mika, a real challenge for you is staying up new year's eve past 7:30. how did it go? >> i started watching a movie and fell asleep. >> what movie? >> bohemian rhapsody. >> jonathan lemire, just help isolate brzezinski's work way out in the stick in playing virginia. the night before we decided, you know, i kind of trying to turn over a new leaf and relax a little bit more and unwhine and get off. we have been listening to music and it's just a really great variety, you know? great variety, you got the beatles and the white album, mccartney's band on the run. a couple of nights ago, i broke out queen. mika said i am not making this up. this is a woman who does not know a difference between "star wars" and -- >> i played "bohemian rhapsody" and she goes who's playing this? it's a band called queen. >> okay. >> new year's eve we watched "bohemian rhapsody." >> amazing. >> five minutes later, i looked over she's asleep. >> but we followed up the next day. >> we watched it the next day with the massive performance. that's how we spent new year's eve, how did you spend your new year's eve? >> happy new year to you both. joe, i didn't know you are a beatles fan. >> i like to keep it to myself. >> my new year's eve, i am the host of the show "way too early," there is no chance i saw midnight. i sleep long before that as well. it was a low-key weekend obviously, eric adams and the new mayor took office. for a lot of people it's a low-key new year's eve with the virus surging and all. people opted turning home and for me asleep and watching some college football. i know one of those games held your attention for a while. >> it did. the alabama game a little closer than we expected. >> but they grounded them, they actually did something that they did not done for most of the year. they had an effective running game against the great bear cats. you got to feel good of cincinnati. the first major team to make it in the playoffs. i sat back and decided to relax and just sit back and enjoy the georgia and michigan game, a game that i was sure going to be a great show down, no show down about it reverend al, michigan got rolled by georgia bulldogs setting up a replay of alabama. that was new year's eve and we'll see that game on the 10th. what about you, rev? how was your new year's eve and new year's day? >> new year's eve i was in church virtually, i decided not to go to my board. i watched it and prayed which has been our custom for new year's since i was a kid. new year's day, we had our regular weekly national rally at our headquarters in harlem. we ended kwanzaa celebration that we do every year and had a big rally and talked about our plans for the year. it was emancipation day. it was that day that lincoln signs the slave of confederate states would be free. we have emancipation date rallies around the country to celebrate the freedom of those enslaved. that's how i did my new year's. >> what an extraordinary day, january 1st, 1863, after that day every foot of ground gained by union troops became free ground. >> i am not sure if you are in virtual universe but trying to watch "bohemian rhapsody," you are probably following with omicron and what everybody was dealing with for the holiday. >> i went to a small dinner with a friend, we tested beforehand and there were six of us. yes, omicron thrown all sorts of christmas plans into a mess. i cancelled dinner for people on christmas eve. there were a lot of family members and members of colleagues that were sick. not very sick but they are sick with the virus, they basically all had a bad cold. it was a strange christmas and holiday. >> it really is. a lot of friends i would reach out, how was your christmas? yeah, we got one family down, in quarantine and it was a rolling thing. >> omicron continues to surge in this pandemic. the average number of new daily infections across the u.s. has doubled since christmas day. hospitalizations are also rising. the sheer number of infections is still enough to strain hospitals. there continues to be encouraging news out of south africa. there is also new research showing why the omicron variant is less severe compares to previous version of coronavirus. scientists found omicron produce less infection to the lungs from previous variant would cause scarring and serious difficult breathing. the new guidelines to not include getting tested before returning to normal activities after five days, dr. fauci said he expects the cdc to clarify that soon. #. >> there has been some concerns about why we don't asks people at that five-day period to get tested. that's under consideration. the cdc is well aware there is been some push back about that, looking at it again there may be an option in that testing could be apart of that, i think we'll be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the cdc. #. >> the cdc is doing their best in trying to get the right balance of getting people back but doing it on a scientific basis. >> we are learning so much and with omicron we have seen as you look at south africa and you see the deaths and there was a significant increase in deaths. obviously that's a positive thing. the only problem is having to take a test after you test positive five days and after your last symptom. your viral load is still high. sometimes you can still get positive readings 30 days after. so that's really -- that's not a solution at all. but elizabeth, it's so fascinating. last week while i saw long lines in new york city and then i start hearing the biden administration talking about it in my opinion this is so terribly botched as far as testing goes. i was thinking one thing on thursday and by this morning, if you are vaccinated, you get sick, stay home. you don't need a test. we have just felt from our own experience, people get covid and they stay home for three or four days and they start feeling better and they go back out the work force. >> like a cold. >> it's like we have seen over the past four or five days. almost the normalization for vaccinated americans without underlying conditions, almost the normalization of covid as if it was a flu. gets sick and stayed at home and gets over it and gets back out in the work force. >> that's true. that's my experience, family members and colleagues and friends and neighbors and it has been everywhere. lets hope it stays that way. because of explosion in cases, there will be more hospitalizations, just as matter of numbers. the good news is if you look at the new york times, cases are up 200% but deaths are down 4%, let's hope it stays like this and the other thing that's so confusing right now is that the incredible numbers obviously are catching a fraction of what's going on in this country because these are the numbers that reported through pcr tests and no one is reporting home test. we have no idea what the actual numbers. let's hope it stays this way. the news out of south africa was super encouraging. they have a younger population. let's hope so far so good. >> you look at the numbers and really start our experiences with all of our friends that gotten covid and our family members that gotten covid during this omicron surge. again, if you are vaccinated, again, i hear time and time again everywhere from like somebody having the sniffles or somebody having headaches or staying home three or four days but then they're fine. the whole idea that you need to stand in line for 30 hours to get a test that won't get you results for seven days when the cdc lets you go back out for five days which i think for good reasons does not make sense. >> no, it does not. our experience has been those have been given the shots or did not deal with this resistance kind of presence, particularly in many of our communities, you and i and mika talked about in the show many of us have to battle resistance of vaccines in others and we have been able to battle that. i am glad i am vaccinated and got a booster because i did not suffer the way i probably would have suffered without it. you stay home three or four days and you come back it's very important that we did what we did. i am hopeful that when the president address the next step it's about what we'll be guided by science and not by superstition and by conspiracy theory like our formal president. >> we need to test after five days, that's ridiculous. i remember when jackson got covid, after five days, the school says he can't come back until he got a positive test. he'll be out of school for 30 days. even after he's done, he'll be throwing off positive tests for up to a month. so again let's look at our experience as we have gone through this as a country. omicron is far different from delta and the first surge. we are vaccinated. if you are vaccinated and boosted, this is for most people i have spoken with. this is really less than the flu if they don't have underlying symptoms. stay-at-home and wait five days and get back out. >> i want to keep a circle of respect around our top doctors and scientists who are dealing with an ever changing situation and dealing with a population that's good deal of it is fully vaccinated and some of it is not. they have to work within that reality. it's not as simple as what you are saying but for a lot of people it's. for people who are boosted and we'll hear that from them coming up. now to a look at what to expect this new year. for the markets and the overall economy. this is a big issue. joining us now, senior cnbc's correspondent, brian sullivan. >> what a 2021? you got numbers going all over the place and republican politicians running around talking about the end of the world. you got democratic politicians saying happy days are here ago. the market exploded through most of the year. they're feeling good of 2022. what are you looking at as we start the year and i am just curious, you follow this everyday so closely. do you think we are going to burn through inflation or do you think it will be here for a while? >> a lot is there. if your head is not spinning everybody, you are not paying attention. happy new year, a lot is there. let's unpack it. here we go. inflation is going to be around for a while. i will tell you why. food prices are the problem. i know we don't talk about fertilizer price but this is actual fertilizer. fertilizer is costing triple. it's going to impact the food supply chain this year, car prices are high, home prices are high, lumber prices are high. all the stuff we use to make other stuff is up. unlikely we'll see induction and inflation any time soon. the end of what i call free money is going to have a major impact. for your viewers and audience that's not financial -- wall street can borrow money at maybe 1%. that's going to slow down. it's not going to spike but it will slow the end of the free money, they slow something down as well. inflation is going to be the issue. you guys were talking about this covid issue, omicron is scary and delta is the severe risk. i think we got a little time here, 25% of students of new jersey have gone back virtual which means a lot of parents are not going back to work. you know me i am just trying to be sunny side-up sullivan here. >> and you are. >> i will tell you what sunny side-up sullivan. well, sunny over-easy as ratner tells us, people putting money into the pandemic and there is a lot of cash they want to spend. we were having christmas dinner with a friend who says they're thinking about getting a tahoe. oh, that's great. are you going to buy or lease it and they laughed at me. oh, you don't lease cars anymore, joe. it comes on the lot and you buy it right there if you are lucky. they're just talking about oh, whether you're buying cars or whether -- there is such a pent-up demand. man, it's hard selling left and right. >> they have people, i am going to say this, i don't get a lot of opinions, five for five of my predictions last year, i am just saying. here is the thing about ratner, he cries a chart for it. be careful, folks. i know things, i know everything is going up in prices. i am talking to realtors who are showing homes, there is no contingency and there is no inspection and there are ten all cash above asking. we are not back in 2007 because of the crazy crap that's going on underlying in the mortgage market. sorry for the language. these prices many many ways are going to be unstainable. there is not enough buyers or money ultimately, if you have a little money saved up, i am going to make a prediction because i have been so hot. i am taking alabama all day against the dogs, sports gambling legally here in new jersey. bama is going to win at least four points. i am calling it right now, you can call me breakfast. >> scramble joe will get you breakfast. >> i will just say we are just lucky to be on the field with the bulldogs. if we can keep within 28 points, we'll be happy. >> cnbc's brian sullivan, sunny side-up. thank you so much. >> elizabeth, it's so interesting when brian talked about all these prices and whether you are talking about automobiles or the real estate market. the boom that just continues. it's insane, new york to florida all the way out to california. you start thinking man, this sounds a lot like 2007 except of course for the fact that a lot of that was bought through loans and here second mortgages and interest free loans and our principle free loans. here there is a lot of carbon carbon -- cash on the sidelines. i am not sure what time we are going through economically now? >> i think there is enough safe guards in the system that we are not going to go through 2008 and 2009 again. anybody trying to get refinancing putting you through the hoops. you can't do it through the phone anymore. the biden administration is concerned of inflation, it's not going to go away any time soon. they're talking well into 2022 for prices to be high. it's one of the things dragging down biden's approval rating along with covid. things are not looking good for his white house right now. biden is better now talking about prices and he's not saying oh it's not just everything. he's acknowledging it's food and everything. he's trying to feel people's pain but it's a real problem going into this year. you know you see it everywhere. >> we'll talk more about this. liz cheney says the house select committee investigating the january 6 attack has new communication of former president trump on the day of the attack including from his daughter ivanka. a look at the growing devastation caused by a massive wildfire in colorado. more than 1,000 homes and businesses have been destroyed and at least two people are missing. president biden speaks with the president of ukraine amid growing tensions with russia. what we know about that phone call. florida, breaking pandemic record, where is governor ron desantis? >> democrats are accusing him of being miss amid of the surging cases. you are watching 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(music) ♪ i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ 27 minutes past the hour. some colorado residents are returning to their neighborhood to see what's left at the state's most destructive wildfires ever. more than a thousand homes are destroyed and two people with still unaccounted for. emily acada has more. >> reporter: in colorado the road to recovery means walking in the scars of the monster fire through snow to face what's left which for nearly 1,000 families see nothing. >> reporter: if you can count the number of items on one hand that you can savage. >> it's gone. >> reporter: the view from above captures the historic blazes but to see it in person is heartbreaking, bringing his family to tears. >> reporter: at one point did you realize that you are losing your home? >> the smoke was so thick and hot, i knew it would not be able to survive. >> reporter: authorities released a preliminary of addresses that runs more than 20 pages long. >> i had no idea until i got there. i have been working and i had no idea. >> reporter: on that list, police dave chief. >> it's tough, it's all gone. >> reporter: eight inches of snow may have helped freeze over the blaze more than 60% contained but it's complicating the after math for residents and investigators trying to find any sign of two missing people. >> we are actively working the scenes with dogs, the scenes are still hot. they are deep in debris and covered with snow, it's a difficult task. >> our thanks to emily acada for that report. in neighboring new mexico, all 21 passengers that were stuck midair over night in two tram cars have been rescued. crews used ropes and helicopter to bring everything to safety. the incident occurred on the sandy peak tram way as employee were going home after finishing their shift. officials said the tram stopped my way as fast cumulation of ice on one of the cables. we'll speak with one of the rescue employees coming up. >> yeah, that's a bad way to end the year. i would not have made it. >> it's a bad end to the workday. i don't like trams as it is and they were stuck up there from 9:00 to about 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning. temperatures dropped and they were huddled together and just -- we'll be talking about somebody that made it through there and ask him what it was like. also, jorge lopez cancelled and later resume his performance after falling ill and walking off stage. he performed 30 or 35 minutes before apologizing to the audience and exiting the stage. his show has been rescheduled for march 18th. and coming up, one of the most extensive accounts yet of the effect to overturn the last presidential election and the people who stopped it. we'll look at the 64 days between election day, 2020 and january 6th. >> new reporting on where donald trump was and what he was doing and who urged him to intervene. "morning joe" is back in just a moment. "morning joe" is back in just a moment with voltaren arthritis pain gel. my husband's got his moves back. an alternative to pills, voltaren is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory gel for powerful arthritis pain relief. voltaren, the joy of movement. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today. thank you, 287 accu weather, whatever. i know whatever number you are, i know we are number one in your heart. it's going to have a lot of snow today. elizabeth, i understand up to 5 inches of snow in washington, d.c. today. >> yes, it's going to be again messier and it's creating havoc with public schools which already are in havoc because of the requiing testing now for kids. anyway, right now is a lot of wet slush. >> terrific. >> accu weather of "morning joe." >> jonathan lemire and reverend al, new york is supposed to get a little bit of snow, right? >> we heard from bill karins, he says the storm is going to trend south. philadelphia appears to be the snow line. here in new york we got cold but no snow. >> well, definitely temperatures dropped but i think we'll miss the heavy snow. >> that's good. >> good time to work remotely. i used to walk in the half hour walk. those days are over, we are all at home and we don't have to try to get people in. a few things that are possible. tornado watch until 11:00. we'll see if locus added to that forecast of the first workday of 2022. bill karins says the storm is going to miss new york city. of course what it means is buckle up nyc. >> you stop it. >> he needs to defend himself here. i love you. my god. to other news now, this thursday is the one year anniversary since the attack of the u.s. capitol. president biden is expected to make public statement on the day, congresswoman liz cheney says the panel has received testimonies about what then president trump was doing during the attack on the capitol and how at least one family member asked him to intervene. >> the committee has firsthand testimony now that he was sitting in the dining room next to the oval office watching the attack on television as the assault on the capitol occurred. the president could have annie moment walked those have few steps and gone on live television and told his supporters who were assaulting the capitol to stop. we know as he was sitting there next to the oval office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television just to tell people to stop. we know leader mccartney was pleading with him to do that. we know members of his family and we have firsthand testimony that his daughter went in at least twice to ask him to stop this violence. >> he would watch television as police officers being beaten and his supporters invading the capitol of the united states, it's clearly unfit for future office and anywhere near the oval office again. >> if he runs and wins, that could be the end of our democracy, do you share that fear? >> i do. it's critically important given everything we know of the lines he was willing to cross. we entrust the survival of our republic into the hands of a chief executive. when a president refuses to tell the mob to stop when he refused to defend the government, he can't be trusted. >> jonathan lemire, we heard early on after january the 6th from republican senators that donald trump gleefully watching the riots break out, gleefully watching his people beat the hell out of cops and stormed the capitol and when people asking him to stop, he was confused. he thought this was the result they were hoping for and that they were planning for. now we get firsthand testimonies and we have seen the texts over the past couple of weeks. just think about his daughter, ivanka, asked him twice to do something and don jr. sending frantic texts asking for somebody to do something to stop the riot. sean hannity and laura ingraham and kevin mccarthy and other republicans begging him to do anything to stop the violence, they thought their lives were in danger and several of them and including kevin mccarthy blaming donald trump for the violence which we are going to show a poll in a moment that shows the rest of america, a lot of americans believed that as well. but, as this january 6th investigation continues, we are seeing donald trump isolated even from family members and from media allies and other republicans on capitol hill on january the 6th. yeah, it's reflective of how hollowed out the west wing was at this time too. building the last two weeks of his president's term and he ignored basically everyone. we know that the committee has outlined people trying to reach him and media members and other republicans, those in the white house were largely turned aside who did try to go to the oval office. ivanka trump got in and didn't do any good. let's also recall that they finally moved the president to release a video, they pushed him in between, he would not do that. he like to brag about the super t-vo set up he had and he was watching live footage. finally got him outside the rose garden to cut. the first few takes, he didn't tell them to go home and while doing so, he said he loves them. we should know the current president announced last night we'll be delivering a speech at the capitol to commemorate the one year anniversary of the insurrection. >> you have members gaslighting and you have republicans come out and saying much adieu about nothing. this is another day, nothing is dramatic about this. you see, elizabeth, donald trump was isolated and he had a few burn outs and whacked jobs that were outside of the white house that were planting this. we have been paying a lot of attention on how they were planting for january 6th the way it did. his family, the republican establishment and members of congress and even his media allies were desperately trying on january 6th to try to stop this. it's really damming evidence that this committee is accumulating. >> that's right. >> we have known for a long time that trump was watching on television, he was excited of what he was seeing on television and we have known that people were trying to stop him. what this tells me that the committee has somebody, more than one person in the room, close in, he was giving us detailed information of what trump was doing and benny thompson says it was 170 minutes on january 6th. liz cheney said this was a clear dereliction of duties. there is a number of statutes which would be a crime. dereliction of duties, i am not sure where she's going with this. there is obviously in a big way zeroing in on trump now and mark meadows and the people working close to him on that day. >> donald trump is the overwhelming favorite of republican voters for the next presidential election. in the latest reuters, 54% of gop vote everies of trump to leave the next ticket. florida's governor at desantis at 11% followed by mike pence at 8%. former u.n. ambassador nikki haley at 4%. . 14% of the gop voters said they are still not sure. >> people continue to ask whether donald trump is going to run. i under estimated him many times. my head tells me he's not going to run. at the same time, i don't think any of us can name a politician who would ever walk away from winning a nomination of their own party that would put them into position of the president of the united states again and right now every poll shows the republican party nomination in 2024 is still donald trump for the take. >> every poll says it's his fwor for the taken and given the ego-mania that he demonstrated throughout his life and those of us who have known him, he could be swayed by the republican nomination and support by remaining relevant to go ahead and run. the only thing that i think may overpower that is he does not want to face the risk of being defeat twice. those around him could say to him you know you would go down as a two-time loser. you are dealing with a man that's so needy and full of insecurity that he would watch people try and overturn an election in the country and overturn democracy to feed his insecurity that they're standing up and fighting for we just saw. you could never predict someone with that kind of pathology would do. he's going to have to win voters back in the atlanta suburbs and the phillies suburbs and detroit and right now polling shows he's too connected to january the 6th, he's still too connected to conspiracy theories around the election being stolen and as long as that happens, he's not going to get those voters back and of course that's why again, i really do believe it was a calculated move for him to start aggressively defending the vaccine and that may get some of voters back. still, january 6th and the conspiracy around the stolen election that seems to be his impediment to win back those voters were the reasons why he lost in 2020. we got some more polls showing he's got a mountain to climb there. >> the other new polling shows one and three americans think taking violent action against the government can be justified. can be. in the latest washington post polled 41% of independence and 40% of republicans saying that the violence is justifiable compares to 23% of democrats. in that same poll, 43% of americans say donald trump bares a great deal of responsibility of the january 6th riot. 17% say he bares some or no responsibility. 69% saying joe biden's win was legitimate. on the other hand, 58% believed the president was not legitimately elected. it's worth noting from "the washington post" that republicans' rejection of biden's victory was not novel. in the fall of 2017, 67% of democrats and 69% of hillary clinton voters said trump was not legitimately elected president. jonathan lemire, a lot to sort through here. the last we need to do is under line that last fact. much of this is at the person who elected president. democrats did it back in 2017. republicans are doing it now. so i have always been and again i won't say, i have been sinned by those numbers. i have never pulled my hairs out because i have read some crazy polls of other party how to think about the person sitting in the white house. yes, on both sides. let's talk about some things that are disturbing. one out of three americans believe that violence against the federal government is justified, 40% of republicans and a number that really stuck out to me, 41% of independents say violence against the federal government is justified. >> yeah, that's a tough number to hear. this is in many ways one of donald trump's true legacies here. he had a language of violence as a candidate and even creating what we saw around election day 2020 and would led to january 6th. i reported here on the show a few times that i have talked to government officials and law enforcement officials who are deeply fearful that violence was apart of the discourse. january 6th is more of the beginning than the end. it's against local officials would state the federal government and office building or d.c. or they feel the candidates having to step up security going forward, certainly we know lawmakers on the hill have had their lives threatened and we are not near 2024 campaign just yet, one many americans will feel it's ugly and deeply worrisome, it shows a further break down and how bitterly divided and ugly the rhetoric in this country has become. >> you get a little bit of balance and context when you look at past polling but i wonder if we have to ever ask the question can violence against the government to be justifiable. that seems like we are in a whole neuter toir. i can't remember it being asked. you can go back and find ranked members saying crazy things about the other party when they were in office. i remember reading a ben smith's article when he was in politico, a poll thought 9/11 was an inside job. you can find a majority of republicans thinking that barack obama was not born in america and was a secretly a muslim. the difference here was of course you had a former president who were four years spoken of violence rhetoric and encouraged january the 6th and has not backed down or condemned it. going back to the question of whether donald trump can run in 2024 are not his biggest challenge. 60% of americans in this poll obviously we are concerned about regarding violence, 60% of people in the same poll says that donald trump poured a good or great amount of responsibility through the violence and insurrection on january 6th, including 58% of in pendents. >> i wonder if he'll run again. i know he defies all laws of politics. i do think that come 2024, you know, one the laws of politics that he's going to see like the past. he's very old first of all, he's going to see some things like happened a long time ago and i don't see what he's saying now in these rallies and statements. he's repeating himself. he's not saying anything new. he's still litigating the 2020 election. if he takes it up in 2024, i don't see where he's going with that. we have been wrong about donald trump many times before. but right now what i think is good for money and fund raising and financial situation to appear to be running or thinking about running. he's raising millions and millions of dollars. and at this point sort of trump business and campaign are one of the same. elizabeth, thank you very much for being on. happy new year, just ahead, i want to speak with the author of the new book entitled "the steal," the attempt to overturn the 2020 election and the people who stopped it. also, coming up from surging covid cases to crimes in the city, the new mayor takes action on both fronts of his first few days in office. eric adams will be our guest. plus, antonio brown's career is in question and why tom brady is calling for compassion and empathy for the trouble brown received. "morning joe" is back in a moment. received "morning joe" is back in a moment napoleon was born and raised to conquer. but he was just kind of over it, you know. watching prime video he realized he should follow his dreams. so he ordered a microphone with prime next day delivery. now the only thing he cared about conquering was his audience. prime changes everything. i like that my plan is built just for me. arugula, you get an extra... with the new ww personalpoints program, you take an assessment, enter your goals, the foods you love and what fits into your lifestyle. you don't have to eat diet food. i can enjoy the things that i really love like wine, cheese. you can add points for eating vegetables or being active. i lost 26 pounds and i feel incredible. the all new ww personalpoints program. start the new year with three months free. join today at ww.com. hurry, offer ends january 3rd. i looked on ancestry and just started digging and found some really cool stuff... it was just a lot of fun. just to talk to my parents about it and to send it to my grandparents and be like, hey this person we're all related to look at this crazy stuff they did in arizona 100 years ago. it actually gives you a picture of their life, so you get to feel like you're walking the same path they did. ♪ ♪ [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ that's obviously a difficult situation and you know i think we all want him to, you know, like everybody should find hopefully do what they can to help him in ways that he really needs it. we all love him and we care about him deeply. we want to see him be his best and unfortunately, won't be with our team but we have a lot of friendship that'll last. i think most important thing about football the relationships with your friends and teammates and they go beyond the field. i think everyone should be very compassionate and puts that towards some difficult things that are happening. >> all right, tom brady offering compassion and antonio brown is no longer a bucs after his bizarre exit after the jets. brown appeared animated on the sideline before stripping off his equipment and walking shirtless while teams on the field where he waved to the fans before jogging into the tunnel. this happened with our own jonathan lemire when "way too early" episode did not go too well. really to tell about it, i don't think antonio brown is going to be invited back to the bucs any time. "the washington post" has a story headlined the analysis. he walked away on his own terms on sunday. that should embarrass the nfl and you read the post's story, this guy has problems one after another and accusations against him and i think criminal charge if i am not mistaken, and troubled with one team after another. the question is not why he left the team. the question is why did the buccaneers ever allowed him to come back on the team without him first getting right with authorities and nfl, and of course he lied about covid tests and again it seems to be such a desperation to win that they let a guy come back on the field before he had -- >> maybe he needed help? >> before he got the help he needed. >> he had just come back to the buccaneers as he faked his covid test. he's a terrific receiver and has been for a long time and teams willing to look the other way. tom brady speaks frank about antonio brown. he was one of his biggest defenders to give him a chance to straighten up his life and even let him stayed with him for a while. we have never seen something like this on the field before. there were a couple of teamates calming him down and there is footage there before he starts stripping off. security thought that was a fan that was about to apprehend him, no, that's antonio brown. certainly a strange display. and at the end of the game, he led a fourth quarter come back including a touchdown pass a few seconds ago. i believe we have footage looking for his autograph after the game. hey tom, you are the best, you just beat us, can i get you to sign that as well? to your point of brown, i would be very surprise even for a guy who has, statistics, almost a hall of fame resume, this seems to be the straw. it's hard to get a job again when he quits on a team. >> t tom brady signing an intercepted football. sure, i will sign for you. very cool. rev, it's a problem. when we are younger we look at these guys as huge men, they are super athletes. i can tell you at least myself the older i get, the more i look at all of these players as kids and how are they being taken care of and how are they taken care themselves. the nfl is not doing anybody any favor allowing anybody going from one problem to another without saying hey, if you want to play in our league, we got to slow this down. this is about how healthy you are off the field and we are going to get you some help. >> yeah. >> i think we find too often this when at all cost approach, not just in the nfl but all sports and it allows and i am going to say it, kids, baseball players that have had real problems in the past as well as football players and they're allowed to bounce back from one team to another team and another without getting the help they need simply because they help that team win. >> win at all cost and looking at these players as just some ways of making money and filling seats in the stadium and not caring about them and feeding their demons or at least not trying to deal with them rather than really trying to make them work. i have seen it happens in sports and music where people don't care about the people that really generate the revenue as long as they are generating the revenue and at some point you got to say wait a minute, this was what's good for you and this is what will settle you down. one of the things i tell a lot of young audience with my experience growing up, i told a lot of young athletes to come talk to me. as you get older, you have to live with the mistake of your youth where you sit as an older person as based to where you stood as a younger person. >> yeah, for sure. >> well, we appreciate that. it makes me think of the olympic gymnast of simone biles decided to stop. who just said i need to take care of me and perhaps we can recognize just what that must have taken. it's difficult in these high pressure sports for young people. joining us now the new mayor of new york city, eric adams. we have members of new york times, mara gay. happy new year to both. mr. mayor, what a beginning to your new job as mayor of new york city. what happened? >> first of all, thanks a lot and it's good to be on here. i know the former mayor was a frequent guest and so i hope to be on as many times as possible to share. >> please. >> a good start, day two, what's interesting is people ask all the time how do you feel, do you feel the change and i don't. i have been doing this for 30 plus years, i took the subway and there is nothing to wake up and take the j-train, if i see something, i do something. someone is having a fight on the street, i am going to call to make sure they are safe. this is a natural transition of my life and now during this difficult time, i am ready to lead the city forward. >> new york post this morning had a story about how getting more difficult and dangerous to ride the subway. you and i remember and me as a tourist but you are living there. it was kind of tough. when my dad people at holiday inn in new york city, hey, i would like to ride the subway, no, you would not. one of this the things that helped new york moving is subways are cleaned up. there are some challenges now before the pandemic, what can you do? >> first, we have to restore our order and our subway system. that includes a combination of things. it was graffiti anywhere and a level of disorder, what we must do as number one, my police officer must be back in the subway system. fears is not actually perceived but it's a perception. individuals are unwilling to rise to their place of unemployment and to go to and from to school. you are going to have a major slow down and economic recovery. my office is going to be on the trains to give a real visible presence that the subway system is saved. i am going to partner them with mental health professionals to give the people the help they need. that's the combination that we are going to need to turn our subway system around. >> yes, i love this new york times profile of you yesterday. there is a part i got to ask you about here. i don't know how you do it. >> here we go. >> stylistically, mr. adams is a vegan and he's a stylist dresser who campaigns shirtless in the bronx. he socializes with republican billionaires and celebrities, he wants to take his first paycheck in bitcoin, it talks about how you stay up really late. yes, i do hang out with the boys at night but i get up with the men in the early. i can relate with you getting up early in the morning. man, where does all that energy come from, staying up late at night and getting up early in the morning. you are a hard worker. how did you do it? >> did mara write that? >> rev is up 5:00 a.m. every morning and trust me, i see reverend sharpton sometimes late at night when he's up. i learned from him. this is the city that's missing our umph. people need to see what the city is all about. this is the place to be. everything about the mayor to show the energy and the excitement and why you want to be in new york. it's a privilege to live in new york city and i know that. those who don't understand it, they're going to watch the mayor for your years that's going to show the entire globe you should want to be here in new york, new york is the best place to live in the globe. >> his answer is absolutely right. that's one of the things people would see about eric as mayor because i have known him for 35 years. mara gay did not write that piece yesterday but she wrote the one a few days before and the mayor came up and served christmas to the homeless and he said to me, did you see that piece mara wrote about us and it mentions both of us have different styles. he knows how to be a cop and police reform and knows the noise on both sides of the right and left. the real thing that you really have to show and i am confident you will, i remember when nelson mandela became president of south africa and some of the activists around him saying people, we won but now we must show that we can govern. that's the challenge you are up for. can we govern the schools and the crimes and the police reform all sides. as when somebody has been an activist, we are now a black female and black u.s. attorney. we got to show we can govern and not that we can just make noise and shots at each other. you are at the head of that mountain. >> well-said. what we must do in the process of governing, we have to ignore the noise because a lot of distractors out there and they're going to attempt to keep you from governing. we must come together and that's what i am saying, we must coming together to take us out of these crisis from several fronts. >> let me read mara's piece. they kept the city going along with the municipal workers of all background while wealthier new yorkers remained safety at home. they felt the rise in near neighborhood and seeing the resurgence of white supremacy under donald trump. their choice for mayor was eric adams. >> the choice was broad race candidate and they took a choice. do you see your win and where you are now, do you see a responsibility for balance because you had the progressives and those that are regular that is decided to bring you in. how are you going to make a balance where you deal with the questions of crime and the question of education but not trying to please either side but really do what is right for most new yorkers? >> that's a great question. throughout the campaign, i talked about don't put me in a box and don't tell me i am conservative or progressive, i am eric. being eric means complete wholeness of my life and understanding what it was. the economic concerns we have and living poor and all of these things brought me to this moment and you know, god made me for such a time like this. that's the type of mayor we need right now. one who have gone through a lot so he can help people who are going through. look at my cabinet, first latino correction officer and first dominican republic commissioner and first to be a department mayor of the city of new york. when you look at what i am assembling, smart and intelligent and committed and compassionate people. every one of my appointees, if you talk to them, you they went through a lot. they're going to understand what it's for people that are going through a lot. that's the quality that we'll bring through governing. >> mr. mayor, mara is here. >> how are you? >> one of the biggest challenges is first presiding over the nation's largest school district and i want to give john lemire a chance to jump in too as parents. parents this morning are frustrated and concerned with mix messages of when it's safe for their children to be back in school and whether some schools may not be opening at all because of staffing issues due to covid. i wonder what your administration is doing today on day two to streamline that process and get a clear message these parent and keep as many kids as safe as possible. you can talk about what your message is and almost two years in are just completely weary of this pandemic and you can talk about how you see it ending in the least amount of suffering as possible. >> thank you for that. the message has been clear. we have not been unclear. our schools will open. the safest place for our children. we all know a child must be in school for so many reasons, not only socialization but when children at home we saw an increase and attempt to suicide. we saw large number of sexual assaults and harassment and harm's way. when a child is not in school. you can't say that child is -- children will lose meals and they'll not receive the academics they deserve. my children are going to be in school. i am keeping my schools opened and we are going the make sure they're going to be in a safe place. that includes doubling the amount of testing that we are look at. science are showing us that because a child is exposed in a classroom, the entire classroom is not exposed. we did an amazing job over the weekend that many people don't know about. i put in place my team on wednesday, we were able to get over a million and a half test kits and we deployed it to every school in the city, we did it within just a few days. friday we got the last number. i use the combination of the point of scales of my law enforcement community partnering with the uft and the department of education, we are able to pull it off without people realizing it, we'll be preparing it with the chancellor to enable to ensure that our students are safe. bring our children to school and we'll be safe and we'll be open to educate to our children. to respond to your question of what we are feeling? we are feeling utter despair but i am asking new york, this is america, this is new york. no matter where we are in the storm, let's see ourselves through the storm. we spent so much time wallowing in the moment of the storm. we are fighting from a place of victory. we would get through this just as we got through the great depression on pearl harbor and 9/11. you go through the list. if you see yourself through the storm, you will be fine. i have lived through a lot of tragedies but i won't wallow in that place, i know there is something on the other side of covid, we'll be better and prepared as the future in front of us. i am going to lead the city through this. we'll be fine. >> questions for you, you certainly vow to keep schools open. one of the challenges will be staffing. whether there will be enough employees in the school to keep them open and defining vision in new york streets of the last few weeks have been incredibly long testing lines and people are trying to get testing. >> inside the school itself of staffing, we are going to adjust and pivot based on the numbers. we'll have realtime update of our command center of where, when you see a drop in staff, we'll draw from our pool of employees who are waiting. everyone is doing non-classroom, no, all hands-on deck. we'll shift and adjust and the information coming from our principals, we'll deploy where is needed. we'll hit the streets for people who are waying for the pcr test. we'll hand them kits. we'll teach new yorkers how to do self-test at home so they can start engaging for themselves. we have to live with covid and modify our behavior because if another variant coming out, what are we going to do? we spent $11 trillion on covid. we don't have another $11 trillion. it's time to live around covid and build the system around us. until then the city is going to operate and i am going to make sure of that. >> mayor, i got to ask you before you go because i am obsessed of this "avenger" type drink you have. i am focusing in on the vgan part of the story. one of my boys who's an athlete decided he's going and he's sticking with it. >> we are getting there. >> he went the vegan route and he's liking it and feeling good. when did you make that decision and did you notice a real change in your energy level? >> oh, it's unbelievable. when my son and i went away for 21 days dad trip to sri lanka and other locations. i wrote a book on my transition, healthy life and really shows the connection. i gave it to rev to try to give it to jessie jackson dealing with his healthcare crisis. it's the food. you wonder why you are dealing with chronic diseases, that's what i am going to do in the city, we have to stop feeding the crisis. how do we feed children food that we know causes childhood diabetes or obesity. we need to change what we are feeding people in our institutions. i am going to focus not to be the daddy but a nanny-mayor but to give people options of healthy food. it's about the food. >> i love it. >> you change it to no plant-base, you will be not only "morning joe" but "nightly joe." >> let's do it! >> you get covid down, we hope that joe and his hand be return. i will take you see joe in the band and you and i get up and work out in the next morning. make it happen. you have not lived to see joe in the band late at night in the new york. >> mara is shaking her head. no, you don't want to see it. >> reverend al, you and i have plans to make that happen. thank you very much mr. mayor. back now to this thursday's one year anniversary of the attack on the capitol. ahead of that day, nbc news, capitol hill correspondent, ali vitali spoke with two freshmen lawmakers who were days into their jobs when the attack happened. >> reporter: it was sarah jacob's fourth day on the job. >> i didn't know my way around. >> reporter: i screened shotted and i sent it to my staff, who's madison. >> jacob was in the house. >> i am like don't worry, i am in the chamber, i am in the safest place you can be in. >> reporter: as insurrectionists near the floor, jacobs dawned the gas hood. >> thm buzzes that i will never forget. i can't watch the clips of that day with the sound on. >> reporter: on the floor below her, another freshman. that's him in blue. >> reporter: again, i believe the good lord put me in this position. >> he took off his jacket and prepared to hold his chamber. >> reporter: he felt the doors, the ones president used for decades shaken and armed himself with. >> that's what i had. >> reporter: when a rioter shattered the windows. >> i had my texas mask on and he looked at me through that broken glass, he says you are from texas, you should be with us. >> no, i can't support what you are doing. this is criminal. >> reporter: there were 64 freshmen members whose first week on the jobs became the darkest day of america's darkest history. despite experiencing the same day in the same room, their views of what happened could not be more different. >> there were several people inside that building that really did not commit any criminal violation of the law other than entering the building. >> i was convinced that somebody was going to open the door with a machine gun and that would be it. >> reporter: this freshman class and their mission will be forever linked to those days. >> it's my job to do everything i can. >> they say when you stop feeling that feeling inside the capitol dome, that's when you need to leave congress. i am siting here like well they're trying to kill me here on my fourth day. >> i can't imagine that. i remember getting elected, mika and driving up the hill and seeing the capitol lit up at night and it was such an extraordinary site for the kids from pensacola and driving up to it, i had nothing but wonderful memory, i can't imagine the fourth day you were there having to endure something like that. >> it's really important as we come up on january 6th anniversary that we remember how close we were in losing members of the senate and the house. we saw pictures in that package of rioters breaking into the glass and trying to get into house floor where members were hiding. they stopped that. we saw the brilliant work on the senate side. officer goodman and him leading the mob away from senators on the floor. it was a brilliant moment. i agree with all of those people he should have been the "time" person of the year instead of elon musk. >> he should. >> ever since i was a little girl, i am moved when i see that building from the outside or the inside. and, watching that go down and thinking of those images is literally sickening to me that that happened and the glosenning over of it makes it even worse. we have to figure out what happened and mark the day. let's bring in matthew teague and mark bodwer. most often and instantly he chipped away at trust elections. when he lost he mobilize that distrust to try and stay in power. this fail stopped by the integrity of hundreds of obscure americans from every walk of life. they refused to betray their sworn duty to their office and their country. they were the true patriots. >> mark, thank you so much. >> that sums it up. >> thank you so much for you all actually stopping and focusing on the people that saved this democracy, such a perilist time. i think of those workers and judges and the people that we don't focus on enough. they did an extraordinary job. donald trump has been shipping away at the vote for a long time. it started in iowa in early 2016 after he lost to ted cruzin the caucus. >> that's right, even when he wins, he disparages the election's process. his strategy is distrust and take advantage of that distrust which we saw it happened after the election of 2020. >> let's talk about that bill p i talked to chris christie and a couple of months ago and governor christie said that even in the middle of the summer privately he understood that he was going to lose the election but privately starting to tell everybody around him hey, this is rigged. this election was going to be rigged against me. his defense mechanism for a loss that's coming. can you talk to the build-up in 2020? >> sure, i think that and i think possibly donald trump really believes that the election was illegitimate. the truth is the elections in america are so decentralized, they are not run by agencies in washington. they are run by your neighbors and local officials all over america. the idea that you can somehow course all of these people in different states and counties to work together to create this is massive fraud is proposperous. they know where the republican folks are. any major departure from what a really well established -- of course, they were and no one finds it. >> matthew, good morning, it's jonathan lemire, i want to get you to talk about some people who stood in the way, some of the actors who prevented this steal from happening whether it's the federal state or local level. tell us some of their stories. >> yes, these were people from across the country who had no interests in perpetuaing fraud or anything like that. a lot of our book is republicans and trump supporters. there were people that stood up that said no, this is not true and had their lives destroyed in the process of volunteers and all the way up by secretary of state of georgia. they were run by matthew. >> matthew, thanks for coming on. you interviewed all of these individuals. they had concerns that they would be able to prevent such an election from being overturn again? i think a lot of these officials my understanding have been stripped of their roles and we have a situation which state legislatures and some swing states across the country have actually enacted laws in the past year to make it difficult for public servants that you wrote about to do the right thing. can you talk about that moving forward? >> um, yeah, that's right. what we found and our research was that our democracy is not vulnerable and it's not a delicate thing. perpetrator fraud would be difficult and interim county and there were 3,000 votes incorrectly shifted from biden to trump and it became a point of attention around the world and so the idea that the millions and the hundreds of thousands of votes were fraudulent is laughable. it's not vulnerable in that way, it's not automatic that there is a thread of autocratic thinking that's on the rise in the country. >> mark, you both described how trump is so distrust and how that distrust fed into the steal and i am curious if this can be ultimately laid out for accountability, what would it be for donald trump? do we know? >> yeah, we know. as we detail in the book, this effort so much attention on january 6th and right lyanne outrage and i think we'll find out a lot more about that in the coming weeks. to me and to matt, the bigger threat to america occurred right after the election on november 3rd when for weeks and months donald trump and rudy giuliani and many cases personally bullied and tried to get local election officials to falsify the election results and trying to get judges to rule in cases, that's ridiculous. this is a poorly organized but concerted effort throughout the country as many of the things trump did and this was not well thought through and failed reasonably. the reason it failed because they went up against americans all over the country who are not fundamentally dishonest as they hoped. they refused to say they had run dishonest election or the election were false. they do things dramatically different as we found out of the 2000 election and the recount. mika, in my district i had six counties i represented. six different superviors and you could not get them to agree on a sandwich and running a meeting together? they are fearlessly protected. it's a great central point they both make. the new book is "the steal," mark and matthew, thank you both very much for being on the show this morning. and still ahead on "morning joe," since 2007, a pennsylvania state trooper has fatally shot four people in separate incidents. that's an extraordinary number for an officer who's responsible for patrolling mostly rural areas with low violent crime rates. why is he still on duty? plus, travel in 2022 is off to a rocky start with thousands of flights being cancelled during the busy post holiday travel crush. we'll have the latest, you are watching "morning joe," we'll be right back. " wite'll b right back staying up half the night searching for savings on your prescriptions? just ask your cvs pharmacist. we search for savings for you. from coupons to lower costs options. plus, earn up to $50 extra bucks rewards each year just for filling at cvs pharmacy. ♪♪ gravity. it's a force to be reckoned with. no one knows better than we do. but without gravity, you can't have lift. the very thing that holds you down is the very thing that helps you rise above. thanks to gravity, the real force to be reckoned with just might be you. ♪♪ and there you have it. woah. just might be you. wireless on the most reliable network nationwide. wow. big deal. we get unlimited for just 30 bucks. sweet, but mine has 5g included. relax people. my wireless is crushing it. that's because you all have xfinity mobile with your internet. it's wireless so good, it keeps one-upping itself. take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings or visit an xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds. welcome back to "morning joe." a pennsylvania trooper who was honored as police officer of the year. a report details that trooper is now on desk duty after his fourth shootings. after four killings, officer of the year is still on job. one former police officer now calls the four shootings a red flag telling the "time" quote, "four is incredibly unusual," that's out there on the edge even if the shooting could be justified. the pattern needs to be examined closely. to determine why the aim officer resorted to deadly force because they can but does not mean they should. joining us now is kim barker, tell us through these killings and also why this officer is still on the job? >> sure, thanks very much for having me. first kill happened in 2007 and that was an incident where a lot of these incidents where it's mentally ill and troubled person who somebody called for help. he threatened to kill himself and it was in an rural area. the trooper and others showed up and what ended up happening was the man was inside the house and there was a friend in there with him and his sister called the police and said he was suicidal and he had a gun. for whatever reason we don't know what happened but trooper spleen went into the house and got the friend out. the man was pulling and man had pointed the gun at trooper spleen. we later found out that the man indeed had -- the gun was pointed at his chin. it was never discussed publicly. that in fact is the incident that you explain. he was a new officer on the job. there was nothing until 2017 of a similar circumstance where a mother called who said her son was suicidal. they showed up and urged her to call him back because he was on the run. and he came back because he thought he was going to get some money. while he was in the car, instead of trying to deescalate the situation, the trooper ran out and saw the man lighting something, he threatened to blow his head off with a bomb. they ended up instead of backing up or trying to toss the guy out before they got in that situation, they shot him. that's the second one. the third one happened in march of 2020. that's when this woman, she was again troubled, mentally ill. addicted to drugs. she did not stop when police trying to pull her over. now the official police officer was not a state trooper because it was in the middle of the night and people were not in danger. he wanted to do that and radioed that in. by that point, the trooper had joined. what ended up happening was there was a chase splain engagement to force her off the road and he goes off the road and ends up driving her car in to -- and the police officer would start to chase the car. for explain, the rookie, that was enough. they jumped out right away in seconds and ended up shooting her in her vehicle. andy again was trouble again and he was addicted to drugs and had protection order from his girlfriend who was complaining he had threaten to kill himself in front of their children and trying to get him back together with him. she called in a violation of that protection order at night in a rural area in pennsylvania. chase splain and another trooper show up. while they were there, she got a text and it was from andy and he said the kids were sick and he was looking after two boys and he wanted the thermometer. she went back inside, the troopers were outside, it was cold and next thing everybody knew what happened was andy drove up, he was a few blocks down the road and he was shot. police later claim that he dragged the other trooper back forward and so chase blaine shot him. nobody knew. this guy on the force killed one or two or three and now four people. it was always anonymous trooper. >> the officer from the same troop was involved in leading the investigation. >> incredible reporting for that. thank you for that. >> i just you know, part of the concerns here is because we have such a decentralized series of police departments across the country, i am wondering from your perspective in this deep dive, are there some changes that could be made at a system level to prevent us from officers accountable? i mean, one thing your story focussed on, for example, was making sure that investigations are independent. are there some best practices that citizens and others can call for across the country to make sure that those kind of officers are off the force or at least getting the help they need to be better officers? >> i mean, it's incredibly difficult to get an officer off the force unless they're convicted of the serious crime, as you know, because of police unions. there's a process, and unions defend their members. so that's -- what i think you could call for is accountability. the idea of having some sort of federal database that lists use of force incidents so you know the officers, what they've done and their records. we don't have that at this point. there's no transparency, and you're right, there's no federal system tracking this. >> kim barker of the new york times, we want to thank you for your reporting and we'll be following this. really appreciate you coming on the show this morning. coming up, we'll speak with one of the 21 people rescued after spending new year's eve stuck for 15 hours on an icy mexico mountain tram. that's a bad day. "morning joe" is back in a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm chi lan, i am a mom, and a real estate agent. after having a kid, everything that you used to do for yourself goes out the window. the lines that i was seeing in my forehead were getting deeper than i was used to them being. and i realized, you know, what i can focus again on myself. so, what do you see when you look at yourself? i see someone who is growing and changing, who loves and is loved. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems, or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmetic if you have a skin infection. side effects may include allergic reactions, injection site pain, headache, eyebrow, eyelid drooping, and eyelid swelling. tell your doctor about your medical history, muscle or nerve conditions, and medications including botulinum toxins as these may increase the risk of serious side effects see for yourself at botoxcosmetic.com we hit the bike trails every weekend shinges doesn't care.s i grow all my own vegetables shingles doesn't care. we've still got the best moves you've ever seen good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but, no matter how healthy you feel, your immune system declines as you age increasing your risk for getting shingles. so, what can protect you? shingrix protects. you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your pharmacist or doctor about shingrix. shingles doesn't care. but you should. ♪ ♪ ♪ "how bizarre" by omc ♪ no annual fee on any discover card. ♪ ♪ we showed you earlier a shot of huntsville, alabama, snow on the ground. that is the white house. >> no. >> especially white today with snow coming down hard in new york city. mara, thank you for being with us today. what are you looking at this week? >> yeah. thanks, joe, for having me. i'm going to be taking a look at what can be done to increase the availability of the treatments for covid like the pfizer drug in the country. it could help us, and this pandemic. it could be a really important tool, and i'm hoping to see for some urgency around that. >> all right. thank you so much. >> thank you. >> always great having you. happy new year. >> and coming up. where is governor ron desantis. florida is leading the country in covid-19 cases. some are accusing him of going missing. a lot of parents are worried about their children's safety in school. are we headed toward more remote learning, and for how long? >> don't think so. >> "morning joe" is coming right back. trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ (coughing) ♪ breeze driftin' on by ♪ ♪ you know how i feel ♪ copd may have gotten you here, but you decide what's next. start a new day with trelegy. ♪ ...feelin' good ♪ no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. ♪ limu emu and doug.♪ and it's easy to customize your insurance at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows several different whistles. doug blows several different whistles. [a vulture squawks.] there he is. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ this is elodia. she's a recording artist. only pay for what you need. 1 of 10 million people that comcast has connected to affordable internet in the last 10 years. and this is emmanuel, a future recording artist, and one of the millions of students we're connecting throughout the next 10. through projectup, comcast is committing $1 billion so millions more students, past... and present, can continue to get the tools they need to build a future of unlimited possibilities. cloth masks aren't going to provide a lot of protection. that's the bottom line. this is an airborne illness. we now understand that. a cloth mask is not going to protect you from a virus through airborne transmission. it could with something with droplets, but not something like the coronavirus. >> welcome back to "morning joe." it is monday, january 3rd rd. jonathan lamire and reverend al sharpton are still with us. >> we learned three weeks last hour. the mayor of new york city is going to clean up the subways. he's going to keep school open for the kids, and three, go vegan. that guy has an energy level like nothing i've seen. there's an awful lot of confidence. that guy is not leaning back. he's not back on his heels. he's aggressive, and he wants to kick start new york. >> he's very aggressive. he's always been that way. i've known him for a long time. he's one of the founding members of our national action networks. i think he will be one that wants to govern. he says he'll expect noise from the left and the right. he's trying to govern. i think he'll define a kind of politics that we need. that is that people want to see things get done. i think too many public figures that are both in office and not are more into identifying whether i'm progressive or moderate rather than what can i accomplish? you know, there's a front page story today in the new york times about stacey abrams saying if she moderate or progressive? we need to get out of that. we need to be measuring people not by their politics in terms of their rhetoric, but by what they get done or what they don't get done. >> you know, it's fascinating. when he was talking today, i think of all national democratic leaders, he's one of the few that says don't call me conservative. don't call me progressive. i'm eric. and i'm not going to be comfortable with any other group. he also said, and the babs in both of us, of course, remember that -- remember that bible verse from ruth, i believe it was, god has made me for times such as these. >> yeah. >> he believes that. >> right. >>ester. >> did i say ruth? sorry, my grandma would be disappointed. god created me for times such as these, and he really believes that. you can see it. >> he believes it. and he lives it. and the reason i think that people are -- gave him their vote and he won the primary is that authenticity came out. people can be entertained by people that are performers or they can be even mesmerized by people that are brilliant. but people are moved by people that they feel are authentic. and there's something you can't fabricate. people have to feel you are who you say you are, and i think that is a quality that he brought to the race. >> yeah. >> and i hope he maintains as the mayor. >> yeah. boy, i tell you what, again, my grandma, my mom, looking down very disappointed. i had one of the volcano brain clouds. not going toester first. i've known my entire life. jonathan, our friend, mika and i's friend, bill de blasio. what are we going to do -- what are you going to do specifically without having him on the show asking those daily news questions like why do you go to your gym in brooklyn? i know you're going to miss that. >> yeah. we kind of had monday with the mayors with him, and now mayor adams who happy to hear wants to be a regular presence as well. i imagine the former mayor is watching this morning wondering what could have been. i'm sure he misses us as much as we miss him. the question he'll have to answer the next few weeks is what's next. there's speculation as to his run for governor. it sounds like he has a bit of a listening tour to talk education in particular. and then we expect he will jump in. the polling certainly at least at this stage doesn't look so great. uphill -- it will be an uphill climb for the former mayor if he wants to head to albany. >> just like his race for mayor. uphill climb until the very end when he got the wind behind his back and won that. but we don't know he's running for governor. what he's going to do -- he's running for governor, but we hope when he makes up his mind -- he's running for governor, he comes on the show. a crippling combination of bad weather and surging covid infections leading to airline staffing shortages. and t not just the airline industry facing complications from spiking case numbers. a growing number of school districts are temporarily switching to remote learning. nbc's stephanie gosk has the latest on that. first, here's tom costello. >> reporter: the hope this morning, that today is a day of recovery and rebound for airlines and stranded passengers after a week of mass cancellations. but instead, another challenging day is shaping up. even more delays and more cancellations. with january storms and the rampant spread of the omicron variant proving too much for airlines and airports. >> they already pushed my flight back twice. i might miss my connection. >> nearly 18 00 tsa officers off the job with covid. on sunday, flight aware showing 2700 cancelled flights. more than 9,000 delays. all part of more than 12,000 cancellations over the last week. among the airports hardest hit, denver, chicago o'hare, and atlanta. >> it's usually a well-oiled machine here, and it runs smoothly. today it just isn't that way. >> reporter: jen and her dad came to florida for the gator bowl, but the weekend took a turn when delta cancelled their flight home. after more delayed caused them to miss a connection, they finally made it back home 22 hours later. >> it felt like every time my phone buzzed, it was a text from united saying your flight was delayed. you get to the point where you're like okay, the trip isn't fun anymore. >> reporter: all of it coming at the worst time for passengers and airlines alike. >> there were more people traveling. it's harder to accommodate them on the flights left. >> reporter: with your flight is delayed or cancelled last minute, try to rebook yourself using the app. if you have lounge access, consider seeing an airline agent there. airlines are trying to cancel or delay flights in advance, so -- >> keep checking your reservation. stay on top of it. the earlier you spot a problem, the easier it is to deal with. this morning, the back to school jitters amplified by record covid rates and a mixed response from states. while schools this atlanta, cleveland, and newark are opting to go remote temporarily. in new york which saw over 85,000 cases on new year's eve, the highest one-day total ever, schools are still in person with students and staff now required to submit a negative test before returning. >> we can't close down our city every time there's a new variant. we can't allow our children to keep missing school. >> reporter: l.a. adopting the same protocol. in detroit and washington d.c., schools are delaying the start until midweek to allow more time for testing. massachusetts is bringing in the national guard to hand out test kits to families. with a massive testing backlog, will the results come on time. in chicago, this video of a drop box for students and staff is raising concerns. the biden administration has vowed to help insisting widespread testing and keeping schools open is the right way to go. >> our students belong in the classroom and we can do it safely. >> reporter: in miami dade county one in four people are testing positive for the virus and there's no testing mandate for the schools. state law mans the mandate for students. >> mandating masks could help slow and stop the spread. but the governor made it impossible for school boards to do that. >> reporter: it comes as the cdc has faced pushback for new guidelines that asymptomatic people with covid can leave quarantine after five days without testing. >> testing could be a part of that, and i think we're going to be hearing more about that in the next day or so from the cdc. >> texas governor craig abbott has requested federal assistance for testing and treatment amid a surge in cases. the requests come after the texas health and human services commission said the state had run out of its supply of a antibody which has proved to be effective in combatting the omicron variant. on friday, abbott called on the biden administration to step up in this fight and provide the resources necessary to help protect texans. last week the texas republican criticized president biden for not fulfilling a pledge to support states with their covid-19 response. and had accused him of hoarding the antibody therapeutic drugs and denying states independent access to that medical treatment. abbott issued an executive order last october, barring vaccine mandates from being implemented into the state. florida democrats are criticizing governor ron desantis for going mia has the covid cases and hospitalizations in florida are skyrocketing again. over the weekend florida broke its single day record with nearly 76,000 cases. florida residents and u.s. lawmakers slammed desantis for being missing for weeks. as the state faces a massive covid spike. desantis made an appearance yesterday saying he was caring for his sick wife who is undergoing cancer treatment. joining us now, senior national political reporter for nbc news mark caputo, and dave aaronburg. good to have you both with us this morning. >> when mika read the story and saw democrats were attacking ron desantis for not being present during this surge, her immediate response was, yeah, they need to be careful here, and be compassionate. he has a sick wife, and that appears to be playing out right now. what can you tell us about that? >> all i can tell you is what you know and what you just said this. there was a period of time where desantis at least publicly disappeared. understand the previous waves in florida, he was constantly on the de facto campaign trail. he was holding almost one press conference a day or a few a week. this time he just didn't. it was around the holiday season. the cases were surging. it leaves a lot of people to speculate what was going through his mind. if you look at his public schedule, desantis does not like to disclose his where abouts. he gives us his public schedule at the end of the day after it's over, but nevertheless, if you look at his schedule, he was meeting with people. he was making calls. not a very busy schedule, but he was working. what he wasn't doing was wasn't having big press conferences. there's an irony. in the past he's had press conferences and made policy announcements, the same people saying where is ron desantis are the same people saying go away, ron desantis. part of this is caught up in the partisanship of the covid response, but his response to this wave is different. this time he's kind of silent. he is speaking at 10:00 a.m. in fort lauderdale. i think one of the things you're seeing from desantis is his administration or he, they want to basically move beyond the discussion of cases. they want to move beyond the discussion of the daily case counts and talk more about hospitalizations. if you listen to the administration, what they're saying on twitter and social media, they're saying look, fewer than 10% of hospital icu admissions are from covid. most people who are testing positive, they say, in florida hospitals are testing positive with covid. they went there with something else and they turned out to be basically asymptomatic and found out they had covid. i would expect more discussion of that. another thing you're going to hear from desantis probably today is a lot of discussion of antibodies. similar to what mika said was the discussion from abbott in texas. that they're going to basically attack the biden administration. >> yeah. dave, we saw "the new york times" reporting this weekend that in puerto rico they had a huge surge of cases and yet, only 300 people hospitalized for covid on the entire island with that large population. it seems we're seeing the same thing in florida, aren't we? a massive number of new cases, but certainly not hospitalizations, not deaths. especially for those who are vaccinated and boosted. >> yeah. joe, and happy new year to you. mika and mark, yes, vaccinations matter. getting the booster shot matters. that's one reason why people have been upset with this governor. he was on fox news recently, and refused to say whether he got the booster shot. he also cancelled a cabinet meeting in mid december and hasn't held a covid press conference since december 17th. so that's part of the reason why there's some anxious. if you go to miami dade county and orange county two large metropolitan areas in florida, you see there are five hour lines for covid testing. part of the reason for that is that the state of florida ended its state sponsored covid testing back in may. and the desantis administration has said they're not going to restart it. so this is all part of the concern people are being. part of the criticism levied desantis's way. local governments have been left on their own to deal with this. some are wondering who is minding the store. >> mark, if you look, though, at florida, i think millions and millions of floridians have a more law someday fair approach. i think that's a kind way of putting it to this pandemic from the very beginning would be in florida and man, they would be like, you know, street festivals going on. you go up to boston, shut down. they're just -- if desantis, if the governor is a bit more laze fair in his approach toward covid, he's got millions and millions of floridians who agree with that approach, doesn't he? >> yeah. i think it's fair to say ron desantis is a florida man. a tale of home depot shopping yesterday in miami. and the cases are exploing here. i want to home depot, the place was packed. everyone was wearing masks, but there was nothing on the shelves i wanted to buy. i want to one in a more republican community. no one was wearing masks. to your point, there is culture, and there is a real culture of kind of leave me alone politics. in fact, desantis adopted a flag and put a gator on it and did a sort of let us alone poster, or t shirt as well. it gives you an idea of the messaging he's going to be given or he has been giving so far. but i don't want to underplay the severity of covid for those who have long covid. we have a friend who got it in march of 2020, and she's still suffering. and just the spread of this is causing a lot of disruptions. my wife is a fourth grade teacher. ten of the fourth grade teachers total in her school so far, four have said they tested positive or were positive for omicron variant just over the break. if this were -- if this continues for the next few weeks, you're probably going to see a lot of schools run out of teachers. this schools will have to figure out how to fill the classrooms with teachers. we have been fortunate. we haven't had covid, but out of the ten teachers overall since the pandemic began, eight have had covid here. it gives you an idea of how infectious or transmissible this thing is. >> right. >> transmissible. >> and we have talked a good bit about how omicron is far different than the delta variant or even the variant before that. at the same time, disruptions in schools, because of teachers, disruptions with tsa because so many people station at home with travels. with hospitals, we're the most concerned. florida flavor here, when i'm in florida, it's very -- it's fascinating, you go to let's say you go to just general stores, if you go to walmart, if you go to -- if you go to a golf store, whatever, you'll go down to those places, a music store, people aren't wearing masks anywhere. for some reason, you go inside publix and the malls, everybody is in masks. i haven't figured that one out yet. >> a lot of people in bars, too. >> yep. >> a lot of people in bars. packed in bars. packed in restaurants. no masks. please, explain florida to us all. >> i can't do it in the time we have remaining, joe. but how about this. joe, wasn't shipley in your district when you were a congressman? >> yes. yes, he was. >> the fine people in chiply, they have a bakery that opened up there a few weeks ago. the governor was there for it. and the governor posted a picture of the opening of this bakery up in chiply. and he used it, look, he's on the job. he's not missing. but it turned out moibds found out that the picture was taken 12 days prior. he also opened a bagel shop in ocala, the bagel shop posted the same picture 14 days earlier. there's a kim jong-un feel to it when you post pictures saying you're alive and well and on the job, but the pictures are outdated. that's part of the reason why people are upset about this whole thing. >> and -- >> fair enough. >> and by the way, no, it's not. >> yes, it is. >> by the way, even though kim jong-un appears to be one of donald trump's favorite leaders, we at "morning joe" disassociate ourselves from the leader of north korea and the governor of florida. send my questions and comments to dave aaronburg on this. >> thank you both for being on this morning. we appreciate it. all right. hard turn here. it was an unexpected new year's eve for over a dozen people in albuquerque, new mexico as they were trapped midair overnight in a cable car. officials say around 20 employees from a mountain top restaurant were stuck in a tram after icy conditions caused cable lines to freeze as they were heading home on friday. another employee was stand stranded in a separate car as he was heading for his shift. after 18 hours the last of the 21 passengers were finally rescued on saturday evening. and joining us now, one of those passengers from that unforgettable night, amber santos. >> amber, i'm just going to admit to you right up front, i hate trams. i hate cable cars. >> just afraid of heights. >> exactly. i was reading your story yesterday in the new york times. i felt sweat coming up on my forehead. i can't believe what you went through on new year's eve. can you tell our audience who didn't read the story what happened? what was it like? >> it was terrifying. i'm not going to lie. we got off our shift around 9:00. got into the car. ten minutes in, and then we just stopped. it's a 15-minute tram ride. it turned into 15 hours. it was terrifying, honestly. >> so you said while you were up there and my gosh, the wind was blowing the car back and forth, the tram back and forth almost 10,500 mountain peak, you said you did your best to try to stay positive. tell us about that. >> yeah. in a situation, we're all friends. we work together 30 hours a week. you just -- you have to make light of the situation. that's all we literally could do. so we were just shooting the breeze, trying to have fun. it's -- it was only them just kind of like well, this would happen to us, so -- it was fun at the time for a few hours, and then it kind of -- the revelry died down a little bit. >> well, we're showing right now instagram video from 3:49. the temperatures dropped to 26 degrees. the safety blankets were not insulated. they didn't retain body heat. it started getting cold, and talk about at this point you started fearing that you may not get off of there. and things got a little -- well, got very, very disconcerting. >> yes. so it was freezing. it was literally freezing. i thought we were going to hit the tower for a minute. the wind was going bad. i didn't know if we were going to get off the tram alive sometimes. i did have a moment where you internally panic, and you just want to know what's happening, how am i getting off here. >> and you're on for 15 hours. talk about when you -- the rescuers finally came and figured out how to get you all up there. you had to actually -- well, tell us how you got down from the tram. >> so we had rescuers come through the hatch. it was euphoric. it was finally someone i haven't seen in 15 hours in this tiny box. it was pretty exciting. the rescuers, they tied a rope to one of the posts, and we had to repel down. they repelled us down. we hiked about maybe 200 feet to a clear where a helicopter picked us up. >> and you must be an adventurist type, because you actually said you found that exciting where most of us would be horrified. you said it was pretty cool and pretty exciting when you were taken down by rope. >> yeah. when we got down there, that was -- that was the most exciting part of the night. i mean, it cost me 15 hours of my day, but we repelled down the tram. >> i have to just -- i'm -- i'm asking myself over and over again how this happened, because aren't these trams often operating in extremely cold weather and yet, it was ice on the cables. i would never get back on one of those again in my life. >> yeah. it definitely is some concern for me going back up there. but it's just my daily commute to work. >> i'm glad you're okay, and in good humor about this. do you have any other alternatives to get up to work, or does it have to be the tram each and every day? i know there's a small one in new york city i've been on that's three minutes. that's long enough. i don't know that i'd be okay with going up again every day. do you have to or is there another way up to work? >> the tram is the only way for employees to get to work. all our food, water, trash, it goes up on the tram. >> okay. >> amber santos. thank you very much for sharing your story. harrowing. >> of course. thanks. >> we really appreciate it. still ahead on "morning joe," the latest in the probe of the january 6th capitol attack. what we're learning about donald trump's actions while the attack was underway. and just how dangerous is the current political divide in this country? one of our next guests argues how easily the hyper partisanship could escalate from bickering on social media to actual armed conflict. and from the grocery store to the airport, those who work with the public are getting sick and tired of angry customers. one person called it a different scale of mean. is this just a sign of the times or is new normal? you're watching "morning joe." we'll be right back. ng joe." we'll be right back. i recommend nature made vitamins, because i trust their quality. they were the first to be verified by usp, an independent organization that sets strict quality and purity standards. nature made. the #1 pharmacist recommended vitamin and 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multiple advisers asked trump to intervene, including kevin mccarthy and the former president's daughter. >> we have firsthand testimony that his daughter, ivanka, went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence. >> reporter: the bipartisan committee probing the actions of mr. trump and his allies in and out of government, now seeking testimony from congressional republicans and white house aides. the committee says it has interviewed more than 300 people and collected more than 35,000 pages of documents including emails and text messages. while battling for more white house records. a spokesman for the former president saying the committee is, quote, obsessed with waging a political war against president donald j. trump. 725 people have been charged with crimes related to the attack in the past year. the fbi says they're still looking for 350 more people they believe committed violence on that day. on capitol hill a new police chief says reforms to how the capitol police collect and share intelligence and train officers have made the complex safer. but challenges remain. >> what keeps you up at night now? >> right now probably 200 officers below what we had prejanuary 6th, and we're 400 below what we really need today. >> that was nbc news correspondent garrett haake reporting. coming up, a stunning moment on the football field that leaves the defending super bowl champs without a key player. why antonio brown was kicked off the bucs. that's next on "morning joe." 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well, hey, i'm really sorry. >> haven't we all felt that frustration at one time or another? according to a new article in the new york times, we are are an entire nation on hold wanting to speak with a manager. a journalist writes perhaps you felt it yourself. your emotions at war with your better nature. a feeling of nearly homicidal rage at the credit card company representative who informed having failed to answer the security questions, you've locked yourself out. note to self, sarcasm is not a good way to solve this problem. people are just, i hate to say it because there are a lot of really nice people, but when they're mean, they're a heck of a lot meaner, said sue miller, who works in a nonprofit trade association in madison, wisconsin. it's like instead of saying this really inconvenienced me, they say what the hell is wrong with you? it's a different scale of mean. and sara joins us now. i feel like we -- i've been traveling as much as possible safely during the pandemic, sara. and i've noticed a lot in the airports where or airplanes which we've seen a lot of video of. it seems like the level of tension is ratcheted up. what do you think is behind it? >> i think it's a lot of things at the same time, and the first is what you mentioned. i think it's pandemic-related. it's people who have been cooped up for a long time. they're scared. they're frustrated. they're tired. they haven't been around people that much, maybe. and when they get in these places, it all erupts into frustration at the people who are working for them. instead of yelling at the pandemic, which you can't do, they yell at the flight attendant or the store clerk. >> yeah. in another incident in your article, you write he wanted a type of blue cheese. he had been cooped up at the dairy area. nothing he demanded that she hunt into the back and look it up in the store computer. no luck. then he lost it. just another great out of control member of the consumer. have you seen a man in his 60s have a full temper tantrum because we don't have the expensive imported cheese he wants, said an employee. you're looking at someone and thinking, i don't think this is about the cheese. and it's not. but in some ways, it is, sara, because i think don't you think part of the problem is also the supply shortage, covid impacting personnel, and everything -- i think americans are used to things right away, right when they order it. on their phone, at their doorstep, and now they're having to walk to the car and drive to a place and then find out some things. they're not used to actually not getting what they want all the time. >> that's right. i mean, we've been seduced into this notion that we can press a button and it comes right away. i mean, it's the amazon effect. it's the notion of you're online. you can order something. it gets there in four minutes. this frictionless economy. and the americans haven't gotten to understand that the supply chain issues are not the fault of the store clerk or the person on the other end of the phone who says something is out of stock. and it isn't about the cheese. we wish we had the cheese, but it's really a whole bunch of other frustrations. we have so little control over so many things in our lives right now, and this feels like something we should be able to control. we should get our cheese, but we can't even get that. >> sara, al sharpton. how much of this also is a division in the country where people sort of, like, are in this blaming others for whatever they may be feeling in terms of the divide politically or in terms of how we relate to each other? how much of this is our frustration that we're walking around with that we just are looking for a way to download it on someone else and it happens in these exchanges? >> i think that's right. i think a lot -- there a lot of mistrust. people don't know if someone else is a friend or not. especially in a big store where you get a lot of these pandemic-related restrictions that have to be enforced by the store clerk. and people who don't want to wear masks, who don't want to wait in line behind -- six feet behind someone else, who don't want to have a vaccination to get into a restaurant, take it out on the people enforcing those restrictions. and that leads to a lot of rage that is beyond just whether they can get their cheese. it's to do with politics. it's to do with with ideology and i do feel that these poor people in these -- in these public spaces are bearing the brunt of that anger. >> a writer at large for "the new york times," sarah lyall, thank you so much for sharing this with us. we want to take this conversation a step further. what happens at this anger and bad behavior towards one another continues to fester? politically the thought that secessions could be in our future seems hyperbole but just listen to texas senator ted cruz discussing a few months ago what he would claim for texas if it seceded. >> there may come a point where it's hopeless. we are not there yet. and if it comes a point where it's hopeless, then i think we take nasa, we take the military, we take the oil. >> and just days ago georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene openly advocated for what she called a national divorce. joining us now novelist and culture writer steven marsh, he is the author of the new book "the next civil war: dispatches from the american future." by the way, marjorie taylor greene, i think, just got kicked off twitter for covid disinformation. this, i think, is potentially, especially given what we saw happening -- not to completely tie it together, but on january 6th, almost a year ago, i think it's something that we really have to be concerned about. that between social media, facebook and ways that people can kind of, you know, gin up their anger, that it doesn't just stop there. >> no, i mean, it's a very growing movement. i mean, marjorie taylor greene and ted cruz are saying those things because this is a movement and an idea that is spreading across america. i mean, it's the majority of trump-supporting republicans have argued for secession and now it's about 41% of democrats. so, you know, secession was really an extreme position about 20 years ago, now it is much more mainstream. i mean, of course, the other thing is ted cruz says we're going to take these things. that of course is not at all how secession works, it's incredibly complicated. the u.s. constitution makes it much more difficult than it is for any other country and, of course, nobody is taking anything. so the book is really about the details of what secession might look like. it has a chapter about that. >> steven, jonathan lemire. congrats on the book and happy new year to you. >> thank you. >> walk us through a little bit as to what it would take, and i think most people watching this would say this is far-fetched, there is no way this could ever happen, walk us through what it would mean for this to happen and in your estimation is there any likelihood that it could? >> well, i mean, given the tensions in america right now i actually think secession is kind of a best case scenario, i think it's a very reasonable conversation to be having, but the u.s. constitution makes it more or less impossible. it's not constitutional. there's widespread legal agreement about that. and then there's the u.n. like to become a new country you need to have the support of the security council and there's something called a home state veto. there's kind of this romantic association with independence, like it's going to be a bunch of texans raising their rifles over their heads saying don't mess with texas. that's all well and good until people won't land an airplane in your airport or the government turns out the internet in your district and you can't exchange money, all of which require the u.n. to facilitate. so, you know, it is -- i think it's actually a conversation that america needs to have, but it's really, really tricky legally. it's not something that, you know, just because people want it will happen. >> steven, when you look at the fact that we are so divided and you have the questions now of with trump supporters and others around race, around immigration, around people feeling that we are like a decade and a half, two decades away from non-whites becoming the majority, how much of that is driving this next civil war that you write about and the discussion of secession? how does race and immigration factor into those that are in this growing movement? you've put your finger on the nub of the key argument of my book. what i would say is that, you know, what you see all around the world is that as marginal populations come to equality the privileged group rebels against that, they hate it. you can see this all over the world, this is not just an american phenomenon, it's true about indians and muslims in india, it's true all over africa and that process is happening in america. what you see, you know, the really worrying thing about america, why i think secession is not necessarily a worst-case scenario, is that violence is rising. certainly violence against people of color, but just the general tolerance for political violence. a recent poll said 30% of americans were willing to use violence against their own government. so, you knew, you've put your finger on the nub, but i think the consequences of that are rising violence and the question really is how do you deal with that rising violence? how do you prevent it? >> all right. the new book is the next civil war, dispatches from the american future. steven marche, thank you very much for that sobering prognosis. that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage after a final quick break. break. ♪ baby got back by sir mix-a-lot ♪ unlimited cashback match... only from discover. ♪♪ hi there, i'm stephanie ruhle live at msnbc headquarters here in new york city. it is monday, january 3rd, i am thrilled to be back because we have a lot to get to this morning, so sit down and let's get smarter. as we start this new year we are seeing covid case numbers far higher than anything we have ever seen before. this morning we are averaging 426,000 new cases a day, that is more than double where we were this time last year. but it doesn't tell the whole story. here is what's important, while cases are up over