including many battleground states. good morning, and welcome to morning joe. it is tuesday, november 8th, election day, along with joe, willie and me, we have former chairman of the republican national committee, michael steele is with us, former chief of staff to the dccc adrienne elrod, and ceo of the messina group, jim messina is back with us. he served as white house deputy chief of staff to president obama and ran his 2012 reelection campaign. and the cofounder of axios, mike allen is here on this election day. there is so much to talk about. we ve got four hours. thank god. i think we re going to need a bigger boat on this one, willie. willie, for me, this is turning into one of the most fascinating midterm elections i ve ever seen and participated in. because this should be a massive
trump just absolutely stumbled over one issue after another, had trouble completing cogent thoughts, showed his complete ignorance of certain issues. and yet after the debate, you know, the majority of republicans thought he won in those flash polls. so you don t know how this is going to play. i would say, though, that both sides feel like they got something out of last night s debate that they can use in the last two weeks for their closing arguments. and the great news is, twitter doesn t get to decide who wins that race. the voters will decide, what they saw out of john fetterman last night changes their minds or affirms their belief that he s the right man. we ll find out in 13 days. joining us now, ceo of the messina group, jim messina. he served as white house deputy chief of staff to president obama and ran his 2012 re-election campaign. also with us, the host of msnbc s politics nation, president of the national action network, our friend, reverend al sharpton. good to see
democracy. and it s not just democrats and independents who feel that way. nearly 1 in 4 republican voters also say that members of their own party are a threat to democracy. joining us now, ceo of the messina group, jim messina. he served as deputy white house chief of staff to president obama and ran his 2012 re-election campaign. messina group has a new study out taking a look at where things stand with the midterm elections less than two months away. joe? jim, it s easy at times to become concerned, disillusioned with what we see, what i hear from friends, family members, former colleagues, former constituents, who actual will regurgitate qanon conspiracy theories, conspiracy theories
politico stated, trump spoke of an america whose streets are riddled with needles and said the dangerous deranged roam our streets with impunity. it could provide a preview of a potential 2024 campaign. for more i m joined by michael field, former chairman of the rnc and jim messina, ceo of the messina group who ran president obama s 2012 campaign and served as the deputy chief of staff of operations in the white house. well, not exactly, jim messina, a message of hope, is it? no, it is not. you re seeing a republican party that is ripped apart by its internal divisions. you see pence talking about the future, you win presidential campaigns talking about your vision for the future. donald trump doesn t have one.
infrastructure package and that one will require near unanimity to reach the president s desk, at least among democrats. joining me on the pandemic and the politics surrounding it, white house correspondent, kelly o donnell, jeff mason and avita patel and the chief of staff to president obama during his first term and ceo of the messina group. kelly, let s start with the president. what can you tell us about today s announcement? what is he going to announce? we think it will be renewed regulations for federal workers and requirements, if you will. the pressure is on both the white house to stop the spread and somehow ramp up daily vaccinations, two competing impulses here. all of that mixes into this, andrea, and when you think about the fact that the federal government is the largest employer, this is a different role for the president to talk about the federal workforce over which he would have this authority to say we want to see