Well start with the latest headlines surrounding covids new wave. The Biden Administration will soon be sending a half billion free tests to american homes, as pharmacies struggle to keep up with demand. More on the biden plan in just a moment. It comes as hospitals reach a Breaking Point thanks to the onetwo punch of delta and omicron. Professional hockey is being put on ice, literally, with a game last night postponed over covid concerns. New york citys outgoing mayor is paying people 100 bucks to get boosted. I like it. That works. While the incoming mayor scrubbed plans to celebrate his inauguration. I like it. Get to work, baby. Get to work. Thats a good idea. Atlanta reinstates an indoor mask mandate as Health Care Workers in california will be required to get an extra shot. And what about the nations schools . Well get to the fastmoving developments on that front straight ahead. Good morning and welcome to morning joe. It is wednesday, december 22nd. We have host of Way Too Early and bureau chief at politico, Jonathan Lemire. And best selling author of the Confidence Code series, katty kay. Good to have you both on board. Yeah. Lets really quickly, jonathan, were going to talk about what the president did yesterday, but youre a new york guy. Its really you talk to anybody in New York City, and what theyre going to be telling you is they cant get tested. I mean, it is the frustration is mounting. Hard to find a booster, too. It is also sort of a we are so far removed from march 2020. Everybody is getting this. It is spreading like wildfire. I have yet to really meet anybody who is freaking out about it. It is kind of like, all right, well get through this. Its not as serious. But at the same time, heck of a challenge, though, for Government Agencies trying to figure out exactly how to thread the needle. Yeah. Just, certainly, were not march 2020. Those of us who were in new york at the time remember the steady sounds of Ambulance Sirens wailing through the night. I mean, there was panic. There was fear. A lot of death. The horrible images of the refrigerated trucks outside hospitals. Were nowhere near that, but cases are surging. Nowhere. Hospitals are starting to fill up. Thats a concern. And there is, as you say, real challenges over finding boosters. Thats less an issue in new york, but you cant find a test. You cant find a test. I will say from my experience, my sons class, couple positive cases in his class. That class is shut. Everybody is fine. They tested positive, therefore, class has to shut. Tried to get a test for him yesterday. Couldnt be done. Tried multiple places, lines were hours long. Then theyd say, actually, were out. Certainly no rapid tests could be found. Certainly not in drugstores either. So i know well get to it later. The president is trying to surge tests throughout the country, but they cant find them now. There is a sense of Frustration Setting in as people are trying to travel for holidays and gather with family, and now wonder if they cant do it safely because they cant test to know if theyre carrying the virus, mild or not. The questions people are going to be raising through this time, katty, is why dont we have the tests we need . Weve been doing this for a year now, a year and a half now. There was a story a couple days ago, drove me crazy. Abbott labs shut down a factory and ordered all of the tests destroyed in the middle of the summer. It is insane. In britain, of course, this was in august, maker of Popular Covid Test told factory to destroy their inventory. It is just sheer insanity. Katty, you know, in britain, Boris Johnson on again off again, hot cold, trying to figure out how to get through omicron. Obviously, the cases are just spreading like wildfire. At the same time, not serious if youre boosted. But he knows, Shutting Britain down at christmastime, not good politically for him. Terrible for him politically. So it looks like the restrictions, if theyre going to happen, will come in on, guess what, December The 26th or 27th, the day after christmas, not before christmas. Because he would face outrage from the population. And thats part of the problem with this. The timing of omicron has made it that much harder for the white house and for Public Officials everywhere. Because this is the time. You wouldnt see those long lines for people getting tested in New York City or even here in washington, d. C. , where im trying to get a test for my son at the moment, you wouldnt see those long lines if it werent for the holidays, right . People would have the symptoms. Theyd stay home. If it was really bad, they might get tested. But the reason, people are trying to travel. People are trying to see their families. They want some kind of a christmas or new year, and thats why its really straining the system. The other big concern, i think, were already seeing in the uk, and that will come here because what happens there seems to come here a week or two later, is the pressure this is putting on health care systems, with people who are infected or live in a house with somebody who is infected having to quarantine. So youve got nurses, doctors, and Health Care Workers having to stay home for ten days. In the uk just in the last hour or so, theyve announced it only has to be seven days. I think it is a move to try to protect the health care system. Yeah. Thats critical. By the way, just for people that are listening to us, when were talking about how omicron is not as serious for people who are vaxxed and boosted. In fact, Steve Rattner on yesterday. You know, i asked him after the show, i said, is it as bad as the flu . He said, oh, my gosh, no. I didnt even get a fever. He said the biggest problem is just that you have to quarantine for ten days. What katty just said, mika, is so important. Boris johnson in britain moved from ten days to seven days based on studies. Dr. Jha is talking about the isolation period moving from ten days to seven days if youre vaxxed. It is so important for our federal government. We have got to be adaptable. We have to be agile. It is so important. If you have omicron, if youre boosted, if you have a breakthrough case, which a lot of people are getting, youre not going to have serious consequences. And if the science says, if the medical studies say that instead of ten days, which we implemented a year ago, that seven actually works, and based on a lot of things ive read, a sevenday quarantine looks, right now, based on the medical studies ive seen, that seven days is sufficient, thats critically important on so many fronts. For Health Care Workers, for americas workforce. To let people get out of there. Dont hold them back for three more days if medical studies suggest seven days is fine. Look, everyone is getting ready for the holidays, and it is a busy time. It is hard to really consider context, but one other point to make, and i agree, the quarantine time probably should be cut down as we learn more About Omicron. I think we will learn that for those who are boosted, it is Something Like a little bit less than the flu. Seeing Steve Rattner o our show yesterday with omicron, in the middle of the virus. Getting testing right now is an issue. It is hard for some people to get a test. And there is one difference between this administration and the former one, and im just pointing out for contrast. That is, at one point, we had a president who said, we dont want testing because then well have the numbers. We have a president who understands the problem, but here is the problem. We can talk to the experts coming up on our show to confirm this. Because, of course, im not a doctor. But the science tells us that those who are not vaccinated are the reason the variants are even being created. Right. If we could get this country vaccinated, of which there are enough vaccines for everybody, its a choice. If we could get this country vaccinated, we would not be dealing with omicron or whatever comes next, and we would not be searching high and low for tests. Right. Because we would not be dealing with covid. Thats it. It is an important issue when youre looking at people in your community, youre talking to people about this vaccine, its not, oh, this administration hasnt gotten us tests. Its, oh, oh, there are people who have refused to get vaccinated. Well and to keep this country safe. Two things can be true at one time. They are. This administration has to get people tests. We shouldnt have the Test Shortage right now. No, we shouldnt. I agree. The other truth is, that you are right, people need to get vaccinated. I do believe that with omicron spreading the way it is, with people scrambling around in a lot of states trying to get Booster Shots now, by the way, if youre in florida, easier to get a booster shot. Theyre giving them away. Than a slurpee. Seriously, easier to get a booster shot than a slurpee in florida. So if you really want one, come on down to florida. You know, i think theyre just passing them out on street corners. Its so easy in florida. Very easy. That said, i do think that because there is now such a wide divergence between people who have been boosted and people who havent had vaccines, that you are starting to see more people moving towards getting vaccines. Absolutely. I think those numbers are beginning to keep rising. Again, i know everybody wants to talk about how horrible it is, all the people that havent gotten vaccines. Over 200 million americans are fully vaccinated. 3 out of 4 americans have had at least one shot. Its hard to get all americans to do anything, especially in a years time, in this compressed time. Were moving forward. I wish it was better, but i think were moving forward at a good pace. And i think were going to be seeing those numbers pick up, especially with omicron. Well, thats the hope. I will say with joy that i hope more people get vaccinated. With joy. She said it with joy, yall. Merry christmas. The information is out there. For those who are afraid to get vaccinated, please tell your friends and family who are afraid to get vaccinated to not go to facebook. To look around. To talk to their doctors and look at the science. It has played out before our eyes. Merry christmas, yall. Weve seen that people can take two vaccines and get a booster, and they are actually safe. Safe. Nothing happens. No. Except you have a little side effects after the vaccine. I grew a third arm for a couple days. Its already. Retracted back in. You protect yourself, your family, and your community from these variants. Thats the best way forward. President biden and the people say, amen. Its nice Merry Christmas greetings you gave, mika, with a smile on your face. I felt the christmas Cheer Descending from the north pole. Im just trying to keep it rule. We can complain about tests, but the big complaint is these variants are here. Right. They are doing terrible things. Right. To the unvaccinated. We need to do two things at once. We need tests for everybody. Everybody needs a vaccine. Yes. President Biden Yesterday also acknowledged the Trump Administrations efforts in developing the Covid Vaccines. Let me be clear, thanks to the Prior Administration and our scientific community, america is one of the first countries to get the vaccine. Thanks to my administration and the hard work of americans, we led a rollout and made america among the World Leaders in getting shots in arms. Former President Trump responded to President Bidens comments yesterday saying he is very appreciative and surprised to have been thanked in a preview clip released of an interview that will air sunday, trump told fox news. Im very appreciative, that i was surprised to hear it, trump told fox news. I think it was a terrific thing, and i think it makes a lot of people happy. Trump then repeated that he was a little bit surprised. I think he did something very good, trump said. You know, it has to be a process of healing in this country, and that will help a lot. You know, Jonathan Lemire, weve actually seen over the past several days, obviously donald trump speaking out, for the second time. He did it, i think, earlier, but when he got pushed back from the audience, he completely backed off. We saw him with bill oreilly, embracing something we said he should have been doing all along. Embracing the fact that Operation Warp Speed was a historic success. And also, the doctors, scientists, medical people were responsible for that, but also that donald trump and weve been saying it here repeatedly unlike the eu, donald trump picked the right vaccines. Moderna and pfizer especially. He embraced that a couple of nights ago and aggressively went after audience members, a small group of audience members, he said, that attacked him. Now were seeing joe biden acknowledging the same, giving credit to the previous administration. Hes saying positive things about bidens acknowledgment there. I mean, this actually is people want to know what Public Service announcements can be put out there, how we can get more people vaccinated and save more lives. This is how it happens. Isnt it . Yeah. In the final days of the Trump Administration, when he was busy contesting the election, a member of his staffer said, no, sir, what you should do to mark your final weeks in office is tout the vaccine. Do a victory tour. Go around the country and say, look, we did this. We bet big on these companies and they worked. America is going to have the vaccine ahead of any other country in the nation. Instead, he complained and said they were conspiracies, that the vaccine was not released until after election day. A deliberate attempt to hurt his chances. Youre right, this is a little bit different. Hopefully it is important and hopefully he stays with it. A few months ago when he talked about the vaccines in front of a crowd, i believe, in alabama, he stopped talking about it and never brought it up again at any rally. This time, he pushed back against the crowd. It was interesting the way he turned it and made it very tribal. Said, look, this is our development, me and you, meaning republicans, americans. Own this. Dont let them take the credit away from you, which is, perhaps, a clever way to whatever. Boost supporters, but it could lead to more people getting shots. The question is, will he stay with this . He appreciated President Biden mentioning it. Theres been a lot of debate in the Current White House as to whether they should mention Donald Trumps name. This time, President Biden did. His predecessor was appreciative. But we should note this, we should never give donald trump too much credit. The same day that he is saying something encouraging and correct about vaccines, hes announcing a News Conference hell hold on january 6th, the anniversary of the insurrection. Except, he is saying the real insurrection was november 3rd, election day. Therefore, on the oneyear anniversary of one of the darkest days in our nations democracy, he is going to repeat the same claims, false claims, about the election that led to the riot in the first place. Wise woman once told me, never suffer twice, my friend. Never suffer twice. Lets wait until january 6th to see what he is going to do. Im suffering right now. Katty kay, again, you have with donald trump and joe biden getting aligned on vaccines, you actually do have the 45th president and the 46th president starting to figure out a way to talk to each other, being united on the vaccine front, at least for now. And if i can think of any problem thats more pressing right now, its omicron. Its covid. Its continued shutdowns, the possibility of shutdowns for schools, businesses. Unvaccinated people. If we can get through this, a lot of other things start to clear up. Well worry about january 6th on january 6th. This is a i think it is a significant move on one of the most significant issues we have out there right now. Yeah. I mean, mika is right. The reason we have a problem with testing is because america didnt get vaccinated in the numbers it needed to. That took the white house by surprise. They didnt anticipate that this Many Americans would refuse to get the vaccine. The absolute priority now is to get more people vaccinated and more people boosted. Theyre grownups at the white house. If it takes throwing donald trump a few bones of gratitude to then get him to come around and say, that was nice of them, and perhaps reach out to his supporters and encourage them a little more to get vaccinated, thats great. It may move the number marginally. I think now the problem is were in a position where the people who denigrated the science early on and caused so much suspicion about the governments handling of coronavirus, about masks, about vaccines, have kind of created a monster thats got away from them. Donald trump may sit there on stages in dallas, texas, with bill oreilly and say, i got boosted, and he gets booed because his diehard supporters almost now believe their Conspiracy Theory about vaccines more even than they adore donald trump, which is kind of not something i expected to happen. It is just going to be really, really hard to persuade the diehard, antivaxers, to get vaccinated. Lets hope the white house and former president can get a few there, but im not sure itll move big numbers. Im not sure even donald trump can do that anymore. Well see. 62 of americans vaccinated. 500 million doses given. 230 million americans fully vaccinated right now. If those numbers could continue going up, if that 60 could get to 70 , 75 , youll see, mika, moving forward a real difference in how new variants coming to the United States have an impact. Its true. And, again, i think this is all positive. When we have getting there. The 45th president and the 46th president actually praising each other, talking to each other about what theyre doing on the vaccines, i think thats positive. Yeah, it is positive. Lets push for that. In that track, yes. Lets look how the current wave of the virus is impacting the markets and the overall economy. Joining us now, cnbc Global Markets reporter, seema modi. Thank you for being on this morning. Thank you so much. Great to be here. It reminds me of spring of 2020. The market would go up 5 one day, would go down 5 the next day. You were schizophrenic for weeks. We saw some of that yesterday, didnt we . We absolutely did, joe and mika. Major rebound on wall street. The dow up over 500 points as investors continue to digest the latest omicron news. While there are increased concerns around the prolonged effect of covid on inflation, the supply chain crunch, some analysts are pointing to the fact that, unlike in uk, here in the u. S. , governments, so far, have resisted from unveiling strict lockdowns that can have a negative impact on the economy. We will get a crucial read on the Economy Today with data on Consumer Confidence, Third Quarter revision to gdp, and existing home sales which will tell us how americans are responding to the notion that Interest Rates are moving higher next year. Wall street is also keeping a close eye on talks in washington after President Biden said yesterday that he is going to work with senator joe manchin to get build back better passed. Investors, though, are still hopeful that the 2 trillion Spending Package will move forward. Right now, futures are indicating a lower open. It is worth noting that even with the recent volatiity were seeing in the market, the s p 500 is still up about 20 this year. Onethird of those gains are being led by a very small basket of stocks, including names like apple, microsoft, alphabet. The size and scale, guys, of the Technology Companies just continues to grow. Those companies you mentioned also, friends of mine say, if youre going to invest in the market, invest in the monopolies. You named three of the companies that he says are those monopolies. You know, it is interesting, seema. At The Beginning of the week, i was thinking that inflation was going to be a major concern, and thats what the markets were going to move on last week and this week. It really now just seems to be their reaction to omicron news. On friday, there was a concern things were going to start shutting down. Same with monday. The market tanks. Then it doesnt look quite so bad. The market explodes. How much should we expect in the coming days the numbers in the market being connected almost solely to what analysts are predicting the omicron variant is going to have, the impact it is going to have on the u. S. Economy . Joe, i think youre exactly right. There is a trifecta of News Impacting wall street and sentiment right now. It is the federal reserve. Its inflation and this omicron variant. I think todays data on Consumer Confidence will actually provide a good lens as to how americans are responding to higher prices. Because inflation now rising at a rapid pace, the fastest pace in nearly four decades. So that is certainly still a concern. You had the retail Sales Numbers that will be coming out later this week as well to show us really how u. S. Shoppers are responding to higher prices as well. Are they willing to pay more, maybe just for the holiday season, but then they start to scale back starting next year as Interest Rates rise. That remains to be seen. Cnbcs seema mody, thank you so much for coming on this morning. We really appreciate it. Morning joe, we talk more about what former President Trump is planning for the fastapproaching anniversary of the january 6th capitol attack. The Washington Post robert costa joins us with his latest reporting. Plus, with negotiations over build back better stalled, Top Republicans are telling senator joe manchin about the Republican Party. Come on in. The waters fine. Well show you who is wooing the West Virginia democrat to switch parties. Also ahead, Vladimir Putins new warning to nato amid the buildup of Russian Forces near ukraines borders. And coronavirus continues to disrupt professional sports. Now, team usas chances on the ice will be affected at the upcoming winter games in beijing. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. New jerseys are here there you go. Allamerican club™ . Did you just turn us into subway® ads . Yep subways got so much new like the new turkey cali fresh, that they couldnt fit it in their ads. So, they bought space on your jerseys. Go long italian b. M. T. ® vo just getting by, its an ongoing struggle. So, they bought space on your jerseys. Thats why President Biden and democrats in congress have a plan to lower costs for americas working families. Lower costs of Healthcare Premiums and the price of prescription drugs. Pay less for electric bills by moving to clean energy. And do it all by making the ultrawealthy pay their fair share of taxes. Itd be a win for the everyday american family. Right when they could really use one. Congress, lets get this done. burke this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness. [echoing] claim forgivenessness, your home premium wont go up just because of this. woman wow, thats something. burke you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum hi susan honey . Yeah . I respect that. But that cough looks pretty bad. Try this robitussin honey. The real honey you love. Plus the powerful cough relief you need. Mind if i root through your trash . Now get powerful relief with robitussin elderberry. Firefighter Maggie Gronewald knows how to handle dry weather. And dry, cracked skin. New gold bond advanced healing ointment. Restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. Gold bond. Champion your skin. Wheres mom . She said she would be home in time for the show. Dont worry, sweetie. Eling. She promised shed be here for it. Ooh nice shot thanks glad we have xfinity, with wifi speed faster than a gig me too woah, look mom is on tv shes amazing cheers xfinity brought us together, after all power your whole home this holiday with wifi speeds faster than a gig. Click, call, or visit a store today. Sing 2 its 28 past the hour. A live look at times square. A rainy wednesday morning. Okay. Time to wake up. Heres a look at some of the other news making headlines this morning. The new York City Police department has seen an uptick in the number of officers calling out sick. As of yesterday, nearly 3,000 ununiformed nypd officers are out sick. Thats about 8 of the total number of officers. Authorities say fully vaccinated officers are among those who called out. The jump comes as the omicron variant has fueled a surge in cases in New York City. And as the nypd rolled out a stricter Masking Policy that now requires officers to wear face coverings while on duty, regardless of their vaccination status. We will be joined by mayor Bill De Blasio coming up at 8 00 this morning to talk about that and much more. Also, dozens of teachers at a high school in philadelphia staged what they are calling a sickout, after a student died from covid19. On monday, 40 teachers at the only Charter High School called out sick in protest against the schools Covid Protocols, which they say didnt do enough to protect elena thatch or other students and staff. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports the mass sickout occurred after staff and students had already pleaded with the administration to hold Classes Online for the rest of the semester. The high school switched to online classes as of monday. Just days after thatchs funeral. And announced classes will continue to be held virtually until january 14th. And Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot and killed two people and injured a third amid the unrest in wisconsin more than a year ago got a Standing Ovation when he appeared at a conservative conference in phoenix on monday. It was his first major public appearance since being found not guilty of homicide, after shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and anthony huber. The 18yearold also suggested he may sue over the way the press covered the case. Saying in an interview, theres going to be some Media Accountability coming soon. Following his rock star welcome monday, conservative Firebrand Tommy Laren urged fellow conservatives to, quote, step back and not treat him as a celebrity. Im sure one or two republicans in the house or the senate cringed when they saw that yesterday. Not a good look for people claiming to be conservative republicans. No. I mean, that was like a rock concert. The lights, the music, the staging. Kyle rittenhouse is look, he was acquitted, but we you know, he was involved in an incident and a man lost his life, others were injured. This is something we darkly predicted at the time. I believe there was an onion headline saying hed be a featured speaker at the next cpac. Were almost there. Donald trump jr. Has devoted his Instagram Feed to Kyle Rittenhouse memes, basically suggesting that he is owning the libs, that he was acquitted. Rather than looking at it for what it was, a tragedy. This is something thats not going to go away, i dont think. As much as, im sure, there are Establishment Republicans, probably more than a few in the house and senate, who are horrified by this, there is enough in the trumpist base who want to embrace Kyle Rittenhouse and suggest that he and figures like him are what animates their voters and will be the key to success, they think, at the ballot box again this year, as horrifying as it may be. Yeah. Katty, the guy was acquitted. And as we discussed at the time, you look at the wisconsin laws, the jury, when the jury came back, they did their best reading of the wisconsin laws and ruled the way they ruled. Doesnt make him a hero any more than o. J. Being acquitted in his case made him a hero. You didnt see democrats calling o. J. Out after the acquittal and treating him like some sort of superstar. But here we are, with Kyle Rittenhouse, yet another problem for senate republicans. He was acquitted. It pointed to, you know, what many people said was a real weakness in american law in wisconsin. He should have been acquitted. He was able to claim selfdefense, it didnt take into account the premedication, what he was going through in the days beforehand, whether he had in mind to go there and cause some kind of violence in the way that he did. None of that was taken into account. He got off almost on a Loophole Technicality of a badly written wisconsin law. After he was acquitted, he said he was on tucker carltons show, he said hed lay low. He thought it was a shame there was polarization around his case. Now this 18yearold boy seems to be absolutely reveling in that polarization. He walked out onto that stage waving, grinning. I mean, he is 18 years old. I dont know. Maybe you do dumb stuff when youre 18, and he thinks this is his moment, when he can have five minutes of fame. Its an awful indictment of the polarization of the country and of the people that are trying to make somebody who killed two people a hero for any reason. Yeah. Its sickening to see him on that stage. You bring up a great point. He is 18 years old. And when he visits politicians and other people who are trying to exploit him and exploit what happened in wisconsin, and the killing of two people, the injuring of a third, its important to remember hes 18. You look at the adults. It is the adults that are actually bringing him out onto the stage. Getting him in pictures. Lifting him up so they can get more twitter mentions or more facebook mentions or whatever, you know. It is the adults right now. I know 18 is an adult, but, again, he is an 18yearold kid. If were going to focus on, i think, people who are really acting recklessly, lets focus on those that are the older adults. The tv hosts. That are exploiting this tragedy. Yeah. I mean, joe, its sad. Two people are dead. It is. What theyre doing with this young man is creating a monster. This is not the way well this is not the way you act okay. After no matter what happened in court. The gun you are holding that you fired and killed two people. They may creating a Public Relations monster. Again, this 18yearold kid, important to remember he is a kid. I agree with that. Lets hope that he can keep his head down. I do. And return to some sort of semblance of normal life. This ends badly for him. I remember George Zimmerman, who was older. When George Zimmerman killed trayvon, he suddenly became a hero for a few months. It was repulsive and gross that conservatives embraced George Zimmerman as a hero. Things didnt turn out well for George Zimmerman. Chances are good they wont turn out well here either. Much better for him to keep his head down. Go to theory. Therapy, church. Take care of himself and not be exploited by adults. By political hacks, basically. Yeah. Still ahead, u. S. Life expectancy falls again. Well explain the role the pandemic played. Plus, the latest on the investigation into the january 6th capitol attack. Some republicans are trying to minimize their involvement in the planning. But what does the record show . Well be right back. Superpowers from a spider bite . I could use some help showing the world how Liberty Mutual customizes their Car Insurance. Ow im ok only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Only in theaters december 17th. 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New gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24hour hydration. No parabens, dyes, or fragrances. Gold bond. Champion your skin. People, with quickbooks live someone else will do your books for you. Theyll even pair you with an Expert Bookkeeper like me, who knows your business. Knows your Business Expert bookkeepers who understand your business. Intuit quickbooks live bookkeeping. Welcome back to morning joe. Council of Foreign Relations richard haass. We showed a clip of Kyle Rittenhouse, 18yearold, being praised, glorified as he walked out onto the stage. You know, over the past five years or so, weve seen a lot of people asking if certain wings of the Republican Party are fascist. This ethnonationalism, this extremism, this attack of the others. Usually, the one thing that was missing before january 6th was the use of violence or the elevation of violence as a means to achieve your goals, your political goals. The glorification of violence, something that mussolini and other fascist leaders did. We actually did see at that conference. They used an 18yearold boy, recently acquitted, as a tool to do just that. I mean, thats the glorification of violence. And this wing of the Republican Party is fitting the definition of fascism more tightly by the day. And i just wonder if either republicans will run as fast away from it as they can. Im not sure republicans, joe, run away from extremism of any sort nowadays. But youre right, youre seeing what about Mitch Mcconnell . What about other senators . What about john thune . Id guess john thune doesnt want this to be part of his legendmurkowski. Susan collins. Youd think theyd want to condemn this. There was an awful lot of opportunities for what was called the Establishment Republicans, nonradical republicans, maybe just republican republicans, to say or do the right thing, on everything from Debt Ceilings to what youre talking about here, to impeachment votes, to january 6th votes. And i just dont see it, for the most part. I think the fear of being primaried is, for most of them, overwhelming. What is really surprising, joe, is even people who are set to retire over the next 12 months or so, even they i dont hear them. I dont read that they are standing up. Youre right, the language is incendiary. Its not simply the prevalence of guns, but were increasingly normalizing or celebrating their actual or potential use. This young man last night, he wasnt found innocent, he was not guilty. Youre the lawyer, im not. But thats something fundamentally different. Vladimir putin, Russian President , is warning of a Military Response if the west continued what he called aggressive lines over ukraine. He also reiterated his demand that former soviet countries and ukraine should not join nato. Nbc news chief Foreign Affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell has the details. Reporter new threats from Vladimir Putin surrounded by his generals, demanding that nato withdraw his troops from eastern europe. He says, in case western colleagues continue their clearly aggressive line, we will take adequate military and technical measures in response. Hes got the Military Muscle to back it up. More than 100,000 troops plus tanks and heavy equipment at the ukraine border. A buildup that has only increased in the two weeks since putin and President Biden met virtually. Since the president talked to president putin, it seems as though the buildup is continuing. The threats are continuing from Vladimir Putin. If russia continues to engage in reckless actions, we will respond and respond strongly. Reporter the u. S. Proving a sale of javelin missiles to lithuania, near russia. Officials are on high alert for a tougher threat to counter. A russian cyberattack turning off the lights in ukraine as it did in 2015 and 2016. Allows them to attack without doing a fullscale Military Intervention in ukraine. It sounds like he is preparing for some kind of attack. Cyber gives him the option of starting an attack without going to fullscale war. Thats a place where russia has great advantages. So, richard, ive been i mean, weve been following the news. Of course, you follow what ambassador mcfall has been saying as well. He says this is not a dress rehearsal. Right. This is not a threat. Putin is getting ready to move on ukraine. Do you agree . I dont think we know. Im not even sure putin knows, joe. What we know is hes done a massive buildup. We dont know if it is the purpose of invading or, rather, for the purpose of leveraging that Military Strength to get what he wants. He wants to prevent new countries, including ukraine, from going into nato. More interesting to me is he really wants to prevent nato from going other places. He wants to prevent nato not just from going to ukraine but the baltics, places the former soviet union or the warsaw place held. He wants to essentially roll back history. To me, the real question here, its not simply what the Biden Administration does. I think the bigger question might be what Western Europe does. What does the uk do . Are they too distracted by brexit . The new german government. What they did the last couple days, joe, they closed down more nuclear plants. Not only bad for Climate Change policy, but it makes them even more potentially vulnerable but more dependent on russia supplies. France is occupied with their upcoming election. Putin is gauging not simply what the administration here will do but what he can get away with in europe. Whether he can essentially rewrite the map of europe and bring it back to where it was 20 years ago. This is a lot of history, if you will, going on right now. Richard, i mean, the white house at the moment is trying to get european allies on board, thinking theyd managed to do some of it in the g20 meeting in italy. Youve seen gas prices in europe rising Something Like 300 since january. It is crippling for people as they head into winter. They dont want to risk any russian gas flows getting cut off to them. Their gas prices rising even harder. Its hard when you cant heat your house and your bill is 300 higher than it was last year. What can the white house offer europeans or give europeans to keep them on board in the struggle against russia . Whats the message . What were seeing is a bit of the market reacting. Were seeing more and more tankers head toward europe rather than asia. Asia seems to have the gas it needs for the time being. United states can potentially get some involved. The real question is what were prepared to do in terms of standing up or by europe. There is the deterrent side, the military steps, prepared sanctions. I think the other interesting question is the diplomacy. Okay. Were not going to let putin dictate where nato can go. Were not going to let him dictate where nato forces can go. Where are we prepared to compromise . We can signal very clearly that any nato enlargement is not in the cards for the foreseeable future. We should be prepared to discuss what we used to call arms control. Mutual forced pullbacks, certain limits on certain kinds of forces to be reciprocal. If putin is interested in stabilizing things, i think we should give him that opportunity. But, again, i simply dont think we know. All this reminds me of is Saddam Hussein in the summer of 1990. He built up all his forces against kuwait, and we were sitting at the white house and didnt know, is this simply Gun Vote Diplomacy . Is he trying to leverage these guys to back down, or is he preparing an invasion. We found out in early august of 90, he was preparing an invasion. Thats where we are right now with mr. Putin. We dont know if it is Gun Vote Diplomacy or hell order a massive invasion. My guess is, if he orders an invasion, hell go in big. Why would he go in small if he will pay a large economic price . We are at a fairly Decisive Point here. You could have the biggest Military Action i know this Sounds Melodramatic but i dont think it is. We could be seeing the biggest Military Action since world war ii. That is where we are right now in europe. On the european continent wow. Youre exactly right. Stay with us, richard. I have another question to ask you on the other side of the break about what the Biden Administration needs to do to keep him out of ukraine. Also, of course, well be asking you about New York Giants football when we come back. Still ahead, with covid cases on the rise in New York City, well talk to mayor Bill De Blasio about his plan to pay new yorkers to get a booster shot. Whatever it takes. Plus, a fox news host is facing calls of being fired after comments he made about dr. Anthony fauci. Well show you what he said and how the network is responding. Morning joe is coming right back. Age before beauty . Why not both . Visibly diminish wrinkled skin in. Crepe corrector lotion. Only from gold bond. Retirement income is complicated. As your broker, ive solved it. Thats great, carl. But we need something better. Thats easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. And we can monitor to see that were on track. Like schwab intelligent income. Schwab introducing schwab intelligent income. A simple, modern way to pay yourself from your portfolio. Oh, thats cool. I mean, we dont have that. Schwab. 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Beautiful view. Wow, magical shot of New York City. Of a city that misty. Misty, beautiful. Rainy. Beautiful. Glistening, cold. Abandoned adds omicron sweeps through it like a fog. People are using the restaurants. They like the restaurants. They like to go out and stuff. They havent stopped. But they dont go to work. They havent stopped enjoying New York City, restaurants. Some broadway plays have shut down. But this is not, again, march 2020, so everybody can take a deep breath and relax. The nbc commerce, Comcast Commerce Tree is lit, and all is well in the world. At the nbc experience store, too. Richard haass one minute. Youre talking to joe biden right now, okay . What do you tell President Biden . When he goes in heavy, were not going to be sending troops in to follow. What does joe biden do today and tomorrow and the next day to let Vladimir Putin know the cost is just far too high for him to invade ukraine . You made clear the economic cost. You lay out in detail the sanctions. Then you say, were going to transfer weapons to ukraine if you go in. The model here is afghanistan after the soviet invasion in 1979, joe. What we did, we made the cost of ok occupation extraordinarily high. He doesnt want russian soldiers coming home in body bags. Thatd be disastrous for him. Were not going to make it a victory. Thats the smartest things to tell the russians. We were talking about 1980. Quickly, we have to go. That said, i was watching the giants. I thought of you against the cowboys. Two words for the giants future, jake fromm. Played in the last quarter, and he did a good job. Get jake fromm in there, a new general manager, draft an offensive line, get somebody who can rush the quarterback on the other side of the field. The giants spent all this money on Offensive Weapons, joe. No amount of Offensive Weapons matter if your can be doesnt quarterback cant have time to use them. Full stop. Okay. Richard haass, thank you. Coming up, does the president s plan against the Winter Covid Surge Go far enough . Some Scientists Say no. Well talk to a former state and National Public Health Official who now runs a hospital. Plus, a republican congressman, the only sitting member of congress currently being asked to corroborate with the January 6th Investigation is refusing to do so. What a surprise. Well have the latest. What a surprise. Back in two minutes. I will wait for you burke this is why you want farmers claim forgiveness. [echoing] claim forgivenessness, your home premium wont go up just because of this. woman wow, thats something. burke you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [echoing] get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum to support a strong Immune System your body needs a routine. Centrum helps your immune defenses every day, with vitamin c, d and zinc season after season. Ace your immune support with centrum. Now with a new look welcome back to morning joe. Look at that. The top of the hour. People are out there. Im telling you. In washington they are. People are out there in washington. Getting to work. Getting to work. Things to do. People to see. Really do think wear a mask. You go to the airports, youll be seeing crowded airports. Americans are still going to be traveling this holiday season. Going to see their relatives. Doing it safely. It has begun. Welcome back to morning joe. It is wednesday, december 22nd. Jonathan lemire and katty kay are still with us. And well start with omicron, which is now the most dominant Covid Variant in the u. S. President biden is launching a new battle plan, promising millions of free athome covid testing kits, more Testing Sites, and military troops to aid hospitals. But there are mounting questions about whether the measures will be enough, as americans prepare to gather for the holidays. Nbc News National correspondent Gabe Gutierrez has the latest. Reporter with the omicron variant running rampant we should all be concerned About Omicron but not panicked. Reporter President Biden with a direct message for the unvaccinated. Get vaccinated now. I promise you, it saves lives. Honest to god, i believe it is your patriotic duty. Reporter the president under pressure to do more to help states with overburdened hospitals and a shortage of covid tests, announcing that starting next month, his administration will distribute 500 million athome covid tests to any american who wants one by mail for free. The president a also deploying 1,000 members of the military to help understaffed hospitals and open new Testing Sites. Were taking more steps to make it easier to be tested. Reporter it comes two weeks after press secretary jen psaki downplayed the need for more athome tests. Why not make them free and have them available everywhere . Send one to every american . Maybe. Then what happens if every american has one test . How much does that cost, and then what happens after that . Reporter the president was pressed on whether his administration was caught off guard. Whats your message to americans who are trying to get tested now and who are not able to get tested and who are wondering what took so long to Ramp Up Testing . Come on, what took so long . Im hearing that from people trying to get tested now before the holidays. Well, what took so long is it didnt take long at all. What happened was, the Omicron Virus spread more rapidly than anybody thought. Reporter for those waiting in massive testing lines now, the changes cant come soon enough. Some of these people got here before dawn. The line now stretches around the block. Theyve been waiting for three hours in freezing temperatures. Should it be this hard to get a test . Of course not. Of course not. I understand that the government is trying to get as many people tested and trying to get ahead of this, but i probably got a cold waiting in the cold for three hours. Reporter New York City announcing itll pay people 100 to get their booster shot. Atlanta reinstating an indoor mask mandate. Chicago imposing a Vaccine Requirement for indoor public places. Theres no denying we are in a fifth wave of covid19. Reporter the nhl paused its season until after christmas. Broadway canceled more shows. While infections have generally been more mild, the first known u. S. Omicron death has been reported in harris county, texas. A man in his 50s with Underlying Health conditions who was unvaccinated. Now, more states are ramping up containment efforts with more than 1,300 americans now dying from covid each day. Massachusetts is activating up to 500 National Guard members. Theres no question the next few weeks will be enormously difficult for our health care community. Reporter in neighboring new hampshire, some hospitals are already full. Sometimes were calling 20 to 30 hospitals a day, trying to find beds for these patients. A lot of times we have patients that sit in our Emergency Room for three or four days. Mika, again, were talking about how we can get through this. We just cant underline it enough, though, that the people who really this is just terrible, terrible news for our front line Health Care Workers who have been through so much over the past year and a half. Theyre going to be just completely slammed with unvaccinated americans that are going to be coming into the Emergency Room. Some vaccinated americans with underlying held care conditions. Theyre already strapped right now. It is really bad. Im really worry about rural hospitals as well. They dont have the infrastructure to take care of it, especially where the Vaccination Rates are lower. They dont have the Vaccination Infrastructure to take care of the crush of people that will be coming into the hospital. Let us just hope, lets hope they get a break in the next coming weeks. Because right now, Americas Health care infrastructure is strapped again. And breaking. 46 of americans approve of the way joe biden is handling his job as president. Up two points since last month. 49 disapprove. When it comes to the economy, 45 approve of the president s handling, up three points from a month ago. 49 disapprove. And on the coronavirus outbreak, half of americans approve of the president s handling, which is also up three points from last month. 46 disapprove. Lets bring in White House Correspondent for politico and coauthor of the playbook, eugene daniels. And the Washington Post rob robert kosta, author of peril. Biden is ticking up. Not an awful lot, but it really does seem he gets slammed this summer with a botched Afghanistan Retreat and Delta Hitting at the same time. That was a shock to the numbers. It looks like, slowly but surely, those numbers are inching back up, doesnt it . They are inching back up. Joe, as you know, having been in congress, its still very early for the 2022 midterm elections. You think about your discussion on russia. When im talking to republicans and democrats on capitol hill, theyre waiting for a curve ball not only when it comes to the pandemic but possibly on Foreign Affairs. How that can change a presidency in an instant. Jonathan lemire, the white house, youve said all along, they havent been panicking with these numbers. 46 , i would say, for them, from this particular poll, pretty good. Overall, the numbers inching back up. As bob kosta said, theyre still a year out. No panic setting in, but what do they see as their key to getting the numbers back up close to 50 . There are a couple things here, joe. First, of course, is getting a handle on the pandemic, which the president defined as the central issue of his presidency. Jen psaki, press secretary, was my guest on Way Too Early. Pressed her whether the administration was caught off guard with the variantregimen. She said, we all were. Were doing the best we can and surging the tests to the american people. Of course, repeated the need for americans to be vaccinated and boostered. Thats how we will get out of this. She made clear, they werent going to shut down again. But, eugene, she also talked about, there are two other legislative priorities. Build back better, which hit hopeful notes and she says talks with Senator Manchin are going to continue early next year. There is also the looming question of Voting Rights, which some activists including reverend sharpton, friend of the show, said if they cant show progress by Martin Luther king day, there will be unhappiness from voters who helped get biden the white house, who wont want to engage in 2022 if they dont see something for them. What have you heard . Your reporting, whats the latest on what the president , the Vice President , and members of congress, what they might be able to do . Thats the thing, right . It almost doesnt matter what they do if they dont do something about the filibuster. Weve heard senator Kyrsten Sinema say shes not willing at looking into changing the filibuster. Reverend sharpton is kind of right on with what ive been hearing from civil rights advocates, Voting Rights advocates in the country, and especially those that are black. Because what they tell you is, what does this administration have to say for black people when it comes to something as important as Voting Rights. What did you do . I think the administration points out that theyve been trying to work around the fact that congress has done nothing on Voting Rights. They nibbled around the edges. Theyve done things with the agencies. Advocates say thats not enough. If you cant get black voters to come out in the midterms, in 2024, it doesnt matter for democrats. I think democrats have to figure out what theyre going to do here, and they want to see President Biden and Vice President harris pushing joe manchin and Kyrsten Sinema more publicly. I will say, that has obviously not worked out for them on build back better, Pushing Manchin publicly. So how theyre going to do that will be a defining moment, of how the, i think, how november is going to shake out for democrats when it comes to katty, you can look at virginia to see how there was a disconnect from what the National Democrats in the National Media were saying and what virginia voters were think at the time during that election. We talk about build back better all the time on this show. All the other shows talk about it as well. The debate, where it is going, the same thing with Voting Rights, and i believe its the single most important thing democrats can pass between now and next year. You look at this poll. What is going to drive those poll numbers . It is not build back better. It is not whether a Voting Rights bill is passed. It is how covid is handled, inflation, the economy, crime, the southern border. Those are the issues that are going to determine whether Kevin Mccarthy or nancy pelosi are speaker next year. Or the year following. Simply because thats what matters the most in swing districts. Yeah. Some of that frustration is there in the white house, in my conversations. They do realize that voters are not focused on the things that we all spend a lot of our time talking about on Television Shows and white house officials spend a lot of their time answering. They get asked the questions in briefing, what is joe manchin doing . How are the inside politics of this panning out . Thats not what people are focused on. They need to deliver. Consistently since the election, economy is one of the top concerns, whether youre democrat or republican, white or a voter of color. Doesnt mean much difference. Those are the concerns. The build back better bill, it may not explode inflation in the way joe manchin has been claiming it is, but it is probably not going to bring it down very much. The one thing that white house officials have told me theyd really like every single democrat to be saying between now and the midterms is, here are the things that i am doing to make prices cheaper for you. To make your cost of living cheaper every single day. They know inflation is a priority. Theres just not much the white house can do about it. They dont have many tools to tackle that one. Republican congressman scott perry says he wont cooperate with the Committee Investigating the attack on the capitol. Perry has evidence connecting him to efforts to install, as Attorney General, former Trump Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark, who aided attempts to overturn the election. In a tweet yesterday, perry called the committee, the january 6th committee, illegitimate. How precious. Good lord. There are a lot of republicans in the senate, bob kosta, who would disagree with him. Talk about where the committee is going. As we near the end of the year and the january 6th anniversary, the areas that interest you most, given your reporting. Exhaustive reporting on this and the lead up to january 6th, what are some of the pieces that you think of the puzzle you think they need to complete . This is a really important story. With all respect to house members, sometimes these names can blend together. Its hard to recognize someone. Who is scott perry, the congressman from pennsylvania . He really does matter. He is one of the key players in the summer and in the fall of 2020 who is pushing and pressuring the Department Of Justice to elevate someone named Jeffrey Clark, to start claiming voter fraud took place in the 2020 election. To maybe even install Jeffrey Clark as the acting Attorney General. This was picked up as an interesting, provocative idea by people inside the trump white house. Why is this important . Because the Department Of Justice at the time, bill barr in early december is saying, there is no fraud. But President Trump and others are trying to say there was fraud. They needed a figure leaf from the Department Of Justice, somebody inside to give them cover, to try to overturn the election. So thats why this committee is looking at scott perry, the pennsylvania congressman. What was he really up to, to try to pressure the Department Of Justice to give a weapon to trump to overturn the election. Yeah. Bob, im curious, what are your thought on President Trumps talking about a January The 6th Press Conference . What do you expect if that . Any reporting on what hes thinking about the January 6th Investigation and the upcoming, well, anniversary of that horrid event . Ive carefully followed every Interview Trump has given since he left office and every rally. Every single time he makes a public appearance, it is the same exact refrain. He gives the lie that the election was a lie and rigged. So you will almost certainly hear this again on january 6th, 2022. The challenge for us in the media, for journalists, is to make sure there is context, as this lie is perpetuated by trump. Reporting is needed to not just press the former president on his claims, but to really make sure it is understood, that when he is out there, he is not correct. Hes not based in fac when he makes these types of claims. Bob, im curious what your thoughts are as somebody who has followed him closely. You and bob woodward went to talk to him in, i think, 2016, during the campaign. You two have studied his presidency exhaustively and written about it. You, of course, have, yourself, exhaustively. You obviously understand that when he went out with oreilly and he decided to aggressively embrace the vaccine, to say he got the booster shot, and actually chide members of the audience for booing the vaccine, that was a calculated plan on his part. Based on all of your reporting and what you know of donald trump, why do you think he made that pivot at that time . How many times during the Trump Presidency did people go, oh, today trump is acting president ial . As a reporter, i follow action. You know this, joe. Whats he really doing . Every day, even since he made that statement on the vaccine, hes been making public declarations to subvert american democracy. This is his active daytoday operation ahead of the 2022 and 2024 elections. On the vaccine, its always good to have anyone, whether its trump or your next door neighbor or anybody else, encourage people to be vaccinated, as we have a Public Health crisis. When it comes to politics, trump is still trump. Right. So whats that calculation though . Im not saying he did it because he suddenly has realized that it is good for america. Im just curious, why do you think he made that calculation, and what do you think he finally decided that was good for him politically . If he has been boosted, trump is clever enough to know that facts will emerge. If he has been boosted and tries to be evasive, reporters will ultimately find that out. So he was truthful about the fact he has been boosted. Good. Good, we like the truth. We like facts. I dont see any Overlying Strategy there, joe, other than just revealing that something happened. Yeah. I think thats right. To underscore bobs point, first of all, we should absolutely expect on january 6th. The statement that announced the News Conference repeated the lied about the election. Thats what the conference will be about. As the rest of the country notes the solemn day, hell be perpetuating the same big lie he has been before. As far as his vaccine comment, i think it is one trump aide i talked to within the last couple days who had spoken to trump prior to what happened in dallas said that in recent days, the president has been speaking about the need he feels he wants more credit for the vaccine, which, of course, is in the news all the time. He feels he has gotten the short shrift for his role in the development. He recognizes people most vulnerable from the omicron variant remain the unvaccinated. Who are they . Those are his supporters. So i think there is at least some effort here to keep them, you know, healthy. To try look out for them some. Though, this same aide pointed out that at this point, the genie is probably out of the bottle. Even if trump were to have an ad campaign, encouraging people to get vaccinated, there will be some who wont. We saw in the aftermath of that moment in dallas, not just the boos in the crowd, but there was a lot of talk on social media from diehard trumpists who were really disappointed in him, that he had gotten converted into talking about the vaccine. They, joe, they dont think they should do it. They dont believe in it and never will. All right. More now on senator joe manchin, who joined Senate Democrats for a Virtual Meeting last night to discuss how to move forward on the president s built back better act. A source said Senator Manchin spoke in The Beginning of the meeting, reiterating his concerns with the bill. Then mostly listened. Meanwhile, republicans are using this moment to try to get Senator Manchin to join their ranks. Senate majority leader Mitch Mcconnell is opening an open invitation, saying the West Virginia senator is welcome to switch parties any time. I dont know if joe will ever become a republican, but i can tell you this for sure, the moderates are gone. Its a completely uncomfortable fit for joe. I think hes probably, for example, the only prolife democrat of the 50. He doesnt fit well over there. But thats a decision he ultimately has to make. We certainly welcome him to join us if he were so inclined. Minority leader mcconnell isnt the only republican reaching out. Senator john cornen of texas said he texted manchin about Switching Parties but hasnt turned back. Cornen tells a texas tv station, i dont know what hell do. I know virginia has gotten increasingly red. So, yeah, wed love to have him. That would change the majority. Yeah. Eugene daniels, what im hearing democrats saying, when joe manchin comes back, were going to be tougher. Okay, thats awesome. Whats that going to achieve . Nothing. Might push him into the Republican Party. I doubt it, but it could happen. But, you know, Jonathan Lemire reported yesterday that biden and manchin spoke on sunday. It was an amicable conversation. They both agreed they needed to keep negotiating, keep moving forward, figure out how to get some version of this bill through. So as David Ignatius said early yesterday or the day before, in washington, it aint over until its over, and its never over. Exactly. No, thats exactly true, right . Bbb is probably not going to look anything like what passed in the house. When they passed that, it is clear the senate was going to change that. I think the drama behind it was not expected by all, but a lot of that had to do with joe manchin kind of personally feeling upset about it. You know, joe manchin and joe biden, these are politicians who go off of their emotions often and think about those quite a bit. He talked about this on some of the tv and radio hits hes done, he felt he was being zeroed in on. That was one of the issues for him. I do think theyre going to come back to the table. Even representative jayapal, the head of the progressives in the house, seems kind of hopeful, still seems open to something. Talked to joe manchin, according to the Washington Post. So the conversations are still happening. We all know that as long as those are happening, that means negotiations are still going to go on. But the progressives in the house are where you want to watch because theyve already said that what they did, you know, months ago was the compromise. At some point, theyre going to have to probably accept what joe manchin wants. Its a high price tag and touches a lot of the things they want to do. It doesnt look exactly how they want it to look. The president himself wants the Child Tax Credit as kind of a jewel in the crown of this presidency. Because they talk about it so much and lean on it and are hoping to use it as a talking point. People are going to have to accept the things that they dont want to. Thats compromise. Thats how washington, d. C. , used to work. That is how washington, d. C. , used to work. You know, it is interesting, mika, Listening To Eugene talking about the progressives and members of the Progressive Caucus talking to joe manchin. Hes still talking. Talking to leaders of the Progressive Caucus. Talking to the white house. Talking to other democratic senators. Its very interesting. Youve got matt iglesias. We had jonathan shade on. Again, i would not call either of those people conservative democrats. You, of course, have Steve Rattner on yesterday saying the same thing. What youre hearing among many is sort of a growing consensus among centerleft democrats. That democrats could actually learn a thing or two from manchins critiques of the bill. The suggestion is this. Instead of doing ten things and chopping up ten different programs that have the starts and stops, get three programs that are really going to help americans and completely fund them ten years out. So when republicans take over in 22, if republicans win in 22 and take over in january of 23, they cant repeal the bill. They cant defund any of these bills in 23 or 25. And they cant do it because youve funded them fully for ten years. Get those three popular bills on the books, and theyll never go away. Those will be lasting legacies, not just for joe biden but also for the Progressive Caucus. Its not a bad idea. Thats for sure. Whatever gets something done. Eugene daniels and robert costa, thank you both for your reporting this morning. Still ahead on morning joe, with the Biden Administration planning to send Military Personnel to assist Health Care Workers across the country, well talk to one hospital ceo who is welcoming the help. Plus, a plea from the mayor of chicago for the federal government to step in and help the city curb gun violence. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. 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So then hes in trouble. Now you go in for the kill shot. The kill shot with an ambush, deadly. He doesnt see it coming. This is when you say, dr. Fauci, you funded Risky Research at a sloppy chinese lab. The same lab that sprung this pandemic on the world. You know why people dont trust you, dont you . Boom. He is dead. He is dead. Hes done. Fox news responded in a statement with the quote, based on watching the full clip and reading the transcript, it is more than clear that jesse waters was using metaphor for a hardhitting questions of dr. Fauci, about the gainoffunction research. And his words have been twisted completely out of context. There is no doubt he was he certainly was talking about an interview. I would only say that for a man who is im sure he has multiple Death Threats per day. Using terms like kill shot, ambush, hes dead, you know, theres better language to use than that. Much better language than that. It goes back to what we said earlier, about sort of the violence. The violent rhetoric. The glorification of violence. Again, jesse wasnt talking about actually killing him, but perhaps there are better metaphors to use for a guy who is under constant security protection. Serving our country. Because he gets so many Death Threats. Tritrying to save lives. So many Death Threats. Again, the violent rhetoric, the celebration of violence with rittenhouse, there are better ways to go. Just be conservative. I thought it was good at The Beginning when he was talking about being polite and respectful, asking the questions. But you dont mix that with really violent, murderous rhetoric. It doesnt work together. Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot is calling on the federal government to assist city law enforcement, despite proposing an 80 million cut to the Police Budget last year. In a speech, lightfoot asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to send atf agents to chicago to help end a surge of violent crime. I have formally asked the Attorney General of the United States, Merrick Garland, to, with all delivered haste, detail atf agents to chicago for six months, so that we can increase the number of Gun Investigations and seizures in chicago. And with these agents, we also need increased federal prosecutors to handle the new cases that will be generated. Chicago, like so many other cities, seeing a historic spike in crime this year. More than 4,000 people have been shot in chicago so far this year. There have been close to 800 homicides, making it the deadliest city in the country. Jonathan lemire, we see one mayor after another who, a year ago, was talking about Slashing Funding for police. Whether were talking about washington, d. C. , or chicago or san francisco, suddenly waking up and realizing what all mayors have seen. They actually need more police on the street. They actually need more police in the schools. They actually need more police in neighborhoods where the most crime takes place. They actually need more police everywhere because crime is surging. It is becoming such a crisis for cities like chicago, cities like san francisco. I can name any city. You name the city, crime is going up there most likely. Yeah. Certainly last summer, there was this talk of defunding the police, born out of the death of george floyd and the protests that came with that. Certainly, there has been a movement for Police Reform across the country, though that effort stalled on capitol hill. But these are separate issues. Even at that time, as much as candidate biden embraced the idea of wanting there to be fundamental change with the relationship between police and community, he stayed far away from the defund the police movement, recognizing how politically toxic it was, as well as, perhaps, a bad idea. Thats only been accelerated this year. The white house steered clear of it. Most National Democrats do as well. And born of the pandemic, we have seen, without question, a crime rise throughout the country. Violent crime as well as some of these smash and grabs and property threat and Property Damage has gone up, too. Most, of course, worrisomely, homicides and shootings up in major cities in the country, not just chicago, baltimore, philadelphia, others. This is something where weve seen a lot of mayors say, we need more funding. As a final point, incoming mayors, too, including eric adams, who will be mayor of New York City in ten days, said, no, we wont be defunding the police. We need more resources. He is an excop himself. He said, we need to restore a sense of safety for the people who live here. Yeah. You know, it is interesting. Were going to be talking about this in a little bit, but i read in the New York Post this morning, Eric Adaption was asked about Solitary Confinement. Does he support continuing to phase out Solitary Confinement. He was like, are you kidding me . Were going to have people who were beating up and terrorizing people outside of jail going inside jail and beating up and terroriing people there . No, there are bad people that need to be in solitary. This idea, ive said it before, the Age Of Aquarius descended upon us. Ill be honest, i didnt understand it two years ago when crime was at an alltime low. I dont understand it now. Theres a lot of Wishful Thinking that went into a lot of these criminal Justice Reform bills, that are causing serious problems. Katty, i want to underline something that i think is that republicans gloss over too often. That is, even at the height of the defund the police movements, that we heard a lot of mayors talking about, we get nancy pelosi on the show. Madame speaker, do you support defunding the police . No, it is a bad idea. Jim clyburn on the show. Congressman, to you support defunding the police . Jim would go off, saying it is stupid. It is a bumper sticker. No, it is the last thing in the world we need to the. Ill bet ya i asked probably 20 democrats, maybe 10, 15, 20 democrats last year. Every democrat that came on at the height of this, and not a single one said they supported defunding the police. Yet, it stuck, that all democrats support defunding the police. It was a really terrible message for democrats going into the election. You speak to spanberger, who came out of the tight race in virginia, a moderate herself, saying, this is the kind of messaging that is going to kill the democratic party. It is going to make it impossible for us to win seats where there are moderate voters because people hate it. Whether or not we actually mean defund as opposed to reform the police, the very phrase defund the police is an awful one. Rev sharpton has been on your program a lot, talking about the fact that this is not something that the communities he represents and talks to a lot want either. They dont want the police force defunded. People who live in the poorest, most violent parts of america really dont want the police defunded. They know they need the police. Two things can be true at once. Yes, they need the Police Reform. They need the relationship changed with the police. It has to be a better relationship with the communities that they are serving. More community engagement. Defunding the police doesnt work in practical terms. It is not what people want in practical terms. It is killing democrats, or it certainly did in the last Election Campaign in moderate districts. All right. Coming up, were going to show you the comments Joe Referenced from incoming New York City mayor Eric Adaption on Solitary Confinement, and ask current mayor Bill De Blasio about it when he joins us at the top of the hour. And also coming up, are hospitals ready for the winter surge in covid cases . Well talk to the head of a hospital in the new york tristate area. Plus, something that americans across age and political spectrum agree on. Social Media Companies cannot be trusted with their personal information. Well have the new polling. The sunshine theres the Sunshine Real Cowboys get omized Car Insurance with Liberty Mutual, so we only pay for what we need. Hey tex, wooo. Can someone else get a turn . Yeah, hang on, im about to break my own record. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Theres a different way to treat hiv. Its oncemonthly injectable cabenuva. Cabenuva is the only onceamonth, complete Hiv Treatment for adults who are undetectable. Cabenuva helps keep me undetectable. Its two injections, given by a Healthcare Provider once a month. Hiv pills arent on my mind. I love being able to pick up and go. Dont receive cabenuva if youre allergic to its ingredients or taking certain medicines, which may interact with cabenuva. Serious side effects include allergic reactions postinjection reactions, Liver Problems,. 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Crepe corrector lotion. Only from gold bond. Superpowers from a spider bite . I could use some help showing the world how Liberty Mutual customizes their Car Insurance. Ow im ok only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Only in theaters december 17th. Imagine me and you i do 44 past the hour. More headlines for you. Life expectancy in the u. S. Dropped by almost two years amid the covid19 pandemic. Representing the biggest single year decline in more than 75 years. According to mortality data released by the cdc, Life Expectancy in 2020 is at 77 years, a 1. 8 year decrease from 2019. Death rates rose for every age group except children ages 1 to 14. Covid19 ranked as the third leading cause of death, with more than 350,000 fatalities. Joining us now, president and ceo of the University Hospital in newark, new jersey. Thank you very much for being on this morning, doctor. Lets pull back a little bit and just, first, talk About Omicron. And is your Hospital System ready for potential surge during the holidays . Well, thanks so much for having me. Oncerned, mika. Of course, explosion in cases of the omicron variant in the new York Metro Area is concerning. Were not yet seeing a major signal in hospitalizations yet. Regardless, weve seen a doubling in the folks with covid19 in our beds just over the last two weeks. The more immediate concern is the impact this is having on our staff. The fact is, over the last couple weeks, our staff out of work have doubled with covid19. Thats a problem for all the other care we have to provide. Weve been wanting to move on from this pandemic for a long time because of the Chronic Disease issues and worsening health care. Deferred, delayed care, mental and Behavioral Health issues. It is looking concerning right now. President bidens announcement, especially with military deployments to hospitals, is very, very welcome. So, doctor, if it is true that those who are being hardest hit are those who are unvaccinated, and even by omicron, those who are not boosted, if that is true, if the answer is yes, is that having an impact on morale among the ranks of the front line responders, the doctors and nurses and hospital workers who have been responding to this since day one . The biggest reason morale is a problem in our hospital is because folks are not getting vaccinated or boosted in the community. This is a preventable illness. Our nurses, our doctors, physicians know that. The fact that covid19 patients are still occupying our beds, even in the context of omicron, and the fact that it is preventable is making people very upset. These are folks who have been dealing with this for about two years now. Theyve seen people in their community, their loved ones, their family members, Vulnerable People get infected by this. The fact that that is all pretty preventable now, even with boosters and even with omicron, when it comes to hospitalizations, its something our staff knows about. The other thing, of course, is the understaffing because folks have to be out of work with covid19. That, of course, places so much load on folks who are already experiencing posttraumatic stress and so many mental and Behavioral Health issues because of this. So were really concerned about staff morale right now. Doctor, it is so hard for us to imagine what it is like for all of your staff. I mean, it is hard for the population. It is a hundred times harder for people working on the front lines. The frustration and everything. In england, theyve just reduced the quarantine time around omicron from ten days to seven days. Ive even heard some doctors in the u. S. Mention potentially reducing it to five days. Do you think that is sound science . Do we know yet whether the science backs up a reduced quarantine time . And how much would that help relieve some of the pressure on staff in your hospital . Were seeing encouraging signals out of south africa and europe about the severity of omicron. So the fact that south africa seems to have peaked with cases and hospitalizations are starting to go down, and similar findings are in the uk and denmark. Even in the new York Metro Area, we dont have an uptick in hospitalizations commensurate with the explosion in cases were seeing. Would argue that the quarantine test isolate regime be revisited if those trends continue. I still think it is a bit early for us to consider that right now. But it could be just a couple of weeks where we end up having enough data where we say, omicron is much less severe, especially in vaccinated and boosted people. And the regime weve been talking about with quarantine should be readdressed, especially when it comes to Health Care Workers. I already mentioned the risks of something an understaffed hospital in the context of Everything Else were dealing with. Consensus is full with noncovid related patients. We have to understand the broader and second order effects of having to do all of that isolation and quarantine. Dr. Elnahal, thank you. Our deepest gratitude to you and all the Health Care Workers in your Hospital System who are still dealing with this. Thank you very, very much. Lets turn to media reporter at axios, sarah fisher, who is looking at numbers suggesting americans are largely tuning out covidrelated news. Sarah, what did you find out . Yeah, mika, so at The Beginning of the pandemic, we saw engagement with covid news unlike any other story before. Thousands of interactions online, on social media, with every article written about covid. But over time, interactions have just fallen. We saw a small, little spike around the delta wave, but, so far, we havent seen a similar spike around omicron. If you talk to experts, they say it is likely just due to fatigu likely due to fatigue around the entire story of covid19. No, there is just a lot of Different Reasons for this. I think a lot of people are exhausted. Especially those who have been vaccinated. But there are many who are unvaccinated which is why covid still exists. And we just heard from the doctor that there are hospital workers that are their morale has just been rocked by this. Because they still dealing with this reality, as if the virus just began. Lets talk about social media. New polling finds that americans widely distrust leaving social media platforms with their personal information and data. The latest Washington Post and poll finds 72 did not trust facebook to personally handle their personal information and data on their activity. 63 dont trust tiktok. 60 do not trust instagram. And 53 do not just whatsapp. In addition, 10 say facebook has a positive impact on families. While 56 say it has a negative impact. And 33 say its impact is neither positive nor negative. Even among those who use facebook daily, more than three times as many say the social network has a negative, rather than a positive impact. As for possible solutions for this growing issues, 64 of americans say the government should do more to regulate how Internet Companies handle privacy issues. And, sara, its so interesting, because they still go to it, they still use it. But they have these feelings about it. Yeah, its like a drug they cant quit, right . Yeah. They know the more they use it and more they become hooked the harder it is to leave. I think the thing interesting about that poll, mika, if you look at the platforms, apple with safari or google with chrome, theyre not viewed as negatively as social media platforms. A search, youre going in there with intent, right . You want to know how do i find a doctor with a covid situation. With social, its just brought to you. That dynamic, that algorithm is what makes people feel anxious about social media. Sara fischer of axios, thank you for your reporting and analysis this morning. And coming up, the pastor who was fired for speaking out against vaccines on the show is coming back again. Plus, the new york times, science to work. More on the conviction of a harvard chemist lying about his ties to china. More of morning joe is coming back. You thrill me darling you you thrill me hey businesses you all deserve something epic so were giving every business, our best deals on every iphone including the iphone 13 pro with 5g. Thats the one with the amazing camera . Yep every business deserves it. Like ones that reopened hi, we have an appointment. And every new business that just opened like aromatherapy rugs ill take one in blue please its not complicated. At t is giving new and existing customers our best deals on every iphone, including up to 1000 off the epic iphone 13 pro. 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Fresh flavors. Classic dishes. And a new seat at the table. Hey, angie you forgot your phone hey lou angie forget and aher phone again . Table. Yep. Lou mom said she could save up to 400 on her wireless bill by switching to xfinity internet and mobile. With nationwide 5g at no extra cost. And lou on the most reliable network, lou smart kid, bill. Oh oh so true. And now, the moon christmas special. Gotta go take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile. Com mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes switching fast and easy this holiday season. Dont call me that on the air. The condo looks great during this holiday season. Especially with the smoke rising in the air. Still ahead, the mayor of New York City Bill De Blasio standing by, hes going to be live with us in three minutes. And before we go to break look at that hes a weather man, too. A man who never sleeps. Steve wagners charts have gone global. What no. Steves charts on everything from the effects on coronavirus, inflation. Oh, my god. To inflation, labor market, Climate Change. You saw it here first. Is this real . You saw it first here on morning joe. And now theyre Global Online with the new york times. Jonathan lemire, i must say, you look at this development oh, my gosh ive got to say, you got to look, but what are the three big things that have happened this year . Culturally, across america. Number three, spiderman. Number two, give back. And number one, wagners charts of horror. Yeah. I mean, think about this, lemire, look at that, man. No i mean, thats so big. Can we get the graphics of things spinning around again. Its the whole page. Look. Yes, yes at the end as the year concludes, well talk about the year in movie, the year in pop culture, in politics. Now, the year in charts. A full page in the new york times. Yeah. Look at that the entire thing, steve radners work, here on morning joe and setting it up for 2022. Exactly. Now, its global. From Government Centers in berlin. To back alleys of belarus, these charts are going to change the way we look at issues. Dare i say, the way we live our lives. Well be right back. Oway in this show. No ones seen him in over fifteen years. Theres no rockstar in here anymore. But i still. Just sing. Havent found. Your songs will carry you. What im looking for Nurse Mariyam Sabo knows a moment this pure. Demands a lotion this pure. New gold bond pure moisture lotion. 24hour hydration. No parabens, dyes, or fragrances. Gold bond. Champion your skin. I see trees of green red roses too i see them bloom for me and you and i think to myself what a Wonderful World a rich life is about more than just money. Thats why at vanguard, youre more than just an investor, youre an owner so you can build a future for those you love. Vanguard. Become an owner. Welcome back to morning joe. It is 8 00 on the east coast. And, mika look at the pretty trees. Look at the commerce tree. The Comcast Commerce Tree. It can just be about happiness sometimes and not about honey. No, i think that trees about money. It looks happy to me. People from around the world they come in they go right in the nbc store. And they go in and say you know what im going to buy a morning joe mug. I got chills, im going to run inside the nbc experience store. And get morning joe clogs and ear muffs. Oh, the clogs are the best. I love those, i wear them around every day. Its wednesday, december 22nd, three days from christmas, children, Jonathan Lemire and katty kay are with us. Katy, you go into that nbc experience store, you get the morning clogs. The kids will love it. Theyll wear it to school, to college, the approved ear muffs we just got in there, seriously, what else could a kid want for christmas . Nothing, nothing. Nbc ear muffs, i will be the most popular mother in the whole country, obviously. We all do, we love you. Jonathan lemire, how is christmas . Youve got little ones . How is the Christmas Season going for the little ones . Where has the elf moved this morning in your house . The elf moved up by the wine. I dont know how that would have happened but late last night. Umm yes, christmas is good. The boys, yeah, still in school. As noted, my oldest son is home for a couple days because of covid exposure. They unlike so many children across this country are hoping to wake up under the tree, the brandnew Way Too Early alarm clock that nicely pairs with the morning joe ear muffs. Yeah. And hes also going to be giving them some steve radners charts. The spiderman. And the chart poster. The kids are going to love it. What are they asking for, for christmas, what do they want santa to bring them . My house, joe, theres a lot of sports stuff. A red sox demand. What we really want say season next year. Thats what we really want for christmas. And also mario cart and pokemon as made an unwelcome return. Really. Pokemon is going to be making a return in my kids school. Pokemon, what is next, like a ninjago revival. Katty, what do your kids want . Pokemon, thats kind of retro. Jude, who we think has covid at the moment and hes hunkered down at charlottesville and may or may not make it home for christmas. He always wants weird stuff. Weird shoes for driving a car in. Hes into sports and driving fast cars. You get him driving shoes. He wants driving shoes. If nbc does driving shoes im fine, im in. Ill get him a pair of those. I do think you should look at the morning joe clocks. Seriously, if hes going around in mg, you need to get him one of those British Racing mgs. Youre a hit with everybody. Okay. Lets get to the news. The omicron variant now surging nationwide, as President Biden announced new measures to rampup testing while urging unvaccinated americans to do their patriotic duty. And get their shots. And nbc news senior washington correspondent Hallie Jackson has the latest. Reporter with the countdown to christmas getting shorter across the country, the lines are getting longer from New York City to cleveland, where this drivethrough site filled to capacity soon after opening tuesday. Frustrated americans waiting hours for covid tests. Wondering whether to gather with family during the holidays as cancellations weigh in for Holiday Events all driven by the rapid rise of the omicron variant. President biden aiming to reassure vaccinated people theyll be safe over the holidays, while delivering a stark warning to unvaccinated americans. If youre not fully vaccinated, you have good reason to be concerned. Youre at a high rick of getting sick. Facing the latest wave, President Biden said the federal government will set up additional Testing Sites in places theyre needed the most. And starting next month, the administration will ship 500 million athome covid test kits for free for anyone who requests one that thats after the white house downplayed the need for athome test. Why not just make them free and have them available to everyone . Should we send one to every american. Maybe. What happens if earn american has a test, how much does that cost and what happens after that . Reporter the white house acknowledging hospitals quickly becoming overwhelmed. Doctors and nurses overhemmed. Sometimes, were called 20 or 30 hospitals a day trying to find beds for our patients. A lot of times we have patients in the Emergency Room for three or four days. Reporter hospitals delaying elective surgeries. This doctor said beds in his hospital in columbus is tight. With the vast majority of Covid Patients there unvaccinated. Unless you live in a bebl. Or unless you live on top of a mountain and dont have any contact with society, everybody has a date with this virus. Im very concerneded for people who dont have any degree of immunity. Lets weigh in with the mayor of New York City. Bill de blasio, thank you for being with us, mr. Mayor. Weve been saying it all week. Youve been saying pretty much the same thing. This is not march 2020. We are in december 2021. Weve learned a lot. Youve learned a lot. Every leader has learned a lot during this crisis. Talk a lot about how you strike the balance of hunkering down for this very aggressive variant, but at the same time, keeping New York City open for business, open for the world . Joe. Such an important point, we cannot fight yesterdays war. Its a very different reality were facing now. We need to stay open. We have to avoid shutdowns. Let me be really clear, shutdowns are unacceptable at this point. Not only in New York City, but in this country, because we have at this point, realize we have the tool to fight back. Its called vaccination. And we want to get aggressive, use Vaccine Mandates as were doing here in the city. Use incentives, yesterday i announced 100 incentive for the rest of this month to get people a booster. But shutdowns dont make sense. Theres not another big relief package coming from washington. Theres not the cavalry coming in terms of our economy. Weve got to keep moving and we have the answer, its vaccinations. So, what, we know theres a problem right now with getting testing. You drive around New York City, my gosh, weve seen it over the past couple of weeks, those lines for testing just keep getting longer. So, you need help from washington on the tests. And apparently, youre going to get some help there. Im curious about boosters. Ive been joking in florida its easier to get them what about New York City, if somebody in New York City wants a booster, can they get a booster . They can get a booster right now. Well give them 100 for showing up. Well go to your home if you want. This is how developed the Vaccination Program is. We will go to your home. Wow. Well give vaccination to any family member, first shot, second shot, booster, and 100 incentive for each person. Were bending over backwards. Thats amazing. But this coming monday, were implementing the toughest private sector Vaccine Mandate in the country, because we knew omicron was going to be a challenge. Its even bigger than we expected. Everyone needs to get vaccinated. Shouldnt be a discussion anymore. Unless you love a shutdown, you know. If you love shutdowns, then lets do the status quo. If you want to keep fighting through and get on to recovery, we need Vaccine Mandates. And we need to see more mayors, more governors, more ceos. United airlines did it to their great credit. We found it worked here. Our Public Sector workforce, 94 vaccinated. Adults in New York City now almost 91 have had at least one dose. Wow. Thats because of mandates. Lets go, lets just do it. You know, joe, theres all of this talk about Bill De Blasio running for governor. I feel like he should be like the vaccine czar. Vaccine czar. All right. No, no, if i had to guess, id say hes still running for governor. But hes good on this . Well ask him that question, are you running for governor . Joe, joe, joe, im going to stay in Public Service. And ill have a lot more to say in the next few weeks. Lets put it that way. Ill be going all around new york state for the fight for equality. Helping to help our kids get a better education. Ive got a lot to say. A veritable listening tool, correct. Listening, because the status quo is not working in new york state. Thats abundantly clear. That, it is. Weve made progress in the city, joe. Theres evidence coming in, i said were going to fight inequality in New York City. Weve actually changed the lives of working people in real ways. Putting money back in their pockets. And for the working people of the state of new york as well. Tell me about the booster program. I know you Just Launched it. Youre talking about 100 for people who get any shots. Youll go to their home. Thats pretty extraordinary. How is the rollout started. Are people responding . What do the numbers look like . We always see real response when we put new incentives up. Were trying to educate the people. A booster makes a huge difference. The vaccination is key for everything. But that booster provides additional level against omicron specifically. And omicron, our doctors believe were going to see a sharp upsurge for a few weeks only. Start to come down only by the end of january. So, heres whats will protect people during that time frame. And also help us get back from recovery. Weve got to start imagining a world beyond the covid era. And boosters are a big, big part of it. So the incentive is going to help at least tens of thousands, even potentially much more. To get people in to get them boosted. But the real powerful element is the Vaccine Mandate that starts monday. That affects almost 200,000 New York City businesses that were not covered previously. And ill tell you what im hearing from business leaders, they like the fact that the governments doing it for them. They dont want to be, quoteunquote, the bad guys. They want to say to their employees, hey, guys, this is universal. Government is doing it. You got to do it. And also dont like the fact im leaving this company to go to another company because i dont have to get vaccinated. No, everyone is getting vaccinated. Mr. Mayor, your successor eric adams announced plans to cancel his inauguration events. Big cities across the world, london, los angeles, have cancelled their large new years eve gatherings, in the wage of the surge coming only going to elevate in the next months. Does it make sense to gather millions in times square for a new years eve event . Let me say it this way it does not make sense to have shutdowns. We think about that event in the same day. Well make that decision going forward. Right now, outdoors, fully vaccinated already, thats the rule. But were looking for additional measures in place. The preference is to keep it on. Its a very important event for this city and to the world. Again, we dont want to live in defeat or surrender to covid but weve got to do it safely. I just want to follow up on that, mr. Mayor. Weve learned in the past year and a half many things. One thing weve learned Outdoor Events are so much more safer than indoor events where people are masked together and congregating. If youre in times square, even though it gets packed. Youre outdoors, if for some reason youre uncomfortable, you can wear a mask. We know 91 of people in New York City are vaccinated right now. I dont know if theres some way you can have a vax mandate for people actually going to the event itself. If that were possible, my gosh, i cant imagine any medical adviser or epidemiologist saying that that would pose a grave risk. We in fact joe, im happy to tell you, when we announced that new years eve and times square was going forward. This was weeks ago, ahead of omicron. We head message to new yorkers, vaccinated folks only. So that measure is already in place. We think we can add additional measures. But youre exactly right. Doctors say outdoors is one of the big differencemakers, in the two years of covid, if youre going to do something and you have the option, go outdoors. It makes a huge, huge difference. New york citys incoming mayor, as you know, is defending his plan to use a revamped plan in New York Post. And in a letter to eric adams urged the former nypd captain not to reverse your policy against the practice. But he called the current form of Solitary Confinement inhumane. But wowed to take action to keep immates and Corrections Officers safe. Take a listen to what he said. I am not going to be in a city where dangerous people assault innocent people, go to jail and assault more people. If you are violent, you must be removed from population, so that you dont inflate violence on other people. Theres a body of people that are coming into the city council, they have no desire in moving our city forward. Their desire is to be disruptive. What im going to do, im going to ignore them. Im going to stay committed, undistracted. And im going to grind. Mr. Mayor, is there in fact a middle ground between the policy thats been implemented, and where he wants to go . Where he talks about he agrees with you that the current form of solitary that was used before is inhumane. I agree with him. There was a horrible tragedy about a decade ago in the city that really woke everyone up, the death of khalif browder who committed suicide, because he had been in solitary for quite a while on rikers island. It woke everybody up that we have something punitive, and no longer for an age, that we actually rehabilitate people. I said lets get rid of the Solitary Confinement. Its inhuman main. Sets people back and not moving people forward. We have found a third way where inmate is isolated from everyone else. It doesnt have the same horrible impact but isolated enough to censure that that person cant have negative impact on others around them. Ive talked to eric adams about it. I think were on the same track that there is that third way. Great to hear you have a Good Relationship with the mayor. Finally, we talked about this before, that the homeless crisis continues to grow. You had a message for the west coast, your message was letting people sleep outside in the winter. Letting people pitch tents all over the place. Is inhumane main theres nothing progressive about it. And it is such a crisis, and youve admitted this is something you underestimate, its tougher to get your arms around than you expected. I think a lot of mayors have learned that as well. What are the lessons that you want to impart not just on your successor, but especially on the west coast mayors in san francisco, portland, seattle, other cities, about how they take control of their streets back for the citizens who live there. Yeah. Joe, exactly right. Having streets filled with that kind of human misery. Its hard for those suffering it because theyre homeless. It sends a horrible message about our societys willingness to help others. I had a very powerful conversation with Cardinal Timothy dolan who leads the archdiocese in new york. Talks about the fact that he grew up with homelessness. People used to call folks bums or ho bos. He said he starts to see we have to see the individuality in people out there. I talked to homeless folks who had what we call normal life and spiraled down to the streets. We have to help each person back to their family, to a better life. But it starts with saying no ones sleeping on the streets. We offer every single human being a place to stay. That is the law. That is the rule in New York City. Not Everyone Wants to take us up on it, thats the blunt truth. But its worth every dollar we spend financially, but also morally, it is the right thing to do. Its right to shelter, if someone, god forbid, if the bottoms fallen out of their life, they have a right to shelter. Then we get right to work, with Mental Health treatment or pathway to affordable housing. But tent cities used to be called hoovervilles. Once upon a time. I feel for those mayors, they got handed a tough situation. But bite the bullet, build the housing. Its the best investment you make on a very human and moral level as well. Mayor Bill De Blasio thank you very much. We wish you a happy holiday. And also happy preps for your run for governor. Thank you, mika, im just thinking about the Christmas Season and the joy of it, what youd like to see under the tree. Something that reminds you of the holidays. Ive got to get the Product Placement a little better there. There you go. Because who wouldnt want a steaming hot cup of coffee in the morning that has a connection to all of america through this great network. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. Theres a morning joe on the other side, if you could turn it around, if it is. You picked up the wrong one. I got the wrong one. You did. That and the morning joe clogs that youre wearing and he can be a hand model. Thank you, mika. Thanks. Welcome. Thank you, mr. Mayor. As always, good to see you. Goodbye. Thank you. Now to a stunning downfall for one of the countrys top chemists. Harvard professor was convicted in federal court about lying about ties to china. Convicted on felony charges, two counts of making false statements and four alleged tax offenses. According to tax attorneys, lieber, 50,000 a month from the Wuhan University of technology up from 158,000 in living expenses. And more than 1. 5 million in grants. The closely watched case was brought as part of a crackdown on academic espionage at american universities. According to the new york times, liebers conviction is seen as an initiative. Under the 2015 Trump Administration trying to root out scientists of sharing Sensitive Information with china. And, katty, just to be clear here, the professor was not charged with espionage. And in fact, much of what he was doing was legal. What is not legal, and what a professor should know is lying to the fbi about it. Thats why he was arrested. Thats why hes being tried. He lied to the fbi. Yeah. Thats often the case, right . People get caught because they dont tell the truth to authorities about what they were doing. There have been people questioned what he was doing should be legal. And President Trump was trying to clamp down on some of the ties that american academics had with china. China puts a lot of money into u. S. Universities, whether by sending their students there or whether directly by grants. And people can get embroiled in doing chinas bidding without necessarily being aware that they are doing that. Or without feeling that they are doing something wrong. But it becomes financially lucrative for them or their institution to do so. It kind of he was dumb for lying but it does point to a broader issue of the amount of not just in the u. S. , by the way, they do this in australia, universities in australia and other countries, too, where they can, they use their money to buy influence. And they lie, youre right. Universities, massive, massive amounts of grants have come in the past from china to universities. And, again, the key here is its not illegal. Its not been illegal. The 2018 law is trying to regulate it. But, again, when the fbi comes knocking, if they ask questions, you got to tell the truth. Yeah. And if you dont, youre going to end up in jail. So, were also following a large fire that broke out at Virginia Governor chuck robbs mansion last night. Officials say two family sustained nonlifethreatening injuries but did not release their names. Ooh. According to officials, the fire quickly spread throughout the first floor. An investigation is under way to determine the cause. Robb and his wife linda who is the daughter of former president Lyndon Johnson have owned that mansion since 1973. Gracious. And still ahead on morning joe, just three days to go until christmas. Holiday travel is ramping up from coast to coast. A look at the Record Number of travelers on the road and in the air. And it come as mida new warning from the worlds biggest commercial airline manufacturers. About new 5g technology expected to roll out soon. 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At vanguard, youre more than just an investor, youre an owner with access to financial advice, tools and a personalized plan that helps you build a future for those you love. Vanguard. Become an owner. Welcome back. The new wave of covid is throwing some serious challenges into travel plans coast to coast. Still, as nbcs tom costello reports, were seeing more than 2 million passengers a day at airports nationwide. As others hit the highways. Reporter on this wednesday before christmas, youve got good company if youre hitting the road. Millions are getting behind the wheel this morning, clogging key interstates from i95 on the east coast to the 101 out west. Among the drivers this week, 23yearold madison cruz, heading from baltimore, maryland, to georgia. With the new Covid Variant, its just extra scary to be around people, especially coming home to grandparents and family. Reporter meanwhile, among the busiest big airports today, l. A. X. , 8 00 a. M. And dallas at 10 00 a. M. Across the country, many airports are reporting pandemic recordbreaking traffic, even alltime records. Rebound really came on us unexpectedly. We didnt expect to see passengers come back the way they did. Reporter at l. A. X. , United Airlines sees a stark contrast to just nine months a year ago. We are back up to 120plus flights. Reporter but covid remains top of mind for many traveling to see family and friends. On the plane itself, its really quite safe, particularly if youre vaccinated and boosted. But in other settings it may not be so safe. Reporter meanwhile, this morning, more pressure on the cell phone industry, to delay the rollout of 5g Technology Next after Airline Giants boeing and airbus issued a joint call for the industry to postpone the rollout. Warning 5g could interfere with critical cockpit technology. Saying theres no reason to roll it out, that 5g operates safely without interference in nearly 40 countries around the world and it will be no different here. But pilot organizations, airlines and members of Congress Share the concern that 5g can interfere with the planes altimeters. If youre coming down in zero visibility and your radio altimeter is off, then you might go boom into the ground. That was nbcs tom costello reporting. Coming up a look at other stories making headlines this morning. Including covids impact on everything, from americas educators to its law enforcement. Those details are straight ahead on morning joe. Such treemendous views. Im at a moss for words. When a cough tries to steal dads punchlines, he takes robitussin naturals powered by 100 drugfree ingredients. Are you gonna leaf me hanging . Soothe your cough naturally. Superpowers from a spider bite . I could use some help showing the world how Liberty Mutual customizes their Car Insurance. Ow im ok only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Only in theaters december 17th. Firefighter Maggie Gronewald knows how to handle dry weather. And dry, cracked skin. New gold bond advanced healing ointment. Restore healthy skin, with no sticky feeling. Gold bond. Champion your skin. Experience the power of sanctuary at the lincoln wish list event. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire jack frost the new York City Police department has seen an uptick in the number of officers calling out sick. As of yesterday, nearly 3,000 ununiformed nypd officers are out sick. That is about 8 of the total number of officers. Authorities say fully vaccinated officers are among those who called out. The jump comes as the omicron variant has fueled a surge in cases in New York City. And as the nypd rolled out its stricter Masking Policy that now requires officers to wear face coverings while on duty, regarding of their vaccination status. Also, dozens of teachers at a high school in philadelphia staged what they call a sickout after a student died from covid19. On monday, 40 teachers at the only Charter High School called out sick in protest against the schools Covid Protocols which they say didnt do nudge to protect elena thatch and other staff. And the high school switched to online classes as of monday, just days after her funeral. Announced classes will continue to be held virtually until january 14th. And Kyle Rittenhouse, the teenager who shot and killed two people and injured a third amid the unrest in wisconsin more than a year ago got a Standing Ovation when he appeared at a conservative conference in phoenix on monday. It was his first major public appearance since being found not guilty of homicide. After shooting and killing Joseph Rosenbaum and anthony huber. The 18yearold suggested he may sue over the way the press covered the case. Saying in an interview theres going to be some Media Accountability coming soon. Following his rock star welcome monday, conservative fire brand tommy layern urged step back. Republicans in the house cringed when they saw that yesterday, not a good look for people claiming to be conservative republicans . No that was like say rock concert. The lights, the music, the staging, Kyle Rittenhouse, look, he was acquitted. But he was involved in an incident and a man lost his life. Others were wounded. This is becoming we all sort of darkly predicted at the time. I believe there might have been an onion headline going around hed be a featured speaking at cpac. Were almost there. He has been embraced by so many on the right. The trump fringes here, donald trump jr. Has opened his facebook with memes. With being acquitted. This is something thats not going to go, as much as there are some Establishment Republicans probably more than a few in the house and senate who are horrified by this. Theres enough in the base. In the trumpist base that want to embrace Kyle Rittenhouse that he and others like him are what animates voters. And key to the success at the ballot box this year. As horrifying as it may be. Yeah, katty, the guy was acquitted. And as we discussed at the time, you look at the wisconsin laws. The jury when the jury came back, they did their best reading of the wisconsin laws. And oh, boy, certainly doesnt make him a hero any more than o. J. Being acquitted in his case made him a hero. You didnt see democrats calling o. J. Out after the acquittal and treating him like some sort of superstar. But here we are with Kyle Rittenhouse yet another problem for senate republicans. Yeah, he was acquitted. And pointed to what many people said was a real weakness in american law in wisconsin. But he should have been acquitted. But he was able to claim selfdefense. And didnt take into account, the premeditation, what he was going through in the days beforehand. Whether he had in mind to go there and cause some kind of violence in the way he did. None of that was taken into account. He got off almost on a new poll technicality of a badly written wisconsin law. After he was acquitted. He said he was he said he was going to lay low. He said he thought it was a real shame that there was polarization around his case. And now, this 18yearold boy, seems to be, absolutely reveling in that polarization. He walked out on to that stage, waving, grinning. I mean, hes 18 years old. I dont know, maybe you do dumb stuff when youre 18. And he thinks this is his moment when he can have five minutes of fame. Its an awful indictment of the polarization of the country and the people that are trying to make somebody who killed two people a hero for any reason. Yeah. Its just its sickening. Well, you know, you bring up you bring up a great point. Hes 18 years old. And when he visits politicians and other people who are trying to exploit him and exploit what happened in wisconsin. And the killing of two people, the injuring of a third. Its important to remember, hes 18. You look at the adults. Its the adults that are actually bringing him out on to the stage. Getting him in pictures. Lifting him up so they can get more twitter mentions or more facebook mentions, whatever. You know, its its the adults right now. I know 18 is an adult. But again, hes an 18yearold kid. And if were going to focus on, i think, people who are really acting recklessly, lets focus on those that are the older adults. The tv hosts. That are exploiting this tragedy. Yeah. I mean, joe, its sad that two people are dead, and what theyre doing with this young man is creating a monster. This is this is this is not the way you act. Okay. After no matter what happened in court, the gun you are holding that you fired that killed two people. Yeah, well, they may be creating a Public Relations monster. But, again, this 18yearold kid, important to remember, hes a kid. I agree with that. And lets hope that he can keep his head down. We do. And return to some semblance of normal life. This is bad for him time remember George Zimmerman who was older. When George Zimmerman killed trayvon, and he suddenly became a hero for a few months. It was repulsive and gross that conservatives embraced George Zimmerman as a hero. Things didnt turn out well for George Zimmerman. Chances are good they wont turn out well here either. Much better for him to keep his head down. Get therapy. Yeah, take care of himself. And not be exploited by adults. By political hacks, basically. Yeah. Coming up there are plenty of reasons why someone should be fired from their job advocating for the Covid Vaccine shouldnt be one of them. But thats what happened to our next guest, author and pastor dan dowelling. It happened on our show. So the question is why is he coming back on our show . Really. Hell answer that question and bring us an update when he comes back on morning joe. Ng hey, tamtam i was thinking maybe. Your moms car . Merry christmas, dad. Not only do centrum multigummies taste great. 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Join over a million members by signing up for free on the xfinity app. Our thanks. Your rewards. I think theres two things to think about. I think one one of them is this idea that were to love our neighbors. One of the things we do when we get a vaccine, we not only protect ourselves but we as do our part in keeping our part from spreading the virus and hurting our neighbors. Secondly, i also think, you know, the way to persuade people to get a vaccine is not going to come top down. Its not going to come from sort of elites, but its going to come to people closest to people. Their doctors, their pharmacists, their pastors. So after that appearance on morning joe in august to discuss his oped about why he got vaccinated against covid19, then senior Vice President of communications at the National Religious Broadcasters Group dan darling was fired from his job. By speaking out in support of the shot, the company said darling violated a policy stating employees must remain neutral about the vaccine. Now months later darling is making an impact in the evangelical community again as the director for the southwestern baptist theological seminary, and the pastor joins us now. Hes the author of the book the character of christmas the unlikely people caught up in the story of jesus. Whoa. Dan, what . You put your hand on the hot stove. You come on morning joe. He was very nice about it. You get fired. He was spreading good words of health. He leaves. Gets fired. He gets a new you come back. Are you sure you want to do this . I am sure, and thank you for having me on. I appreciate it. Yeah, its good to have you on. Are you sure . I want to get to your book in a minute. Just talk about i mean, i talked to a lot of your friends. And everybody wants to hear the terrible things that happened here or there. I know you dont think that way. Talk about what youve learned over the past couple of months. What positive things youve gotten out of this difficult journey . Well, you know, ive been overwhelmed by how many people have supported me, particularly evangelicals. This was a disagreement among friends. Im sad that the things that are dividing people in america are also dividing christians, but i actually have found that among evangelicals theres a lot more consensus than you think beyond the headlines. Most evangelicals i know are getting vaccinated or considering it, are encouraging folks to get vaccinated, even if leaders like Franklin Graham and others urging people to do it. I just think we have to be careful to not let the things that are dividing American Culture divide us those of us who call ourselves christians. I think ive learned a lot in that sense, and ive also just learned about how good evangelicals can be. They supported me. Theyve been really good to me, and i even think about the way that even right now theyre on the ground helping people in places like mayfield, kentucky, and others places where people have lost everything. And thats certainly something thats a story that you get out more. I remember during hurricane katrina, we would drive over every day from pensacola. We would it was very easy to get people in the community there, the Church Community there, whether youre talking about baptist, episcopalians, methodists, whatever, people in the synagogue, we would drive over there every day. Even when the federal government wasnt there, when the State Government was dragging their feet, there were already evangelical workers there. I think the first people i saw over there was from Pat Robertsons group helping on the ground, and dont you wish that some of these debates and some of these, you know, sadly good number of evangelicals that are focusing more on conspiracy theories, dont you wish we could get the focus back where the new testament says it should be . I really do. We really need to focus on what makes up our name, the evangel, the good news that god has come into the world. This is what we celebrate at christmas, that god is with us, emmanuel, hes not distant or remote but hes come into a broken world to not only save us from our sin but also to renew and restore the world. Talk about your book, and you talk about the unlikely people who are in the first christmas story. You could start with jesus himself. I always love that question, somebody asks what good has ever come from nazareth, could come from nazareth, but also joseph, his father, and mary his mother. Thats exactly right. You know, the people that are in the christmas story that are in our nativity sets, theyve become famous to us in the last 2,000 years, but in the first christmas, these were just ordinary people caught up in the story. And you think of mary and joseph who are a peasant couple on the back side of the roman empire. They have no power, no agency, and yet these are the people that god chooses to take care of the son of god. You think of the shepherds to whom the announcement came. Shepherds are not very well regarded, and yet this is where god chose to make the announcement. He didnt make the announcement, you know, in Caesars Palace or even among the religious leaders. He chose lowly shepherds. I think it tells us a little bit about the kingdom of god and the real story of christmas, that god comes in humble ways in jesus, and he comes to people who really dont have any power or agency and just, i think it tells us a little bit about the kind of savior that jesus is. Theres been a lot of talk about the state of the evangelical community, especially in the wake of the groups widespread support of donald trump, and you wrote a column for usa today last month entitled evangelicals need to admit our failures, but we also must hold onto our hope. Institutions are vital for human flourishing, yet at so many levels they have failed us in recent years breeding deep distrust cynicism. Talk more if you could about the need to admit failures but also hold onto hope. I do think we need to admit failures. We should be the first people that can do this. We know that we are all sinners. We know that we fail in many ways, and we have had our share of scandals that are really horrific and terrible and really dont shed a good name on the name of jesus. At the same time, i dont think we should give into cynicism. I do think theres a lot of good in the world. I think most evangelicals today are trying to raise their children and trying to help people in their community, trying to go to church, trying to serve the lord as best they can. I think we have to thread that needle between really being accountable for our failures, for institutional failures, for leadership failure, and at the same time not giving in to the kind of cheap cynicism that is so common today. You talk about cheap cynicism, i saw yesterday somebody associated with the socalled conservative movement. I say that because hes not a conservative but comparing Kyle Rittenhouse to jesus, the persecution of jesus. I see it every day. Some politicians somehow trying to bend and mold their politics, which seems to me to be the antithesis of the gospel lessons to very harsh ideology. Sometimes a violent ideology, and its depressing. I want you to talk in this Christmas Season with your book, talk about youre talking about at the birth of jesus actually went on throughout his life, that the religious leaders of his day actually had contempt for him. The politicians had no use for him, but jesuss life, and you see it if you actually somebody actually reads the new testament, he hung out with tax collectors, the woman at the well, adulterers, everywhere people were the poor, bringing hope to the hopeless, and it seems to be the antithesis of what so many people are saying christianity is about today. Theyve hijacked their religion. Theyve hijacked the faith for their own cheap political purposes, and to me at least, as a guy who grew up in the Southern Baptist church, its grotesque. Well, the real message of christianity is the life of jesus, his life, death, and resurrection. And if this is true and we believe its true, then it changes everything. His jesus said my kingdom is not of this world, so one of the temptations we have, especially in a country like ours where we can participate in politics, is to make politics more than what it is. Politics is really important. Its a useful vehicle for human flourishing, if we love our neighbors we should get involved so we can make the environment for our neighbors better for their flourishing, but were tempted to replace our religious fervor with political fervor, and when we make politics ultimate as a sort of religion, thats where i think we go over the line. Thats where i think we start to see everyone around us who doesnt agree with us, instead of people disagreeing with us, instead of seeing them as image bearers of the almighty, we see them as enemies. I think we need to get back to a kind of politics that does apply our faith to the culture, but also understands its place. Dan darling, thank you so much. Hope you dont get fired for being on morning joe this time. I know. And have a very Merry Christmas. Thank you. Its great talking to you. Merry christmas. Really quickly, Jonathan Lemire, what are you working on today . Ill say thats an inspirational story. Im glad he entered the lions den again and had the courage to do it here. It will be obviously following the president and his omicron strategy today and also listen to the white house as they try to start prodding forward again on its agenda. All right, that does it for us this morning. Stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. Hey there, im Stephanie Ruhle live at msnbc headquarters here in New York City. It is wednesday, december 22nd, and there is a lot to get to, so sit down. Lets get smarter. This morning covid cases are