Transcripts For MSNBCW Weekends With Alex Witt 20200719

Problems, too. Im a believer in masks. I think theyre good, but i leave it up to the governors i do say this. Schools have to open young people have to go to school and theres problems when you dont go to school, too. And theres going to be a fu funding problem. When they dont open their school, were not going to fund them were not going to give them money if they dont go to school he also addressed tensions with dr. Fauci he said dont wear a mask he told me not to ban china. It would be a big mistake. I did it over and above his recommendation dr. Fauci then said you saved tens of thousands of lives more than that he said you saved tens of thousands of lives hes made some mistakes. I have a very good, i spoke to him yesterday at length. I have a very Good Relationship with him why would hes an alarmist. Thats okay. A little bit. Let me just, dr. Fausci at the beginning and again, i have great relationship with him. I spoke to him at length yesterday. In the beginning, he said this will pass. Dont worry. He said dont ban china. I did. He then admitted i was right but you made mistakes, too. I guess everybody makes mistakes well, josh is joining me now u from the white house you know, when you listen to this interview, it is both remarkable and not alling togeth together unexpected the way this president responded. He still desperately clings to some of his less statements. Lets talk about what more he said in this interview yeah, remarkable interview in which the president was pressed repeatedly and presented with facts rebutting his own claims and testing, progress the u. S. Has made on coronavirus and really forced to reckon with his own past statements about coronavirus that have not held up to scrutiny over time this coming as new polling, both from fox news and also from abc and the washington post, showing that approval of the president and specifically, his handling of the pandemic, continues to deteriorate across the country. In this interview, the president was also pressed on his repeated claim that coronavirus would simply disappear take a listen to what he had to say to Chris Wallace about that. Ill be right eventually. I will be right. I said, its going to disappear. Ill say it again. Its going to disappear and ill be right i dont think so you know why it didnt because ive been right probably more than anybody else and even a broken clock is right twice a day, but suffice it to say that when President Trump told americans that the virus would disappear, most were not thinking that it would be where it is now, after 135,000 deaths and counts. Weve seen it throughout the Trump Administration continue to move the goal post on these xhoecomments it was only back in april that mike pence explained that when he said wed have 4 million tests a day, he only meant wed have 4 million test kits available. He didnt mean wed be able to process them in that period of time so the Trump Administration trying to change the goal post when the promises that they have made have not been able to be delivered. Like i said, remarkable, but not unexpected given the of the last three years plus joining me now, jonathan, White House Reporter from the Associated Press and roland martin, host and editor of row land morton unfiltered good to see you on a sunday. Theres a a lot to unpack there. Martin, roland, im going to have to talk about your outfit in a second. Jonathan, as we talk about this, what is the most extraordinary thing that stands out to you fact check a bit of what you heard in that interview . Hard to know where to begin, quite honestly and kudo to Chris Wallace for a really tough and fair interview. On fox news i want to start, on fox news. That should not be, youre right. That should not be overlooked. I want to start with where the president ended. Where he was pressed whether he would accept the results of the election and he hedged on that wouldnt want to say that just now u. He evoked what he said in 2016, where he said it might be rigged hes saying that again now, which of course is exextraordinae extraordinarily worrisome to democrats and others because we expect to have voting delays in a number of states weve seen how long it takes to count votes in some primaries. Unfortunately add in whats expected to be a much larger percentage of mail in ballots. I think thats something were going to be watching carefully in the months ahead. Calling dr. Fauci an alarmist x but then suggesting they have a Good Relationship when dr. Fauci has all but been sidelined from the white house. He and the president have only spoken once in the last couple of months, though he is finding alternate means like podcasts and zooms to get his message out. He remains bar red from doing Cable Television interviews for the most part. Certainly, we had the president talk about his cognitive test saying how difficult it was. That very few people could have succeeded as well as he did. As this is part of his ongoing attempt. He and his campaign trying to paint joe biden not being up to the job. That hes lost a few steps and one of the bullet points the president keeps using is how well he did and Chris Wallace suggested he took one, too, and it wasnt that difficult at the end of the day, its about the virus, as everything is right now, as hes refusing to sort of acknowledge the scope of the president in so many states with people dying, states having to roll back their reopenings. He and so many around him seem to want to keep their blinders on and focus on the economic recovery rather than the fact that case totals are skyrocketing through so much of our country. Thats absolutely been their you know, motive from the beginning with the coronavirus i want to go back to the point you made about the president the expected peaceful transfer of power were he to lose this election, whether he would go quietly or not lets play part of that. Heres that, everybody im not a good loser. I dont like to lose i dont lose too often are you gracious . You dont know until you see. It depends i think mail in voting is going to rig the election. I really do. Can you give a direct answer . You will accept the election i have to see look no, im not just going to say yes. And i didnt last time either. Roland. How concerning is it that a this president is not outward ly saying he will ak cement whatever the American People decide i dont care what he has to say right now about that i think about that scene from remember the titans when he says run it up, her mman, leave no doubt. If you recognize how this man is nuts, the focus should be very simple mobilize, organize, register and vote if you want to honor the memory of congressman john lewis, reverend vivian, lowery, freedom fighters, get this nut out heres the deal. I dont care how he might respond after the election if you rely on the polls and dont vote then he wins four years, it doesnt matter so i think if you are an opposer of trump, thats what the focus should be. I understand we focus on these things and then the question is legitimate, but the reality is give him the answer first. Make sure that he loses. That he experiences that feel ing. Trust me hes going to go donald trump is going to get out of the white house okay we have lost we have rules. We have a very Strong Military and police who awill usher him out of according to the institution. Im not worried about that my worry is whether the people are going to be lackadaisical and sit back and not vote. Every person should sit back and make sure this man has no access to power after november. He is dangerous and deranged look, jonathan, building on that though, as we heard the president , hes already trying to sew the seeds of doubt about this election. I mean, you know, roland wants everyone to get out there and vote and that was the legacy of john lewis as well we talked about that all day yesterday. Thats what its going to take but what if this president doesnt buy it i mean, how much of a constitutional crisis, a country in crisis, might we be well certainly, democrats believe the best way to prevent President Trump from contesting the results of election would be to an amount if its an Electoral College landslide, that would give him a lost less to rest his argument but if its a close election to your point, to your point, its right. That hes already sewing the seeds of doubt he did last time, he doing it again. Right now, hes focusing on the idea of mail in balloting, suggesting without evidence that people use widespread use of them to vote illegally when he and members of his administration tend to vote absentee i think theres a concern about restricting peoples ability to votes. Particularly during the pandemic will there be enough polling sites . Will there be access for people to vote . I think thats a real concern as well and the president look, hes never said he wouldnt leave on january 20th, 2021, if he would lose, but certainly, we could see the courts get involved lawsuits the department of justice could step in. There are lot of ways between early november and january where he could really make a mess of things if he were to lose. L ill add this. Ooem even in a best case scenario, the trump campaign, they think theyre going to lose the popular vote they did last time the suggest all along is that they would this time as well their path is to thread the needle in the Electoral College. So we may be at a scenario where we have joe biden winning by millions three, four, five or more million and Electoral College count one way or the other, its very close thats going to be very messy and particularly considering the delays in voting totals. It may be days upon weeks before we have a clear answer if things are close. Oh my goodness. Back to the days of the chad listen, guy, stay where you are, please i want to bring in wisconsin congressman, a democratic member of the house ways and means committee. Thanks for joining me again. What is your reaction to the president s remarks on the election do you have any concerns if he loses he doesnt leave or that he would create a toxic departure or that couple of months tweeb tbetween the election date and inauguration in january would be muddied and difficult and ugly what are your thoughts about this i agree totally with what roland has said. That this man is toxic hes dangerous he needs to go and i agree with jonathan i believe that no matter what happens, hooe going to create some chaos between november and january in attempt to try to stay there because theres a lot of legal liability waiting for him. On the Southern District of new york that interview with Chris Wallace, he did a fantastic job. Yeah. Experienced journalist. I cannot imagine dr. Fauci trying to brief the president. And you know because he doesnt have the skills and ability of Chris Wallace and so i have tried to imagine military folk, dr. Fauci, telling this man anything he has a pathological certainty about what he believes based on no evidence, no science. Just one other point i want to make there seems to be absolutely no connection between what he aspires to happen with regard to opening up the economy, kids getting back to school he wont pass the heroes bill and theres 100 billion that those schools need right now in order to be able to open them safely as a matter of fact. State and local governments. Cant go bankrupt. Unemployment insurance and safeguards that we put in place will be out. At the end of july Day Care Centers are not safe and secure he has demanding we open up the economy and has no plan for it and he doesnt want to pass that bill because he does not want, the heroes bill has money in it for elections and for the post office and this is one way hes going to stop Fair Elections that was the greatest aspiration of john lewis. He shed blood for the right to vote and this is what the president wants to stop. Frightening to say the least. When it comes to his addressing the spike in crime across the country, lets take a listen to his explanation on that. The democrat run cities, stupidly run liberal democrats have been running cities in this country for decades. Poorly. Why is it so bad right now . Theyve run them poorly it was always bad, but now, its gotten totally out of control. Its because they want to defund the police what do you say to that, congresswoman . He wants to fully fund the police well, he can start by sign iing the heroes act which is a package for state and local governments. I mean were very, very, if hes concerned about keeping local government in place, that would be a good place to start again, total disconnect between what he says that hes for and he wants to accomplish and what hes actually doing. So, on the heels of that, jonathan, do the facts support the president s argument they dont often, alex. I mean, certainly, we know what he is trying to do here. We could pick any number of topics today mail in voting theres no evidence of widespread voter fraud with that in 2016, he alleged the same that there was voter fraud then. Even commissioned a study that came back finally months later finding there was no evidence of voter fraud back in 2016 you know, he certainly, you know, we see him pushing for the schools and to the point, this is where there are enough people around president who are really pushing him to make, to make a big investment here. To make schools sort of his issue. To try to really put his weight behind a big number. Push the senate. The house is already there to try to have schools reopen safely this fall not just because of its so vital for american students, but also, it would be good for the economy if the schools could open and therefore, parents would be able to more fully return to work and not have to necessarily be at home with their child with the home schooling, but hes risen to that instead, focusing on those schools that arent going back and with hold funding. It would be so counterproductive and of course all of this is because democrats charge, of his handling of the virus in the first place. That these are School Districts that should be able to reopen. Had the administration better managed this in the first place. Ill suggest that roland was, roland was agree iing with you vigorously, shaking his head as to whether the pacts support this president all the concerns about the spike in crime, the spike in violence. The president says the democrats are calling to defund the police how do you respond to that easy. Donald trump wants to run a racist campaign. Donald trump wants to even go further than he did in 2016 by pushing those racial buttons this is 1968 nixon on steroids when you look at him, literally defend iing the confederate fla military bases named after confederate generals, thats what he is doing he is playing to the racists and bigots and now the challenge comes up, if you are republican, if you are conservative, if you are independent, if you are a democrat, are you going to say guess what, im willing to give this guy my vote thats the real issue here we could go down the line. The type of attacks that he has engaged in and so you have so many republicans who say hey, i really enjoy deregulation of my tax cuts so im going to avoid those things this is not even dog whistling this is yelling. So people need to understand what hes doing and again, if you are that concerned about the future of america, your total focus has to be to make sure he does not get more four years dont make it close. Destroy him in wisconsin in michigan. In pennsylvania. In north carolina. Do it in georgia do it in florida leave no doubt because trust me. A person who lies to the extent he does, he will continue to sew seeds of doubt and discontent. He cannot be trusted with reigns of power in this country any longer to your point about the president and racism, lets listen to part of his answer when asked about the Confederate Flag and whether or not its offensive. Here it is depends on who youre talking about, when youre talking about. When people proudly hold their Confederate Flags, theyre not talking about racism it represents the south. People like the south. I say the its freedom of many things but its freedom of speech so youre not offended by it . Im not offended either by black lives matter thats freedom of speech the whole thing with cancel culture, we cant cancel our whole history. We cant forget the north and south fought you have to remember that. Otherwise well end up fighting again. Congressman, do you see it that way does he make valid points at all . Well, you know, im an ardent supporter, a card carrying member of the aclu so i believe in the First Amendment but when your rights conflict with mine, then i have to ask questions about that lets start with wearing a mask. You do not have a right to infect me. With your germs. You do not have a right to have a Confederate Flag of traitors and defeaters flying in the capitol, which is a public you know, if i choose to go to the museum and look at the flag in that context or want to put the Confederate Flag and frame it and put it inside my house, youre welcome to do that. But so the debate is about conflicts of rights. Because other people have rights as well. You know, being born and raised in the north, i cannot imagine living with these micro aggressives every day. Seeing statues of robert e. Lee as i passed and went to school and so im so grateful that i didnt have to watch the Confederate Flag being flown in my neighborhood as i grew up heres the thing. I understand what congresswoman says about that. But heres the deal. Racists in the north fly that flag dylann roof, who killed nine black people wrapped himself in that flag. Mississippi deep red just took the confederate emblem off their state flag after getting pressure from Football Players and Business Community donald trump is appealing directly to racists and we need to stop dancing around the issue. He needs white anger, white resistan resistance, the fear of white minorities thats what needs to win and we have to oppose that with every fiber of our being all right i want to thank you all very much grateful for the conversation. Gwen moore, jonathan, roland can i borrow that jacket sometime thats all im going to say. Awesome. Sure. I can hook you up. Increased violence in portland federal forces are accused of making matters worse with Covert Military tactics i night . It sure can. Really . Can it one up breakfast in bed . Yeah, for sure. Thanks, boys. What about that . Uhh, yep it can . Yeah, even that i would very much like to see that. Me too. Introducing new tide power pods. One up the toughest stains with 50 more cleaning power than liquid detergent. Any further questions . Uh uh nope one up the power of liquid with new tide power pods. Simon pagenaud takes the lead at the indy 500 coming to the green flag, racing at daytona. Theyre off. In the kentucky derby. Rory mcllroy is a two time champion at east lake. Touchdown only mahomes. The big events are back and xfinity is your home for the return of live sports. On the west coast, new alarm by the mayor of portland federal troops in his city are escalating violence. Te tensions flared last night protestors barricaded county and federal buildings. It went well past midnight our affiliate reports officers used tear gas and this comes as the attorney general in oregon is suing federal agencies for allegedly violating the civil rights of protestors well this morning, the president tweeted, were trying to help portland, not hurt it. Their leadership has, for months, lost control of the anarchists and agitators we must protect federal property and our people lets go to erin standing by with the latest on the scene there. With a good morning to you u there your time. If it really got a a lot back and forth heated last night. Tell me what the sotory is this morning. Well, alex, were looking at the damage of last nights chaos. Let me just let the camera pan over and show you the situation where i am at right now. This is the federal courthouse and this fencing that you see just over this way strewn across the ground, pushed up against the wall of the courthouse that had been boarded up, the fencing had just been installed around the perimeter of the federal courthouse just yesterday, protestors arrived in the overnight hours you can see the sandbags previously anchored that fencing. Strewn now on the ground graffiti everywhere. The mayor of portland, on cnns state of the union, said the presence of unmarked federal agent as here guarding this courthouse last night is making the situation worse. Take a listen. Take these people out of our city they are not helping us. They are hurting us. They are escalating an already dangerous situation and what i want to do is raise awareness nationally this could happen in your city and what were seeing is a blatant abuse of Police Tactics by the federal government, by Trump Administration thats falling in the polls, and this is a direct threat to our democracy. Now i just want you to look around the corner away from the front of the courthouse. This is the side, you can see what the fencing used the look like you can see the magnitude of the effort of these protestors to take the fencing to then throw it up against the side of the courthouse now, this is a city on edge. A city stunned a city exhausted its seen violence for some six weeks, then the arrival of these unmarked federal agents angeringing a lot of people here its a city bracing for what might happen next. Hey, i just want to say of course you did not make any mention of some of the graffiti and words we saw on those walls but i want to apologize if anybody did take offense to that its plainly clear, theres a lot of bad language being used and anyone uncomfortable with having read that, it is what it is and i apologize now to the coronavirus new cases have topped a quarter million for the first time yesterday. The u. S. Also set it new record adding more than 78,000 cases. The director of the National Institutes of health says theres a problem with testing around the country and told chuck todd on meet the press, the lag in results undercuts even the value of testing. The tests being doneright now, you have to have the swab, then you send it off to a Central Laboratory theres a time there in order to do the delivery of the sample then they have to do the testing. Theyre backed up. It takes a while to come back. We need to do things that are more on the spot and actually, theres a number of new technologies that are coming along that look very promising in that space. We need to invest a lot of money and the government is willing to do so, in scaling those up well, several florida hospitals say theyre running low on the drug, remdesivir. The governor says about 30,000 viles are on the way though, which is enough to treat about 5,000 patients and in new york city, its getting ready to enter phase four of reopening tomorrow some outdoor venues will reopen, but Indoor Dining will still be banned malls and gyms will also remain closed new cases in florida topped 10,000 for the fifth day in a row. Officials reporting more than 12,000 cases today that brings the statewide total to just over 350,0350. The rate of positive tests is now 11. 6 . Lets go to Chris Pallone whos joining me from orlando on this. Couple of things to be concerned about, one hospitalizations. What are you hearing thats right. Its such an important number. You can give the number of positive tests and you know, its not really put into context of whats going on there is a certain aspect of the more tests you u do, that the more positives you are going to find, but Health Officials obviously look at the number of hospitalizations, they look at the percent of positive tests and they look at deaths and as you mentioned in the past day, florida has aed about 339 people to hospitals across the state who are hospitals with covid19 and looking from month to month, that number is clearly up over the month of june. I was looking at the past weeks worth of data and most days now, the state of florida is adding anywhere from about 220 to as many as about 495, 500 people a day. In the last couple of day, its been around the 3 to 400 mark. So yeah, the state is concerned about people overwhelming the hospitals in south florida where the problem is the most acute. Staff is being stretched thin. Theyre running low on beds, things of this nature. You mentioned the antiviral drug, the governor said the federal government and new york state will be sending viles to help people recover from the disease, but you know, as you mentioned, another 89 deaths yesterday. Thats been fairly consistent over the past week anywhere from about 90 to 120 or more deaths here in the state of florida every day. Now, theres no mandatory mask order here places and counties are adding it on and some places are even taking a harder line stance. For example, the city of miami beach instituted this weekend a mandatory curfew at 8 00 p. M. For the south beach Entertainment District the mayor there kind of lamenting the fact that local leaders are really to go to havo the heavy lifting because the Florida Governor says he want to take a bottom up approach. Hes resisting calls to put in a mandatory mask order for the cities and towns here. Heres what the mayor of miami beach had to say this morning. We are a Destination Center that tends not to do social distancing typically we have a crowd based economy in some respects, but right now, we have to govern ourselves differently. Cautiously, carefully and mindful that theres a virus in our community. I wish the governor and the president would join us in telling people perhaps what they dont want to hear but what they need to hear, which is its time to wear a mask, you must wear a mask its time to not have these social interactions, which are spreading the virus. Here in orlando, long lines continue behind me for people coming out to get covid19 testing. Yep im sure they are. Thank you so much. As cases rise nationwide, its no different in california where the numbers are getting worse, particularly in san francisco. A new report says Bay Area Hospital saizations have triple a month. Lets go to scott. Hes at a testing site there wow, triple numbers. What do you have, scott . Yeah, alex, here in watsonville, its a a bit of a hot spot in a state where the number rs surging basically across the state one of the big issues here is its a very sizable Latino Community and we know statistically that latinos, hispanics, are more vulnerable to the virus here in this county, they make up about a third of the population, but more than half of the cases, so this is a testing center, one of a few here, that is specifically targeted to that community the testing rate, the state is doing about 120,000 tests a day. Which is about where they wanted to be, but with the rate of the disease rising in the state, that is creating backlogs on the testing front so the state is starting now to prioritize testing for Covid Patients already hospitalized and on the subject of hospitalization, 22 rise in just the past couple of weeks in california. The hospital folks that were talking to are saying that could have a real ripple effect. The biggest thing were worried about with hospitalization rates is covid doesnt stop people from having heart attacks. It doesnt stop people from having strokes it doesnt stop cancer all of those disease processes still continue during covid and what the hospitalizations going up, thats what youre concern about is youre using resources for patients that have strokes, that are having heart attacks. On a statewide basis, Officials Say that the state can handle the surge in hospitalizations, but there are issues, pockets of places where theyre worried about being overwhelmed. So really still unfolding situation here in california absolutely. Scott, thank you for that. Up next, how people are remembering the late john lewis today as an atlanta memorial for the congressman grows. 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. New tributes for georgia congressman and icon, john lewis, he lost his battle friday with pancreatic cancer this is a growing memorial in his honor. At mural in his district of atlanta. The New York Times is reporting today congressional leaders are considering having him lie in state at the capitol even though the building is closed to the public, because of the pandemic and members of congress are reflecting today on his lifes work and how it impact ed them. Myself blezed while feeling robbed i know we had him for 80 year, but just cant have enough of that goodness and certainly, i consider myself to be a beneficiary of his activism. There would be no countless others if it were not for john lewis. I could argue for our nation extraordinary goodness there. Now to priscilla whos join ing me from atlanta. At the site of that john lewis mural and makeshift memorial good day to you. I know youve been there since early this morning whats your big take away as you see people leave cards and flowers . Yeah, well i think thats the big take away. Just take a a look at all of the flowers and cars that are out here this memorial was a fraction of the size yesterday and it has grown immensely over the past couple of hourhours. Lots of kids leaving handwritten and hand drawn notes and things like that. John lewis often, theres a quote here where he talks about being in the streets and so many people that i have spoken with here today have described him as a man who was in the streets he wasnt a congressman who they sent to washington then never saw, but so many people ive spoken with said they saw him out at marches or eent events here in atlanta. One woman in particular, 77yearold woman, came out with her mask on because obviously the pandemic is sill going on here and her daughter helped her as she slowly made her way up to lay her flowers. She told me when she heard john lewis had died, she knew the she had to be here listen to what she told me john was a very good friend we are very active in the atlanta and he was more like a brother to me. Than a friend. So, i was in complete shock when i found out that he had passed so i just keep him in my prayers and thank god for having known him because it was truly a blessing and thats really the message here, alex i want you to look at the sign it says thank you, mr. John lewis. We got this. It was left by a 4yearold boy. I spoke to his mother. She said she had him out here when george floyd tie died and hes here again for john lewis because she wants him to remember this moment in history and all thats going on and really calling on him to pick up the mantle that john lewis leaves behind and carry that on. I love that sign. Weve got this and were going to get this done in honor of him and so many others before him. Thank you so much from atlanta appreciate that. The last public appearance by john lewis was at the black lives matter plaza in washington, d. C. , last month and his long standing friend and confidant, james clyburn, explained what the movement meant to lewis right after the sort of acceptance of the black lives Matter Movement, you could see it, you could feel it. And we talked about it and he said to me, we must not let this man die we must not let what happened, happen the ours because ours got taken waway from us we woke up one morning and the headlines were burn, baby, burn. We must not allow the tremendous head way that were now making get overcome by headlines. Joining me now, mark, former mayor of new orleans, president and ceo of the National Urban aleague and author of the gumbo coalition. Welcome back good to see you. What do you think john lewis really wanted for the black lives Matter Movement and do you see todays activists having his mind set well, first of all, thank you for having me and i would offer the following. John lewis was at once, the young, energetic leader of a youth wing of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and at the same time in his later life, the elder statesman, the connection to the 1960s and many in my generation for who the Civil Rights Movement represented the very essence of why we embraced Public Service activism, civil rights in politics i think john lewis saw in this new movement, this new black lives Matter Movement, in effect, a revival. The coming to terms of the spirit of the 1960s being reformulated in 21st century terms and i heard his comments at this movement was broader, the it was multiracial it was spontaneous so the great legacy that he leaves is a legacy of activism, a legacy of speaking truth to power. A legacy of staying fast to principle and a legacy i think man of graciousness and personality on personal terms. I mean, he maintained personal relationships with people he deeply disagreed with and that, that spirit, i think can guide leaders in the here and the now. He i think represents, alex, one of the great americans of all time certainly one of the influential americans of our time and im blessed to have known him. To have had his support in my early political career and for being able to hear his wisdom on many occasions as he visited the National Urban leagues conferences and events over the years youre a very lucky and blessed man. I know the short time i spent with him, ill never forget. It was something i just felt really deeply about. He was remarkable. We have eugene robinson, our friend and columnist who wrote this today, Many Americans considered lewis a militant who push ed too hard for radical change and lacked the virtue of patience. Organizers of the march on washington made him tone down his speech to e remove avow an burn jim crow to the ground nonviolently what does this tell us about the definition of the definition of the nonviolent moouchl . It tells us that the Nonviolent Movement was important in that even in the words that were taken out of his 1963 speech, he was militant in the name and with the tactic of nonviolence. He was unyielding that because you say that the movement is nonviolent, it doesnt mean that the movement is weak it doesnt mean that the movement is not strong and stands up to injustice its the embrace of a tactic, if you will, in the 1960s and i think even now, helps those of us who work and fight for justice to maintain a moral high grauound to maintain the elevation of the principles were fighting for. I think john lewis would counsel us today in very strong terms, to protest he would say to do it aggressively, but to be peacefully, but that also that this protest has to also find its way into politics. This protest has to find its way into Public Policy look, heres what weve got to remember john lewis, like many, annie young, my father, many, many others, jim clyburn, who were involved in civil rights in the 1960s and some in the 1950s, found their next step of activism in elected office and even when they got elected, they did not surrender the mission of civil rights, the spirit of activism and the willingness to speak truth to power. So john lewis message and his life is not only counsel to those who are activists, its counsel to those who hold public aufls office that an activist can serve with distinction, can serve with effectiveness, serve and maintain all those principles. Doesnt have to compromise so we need to understand his life in total. What he represented as a young about activist a states person. What he represented as one who was on the front lines then as a distinguished member of the United States congress right you are thank you so much, mark, for the chat and your perspective. See you again. Thank you new rules in florida a doctor weighs in on the restrictions aimed at slowing a steep spike in cases there, but is t shetate doing enough . Your mission stand up to moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis. And take. It. On. With rinvoq. Rinvoq a oncedaily pill. Can dramatically improve symptoms. Rinvoq helps tame pain, stiffness, swelling. And for some. Rinvoq can even significantly reduce ra fatigue. Thats rinvoq relief. With ra, your overactive immune system attacks your joints. Rinvoq regulates it to help stop the attack. Rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious infections and blood clots, sometimes fatal, have occurred. As have certain cancers, including lymphoma, and tears in the stomach or intestines, and changes in lab results. Your doctor should monitor your bloodwork. Tell your doctor about any infections. And if you are or may become pregnant while taking rinvoq. Take on ra talk to your rheumatologist about rinvoq relief. Rinvoq. Make it your mission. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. A sharp spike in florida coronavirus cases has doctors scrambling for solutions there more than 5,000 people have now died of coronavirus in the state as cases pass the 350,000 mark doctor, can you answer this. What is happen ng florida . Why are the cases there skyrocketing where they were last month thank you so much for having me i think were seeing cases skyrocket, which is part of it is the natural process of the disease spreading as we open more related to probably people not being as careful, congregated in group, some related to the social things that have been going on so a few weeks aerks we started seeing an alarming increase in cases and on july 12th, we hit our peak of over 5 thou,000 cass we saw it here since the beginning of the pandemic and after early march, we were preparing actively and anticipating a will tlot of coronavirus. We did get busy, but not to the degree now we started seeing ten patients at a time coming in with coronavirus. We are struggling and planning to keep up so far, weve been able to manage to take care of the patients and special floor that we have dedicated to covid along with an icu. So it is getting increasingly tighter but so far weve been managing to deal with both and one of the few that still has elective surgeries to some degree. Most hospitals here are reaching capacity very quickly, close to 95 capacity by now. I was going to ask if the trajectory continues going up at a steep spike, how long could hospitals continue to operate and a lot of the problem staffing we have seen that elsewhere. You may have an icu bed but you dont have the staffers to tend to the intensive care that is needed. That is exactly the problem so we do have were always planning and anticipating. Right now were able to keep up. If we continue to get more then were going to have to get staff some of the hospitals are getting nurses and medical staff from other parts of the country. Were trying we have some nurses coming in but that is the key, is to get staffing to support the icu beds right now were still managing and we have about 0iover 60 pat the hospital the last few days weve seen less admissions through the e. R. So maybe were hoping at some point it might level off and possibly declining it is a day to day thing to prepare and to anticipate. And right now weve been lucky at holy cross and able to keep up with it and take care of our Covid Patients and the general medical patients coming in with serious issues that need to be well dr. Margaret, begin everything going outside of the door of your office, thank you for taking time to talk to us. Very much luck we value you and your efforts. The standoff between the georgia governor and leaders who want to make masks mandatory in their towns. Georgias becoming a battleground for the mask debate highlighting a clear divide in leadership there this week Governor Kemp filed a lawsuit to stop Keisha Lance Bottoms for making masks mandatory, a decision she said is politically motivated. I dont think it is a coincidence that the governor sued me personally, along with our city council personally after i noted that President Trump came to Atlantas Hartsfield Jackson International Airport and did not have on a mask and i pointed out he was violated civil law this is about politics there were other cities in our state who instituted mask mandates and he did not push back against them. I dont know if this is because perhaps they were led by men or if it is perhaps because of the demographic in the city of atlanta. Well joining me now, to discuss what is exactly going on in georgia, savannah mayor van johnson. Im curious to get reaction to what the mayor said there about Governor Kemp suing her. This is been absolutely amazing. Thank you for the opportunity to be here. At a time that we should be fighting covid19, we should be unilaterally focused on covid19, in the state of georgia were fighting each other. Our governors sudding our own cities, suing our own elected officials. This is absolute madness going on in this state. What is interesting, i know that youve issued a mask mandate and said the city of savannah is prepared to defend its position and take care of its citizens what do you mean by that well, the fact of the matter is we know that science is clear not only from the white house but across the country while over 20 states have mask mandates, alabama to the west of us has a mask mandate in South Carolina and in florida, they allow the local municipalities to decide among themselves and here in georgia we specifically have a governor who makes an executive order that says we cant protect our people as far as ive concerned ive been charged to protect the people of savannah, georgia and that is what i plan to do. If we have to do it in court, so be it. Were prepared to make our case. Youve made the mask mandates and put that in place in Public Places certainly but what are you doing independent of state guidelines to try and help slow down the spread of this coronavirus . Well that is the problem. We have some things were going to be announcing this week that i think are going to be outstanding in help us to catch up but here we are just following the science. We are doing with the epidemiologists and our Health Professionals are saying to do we are promoting masks were giving out thousands of masks absolutely free to savannah we just want people to be safe. And i was speaking with a doctor in the previous segment from florida who said there are concerns about being overwhelmed by hospitals do you have what you need . We have two wonderful Hospital Systems here. So were taking care of people from a region. And it should be noting that florida is only about 100 miles south of us. And on busy i95 to people are coming back and forth between florida, georgia, into savannah and it is just a little bit of time before hospitals are overwhelmed. We must protect our health care systems. You keep taking care of your citizens thank you so much for your time with us. If President Trump expected an easy interview with fox news, he got quite a surprise. He also generated new alarm over his comments about the election. Weve always put safety first. And we always will. For people. For the future. And there has never been a summer when its mattered more. Wherever you go, summer safely. Get zero percent apr financing for up to five years on select models and exclusive lease offers. Now is the time to support the places you love. Spend 10 dollars or more at a participating Small Business and get 5 dollars back, up to 10 times with american express. Enroll now at shopsmall. Com. Good day, everyone, from msnbc World Headquarters here in new york welcome to weekends with alex witt. We have breaking news regarding the president this hour. Defending federal Law Enforcement after a dramatic night of clashes with protesters in the heart of portland, oregon kgw reports officers used tear gas to Disperse Protesters and today the mayor said federal troops are escalating the violence it all comes as the attorney general for the state of oregon is