better? >> we've got to revive it, but we have to pare it down. >> plus president biden to speak with the leader of ukraine just days after his call with vladimir putin. and the first anniversary of january 6th. the fight for democracy and the big lie that continues to grow. >> this year they rigged an election, they rigged it like they've never rigged an election before. "inside politics," the biggest stories sourced by the best reporters now. welcome to "inside politics sun sun sunday". it's been a challenging 2021 beginning with an attack on the u.s. capitol and ending with a record breaking covid surge. over the holiday break, cases have skyrocketed with the latest numbers approaching 400,000 a day. omicron's transmissible rise has some businesses and schools scrapping their return this month. >> omicron is truly everywhere. what i'm so worried about over the next month or so is that our economy is going to shut down not because of policies from the federal government or from the state governments, but rather because so many of us are ill. >> a bit of good news is that this strain is not breaking hospitalization records. at least not yet. much more of the population is vaccinated than it was in last winter's surge and some studies have pointed to reasons this variant may be less deadly than its delta predecessor. >> as we enter the new year, i'm more optimistic about america's future than i've ever been. at our best, we've taken every crisis we have faced and turned it into an opportunity to be a stronger and better nation. there's nothing we can't do if we're together. >> the president refers to himself as an optimist, but is he correct with what he was saying there? joining us now is dr. leana wen, hans nichols and tarini parti. dr. work en, we've seen the case surge but we know this is a different time. it seems like this variant is different, too. based on what we're seeing now, can you big picture for us what the next couple of weeks will be like for the u.s.? >> it's a very confusing time right now, phil. the reason is that there's a difference between the risk to the individual versus the risk to society. the risk to you as an individual, especially if you're vaccinated and boosted of omicron is very low. chances are even if you get infected you'll do just fine, you will not end up in the hospital. that makes it difficult to ask individuals to pare down, hunker down and stop doing their pre-pandemic activities. on the other hand, we're seeing a substantial strain on society with supply chain disruptions and travel disruptions and also especially with the strain on our health care system where individuals are now having to wait ten plus hours in the emergency department. there are not beds available for people who are not just coming in with coronavirus but with other issues as well. so i think what is coming our way is we're going to see an escalation in the number of cases. we'll also see a climbing in the rate of hospitalizations to the point that some health care systems are going to be on the brink of collapse. i think the question is can we institute some commonsense protections including indoor masking especially with high-quality masks in order to get us through the next very difficult few weeks ahead. >> difficult few weeks for the entire society and potential societal breakdowns just due to the surge in cases. i think one of the primary issues people are concerned about, particularly me as a parent and you as well, schools. schools are reopening right now or coming back from holiday break. you look at pediatric hospital admissions, they're definitely up. you look at the percentage of vaccination by age, 5 to 11 is 15% right now. we know -- we expect the fda to approve boosters for 12-year-olds to 15-year-olds in the coming days. will that make a difference? the bigger picture, what are schools supposed to do at this moment? >> i think schools should remain open. that should be the top priority of keeping our students in school. the reason is that we know omicron is everywhere. it's not just in schools, it's in communities as well. multiple studies have shown schools can be some of the safest places for children from a covid standpoint if protective measures are in place. i would urge school districts that are thinking of paring back mask mandates, this is not the time to turn back on any protective measure. this is the time to increase our protective measures while still keeping our children in school. for parents of kids 5 and above, you have the opportunity to protect your children. please vaccinate your children at this point. for parents of children under the age of five, the best way to protect our kids is to surround them with people who are vaccinated and boosted, that's the definition of herd immunity to protect our children and increase the use of other tools including testing where possible and just assume that omicron is everywhere. how will you behave knowing that's the case? that includes wearing a high-quality mask even if others around you are not always wearing a mask. >> tarini, we've seen from the white house, they tried to get out in front of this over the course of several weeks. the winter plan, an update to the winter plan. the cdc has cut back or pared back the isolation guidance right now. one of the questions with the cdc guidance is what was the rational for it? was it science-based, politics-based, business-based, all of the above? what is your sense right now? >> yeah. i think the challenge facing the white house since the emergence of this new variant has been effectively communicating the dangers of it frankly with how transmissible it is while also communicating effectively that this is not 2020. we don't need to shut down everything in order to go on and deal with this virus. i think you saw that sort of reflected in the cdc's new guidance. i think i would argue it is all of the above. there are questions raised by why the guidelines are not different for vaccinated versus unvaccinated people in terms of the isolation required for those two categories. so i think the goal here clearly was to keep the economy functioning because we're seeing all these staffing shortages, given how transmissible this virus has been. i think you'll see the white house continue to sort of balance, you know, where -- how they can communicate, that this is different from 2020 while also telling people to get vaccinated, to get boosted and sort of communicate the urgency of this. >> hans, i want to play sound from president biden that got a lot of attention earlier this week. i'll lay in the context afterwards. take a listen. >> look, there is no federal solution, this gets solved at the state level. it ultimately gets down to where the rubber meets the road, that's where the patient is in need of help or preventing the need for help. >> the president was on the call with members from the national governor's association and talking essentially about federal working in coordination with states, but the idea of this being a state issue and states need to handle and solve it was something that got attention particularly from republicans. what's your read right now in terms of where the biden administration is going forward in terms of their capacity to handle this? >> well, they're running up against the challenge that a lot of presidents have, and that is how do you actually control the levers of government? how do you implement what you want to do rhetorically? so, yes, there's talk. they moved in the direction of vaccine mandates. the question for this month and the next month for the white house is will they be able to effectuate those changes? will they be able to impose their will, which is what they want. increased vaccinations, more moving in the direction of vaccine mandates, can they do that at the state and local level? you're already seeing some localities move in that direction. you have some movement not just on the school front but in sort of what parts, what areas of public life are available to you? you saw some news over the weekend in chicago that for the unvaccinated there will be less available. the question, the thorny, political one, is what do you do about schools? there will be certain localities, you saw atlanta, some movement in georgia, you will see it out west, what you do when schools open and transmission? no one has a firm and clear answer on that just yet, though we're learning more, though that doesn't necessarily mean we have any sort of perfect visibility here. >> you cannot quantify the anxiety of parents right now trying to figure out whether or not -- how they'll go back to work, whether kids will be in school. dr. wen, hans makes a great point that there's only so much that the federal government can do, but transparency was what the biden administration had talked about. and there's a testing shortage right now. 500 million tests won't be available until the next couple of weeks. people are waiting in lines. how much does this set the company back with omicron now surging? >> it's a big problem that people who are symptomatic are now waiting in very long lines and can't get access to testing, and other people who are asymptomatic but want to prevent transmission to others, they can't test before getting together. test positivity right now is so high. lack of testing has hampered our response. the bigger problem with the biden administration is that they've been so reactive is that they're reacting to the situation at hand, which is a good thing. they're responding to hospitals being overcapacity or the issue with testing but we'll always be several weeks or months behind. i think they should be looking to see what is the next issue we'll have? omicron is almost certainly not the last deadly and serious v variant that we'll have? we still have low vaccination rates in many parts of the country? what can they do to make sure that being fully vaccinated means having a booster shot. also increasing vaccination rates including what many cities have done to say if you're unvaccinated you're unable to enter restaurants and public spaces? i think it's time for the biden administration to be working on these efforts. yes, testing also because we'll face testing shortages throughout 2022 but we also need to substantially increase vaccination rates. i wish the biden administration would start considering the domestic mandate when it comes to vaccines as another lever to get more people vaccinated. >> it's been a confounding question of 2021, how do you get more people vaccinated? it's available. the distribution is historic. people have not done it to a large degree over the course of the last several months and the country is paying for it now. coming up next, house progressives say they can get parts of the build back better plan done even without joe manchin's support. all right. will it work? 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>> that remains to be seen. we know joe biden has -- he extended the moratorium on student loans a few weeks. that's something that progressives -- a minimal thing progressives pushed him to do because that was set to expire at the end of this month. so -- but in terms of other things the president can do, biden has been resistant to that, because he wants to get a legislative win and work with congress. so they're kind of coming up against his wishes as well as what is actually possible. we'll have to wait and see what the progressive caucus puts out as congresswoman jay paul outlined in her "washington post" op-ed as to how this could potentially get done. >> it's an open question. it will be interesting to see what they release. there definitely are things the administration can do. but alex, the white house is clearly focused on trying to figure out a way back with senator manchin. there's an interesting piece by david axlerod drawing some comparisons of the near-death of the affordable care act and its revival and build back better. he said given the makeup of congress and the frayed bonds trust, there's no assurance that mr. biden can revive the build back better act as mr. obama did with the aca, nor would its revival necessarily help democrats next fall. the column laid out a lot of potential options, a lot of potential pathways forward. how is the white house viewing this at this point in time? >> the white house is still cautiously optimistic that they're going to pass something. now what that something is might very well disappoint a lot of democrats in the party, in particular progressives who will lay out all these plans in the coming weeks. i talked to a bunch of democratic strategists last night, they will even concede if the elections, the midterm elections, if they were held this tuesday, democrats would almost certainly lose the house and maybe the senate, too. now, they'll of course say we have 11 months to turn this ship around. they talk about covid, the economy and getting points on the board with build back better because right now if president biden were to fail in one of his signature initiatives, it would then further contribute to this poor national environment for democrats. >> i think that's kind of the pitch, right? you can't undercut your president, what else do we have if we don't have this? even though they had legislative victories in 2021. the progressive verse joe manchin, tarini, this has been a battle that's been ongoing for a year. it hasn't stopped and won't stop any time soon. jamal bowman, a house progressive said if we are big-ten democrats which we are, every voice is as important as the next voice. we need to stop blaming progressives and the squad for all the problems in the democratic party because that's not true. i think a lot move people are blaming senator manchin at this point. how are you threading the needle between these two polar opposites inside their own ca caucus? >> i guess senator manchin would say it's not his fault. it's been very tricky for the president to keep both these sides happy over the last few months, he managed to get the infrastructure bill, the rescue package through, but build back better, there's so many pieces to this package that it's been very difficult for them to come together. i think what we heard from the white house is that there are elements of the build back better package that everyone agrees on. things like universal pre-k, there's some sort of broad agreement on that. i think the path forward now in order to get everyone on board is, you know, is -- is condensing the package even more. structuring it differently. is that going to get more people on board? i think we'll see this play out in the next few weeks on how -- what changes can be made to get everyone back on board. as we know, it's been very tricky to get senator manchin and progressives to come together and agree on something. >> it's the big outstanding question and has been for months. >> hans, i saved the nerd question for you. especially -- the economy is the biggest issue right now. if you look at the reuters poll from mid-december, economy was 29% in terms of most important problem facing the u.s. today. the closest to it was health care at 13% and then immigration and environment. you have inflation, supply chain issues as well. you also have robust economic recovery, particularly compared to other countries in the world. how does the administration address what the american people think is a major problem when they think it's a robust economy? >> they talk about supply chains. they talk about what they're doing to open up ports. this he have a port czar. to the broader question of whether or not build back better is going to get done, you, i, all the reporters that are here, most reporters in washington will try to intercept what joe manchin is thinking along with kyrsten sinema for the next two, three months. in reality, maybe we should save ourselves some time and just look at the inflation numbers and listen to what manchin has been saying. manchin has been singularly and crystal clear about he's worried about inflation. he said it publicly, he said it privately. he'll say it any time anyone wants to listen. while there may be a lot of fluttering back and forth on manchin could live with 3$300 billion in clean energy tax credits, the number one thing we need to look at is inflation and how much time manchin wants to see how much it will cool down by. we'll have three or four readings by easter, so it's a basic nick thing to look at but look at that cpi number when it hits. i think january 12th is the next one, then february 10th. that's the number people should be focused on and that's the number the white house is focused on because they know the political salients of it with one senator from west virginia. >> i was going to add to what hans is saying, it's not just manchin worrying about inflation, though he's the most vocal. he was hearing from moderate domes mid last year, that's what they're looking at when they look at re-election prospects. that's of concern among those on the line on whether they'll be re-elected or not. >> no question about it. it's a huge issue and they're hearing it from constituents. hans pulling out cpi, i appreciate that. appreciate not pulling out cpe, we'll keep working on that. coming up next, history says depositions are facing losses this november, but can they stave off a blowout in the 2022 midterms? 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-easy? switch your xfinity services to your new address online in about a minute. that was easy. i know, right? and even save with special offers just for movers. really? yep! so while you handle that, you can keep your internet and all those shows you love, and save money while you're at it with special offers just for movers at xfinity.com/moving. a new year and a new mayor in new york city. minutes into 2022 and with confetti still falling in times square, eric adams was sworn in as the 110th mayor. the 61-year-old former police captain calls himself the future of the democratic party. now top democrats are closely watching to see if his coalition of working class pro-police and voters can be replicated before the november elections. >> we have lived through two years of continuous crises. crises tells us it's in charge, that it is in control. crises wants to tell us we can be happy, when we can be sad, when we can work and how we can enjoy our city. this would be our new year's resolution. we will not be controlled by crises. >> alex, it's always difficult to extrapolate from a city legislator or mayor into the federal level, but democrats are closely watching eric adams. the white house is keenly aware of what he's up to. he's been to the white house, they've spoken to him about this. is that the messaging you see democrats moving towards in the weeks and months ahead? >> joe biden and eric adams are sort of ideological soul mmates. what will be interesting is you will see a few candidates in the eric adams model, a more moderate democrat and also a person of color trying to run in places not as blue as new york city. one thing people should look at and democrats nationally are looking at is stacy abrams. she's beloved by many parts of the left, if you drill down to her positions on issues, she had relatively moderate. she spurned the bernie part of the wing on economic issues, she's not for medicare for all, that would be a key race to watch in terms of if the eric adams' model is viable not just in cities like new york city. >> no question about it. the race will be enormous. tarini, one of the things -- democrats understand that covid is the key here. interconnected with covid is the economy. those issues are critical in terms of the midterm elections. if you look at the current generic ballot, fox news had republicans 43%, democrats 49%, a -- 39%. but there is frustration with the messaging. >> we passed a 1$1.9 trillion covid relief bill in march. huge. it cut child poverty in america in half. but we stopped talking about it. i think, you know, that's got to be addressed. democrats have to really have to have a finely honed message that we're doing a lot for the average american. and it's working. >> it's such an interesting point. there were significant legislative victories in 2021 for democrats in the white house. american rescue plan, the bipartisan infrastructure bill, yet people seem to think they have not done anything at all. how do they change that? >> right. we've seen poll after poll show that voters are not aware of some of the things that the president passed. i interviewed vice president kamala harris recently and asked her what the midterm message should be for democrats. she said democrats need to do a better job oficies they passed agenda they're pushing for to people specifically. she mentioned rural americans, black americans, connecting specific policy issues to things that would affect people in their daily lives and do a better job of making that connection. we know that something that president biden has started to do in recent weeks especially on inflation, really trying to say we feel your pain, here's what we've done. here's what we have coming up. i think you'll see more of an effort from democrats and especially members of the administration to go out and sell the agenda and connect the pieces a bit more to show people that what they've done in the past few months. >> yeah. hans, you talk about coalitions in terms of winning coalitions. it was jarring for democrats to look at the demographic breakdowns of the 2020 election when it came to hispanic voters in particular. the "wall street journal" had a great piece about how both parties are fighting for hispanic voters. have democrats kind of lost their way? the "journal" piece said latino voters who weren't especially partisan on who had seen the socially unacceptable vote for trump in 2016. where does this go for them? >> no one knows. if they do, they have the keys for the white house for the next four or six years whatever cycle we're on. in the modern republican party since karl rove there's been efforts to peel off hispanic voters. what's confused and confounded a lot of smart strategists who make a lot of money running these races is how donald trump outperformed not only mitt romney, right, and then he outperforms in some places in 2016 in 2020. i have not found a credible answer for that. maybe i should go down to the rio grande valley and talk to voters and talk to hispanic voters and try to figure out what is motivating them. obviously the economy is at play. the lockdown, the shutdown, the covid response. across the country there are different pockets of voters who are having different reactions. in south florida we saw a lot of -- it had to do with venezuela and socialism and southern tecxas it may have had more to do with the border, the economy and covid. these are difficult issues. whoever solves them will be well-rewarded both politically and for the consult instants and strategists that alex talks to, i need to figure out the strategists that alex is talking to so i can intercept the information, they'll do well financially. they'll all get second homes. we know in 2022 so much money is going to be spent. house seats that used to cost $1 million will cost $4 million.s . >> jackie, the saving grace in 2020 was the suburbs. virginia governor's race was a siren for democrats on that front. how do they address that in the weeks and months ahead? >> you know, it really seems like everything will boil down to the economy and to covid. those two are just linked. if your kids are in school. if you feel like your income is paying your bills and then some, then democrats may have a chance. but if there is that -- if people still feel like they're in crisis and their lives are not back to normal which is one of the big reasons was joe biden's selling point coming out of 2020, then they're definitely going to have problems. inflation is part of that but also you can't take covid out of the equation. >> i think in all honesty, that analysis should get you that second home that hans is talking about here. it doesn't have to be super complicated at this point in time. it's covid and it's the economy. it's pretty clear. one thing that's also interesting -- we have to go to break -- as we've seen redistricting play out, democrats thought redistricting would nuke them in the house to some degree. it's actually netted out fairly evenly, at least for the 25 that are done to this point. we'll have to see how that plays out. coming up next, can biden help avert a russian version of ukraine? 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>> well, probably the latter, phil. this is -- conversations with always a good thing. this keeps the conversation going. it allows putin to put forward the demands that they have already made to emphasize those, many of those demands are non-starters for the united states. what it does for both sides is essentially set up the framework for conversations that will come in the following days. both countries sending their teams to geneva to start talks on the 9th. that will be followed by conversations with nato, that followed by conversations with the osce. this also gives putin stature by demanding, calling for this phone call with president biden, it shows that he's got some power that he is able to get the president of the united states on the phone. president putin made it clear he wants to deal with primarily the united states as opposed to dealing with the rest of nato. on the u.s. side, this is a good thing. as i said, this keeps the conversation going. this shows that there may be what the biden administration has called a diplomatic off-ramp. this invasion is not a forgone conclusion. and by all accounts, the u.s. does believe that president putin has not yet made up his mind about whether to invade ukraine. >> hans, you know, i was struck by one of president putin's advisers who made clear in the call that putin warned biden that there would be a complete rupture of relations if sanctions were applied. obviously the sanctions are the stick part of what president biden has laid out. but sanctions are complicated here. it's not a unilateral effort by the u.s. europeans would be involved as well. you covered european countries and european businesses, they have divergent interests when it comes to what sanctions could be applied. what kind of teeth do you think could be put in place here if they needed to do so? >> well, we don't know is the short version, right? there's always been, especially in the auto industry in germany, how heavily you sanction russia because they buy a lot of audis. you need to get all the countries involved. so you bring in all the countries, and that makes the sanctions more biting, but they're not as strong as if you did it with one country that wanted to go to a maximumless approach. russi russia has essentially been under sanctions since 2014. it doesn't seemed to have altered their behavior that much. they mostly, at least publicly, shrugged off the sanctions. i would also suggest that talking is always good, but after you have a phone conversation and both sides read out the phone conversation and are pretty negative and pretty dark, that's not a great sign, right? the russians are talking about how there would be complete ruptured relations and president biden is talking about severe sanctions. president biden says that after he tells the press he's not going to negotiate in public, what does he do? he negotiates in public. the language and the body language after the call doesn't give a lot of optimism. but to alex's point they are talking, and that stands for something. >> jackie and tarini, i want to get to you guys with a broader view on national security. alex, for a second, i want to play something for you from one of the obama administration's top advisers. >> i don't yet see a pathway out of this where everyone can go home and there's no conflict. it seems clear to me that putin is not willing to take away the threats until he gets something. and if he doesn't get something, he seems prepared to act. >> what's your read on that? >> well, you know, the question is can biden offer putin anything? what putin is asking for right now, as i mentioned, are fairly non-starters for the u.s. that is never allowing ukraine to join nato, stopping any sort of military build up in the eastern states of nato. but certainly president biden can make it clear to president putin that ukraine is not going to join nato any time soon. we know that. on that, they agree. they can also agree that, you know, an invasion of ukraine is going to be very costly for the russians, both in terms of their economy and in terms of human loss. so there are certain things that president biden can offer president putin in order to save face. that would primarily look like, you know, the nato presence along that eastern border of nato with russia. but this is an extremely dicey situation, of course. time is ticking. even if president putin has not made up his decision on whether to invade or not, he knows the decision needs to be made in the coming weeks if only because the weather is going to start to turn. this needs to be done during the winter, frankly, when the ground is hard, when tanks can cross that border. it's going to be a very dicey few days on the diplomatic front with these conversations that are happening and those decisions are going to have to be made soon, phil. >> tarini and jackie, the least productive way to do this, a lightning round. if there's a foreign policy challenge that the white house is looking forward to in 2022, what do you think it is, jackie? frn>> sorry. i think everything this administration does seems to be with an eye towards china. so i think that will continue to be a focus for them. >> i was going to speak more broadly politically. i think competence is going to be -- projecting confidence will be a big deal for biden considering the afghan withdrawal was sup ach a disast. that's the best thing the white house can do. >> hans? >> no one knows. that's the thing about foreign policy, we should just acknowledge that the threat will come from someplace we don't know. i won't suggest it will come from canada, obviously it's not coming from canada, but no one knows. >> alex, you deal with that every single day because you cover it. what's your sense? >> not just china, which will always be the number one foreign policy problem and threat for the u.s., but also iran we have to talk about. in the coming weeks, we will probably find out whether iran comes back into the jcpoa. >> no shortage of issues. thank you very much. coming up, it's been nearly one year since the january 6th attack on the capitol. could it happen again? strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! mission control, we are go for launch. um, she's eating the rocket. ♪ lunchables! built to be eaten. with ww, i lost 30 pounds and i feel incredible. i love the new program because the app does all the work for you. it's never too late to start. start the new year with three months free. join today at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 3rd. back to the most memorable political moments of to 21. >> this is our historic moment. unit why i is the path forward. >> i stand squarely behind my decision. i will not repeat the mistakes we've made in the past. mistake of fighting indefinitely. >> i demanded it, i want adam kinzinger and liz cheney kicked out of the gop conference. >> it's not about republicans or democrats, it's about making america more product and efficient and therefore improve the lives of the people we represent. >> i have to tell you that the most important thing that we can do this congress is to get voting rights done. the clock of destiny is ticking out and we must act now before it is too late. >> don't forget, please don't forget 2021 actually started with a home-grown insurrection born out of a big lie. >> people have been lied to by two to many for too long. the truth joe biden won the election, the effort will fail and everybody knows it. >> bringing my panel back. hans, to start with you, thursday marks one year since january 6th. i don't know that i expected january 6th to be a complete tipping point but what i'm struck by is federal officials are warning of unspecified threats to state and government officials in the lead-up to that anniversary. it seems like instead of evolving or moving on, the country is more entrenched in the place it was then now more than ever. is that kind of your read on things? >> well, it does seem to be a bit of a loop cycle in this. i think that's sort of one way to look at it. the broader challenge for the committee on capitol hill is finding legitimacy across the country. they've known this is the challenge from the beginning. there's a great deal of entrenchment fueled as you mentioned by the big lie mopping republicans accepting joe biden as the popular elected president. the challenge for the committee is to bring republicans along. i'm not so convinced that republicans have fundamentally moved toward accepting the committee and that's still the fundamental issue. >> no question about it. jackie, the committee is moving in the weeks and months ahead into a more public phase of their investigation, largely been behind the scenes. to hans' point "the washington post" polling that came out this morning, belief in evidence of voter fraud, democrats 88% say no, independents 74% say no. republicans 62% say yes, largely unchanged since january 6th, even though state after state after state with republican legislature conducted audits found no evidence of any of this. the question is, can the committee change any minds when it moves towards its public phase? >> i actually feel i don't think they can because we've already seen movement over the course of the last year to change how people vote in state to state, to restrict voting in some states. there's movement even from a perspective of a local to replace some officials that may have played a part in upholding the 2020 election so it seems like some things done from the bottom up that are codifying some of these things that the former president said and are it's interesting how 2022 looks and some play out in the real world. >> it's a good point. jocelyn benson, democratic secretary of state of michigan. they have turned their eyes to changing the people who are in positions of authority and protected 2020. i think that's a point you can't really miss it was oftentimes republican state officials stood up to president trump and allies as they were trying to overturn the election, reinstate a coup to some degree. alex, when you go beneath the federal level, what does this mean longer term for the country when you see these moves on the state level to address something that just isn't true? >> to your point the sleepy secretary of state races are now some of the hottest most bitter republican primaries in the country. even though republican leaders in d.c. no longer want to talk about 2020, they say this is the past, we have to look toward the future. donald trump considers election fraud in 2020 the biggest most important issue in the republican party, which is why you've seen even a year ago republicans were privately saying that donald trump's hold over the republican party was over. the problem was that the votes stayed with him which is what you've seen over the past year, the republican leadership has come to terms this is still donald trump's party. one thing to watch with the january 6th committee, the republicans are trying to sue for time essentially. a lot of the lawsuits and they may lose them but the closer you get to november and republicans potentially taking over the house means that the committee may be over by then. something to watch for. >> to alex's point, former president trump is clearly the leader of the party. there's a lot of concerns inside the democratic party what happens if he runs again say what hillary clinton said. >> if i were a betting person i'd say trump will run again. he seems to be setting himself up to to that and if he's not held accountable then he gets to do it again. i think that could be the end of our democracy. >> it's hyperbolic but talking to democrats on capitol hill there are a lot who feel that way. map out with the minute we have left how this plays out over the next year or two? >> right, as you said, we've been hearing this from democrats since last year and what we'll see in the coming months is an effort to push voting rights through to get some protections to use sort of this threat to democracy to get some legislation passed. you'll see the threat to democracy as a reason to rally democrats together on this. >> no pathway but the urgency there. thanks so much as always. that's it for "inside politics sunday." join us back here at sunday 8:00 a.m. eastern time. up next "state of the union" with jake tapper and dana bash. thanks again for sharing your sunday morning. have a wonderful new year. strypaper? luckily, there's biotrue hydration boost eye drops. biotrue uses naturally inspired ingredients. and no preservatives. try biotrue! ♪ my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 2 system. with a painless, one-second scan i know my glucose numbers without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. take the mystery out of managing your diabetes and lower your a1c. now you know. try it for free at freestylelibre.us i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. with the new personalpoints program, i answer questions about my goals and the foods i love. i like that the ww personalpoints plan is built just for me. start the new year with three months free. join today at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 3rd. one year later, the investigation into the deadly january 6th riot enters a new phase, what the committee has learned about the impetus of the attack and the role of the former president. i'll speak to january 6th committee chairman bennie thompson and maryland governor larry hogan next. and tidal wave, hospitals brace for more covid patients, as the omicron variant triggers more remote learning and travel delays. >> what really counts is making sure people don't get sick. >> reporter: how worried should americans be about what's to come? dr. anthony fauci joins me to discuss ahead. plus, remembering reid, from a house with no running water to the highest perch in the senate, the late senate majority leader harry reid in his own words on his legacy and parting push for democrats now. hello i'm dana bash in washington where the state of the union is hoping for a good year. happy new year. 'not where many expected to be at the start of