renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort. american democracy is an ongoing struggle to live up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions. >> president biden hosted the very first summit for democracy, did it virtually. and promised he'll keep fighting to pass critical legislation to shore up the foundation of american democracy, that is our sacred right to vote. you heard him touch on our own home-grown threats to freedom, but this was very much a message to the masses around the world. during this week, he confronted two rising authoritarian states, russia and china, over their actions. he's shaming china for its increasing aggression against taiwan and human rights abuses and issued a diplomatic boycott of the olympics. and the president called on vladimir putin this week to try to thwart a russian invasion of ukraine as the country amasses tens of thousands of troops at its border. today, biden spoke directly with ukraine's president, zelensky, reiterating america's commitment to its sovereignty. so these are heavy times abroad. and here at home, democracy can't be taken for granted. january 6th should certainly have taught us that lesson. but in georgia, a trump-backed candidate for governor, that would be former u.s. senator, david perdue, is now openly proclaiming that he would have acted to overturn the 2020 election results by not certifying the georgia vote if he had been the governor at the time. now, if you're looking for hope amid the ongoing discord in america, you got some of that today. i thought it was a beautiful moment for democracy when the late senate majority leader bob dole returned to the capitol one last time to lie in state, a patriot of the highest order, a republican who worked across the aisle to cut deals with the other side for the good of the country. and for a moment, in time today, dole in death brought our bitterly divided washington together. you saw speaker pelosi and house minority leader mccarthy honoring dole together in prayer. we saw senate majority leader schumer and his counterpart, mitch mcconnell, do the same. one of dole's final asks as an american expressed in his final opinion published after his death on sunday, was for politicians to put aside their party labels and work for the common good. and for a fleeting moment, we witnessed that earlier. and listen to the words of a man who served in the senate with dole for 25 years on the other side of the aisle. >> we meet here in the very heart of american democracy, the capitol of the united states of america, to receive a hero of that democracy for a final time. robert joseph dole, bob and i, like many of us in here, we disagreed on a number of things, but not any of the fundamental things. we still found a way to work together. may we follow his wisdom and his timeless truth and reach consensus. the basic fundamental principles we all agree on. >> democracy itself used to be something about which we all agreed but both here and around the world, it's being confronted by powerful forces of autocracy. and that's our global challenge tonight. i want to know what you think. i want to know what your level of concern is about the fate and future of democracy. so reach out to me during this hour via social media, and i'll share some responses throughout the course of the program. joining me now, someone who knows all too well what's at stake. he's a former chess grand master turned democracy warrior, garry kasparov is a native of the former soviet union. he has firsthand experience living in an authoritarian state. he has always understood democracy is a privilege and must be always defended. and warns that we can be the generation that could lose it forever. today he's the chair of the human rights foundation and the renew democracy initiative. so great to have you. i remember you telling me a story about you attending an event, i think a court hearing for pussy riot in 2012, getting thrown in a van, roughed up. >> fortunately, that was normal, and it's still normal in russia. i was taken out of the crowd, put in a van, then i was beaten. and i was lucky. it was 2012, nine years ago. you may call it vegetarian time in russia. they threatened to put me in jail for five years, allegedly for biting a police officer. everyone could see i was beaten. i couldn't even use my teeth. today, for anything similar, you go to jail. so for two years, for five years, for ten years. all people who march with me peacefully on the streets of russia, and i have to emphasize, we had no violence whatsoever, no broken windows, no burned cars. the only violence on the streets of russia always came from putin riot police and his security services. all these people now in exile like myself, in jail like alexei navalny, or killed. >> there's something going on around the globe. there's a rise, and you have written about this, of authoritarian leaders. what's driving it? >> it's not just a rise. we're entering the age of darkness. according to freedom house, it's about 20% of the global population leaving the free countries. just imagine, 20%. so the 80% of people that experience just problems from totalitarian regimes to some sort of liberal democracies but they're not leaving the country. that's why we want americans to appreciate what they have and fight for it. not just to fight against something, but to fight for something. that's why we rallied at 52 dissidents from 28 oppressive countries. we had this project thanks to cnn, put it on air and on cnn.com. it's warning americans about the dangerous of democracy and your obligations to fight for it. >> you have argued that american culture is under assault from both the left and the right. how so? >> yeah, you have two dangers. on the right, you have cult of personality. on the left, you have cult of ideology. right now, you can see the left can handle it because biden, you know, you cannot call him a socialist. you cannot call him a progressive. his administration is trying to find the middle ground. while on the right, we just saw something now, it's the senator, former senator running for governor, publicly saying he would deny the right of americans to make their choice. and just, you know, recently, tucker carlson defended putin, and putin's aggression against ukraine. >> what did he say? >> putin had no other choice but to defend the russian western borders. so the trump media celebrating putin's attacks on ukraine, and we're hearing more and more the calls to deny the rights of americans to make their choices. and sacred rights to vote. so it's very important to remember that we have to find this middle road and i was pleased to hear renewed democracy from the president, president biden. it's important to remember that for democracy to survive, it must be renewed all the time. >> what does that mean? what are we supposed to do as americans? >> there are different kind of challenges for generations. it's now america is still viewed as many of us, people who were born and raised in oppressive countries, as the beacon of hope, as a leader. you have to act as a country that is leading the world, and remember that, you know, ignoring what's happening in russia, in china, in afghanistan, in iran, in venezuela, backfires. because the world is globalized, and trying to pretend it's america first, america only, will put you in trouble. and of course, just find a way to elect politicians who will defend democracy. and that is a major test now. you talked about bob dole, about bipartisanship. where is bipartisanship now? it's more tribalism. >> i'm of a certain age, civics was part of my public school education. i'm thinking there's something to be done in the education system for young americans so this is not taken for granted. >> that's why learning from people who fought against authoritarian and totalitarian regimes is important. and we're working hard to bring these people in and share this experience. in the colleges, in social media, and again, just remember that it's the -- for americans, sometimes it's hard to appreciate the freedom that you take for granted. >> can i say to that point, it's so great to have you here. i can think of no one i would rather have this conversation with than garry kasparov, but the subject matter is the sort of thing that for most of my adult life, i never worried about. this was always the stuff of your old country, of the soviet union. all of a sudden, this is the united states? >> i never thought, even understanding how powerful kgb was, i never thought about kgb's ability to influence american elections, to influence american voters, to have major american media outlets repeating kgb kremlin talking points. >> right. let's celebrate american freedom by responding quickly to some social media. okay. >> let's do it. >> put on the screen what we have that i can share with my guest. i'll read it out loud. what is at risk is more than democracy in the united states, so much of the democratic world maintains democracy because of the u.s. i fear that an unstable u.s. will destabilize the world. things are not good. you would say what? >> absolutely. and it's reciprocity. it's not that u.s. and the world. it's we are in the same boat, and u.s. still has the steering wheel. so you lose control, everything goes bust. >> do you think we have lost that position as being the nation that the world looks to? >> you're steadily losing it, but there's no other country that can replace america. again, it started about, you know, it's about american leadership. leadership means you lead. you don't dictate, but you lead. >> one more quickly if we can for garry kasparov. the financial and political trends certainly point to not simply changing america but to the disintegration of all that american democracy has accomplished and for the democracy itself. times are changing too quickly, it is frighteningly unnoticed by the general public. >> yeah, i think it's being noticed by the general public, but people don't understand the root of the problem, and again, it's very important to emphasize that american democracy can survive only if america regains its leadership. because we all are connected. americans, russian, chinese, afghanis, and every failure of america to support democracy elsewhere in the world, you know, resonates back here. that's why it's so important for biden to call for the summit, all i want is to see -- it's not just talk, but we need instruments for democracies to work together. not those who pay lip service. real democracies. >> can biden handle putin? >> i hope so. definitely it's very positive shift from the previous administration. but we have yet to see more transparency in biden's policy, and i was not very happy with the way he handled geneva and the last phone call with putin. >> appreciate your being here. thank you so much. garry kasparov, thank you for coming in. please make sure you're going to smerconish.com. we have a survey question. different subject, but we'll get to it. should states be required to fund religious education? yes or no. supreme court just had that. i'm asking the question because later this hour, i'll speak with a mom who was a litigant and fighting to make it happen. she'll tell us why she took her case to the united states supreme court. up next, former philadelphia mayor michael nutter joins me, as our shared hometown faces an epidemic of murders. we'll look at who he's holding responsible and we'll do that next. derriere discomfort. we try to soothe it with this. cool it with this. and relieve it with this. but new preparation h soothing relief spray is the 21st century way to do all three. even touch free. preparation h. get comfortable with it. ♪ the only thing a disaster can't destroy is hope. ♪ donate now at redcross.org ♪day to night to morning,♪ ♪keep with me in the moment♪ ♪i'd let you had i known it, why don't you say so?♪ ♪didn't even notice,♪ ♪no punches left to roll with♪ ♪you got to keep me focused♪ ♪ feel stuck and need a loan? 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[beep] i just wanted to say... ♪ find yourself in these situations and see who you are. and that's just part of the bargain. ♪ seems to me that at the core of the record high murder rates that we're seeing, a very basic struggle. how do we reform what can be an unjust system while always insuring public safety? take philadelphia as an example. the city's homicide rate is up 57% from just two years ago. 104% from 2015. michael nutter was mayor back then, in a recent op-ed, he asked, quote, how many more black and brown people and others would have to be gunned down in our streets daily to meet your definition of a crisis? that was a direct retort to the city's current district attorney who drew heat for saying the city's 524 murders so far this year somehow isn't a crisis. the d.a., by the way, trying to do some cleanup, now calling his comments inarticulate. i should point out we did invite him to join us tonight on the program but his office has not responded, but the former mayor is here. michael nutter, great to see you again. did you receive the sort of apology that you thought was appropriate with him saying it was inarticulate? >> well, i don't think his comments were inarticulate. they were just ignorant. it's not me certainly he needs to apologize to. he needs to apologize to the now 524 families, the thousands who have a family member killed. or the thousands of people who have been shot. it was a full-on statement filled with, you know, his level of rhetoric and inability to accept responsibility for his role. it's not the sole role, but the d.a. has a role to play in criminal justice, in prosecuting violent criminals. and then working with the police, working with the city administration, working with the courts to make sure that we have some semblance of justice and reform. it is a false choice to somehow try to sell the citizens of this city that you can either have public safety or you can have police reform. you can actually do both. >> you said something pretty explosive, i thought, in the op-ed i made reference to a moment ago. you said it takes a certain audacity of ignorance and white privilege to say that right now, a comment of his, as of monday night, 521 people, souls, spirits, have been vanquished, eliminated, murdered in our city of brotherly love and sisterly affection, the most since 1960. i have to wonder, what kind of messed up world of white wokeness he is living in to have so little regard for human lives lost, many of them black and brown, while he advances his own national profile. white wokeness, speak to me about that. >> there's a certain privilege some people have, and there's this whole woke idea. you know, i wish some of these woke people would go back to sleep. they're not being helpful in the conversation, and again, this idea that somehow all police are bad, that black and brown people and others don't like the police, and that we're just going to somehow reform our way out of an explosive situation. >> it's not just a philly thing, mayor. >> i understand that, but i live in philly. so i'm focused on philly. so in 2014, sadly, while i was still mayor, there were 248 homicides. in 2015, there were 280. in 2013, there were 246. all too many in all those years. but that was the first time since the '60s that we had less than 300 homicides three years in a row. the totals from 2014 and 2015 sadly by this weekend will be eclipsed by 2021's number. those two numbers together are 528. we're at 524 on thursday. god knows what will happen this weekend. so this whole -- >> let me ask you this. on the issue of white wokeness. why was he just re-elected and by a healthy margin, and with the support of a lot of folks of color? this is ravaging the minority community in particular. so why did so many folks who were most effected vote for larry krasner? >> first of all, you know philadelphia as well as i do. the primary election, primarily is the election. >> yeah. >> because of our massive voter registration as democrats and republicans. if you win the democratic primary in may, unless you're indicted and convicted, you will go on to win in the general election. i'm not going to comment on the primary candidate and who it was and how they ran their campaign. but larry krasner has sold the citizens of the city this idea that i'm going to protect you from the police, and that's all that matters. there have been officers who have done things. there are systematic issues, certainly with our police department and others across the country, that can be reformed. but at the same time, you still have to focus on the fact that some guy shot a pregnant woman coming from a baby shower, killed her and her unborn child. that another mother walking down the street with her twin 4-year-old kids was gunned down. and on and on and on and on. so what are we doing about that? >> okay, i have a quick final question for you. i remember you, correct me if i'm wrong, as being an advocate of stop and frisk. i remember a lot of things. i remember mayor bloomberg embracing you as a protege of sorts and bringing you to new york, and it seems like you brought that message back to philly. if you were mayor today, are you engaging in stop and frisk? >> first, the city of philadelphia like every other city since 1968 had been using some form of that police tactic. there were wrong things done in that time and i have apologized for that. the goal here is not about stopping and frisking people. the goal is to get people to stop carrying illegal guns. if you think that there's a chance that your illegal gun will be taken from you, it's really hard to shoot somebody if you don't have your weapon on you. we need to stay focused on that. as a part of a much larger series of policing tactics. what i like to talk about is public safety tactics. it's not about one thing. we didn't do just one thing. >> got it. understood. just wanted to take your temperature on that. quick social media reaction. will you join me in responding to? what do we have for mayor nutter? blaming crime on progressive d.a.s is total bs. you know the reason, blm protested by the millions in every city, is because of systematic racism and police brutality. crime is a product of years of failure by government to address inner city blight and education and jobs. chuck says hey, it's not progressive d.a.s. you would say what to him? >> i would say your job as a district attorney is to prosecute people who commit crimes. there are any number of systems that have their issues. what i'm asking in philly at least is that the d.a. prosecute people. do you know what the d.a.'s nickname is up on state road? you know philly so that's where the prison facilities are. his nickname is let 'em loose larry. that's a disgrace! people talk about now getting a larry, what that is, reduced or dropped charges. this is a mindset going on in a town where people are not fearful about committing a crime or they'll be caught or sent to jail. >> if he accepts our invitation, will you come back? >> you invite me. we'll see what happens. >> i'm taking that as a yes. thank you. good to see you. to the pandemic and a bizarre question percolating out there. does mouth wash kill covid? a u.s. senator states it as a fact, but before you go out and buy a giant bottle and begin gargling, we're going to take that to the director of the national institutes of health along with new questions about what it means to be fully vaccinated and that's next. one... two... whatcha got for me, whatcha got? watch those eyes... healthier is doing what you have to do while doing what you want to do. you're going to do just fine, you will. ♪ this is what healthier looks like. ♪ your plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. vazalore... is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. try new vazalore. aspirin made amazing! >> man: what's my safelite story? my truck...is my livelihood. so when my windshield cracked... the experts at safelite autoglass came right to me... with service i could trust. right, girl? >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ where's mom? she said she would be home in time for the show. don't worry, sweetie. she promised she'd be here for it. ooh! nice shot! thanks! glad we have xfinity, with wifi speed faster than a gig! me too! woah, look! mom is on tv! she's amazing! (cheers) xfinity brought us together, after all! power your whole home this holiday with wifi speeds faster than a gig. click, call, or visit a store today. sing 2 60% of americans are now fully vaccinated. it's a milestone we all looked forward to. with the rise of new variants, attention is shifting to boosters, and 15% is still too low, health officials say. it's why the fda authorized the pfizer booster for 16 and 17-year-olds today while a growing number of colleges and universities are issuing booster mandates for students. so what should that mean for what we consider a fully vaxed person to be? here's dr. fauci. >> it's going to be a matter of when, not if. i just say get your third shot. forget about what the definition is. i just want to see people be optimally protected. that's what i'm concerned about. if me, that's unequivocally and unquestionably getting a third shot boost. >> but apparently, that may not be enough either. pfizer's ceo raised the possibility of needing a fourth shot to contend with the omicron variant. so what does that mean for defining the fully vaccinated and when does it end? let's ask dr. francis collins, the director of the nih. thanks so much for being here. you know the question. if i'm inoculated but not boosted, do you consider me to be fully vaxxed? >> well, let's try to distinguish between a definition which is being used to decide whether somebody has fulfilled their responsibilities as an employee like all of the people who work for me at nih. in that situation, fully vaccinated means you have had two doses of pfizer or moderna or one of j&j. we're learning those vaccinations do wane in their effectiveness over time. and so boosters are highly recommended for everybody now who is over 18, in fact, as of today, everybody over 16, in order to keep that immunity as high as possible. given that we have a pretty bad time happening right now with the delta variant once again cases going up, hospitalizations going up, deaths going up. if you haven't yet got that booster, and you are six months away from pfizer or moderna or two months away from j&j, don't wait. this is the moment. christmas is coming. the geese are getting fat. don't wait for your booster. go and get that. >> in order for me to get -- >> this is going to give you better protection. >> in order for me to get in the building to to the show tonight, i had to flash a pass on my phone, and the requirement is i be vaxed, and i had two moderna and i also had the booster. but it's a very practical question. at what point must someone have the booster for us to consider them fully vaxed? for example, when will the nih policy change? >> it will not. we're a federal facility. we're following the cdc guidelines, so for right now, fully vaccinated for that purpose means the two doses of pfizer or moderna, like you had or the one dose of j&j. now where we're talking about taking care of yourself or your family, we know that it's better at this point to get that booster. and i hope people hearing this will not hold back on that. especially because, and maybe we want to talk about this, too, that omicron is coming. and it's pretty clear, if you needed one more reason that boosters help a lot in terms of protection against omicron. because that's not that great with the original two doses of pfizer from the data we saw yesterday. but you get the booster in there, and you're in much better shape. >> a good warning and a great message. dr. collins i have to ask you to fact check this. senator ron johnson, and to be clear, you're about to hear a clip where it's him yesterday, and then offering some level of clarification today. roll it. >> standard gargle of mouthwash has been proven to kill the coronavirus, even if you get it, you may reduce viral replication. >> i'm telling people to take it seriously and do what you can to boost your immune system. eat healthy, a host of vitamins, an nih study that says mouthwash can help reduce viral replication in the first day. >> he cites an nih study. you're the top dog at the nih. what's the deal? >> well, it's not an nih study. it's a study done by some french researchers, and let's be clear. it's not a study that i think ought to make anybody run out and decide that gargling with mouthwash is going to help them if they're infected with covid-19. these researchers basically showed that mouthwash could reduce the viral load in your saliva, in your spit, to a moderate degree, but it wasn't terribly impressive. it was statistically significant, but i think clinically meaningless. keep in mind, you have virus not just in your saliva. you have in your nose, your throat, your lungs. there was no data in the paper that suggested this reduced the symptoms of the people who were sick, nor did it reduce their ability to make other people around them sick by transmitting it. so i would not say that this is the kind of science that ought to recommend people changing their behavior. if you want to take care of yourself, get vaccinated, get boosted. if you get sick and you're in a high risk position, talk to your doctor, get a monoclonic antibody. gargling is not going to help you. >> appreciate the clarification. i know you're moving on in a couple days. wish you good things. >> thank you very much. it's been a privilege to serve our nation. we have the most amazing biomedical research community in the whole world, and that's part of the reason we're in better shape than most places would have thought we would be. we have to convince the rest of the public to take advantage of the amazing tools in our toolbox to fight off this terrible pandemic. >> well said. thank you, dr. collins. >> don't forget to vote in tonight's survey question at smerconish.com. about to get into this right now. should states be required to fund religious education? it's a yes or no. the supreme court is dealing with that question itself, an unusual case having to do with geography that could redefine church and state in this country. a parent embroiled in the fight joins me next. 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(all cheering) it feels too good to be true. it's kicking back and relaxing as we pick up your car. and when you get paid on the spot, it feels like scoring big. you know the feeling. you just never imagined you could get it from selling your car. well, with carvana, you can. experience the new way to sell a car. kids classrooms have become political lightning rods. we have seen passions erupt from everything from masks to critical race theory. but the supreme court is focused on a couple school said and a unique program that only exists in maine. the questions could redefine fundamental american principles like separation of church and state as well as religious liberty. you see, parts of maine are so rural that they don't have public schools, and in that case, the state will pay tuition at private schools. that could include schools affiliated with religious institutions but not if the curriculum promotes the faith or belief system with which it is associated. my next guest, amy carson, sent her daughter to her alma mater, bangor christian, but the state wouldn't help cover the tuition. she's one of the plaintiffs in the case and is joined by her attorney, michael. let me begin with you, amy. thank you for being here. you're fighting for the right of parents to have their kids educated at religious affiliated schools and have the state pay for it. is that fair? >> yes. we live in a town that is a tuition town in maine. >> counsellor, why is that not a violation of separation of church and state? >> well, the program here isn't funding schools. it's funding families, and it's allowing families to decide whether -- where to use that money. and currently, parents can choose schools, public schools in neighboring school districts. they can choose private schools. they can choose schools in state or out of state, and the state routinely paid for kids to go to some of the most elite blue blood prep schools in the country. yet, parents can't select a jewish day school or a catholic parish school in their town, and that kind of discrimination runs flat against the principles of the free exercise clause. when government provides benefits to citizens to use in this case a private school, it has to remain neutral and allow parents to use them at religious or nonreligious schools. >> you know, the case is also, amy, a reminder to me that elections have consequences. you correct me if i'm wrong, but on donald trump's watch, the solicitor general was on your side. then came the 2020 election. new president comes in. and the solicitor general at the behest of the biden administration was opposed to your position. did i get it right? and what do you think about that? >> i really don't pay attention to a lot of politics. i can't really answer that. >> counsellor, did i get it right? >> you got it right. >> in other words, you started out with an ally in the white house, but did not end up that way. >> that's right. and somewhat unusual turn after the change in administration. the united states, which had supported us below and had submitted a brief on our behalf, changed course and at the supreme court, not only submitted a brief opposing our position, but actually argued in the court against our position. >> look, the legal experts seem to think you have a winning hand, given the 6-3 divide of the court. counsellor, i'll put this to you. if you're successful, are you now opening up the door to the funding of religious based charter schools? that really seems to be driving both the advocacy and concerns people have in this case. >> it certainly is not driving our advocacy, and this case certainly will not open the door to religious charter schools. charter schools, after all, are public schools. what this case is about is whether when government makes a benefit that parents -- available that parents can use at private schools, whether it can allow parents to select any private school they want, anywhere in the nation, but exclude private schools simply because they teach religion. that's the discrimination at issue in the case. this has nothing to do with whether religion can be taught in charter schools or other public schools. >> amy, correct me if i'm wrong. your daughter is 19 now. why are you, given that she's been educated, still fighting this fight? why your passion on this issue? >> we are just trying to see this through to the inevitable end of it. and it's been very good for her and a great education. we couldn't have asked for anything better for her. >> bible study was a part and parcel of her daily curriculum, right? that's how every day -- you can understand then someone who might be agnostic or atheist and is a taxpayer, they're watching this and saying, geez, i'm unsettled at the idea that my tax dollars are going for amy's daughter to receive religious training. and you would say what to them? >> you would only go to a school like that if that's what your beliefs were. >> right, but why should i be paying? i'm playing devil's advocate, to advance that type of education? >> i don't think there's any really good answer for that. >> counselor, what's your answer? >> my answer is we do this all the time. >> right. >> i mean, how long the pell grant program has existed in this country for decades. the gi bill program has existed in this country for decades. as long as those programs have existed, kids have been free to go to notre dame, to byu, and that's perfectly fine. why can the same principle not apply at the k-12 level? that's, at the end of the day, these programs provide aid to individuals, not to schools. and not a penny goes to any school, religious or nonreligious, but for the private and independent choice of citizens. this is not about government funding religion. it's about government providing a benefit to individuals and allowing them to use it where they see fit. >> thank you both so much for being here. this is one more reason why what a spring or early summer we're going to have, because this case will come out in june. or in july. so, too, of course, the abortion challenge, and we'll be right in the thick of the 2022 midterm election. appreciate you being here. >> thanks for having us. >> democracy in retreat. autocracy on the rise. we dug into that at the top of the program, but we're about to go deeper with a reality check on what's behind the rise and what can we done to reverse the backwards slide of democracy, as president biden calls it. john avlon is next. ♪ ♪ [doorbell] ♪ ♪ [doorbell] ♪ ♪ [doorbell] all the delivery. no delivery fees. dashpass. what if you could have the perspective to see more? at morgan stanley, a global collective of thought leaders offers investors a broader view. ♪ we see companies protecting the bottom line by putting people first. we see a bright future, still hungry for the ingenuity of those ready for the next challenge. today, we are translating decades of experience into strategies for the road ahead. we are morgan stanley. let's get ready for jalapeñoooo popperrrs! turns out, michael buffer speaks like that all the time. and it turns out the general is a quality insurance company that's been saving people money for nearly 60 years. for a great low rate, and nearly 60 years of quality coverage, go with the general. ♪ ♪ cases of anxiety in young adults are rising as experts warn of the effects on well-being caused by the pandemic. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ returning to our top story tonight. as president biden engages over 100 nations in a virtual summit to promote democracy, his challenge won't be just combatting the messages of authoritarian media machines abroad but the autocrat apologists here at home. john avlon is here tonight with a reality check. . >> the biden administration's democracy side is a sign of solidarity against that rising tide the need is real. after all democracy has been in retreat for over a decade according to freedom house. as autocracies pitch the promise of wealth without liberty. predictability china and russia denounced the summit even before it began. no wonder because they've gotten used to bullying critics into silence and submission, but there are heartening signs of a push back. the biden administration has been notably tough on china contrary to all the trumpest claims of beijing and biden during the campaign. this week's decision to diplomatically boycott the olympics. this week also included a two hour virtual meeting with putin in which biden wanted any russian invasion of inukraine be met with military aid and unprecedented military sanctions. despite the stark change in tone between biden and trump when when it comes to dictators what's almost more significant is seeing more businesses put billions at risk to stand up to china's demands. that kind of spine is a stark departure from the retreats we've seen in the past like the nba's apology tour when the houston rockets general manager tweeted in support of pro-democracy activists in hong kong two years uh-uh go or when mercedes apologized today the ccp for quoting the dalhi lama in an ad. perhaps the most absurd example was actor john sinas hostage style video apologizing in mandarin for having made the mistake of having called taiwan a nation. for the record taiwan is a self-discovered democratic island. these apologies are relatively commonplace if cowardly as you can see. what we don't see as much is full throated defense of vladimir putin in u.s. media, but tucker carlson provided that with a 12-minute recital of russian talking points the other night that would have embarrassed anchors on our team. siding with putin over ukraine. just take a look at the banners. nato seems to exist to torment putin, and putin just wants to keep his border secure, and mocking the idea of territorial integrity. this might as well be counted as an in kind contribution to the kremlin, but tucker is not actually all alone in this. take a look at the cover of news max magazine which says post trump, putin becomes master of the world. this is sick stuff. tiger beat for authoritarian teenyboppers. it's part of the authoritarian fe fetishizing that's part of trump's gift to the gop. this kind of hyper-partisan fever along with trump's big lie and the attack on the capitol for autocracies to point to democracies dysfunction. their goal is to point to the cynicism in the west. and that's exactly why partisan cynicism and moral relativism here at home play right into their hands. it's also why we need to defend the integrity of our own democracy without apology. and that's your reality check. >> i said earlier the concerns we have today are not the concerns i've had at any other point in my adult life until recognizing what's going on in today's headlines. >> 32 years after the fall of the berlin wall we're fighting for the strengthen of liberal democracy which some folks took for granted. we cannot take it for granted anymore. >> we'll be right back to your reaction to tonight's program. because sippin' on unsweetened lipton can help support a healthy heart. lipton. stop chuggin'. start sippin'. 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(gasps) ♪ did it work? only pay for what you need ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ spider-man no way home in theaters december 17th ♪ ♪ ♪ "how bizarre" by omc ♪ no annual fee on any discover card. ♪ ♪ - san francisco can have criminal justice reform and public safety. but district attorney chesa boudin is failing on both. - the safety of san francisco is dependent upon chesa being recalled as soon as possible. - i didn't support the newsom recall but this is different. - chesa takes a very radical perspective and approach to criminal justice reform, which is having a negative impact on communities of color. - i never in a million years thought that my son, let alone any six-year-old, would be gunned down in the streets of san francisco and not get any justice. - chesa's failure has resulted in increase in crime against asian americans. - the da's office is in complete turmoil at this point. - for chesa boudin to intervene in so many cases is both bad management and dangerous for the city of san francisco. - we are for criminal justice reform. chesa's not it. recall chesa boudin now. time to see how you responded to the survey question at my website smerconish.com where we were asking should states be required to fund religious education. here's the result. wow, how decisive was that? 93 to 7%. that's probably not the way this is going to turn out in the supreme court of the united states. the litigant that you met, amy carson, is widely expected to be successful in her battle against the state of maine. so we'll see next june or july when the court issues its opinion in that case. social media reaction from tonight's program includes this. so if i open a satanic run school in your community that met all standards, you'd be okay paying, right? well, sean, there was that requirement if you paid attention to maine saying but you can't really be indoctrinating. i pointed outlet that amy walter now -- amy carson's now 19-year-old daughter had bible study to begin every school day. by the way, nothing wrong with that. the question is whether taxpayers should be funding it and whether this case is going to open the door for the funding of religious based charter school. that's the real issue here. here's something else from social media tonight. smerconish, scotish the question before the court is whether states can exclude religious private schools. your question is a straw man, both false and deceptive. i don't think so, tom. i think the question here is whether here to for those situations where states could have are now going to be absolutely entitled to make that funding decision. here comes another social media reaction. smerconish, as long as our leaders in congress continue to abandon any moral compass and choose donor lists, sound bites and votes over productive and constructive goals, i fear there's no end to this decline in our precious democracy. talked about that subject last night, and you've heard me say for a couple of nights now, sadly the way you get re-elected today is talk like a talk host and become a celebrity in cable television news. bob dole laying today in state that was the lesson. look at how dole conducted himself by reaching across the aisle. one more quickly if i've got time. casper, journalism is dead. well, i sure as hell hope not. don lemon is standing by. thank you for watching. i'll be back here tomorrow night.