his other writing. Jon, our thanks as always. Coming up for us on a friday night, an unfortunate consequence of covid19 on a specialty industry with an enthusiastic Consumer Base when we come back. We hope you find our Digital Solutions helpful to bank safely from home. Deposit a check with your phone or tablet. Check balances, pay bills, transfer money and more. Send money to people you know and trust with zelle. Stay safe. Stay home. Together, well get through this. Pnc bank daddy, i found you good job. Now im gonna stay here and you go hide. Watch your favorites from anywhere in the house with the Xfinity Stream app. Free with your xfinity service. Now any room can be a tv room. Stream live tv, on demand shows and movies, even your dvr recordings. Download the Xfinity Stream app today to stream the entertainment you love. A devastating trickledown effect of this coronavirus for beer lovers. Think about it. With most bars and restaurants still shuttered, think of the beer industry. Their product goes bad. Its sitting in kegs in those bars and restaurants. Think about sports arenas. Its a product thats been separated from its potential consumers, and in many cases it has to now be destroyed. Its bad for the big brands, yes. Its especially bad for craft brewers. We get our report on this tonight from nbc news correspondent morgan chesky. Reporter poured and stored in kegs all across the country, a growing dilemma for americas brewmasters. As a small craft brewer, the covid19 crisis hit us pretty hard. Reporter the shutdown gutted more than half his business overnight. One of the things about beer and especially craft beer is that its a perishable product. Its, you know, not unlike your loaf of bread that youd buy at the grocery store. There is a shelf life on it. Reporter with craft beer lasting one to three months, almost all of the nations 7,000 craft breweries are approaching their final pour. At wild acre brewery in fort worth, pale ales and pilsners now piling up without a soul to sip. That pipelines shut off. Youre just kind of stuck with what you have. Reporter how much do you have . More than we need. Reporter way more. And what hurts even worse is what comes next. When you cant take beer to market for a couple of months, that leads to unfortunately the dumping of beer. Reporter a sobering scene straight out of 1920s prohibition. From coast to coast, countless pints poured out and dumped. Its unfortunate that we have to do it, but we really have no choice, and it sucks. Reporter if the bars and restaurants dont reopen fast enough, local brewers like wild acre could be in trouble. A nationwide survey shows up to half of all small breweries could have to shut their doors in the next three months. In south carolina, aptly named liability brewing dumping 270 kegs if business doesnt pick up. The lost beer is worth about 70,000. Back in texas, a brandnew problem. The city water supply cant take just gallons and gallons of beer going down into the sanitary sewer. The Water Treatment plants wont be able to handle this. Reporter with draft beer headed down the drain, the only hope left lies in consumers grabbing a cold one. We have a bottling line and a canning line so, you know, at least we can get beer to grocery stores, and we did get our ppp loan thankfully in the second round. So hopefully that will give us some runway here in the short time when we kind of figure out how this is all going to shake out. Reporter until then, no shortage of liquid courage here. Morgan chesky, nbc news, dallas. More proof that everywhere you look, this has affected our life. Coming up, a final word about the significance of today. Just ask the people who were around to see it back then. Get, a lot goes through your mind. With fidelity wealth management, your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. Thats the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management. Confident financial plans, calming financial plans, complete financial plans. 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We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing. Today is victory in europe day. Last thing before we go tonight, the generation that came before us walked around knowing this date as v. E. Day. People wept at the news. Newspaper front pages brought out their tallest typefaces. And while the grinding hot, brutal Pacific Campaign dragged on, we knew having beaten the germans that the japanese were next. Heres how it was covered for movie newsreel audiences in this country. Throughout the world, throngs of people hailed the end of the war in europe. It is five years and more since hitler marched into poland, years full of suffering and death and sacrifice. Now the war against germany is won. A grateful nation gives thanks for victory. Hundreds of thousands crowd into american kroichurches to give ts to god. President truman announced the official surrender. This is a solemn but glorious hour. I wish that franklin d. Roosevelt had lived to see this day. Fdr had just died on april 12th. Vj day, the japanese surrender, which meant peace on earth at lost languast, that didnt arri until august 15th. And proof that politics has always been cruel. Winston churchill was voted out of office two months after leading Great Britain to victory over the nazis and saving his island nation. Finally and just for contrast, look at this. This is our life now. Having saved the world and vanquished tyranny, this is times square on the 75th anniversary of ve day because were fighting our own battle now. And you have to wonder what would ike or winston or franklin or harry make of us right now . That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. Have a good weekend. Please be well. Be safe. We need you back here next week. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night from our temporary field headquarters. Thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. Happy to have you here, especially on a friday night. And for your troubles, as a reward for you being here on a friday night, i would like to thank you for being here by