trump s continuing grip over the republican party. joining us now, pulitzer prize winning columnist and associate editor of the washington post, msnbc political analyst and our dear friend, eugene robinson. good to see you this morning. let s start with that meeting. it s been a source of, let s be candid, frustration among democrats, that president obama doesn t do more in election cycles. the obama team pushes back and says, look, he plays the role of the closer. in part, his appearances have so much power because he only shows up in the last couple weeks and drives home big events, turns out the vote, whips up enthusiasm. what do you make of obama distributing to efforts so far, and what do you contribute to his strength? the headline is obama isn t just going to pitch the ninth inning. he ll be more of a middle reliever and a closer.
in these echo chambers. i mean, let s be candid, john. i mean, you know, nightrspect your folks are watching you and getting a certain perspectiviv and my folks are watching other networks getting shot. we have studies thats show showi of democrats watch me. well, including me. so i m actually i m here me. for a reason, too. with the point, though, i think we need more of that crossointde pollination. we need more of these kind of conversations. and we need to not d to just, you know, accuse each other off misleading the american people, but i think confront each other thee e context of provid opportunities to address some of the facts that are often omitted in terms of the conversations and topics we choose to pickt up.s i so what i what what i see is i don t know how you reconcilcilee some of these differences. now, you either believe in secure borders and lawd and order and people wantm to come into our country. you have to do it legally. i m a product of that. all righa prodor the
to massachusetts, before his diagnosis, which almost certainly contagious, and contact tracing has begun and close contact with a lot of lawmakers and cabinet officials, many of them in their 70s. what can the white house be doing now to try to recreate the steps and also to try to make sure this particular virus doesn t stray further beyond the president? yes, i think the white house complex knows better than i, but this is exactly what i had hoped, they had their rigorous protocols, and they are quite rigorous, let s be candid, they have tested him, covid-free up until now, so something has been working, but it s probably time to just refresh. that i know that people around the president certainly are tested, and i know they re not masked and obviously now going forward, there might be some heightened scrutiny not just because he is infected and isolated but people in close contact need to be masked and i am hoping that will be a clarion