Measure. This was the most chaotic debate ive ever seen. What a dark event we have witnessed. A low point in american political discourse. That was a [ bleep ] show. The [ bleep ] show must go on. Its party time, as the president throws a garden party, where its positive. Kellyanne conway positive for covid19. Reverend john jenkins tested positive. Positive for the coronavirus. Oh, well. So long as the president is this is a fox news alert. President trump just tweeted he and the first lady have tested positive for the coronavirus. Well, he is sure to beat this. Im going to walter reed hospital. I think im doing very well. I just want to tell you that im starting to feel good. We have enthusiasm like probably nobody has ever had. Our people that love the job were doing. Hello, america. I am doing great. I feel very, very, very, very turn it off hes fine. What a relief. Thanks, satan. This has been this week in Covid History. Good morning. Welcome to morning joe. It is wednesday, september 29th. Were following a number of developing stories this morning, including new allegations in another tellall book from a Trump Presidency insider. Among the claims, that the former president told Russias Vladimir Putin at the g20 summit in 2019, quote, im going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes but its for the cameras. After they leave, well talk. You understand. Well dig into a claim from trumps former Press Secretary. Also, well discuss top military officers contradicting President Biden on afghanistan, telling congress yesterday they had recommended a small number of american troops be kept in that country. And news on the coronavirus. What dr. Anthony fauci is saying about a socalled mix and match strategy for covid19 Booster Shots. And nba superstar lebron james reveals for the first time he got the Covid Vaccine, despite initial skepticism. But we begin this morning with the intrigue on capitol hill. How will democrats unite to pass two key pieces of President Bidens domestic agenda . Willie . Yeah, this vote on the Infrastructure Bill is supposed to be tomorrow, but it looks a long way off from here. The president was scheduled to visit chicago today, but that trip has been postponed so he can remain in washington to work with lawmakers on a path forward for that 3. 5 trillion Reconciliation Package and the bipartisan Infrastructure Deal. Speaker nancy pelosi finds herself caught between progressives who want to enact the ambitious social programs in the Reconciliation Bill and centrists who balked at spending trillions more. She sent a letter to colleagues yesterday, saying it is morally imperative to pass the act. Progressives will not vote for the Infrastructure Deal tomorrow until 3. 5 trillion plan passes first. Senator Bernie Sanders urging House Democrats to vote against the Infrastructure Deal until another is reached. My fear is that if the dual agreement that was reached is broken, and we just pass the Infrastructure Bill, the leverage that we have here in the senate to pass the Reconciliation Bill will be largely gone. I think the one hope we have is to say, look, you guys want to pass the Infrastructure Bill . I want to pass it. You want to pass that, you have to deal with reconciliation. You cant just keep slow walking this thing. Meanwhile, Democratic Senators joe manchin and Kyrsten Sinema visited the white house yesterday. The president spoke with sinema in the morning and separately with mch ithe afternoon. Both said the Reconciliation Package needs to be trimmed to win their support. A Growing Number of House Democrats are growing concern about senator sinema. Three sources telling nbc news during a closed door meeting yesterday, representative khanna says there is a onesenator problem. Later telling n news, we have one senator from a state President Biden carried, from a state where her colleague is 100 on board, Holdingp The Agenda the entire house of the National Democratic party. This senator refuses to even give a number. Here is my question, when is the democric party going to tell a single nator, its time to get behind our president. It is time to get in line. Talking about senator sinema there. Cofounder of punch bowl news, anna palmer. From the white house and associated press, jonathan lemire. Jim vandehei. Coauthor of the Confidence Code series, katty kay. This vote is supposed to be tomorrow on the Infrastructure Deal. This bill may or may not pass. Theres a lot of work to do. In a letter, nancy pelosi said to her colleagues, were not going to tie these two together. We just cant do it. Lets get infrastructure passed, then well deal with the Reconciliation Bill. Yesterday, progressives saying, nope, these need to be tied together. Where does that leave them . Nancy pelosi is in a really tough place here, you know, when it comes to the progressives. So far, they are holding firm. We have several progressives in punch bowl a. M. Saying they are not going to move forward with this infrastructure vote. Nancy pelosi hates to put a bill on the floor if itll fail, but this will be a true test for her. So far, shes not made much progress in convincing the progressives its time to pass the Infrastructure Bill. I think infrastructure ultimately happens, but i think it is doubtful it happens this week. Okay. So what is she going to tell what is Speaker Pelosi going to say to khanna, to Bernie Sanders, to the progressive wing of her party, who has now held the line, and say, these two things cant be separated. What are the negotiations . What are those conversations like . Theyre really difficult. The progressives want some assurance that they are going to get a number, at least a topline number. So far, you know, when joe manchin came back from the white house yesterday, he wouldnt even say they had even talked about a Top Line Number. So nancy pelosi needs to give them something, some assurance besides the fact that, yes, were going to get this done. What is the Top Line Number going to look like . What is going to be included in there . She has been unable to do that because, so far, those senators, sinema and mancn, refused to do it. They put her in a tough position. Jonathan lemire, oiously Bernie Sanders and others are worried about losing the leverage, i understand that, in terms of negotiations. But is President Biden and nancy pelosi discussing with progressives and democrats as a whole the conquences of not getting anything done . What has been t issue with communicating that . Theres growing frustration among democrats as to how the white house has been messaging and communicating its concerns to lawmakers and trying to bridge these divides. Mika, white house officials have been telling me there is still a confidence here that this will get done, that it is impossible to imagine, they say, democrats submarining the agenda. The agenda is popular with the public. You know, itd cripple their chances in the midterms next year and would potentially damage the biden presidency in its first year. This is the window to get things done. Theres a sense here the president is not doing enough pushing, that hes listening, hes listening, focusing on the senate, two in particular, manchin and sinema. Weve been talking about them so much. We had congresswoman Debbie Dingell on in the last hour, and theres frustration others arent being addressed here, in terms of what they need to see out of the package to get them paired together and get this agenda put into place. We know the president has canceled his trip to chicago today. You know, that goes to show theres a sense of growing urgency that they need to get this done. The phones work on air force one. He could be Lobbying Members in the skies to and from this Vaccine Event in illinois. Theyre choosing to have him here, have more meetings at the white house, to be facetoface making this pitch. This is an agenda that, perhaps not Too Big To Fail, but it is too important to fail. Democrats need to be rallied around that idea, the white house says. If this goes down to defeat, cr them. Jim vandehei, the president isnt going to beg, twist arms, force people. At the same time, ill ask you the same question, the consequences of not moving forward on these two key pieces of legislation, are democrats aware of that . Are they talking about that . What are they saying biden needs to do to get this over the line . Theyre hyper aware of it. Even Coresswon Dingell said earlier, theyre unified on the idea that ifhey have nothing, itd be catastrophic for the Democratic Party. What Bernie Sanders said in the clip at top of the show is the problem. Hes not wrong. The mite they agree to the Infrastructure Bill and thats signed int law, they lose all of their leverage on the 3. 5 trillion or whatever it shrinks to. So thatshe game of chicken. What nancy pelosi is doing is saying, trust me. Im nancy pelosi. Ill give us the leverage. And trust me, well get joe biden behind us to get the package that youll be happy with at the end of the day. Progressives are saying, i dont trust you. I look at how much Power A Nchin and a sinema have when you have a 50 50 senate. Might not be many moderat left in america, buthe two in the senate are as powerful as the president right nown terms of dictating the deal. That has progressives frustrated. It is not clr. Anna is probably right, it doesnt get done this week. Next week, who knows what will happen . I work under the assumption theyll get an infraructure bill. But getting anything around 3. 5 trillion or even half of that is exemely difficult, especially when you get into the details. I dont think any of us know how itll play out. Joe biden is sayinges not going to beg. Youre the president. You have to g. You cant just say, im the demoatic president , therefore, you shall pass this. Clearly, theyre not listening. He needs a price tag. None of us on this show right now know what the price tag is because manchin and sinema wont say. The president is going to he to intervene and tell people, ts is what the package ultimately will look like. Trust me, well get it done. Get infrastructure done. Then well move on to the social spending cponents parts of it. Wle this negotiation is gog on around these two massive pieces of legislation, over in the senate, Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell is publicly telling democrats they need to raise the debt ceiling, but hes blocked yet another pathway for them to do so. Yesterday, majority leader Chuck Schumer requested unanimous consent to bypass the 60 vote filibuster threshol looking for a simple majority vote to suspect the debt limit by themlves, but mcconnell objected. Democts will not get bipartis help Borrowing Money so they can immediately blow histic sums on a partisan taxing and spending spree. Democrat lear knew this request would fail. There is no chance, no chance the republican conference will go out of our way Toelp Democrs conserve their time and energy so they can resume ramming through Partisan Sociism as fast as possible. Further complicating the process, the white house says President Biden opposes changing the senate rules to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have few options left, as the deadline for default approaches. They, so far, have ruled out using reconciliation. Schumer argues the process would take too long and that they dont have enoh time. Were not asking them to vote yes. If republicans want to vote to not pay the debts they helped incur, they can all vote no. re just asking republicans, get out of the way. Get out of the way, when you are risking the full faith and credit of the United States to play a nasty political game. We can bring this to a resolution today. Using the drawn out and convoluted Reconciliation Process is far too risky. Far too risky. Katty, the cliffs three weeks away. Trsury Secretary Yellen warned yesterday publicly of catastrophic consequences of losing the faith and credit of the United States for the first time in its history if the senate doesnt figure this ou what Mitch Mcconnell and republicans are saying is, yes, you have to raise the debt ceiling but, we wont help you. Furthermore, were going to block some of the paths that could get you there. Right. Democrats dont want to be the only party that is left voting to do this because they dont want the votes to come back to haunt them if the republicans weren alongside them. They point out that in the past, they have helped republicans in this situation and voted to raise the debt ceiling when it was necessary to do so. I thought janet yellen timing yesterday was interesting. The words she choseere interesting. A lot of americans have been rejoicing in the fact that the u. S. Economy has rebounded as qukly as it has out of the pandemic. But yellen left us in no doubt yeerday what would happen if americadefaults on its debt. You have the prospect of the Stock Markets crashing. That can cause a global stock market ripple effect. There is a real prospect of recession in the country. Weve just got out of a brutal two economic years. America cant afford now for this is raw politics on the part of the republicans. Democrats helped them in the past raise the debt limit. Now wha democrats have to do is try to pivot this bac onto the republicans. In the past, they have made the calculation that the republicans would be blamed if t ceiling wasnt raised. They need to try to dot again. I think Janet Yellens appearance yesterday was a part of that effort on behalf of the administration, to spell out what the Catastrhic Consequees would be of the republicans saying, no, were nogoing to help. Were leaving you to handle this one. Anna, this is a real adline, as the secretary said, with huge consequences if its not figured out. What is left for Chuck Schumer . Hes not getting help from republicans. Theresident says, i dont want you to change the rules and use reconciliation in this se. What options are left for schumer . The hse is expected to take up aebt limit bill this week. Theyre going to try to pass that. It is unclear if pelosi even has the votes there. Democrats continue to make this intellectual argument, that Mitch Mcconnell should help them out. Hes not going to help them out. I dont quite understand why we continue to go through this process. As you said, we are three weeks from the deadline happening. This is going to be a big issue, and theyre probably going to have to use recreconciliation. Theres not a lot of other things to do. Politics are ongoing, but this is going to be an issue for schumer to figure out. Theres just no sense that Mitch Mcconnell is going to help him out. All right. Now, the latest information from t trumppresidency. Stephanie grisham, presint Donald Trumps third Press Secretary and chief of Staf To Former first lady melania tmp is out with a new book next week, that according to the Washington Post alleges a litany of misdeeds by the 45th president. From Ogling A Young Female staffer t Orchestrating Lies For E Pubc to attempting to ban the ns media from the white house mpound. The book entitled ill take your questions now also provides a rare look at the interaction between trump and russian president Vladimir Putin. In pages obtained by nbc news, grisham provides a firsthand account of an exchange betwe the two at the g20 summit in 2019, writing, quote, with all the talk of sanctions against russia for interfering in the 2016 election and for various human rights abuses, trump told putin, okay, im goi to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes, but its for the cameras. After the leave, well talk. You understand. Putin responded to trumps comment calmly. He never seemed to be charmed by trump or even impressedy him. If anything, the russian seemed to look down on him. The former president and first lady have both responded to the book by Accuing Grisham of being a poor Employee Seeki to make money at their expense. Katty kay, that sounds like donald trump. This book says a lot about what was going on inside the white house at the time. But the frustration i think a lot of us feel is a lot of these people were seeing these things play out in real time but waited until after to write a book. The Trump Administration was full of people who could have called out the president in real time for instances like this one. For areas of, you know, National Security, frankly, when he treated Vladimir Putin in one way and pretended he was treating him in another way. They failed to do so. This was not an administration full of profiles in courage. Now, there is Stephanie Grisham Making Money Out of a book when its too late to have an impact to say he said one thing when, actually, he was meaning another thing. It would have been much more courageous of her, obviously. Not just courageous of her but helpful for the state of the country and the health of the country, for her to have called this out in real time. She was in a position to do so, as she was close to the first lady at that time. She could have done this much earlier. Jonathan lemire, lets take a step back and talk about Stephanie Grisham. She was for eight months the White House Press secretary. You can forget that because she never gave a formal briefing to the press during that eight months. But this is someone who was there from the beginning. Some people have dipped into the trump orbit, come out, and tried to claim some of the glow off that or write a book off of it. She was there from 2015 right through january 6th. She saw all of it. She participated in all of it. What do you make of this book, why shes doing it, and some of the content of the book, do you believe it . Yeah. Stephanie grisham during the 2015 2016 campaign, she was what is known as a press wrangler, meaning the Campaign Staffer who would stay with the traveling press core, myself included, as we went from city to city, rally to rally. She was there every single day. She saw every single speech. Once donald trump was elected, she moved over to the first ladys office for a time. Became very loyal and close to the forme first lady, melania trump, which is why some of the trump orbit reacted strongly to this book. It is not very flattering portrayal of the former first lady. Then she moved to be Press Secretary, as you said. Never took a single question. Never held a formal briefing. Then eventually moved back to the first ladys office. You know, a lot of these books written from trumpera advisers are certainly about reputation salvaging, of course. Look, authors get paid. Theres that, too. It is also made reflective of concerns about her future employment history being so closely aligned to the trump team. Im sure, for some, it is a guilty conscience. Maybe thats what were seeing at play here. I should note two things though. The putin moment she describes in the book, it wasnt like President Trump was tough with Vladimir Putin. I was at the summit. He mockingly waved his finger and said, dont interfere in our elections. It was clearly a joke. That came across as tough. Behind the scenes, we know he was even friendlier to his russian counterpart. I also wanted to share one other detail from the book that i found extraordinary. She writes that there is a trump aide in the white house who was designated as the music man, to play him his favorite show tunes, including memory from cats. Theyd play the songs when the president was in a bit of a rage. The music was meant to calm him down. Wow. The cat sodtrack to soothe the president of the United States. Jim vandehei, yesterday, there was a specificllegation of Sexual Harassment made by Stephanie Grisham to the president about another member of the press team working around the president. What do you make of this book, and what do you make of Stephanie Grisham, the person writing it . I mean, i dont know that theres anything that we learned from the bk that is terribly surprising about donald trump. Whats interesting is the russian exchange. I think one of the reasons trump didnt do more as president , and from a lot of peoples perspective, do more damage, is he never really understood president ial power. He thought of it more as showmanship. The idea he thinks a thug responds to a gentle nudge and charm shows he doesnt know what they respond to. Brute force, intimidation. You saw this in so many aspects of his presidency. To me, this book isnt that much different than all the other books, which have put a little bit of meat on the bone of something we all know. Theres so little that is now surprising in any of these books about what donald trump was doing because so much of it was unfolding in real time. Everyone was leaking it. Now, its going back and putting some details around it. Ishe a credible source . Sure. Es as credible as anybody else who writes a book from the inside. Theres pieces of it that im su are exaggerated. There are pieces that are quite accurate. There is nothing tt youre like, no, wait, i cant believe melania did that. Donald trump . Ner. Its exactly what you think theyd do, and its behavior weve seen time and time again. Jim vandehei, thank you very much. Anna palmer of punch bowl news, thank you, as well, for your reporting. Great to have you both on this morning. Still ahead on morning joe, facing fierce criticism from republican lawmakers. General mark milley defends the phone calls he made to his chinese counterpart in the final days of the Trump Administration. Well be joined by the Washington Post bob woodward and robert costa, who were first to report those calls in their first book peril. Plus, french president Emmanuel Macron says europe mus assert independencfrom the United States. The latest on those simmering tensions between frae and the u. S. After a Nuclear Submarine deal with australia. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Grisham writes about putins attempts to manipulate the exprez. 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And the data on looking at pfizer as the boost to the other three will be available somewhere in the first week or at the most two of october. Thats when the data will be available. Of course, as with all things we do, they must be submitted to the fda for their regulatory approval. So far, 2. 78 million americans have received a booster dose since august 13th. And some tragic news in the fight against coronavirus. A 20yearold College Student in North Carolina who resisted getting vaccinated has died of complications from covid19. Tyler gillwreath ignored his mothers pleas for months to get the vaccine, telling her he was young, healthy, and didnt have any preexisting conditions. He finally relented, telling his mom that once he reached the campus of the university of North Carolina at wilmington, he would get vaccinated. But he never got that chance. Gillwreath contracted the virus two days after moving into college, and he quickly became severely ill and died on monday. A 29yearold surgical technician from kentucky was buried last week at the site where her wedding was supposed to be held after dying from covid19. Samantha wendell and her fiance put off getting the vaccine over fears of infertiinfertility, he nbc news. They later changed their minds but tested positive for the virus one week before they were scheduled to get their first shot. Wendells fiance shared her story so that oths could learn from their mistake. Willie . Thats incredibly sad. Lets turn back to washington. The countrys top military officers testified yesterday before the Senate Armed Services committee about the u. S. Withdrawal from afghanistan. Nbc News National security and military Affairs Correspondent Courtney Kube has more. Reporter blunt assessment from the top military advisers. Strategically, the war is lost. Enemy is in kabul. Reporter General Milley, mckenzie, and austin were grilled over the chaotic afghanistan withdrawal. Nobody has resigned. General, you should design. Secretary austin, i think you should resign. Reporter the top brass were pressed about President Bidens claim that none of his Military Leaders advised him to keep at least 2,500 oops in afanistan to avoid a taliban takeover. No one told me that, that i can recall. Reporter the advisers contradicting the president. I advised 2,500. Did general millers recommendations get to the president personally . Input was received by the president. Reporter the white house responding. There were recommendations made by a range of his advisers, something he welcomed. Reporter meanwhile, milley went further, contradicting President Bidens asserti that Thefghanistan Withdrawal was a, quote, Extraordinary Success. Would you use the tm Extraordinary Success for what took place in august in afghanistan . It was a logistical success but a strategic failure. Reporter and he was asked if the rushed exit that left americans and afghan allies behind damaged u. S. Credibility. I thi the damage is one word that could be used, yes. Reporter later, milley was pressed if he Considere Resigning because the president disregarded his advice. Why havent you resigned . The president doesnt have to agree with the advice. Reporter also speaking of the outgoing trump Admistration Whene told a chinese genel, iereoing to attack im going to call you ahead of him. Im certain Thatresident Trump did not attend to attack the chinese. My task at that time waso deescalate. Courtney kube reporting for us there. Joining us now, president of the council on foreign relations, richard haas, and retired fourstar navy admiral james, Diplomacy Analyst for nbc news and msnbc. Admiral, ill start with you, first on the contradictions by Generals Milley and mckenzie about their recommendation to the commander in chief, that 2,500 american troops will kept in place. President biden said, in no Uncertain Terms to george stephanopoulos, he never received that counsel, never received that recommendation. What do you make of that contradiction playing out in public yesterday . Incredibly uncomfortable moment for those three generals. Because theyre under oath. You know, you can only fall back so far to the, hey, all my communications with the president are privileged. At some point, youre going to tell the truth. And i ambased on their testimony, and also knowing them and analyzing the military situation myself, having commanded the mission for your years, 2009 to 2013, that they would have advised keeping at least that number of troops there so that you could, at the end game, have a more orderly withdrawal. So uncomfortable for the three of them. No one in uniform likes to go up and contradict their political bosses, but you have to tell the truth in front of the Senate Armed Services committee. Ichard haas, some of the reporting around General Milleys callso china around january 6th suggested he was almost going rogue. He put it into context yesterday, saying he d it with the Knowledge A Support of the Secretary Of Defense. It was part of his duty as the chairman of the joint chiefs of staf to reach out to foreign governments, the way he did with china. What did you think about the way he hdled that, which has been a topic in washington over the last few weeks . I think he largely put it to rest, willie. We do have these socalled nilnil challenges between the United States and other countries, to head off wouldbe crises. Sounds like General Milley used the channel correctly, clearing it with his civilian possbosses signaling to the chinese we werent about to do something. It seems there was intelligence where the chinese thought something was in the works. I think he was simply trying to calm things down and head something off before there was unintended consequences. So my take is he did what he ought to be doing. One note, were going to have bob woodward and robert costa on in a few minutes. They are the authors of the book per peril, and they had the first reporting on this. Katty kay has the next question. Yeah. Admiral, if i could ask you about some of the things that general mckenzie said, that they failed to anticipate. He went through this long list of, you know, we didnt realize the Snowball Effect of the deals the taliban leaders were making with local leaders. We didnt fully understand the level of corruption that was there. We didnt understand the poor leadership in the senior ranks. I mean, going forward, what does that say about concerns about our ability to understand other Conflict Areas . I mean, it was a devastating critique, really, of a failure in intelligence in the u. S. Intelligence community. I wonder where that puts them, you know, looking at other conflicts, how concerning that is. Obviously, very concerning. In addition to the Intelligence Failure, katty, there were other factors at play. The taliban performed extremely well in the end game. Pakistan provided a lot of support. There have been mistakes all along the 20 years of this journey by the u. S. Military. I think that when you kind of put all those factors together with the Intelligence Failure here at the end game, it does paint a very dark picture. Two points worth making, as i always say about afghanistan, for those 20 years, the huge part of the mission was to avoid another attack on the homeland of the United States. That was successful. I would say that to any afghan veteran who is listening today. The second point to remember is that the enemy gets a vote. We did our best in many cases, but at the end game, we were outfought. We need to draw the lessons from that and go forward. Ill close with one other thought, going back to General Milley. When i was supreme Ally Commander of nato, i would often pick up the phone or have a meeting with my counterpart, the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed forces, general makarov. Thats chairman joint staff 101. He is doi the right thing. While this is going on, french president macron is urging european leaders to be independent from the United States. In a News Conference announcing a major defense deal with greece, president macronuropean not to rely on amera. Quote, for a bit over ten years now, the United States has been very focused on itself and has Strategic Interests that are being reoriented towards china and the pacific. Its in their right t do so, but we would be naive, or rather we would make a terrible mistake to not want to draw the consequences. This comes just weeks after the United States announced a partnership with australia and britain that allows australia to buy u. S. Nuclear submarine technology, effectively cancelling a dealustralia had to purchase submarines from the french. French officials were so angry over the matter, they recalled their ambassador from the u. S. For the first time in history. President ben attempted to smooth over relations with macron. But these comments, richard haass, show there may be longlasting diplomatic issues with a close ally. Richard, im curious what your thoughts are here. You know, the sub deal, there were many experts who say the french should have seen that coming. Is the french president ,ou know, taking advantage of the situation of the past four years plus this sub deal and taking a cheap shot here, or what do you make of these comments . I dont think its a cheap shot. That said, he has an election coming up next year. This clearly embarrassed him. But i think we have to take a step back. Charles de gaulle, somewhere from his grave, is watching this and probably iling. This is not the first time a french president has said we cant rely on the United States. Weve got to become more autonomous, More Independent. Its n just the sub deal, mika. You had the unilateral departure from afghanistan. 7,000 allied soldiers there were caught out by the american policy. Years ago, mr. Obama, barack oba, talked about, you know, standing upo the syrians if they used chemical weapons. They used chemical weapons. Guess what . The United States folded. So the United States has at times disappointed the europeans. The problems for Emmanl Macron is what hes talking about, a More Independent europe, is not the capability and iont think there is the appetite. Thatd mean the germans and others would have to spend much more on defense. The last i checked, thats not where European Public opinion is. Its not where european political elites are. So i think theres a gap between what mr. Macron is calling for and what were likely to see in europe. Theres this uneasy transatlantic relationship, which has been going on now for, what, 70, 75 years. I think this is going to continue in an uneasy way. Well, in fact, richard, you have a new piece out today for Foreign Affairs magazine entitled, the age of america first. Washingtons flawed new Foreign Policy consensus. Does that tie in here at all . Absolutely. What were seeing is the United States thats become much more nationalist, much more turning inward, much less concerned with its role in the world. Macron is picking up on it. He would point he pointed, mika, in the statement you quoted to the United States being much more focused on china and asia, the United States turning away from the middle east, getting out of afghanistan. We no longer join global trade agreements. You know, donald trump called it america first. Joe biden calls it Foreign Policy for the middle class. Has buy america provisions in our laws. The europeans see the handwriting on the wall. This is not the america of harry truman. This is not the america of john f. Kennedy and others. The United States is in a very different place, and the europeans are going to have some very tough decisions, as are others, for what are they prepared to do . Are they prepared to do more themselves, or are they going to need, again, to defer to their more powerful neighbors . Richard haass and retired admiral james stavridis, thank you for coming on this morning. Coming up, lebron james adds his endorsement to the leagues push to vaccinate players, while other stars double down on their refusal to get the shot. Even if it means they could be sidelined. The latest in the fight looming over nba Training Camps next on morning joe. Vo taking on Climate Change. This is oumoment to get it right and heres how we do it by putting the American Auto worker on the job. Building the electric cars and trucks that take us where we need to go without the pollution thats warming the planet. The cars we love, the trucks we depend on, all made right here in america by union auto workers. More electric vehicles, thats how we build a clean ener fure, thats how we take on Climate Change. vo this is more than glass and steel. And stone. Its awe. Beauty. The measure of progres it whereeople et peoe. Where cultures and bonds are where we cate thgs togher. Open each otrs minds. Raiseach oers aitions and do together, what we cant do apart. This is space for dreams. Loopnet. Theost popular place to find a space. Im a reporter for the New York Times if you just hold it like this. Yeah. I love finding out things that other people dont want me to know. Mmhmm. [beep] i just wanted to say. Find yourself in these situations and see who you are. And thats just part of the bargain. Ive spent centuries evolving with the world. And thats just part some changes made me stronger. Others, weaker. Thats the nature of being the economy. Ive observed investors navigating the unexpected, choosing assets to balance risk and reward. And ive seen how one element has secured their portfolios, time after time. Gold. An element so agile and liquid. A proven protector. An everevolving enabler of bold decisions. An asset more relevant than ever before. Gold. Your strategic advantage. Welcome back to morning joe. Live picture of the brooklyn bridge. Home across the river there of the brooklyn nets. The nba getting a big boost yesterday in its push to vaccinate its players when its biggest star, lebron james, announced he has had the shot. Nbcs sam brock has more. Reporter the nbas efforts to vaccinate all of its players just got a massive jolt from none other than lebron james, who had been silent for months. After doing my research, things of that nature, i felt like it was best suited for not only me but for my family and friends. Reporter what does lebron james decision to get vaccinated mean forhe nba . The face of theeague is now on ard. Lebron james has always been a guy thats a trendsetter, an example setter. This is no different. Reporter according to the nba, 90 of the league reportedly received a shot. Two marquee franchises, knicks and lakers, will have fully vaccinated rosters by sean start. Other big name players are pushing back. Its none of your business is what it comes down to. You know, i dont ask you your police chiefs. Beliefs. Some people have bad reactions to the vaccines. People dont talk about that. Reporter those sitting on the sidelines for shots will face more stringent testing and rules. New york and San Francisco are issuing the requirement for home teams, meaning any player on the knicks, nets, or warriors who isnt vaccinated could risk missing all home games and docked pay by management. For some players, getting shots on the court mns getting shots off of it, too. Jonathan lemire, there have been some reports this week abt vaccine skepticism and, in fact, pushing conspiracy theoriesy some of the biggest players in the league. Reading stuff on instagram and tiktok and sharing that widely. Its a big deal that lebron james, the face of the nba, came out publicly and said, i got the shot. It is. Someone who admitted he didnt ght away but did get it. It is a good example. But this is going to be interesting to see how the nba handles this. Another big name is lebrons former teammate, kyrie irving, who hasnt said whether he got vaccinated. He skipped media day, leading people to suggest he hasnt gotten the shot. He voiced skepticism in the past. If kyrie doesnt get the shot, hed miss half of the teams games. He would not be able to play in any home game for a team expected to win a championship. He went there with kevin durant to do just that. How does that go over in the locker room . How do the nets handle that . Theres going to be itll be fascinating to watch. Good for lebron. We have had sort of a shortage of Big Name Sports Stars Stepping Forward and saying, look, i got the vaccine. Others should do it, too. Tom brady got the shot, biggest in the nfl. Months after he got a case of covid earlier in the year. Mookie betts, of course, who i love as a former red sox, hes been out there more than anyone. The dodgers now even starring in commercials for major league baseball, encouraging people to get the shot. I hope more athletes follow the example of mookie betts, now lebron james, tom brady, and encourage others to get those vaccines. Absolutely. Still ahead, the Washington Posts bob woodward and robert costa join us at the top of the hour after tir new book peril was brought up several times during a Senate Hearing yesterday. Morning joe is coming right back. Vo e dama its causing is undeniable. Climate change. And with the build bacbetter act, congress can tackle it head on. With tax credits f Clean Energy Companies that create millions of new jobs. And Ramp Up New Technology and clean energy manufacturing. It means families pay less for utilities. And america becomes the Global Leader in clean energy its time to build back better. And that mns taking on Climate Change. Wi cleannergy Jobs Congress lets get this done my plaque psoriasis. The itching. The burning. The stinging. My skin was no longer mine. My psoriatic arthritis, made my joints stiff, swollen. Painful. Emerge tremfyant™. With tremfya®, adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Can uncover clearer skin and improve symptoms at 16 weeks. Tremfya® is the only medication of its kind also approved for adults with active psoriatic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions may occur. Tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan. Tremfya®. Emerge tremfyant™. Janssen can help you explore cost support options. Welcome to allstate. Where everything just seems to go your way. Youre in good hands with allstate. Click or call for a lower auto rate today. Subway® has so much new it didnt fit in our last ad. Like the new app with customization, Curbside Pickup and delivery. Theres so much new, we dont even have time to show you whos holding this phone. Bet you dont treat brady this way. Come on, man you clearly havent seen the other ads. Simone biles is speaking out in an interview with new york magazine, saying she should have quit gymnastics long before tokyo to focus on her Mental Health. Nbc news correspondent Kristin Dahlgren has more. Reporter it was a moment that stunned the world. Simone biles is out of the competition tonight. Reporter simone biles now telling new york magazine, its like i jumped out of a moving train. After withdrawing from competition, the star spoke openly. I was like, no. Mental is not there, so i just need to let the girls do it and focus on myself. Reporter but she now says it was a long time coming. I should have quit way before tokyo. When larry nassar was in the media for two years. It was too much. Nassar is the former team doctor sentenced to life in prison after being accused of Sexually Abusing Hundreds of young gymnasts, including biles. In an exclusive interview before the games, biles spoke about being an abused survivor. Though i compartmentalized it, it slowly started to creep into everyday life. It started affecting how i lived. Reporter this month, biles gave searing testimony before the u. S. Senate. I blame larry nassar, and i also blame an entire system that enabled and perpetrated his abuse. Reporter Behind The Scenes Video Diaries now part of the facebook docuseries simone versus herself, offering an intimate look at her struggles. I feel like mentally im struggling. Reporter the star says shes now in therapy, a work in progress. Putting healing on herself first. Our thanks to nbcs Kristin Dahlgren for that report. Were back in just a moment with Bob Woodwarand rort costa. Were almost there. Congress is close to passing a Clean Energy Plan that tackles Climate Change head on by creating millions of goodpaying jobs in the Fastest Growing industries. We can lower Utility Bills for families today while Protectinghe Planet our children inherit tomorrow. And once it does, it may never open again. Congress, our window to act is closing act on Climate Change, now. Geys oyour six, limu. They need customized Car Insurance from Liberty Mutual so they only pay for what they need. Woooooooooooooo. We are not getting you a helicopter. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Regina approaches the allelectric cadillac lyriq. Its a sunny day. Nah, a stormy day. We see a close up of the grille. An overhead shot. She drives hands free along the coast. Make it palm springs. Cadillac is going electric. If you want to be bold, you have to go off script. Experience the allelectric cadillac lyric. Subway®. Has so much new it didnt fit in our last ad. Like the new delistyle ovenroasted turkey. And new hickorysmoked bacon. Its the eat fresh refresh™ at subway®. Theres so much new we dont even have time for this guy but im tom brady oh, and theres smashed avocado too did you talk to bob wooard or robert costa for their book . Woodward, yes. Costa, no. Did you talk to alone can i fix it . Yes. Michael bder for his book, frankly we did win this election, the Inside Storyf How Trump Lost . Yes. Were you accurately represented in these books . I havent read any of the books, so i dont know. In just a moment, well speak with bob woodward and robert costa, as their book peril took center stage yesterday at the Senate Hearing. Welcome back to morning joe. It is wednesday, september 29th. Joe is off today. Katty kay of the Confidence Code is still with us. Joining the conversation, we have msnbc contributor Mike Barnicle joins us. Well start with the tension on capitol hill, where democrats remain divided over how to move forward on two key pieces of President Bidens domestic agenda. There is also growing concern about the potential for a Government Shutdown. Nbc news capitol hill correspondent Garrett Haake has the latest. Reporter democrats facing delays, divisions, and tough decisions as they strgle among themselves over moving the president s agenda forward. Speaker pelosi planning a thursday vote on the 1 trillion bipartisan Infrastructure Bill. I urge strong bipartisan support for this legislation. Reporter progressive democrats say theyll oppose that bill without a deal to advance democrats 3. 5 trillion social and Climate Policy bill, too. Look, the agreement from the very beginning, and weve been talking about this for months now, is there is one big package. Reporter but the senates two most conservative democrats havent signed off on the larger bill. Each meeting privately with President Biden. Progressives think youre dragging your feet, senator. Everybody has their own opinion, right . Reporter Congress Faces a thursday deadline to fund the government or stumble into a shutdown. Republicans blocked a vote, demanding democrats take sole responsibility for also lifting the debt limit. Reporter democrats will not get bipartisan help to immediately blow sums on a taxing and spending spree. White house correspondent for pbs news hour, yamiche alcindor. The president doesnt seem interested in arm twisting at the moment, but there is an impasse between nancy pelosi, between progressives, between moderates, among the caucus on the democratic side to get anything done here. What is the president doing Behind The Scenes to help get it done . Behind the scenes, President Biden is really spending most of his time trying to talk to these lawmakers, to try to understand what it is they want to get to yes. So to look at how urgent this is becoming, President Biden was supposed to be in chicago today. He was supposed to be talking about Vaccine Mandates, talk about companies who have adopted Vaccine Mandates. That trip is postponed because hes staying in washington, d. C. , to meet with more lawmakers and lean into these conversations, to try to figure out how he can be helpful. Ive been told by white house sources that and talked to multiple lawmakers yesterday. We saw Kyrsten Sinema of arizona come to the white house not once but multiple times. First she met with the president. I was told then she met with the staff of the president , top aides, trying to explain to her, heres what we think we can do to sort of meet your demands. Joe manchin, im told by lawmakers and the white house, is the more wild card. It is unclear how to get him to yes. What is clear, though, is that the president is sort of seen by his party as the closer. That was what one lawmaker told me yesterday. Theyre also leaning on the president because, one, he was a senator. He understands what it means to be a senator, being called to the white house. Understands what it means to have your party look at you and say, how can we get you to yes . Also, his entire agenda is on the line. His vision for america, his promises to the american people. He was elected to be this elder statesman who could make deals across the aisle, who could bring transformational change, his words, to america. This week, all that hangs in the balance. This is one of the biggest tests of his presidency. As a result, he is on the phone doing everything that he can to get this through. The white house and white house officials told me hes not really Twisting Arms, but i should tell you, when i talked to lawmakers, theyll say, he is Twisting Arms. Hes calling a lawmaker to the white house saying, we need you to get to yes. The Democratic Party needs you to figure this out. It would be a train wreck if these two bills didnt go through, infrastructure and the democratic reconciliation plan, if it dont go through because democrats couldnt get on the same page. Thatd be very, very bad for the president and democrats on the hill. So theyre really trying to get it together. The president is at the accept center after that. Yamiche, Kyrsten Sinema was at the white house three times yesterday. Met with the president once and staffers twice. If that isnt working, he hasnt got them to yes, and the axios story is correct that he doesnt want to beg, he might be Twisting Arms but doesnt want to beg, whatever the reason is, he believes in pelosi or has an antiquated view of Party Loyalty and believes theyll come around in the end, whats next . What does the white house think will get Kyrsten Sinema and joe manchin to yes . Is there a plan . Well, that is the Million Dollar questi. What is the plan, and how can these two senators be placated, essentially, into signing onto these bills . My sense is they dont want to put the preside in the place of pleading or begging because he is a psident of the United States. I was talking to a lawmaker yesterday. They say, you never want to put the presint in a room and put him in a position where he is the one doing the begging and pleading. So whats really going on here is the president is going to these senators, havin a conversation that goes like this, what do you want . What does your state want . How can i get you something that cements your legacy, that is in line with what you want to see done . Then hes going to his staff. Then you sit with someone like chief of staff ron klain, and thats when the person gets sort of more tough and says, we need you to get on this bill. We need you to do this fast. Im hearing its really about this topline number. Democrats had settled on the 3. 5 trillion bill. Im hearing itll be closer to 2 trillion. Theres a lot of disagreement on literally 1. 5 trillion. Thats the holdup here. I dont know what the plan b is. Because democrats are leaning in on this twotrack system. It was shaky when they decided to go this route to begin with. There were probls from the very day it was announced. Now, the democrats have to pull it off because theyve dn saying for weeks that they could. Yamiche alcindor, thank you for your reporting. ll be watching this closely. Congressional hearings will continue today for three top defense officials regarding last months u. S. Withdrawal fm afghanistan. Joint chiefs chairman mark milley, Defense Secrety lloyd austin, and u. S. Cenom commander Kenneth Mckenzie will testify before the house Armed Services committee this morning, after answering questions fm the sene Armed Services committee yesterday. The focus of sterdays hearings was supposed to be afghanistan. Milley was also pressed about two phone calls with his chinese coterpart in the last days of the Trump Administration, made without the former president s actions. Milley insisted He Folwed Protocol Byeeping other t whithousefficials ithe loop. These milary to Military Kmncat Commicatio At T Highe Vel A Critil To The Securi of Th Unitestates t deec mitary actions a prevenar Beten Gatowers at arermed wh the rlds st ddliest weaps. The calls on 3ctobernd 8 january wereoordined before and after with secrery esp d Actin Secrerymiller Staffs Ortlyfter M Callnded with nerallee, Personall Inrmed Bothecretaf ste pompeo and white house chief of staffeadows about t ll, ong other topics no te was attpting to changernfluen the process, usurp authority, or insert myself in the chain of command. Joining us now, the journalists who broke that story of General Milley and china, recounted in their new book peril. Pulitzer prizewinning editor of the Washington Post bob woodward and political reporter for the Washington Post robert costa. Good to have you both back again. Bob woodward, how does what we just heard during the testimony yesterday dovetail with your reporting . Explain once again what exactly General Milley was doing in those calls with china. Well, theyre on a hairtrigger with china, as we know. There are all these exercises around taiwan, around the in the south china sea. Its definitely true, and its consistent with our reporting in the book. The idea is to avoid war, to deconflict. If you put yourself in milleys shoes here, four days before the election, october 30th, they get intelligence that china thinks were going to attack them. This is the worst environment for a military man. Oh, my god, were going to attack them. You might get a pearl harbor where somebody will take the first move advantage, as they call it. So hes trying to close this down. This is a crisis moment. This is a practical time when he has to talk to general lee and say, no, no, this is in the a situation where we are going to attack, like they had in their fiveyear relationship, theyre always talking back and forth. I accept, and bob costa does, that this is exactly as it is described. But it was a National Security crisis. Bob costa, as the general gave his testimony yesterday, we were thinking about you guys and your reporting. So many republicans had taken what you guys wrote and said, in fact, what General Milley did may have been treasonious. Treasonous. What he said yesterday is not that it was routine in any way, but it was something that military to military conversations like this sometimes do happen. He said the Defense Secretary knew about this. I told secretary pompeo after the fact. There was nothing secretive about this. In fact, it was widely known across the government. What was your reaction to his testimony yesterday . Its so important, whether youre a House Republican today or a house democrat, to read the whole book. The context is there in the book. To not cherrypick a paragraph and say, well, that defines the entire story. No, the book is the entire story of a dangerous transition. In particular, page 129 of the book details the whole conversation on october 30th. That whole conversation shows, based on our reporting, chairman milley telling general lee that, you need to calm down. Its not some kind of tipoff about an attack. Hes saying in historic context, youll always see some escalation. There will be communication, as bob woodward just said. There has been a fiveyear relationship between milley and lee. There is a level of trust there. He wanted to reemphasize that, to bring back the tensions, to avoid being on the brink of war. Our book also shows, as chairman milley testified under oath, that he was reading other people in. In the prologue and throughout the book, you see milley talking to other officials. We detail his conversations with the head of the nsa. Paul nakasone. We see him talking to gina haskell about the china calls. He talks to the joint chiefs of staff about the china calls. Its a dangerous story of a transition in total turmoil. The Milley Component is part of it. Thats what were trying to really give readers a portrait of. So milley also addressed a phone call with House Speaker nancy pelosi just two days after the capitol insurrection, where the speaker reportedly expressed concerns about former President Trumps Mental Fitness and access to the Nuclear Launch codes. Take a listen. On 8 january, Speaker Of The House pelosi called me to inspire about the president s ability to launch Nuclear Weapons. I sought to assure her that Nuclear Launch is governed by a very specific and deliberate process. She was concerned and made very or made various personal references charaerizing the president. I explained to her that the president is the sole Nuclear Launch authority, and he doesnt launch them alone. And i am not qualified to determine the Mental Health of the president of the United States. There are processes, protocols, and procedures in place, and i repeatedly assured her that there is no chance of an legal, unauthorized, or accidental launch. By law, i am not in the chain of command, and i know that. However, by president ial directive and d. O. D. Instruction, i am in the chain of communication. That is so chilling. Bob woodward, i guess beyond that, in terms of Mental Fitness, there were others who questioned the president s Mental Fitness long before then insurrection. But the frameworks in place were not available to address this issue, or what did you find in your reporting in terms of how people inside the administration felt about the president s fitness and what they could do about it . Well, look at this time. I mean, trump is really the one who is setting the stage here with all kinds of angry statements about china and the china virus. We describe at length the cream screaming fits he has in the oval office. This is chairman milleys judgment, that this is a president who is gone into a serious mental decline. But he said what he said yesterday is not a denial. He is just saying, hey, im not fit to determine the Mental Fitness of a president of the United States. Which is exactly true. But we have a transcript of it, and it really lays out this conversation. Nancy pelosi is on fire. She is really worried. Milley is trying to calm her down. He says, oh, we have these procedures. Then he thinks about it, and he realizes, as he said yesterday, the president has exclusive authority here. But there are procedures. In one of the most dramatic matters ive ever reported on, he calls in the people from the National Military command center. This is the war room in the pentagon. He says, make sure that the process of including him, chairman milley, in any discussion of not just the use of Nuclear Weapons but any military action coming from trump or the white house. He literally goes around the room with these senior officials who were on watch rotation and says, you got it . Yes, sir. Got it . Yes, sir. Now, this has not happened since 1974, when Secretary Of Defense James Lessenger realized how nixon was unsteady, drinking, unreliable. He did exactly the same thing, made sure that no orders would come from nixon or the white house without him being involved. This is a replaying of this moment. It was appropriate. You read the transcript. Nancy pelosi is worried. She is second in line to become president , and she made it powerfully clear, she is worried. She knows about the concentration of power in the president to do this. She wants safeguards. Milley executed thos safeguards. Bob costa, was there anything, apart from perhaps the fa that General Milley hasnt had a chance to read your book yet, that did surprise you in what the general said yesterday, either about your conversations he conversatis about nancy pelosi or about the conversations with the chinese . Was there anything new that you hadnt heard before or that was perhaps at odds with se of your reporting . No. Whats most important that hasn got eugh attention, in my beliefs a report,s when he said that heid not believe esiden trump wanted war. We detail tt position of milley in the book. He does not believe the president is an interventionist. At the time, President Trump. He does not believe trump wants to have war. But as our book shows and our reporting shows, even though he has that belief, thathe president is not itching for war in any way or trying to attack china in any way, and we spell that out, he has concerns about the president s conduct to the point of believing the president is in serious mental decline during the transition. These are the dynamics. Complicated dynamics. You can, on one hand, think a president doesnt want war, but you also believe, as our reporting shows, milley did, that you could have a hairtrigger situation with china or something could happen. He was navigating all these different dynamics, including a call from someone second in line to the presidency in Speaker Pelosi. Staggering details in the new book peril. Bob woodward and robert costa, thank you very much for coming on this morning. Congratulations on the book. Still ahead on morning joe, what if america had learned from new york city . 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Companies to require all 67,000 of its u. S. Employees to be vaccinated by september 27th. Company officials said most employees complied, but they are now starting the process of terminating 593 employees who didnt get the shots. Those workers can still save their jobs if they opt to get vaccinated in the coming days. Meanwhile, pfizer took a major step toward receiving approval of its Covid Vaccine for children, ages 5 to 11, submitting trial data to the fda for review after recently determining the vaccine is safe and well tolerated. Nbc news correspondent Gabe Gutierrez has the latest. Reporter with millions of children now back in classrooms, izer submitted phase 3 data to the fda for vaccines 5 to 11yearolds, crucial step to authorization. Barrier of protection for the little ones. Reporter pfizers ceo with craig melvin, who asked him about even younger children under 5. I believe in aouple of months,e should be in the position to have the data and then eventually something before the end of the year. Reporter the 5 to 11yearold children in pfizers trial were given two smaller doses of the vaccine than those given to those 12 and older. The company says the smaller doses producedntibody responses that were comparable to those seen in older people who received the full doses. The vaccine also cause similar side effects to tho seen in adults, including arm soreness and fatigue. Younger children are less apt to be infected, but we all know that there are children who become serious ill. Reporter perhaps nowhere has the debe over the future of the pandemic been so heated as in schools. We want choice reporter parents and administrators clashed over Mask Mandates, bus driver shortages, and vaccine requirements. New york city announced that teachers and staff would have until the end of the week to get vaccinated after a federal Appeals Court green lighted the mandate. I think they should get vaccinated. Our kids are in there. They have to held accountable. Reporter less than a quarter ofmericans still havent gotten a first shot. The confusion is mounting over who should get a third. The fda authorized the pfizer booster for Emergency Use for certain americans. In charleston, kitty got her booster, moderna, which the fda said can be offered to the immunocompromised. Do you think this rollout of the boosters has been a little confusing . Extremely confusing. The fact that when we came in this morning and they said, you cant have the moderna because its not yet been approved, as has the pfizer. A little bit vexed. Thought, well, we wasted a trip down here. But then when we said we were immunocompromised, they said we could have the shot. All right. Joining us now, member of the New York Times Editorial Board mara gaye. Her latest piece is what if america had learned from new york city . Also with us, staff writer at the atlantic, ed young, who recently won a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on covid19. Eds latest piece is entitled all this could happen again. America is running out of time to prepare for the next pandemic. Why dont we start right there. Two great pieces. Ed, arent we still in the first one . Yes. I make this point in the piece. No one wants to think about future pandemics. You know, the thinking is cant we just get out of this one first . Im sorry to say that the answer is no. History tells us that when epidemics happen, attention and investments crest but then rapidly fall again, leaving us just pack where we started from. No better prepared for what is to come. More epidemics, more pandemics are to come. If we are to prepare for them, we need to do it right now. America has to chew gum and walk at the same time. So, mara, lets talk about new yo city. The city where you live and write about in your latest piec in lessons learned, we do back to the dark, dark days of march, april, and may of last year, when new york city was the epicenter. We look at things now. Restaurants open. There are new rules in place that, yesterday i did it self, where you show your vaccine card. You show your , and you can go into a bustling restaurant full of people. What are the lessons that should be learned from new york city, which was hit soery hard at the beginning and seems, at least fornow, to have largely managed its way out of it . Yeah. I mean, the heartbreang premise that i began with when i was thinking about how to write this was how sad it made me, that despite how pubc our trauma and suffering was in those early months of the pandemic here in the United States, there was plenty of cable news footage, right, on this network, of, unfortunately, victims of covid being piled in refrigerated trucks in the streets of new york city. Somehow, that didnt seem to resonate with my americans across the count who i think struggled to see themselves in us. Because ty think of new york, for whatever reason, very different politically, culturally, racially in some cases, and also, of course, because it is so dense. But the reality is, of course, at same pandemic that hit us ended up, you know,aking its way through the entire cntry and world, of course,s we know. I just was very sa thinking about the early lessons that could have been learned without such death and suffering, if there had been some common empay. And i think moving that forward, you know, this is not about a comeback story yet. This is how n yorkers and n rk city, inparticar, have carrd on, Worki Reall Hd to protect one another. Were a city ofver 8 Million People. Obviously, you have the occasional person on the subway who doesnt wear the mask. Dont get me wrong. Butor the most part, wha you see in new york is millions of rangers who dont look anything like each other half the time, who have no problem masking u to protect one another. You dont see people burning masks in times square on the regular. Thats jus not something that happens becausee understand that we have a commonurpose here. I think the irony is theres lot of talk about the heartland, but from my perspective, seeing new yorkers come together to endure, despite our many differences, is an example that can be learned from. Doesnt mean we have everything figured out. We certainly dont. Weve got a Mlion School Kids back at school. Weve got tm masked up. Wee got a Vaccination Mandate thats under way now for Health Care Workers and wil soon be under way for new york city teachers. We are reall taking rational steps to end the paemic. I think if that is something that can be emulated in amall way culturally elwhere, you know, the coury may be more like new york city than it thinks. So , learning from new york city c happen in small ways but also pullg back and in very large ways. I feel the city is still so in it, dealingith the fight over Vaccine Mandates and masking. U know, in terms of your concept of preparing f the next pandemic, are the big thinking issues about how so many people live together in a small area, and how they,ou know what types of policies could apply t make them deal with the next pandemic better . Is anyf that happening . What worries you . Some of the Preparedness Plans that have already been put out have focused on what we traditionally think of in terms of preparedness. On biomedical countermeasures, vaccines, therapeutics, surveillance, technology, diagnostic tests. That all well and good. But i think that this pandemic has shown us what happens when you put biomedical countermeasures,ery effective ones, out into a profoundly inequal society, where millions ofeople cant Access Health care and wre there is a Public Health system that has been Decrep Decreped for more than a century. Vaccination rates have plateaued and have slowed. What we need todo, i think, moving fward is to bolster the Public Health system, which really has been left to decay and rot for over 100 years now. The amount of money tt the u. S. Puts into health care is astonishing. But only 2 to 3 cents of every dollar goes into Public Health. One woman i spoke to who leads a local Health Department in North Carolina gets 4,000 a year to protect her community of 100,000 people from all communicable diseases. Thats ridiculous. E infrastructure is crumbling literally so. Their Data Systems Areut of date. There needs to be a massive investment in u. S. Pubc health to try tget the whole thing up to code. And, crucial are lycrucially, t needs to be stable. It cant be eroded quickly, as past investments have been. We need to break the cycle of panic and neglect. I think the las thing i would say is, our concept of preparedness needs to expand to the concept of social safety. People cannot prepare for a pandemic if society as a whole is not resilient. If there are so many marginalized and vulnerable communities, as weve seen in the u. S. , who are greatly susceptible to a new virus. We need to think of preparedness not just in terms of vaccines but in terms of paid sick leave. In terms of widespread health care. In terms odecarceration. In terms of letting others look after themselves. Ed is right, mara, The Covid Pandemic revealed so much about the inequalities in the american system when it comes to the haves and have nots, education, health care, money, social welfare. On your point about the rest of the Country Learning from new york, i wonder, having looked at those states where delta has kind of run through those states and caused huge pressures on their local health care systems, and, yet, people still didnt respond. I mean, they did have something of new york in states where there are low vaccination rates. They saw their doctors and their nurses begging people to wear masks and get vaccinated, and they still didnt respond. I wonder whether it was ever going to be possible for people to look at the new york model from a state like tennessee or mississippi, where there was so much resistance to vaccination, so much resistance to Mask Mandates, and learn something from it, learn something meaningful. Yeah. I want to be clear, i believe, actually, that we have seen an uptick in vaccination across the country in recent weeks, which i think is a bump thats attributed to delta. It is really whats happening here is that communities that havent been affected, if you know somebody who is close to you who has gotten very sick, you might be thinking twice about this. So its not happening on the mass scale that we would hope. Dont get me wrong. But i do think that you do see some of that in the data. You know, the other thing here is that, unfortunately, large parts of the country, as we talk about all the time when we talk about American Politics on morning joe, they have become so tribal. So it is really shocking that that has opinion taken to the extent where some people who are literally dying of covid in hospitals we know have been in denial about it or have left the hospital, trying to get what have you. I think thats a really sad testament to just how radicalized some parts of the country have become. The amount of disinformation that has been spread in the country and the amount of denial. For sure. Mara and ed, thank you. Ed yongs latest reporting is for the atlantic. Mara gayes column is in the New York Times. Thank you both. A warning from former president barack obama about the politics of anger and resentment. Morning joe is coming right back. After decades of big polln liars, Climate Change deniers, and outofcontrol fires wre almost there. Congress is close passing a Clean Energy Plan at tackles Climate Change head wre almoon there. By creating millions of goodaying jobs in the Fastest Growing industries. We can lower Utility Bills fory while protecting the planet our children inherit tomorrow. Congss, Ouwindowo Act Is Closing and once it does, it may never open again. Act on cmate change, now. As someone who resembles someone else. 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And those disruptions can be scary. Too often, it feels as if our major institutions have failed to respond effectively to these disruptions, to help people find economic security, or manage our differences, or protect our planet. What weve seen is that, in the breach, a culture of cynicism and mistrust can grow. We start seeing more division and increasingly bitter conflict. The politics that feeds anger and resentment towards those who arent like us. Starts turning away from democratic principles in favor of tribalism and might makes right. This is true in europe and in asia. Its true in latin america and in africa. And it happens to be true here at home. But the good news is, we can reverse these trends. I dont believe its inevitable that we succumb to paralysis or mutual hatred. As the u. S. Economy looks to rebound from the covid19 pandemic, a new report shows one fast growing group is playing a major role in the countrys economic growth. Since 2010, the gdp from latinos living in the United States has grown from 1. 7 trillion to 2. 7 trillion. Putting that number in perspective, if latinos living in the u. S. Were an independent country, that gdp would be tied for the seventh largest in the world. So what is behind this massive growth . Lets bring in saul, the cofounder of latitude, a group aiming to showcase the importance of latinos to the american economy. Hes also cofounder of the latino donor collaborative, who authored that new gdp report. He joins us from a latitude event happening right now in san diego. Saul, whats behind this growth . Good morning, mika and willie. Id like to say, first of all, you know, this is a great day. Its a great day to talk about exactly what you said, the contributions of u. S. Economy, driving the vast majority of our growth. The increase of trillion in gdp in the last decade is unparalleled, other than you have to look at china and india as comparables in terms of the size in growth rates. So one of the things we like to do here is talk about whats fuelg it, as your question asked. Numberone, its about population growth. So the u. S. Latino cohort has been disproportionate. 60 , 70 based on the decade or half decade. Growth rates in terms of total population. Thats number one. Number two, it is a youthful cohort. Twothirds of latinos are native born. The average age is about 19. So when we talk about incomes and talk about aot of things, i think, mika, willie, youan remember back when you were 19, how much money youere making versus when you were 29 or 39. So the second thing is that youthfulness. It sets us into a stage like in india, like a malaysia, like an indonea. The growth economies of the world. The thi thing is, entrepreneurship. The latino cohort has been the most entrepreneurial in the sense of business formations, by a lot in tms of this country, over 50 of employerowned firms and 80 of what you might call Sole Proprietor plus employer owned firms. The final thing is consumption. In that period of time you referred to, mika, over 120 faster consumption growth rate an the rest of the economy. So all the variables that you want to grow an economy are right here. This population cohort is going to grow to 100 Million People wiin the next 20 years or so because of i youthfulness. It is a greatttribute that sets us apart fromjapan, europe, and the other mature economies. Sol, ts is interesting. Interesting to see how well latinas are doing. It is a story many america dont know because we associate latinas coming into the country and new immigrants from latin america with lowincome jobs. Youre saying there is a entrepreneurial class moving beyond that. How much backlash do you think latinos might facecause theyre growing. The dark side of immigrants coming to new countries and doing well is they still face a backlash. Do you see latino workers perceived as the lowincome workers who are not particularly welcomed by some americans . We saw it under the former president. Do you wry theres a backlash against latino workers in e country . Well, im always worried about a lot of this in our economy. Not everything goes perfectly well, and not everybody understands how you actually grow an economy. But we just did a survey at the latino donor collaborative. It is going to be released this week in latitude. In 2012, we did a survey of all americans that said, what do you think about latinos, basically . The answer was, twothirds of the people answered, basically, that latinos are takers. They come here, they go on welfare, tie up hospitals, et cetera. Now, we just did another survey. Itll be presented later in the conference. In todays world, about twothirds now think of latinos as economic contributors. Thats what you see in surveys around Immigration Reform and all kinds of others. Twothirds of the population are in support of that. Go one step further. Today, we have 10 million, almost 11 million untilled jobs. You may say there is an available workforce of 6 or 7 Million People. Theres a gap. We need more workers. Another thing proven is the latino cohort is the most productive cohort in our country, of all cohorts. So, you know, if the framers of our constitution and our country were dwing a Job Description of who is entrepreneurial, who is of family, who is of faith, who is patriotic, et cetera, this latino cohort fits the bill almost perfectly. So thats what were trying to do at latitude, is create this conversation. What youre doing today is really important, talng about it. Not just about hispanic heritage month. This is every day of the year and will be for the next two or three decades, as the driver. Sol, thank you so much for coming on the show this morning. We really appreciate it. We know its early there. The latitude conference is under way right now in san diego. Thanks very much. Up next, a Big Development in a story weve been following. What to expect at a key hearing today involving Britney Spears and the legal agreement that has controlled her life for years. Morning joe is back in a moment. Vo e dama itcausing is undeniable. Climate change. And with the build bacbetter act, vo e dama itcausing is undeniable. Congress can tackle it head on with tax credits f Clean Energy Companies. And ramp up new technologew and clean energy manufacturing. It means families pay less for utilities. And america becomes the Global Leader in cleannergy its time to build back better. And that mns taking on Climate Change. Wi cleannergy bs congress lets get this done this stage in my life to be able to be here as a part of newday usa, everything that we do is centered around how can we help that veteran . How can we help that veteran family . Well help anyone we possibly can. Well get them in that home. Well help them do a refi. Well help them to get cash out of their home. Whatever it is thats going to help that individual. And if its not ing to help them, we dont do it. Youre driving innovation. Youre racing to the cloud. You need to do it securely. Thats why palo to networks developed prisma cloud anntegrated platform that secures your cloud environment end to end. Used by the Worlds Largest organizations, prisma cloud provides the Cyber Security you nee from code to cloud. So y can g cloud serity, the first timeround. D. Weve got next. With the ww app, our Weight Loss Program is easier it doesnt feel like work. It does feel really sy. And you have all the tools you need to be successful. 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This afternoon is a long awaited hearing that could have major implications on her conservatorship and her life. Nbc news correspondent Erin Mclaughlin is outside the courthouse in los angeles. Erin. Reporter good morning, mika. While the fate of Britney Spears rests with a judge in the courthouse behind me it certaiy appears as though the conservatorship which has controlled her life and finances for more than a decade could soon be brought to an end, giving new hope to her fans and supporthat the Free Britney Movement might become a reality. This morning, Britney Spears court battle is reaching a crescendo. Todays hearing the latest in potentially a milestone to free the singer from a 13year conservatorship led by her father jamie. Earlier this month, her father filed a petition to finally end the conservatorship, after contlling his daughters life and 16 years more more than a decade. A judge could removamie today. Britneys judge requesting cpa john zable take over temporarily. Jamie still seems on citizen bstinate in the final moments. Reporter a followup to the documentary released over the week, detailing allegations that jamie spears and his team surveilled britney for years, bugging her room and mirroring her cell phone, even conversations with her lawyers. Explained to me that brneys communication is monitored for her own, you know, security and protection eporter theecurit company in charge of britney did not respond to nbcs request for comment but their lawye told the New York Times theyre particularly pro of keeping miss spears safe for many years. Responding in part, all of his actions were well within the parameters of the authority put upon him by the court. And in a documentary today britney versus spears. I just want my life back. Its been 13 years and its enough. Reporter the documentary examining how the conservatorship was established and raising questions as to why its still in place. I represented dozens of conservetees in court not one has had a job. Reporter and britney and her supporters hoping the end of her conservatorship will bring in new beginnings. This morning, jamie spears releasing a statement saying that he loves britney unwaveringly and on wants the best for her. Meanwhile, legal experts say they do not expect britney to emerge from this hearing a free woman. They do expect it to be a step in that direction and that conservatorship could be over in a month, mika. So, erin, obviously, a lot of questions about how this particular conservatorship was run and what they did but might there be a new way forward on how to address her set, if shes okay . Reporter well, its really up to the discretion of the judge in charge of the hearing. It is possible that the judge could order that Britney Spears be evaluated, which say process that could take months. Its something that britney has said very clearly that she does not she feels shes been evaluated enough in the past 13 years in the coervatorship. Mika. All right. Thank you very much. Still ahead, with the Government Shutdown looming on friday the clock is ticking for congress to get something done. Well have the latest from capitol hill. Plus, if you thought donald trump seemed subservient to Vladimir Putin in public, imagine what mig hav happened fromehind the scenes. Reports fr a new book offers insights on that. And last month,e covered stories of americans who lost thei battle with covid after ying away from the shot. Well talk about the heavy toll on the country when morning joe comes back. One, two one, two, three only pay for what you need with customized Car Insurance from Liberty Mutual nothing rhymes with Liberty Mutual. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Regina approaches the allelectric cadillac lyriq. Its a sunny day. Nah, a stormy day. 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Because the question is the question is justice to the left would you shut up, man. Someone had to say it this is time to play everyones favoritegame. Do you condemn White Supremacists . And the question is are you willing tonight to condemn White Supremacists proud boys, stand back and standby. The answer we were looking for was yes. To debate everything. Lets doublecheck that measure. This was the most chaotic president ial debate ive ever seen. What a dark event weve witnessed. And political discourse. And [ bleep ] was aligned and as the president goes to the hoosegow where it was contagious. Testing positive. Okay, thats just one kelli ann conway testifying positive. Reverend jenkins tested positive. Chris christie tested positive for the coronavirus. Oh, well, so long as the president President Trump just tweeted moments agatha he and the first lady have tested positive for the coronavirus. Will he beat syphilis, hes sure to beat this. I think im doing very well. I just want to tell you that im starting to feel good. And we have enthusiasm like probably nobodys ever had. People that love the job were doing. Hello, america, i am a doing great. I feel, very, very, very, very this has been this week in Covid History. Good morning. An welcome to morning joe. It is wednesday, september 29th. Were following a number of developing stories this morning, including new allegations in another tellall book from a Trump Presidency insider. Among the claims, that the former president told Russias Vladimir Putin at the g 20 summit in 2019, quote, im going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes, but its for the cameras. And after they leave, well talk. You understand. Well dig into the new claims from one of trumps former press secretaries. Also, well talk top military ones contradicting President Biden on afghanistan, telling congress yesterday they had recommended a small number of american troops be kept in that country. And news on the coronavirus. What dr. Anthony fauci is saying about a socalled mix and match strategy for covid19 Booster Shots. And nb superstar lebron james revealed for the first time he got the Covid Vaccine, despite initial skepticism. But we begin this morning with the intrigue on capitol hill. How will democrats unite to pass two key pieces of president densomesti agenda. Willie. Yeah, this vote on the Infrastructure Bill is sposed to be tomorrow but it looks a long way off from here. The president was scheduled to visit chicago tay but that trip now has been postponed so he can remain in washington to work with lawmakers on a path forward for that 3. 5 trillion Reconciliation Package and the bipartis Infrastructure Deal. Speaker nancy pelosi finds herself caught between progressives who want to enact the aitious social programs in the Reconciliation Bill and centrists who have balked at spending trillions more. Pelosi sent a letter to her colleagues yesterday calling it morally imperative for them to pass the a but progresses have reirated they will notote fo the bill. Anernie sders urgedoto vogainst the infrastcture agreement until t othereal isreached. My fear is if a dual agreement arch and we jt passedhe reconciliatio ll, th levere we have in the nateo pass the recoiliati billill be laely ne. What we have, ok,ou guys want toasshe infstructure deal, i want to pas that, if you want to pass that, you have to deal with reconciliation. You cant keep just slow walking this thing. Meanwhile, senators joe manchin and Kyrsten Sinema went to the white house yesterday. Both senators said the 3. 5 trillion Reconciliation Package is too long and must be trimmed to win support. A Growing Number of House Democrats are vcing concerns about senatorsinema. Resources telling nbc news that during a closeddoor caucus meeting, congressman ro khanna of cifornia stood to say that the house does not have a two senator problem, but a one setor problem. We have one senator from a sta that President Biden carried, from a state that the her colleague is 100 on board. This senatorefuses to even give a number. Here is my question said khan na when is the Democratic Party going to tell the president its time to get in line. Joining me now from punchbowl news, anna palmer, jonathan lemire. And nbc contributor of the confidence katty kay with us. Good morning to you all. Anna, let me start with you. This vote is supposed to be tomoow on the Infrastructure Deal. This dea may or may not pass. Theres a lot of wk to do before we get there but i that letter a couple days ago, ncy pelosi said to her colleagues, were not going to tie these t together. We just cant do it. Lets dealith the infrastructure then wello to the reconciliation. Where does that leave them . Nancy is in a tough place here, when it comes to progressives. So far, theyre holding firm, we have several progressives in punchbowl news saying they are not going to move forward with the infrastructure. And nancy pelosi, this is going to be a true test for her, so far, shes having much progress with the bill. I do think infrastructure ultimately happens but doubtful it helps this week. What is Speaker Pelosi going to say to ro khanna, to Bernie Sanders, and the progressive wing of her party who have held the line and said these two things cannot be separate . What are those conversations like . I think its really difficult. The progressives want to have some assurance that they want to get a number. At least a topline number. And when they talked about it yesterday, they wouldnt even say they had a topline number. Yes, were going to get this done what is the Top Line Number going to look like, what is going to be included in there. She hasnt been in there so far because the senators manchin and sinema have refused to do it. Theyve put her in a tough position. Jonathan lemire, im curious, i understand in terms of negotiations but is President Biden and nancy pelosi discussing the progressives and democrats as a whole, the consequences of not getting anything done . What has been the issue with communicating that . Theres growing frustration among democrats as to how the white house has been messaging and communicating its concerns to lawmakers in trying to bridge these divides, mika. White house officials have been telling me theres a confidence here that this will get done but its impossible to imagine, they say, democrats submarining the agenda. The agenda popular with the public that would cripple their chances in the midterms next year and would potentially damage the biden presidency in the first year. This is a window to get things done but theres a sense that the president is not doing enough pushing, hes listening, focusing on the senate in particular. We had congresswoman Debbie Dingell on in the last hour who voiced real frustration that members of the house arent being consulted here. Moderate and progressive members alike, in terms of what they need to see out of this package to get them paired together and to get this agenda put in place. We know the president has cancelled his trip to chicago today. And that goes to show theres a sense of growing urgency to get this done. The phones work on air force one. He certainly could be Lobbying Members from the skies to this Vaccine Event in illinois. Instead, theyre choosing to have him here at the white house facetoface making this pitch because this is an agenda perhaps not Too Big To Fail but its too important to fail. Andf this goes down in defeat, its going to be crippling to all of them. Jim, the president saying hes not going to beg, hes not going to fce people. At the same time, ill ask you the same question. The consequences o not moving forward on these two key pieces of legislation, areemocrats aware of that . Are they talking aboutthat . And what are they saying biden needs to do to get this over the line . Theyre hyper aware of it and i think congresswoman dingell said earlier theyre unified in this idea if they get nothing it would be catastrophic to the Democratic Party. The problem is what Bernie Sanders said in that clip in the top of the show. Hes not wrong. The minute they agree to the Infrastructure Bill and that gets signed into law. They lose all of their leverage on the 3. 5 trillion or whatever it shrinks. Thats the game of chicken. And what nancy pelosi is saying, trust me, i, nancy pelosi, ill give us the leverage. And trust me, well get joe biden behind us to get the package that youll be happy with at the end of the day. Progressives are saying i dont trust you. Because i look at how much power manchin and sinema have when you have a 50 50 senate. There might not be many moderates left in america but the two in the senate are leading the deal. Thats what has progressives frustrated. It probably done get done this week. Once is gets punched into next week, who knows what will happen. I work under the feeling that the infrastructure betting anything at 3. 5 trillion or half of that is extremely difficult. None of us know how its going to play out. The joe biden saying hes not going to beg. Youre the president , you have to beg. Clearly, theyre not listening. He needs a price tag and none of us on this show right now know what that price tag is because manchin and sinema wont say. And the president has to intervene and tell people this is what the package ultimately will look like. Trust me, well get it done, infrastructure done, and well move on to the big spending components parts of it. Still ahead, the u. S. Government will run out of money by october 18th. Thats according to treasury secretary janet yellen who says that the default will be catastrophic to the country. So whats the plan to stop it from happening . Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. The best things america makes are the things america makes out here. The history she writes in her clear blue skies. The legends she births on home town fields. And the future she promises. When we made grand wagoneer, proudly assembled in america, we knew no objt would ever rank with the best things in this country. But we believed we could make Something Worthy of their spirit. [sfx radio being tuned] welcome to allstate. [band plays] a place where everyone lives life wellprotected. And even when things go a bit wrong, weve got your back. Here, things work the way you wish they would. And better protection costs a whole lot less. Yore in od hany would. With allstate. Click or call for a lower auto rate today. This is the new world of work. Yore in od hany would. With allstate. Each day looks diffent an theast. But whatever work becomes. The servicenow platform will make it just, flow. Whether its finding ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office. Wait. An office . Whats an office . Or Solving A Workplace challenge thats yet to com whatever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. Another the senate, mority leader mch mcconnell is publicly telling democrats they need to raise the debt ceiling but he blocked yet another pathway for them to do so. Yesterday, majority leader Chuck Schumer passed unanimous consent to bypass the threshold. Schumer is looking to set up a simple majority hold to allow democrats to suspend the debt limit by themselves b mcconnell rejected. Docrats will not get bipartisan help Borrowing Money so they can iediately blow historic sums on a partisan taxing and spending spree. Democrat leader knew this request would fail. There is no chance, no chance, the republican conference will go out of our way to help democrats conserve theirtime. And energy. So they can resume ramming through partisan socialism, as fast as possible. Further complicating the process, the white house says President Biden opposes changing the senate rules to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have few options left agency the deadline for default approaches but they so far have ruled out using reconciliation schumer argues the process would take too long. And that they dont have enough time. Were not asking them to ve yes. If repubcans want to vote to not pay t debts they helped incu they can all vote no. Were just asking republicans get out of the way. Get out of e way, when you when you are risking the fl faith and credit of the unid states to play nasty political game. We can bring this to a resolution today. Using the drawnout and convoluted Reconciliation Process is far too risky. Far too risky. So, katy, the cliff here is abouthree weeks away, and treasury secretary janet yellen yesterday warned of catastrophic consequences of losing full faith and credit of the United States history. If the senate doesnt figure this out so especiay what Mitch Mcconnell and republicans are saying, yes, you have to raise the debt ceiling, no, were going to block you and furthermore, well block the paths to get you there. And democrats are the only party left doing this because they dont want the votes to haunt them. They have pointed out in the past they have helped in this situation and voted to raise the debt ceiling when necessary to do so. I thought yellens timing yesterday was interesting and the word she chose. A lot of americans are rejoicing in the fact that the economy mass rebounded as quickly as it has out of the pandemic. But yellen left no doubt if america defaults on its debt. You have the possibility of a stock market crashing. A global stock market crash. And a real possible recession in the country. We just got out of a brutal two years. America cannot afford pretty political. And now democrats what democrats have to try to is try to pivot this back on republicans. In the past, they have made the calculation that republicans would be blamed if the debt ceiling is not raised. They need to do that benefit. Janet yellens position yesterday was a direct consequence of that with the public consequences that republicans are not going to help and were going to leave to you handle this one. Anna, this is a real deadline with huge consequences if the senate cant figure this out. What is left for Chuck Schumer. Hes not getting any help from republicans. The president says i dont want you to change the rules and use reconciliation. What options are left open to schumer . The house is expected to take up a debt limit bill this week. Theyre going to try to pass that, unclear if pelosi has the votes there. But democrats are going to make the intellectual argument that Mitch Mcconnell is going to help them out. Hes not going to help them out. I dont understand why were going through this process. As he said, three weeks from the deadline happening this is a big issue and theyre probably going to have to use reconciliation. Theres not a lot of other maneuvers to do. The politics are ongoing but this is going tbe an issue for schumer to figure out and there is just no sense that Mitch Mcconnell is going to help them out. Coming up, new revelations from a former trump insider. What one time Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham said she saw Behind The Scenes with Vladimir Putin. Morning joe is coming right back. Paul loves food. But his diabetes made food a mystery. Everything felt like n but then paul went from no to know. With freestyle libre 14 day, now he knows how food affects his glucose. And he knows when to make different choices. Take the mystery out of your Glucose Levels and lower your a1c. Now you know. Try it for free. Visit freestylelibre. Us the sleep number 360 smart bed is on sale now. s the most comfortable, try it for free. Visit freestylelibre. Us duallyadjustable, footwarming, temperaturebalancing, proven quality night sleep weve ever made. Save 50 on the new sleep numbe. Plus, 0 nterest for 36 months. Ends monday. Im a reporter for thnew yo times if you just hold it like this. Yeah. I love finding out things that other people dont want me to know. Mmhmm. [beep] i just wanted to say. Find yrself in these situations and see who you are. And thats just part of the bargain. Bogeys oyour six, limu. They need customizedt part Car Insurancee bargain. From Liberty Mutual so they only pay for what they need. Woooooooooooooo. We are not getting you a helicopter. Only pay for whatou need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Now, to the news about the latest information from the trump esiden. Stephanie grisham, president Donald Trumps third Press Secretary and chief of staff to foer First Lady Melania Trump is out with a new book nex week that according to the Washington Post aeges a litany of misdeeds by the 45th present from Ogling A Young Female staffer, to orchestrating lies to the public. And attempting to ban the news media from the white house compound. The book entitled ill take your questions now also provides rare look between the interaction between trump and russian president Vladimir Putin. In pages obtained by nbc news, grham provides a firstan count of an exchange between the two at the g20 summit in 2019 writing in quote, wh all the talk of sanctions against russia for interfering in the 2016 election and for various human rights abuses, trump told putin, okay, im going to act a little tougher with you for a few minutes, but its for the cameras and after they leave, well talk, you understand. Putin responded to trumps comment. The former first lady and trump have responded to the book accusing grisham being a poor employee who is now seeking to make money at their expense, katty kay, that sounds like donald trump, and this book sounds a lot about what was going on inside the white house at the time but the frustration i think a lot of us feel a lot of these people were seeing these things play out in realtime but waited until after to write a book. I mean, the Trump Administration was full of people who could have called out the president in realtime, in instances like this one, for ars of National Security, frankly, where he treated putin in one way andretended he was treating him in another way. And they failed to do so. This was not an administration full of courage. And now its Stephanie Grisham making money off a book when its too late to have an impact to say he said one thing when actually meaning another thing. It would have been much more courageous of her, obviously not just more courageous for her, but for the state of the country and health of the country for her to have called this out in realti. She was in a position to doo in a position close to th first lady at the time. She could have done this much earlier. Jonathan lemire, take a step back and talk about Stephanie Grisham, you could forget that she was Press Secretary for eightonths because she never gave a formal briefing. This i someone who dipped into the orbit or came out and tri to get a glow off of it or write a book, she was there through januar 6th, she saw all of it, she participated in all of it. What do you make of the book, why she doing it and some of the content of the book, if you believe it . Yeah, i think grisham during the campaign she was known as a press rangeler mean a staffer who would stay with the press corps, myself included as we went city to city, rally to rally, she was there every single day. She saw every single speech. Once donald trump was elected she moved over to the first ladys office at times and became very loyal to the first lady trump and thats why they overreacted to the book because its not a flattering portrayal of the former first lady. And then moved over as Press Secretary as you said, never took a single question, never held a formal briefing and then eventually moved back to the first ladys office. A lot of these books written about the trump era are certainly about salvaging. And to get paid, theres that, too. And reflective of concerns about future employment history being so closely aligned to the trump team. And for some, its perhaps a guilty conscious. And maybe thats what were seeing at play here. I should note two things, that putin moment that she describes in the book. I was at that summit, he mockingly waved his finger at putin and saying dont interfere with our elections. It was a joke. That came behind as tough and even know Behind The Scenes he was friendlier with the russian counterpart. In the book i find extraordinary, there was a trump aide in the white house who was designated music man who would play music from cats when it was meant to calm him down. Coming up, a sweeping new project, chronicles, ordinary people during extraordinary circumstances. That conversation is next on morning joe. Oe. After decades big polluon liars, Climate Change deniers and outofcontrol fires were almost there. Congress is close to passing a Clean Energy Plan that tackles Climate Change head on by creating millions of goodpaying jobs in the fasst growing industries. We can lower Utility Bills for families today while Protectinghe Planet our children inherit tomorrow. And once it does, it may never open again. Congress, our window to act is closing act on Climate Change, now. Who pays more for Prescription Drugs than anyone else in the world . Americans do. And whose tax dollardoes big same drugs . Thats right. Our tax doars. Its a big pharma scam. They get rich and we get ripped off. And its why pharma is spending millions on lies and Scare Tactics to stop a plan that lets medicare negotiate lower prices. Congress, stop the big pharma scam. Let medicare negotiate lower prices. Our next request has been featured in Forbes Magazine worlds 100 most powerful women, fortunes most powerful women and times most influential people in the world. Thats a lot former chief executive officer and chairman, chairwoman of pepsico joins us now. Hi, good to see you. A new memoir entitled my life in full, work, family and future. Its so good to see you again. I love that you wrote this book. Your career is truly historic. First, first, first, including first immigrant and woman to run a fortune 50 company. So you have ohm Amazing Stories here. And i want to get to moving forward in terms of, you know, where women stand in terms of equality. But i want to take us bk to when you first came to america, i believe it was to come to school, to go to yale. Uhhuh. And the immense stress that you write about and even hunger that you experienced. You can take us back to that day . Sure. Mika, first, its wonderful to see you again aer lg time. Im glad everything is good. Thank you for having me on the show. I came to the United States, in 1978, a long, long time ago. When i landed at yale, this is my first trip out of india. And i knew nothing. I didnt know how to shop. I didnt know how to walk into a selfserve Grocery Store and pick up items. I didnt even know what yogurt meant, i was looking for curds which is what we called yogurt. My first days inyale, i was desperately lonely, i was angry. I didnt know what toeat. I bought a bag of chips i crushed a tomato on chips and until i can see other people and ask them how i should shop and exist. Those arexisting dark times but it lasted one day. Day two, aood samaritan came by and said let me teach you how to eat and live here. Because i was a vegetarian. I still am. And environment for vegetarian is very different then than it is today. Thats such an incredible story. And really i can sort of see you there. In that stressful its stressful enough to start yale. Let alone not to do like basic ings to live. But tell us what got you through, the early part of your career. Did you have aspirations to run, you know, a company like psico . Or what were your thoughts early on, in terms of planning out what you wanted to do, why you were getting your education. My husband and i both decided all that we were willing to do to stay hapily married and keep our jobs and do well in the jobs because we believed that the United States had given us a chance to come to this country, to work in the wonderful corporate environment. And we owe the country a duty of care. So both of us worked our jobs responsibly. We tried to do over and above what the job required. And we never thought about i never thought about being a ceo. I didnt even know what that was. I just focused on the job i had. Then if i got a i took on the next one with fear and intrepidation, and again tried to do as wl as the next job. Its only one rung at a time. I never looked at the ladder and said i know where its going, let me aim for that. I always believed if i focused on the big job if i kne what it was, i would be so obsessed with that id lose sight of the job i had to do. So it was a bit by bit by bit move up the corporate ladder. I love the story that actual you you told me what you said to me for one of my books what your mother said to you to be ceo of pepsico, and it was like take the crown off. In a lot of ways you had say line of separation between your family life and who you were inside your home, versus your work life, perhaps, based on that conversation with your mom . I think when she told me to live the crown in the garage, she was right. You know, i shouldnt bring any crown home. Ive never done it. That one moment, she reminded me again, even if youre thinking about it, dont do that, because its not going to be acknowledged at home. I think in writing the book, one thing thats become very apparent is that, in every marriage, in every family, both the husband sand wife should leave the crown in the garage. I think once you come into the home as parents, the responsibility to the family, and it doesnt mean that one person is more equal than the other and gets to strut around with the crown. So thats a big lesson we both took away. And weve had a marriage thats been extremely equal. He helps out as much as, you know, any man ever does which is unbelievable, does dishes, does the cooking. And weve been married for more than 40 years. Its been a great partnership. I love that. I love that for you. Thats wonderful. As a woman former woman ceo, youre now sort of looking at the landscape and seeing where work still needs to be done. Where are we in terms of getting an equal or comparable number of women in the top tiers of major companies, so that the thinking can change, at the very top . Well, youook at it as half full or half empty. Right. When i came to pepsico in 94, there were no women ceos. In 2006, when i became ceo, there were, i think, ten women ceos. In 2021, there are 41 women ceos. We can say that weve gone from zero to 41 in 27 years. Or you can say, oh, my god, were only at 9 of the fortune 5 so run by women ceos. And this is, you know, a bit jarringecause women are getting more collegedegrees, all of the top grades. Thre graduating from engineering schools and s. T. E. M. Disciplines in record numbers, where have all of the women gone . Where have all of the incredibly bright people hungry for economic first, where hav they gone . Thats where my rearch went when i started to write the book. Its very clear, they entered the workforce, but in the second and third levels of the mpany, theyve left because they couldntalance the work. The biological clock and work were in total conflict. Still havent built enough to build a family. And, mika, i honestly believe in the whole of power controlled mostly by men, we have to bring into the center of the conversationhe discussion about family and women. Beuse future of work depends women being employed in large numbers either in office jobs or even in the front line. We can make it without the care givers and all of e supporting staff that make our life possible. And if we dont bring the discussion of family and women into the center of future of work, i think were going to have a labor shortage, and a talent shortage, of a kind weve never seen. The new book is my life in full work, family and our future. Former pepsico Ceo Indra Nooyi and my friend. Its so good to see you. Thank you so much for writing this book. This is going to be incredibly helpful. And well be right back with much more morning joe. Vo taking on Climate Change. This is oumoment to get it right and heres how we do it by putting the American Auto worker on the job. Building the electric cars and trucks that take us where we need to go without the pollution thats warming the planet. The cars we love, the trucks we depend on, all made right here in america by union auto workers. More electric vehicles, thats how we build a clean ener fure, thats how we take on Climate Change. 48 past the hour. A live look at new york city. We have a development this morning in the political fight over Mask Mandates for florida schools. Last week, nbc news reported the Biden Administration began compensating educators whose pay was being docked for defying the governors band on school Mask Mandates. An initial sum of 148,000 was awarded to County School Board Members who voted this summer to require students wear masks. Now Broward County Public Schools has received more than 420,000 from the u. S. Department of educations project safe program to make up for the pay cuts imposed by the state. We will be following that story. Harvard Business School announced all first year and some second Year Graduate students will temporarily shift to online Remote Learning after a recent surge in covid19 cases driven by the delta variant. The move will past through next sunday. The Business School will also begin testing all students three times a week, regardless of their vaccination status. And dozens of School Bus Drivers have died due to the coronavirus contributing to a nationwide shortage. Usa today reports that at least 12 school bus workers in georgia alone have died of covid, since the beginning of the school year. While seven bus workers in florida have died since july. An estimated 500,000 school bus on a given day. Willie. Speaking of schools, mika, pfizer now has submitted new data to the fda about its vaccine for children ages 5 to 11. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez has more. Reporter its a crucial step towards getting younger kids vaccinated, pfizer submitting data to the fda on covid shots for 5 to 11yearolds, saying smaller doses produced antibody responses that were comparable to those seen in older people. As long as the fda and other powers that be approve it, im ready to go. Reporter when could Emergency Use authorization come . Dr. Anthony fauci says as early as late october. What we dont want in patients to get in the way of collecting the appropriate and solid data to make a scientifically sound decision. Craig asked pfizers ceo about even younger kids. How soon after that do we believe that children under the age of 5 will be able to get a shot . The studies are ongoing, craig, before the end of the year. But some parents are hesitant. If the fda approves it, i have to see what theyre basing it on. Reporter theres growing tension over Vaccine Mandates. Vaccinationsoverall have jumped 45 since mandates launched in july. Now every employee in th tionsargest schoo system must be vcinated to continue in their role. For anyone who has not gotten a dose by friday at 5 00 p. M. , were going to then assume youre not coming to work monday morning as a vaccinated employee, and weill immediately find a substitute. Reporter the whiteouse says more than 400,000 americans have gotten Booster Shots since friday, and 1 million have scheduled appointments. We will continue to evaluate data as it becomes available in realtime and with urgency, and update our recommendations to make sure that all of those at risk have the protection they need. Nbcs Gabe Gutierrez reporting there. Joining us now Pulitzer Prize staff writer for the Washington Post, eli saz low. Hes author of the new book titled voices from the pandemic americans tell their stories of crisis, courage, and resilience. Its good to see you. Just to remind people, this is based on an Award Winning series of articles you wrote during the pandemic, and these interviews for the book take place over the course of a year from january 2020 to january of this year, and they are everyday folks, everyday people. Many of them heroes in hospitals. Some people running Grocery Stores in new orleans, for example, so what was the thread through all these people you interviewed and that you highlight in the book . Yeah, i mean, i think in so many ways this experience for all of us has been almost like existentially lonely, you know, were isolated into our own bubbles, into our own pods, into our own ideological bunkers. This book was an attempt to reach beyond that, not just about the political dysfunction or the systemic failures that have defined so much of this pandemic, but to hear about the humanity, the people whose lives were upended by this crisis, and what they were doing about it. And you know, for me, hearing about that often sort of restored my faith in peoples resilience and ability to persevere, even through massive amounts of trauma. Because often these people were talking to me as that trauma was ongoing. I mentioned the man in the lower ninth ward of new orleans who runs a Grocery Store. Tell us a little bit about his story and what he did to step up for his community. Yeah, so burr nell collin runs the only fresh Grocery Store in the ninth ward. People come in every day, they get the same things. Once the pandemic started in new orleans and in so many other places, many of his customers were getting laid off. They worked in the big hotels downtown, tourists werent coming. They lost their jobs, and these were people with very little, you know, income or they had no savings, and they suddenly did not have enough money to buy food. So peoplbegan coming in to burnells store and asking if they could get food on credit. He began to keep a ledger, even though he himself had very thin margins and was a month behind for the mortgage on the store. He start giving people food for free writing it down, 7. 82 this person owes. 15 this person owes. 40 this person owes and over time in those first f weeks burnell had giv out thousands of dollars of free food breaking himself financially and traj tragically had to cross names off because those customers that owed him money had diedn this ple that was brutally rvaged by coronavirus. We look athe almost 700,000 people who have died during this pandemic, and it becomes a big scary number. In the opening story, you talk to a man named tony sizemore. Quote, shes dead and im quarantined. Thats how the story ends. I keep going back over it in loops tryg to find a way to sweeten it, but nhing changes the facts. I wasnt there with her at the end. I didnt even get to say goodbye. From normal life to this hell in a week. Thats how long it took. I barely even heard of this damned virus until a few days ago. How am i spoized to make sense of that . His is a story reflected in so many families that happened in many cases almost overnight. To think about that for me, birdie was the first victim of coronavirus in indiana, and now that state has lost one in 450 residents to this virus. This book is an oral history. Its people telling their stories, but obviously the history piece remains a little aspirational. This is all of our presents. Were still living through it, and the numbers in terms of just deaths are staggering, not to mention the number of people whose lives have been economically upended, who have lost their homes, people who will lose their homes. Sometimes i think its important instead of getting numbed by the scale to think about just one person, just birdie shelton and the trauma that echoed through that family and continues to echo through that family. They still havent been able to have a service for her a year and a half later because they cant get that many people together. They dont feel comfortable in a place where people arent getting vaccinated, and its been 18 months. And you think about the nurses and the doctors who have spent hours and hours and days and weeks and months treating people like birdie. You have this story from sal, the shift leader of a nursing team in detroit, saying, quote, this virus went from being nothing but a rumor a month ago to taking over our whole emergency room. We are under staffed. Were running out of masks and protective gear. We have so many nurses out sick with the virus. And we havent replaced any of them. Who wants to come to work here right now. At best its going to be a nightmare, at worst its a death sentence. Sadly that story still can be told today in some icus and Emergency Rooms in certain parts of this country. Youre exactly right. The story is still being told today. One of the things thats really remarkable about sal and so many of those workers on the front lines is not only their ability to endure this for so long, but the empathy that that requires. I mean, especially when sometimes the people that you treat dont want treatment, dont believe in the virus that youre treating them for. I think its really remarkable that so far down the road from people stepping outside and cheering every night at 7 00 p. M. , so many of these nurses, respiratory therapists, they continue to go to work and continue to do the best they can to save as many lives as they possibly can. Still to this day, eli, and the last aspect of this is resilience, talk about how you fram that and how the struggle continues really. Were dealing with icu space even today, and people not getting the care tt they need. Its got to be its got to weigh so heavily on these heroes. Well, there are so many things to be angry and frustrated about, right . I think especially right now were also so divided, but for me where the hope came in in reporting is once you get somebody on the phone and in many cases i was on the phone for hours and hours with these people, very possible to hear somebodys story and to empathize with both the landlord, the small landlord whos running out of money and nobodys paying them and has to do something about it, and the also the person thats being evicted or the respiratory therapist who going to be intubating their sixth patient of the day and also the person who previously denied the istence of the virus but is now scared and terrify ed and is on the other end and abo to be intubated. So much of this is trying to think outside of ourselves and what people are going through in this country right now, and what theyre going through is horrifying. The new book is voices from the pandemic americans tell their stories of crisis, courage and resilience Pulitzer Prize Winning Staff writer for the Washington Post eli saslow, thank you so much for being on this morning. That does it for us this moing, jose diaballdicks upheoveragight n. Good rning,ts 00 a. M. Ioseiazbart in fo stepnie rue whoon assignnt. A massive irastruure vote, the presre is on in e house and the sena. Nate replicans staing theirroundn the dt limit as rt betwe democts appes torowven wir. Althe hill thi rning, i30 mines defse seetary lyd ausn, genal mark mille and geral menzie wi face anoth d o questis, thi time from mbers of theouse arm rvicesommitt. O of the top mitary offials aittingesterd ey disagre wh the esident aboutow the u. Ould whdraw om afghantan. An on th covid front thereay be alimmer of hope thi mornin some stherntates aparo be pt the lates peak. Wel resitn icu in hard hit mississippio see firsthanhow hospits are