i've heard that decisions are much different when you sit behind the desk. >> wow. major news expected today on the war in afghanistan with president biden set to announce a date to withdraw all troops and hoping to accomplish his predecessors could not. the condition is -- will the conditions on the ground allow him to keep the date this time? plus, another night of unrest near minneapolis after the deadly police shooting of daunte wright. the officer who pulled the trigger has since resigned and many are asking the question -- why hasn't she been fired? and new information on the sex trafficking investigation into congressman matt gaetz, with reporting his onetime ally has flipped and is working with prosecutors. the question is how bad is this for the florida republican? it's "way too early" for this! ♪♪ good morning! welcome to "way too early," the show that had plenty of lead worthy stories this morning. i'm kasie hunt on this wednesday, april 14th. we start with the news. as we approach the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, president biden is set to announce a full withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan. the announcement is expected today, according to a senior white house official who says the president has been mulling over the decision for weeks. they will start to pull 2,500 troops that are still in afghanistan by may 1st. the rest will be withdrawn before the september anniversary. president biden's decision comes after a three-month policy review where it was determined that the u.s. could address any threats from afghanistan without having a constant military presence in the country. the u.s. will, however, still maintain military assets there to counter any terrorism threats. a senior administration official says, quote, the president deeply believes in contending with the threats and challenges of 2021 as opposed of those of 2001, we need to be focusing our energy on those threats and challenges that are most acute for the united states and doing that requires us to close the book on a 20-year conflict in afghanistan. 20 years. president biden's decision is being met with mixed reviews from republicans on capitol. watch. >> i think a random withdrawal, just because you're celebrating an anniversary, is not the right decision. >> i want to see us get out of there and timely withdrawal seems like a good thing to me. >> if we are ready to go, i'll be supportive. if we are not supportive, i'll be making that very clear. >> no idea. it's ludicrous. first of all, it's not condition based. second of all, you never want to announce to people who you want to do these things. >> a few exceptions, including senator jean sheehan. she was thought to be a running mate for joe biden is disappointed in the president's decision to leave afghanistan without, quote, assurances of a secure future. so many people in our armed forces who have put so much into this war in afghanistan and we are thinking of them as we talk about whether this is actually going to come to an end. let's go now to minnesota. the streets of brooklyn center were flooded with protesters last night in the wake of the police shooting of daunte wright. police ordered the protesters to disperse an hour before the curfew began. they launched fireworks at police. officers responded to disperse the crowd. earlier in the day protesters were peaceful. the curfew in minneapolis does not lift until 6:00 a.m. central time this morning. the minnesota police officer that shot and killed daunte worse has resigned from the brooklyn center police force. she wrote, quote. 26-year veteran officer kim potter fatal shot wright during a traffic stop on sunday. earlier this week, the city's police chief said he thought potter made a mistake by shooting wright when she meant to grab her taser instead. the mayor of brooklyn center says he hopes the resignation will help relieve tensions in the city but declined to answer when asked if she would be fired or would collect a pension. >> i'm hoping that this will bring some calm to the community, although, you know, i think ultimately people want justice, they want, you know, full accountability under the law and so that is what we are going to continue to work for. we have to, you know, make sure that justice is served, justice is done. daunte wright, you know, deserves that, his family deserves that. >> the mayor also announced that police chief tim gannon would also be resigning. this comes as the defense in the murder trial of former officer derek chauvin used their first day of witness testimony to try to contradict the flood of experts that argued chauvin used excessive force. >> i felt that derek chauvin was justified, was acting with objective reasonableness following minneapolis police department policy and current standards of law enforcement and his interactions with mr. floyd. >> that was barry broad, a former san jose police officer showing that chauvin was using the proper treatment. here is the cross-examination. >> just starting with the fundamental premise of your testimony that what we are seeing here is not a use of force. i need to ask you if you believe that it is unlikely that orienting yourself on top of a person on the pavement with both legs is unlikely to produce pain? >> it could. >> what do you mean it could? is it unlikely to produce pain or is it likely to produce pain? >> i'm saying it could produce pain. >> it could? >> yes. >> and if it could produce pain then, again, just looking at your premise, if it could produce pain, then it would be a use of force, wouldn't it? >> if the officer' intent was to inflict pain -- >> not the officer's intent, sir. what you said is that it was unlikely to produce pain and that is why it wasn't a use of force. you now just said that it could produce pain. and so regardless of the officer's intent, if this act we are looking at here in exhibit 17 could produce pain, would you agree that what we are seeing here is a use of force? >> shown in this picture, that could be a use of force. >> okay. >> the defense also doubled-down on their argument that the crowds gathering affected the officers. officer peter chang testified that the people were hostile to officers. >> they were very aggressive. yes, aggressive towards officers, yes. i was focused and then it distracted me and i was concerned for the officers' safety too, so i kept an eye on the officers and the car and individuals. >> the defense has not yet said if derek chauvin will testify. joining me now, is reporting for "the washington post" eugene scott. eugene, always good to see you. thank you for being up early with us. why don't we start in minnesota, because emotions are running so high, especially in brooklyn center, of course, but it's taking place against the backdrop of the chauvin murder trial and i think there are a lot of fears about not just the outcome of the chauvin trial but how these two things may interact and potentially relate to one another and potentially affect whether chauvin is held accountable and if you talk to advocates and there may be concern about that. what is your view of what is taking place in minneapolis? what are some of the pitfalls we may over the next couple of weeks? >> it appears we see a community that is devastated once again because of police violence gonzales black people and trying to hold the city and officers accountable for their actions. yesterday we saw the defense put forward a witness who would argue the way chauvin behaved was not excessive and was within the scope of what was normal for law enforcement, but that comes after at least two weeks of other experts, including police officers from the minneapolis police department, saying otherwise. and so it will be interesting seeing what the jurors walk away with and what conclusions they draw, given these conflicting views of how law enforcement should respond. >> eugene, no shortage of news this morning. we started off with this decision in afghanistan with president biden deciding he wants to pull all troops out by the fall. we should note that this is a change from may 1st, which was the trump era agreement. president biden is actually extending this by a little bit. what did you make of the comments we heard from some republican senators there? would it have been different if president trump was still in office in terms of their support? and what does this mean for the american presence in the world at large going forward? >> we can guarantee it probably certainly would have been difficult with the way republicans have responded to trump on almost any issue. what we do is someone close to the issue, according to "the washington post," says the decision is shaped by one reason of particular that is of great interest and because america believe national security provisions are elsewhere. they have focuses on the middle east and yemen and syria and there is great frustration where things are currently going with the negotiation talks with afghanistan and they certainly want to make progress on that. just also primarily prioritize other issues. and so whether or not that is something they will be actually able to do is not yet clear but the decision seems to be moving in this direction. >> 20 years, 2300 american lives lost, far more of our troops affected very deeply by a conflict that is the nation's longest. "the washington post" eugene scott, thanks very much for being with us this morning. we really appreciate it. still ahead here, a strict new policy from the nfl concerning the covid vaccine. a new report on the capitol riot led to the massive breakdown. those stories and more when we come back. this is how you become the best! 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[ "ooh la la" by cherie playing ] the moxie showerhead speaker. only from kohler. welcome back. in what is, so far, the strongest pro-vaccination stance in all of national sports, the nfl sent a memo to all 32 teams saying it will limit access to some team personnel if they don't receive a covid vaccine. according to the memo, quote. so these groups including coaches, front office executives, and medical personnel, but not yet the players. nonvaccinated employees also will be ineligible for an anticipated relaxation of certain covid-19 protocols for vaccinated individuals. the league is also encouraging teams to hold vaccine information sessions for players, families, and staff to address any concerns they may have, noting that more than 1.5 million doses have been administered at club facilities. while the league's vaccination arrangement with players, along with other pandemic off-season protocols being negotiated separately with the players union, deference broncos, seahawks. broncos saying, quote. seahawks followed with a similar statement as the super bowl champion bucs who said, quote. off-season programs are scheduled to begin next monday league wide. let's turn to major league baseball where the twins return to the field to host the red sox yesterday after calling off monday's series opener in response to the fatal police shooting of daunte wright near minneapolis on sunday. the team held a moment of silence for wright before the game. as for the action on the field, boston's rafael devers homered for a second straight game and boston red sox beat minnesota 4-2. former mlb star alex rodriguez is reportedly part of a new ownership group for the nba's minnesota timberwolves. here is what the team's 19-year-old rookie of the year candidate anthony edwards said about a-rod's ownership bid when he was asked about it by reporters yesterday. watch. >> do you have any thoughts about him or are you an a-rod fan or anything like that growing up and have you thought about what he might bring to the team? >> a fan? who is he? >> a baseball player. alex rodriguez? >> yeah. no, i don't know who he is. >> okay. >> i know he is going to be the owner but i don't know nothing about baseball. >> ha ha! rodriguez took the opportunity to introduce himself to edwards on a post in instagram writing, hi, anthony, i'm alex! edwards later responded, sharing that post on his own instagram story! quite an introduction there! still ahead. the latest reporting from "the new york times" concerning the sex trafficking investigation into congressman matt gaetz and the reported ally who reportedly has flipped on him! flipped on hm ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ back in black ♪ ♪ i hit the sack ♪ ♪ i've been too long... ♪ applebee's irresist-a-bowls are back. dig in for just $8.99. now that's eatin' good in the neighborhood. 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email us or tweet us at the addresses on your screen. ♪♪ welcome back to "way too early." it's before 5:30 on the east coast. 2:30 out west. i'm kasie hunt. we are learning more about the advanced warnings capitol police received leading up to the january 6th insurrection. according to a new inspector general's report reviewed by "the new york times" police were warned three days before the violent attack, including a potential for violence which, quote, congress, itself, is the target. the report found that officers were instructed by their leaders not to use their most aggressive tact ticks to hold off the mob, and that would include things like stun grenades. according to "the times" the report notes several issues specifically tied to the civil service unit which handles large groups of protesters and founds the unit was, quote, operating at a decreased level of readiness for lack of standards for equipment and fostering a culture that decreased operational readiness. the inspector general notes that officers responding to the riot used protective shields that were used in a trailer without climate control and therefore, quote, shattered upon impact. the report will be the center of a capitol hill hearing tomorrow. intelligence officials say china, north korea and iran and russia represent the biggest dangers to the u.s. and marks a major shift from recent year, where al qaeda and isis topped the list. pyongyang has demonstrated, quote. president biden is set to announce a full withdrawal of troops from afghanistan by september. to coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. joining me now, is national security reporter at the "the washington post" john hudson who was in europe this morning covering secretary of state tony blinken's trip overseas. john, great to have you with us this morning. thank you so much for being here. let's talk about this big picture, because it really does show a shifting reality for our foreign policy broadly. we have been focused so aggressively on the war on terror the last two decades in the wake of the 9/11 attacks and, obviously, with good reason, but a lot has changed since then. what are you seeing in your reporting on the ground, what you're seeing from the secretary of state that reflects this evolution in our posture towards threats from abroad? >> you're absolutely right. the rational, the secretary of state is laying out the state for the future for afghanistan and this withdrawal date. some of the comments that have come out of the administration defending and rationalizing the reason to get out of afghanistan is because they are gearing up for a broader confrontation with china and there are many reasons why the u.s. wants to get out of afghanistan. it's been a losing battle there. there is no hope for a military solution in afghanistan that is lost, in many ways, the support of the american public. but another sort of geo political rational they are underscoring is a confrontation with china as its economy grows and it's expected to become the world's largest economy, some of those investments have gone into the military. now, you know, for a largely war weary american public, that might not be the most encouraging sign that it is a sort of a pivot from one confrontation in south asia to another confrontation in east asia but that is what the national security establishment and really both the democratic and republican foreign policy establishment are gearing up towards right now, looking at china as sort of the premier threat and looking at terrorism as you noted in the report as less of a threat to the united states. >> that is a pretty nerve wracking proposition, i think, for many americans. what is your sense of -- i mean, it makes sense, orientation in fighting a war in afghanistan is not necessarily the same set of tools you would use to take on china, if, for example, they became a threat to taiwan or took some other aggressive action in the region that required an american response. i mean, what else are they doing to try to re-think our capabilities in that regard? and how do you think the biden administration would handle, if, for example, china moved on taiwan or did something else we couldn't allow to stand? >> it's a huge -- it's a huge question. and when you think about china and its proximity to taiwan, that is why the taiwan strait has always been seen as an extremely dangerous area. you know, is there really that much the united states could do to prevent china from taking over and seizing taiwan? it certainly is a question a lot of military analysts have spent time thinking about and raising doubts that the united states could have a sort of decisive role in preventing that, given china's proximity and power vis-a-vis taiwan. but you're right in terms of capabilities and in terms of, you know, how this changes the nature of war fare. it is a different type of threat to be focused on nonstate actors and terrorists who want to, you know, stage attacks on the homeland, versus a massive nation state and with the capabilities of china, and those involve huge naval investments and huge aircraft investments. and that is why there is some concerns about, you know, does the united states, burden with a lot of debt, which has spent so much on the war on terror, is it in a place and is it necessarily a healthy thing for the country than to be ramping up for this massive confrontation with china? >> such incredibly difficult questions and we did point out that that global threats hearing is set to happen today on capitol hill. another reason to tune into that. it's something that went by the wayside at the ends of the trump administration but americans now will get that window in where our country stands around the world. thank you for being with us. ahead here, the pandemic has rolling stones mick jagger playing a different tune. we will play that track for you coming up next. we will play tha coming up next (vo) nobody dreams in conventional thinking. it didn't get us to the moon. it doesn't ring the bell on wall street. or disrupt the status quo. t-mobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help you realize new possibilities. like our new work from anywhere solutions, so your teams can collaborate almost anywhere. plus customer experience that finds solutions in the moment. ...and first-class benefits, like 5g with every plan. network, support and value without any tradeoffs. that's t-mobile for business. 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(naj) our fees are structured so we do better when you do better. at fisher investments we're clearly different. from prom dresses to workouts and new adventures you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. although uncommon, up to 1 in 5 survivors of meningitis will have long term consequences. now as you're thinking about all the vaccines your teen might need make sure you ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination. age is just a number. and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health. versus 16 grams in ensure high protein. boost® high protein also has key nutrients for immune support. boost® high protein. ♪ ♪ [sneezes] hey allergy muddlers. [sneezes] are your sneezes putting your friends in awkward positions? [sneezes] stick with zyrtec. zyrtec starts working hard at hour one and works twice as hard when you take it again the next day. zyrtec. muddle no more. and try children's zyrtec for consistently powerful relief of your kids' allergies. ♪♪ ♪ a pretty mass but never take a chance ♪ ♪ i landed on my ass trying to ride better up to zone ♪ ♪ save myself to cook way too much to do ♪♪ >> wow! time for something totally different! that was rolling stones front man sir mick jagger's new song tackling pandemic life in celebration of england coming out of lockdown. the song takes on pandemic trends like tiktok dances and a mix of frustration and exhaustion and humor and he said he is seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and wanted to write a song about all of the things we experienced. never thought i would hear all of those words out of mick jagger's mouth. nearly a year after the great toilet paper shortage, americans have plenty of bath tissue! americans spent more than 11 billion on toilet paper largely due to panic buying and it's showing an effect on sales as toilet paper transactions fell more than 4% in january. . americans are expected to spend less on toileted paper this year because we have it all in our closets and garages. netflix announced that "bridgerton" has been renewed for season four! yes they have exciting plans for the future and they plan to be in the bridgerton business for a long time to come. fans show their excitement over the upcoming seasons, the executive producer sat down with "vanity fair" to discuss the show and the recent reaction that a star not coming. sad face. laughing about her original strategy of removing a beloved character. he said i am shocked because usually that happens when i kill somebody off when somebody not around a while. he is still alive. we didn't kill him. i don't know that i expected this much of an explosion. i'm disappointed he not coming back. serena williams announced a new docu series about her career on and off the court as part of the deal. she hopes to bring special stories to film and to people's homes. very cool. congrats to serena. now this. final reflections from the late congressman and civil rights activist john lewis will be published one year after his death. it is a compilation of comments from lewis on a range of topics including faith, activism and humility and forgiveness. it is conversations he had with the author following his cancer diagnosis and it took place three weeks before he died. young said in a statement, quote. still ahead here, the compassionate tribute for the fallen officer lying in honor in the rotunda at the capitol. a atl doug? sorry about that. umm... what...its...um... you alright? 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[barking] stop! collaborate! and listen! alright, i'm listening. we're on a mission to get everyone to turn to cold washing with tide. ...and tide cleans better in cold than the bargain brand in hot. it saves you $1oo a year on your energy bill. if hot is a problem, yo i'll solve it. word to your mother. word to your mother. you know his mother? ♪ this was a cold call! ♪ he is still with you. he is still in your heart. losing a son, daughter, brother, sister, mom, dad is like losing a piece of your soul. but it's buried deep, but it comes back. >> that was president joe biden paying tribute to capitol police officer william evans who was killed earlier this month when a man rammed a car into him and another officer outside of the capitol. 18-year veterans of the force, evans is the fourth capitol officer to ever lay in honor at the u.s. capitol. joining us now is "the boston globe" columnist kimberly atkins. she is an msnbc contributor. kimberly, good morning. thank you so much for being here. it was so incredibly difficult to watch all of this yesterday, especially with officer billy evans, two young children, logan and abigail sitting there. they carried their stuffed animals with them. at one point appear a gail wiped her mother's tears away. she is 7 years old. president biden, of course, stepping into the role that he has had to play in his own life far too often in mourning this man and offering, trying to offer sympathy and empathy for what they are going through. what stood out to you the most about what we saw yesterday? >> yeah, we have talked over the course of a four-year period about how consoler in chief is one of the jobs of the u.s. president when that president chooses to take on that job. it was yesterday when i realized how long it had been since the nation had in its president a consoler in chief, someone who can simultaneously speak to a nation, which is still reliving that trauma from repeated attacks on the u.s. capitol, who could speak to this family in such a personal way. you could seal the connection when the president spoke to this family, so officer evans' family and also to the capitol and the police force. i can't imagine what it's like to be a capitol police officer right now. simultaneously comforting them all in this really, really mournful moment. >> well, kimberly, one of the things we are learning, "the new york times" said they have reviewed a copy of the inspector general report that lays out some of the problems ahead of the capitol riot, including missed signals from the intelligence division and rules that were set ahead of time that prevented capitol police officers from really doing their jobs. i know one of the things that i've heard a lot about, as i've covered this story, is that the rank in file capitol police officers as you say, the morale is so low area working overtime and struggling day in and day out and there is frustration with their leadership and, so far, congress has not passed the security bill that is supposed to implement some of these changes that now have been recommended and now they have to grapple with these failures. what is your sense of how capitol police leadership and other law enforcement groups should change, based on what we saw on january 6th? >> yes. i mean, this report is shocking on the one hand. but on the other hand, it makes a lot of sense. i mean, even residents of washington, d.c. had braced themselves of january 6th ahead of the president's own tweets and other information that had been reported at the time. so it stands to make sense that the intelligence was there to show that there was a threat on the u.s. capitol and it's really appalling that leadership failed to act as they should have to protect not only the lawmakers inside and vice president pence, but also the capitol hill police officers. 140 of them. we forget that 140 officers were injured, as well as officer sicknick who lost his life in that. congress really does have to act and recall, this is a congress that includes some people who continue to say that january 6th wasn't even a threat and that they weren't afraid. that is nonsense cal. congress must act to fortify security to make sure the lines of communication between intelligence and leadership are clear and that clear actions are laid out in order to protect the capitol moving forward. >> somebody who was there, people were afraid inside that building. thank you for getting up early bus. we appreciate it. on a lights night. we asked all of you why are you awake? leslie writes this is my magic vaccinated day. last shot was two week ago. such a sense of relief. go out and enjoy it. phil tweeted i'm up way too early to play golf on the east coast before my boss on the west coast wakes up. that's an excellent use of morning time. jeff shared this photo, my pandemic puppy refuses to miss an episode of her favorite show. hi, winslow. thank you for watching. bill karins has the morning off today. and for good reason. this guy knows his tough. hot, cold, rain, sun, baseball, news, happy birthday, bill. thank you for that, tracy. happy birthday, bill. i hope you're getting to sleep in and enjoy it with your family. coming up next here, we'll walk to chris lu. coming up on "morning joe," what the withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan spells for u.s. national security. we're going to hear from former homeland security jeh johnson and senator tim kaine will join the conversation. don't go anywhere. 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>> i would say this, what we're seeing now is really an economy that seems to be at an inflection point and that's because of widespread vaccination and strong fiscal support, strong monetary policy support. we feel like we're at a place where the economy is going to start growing much more quickly and job creation. coming in much more quickly. so the principle risk to our economy right now really is that the disease would spread again. you know, it's going to be smart if people can continue to socially distance and wear masks. >> all right. we're turning now to some business in economic news. that was federal reserve chair jerome powell on "60 minutes" saying the u.s. is at a turning point as president biden's covid relief turns the economy. could the onslaught of government spending actually overheat the economy and fuel inflation? joining us now former obama white house cabinet secretary and deputy secretary of labor chris lu. good morning. it's very good to see you. this has been a fear that we've discussed a couple of times here in the last couple of months. and is something that continues to be a concern as president biden readies a potentially 2.5 plus trillion dollars infrastructure package to add yet more money to the economy. what kinds of concerns do you think are valid around inflation here? or is it still in your view much ado about nothing? >> i think it's much ado about nothing as chairman powell said in that same interview, you know, changes in the u.s. economy whether it's the growth and manufacturing or simply just globalization make it much harder for companies in general to raise prices and for workers to raise wages. but it's also important to put all of this in context. you know, while the signs of the u.s. economy are very positive right now, we're not out of the woods by any measure as jay powell said. and even if this economy continue -- the recovery continues unabated, we also need to understand we are 8.5 million jobs short of where we were before the pandemic. that's equivalent to the worst of the great recession. we have 4 million people who have left the labor force. we have 4 million people who have been out of work for more than six months. so when you talk about wages, for instance, being a part of inflation, there's still a lot of slack in the labor economy right now. >> chris, we've been talking a lot this hour about china, specifically in terms of our national security posture, shifting away from places like afghanistan and toward conflicts with nation states particularly china. i'm wondering what your view is of america's economic competitiveness. let's start with the infrastructure plan specifically. is there an argument for that infrastructure plan that is oriented around this idea that we need to continue to be able to compete with china? and if so, what do you think are the most important pieces of the plan to try to accomplish that from an economic perspective? >> absolutely. and it's one of the reasons why president biden has framed this not only in terms of bringing jobs back to the united states but being more competitive. if you want to bring jobs back to the united states, you need to be able to transport goods around this country. and it doesn't take an expert to drive around and look at the state of roads and bridges or airports or trains in this country to see that we need to make improvements. and it's also another reason why the infrastructure bill puts $250 billion into research and development. why it makes such an investment in broadband and clean energy jobs. these are the things that are going to keep the united states competitive, not just with china but with europe as well. and what is also interesting is these kinds of investments are things that we've been talking about for decades through both democratic and republican administrations. there's nothing inherently partisan about roads and bridges and broadband. and there's no reason why these shouldn't get done right now. if not just for bringing jobs back but for making us much more competitive. >> chris, how do you view the national debt and our deficits in the context of trying to compete with china? there is a lot of political messaging around the idea that more debt means we potentially are seeding more ground to china. do you buy that? how do you view that argument? >> again, i go back to what jay powell said. there comes a point we need to take a closer look at your debt, but you do that when you get more people back to work, when the economy starts to be much more sustained. but i also think about the words of joe biden who often talks about budgets being a reflection of our values. and, yes, the debt is high right now. and you can spend $2 trillion on roads and bridges and broadband and safe drinking water as he wants to do, or you can spend $2 trillion on tax cuts for the wealthy or for large corporations. and it's one of the reasons why the infrastructure bill isn't just simply more money, but it's a lot is paid for and paid for by rolling back those tax cuts. so if you care about the debt and you also care about infrastructure, there's a responsible way to do that which is to try to offset it by rolling back the 2017 tax cuts. >> all right, chris lu, thanks very much for being up early to share your insights. we really appreciate it. and to this point, we're going to spend today focussed abroad with a worldwide threats hearing on capitol hill and of course discussions about removing our troops from afghanistan. it really does all underscore this shift toward a potential confrontation or at least a focus on china. and i think asking those questions about what -- it's everything, from exactly what we're doing overseas, but also to the functioning of our own goth. does the dysfunction in our congress affect our ability to compete abroad is something we need to spend a lot of time and energy focussed on here in the next couple of months and years, frankly. thank you for getting up "way too early" on this wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. this week in covid history -- it's mid april, 2020, and americans are so over covid-19. >> you can't buy paint. you can't buy lawn fertilizer or grass seed or -- come on. >> yeah. come on. luckily trump is reopening america. >> the data suggests the nationwide we have passed the peak on new cases. our country has to get open. and it will get open. we have to get our country open, jeff. >> what metrics you will use to make that decision. >> the metrics right here. >> where there's certainly room for those up there, b