Fellow conservatives like her, during and immediately following the storming of the capital. She did it a few weeks ago when she read aloud the texts of legislators and fox news personalities and even don jr. Begging that trump stop the attack. And she was at it again this weekend, showing new information to the committee that learned on how reckless and dangerous and average trumps behavior was as he watched the insurrection unfold live on television. 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 capital occurred. The president could have, at any moment walked those very few steps into the briefing room, gone on live television, and told his supporters who were assaulting the capitol to stop. We know, as he was sitting there in the dining room next to the oval office, members of his staff were pleading with him to go on television to tell people to stop. We know Leader Mccarthy was pleading with him to do that. We know members of this family. We know his daughter. We have percent testimony that is daughter, ivanka, went in at least twice to ask him to please stop this violence. One key point here that i think congresswoman cheney is lining out is that as the committee looks at the potential recommendation of criminal charges stemming from the reckless indifference that trump display by just sitting there watching tv, that nearly everyone around the then president saved from a tiny group of his most diehard supporters were horrified. I mean, if youre keeping track, both Donald Trumps daughter and his son wanted to call of the right. Trumps local defenders on fox news, including sean hannity and Lauren Ingraham were pleading with chief of staff, mark meadows, to get trump to step in and end the violence. And for a short time at the attack it felt like it was a real Breaking Point for many members of the Republican Party. There was a consensus opinion. The correct one. That donald trump is uniquely dangerous and what he did by enabling this insurrection crossed a line that simply cannot be tolerated in American Democratic policies. And that moment has this been memorable over the last few year. But its Worth Remembering that a number of very proud republicans either designed from the Trump Administration are publicly condemned the dense sitting president following the attack. Then treasury secretary steve mnuchin, and secretary, mike pompeo, even considered evoking the 25th Amendment to remove trump from office in his final days. That is because they believe that he proved such a unique threat to our democracy. But a number of those allies, who Drew A Red Line after the insurrection, have of course, quietly returned to the president s side as he publicly molds another run for the white house. Most prominent perhaps among them listen to Die Hard Trump allies, senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina on the evening of the six, saying he would no longer be party to trumps attempt a coup. Trump and i, weve had a hell of a journey. All i can say is count me out, enough is enough, and if you are conservative this is the most offensive concept in the world that a Single Person could disenfranchise 155 million people. Yes senator. You are correct. That is an odious an offensive idea. Here is senator graham, just last week on fox news essentially endorsing donald trump. The same man graham admitted wanted to use the Vice President , one man, as part as a coup plot to disenfranchise more than half of the country. It is his nomination if he wants it. The Republican Base has appreciated him, we dont appreciate all the things that he does sometimes. But from a policy point of view, he was the most successful president. From a conservative point of view, since ronald reagan, it is his nomination if he wants it. And he will be in the white house in 2024 if he runs a disciplined campaign. Its telling there, right, that is so successful. Three Supreme Court justices and big tax cuts for corporations. Of course, senator graham is not the only republican that made such a puclic about face. House minority leader, kevin mccarthy, struck a notably hard line against trump at the insurrection. Again, in the light of the moment in which peoples moral faculties were functioning, the two men, trump, mccarthy, were caught in a Screaming Match over the phone while the insurrection was happening when mccarthy demanded trump call off the rioters. And trump apparently said, of the people violently beating the cops on the steps, quote, well kevin i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. Mccarthy even publicly floated the idea of centering trump. And arguing that the then president was responsible for the attack on the capital. Something that was obviously true. But nonetheless suppressing here from a prominent republican. The president bears responsibilitys for wednesdays attack on congress by mob rioters. He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump. Except his share of responsibilities. Quayle, the bruiling unrest, and ensure president elect biden is able to successfully begin his term. Again, the Consensus View at the time. He didnt imagine it. He didnt miss recollect what he thought at the time. What you saw the time. Now, famously mccarthy spat with trump did not last long. Just over two weeks after you made those comments, he flew to florida to visit trump. Now essentially living as a republican leader on exil and to kiss the former president s ring and showed exactly which side hes on. In fact, just a few months after that meeting, mccarthy then changed his story. When i talk to President Trump about how i was the first person to contact him when the riots was going on, he didnt see it. When he ended the call saying and telling me that hope put something out to make sure to stop this and that is what he did, he put a video out later. There is so much amazing bs in that. But my favorite is that he didnt see it. Like trumps got his nose buried in a book. Like, oh huh . Something going on at the capitol . I didnt see that. Now, the video that mccarthy is talking about of course came out much later after most of the damage had been done. And it was hardly the strong condemnation that mccarthys implying. Trump, repeated the big lie of the stolen election that instigated the right in the first place. He told the insurrectionists that he felt their pain and that he loved them after he told him to go home. And reportedly the run multiple attempts made with that same video that were left on the cutting room floor. But again, it wasnt just Members Of Congress either and i honestly, im telling you, something i have basically forgotten about, this as someone who covers this every night i life that a number of Trump Administration officials step down immediately following the insurrection. Even though they have just days left on the job anyway. In a resignation, transportations ecretary elain chao, said the attack, quote, has deeply troubled me in a way that i simply cannot set aside. Education secretary, betsy devos, there is no mistake in the impact your rhetoric out on the situation. And it is the Inflection Point for me impressionable children are watching all of this and they are learning from us. Former white house chief of staff, Mick Mulvaney who at that point was working as trump special onvoy to Northern Island told Cnbc On January 7th that he quit because he believed his falls to become increasingly unhinged following the election, quote, clearly he is not the same that he was a month ago. And certainly the people advising him or not the same as they were eight months ago. And that leads to a dangerous sort of combination as you saw yesterday. Now, politico, had the smart idea to reach out to chao, devos and amongst others to see if they would comment on those statements nearly one year later. And youll never guess what. They all refused to go on the record except one. The former chief of staff, maloney trump, stephanie grisham, who is of course now selling a tellall book and attempting to rebrand to something of a neever trumper. So, now we are left in this weird kind of Groundhog Day reality. After all these one time trump allies realized exactly how dangerous he was in the moment and the immediate aftermath when they called out this horrifying inaudible of duty after the issued statements saying think about the children. All of this exemplified his actions leading in the january six. The entire Republican Party is basically developed, collective amnesia. And worse than that, now falling in line behind the same guy who we all clearly know. All of them know. Mccarthy knows. Graham knows. Everyone knows. Simply cannot be trusted with a power again. Its as obvious and clear as day. Because he will try to complete the attack on our democracy he fail to pull off the first time. And those threats to democracy were there from the very beginning, from his first campaign, to a team and trumps second impeachment in the january 6th insurrection. At the time Congressman Eric Small Of warned about the dangerous actions during the trial. This was a deliberate, premeditated, incitement based on attacking our capitol. It was foreseeable. Especially to President Trump, who warned us he knew what was coming. And congressman Eric Swalwell joins me now. Congressman, its good to have you. As you return back to congress for this year and we are about to mark this anniversary just sort of level set where your head is at as we entered this year. Well, chris, Happy New Year. And going into this new year, we want to be a party that delivers. That delivers us out of the chaos of the Trump Administration that delivers on ending the pandemic. Gets people vaccinated. Gets people back to work. And addresses, you know, a lot of the issues that still persist around climate. Now, we are up against of course, chaos. Were up against a Republican Party that chooses violence over voting. And on january six, as we commemorate and honor the fallen officers and the wounded officers of that day, republicans will be celebrating the arsonists up that day and donald trump and thats a contrast that we have to draw for every american. You said this, i believe yesterday. You said every politician said that this is the most important election of our lifetime. Thats is true. Fact checked having covered many elections. It may be. But it could also be the last one. Republicans have chosen violence over voting. We have to outvoted the violence. Saddle up what does that mean . Chris, i am worried that if republicans win in the midterm elections that voting as we note in this country will be gone. They are already putting as many barriors to the ballot box as possible in arizona, florida, texas, georgia. And on the other side of the finish line theyre putting in place processes where they could reverse the outcome even if we crawl through glass and run through the fire to get to the ballot box. And, so, if they are able to win the house, the damage that they can do to permanently make it difficult to vote and just alter the way that we participate in a democratic process could be irreversible. And, so, this may not be, as i said, this is not only the most important election. If we dont get it right it could be the last election because they are also putting in place, what i believe, is a way to make sure that donald trump wins with what they are doing across State Legislatures to allow them to reverse the outcome and the electoral college. And that is why i also put in a link to iwillvote. Com in non partisan group that allows you to check the Registration Status and register to vote if you are not already registered. If the stakes are this high and they are as high as you say they are, it seems to me, that it is absolutely incumbent on the Democratic Party to use the majority they have in the house and the senate to do something about it legislatively. Obviously, you cant control that. You cant control it from your perch in the house. But are you optimistic . Chucks schumer has made some noise about that this year that the senate and the full 50 senator caucus on the senate side understands that same urgency that you do. Weve done our work in the house, chris. The for the people act, the john lewis Voting Rights act. And now we have to create the public sentiment that moves the senators to do their job. Because, chris, as i said, this is it. If we dont get this right we know what we are up against. We are up against a party that prefers violence over voting. They are so disaligned where every day americans are. They lie about the vaccine overwhelmingly americans want us to be vaccinated. They lie and they continue to promote laws that make us less safe around gun safety when overwhelming americans want to be free from gun violence as it relates to a womans rights to make their own health care decision. Theyre disallowing with the majority of americans are but they are taken away that right in states like texas, they will do that all over the country. So this is truly a pivotal election, there cannot be enough downward pressured put from president biden. On Senetors Manchin and sinema. And there cannot be enough outside pressure on them from everyday voters like your viewers. There is pulling day at the, which i think will also talk about later in the program which shows that the Republican Partys reputation has recovered basically in the last year. The percentage of voters are saying that theyre headed in the right direction went down a 24 right after january six, it is now up to basically where was in the summer 2020. Again, only 34 of voters. Not like a majority saying like, yay , Republican Party. But i guess the question is, how do you navigate the conditions of basically talking to voters who may not be thinking about the fate of American Democracy as a front of iron issue, and i think a lot of voters probably arent, with the stakes of what you feel this moment means . We have to tell them what we delivered on. As i said, the rescue plan, infrastructure, jobs, ending this pandemic. Once we get enough americans vaccinated. But we need to remind them what it would mean to have the republicans in power. And every republican candidate should have to answer a few questions. Will you acknowledge joe biden as the president . Will you disavow qanon . Will you support the candidate who wins your state in 2024 . And, will you disavow donald trump in the violence that he continues to contribute too . And if they cant answer those four questions, they will contribute to chaos. We are a Law Order Country chris. And this Republican Party has chosen chaos. And the voters need to know that. And its our job to make sure that that is clear as we go to the ballot box. You have a lawsuit in which you have sued a number of folks for the role that they played in january six. Including donald j trump. Donald j trump jr. And your colleague, representative moe brooks in his personal inaudible with rudolph giuliani. I know Congressman Brooks tried to evade service for that for a long time. What is the status of the lawsuit . We have a pivotal hearing on january 10th. It is on the president s motion to dismiss. Essentially saying that he is immuned. He is absolutely immunity because he is president. Our theory is that there is boundaries to that and that when you insight and aim a mob at the capitol to stop lawmakers from certifying the elections that you are outside the boundaries of your immunity. And so, chris, look, the theory of the case is that donald trump and those others who were there invited the mob to the capital. That is why donald trump was the one who had to tell them to go home. You dont tell someone to go home unless youre invited them there in the first place. And that they must be held accountable. And in the next stage, if we survived this motion, would be depositions and discovery. All right, congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for your time. My pleasure. Over 700 people have been charged in connection with the january 6th attack. With their effort to overturn the election was by violence and brute force filled. Donald trump left office. But the effort of those thousands of people who stormed the capitol, theyve all. Tonight nbc reporter reveals how this group have transformed and the local battles they are winning in plain sight after this. After this the brand i trust is qunol. Its a thirteenhour flight, thats not a weekend trip. Fifteen minutes until we board. Oh yeah, we gotta take off. You downloaded the Td Ameritrade mobile app so you can quickly check the markets . Yeah, actually im taking One Last Look at my dashboard before we board. Excellent. And you have thinkorswim mobile so i can finish analyzing the risk on this position. You two are all set. Have a great flight. Thanks. Well see ya. Ah, theyre getting so smart. Choose the app that fits your investing style. [applause] of a White Nationalist groups show up at a school Board Meeting. Members of the proud boys, stood watch at the meeting of the new head of our county board of education didnt speak but they did applaud others who did. Some of the same groups who stormed the capitol on january six, even some of the seeing people went up battling local officials in their own neighborhoods. It is all about local legislation, theyre locals the City Council Board of supervisors. So it kicked off as a National Movement that is now that parents are results we need to start going to local government. As and this bbc news documentary reported a great new piece out today, domestic ice cream is groups ranging from the qanon Conspiracy Movement and the proud boys to malicious organizations an avowed White Nationalists have reemerged in recent months. Many of the groups are focused on local politics most notably School Boards and county health boards. Where they have found success in pushing back against everything from Covid Mitigation Proposals to Public School curricula. According to at least one of the people researching and tracking violence domestic extremism its all building up to something bigger. Going down to the local level you see these cultural narratives or causes of the day. It does offer them a chance to recruit but it also does something a bit bigger. Which is to build sympathy on a local level that they can then, according to the way their leaders talk about, it work up back into the nationals fear. Nbc news reporter, brandy zadrozny, joins me now. Really fascinating piece. Describe the basic phenomenon that you had been reported out in this piece. Sure, so its been a year, and we wanted to know what was happening with the general landscape of domestic extremism in america. And we talked to several people. We tracked once that we knew. Have we looked at Telegram Groups and counted. We watched a bunch of White Supremacist podcast. And we saw, we saw the story of a group of people that are very different. But it all went through the sort of cooling off period after january six. We dealt with certain pr crisis and, honestly, the chance of being arrested. And then sort of took a breath and evolved. Almost took a step back actually and acted a lot like the acted of nearly 2020. And that is, you know, retreating to their own backyards. Recruiting, spreading their messages through culture war debates. About vaccines, local elections, etc. One of the individuals that you profiled here is sort of a remarkable story. Tell me who she is and what she is up to. I have been reporting on the antitalks a Nation Movement for about a decade. I have known denise who is an activist in california for years. Now she has always been an anti vaxxer for the last year when california was putting a loss to get school exemptions. She was very vocal. And you could see her progression through 2020. She was an anti vaxxer who became a sort of proud boys fan. She was detained at the california state capital. And then she ended up going to the capitol on january six. She spoke at a Health Freedom stage. And according to her own, she was at the capitol and she stormed the capitol. She said she was sprayed with bare monies. She came home and she started an allwomans militia. There is a website with a bunch of women all holding very large weapons and her Telegram Challenge channels bible down to extremism. So we watched this happen in realtime, i will be caught up with her and in California School Board Meeting she said it is all about locals now. So you saw the progression. She started local and then she moved to national politics. This was sealed by Donald Trumps big lie. And now shes back where she feels comfortable. But she is also gathering people for her womens only militia. Using the School Boards where she doesnt only haves children in the School Boards. She is out there recruiting and spreading her messaging and getting people in these more extreme groups. You know, what struck me reading your piece as someone who, previously in my career reported on local politics and local community Board Meetings about a new development that was going to happen or a School Curriculum issue, these sorts of settings are kind of ideal places for small well organized vanguards essentially to be able to get their way. And that could be morally neutral. It could be folks who have enlightened views. It could be people who have newbie views. Theres all kinds of views. But if you have a small group, yield particularly loud and in case of some of the stuff youre documenting in the piece that we started to peace with the proud boys standing in the back, theres a certain kind of intimidation that could happen in those settings. That is very visceral and could be very effective. It absolutely works. Beyond, the proud boys at that meeting actually turned of voted that the media to cut them sitting at that meeting into propaganda. And the line was, save your seat. So its very effective in terms of recruiting and in terms of getting their messages. But it is also very effective in terms of, like you, said just getting the policies that they want to place. And i actually called the North Carolina board of health and talk to the head of the board after the came to that meeting. And she said, i dont think it will be back. So, i cant say that that is necessarily why they did it. But they think, and lots of others think that theyre having a real effect. Here so, they might still be [inaudible] from january six. But that is where they can make a name for themselves, and that is where they can get things done. They look like theyre so enthusiastic about masking and covering their faces in those videos. Brandy zadrozny, Great Reporting as always. Thank you very much. Next, new polling reveals Donald Trumps pull in Republican Party is only getting stronger. Where does the country go from here . There is some promising news on this. After this. After this theres a disturbing new poll out showing the Donald Trumps grip on the Republican Party is getting even stronger. Embrace of authoritarian ideas are becoming more intense. This comes as we watch the threat to democracy for their excessive braided. But does that happen, this new poll shows that republican parties is in the country at large and actually rebounded. The polling shows that the Morning Counsel found that 34 of voters headed in the right read direction. That is up ten points after the days immediately following the attack on the capital. See a similar story and much of the data from the same survey, theres a vast partisan divide in how important january six remains to voters. 60 of hut a major impact prepared to just 24 of republicans voters are viewing favorably since the weekend after january 26th Donald Trumps unfavorable of the rating has dropped 12 point from 60 to 3 to 51 . Now, to be clear, some of this is just a normal gravity back and forth of Democratic Politics in the two party system, obviously after january 6th was a real low point for and also when one party is in power, at least control of the White House Congress we tend to see sweetened towards the opposition. Its a welldocumented phenomenon over many many years. We get frustrated with a status quo. You changed dynamic. But as normal as that is, the problem in a nutshell that we are seeing from the Republican Party is its behavior is distinctly abnormal and indeed in many ways unprecedented. Also some people are ringing the alarm bells about this one. Vaccinate piece titled how does this and, no other established marks the is at such a risk of democratic collapse. The news follows last year the United States legally backsliding democracy last week the Associated Press were not really alarm ringers by nature published a comprehensive warning of the slow motion insurrection happening in the country. But, if you step back and look at the broad picture of this new polling again which has a lot of really disturbing elements in it, there is them actually promising news. Political scientists leadoff man pointed this out, the Anti Democratic they are in fact minority of the Republican Party, but certainly a minority of the voters at large. Im not and significant portion of the Republican Party really does want to defend democracy. Look at this, 60 of republicans approve of the democratic flooded House Committee investigating the january 6th. The question is how do you put in place a coalition that can stand the attack that is surely coming from the Anti Democratic minority in this election we will talk about that next. K about that next. , and wake up refreshed. The brand i trust is qunol. On new years day the New York Times editorial published an editorial that is pretty remarkable considering the not given hyperbole of institution of course. Part of the establishment of course i think it called the New York Times is titled every day is january 6th now. The piece compares the Republican Party with authoritarian thin movements around the world. It argues their public faces an accidental threat from a movement that is openly contentious of democracy, and has shown that it is willing to use violence to achieve a sense. No self governing society can survive such without biden eyeing it exists. Americans of all stripes to value their Self Governance must mobilized at different level, not simply once every four years, but today tomorrow until the next day to win who live in the reality based world. Just the right man is a member of the New York Times Editorial Board and Michelle Goldberg is a at the New York Times. They both join me now. Jesse, i was really struck by the warning a very stark terms about the oppressiveness and particularly calling linking the Republican Party to authoritarian movements around the world. I imagine that was a debated turn of phrase. Sure. I mean this is something that we talked about for years. It has taken a lot of us not only journalism, but among the American People a while to come to terms with what we are looking at here. I think it is really after the last 5 to 6 years, it is really indisputable that you have one party in a two party system that has turned openly and eagerly almost against democracy, and i met dense the basic functions of that democracy. So, i think the piece is written as much and sadness as it is in sort of you know, thumping anger. This is a sad moment for the country and one where i think we are at a point of reckoning needing to determine how we move forward, how do we, how do we build the democracy and live in a democracy on a Database Basis when faced with a threat of this nature. You know part of the trickyness here, michelle, is that there is a desire in others have talked about building a popular front, a Political Coalition that stitches together people that really do care about these basic Democratic Institutions of american self rule. And to a political block. And yet, for the majority of voters, the vast majority i think i wont be voting in november with that front in mind. You can watch this party that is behaving in abnormal weighs just gather up the games and being the opposition in a midterm election, and what happens then . Right, the Gubernatorial Election in virginia was a wake up call for a lot of people. A lot of people had fog and associating the Republican Party at large with the insurrection and we see it in that polling that you just pointed to, the Republican Party reputation has largely recovered and i think it is a very difficult thing for democrats because a lot of people who are inside rightly see this as an existential threat to american politics that does also not necessarily talk about all the time. For a couple of reasons. Both because people more urgent concerns and baffles hierarchy of needs and, also its demoralizing, it is infuriating because there are clear ways to address what is going on, but they are almost certainly not going to happen as some sort of conversion by just and sinema. So there is this pounding your head on the wall aspect to what is going on, right . You can Keep Streaming and screaming that American Democracy is in danger, but we dont have a clear answer about what to do about that. Right, and we should say this gets to something, jessie, that i wrestle with a lot. I have seen a lot of warnings about the stakes here, and im generally as a descriptive matter, i am pretty in line with them. I think things are quite parallel except for democratic breakdown. At the same time it seems to me that and of American Democracy which is something that i have heard key everyone is going to have to wake up the next day if that is what happens and figure out what you do with the country that we love. It is a great point, chris. I often when i get to the deepest darkest places in the middle of a night im staring at the ceiling and you know, expecting the world to fall down, i remember there have been people throughout the history who themselves have faced the hostility towards democracy that we all i think are feeling now. Obviously people of color have for the entire history of this country not been able to enjoy the promises of our ideals anyway of democracy in the way that other people have. I think they have continued to fight, people who have been kept out of this promise have continued to fight for a better america and have created much of the america that we know today and much of the Representative Democracy that i think is so value in the 21st century. So i think that is a place to come to say people ive been doing this all along, people have been waking up the next day since the beginning and fighting back. I think that is where people care about preserving them chrissy and political equality of to come from, and get involved and local elections. They have to get elected into local publishes positions and build up a community of likeminded people who can actually Work Together rather than just staring glumly at the feeling. Togethyeah, and i think that mi, your point about bashing your head to get the wall empathize with and really to i think that you could see the dent. But i do think that schumer writes his letter today saying, basically, we are going to try to move forward on some kind of carving up the filibuster and Voting Rights registration. Its unclear whether he has the support. But there is support being brought. It is not nothing. I dont know if its going to work. But it does feel like this year starts at least with the renewed emphasis from some key players on trying to push this. Absolutely. But i think, again, we keep coming back to the problem that the problem isnt that people in the high Democratic Party dont recognize the danger. I think that if you talk to them they absolutely do. Its that American My Normally Rule is self perpetuating in a lot of ways. And so the system is kind of frozen and it has these choke points. And so its those checkpoints that have to move. And i really think that Chuck Schumer is doing what he can to try to move it forward. And miracles happen. Maybe joe manchin will see the light and do what is necessary to pass his own Voting Rights legislation. That would be but again, the system is frozen. There is this kind of paralysis that people recognize. You hear people screaming, do something. But there is only so much absent consent of these few players that we can do. Jesse wegman and Michelle Goldberg, thank you both. Thank you. Thank you. Coming up theres Big Questions about what is actually going to have been. The kids are back to school during the age of omicron. Well talk about what answers were beginning to get with the best reporters in the country. Next. Rs in the country. Next schools play a role of save up to 1,000 on sleep number 360 smart beds. Plus, no interest until january 2025. Ends january 3rd. Safety and stability for our children. And that is why the chancellor and i and the entire team of educators across the city have been so focused on keeping our schools open. And sending that message. We are not sending an unclear message of what is going to happen day today. I am going to kick tell you what is going to happen today. We are staying open. That is new mayor of New York City as of january 1st, eric, talking with the largest Public School system on a date that marks what you would consider the fifth back to school week in the age of the coronavirus pandemic. The spring of 2020 return after almost everything shut down. There was virtual return for many kids. There was the fall of 2020 which was a lot of inperson return. The return from the holidays in 2021. Which is when they started rolling out vaccines. There was this past fall, which was around the time they start rolling out vaccine for 12 to 15yearolds. And not the return from the holidays in 2022. Weve been dealing with this thing for so long that some people are calling this the pandemics junior year. Which really made me chuckle. Except now we are facing our biggest outbreak yet based on the number of infection. The u. S. Is averaging hundreds of thousands new cases a day. And although the majority of u. S. Public schools are operating as planned, New York Times writes, many schools do not have enough coronavirus tests. And the principles have reported large number of teachers and other employees calling in sick. Either because they are infected, with the virus or other illnesses, are there caring for sick Family Members and prepare for the conditions within school buildings. , New York Times educational responded who has been closely following the Coronavirus Respondent On Schools for two years now joins me now, its great to have you. Great to have you dana goldstein. Obviously its an incredibly complicated system we have here in the u. S. With Tens Of Thousands of individual school districts. How would you sort of describe the general approach of that sort of highest level of obstruction that the american schools are taking to this moment in the pandemic with the omicron surge . I think what is really notable to say is that while the first year of the pandemic was defined in terms of education, in terms of how decisive of how classrooms should be open that has not been the case this school year. This cool year its just been remarkable how widespread the contestants is among parents, teachers, policy makers, and blue states, red states. Schools just have to be open. Weve seen devastating academic social and Mental Health impact on kids that nobody wants to continue to see. What we are seeing right now is some of the sort of hasty waves or lack of Detailed Planning that has led us to this point. It is catching up with the School System and in some places thats becoming difficult to move forward with the well intentioned desired which is very broad to keep schools open. So the biggest threat to schools staying open, as i understand, and i had one d one guard talk about this in the past. Week its a little similar to the airlines or the nba teams, right . The nba wants to play its games and theyve got a lot of, money and they got all the testing in the world, theyre very resource outfit to see a random Public School. But if 12 players in the team of covid, the team cannot play. And similarly delta wants to run its airlines but if 30 of their pilots are out with covid they cannot fly. That seems to be the biggest threat right now to schools remaining open it is just the level of outbreaks particularly among staffs and teachers. Yes, for sure the adults getting sick and calling in sick is a really big issue. And we are hearing from some principles that faced 30 of their staff are calling in sick. And we are Hearing Stories out of places like New York City, chicago, that kids are being called out into an auditorium or gym because there is just a lot of teachers out. Another support staff, whether its custodians that are cleaning and sanitizing doing their job during the pandemic, or those that [inaudible] disabled students. Or nurses that are doing the viral testing. I also want to mention the very big bear here is the lack of rapid test. So the Biden Administration and the cdc have been clear that we should no longer be doing this widespread quarantining and kids when they come into contact with the virus. Instead, they should take too rapid virus tests per week and they should only be staying home from school if they test positive. Those are the tests that you should hopefully be able to get at a low cost or for free at a drugstore through health insurance. Unfortunately our country is way behind on the countries like the u. S. K and making these available to citizens. And the shortage of these, which is totally foreseeable and much people have been talking about for at least a year here in the states is causing a major issue for schools. Yes, again i know as a parent, interesting part in the New York City that the School System there has some cash of rapid test. Theyre using them in some sort of. We do ours all School Systems have . That was a fairly Uniform Distribution of . This hard discos getting to access these tests . No. The production and availability of the test is increasing very rapidly right now. So that is a good news story. But there is still a huge shortage of these tests being where they need to be in schools for kids, for families, for teachers. The test are not very widespread. And many still think its very hard for schools to get. Them a lot of schools that shuttered this week told me, today that they did so because they are awaiting a shipment of these antigen rapid tests from their states. And so whether they made the right call in halting schools to wait for those tests is something that people disagreed with. But theyre certainly not widespread availability of these yet. Are there any major districts that have announced a Online Learning . Essentially that theyre not going to be doing inperson school . Yes, there are. Atlanta, new york, new jersey, cleveland, junckers, Prince Georges County outside of washington d. C. The list is growing. And actually i can report here today, due to the digging my colleague and i have been doing all day today that it looks to be that about half 1 million American Students are out of school this week. Not because they are sick or because they are quarantined, but because their whole district has shifted to remote learning. So that is half 1 million American Kids impacted by shuttered schools this week. All right, dana goldstein, has been doing Great Reporting on the speed. Thank you so much. Thank you chris. That is all in on this monday night, the Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening rachel. Good evening, chris how was your holiday . It was wonderful. It was truly joyous and wonderful and cooked a lot of good stuff. Got to see some Family Members that i havent seen in a while. Spend some time together. I am big on the Christmas Tree and all of that stuff. Really into the holiday music. The whole thing, it was really great. , how was yours . Do you have any regrets about the matching pajamas . Never. That is truly art. That is who we are. I think the first year, i was like really were doing, this but now we said no we got matching pajamas for a, dog shadow. I will say, i feel like its a farreaching decision by you being saying, okay, our kids seem to like, us they seem to like each other, lets give them something easy and safe to rebel against. And really really decide that they are going to put down and Lay Down The Law to. It not there yet. Its coming, dont worry. Im in communication with their kids on. This dont worry. Planning the and thanks to you at home for joining us at this hour, Happy New Year to you as well, good to have you back with us. In washington, d. C. , they celebrated the first day after the holiday by getting a huge pile of snow dumped on the Capitol Cap Capito capital city and shutting down most of the federal government because of it. Happy new year. This is how were starting. In addition to most federal offices being closed because of the snowstorm at the capitol today, the senate is supposed to be in session this week. They were supposed to taking at least one senate vote today. But that all got slid to tomorrow because of the storm. That said, this afternoon the