Transcripts For MSNBCW Way Too Early With Kasie Hunt 20201026

Georgia in this final week . Plus, the president continues to say were rounding the corner on the pandemic, despite the u. S. Reporting its highest numbers of new covid cases yet. The question is, will hospitals be able to make it through the winter . And another outbreak at the white house, this time in the Vice President s office, with a close contact to mike pence testing positive. The question is, should pence be quarantined . Its definitely way too early for this. Good morning, and welcome to way too early, the show that continues to lift up the medical teams on the front lines. Thank you. Im kasie hunt on this monday, october 26th. Well start with the news. The white house is dealing with another outbreak of covid19. Five of Vice President mike pences aides have tested positive for the virus, including his chief of staff, marc short. The Vice President s office said in a statement saturday night that short began quarantine and that he was cooperating with contact tracing. A source also tells nbc news that pences senior political adviser, marty obst has also tested positive. The Vice President has tested negative and will continue to travel for the campaign. He held a rally in North Carolina yesterday. His office said in a statement, while Vice President pence is considered a close contact with mr. Short, in consultation with the white house medical unit, the Vice President will maintain his schedule, in accordance with the cdc guidelines for essential personnel. Those guidelines say a 14day stayathome order is not required for essential workers. Two people briefed on the matter tell the New York Times that the white house chief of staff, mark meadows, had sought to keep the news of the outbreak from becoming public. In a heated interview yesterday with cnns jake tapper, white house chief of staff meadows told viewers, meanwhile, that the administration is simply not trying to control the pandemic. Heres what we have to do. Were not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics, and other mitigation why arent we going to get control of the pandemic . Because it is a contagious virus, just like the yeah, but why not make efforts to contain it . Well, we are making efforts to contain it by running all over the country not wearing a mask . Thats what the Vice President s doing. Pretty stunning admission. Democratic president ial candidate joe biden later responded in a statement that read in part, the administration has given up on even trying to control this pandemic, that theyve given up on their basic duty to protect the american people. This wasnt a slip by meadows. It was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trumps strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasnt, and it wont. As she arrived for a Campaign Event in detroit, Vice President ial candidate Kamala Harris also commented on the meadows remark. They are admitting defeat. And ive been saying that and joe biden has been saying that since the beginning. This is the greatest failure of any president ial administration in the history of america. Meadows later said on cnn that the administration is making efforts to contain the virus but that what is important is to to make sure people dont die from this. That would be why we would work on containing the virus. As the white house scrambles to contain the pandemic or i guess not the u. S. Faces one of the most severe surges of the virus to date. On saturday, nearly 84,000 new cases were reported, marking the second day in a row that the country topped 80,000 daily infections. The spike broke the singleday record set on july 16th by about 10,000 cases. Meanwhile, dozens of states have seen a sevenday average of more than 100 new cases per 100,000 people. Hospitals are overwhelmed with some in crisis, especially in rural areas. Experts say that the new wave of infections is only expected to worsen as winter draws closer. Since the pandemic began, the u. S. Has confirmed over 8. 7 million cases and more than 226,000 deaths. Amid those spiking numbers, the president mocked news outlets over the weekend for their coverage of the virus and repeated his false claim that the increase in cases is just due to an increase in testing. Thats all i hear about now. Thats all i hear. Turn on television. Covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid. A plane goes down. 500 people dead. They dont talk about it. Covid, covid, covid, covid. By the way, on november 4th, you wont hear about it anymore. Covid covid please, dont go and vote. Covid. Please, do not, under any circumstance you cannot go out and vote. Except the problems are that in florida, the people that are going out to vote, nobodys ever seen anything like it, because theyre tired of all of this stuff. Theyre tired of such negativity. Hey, by the way, i had it. Here i am. I mean, you know. Here i am. Mr. President , there are some cases of coronavirus cases rising in wisconsin. You use the word cases. You know why there are so many cases . Because we test. Because we test more than any country, any country in the world. Nobody tests like us. Cases. Everybody uses the word cases. Mortality way down. Way down. And a lot of those cases that youre talking about are young people, very young people that get better 99. 9 . They get better almost immediately. No, use the word case because youre trying to scare people. Dont scare people. Dont scare people. And at the white house on friday, the president once again mocked Reuters White House correspondent jeff mason for wearing a mask during a phone call with israeli Prime Minister benjamin netanyahu. This is jeff mason. Hes got a mask on thats the largest mask i think ive ever seen. So i dont know if you can hear him. Meanwhile, as the country faces what the experts are calling a third wave of the kroevd 19 outbreak, as we just outlined, theres a new study that roughly estimates more than 500,000 people could die from the pandemic by the end of february, even with social distancing mandates reinstated in most states. According to the Research Published in the journal nature medicine, nearly 130,000 of those deaths could be prevented with universal maskwearing. This comes as the trump administration, as you just saw in that clip, continues to undermine the importance of masks, even mocking people who wear them. Just last week, twitter removed a tweet from dr. Scott atlas, who has become one of the most important members of the president s Coronavirus Task force, for spreading misinformation after he claimed that masks are ineffective. Joining us now, the author of the Washington Posts earlymorning newsletter power up, jacqueline alemany. Jacqueline, thank you very much for being here. I hardly know where to start this morning. We are just over a week until election day. Millions of people have already voted. We know that the president told bob woodward back in february that he tried to downpolay the virus from the beginning. Now an acknowledgement from mark meadows that theyre not even trying to contain it at this point. Theyre just hanging their hopes on getting a vaccine. I think all of us have read through those stories and listened to enough experts to know its unlikely any vaccine would be widely available until at least the middle of next year. I guess the question is, why . Why handle this, this way, especially with people voting . Its a referendum on this president s handling of this. Youre exactly right, kasie. And what were hearing from this administration is yet again them saying the quiet part out loud. Weve been reporting for weeks now, months, perhaps, that the administration had essentially been trying to put the pandemic behind them and had sort of raised the white flag and just wanted to move forward and reopen and deal with the deaths. And now youre hearing mark meadows go out and explicitly say that on television. But this strategy is baffling to people close to the president , outside advisers, campaign advisers, people who wanted the president to change tact after he came down with covid19 himself. If you look at the president s numbers, americans overwhelmingly disapprove of his handling of the pandemic. And you know, politics aside, 200,000 more people are expected to die. So, regardless of who wins in november, contrary to what the president says, were going to be continuing to hear about the coronavirus, no matter what. But this is, you know, the white house simply doubling down on their strategy that has not worked, flouting cdc guidelines, and its drawing even more of a contrast to the way the Biden Campaign is handling the coronavirus. Yeah, well, to that very point, mike pence, as we laid out, has an outbreak in his office, and he is going to continue to travel on the campaign trail, calling himself an essential worker. Thats a strong contrast from how the Biden Harris Campaign handled it when several of Kamala Harris staffers tested positive or i guess i should say two one particularly close staffer, where she stayed off the campaign trail long enough to make sure she didnt have it. Theres now concerns about whether or not pence is going to go down to the floor of the senate to preside over the vote tonight on Amy Coney Barrett. Whats the thinking in the Vice President s office . And what are you hearing about why he would continue to do this, even when its not how americans are being told to handle themselves if they were to run into a similar problem . Well, to begin with, the Vice President s office and the president s chief of staff, mark meadows, wanted to suppress this information because they knew it would only just highlight the administrations failure to contain the pandemic, the white house being a microcosm of the larger problem, that not even in their own backyard could they control this outbreak. But you know, the Vice President s closest advisers, people who spend every single day with him, who a lot of the times arent wearing masks, are in close quarters, travel with him all the time his body man that is the person who is always with him, as much as his wife is, have come down with the coronavirus. And yet, the Vice President is explicitly flouting cdc guidelines that are in place for a reason, where, even if you are testing negative for the virus, you have to quarantine for 14 days because there is an asymptomatic period where you perhaps dont test positive for the virus, in order to protect the people around you. Instead, we are seeing rinse and repeat. This Vice President , as you said, potentially going to the capitol today. The white house potentially planning a celebration for the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett in an outdoor ceremony. That sounds pretty familiar. I feel like weve heard about what happens with those kinds of things recently at the white house. And again, you know, i was on the campaign trail in philadelphia last week at president obamas rally for joe biden, and the contrast couldnt be more clear. These are drivein rallies that the Biden Campaign is holding. They are limited amount of people. Everyone has to stay in their car with maximum social distancing. And this is exactly the opposite of what the president and the Vice President are doing and are going to do through election day. A party for Amy Coney Barretts confirmation makes you just wonder, have we learned nothing, really . The Washington Posts jacqueline alemany, thank you so much for getting up early with us. Always great to have you. Still ahead on this monday morning, today the full senate is scheduled to vote on Amy Coney Barretts Supreme Court confirmation. Were going to have a preview of that. Plus, with eight, just eight days left until the election, were breaking down new battleground polling that shows President Trump and joe biden in a dead heat in several key states. Those stories and a check on your weather when we come right back. Er when we come right back we are the thrivers. Women with metastatic breast cancer. Our time. For more time. Has come. Living longer is possible and proven in postmenopausal women taking kisqali plus fulvestrant. In a clinical trial, kisqali plus fulvestrant helped women live longer with hr , her2 metastatic breast cancer. And it significantly delayed disease progression. Kisqali can cause lung problems or an abnormal heartbeat, which can lead to death. It can cause serious skin reactions, liver problems, and low white blood cell counts that may result in severe infections. Tell your doctor right away if you have new or worsening symptoms, including breathing problems, cough, chest pain, a change in your heartbeat, dizziness, yellowing of the skin or eyes, dark urine, tiredness, loss of appetite, abdomen pain, bleeding, bruising, fever, chills, or other symptoms of an infection, a severe or worsening rash, are or plan to become pregnant, or breastfeeding. Avoid grapefruit during treatment. Ask your doctor about living longer with kisqali. burke stomer happy anniversary. customer for what . burke every year youre with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. Its a policy perk for being a farmers customer. customer do i have to do anything . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer nothing . burke nothing. customer hmm, that is really something. burke you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. See ya. kid may i have a balloon, too . burke sure. Your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right . We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum burke start with a quote at 1800farmers. Had a real hard time reaching that slidercutter away. Because of the style hitting he has and the angle of which kershaw comes after you as a lefthander. Heres the runner coming to the plate, and he is tagged out time now for sports. Dodgers ace Clayton Kershaw with that Quick Reaction to get out of a jam in the bottom of the fourth inning, cutting down the runner in a rare attempt to steal home on his way to defeating the rays for the second time in six days last night. L. A. s mookie betts and cory seger sparked a tworun first inning. Joc pederson and max muncy homered off starter tyler glasnow, and the dodgers are now on the verge of their first world series title since 1988 after a 42 victory in game five. Time now for weather. Lets go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. Bill, happy monday good to see you. Hi, kasie. Its a crazy weather monday. The weekend was nuts in areas of the west with the cold and the snow, but we have to start with the tropics, because we have a potential hurricane heading for louisiana again. This is like the fifth time this hurricane season. Its insane. So, lets get to it. This is Tropical Storm zejda, heading for the yucatan. This is the new update from the National Hurricane center. And the forecast of zeta will take it out over the warm waters of the gulf, which still at this time of the year is pretty warm, as a hurricane. Wednesday afternoon into wednesday evening, this is heading for areas of eastern louisiana, possibly towards new orleans. Its not going to be a major hurricane like a category 3, 4, or 5, but it should be a possible category 1 or a strong Tropical Storm. So, its still going to be an impact. Well still have Power Outages and storm surge issues, and of course, the rain that will come with it. Again, thats wednesday afternoonevening, heading towards the new orleans area. Then this storm will rain itself out as it races through the southeast and through the midatlantic region, right over the top of possible washington, d. C. And the big story, besides the landfall, will be the rain from this storm. Look at this rain forecast, all the way from the plains to the midatlantic as we go throughout this week. Now lets talk snow. Look at denver. Right now in denver, the snow is ending. It is 8 degrees, with a negative windchill in denver. It is crazy. Boulder had about 8 inches of snow. We have winter storm warnings and advisories for 21 million people, including west texas and areas of new mexico. Kasie, this isnt just your earlyseason cold and snow. This has been record cold, and in some cases, record snow throughout areas of the west. Thankfully, it gets a little quieter as we go throughout this week. Brr that sounds awful i know. Its only october still. It is. It is awfully early. Bill karins, thank you, i think, for that pile of bad news . Well keep an eye on it. Well see you tomorrow. Maybe things will look a little better then. Still ahead here, the New York Times is out with its latest reporting on the president s finances, and it seems much of trumps Charitable Giving didnt actually come out of his own pocket. Were back in just a moment. Of. Were back in just a moment. Youre strong. You power through chronic migraine 15 or more headache days a month,. Each lasting 4 hours or more. Botox® prevents headaches in adults with chronic migraine. So, if you havent tried botox® for your chronic migraine,. Check with your doctor if botox® is right for you, and if samples are available. Effects of botox® may spread hours to weeks after injection. Causing serious symptoms. Alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing,. Speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness. Can be signs of a lifethreatening condition. Side effects may include allergic reactions. Neck and injection site pain. Fatigue, and headache. Dont receive botox® if theres a skin infection. 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Prevagen. Healthier brain. Better life. Welcome back to way too early. Lets look at whats driving the day here in washington. President trumps Supreme Court pick Amy Coney Barretts final confirmation vote is this evening. 5148 was the vote that picked up support from Lisa Murkowski of alaska, who originally said she wouldnt vote in favor of her because of the rush toward confirmation before the november election. Now, the only republican expected to vote against barrett is senator Susan Collins of maine, whos in a tough race for reelection. The final confirmation vote for barrett is expected tonight, putting her in a position for her first full day as a justice, as early as tomorrow. Meche, latest installment of the New York Times series on President Trumps tax returns reveals that his Charitable Givings appear largely selfserving. Are you surprised . According to the times, the president s financial records show much of his charitable commitments came from land deals designed to offset his income. The paper writes that the vast bulk of his charitable deductions, 119 million worth, came from simply agreeing not to develop land, in several cases after he had already abandoned the project. Three of the agreements involved are what are known as conservation easements, which allow a land owner to keep a propertys title and receive a Tax Deduction equal to its appraised value. In the fourth land deal, mr. Trump donated property for a state park. Two of the most recent easement deductions are being investigated by new York Attorney general letitia james, as part of a broader probe into whether the Trump Organization inflated the value of properties to get larger tax breaks. Eric trump was recently deposed in that case. And in response to questions from the times, Trump Organization spokeswoman Amanda Miller said, President Trump was not involved in the appraisals mentioned, which were done by the most respected appraisal and Brokerage Company in the country. The times also reports the trump tax records show much of his charity came when he was, quote, under duress, facing damage to his reputation or big tax bills in years of high income. Okay. Still ahead here, President Trump and joe biden are down to their final full week of campaigning before the november election. Nbcs mike memoli joins us with a look at what the former Vice President and his team have in store this week. But before we go to break, we want to know, why are you awake . Email your reasons for being up with us to waytooearly msnbc. Com or drop me a tweet kasie. Use waytooearly, and we will read the best answers coming up later on in the show. He best an later on in the show nice. This is the new buick . 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Xfinity home gives you peace of mind from anywhere with professionally monitored Home Security built around you. No, i think were good. Good. So when youre away, you dont have to worry. The tent. We forgot. The tent. Except about that. Xfinity home. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Hey look, i found the tent get xfinity home with no Term Contract required. Click or call today. With two new haunted houses, the screams are just getting started. Wear your favorite costumes and the fun never ends. Come get your halloween on, happening now at universal orlando resort. Welcome back to way too early its 5 30 on the east coast, 2 30 out west. Im kasie hunt. The newest battleground state polling shows dead heats in basically every race eight days out from election day. In texas, the latest Dallas Morning News ut tyler poll shows biden up by three, within the margin of error, over President Trump, 48 45 . In North Carolina, latest cbs news yougov shows biden ahead by four, also within the margin of error, 51 47 . In florida, the same poll shows biden ahead by two, within the margin of error, 50 48 . In georgia, the two are tied at 49 apiece. And in montana, the latest the New York Times Sienna College poll shows President Trump ahead by six, 49 43 . Joining us now from wilmington, delaware, nbc news correspondent mike memoli. Mike, good morning thank you so much for getting up early with us on this last full week before the election. Good morning. I sort of cant believe were already here. Oh, my gosh. Its felt very short and very long at the same time. So, lets talk about what the Biden Campaigns doing in the final week, because theyre campaigning in georgia and texas. Can you explain . I mean, is that because they think that those two states are truly up for grabs . Are they trying to send a message of strength . Like, walk us through the strategy. Yeah, kasie. I think its confidence, guarding against complacency, though. What did we see in terms of the former Vice President s schedule just this past weekend . He was in pennsylvania. It was the tenth trip hes made to pennsylvania since the Democratic National convention. Thats the most visited state, very close to home, but also really, the sort of checkmate state as far as the Biden Campaign is concerned. So, one of the, you know, regular battlegrounds. Thats where donald trump is going to be today. Theyve always had their eye on that. But yes, they are looking at what the campaign has called these expansion states arizona, texas, and georgia, the states that have been reliably red in recent elections and where theyre focused this week. Dr. Jill biden is going to be in georgia today. And biden will be there tomorrow. Hes going to be delivering what the campaign is billing as sort of a major closing argumenttype speech in warm springs, georgia, with some historical significance there, reaching back to fdr. Biden has been likes to quote fdr on the campaign trail in sort of highlighting the contrast between him and President Trump. President trump, as he casts Vice President biden does, trying to paint a rosy picture of reality, but fdr, as he said just in the debate on thursday night, somebody who always told it straight to the american people. And so, biden setting up a speech tomorrow on which hes going to lay out very clearly the stakes of the election and the dire future in the coronavirus still ahead. I think were all kind of thinking, mike, about what Election Night is going to look and feel like, and particularly, whether or not were going to know an outcome on that night. Whats the Biden Campaigns current thinking about whether that is something that they think is a possibility . And how are they preparing for a drawnout possible fight, especially in the state of pennsylvania, which seems to be kind of coming to the center of that storm . Yeah, you know whats so fascinating . If you spend any time in Pennsylvania Media markets, youll notice, of course, a deluge of campaign ads from both sides, but the kinds of ads youre seeing from the Biden Campaign are what you would call voter education. The one i saw just this morning is typical of what theyve been airing, which is explaining how to vote, explaining the voter options. This late in a campaign, thats something remarkable. But the Biden Campaign, i think if the results in these polling numbers, and of course, theyre very skeptical of them, but they have their own internals that they trust they think that theres a real possibility that we may not declare a winner on Election Night, but if you can call a big state, like a florida, North Carolina, or arizona, and maybe even a texas, then well know who the president of the United States is going to be. And then you would look to see, i think, joe biden come out very quickly, give a message of reassurance to the country, maybe not declaring victory himself, but trying to get ahead of what they are worried, of course, they might see on the part of President Trump, maybe him declaring an early victory. But you know, kasie, they have armies of lawyers, they have a team of Voter Protection all over the country, in every key state, also in senate race states that arent necessarily president ial battlegrounds. Democrats are taking this very seriously, and theyre going to be hard at work throughout election day, but also watching those counts in the days afterwards. For sure. I mean, the biden a potential biden presidencys going to look a lot different if he has democrats controlling the senate versus republicans. Nbcs mike memoli, thank you so much, my friend. I really appreciate it. I know youve got a long week ahead. Still ahead here, weve got a look at some of the best moments from this past weekends new episode of saturday night live, including the casts take on the final president ial debate. Thats next in the cooler. Way too early back in just a moment. Early back in just a moment who has time for wrinkles . Neutrogena® rapid wrinkle repair®. Weve got the retinol that gives you results in one week. Not just any retinol. Accelerated retinol sa. For not only smoother skin in one day, but youngerlooking skin in just one week. And thats clinically proven. 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Wind kills all the birds, chops them right up like a magic bullet, turns them into bird guacamole, okay . It makes golf shots go bad, and sometimes it gets real fast and turns into a twister and throws a cow right on top of helen hunt. Wow. Wow. Okay. Thank you, mr. President , for sharing your poem about wind. My friend, kristen welker, played there by maya rudolph. Its time now to gather around the water cooler for things that are going to have people talking today. Alec baldwin, and jim carrey, as you saw, were back on snl over the weekend, playing President Trump and joe biden for their final debate covered everything from health care to Climate Change and even included a special appearance from president ial lawyer rudy giuliani. Youre in trouble now, biden, because rudys got a lot of sane and coherent information. It looks really bad for you, joe. Tell them, rudy. Get ready for this truth bomb. Your son, hunter, got 3 million from moscow and his friend, tony, has emails right there on the wet laptop from hell and our eyewitness say everything, and he is blind got that . Singer adele hosted the show for the firmt, and even though she wasnt the musical guest, she did sing a few of her hits. Yeah, not even sure i really like you that much. If it works out, it works out. Hey, can i steal him for a sec . Theres a fire starting in my heart reaching a fever pitch and its bringing me out of the dark who doesnt love adele . Awesome. Meanwhile, this story. I love this story. A farmer in italy was surprised when his dog gave birth to a litter of four white puppies and one green one. The tint is believed to happen when a palecolored puppy comes into contact with a green p pigment, during gestation. It happens very rarely. They instantly named the green puppy pistachio. While pistachios green tint will fade as he gets older, the farmer said that green is the color of hope and luck, and that maybe he was meant to put a smile on peoples faces. I think we could all use both of those things right now. Pistachios 3wr09brothers and ss will be sent to good homes, while he will stay on the farm to help herd sheep. Good luck to pistachio. Meanwhile, election day just eight days away, and early voting is in full swing. And while many people here on earth are standing in very long lines, one american is doing her civic duty in a very out of had i world way. Nasa astronaut kate rubins is currently aboard the International Space station, and she made her voice heard in this election. Nasa tweeting, i voted today over a picture of rubins floating outside the space stations voting booth. The 2020 election marks the second time rubins has voted from space. The astronaut told the Associated Press before blasting off, i think its really important for everybody to vote. If we can do it from space, then i believe folks can do it from the ground, too. She is right if you havent already voted, vote make a plan. Get it done. There are only eight days left. Still ahead here, the record early vote totals that show many of you are voting, show democrats dominating initial balloting eight days away from the election. And as we go to break, weve got a look back at this date in history. In 2001, president george w. Bush signed the patriot act, giving authorities unprecedented abilities to search, seize, detain, or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists. Today we take an essential step in defeating terrorism, while protecting the Constitutional Rights of all americans. With my signature, this law will give intelligence and Law Enforcement officials important new tools to fight a present danger. Ant new tools to fight a present danger we live in uncertain times. However, there is one thing you can be certain of. The men and woman of the United States postal service. We are here to deliver your cards, packages and prescriptions. And also deliver the peace of mind knowing that whats important to youlike your ballotis on its way. Every day, all across america, we deliver for you. And we always will. Its our most dangerous addiction. And to get the whole world clean . That takes a lot more than an alternative. So we took our worst vice, and turned it into the dna for a better system. Materials made from recycled plastic woven and molded into all the things we consume. We created bionic and put the word out with godaddy. What will you change . Make the world you want. Welcome back. More people have already cast ballots in the 2020 president ial election than voted early or absentee in 2016. With eight days still left in this election season. With the opening of early voting and the Large Population states of florida and texas added to the ballots of states already in their second or third weeks of early voting, almost 59 million early voters across the nation have already cast their ballots. The Associated Press logged a total of 58 million early or absentee ballots in 2016. Democrats initially dominated the early voting, but republicans are joining them in long lines and chipping away at that lead. Texans have already cast 7 million more votes than anywhere else in the country, according to the ap, with long lines in every part of the state all week. Texans are now 80 of the way to all the votes that were cast in that state in 2016, including electionday votes, increasing democrats hope that republicans dominance in the lonestar state may finally be over. Democrats are maintaining a large lead in early voting in six battleground states. And according to politico, theyre also turning out more lowfrequency voters than in past years. Joining us now, president of people for the american way, ben jealous. He is a former president and ceo of the naacp. Good morning. Its so great to have you on the show this morning. We really appreciate you getting up early with us. Lets start with these early voting questions, and particularly among communities of color. I mean, we know that Hillary Clinton struggled to turn out particularly black voters in a way that we didnt completely expect in 2016. And now, with the pandemic, we know that black communities are some of those most affected, most challenged by all of the Health Disparities and other problems that were dealing with. How are you working on trying to make sure people can exercise their right to vote and will actually turn out this time around . You know, that turnout question is key. And it actually you know, if you look at 2018, Stacey Abrams and mr. Dylan in florida would both be governor right now in georgia and florida if black men had turned out at the same rate as black women. And so, we have focused on contacting every single black male, unlikely voter under 50 in 25 states. On text, theres a 90 rate where they actually open the text and engage with it. And the idea is just to remind black men to get out and vote. You know, its in all my years, from the Jesse Jackson campaign through 2016, weve seen black womens vote go up and up and up, but black men had kind of plateaued. And what we need black men to know is that we can actually decide whos president. If black men had turned out in wisconsin, you know, in ohio, at the same rate as black women in 2016, you would have seen a very different result. And so, were concerned that black men havent gotten the message that our vote is as important as it is. So, again, weve reached out to every single black man under 50, via text, whos an unlikely voter in 25 states, and were pushing every day just to make sure that they turn out to vote. How do you think the black lives matter protests and the tragic killing of george floyd have affected whether black men are going to be willing to get out and vote this time . Yeah, i think it affects people in two ways. Some folks, of course, say well, thats exactly why i need to vote. I think other folks say, well, like this just never changes. And you know, one definition of depression is anger turned inwards. And you know, one way to cure that is to turn your anger outwards in a constructive way. And voting is a very good way to do that. And with some of these men, we end up going back 10, 12 texts, and thats what some of it is about, is just people feeling helpless, and trying to assure them that if they turn out to vote, theyll actually have a say in what the future looks like for not just our country, but for their community. And knowing that the election in 2016 was really decided in a handful of these swing states with just a few thousand votes, it is so important. Ben jealous, thank you very a few thousand votes it is so important. Ben jealous, thank you. Great to you on the program. Earlier on in the show, we asked all of you why are you awake . Heres some of the answers. From pat, my dogs like to wrestle in the morning. They stopped long enough for me to get the picture. That is adorable. From another person also named pat, i dont plan on sleeping much until this election is over. 56 years old and this election is the most important of my lifetime. And we have this email from charisse, im awake for first day of early voting in the state of maryland. Headed to get in line to vote. Good for you. Im awake because i dreamed i was back in high school. What a nightmare. Seriously, what a nightmare. Thank god were all beyond that. Coming up next here, we have a look at the axios 1 big thing and then we have a check in with an expert following the biggest day of coronavirus cases. And angus king ahead of the final vote on whether to confirm Amy Coney Barrett. Morning joe, just moments away. Morning joe, just moment ayaw did you know prilosec otc can stop frequent heartburn before it begins . Prilosec otc uses a unique delayedrelease formula that works to turn down acid production, blocking heartburn at the source. With just one pill a day, you get 24hour heartburn protection. Take the prilosec otc twoweek challenge. And see the difference for yourself. 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Ask your dermatologist if cosentyx could help you move past the pain of psoriasis. Thats not normal behavior, florida. You wouldnt tolerate it from a coworker. You wouldnt tolerate it from a high school principal. You wouldnt tolerate it from a coach. You wouldnt tolerate it from a family member. Florida man wouldnt even do this stuff. Why are we accepting it from the president of the United States . Its not its not normal behavior. That was former president obama in miami on saturday slamming President Trump for his coronavirus response. And joining me with a look at axios a. M. , hans nichols. Hans, good morning. The 1 big thing you guys have this morning is kind of a reminder of where we have spent a lot of the last four years. Your reporting that if President Trump wins reelection hell immediately fire a trio of top officials. Whats the deal . For starters, right . What our sources are hearing inside the white house is that the president plans to fire gina haskell at the cia, Christopher Wray, as well as mark esper over at defense. So three so crucial to national security. Theyll be doing this immediately. Theres a great deal of distrust among about those three for Different Reasons and then after that, theres going to be an overall review of whos going to stay and who isnt. Now, one name that has been in the news a lot attorney general general barr. Hes not immediately on the chopping block. The president obviously is frustrated, he suggested that on air. But barr appears not to be part of the first three that would be shown the door should President Trump win reelection. Kasie . Do you have any i mean, the Christopher Wray stuff has been pretty well documented but as far as the other two officials, i mean, whats driving that . Well, with haspel theres a concern shes slow walking some of the intelligence releases, so haspel came in, she wasnt a partisan person. She becomes the first female cia director. Gets Senate Confirmed but theres some suspicion about her inside the west wing. Almost as though she were cultivating the president like a foreign asset. They feel like she just is trying to manipulate a little bit too much. And part of on the intelligence releases as well so shes in danger. And secretary esper, someone i got to know from my time at the pentagon he has one of the toughest jobs in washington. We saw that with secretary matt us the as he how he separates himself from the president , who thinks the claims that military is his show toy, wants to put on parades and defends the military as being a nonpartisan institution in this country. So esper has always had a challenging job. This has been out there, before the Washington Post flipped to this. Jonathan swan and elena treene has been reporting those three are the first to go. Great. So lets talk a little bit about how this election is actually going to play out. Answer the question well get to that point. Lets talk about texas for a second. Because we know that the former Vice President s campaign is planning on spending some time there. Members of his campaign are spending some time in texas, but the Biden Campaign wont put up the money that some democrats want them to spend. Does that mean the trips to texas are just for show . I wouldnt go that far. Campaigns are about husbanding the resources and well see Kamala Harris who is going to be in texas on thursday or friday. What we heard directly from Texas Democrats was that theres been an ongoing and persistent effort to ask for more money because just a little bit of money, at least, this isnt a little bit of money, talking about 10 million, but 10 million in the context of a president ial campaign where biden raised 370 some Million Dollars doesnt seem that significant. They believe with a little bit of an investment they can turn texas blue and its 38 electoral votes. You look at the trends at texas, right . Obama loss it by 1. 2 million and hillary lost it by 800,000 and beto closed it to 215,000. And the public polls have joe biden up. I talked to at least one republican whos down there over the weekend, he thinks biden is actually in pretty good shape and playing this smartly. So the view from Texas Democrats though is just to spend a little bit more and you know whos making the push in part. Beto orourke and do you know whos asking . His old Campaign Manager who is now managing the Vice President bidens campaign. Must be convenient to have a contact that high up. Hans nichols, thank you. Well all be reading axios a. M. In a little while. You can sign up at signup. Axios. Com. I think my thought on this monday morning is if you are President Trump and you have problems with seniors and you have problems with suburban women, perhaps saying you have given up trying to fight the pandemic isnt the best way to close out your message and win a campaign in the final eight days. But i guess were all going to find out. Thanks for getting up way too early on this monday morning. Stick around because morning joe starts right now. Heres what we have to do. Were not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines. Therapeutics and other mitigation why arent we going to get control of the pandemic . Because its contagious virus just like the flu. So were not going to control the pandemic . Thats amazing. I mean, that goes down of course pick i guess you could have mcarthur on the uss missouri at the end