formally asked to voluntarily cooperate in its investigation for spreading lies about the election. meanwhile, those who dare stray from the crooked path that today's republican party has paved are immediately blacklisted. think of liz cheney. booted out of her leadership position and no longer recognized as a republican in the state that she represents. wyoming. kind of ironic, because the rest of the country doesn't really recognize the modern republican party anymore, or what it stands for. donald trump remains its guiding light despite the fact he's facing multiple investigations involving serious matters. let this sink in for just a moment -- in new york state donald trump and his company investigated for fraud that stretches back many years. in georgia last thursday, a prosecutor asked to convene a special grand jury to compel witnesses to cooperate in the state's investigation into possible election interference by donald trump and his associates. and, of course, there is the house select committee, which is investigating the insurrection, which just obtained about 700 documents from donald trump's presidential records. highly alarming draft executive action to use the military is just one of those 700, and that's on top of more than 50,000 pages of documents already in its possession. there is something chilling about the stranglehold that donald trump continues to have on the republican party. democrats can and should be doing more to counter republican obstructionism, but in the year since they've taken control of washington, democrats have so far fallen short of bringing to life the ambitious agenda they laid out. just this week failed to pass much-needed voting support rights many supporters are calling for, but there is a world of difference between the democrats' legislative shortcoming, which point to some sort of ineffectiveness and the main stream republican party cozying up to criminals and extremeists who appear eager to overcome democracy for their own gain. a big difference. democrats can and should do better. republicans are on the wrong side of history. everyone, every american, not politicians not elected people, every one of us should be focused on the hard work of fixing and preserving our democracy, and part of that hard work involves republicans fixing their own party, or rightfully deserting it. joining me now, legal affairs reporter for politico specifically covering aftermath of the insurrection. good morning. thank you for being with the. there has been a sea change in the way observers see what's going on in the january 6th committee. you and i talk about this week after week, and sometimes sounds like the same drum beating with no particular progress, and yet in the last week we have seen subpoenas and letters and invitations and details that look like it's getting much, much closer, not just to donald trump but to the fact that this was an insurrection, not an attack on the capitol. >> that's right. the committee, you know, by all accounts, making significant in-roads over the last few months but really started to put some cards on the table here when they requested, for example, ivanka trump come in to testify in that request they started to say, well, in our previous interviews here's what we learned. we learned about who was going into the oval office to try to get donald trump to call off the mob. we learned about what was happening in the weeks while pressuring mike pence to try to overturn the election himself and actually high-level detail for people who were talking to trump at the time. starting to tell that draft executive order you pointed to, it's alarming. by all accounts taken very seriously at the highest levels at the white house at the time. low-level 1256er drafting something extreme it was under consideration in a real way. that's shocking about seeing the order in writing. >> kyle, we don't know anything -- look, we don't know nothing, but we don't know exactly who wrote that order, what level of authority they had and how it ended up in a pile of documents and went to the national archives as opposed to an executive action that actually happened. it does seem smart people in the military or lawyers would have said to donald trump, if he even saw it, you know, this isn't actually legal. but it's alarming, nonetheless, that someone drafted such a thing. >> right. and again, we know the people who were around donald trump in those key weeks, people like sidney powell and flynn advocated this course of action. the order written in a way sidney powell would become a special counsel to oversee the seizing and analysis of election equipment. so drafted to some degree of specificity with an outcome in mind. you're right. i think the agencies, authorities and branches of the military deployed to do this might have resisted but that would have been a crisis in itself. remarkable how close to the break the country really was at that time. >> so here's the interesting thing. talking to former senator al franken the other day. he made an interesting point. a lot of people subpoenaed or asked to give testimony or talk to them, we didn't even know their names. the average people did not know the name of some of these department of justice people. scott perry from pennsylvania, nobody knew his name. in the case of sidney powell and rudy giuliani out there day in day out giving press conferenceance and phone calls. on what basis would they refuse the january 6th committee? seems like the opportunity of a life time to them to sit there in front of congress and explain in detail how the 2020 election was stolen. >> sure. in some ways you might see that. sidney powell said i'm ready to come in, give you a detailed presentation and tell you my -- i think bernie similarly, former new york police commission around rudy ally said similarly he wanted to do that to try to justify what they were saying, these fraud claims. the committee's not giving them a public stage to do that because they think most debunk and they want the actual information people have about how this effort came together behind the scenes. i think they're willing to let that bluster go, and people come in and answer serious questions. >> bluster actually, fantastic for testimony. good to see you. thank you for joining us. kyle cheney legal affairs reporter for politico. i bring in olivia troy, with mike pence, former, on matter of counterterrorism. good morning. thank you for being with us. you know this but a lot of republicans maybe don't realize, maybe coming to the realization, this is an inflexes point for republicans, right? either got to make a decision we're not republicans anymore or really are republicans and you are not our matter, donald trump, and the lunatics who did that rally in florence, arizona, who denied the election and subscribe to conspiracy theories are not our party. tell me what this road forward looks like to you, because you're involved with a group trying to determine that path right now. >> i agree. it is an inflection point. there is no longer going to be republicans hoping this is going to change. now is the time for action. the time for action throughout this past year, in my opinion, when this election, the lie about the electio continues to live on. now it's a republican platform. that's the reality where the republican party is and continue to push lies across the board. running candidates based on this lie with actual no proof -- it's all false. right? they're raising money off of it. right now i think working behind the scenes, i will say we did have another meeting this week where we have a strategic plan being put in place to figure how we're going to counter these efforts. it's really going to come down to the state and local level. it's going to be grass roots initiative and partnerships. >> you know, when i talk to either current republicans or former republicans, depending where they -- people who don't really want donald trump at head of the republican party. some like joe wallish argue the takeover is complete. donald trump is there. too late to do something about it. what's your take on that? >> i don't necessarily disagree with people like joe walsh. i think clearly watching it play out. people are using this in their campaigns. but i think what matters now is that for those conservatives actually real conservatives, moderates, that actually care about real policy and governing you have a choice. a choice to decide how involved watching candidates in the primary and voting for those that are not running on these lies, and also when given the choice, be honest. choose the moderate, rasual candidate. if you have to vote for a democrat, sorry it makes you upset a d next to the ballot. put that aside. right now it's about our democracy. it's about actually supporting our country and getting out of spiraling down this rabbit hole we're in right now that driving division, it's driving potential for more violence, it's driving threats against election officials. driving threats against you, people like you and me. americans. americans every day are being put at risk here, because of the fact that all of these implications of these lies ongoing, that have a ripple effect across our communities, and our schools. i mean, you're seeing people sit there and promote violence in school board meetings now. this is all part of the same overarching problem of the behavior of many of these electorate officials in office on the republican side and people running for office. primarily on republican tickets. >> i want to quote from an op-ed you wrote speaking about your old boss mike pence. you wrote pence has only two options. one, embrace the trumpism now driving the republican party's platform including the insidious new focus on "election integrity met to defer to the big lie." two, clear his conscious. tell the truth and tell mens what really happened in four years under trump. tell him how he spent every day wondering whether our country would survive. talk to me about how you think mike pence is taking that, whether you think mike pence will do that? because actually the future of the conservative movement for the moment, viewers may not like this fact, it might rely on somebody with mike pence to bring his integrity to bear in this inflection point. >> yeah. correct. you may not like mike pence's politics, here's the truth. someone like him could actually take a stand. he could actually come forward with actual courage and that would take bravery and courage right now in the republican dynamic, and lean in a completely different direction right now and likely to happen, he would pull a lot of these republican officials with him actually not happy with what's going on but going along with it because that's where the republican party is right now and it's working for their elections. for all americans, come forward willingly and actually tell people what he saw, what happened, what led to january 6th. what's going on here. how it continues. also talk about what happened. in the white house, in four years that they lived it firsthand. one of the more striking things i'll mention when we see what was that draft executive order you talked about earlier, was donald trump's willingness to co-op the military to do his bidding at any time. this is something that i lived firsthand and lived it in the summer of 2020, donald trump tried to call out military in communities, bring fear by using military on protesters. whatever side you're on, that is not the way the military should be used. . >> conservatives generally would not support the idea of using military to co-op an election. a real space and role for conservatives in the country. olivia, thank you for joining us. a former top aide to the former vice president mike pence. this january 6th investigation is gaining serious momentum. much more to talk about. the former impeachment manager democratic representative stacey plaskett will help me make sense of a brand new nbc news poll that will be rees whoed in about 45 minutes. plus, ten months away from the 2022 midterms. there are a handful of races that could determine which party controls the senate. we're going to zero in on a race expected to be "the" most competitive this year. and there are signs that the omicron wave could be tapering off, but the strain on hospitals and medical workers has reached new heights. new heights. it's still the eat fresh refresh™ and subway's refreshing everything like the new baja turkey avocado with smashed avocado, oven-roasted turkey, and baja chipotle sauce. it's three great things together. wait! who else is known for nailing threes? hmm. can't think of anyone! subway keeps refreshing and re... super emma just about sleeps in her cape. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, hmm. can't think of anyone! we switched to tide hygienic clean free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old free detergent. tide hygienic clean free. hypoallergenic and safe for sensitive skin. in may of 2020 a cruel act of police brutality sparked a movement for change in generations. image of george floyd, unarmed black man under weight of a police officer the knee for 9:30 minutes. sound of george floyd gasping for air. the look on the police officer derek chauvin's face callously snuffed the life out of another human being on camera. watching video of it was the first time many americans witnessed true racial injustice with their own eyes and realization america's broken policing system could no longer be ignored finally set in. this quickly turned into worldwide outrage. led protests and boy costs calls for police reform, confederate statues torn down and unexpected conviction of the police officer who killed george floyd. the george floyd justice and policing act was one of the most comprehensive actions on police reform in u.s. history. but that hope faded into frustration when the policing bill fell victim to bipartisan bickering just like voting rights and climate change legislation, but just because congress has all the ground to a halt, change is still happening at state and local levels. remember these three former minneapolis police officers, thomas lane, jay alexander kueng and tou thao, pinnacle of spinelessness, stood by as george floyd was dieing under chauvin's knee despite bystanders to intervene. their trial gets under way this week prebltded by evidence at chauvin's trial, officer kueng knelt on floyd's back why lane kneeled on his legs and thao stood by keeping spectators away. depriving george floyd of civil rights and all pleaded not guilty. after their active cowardice that day, since floyd's death multiple states codified through legislation or policy officers have a duty to step in if they witness a colleague using excessive or unauthorized force. according to the policing project at nyu school of law, as of october at least 18 states required officers to intervene or required law enforcement agencies to adopt policies imposing such a duty on officers, and at least 17 states required officers to report what another officer using excessive force. a small change, but the sort that can help police departments root out rogue cops and hold officers accountable. just this week a south florida police department opened and investigation into a veteran sergeant who pulled up to an arrest already in progress. bodycam footage shows the suspect already handcuffed in back of the police van when the sergeant is seen leaning into the vehicle and pointing pepper spray at the restrained ssuspec. a much lower officer, pulled sergeant, her superior, by the belt away from the suspect. the sergeant then turned on his own colleague and grabbed her by the neck. the whole thing caught on body camera. the police chief at sunrise pd setted junior officer who intervened did the right thing. following the department's own policies for a situation where there is "imminent fear of engagement escalating" between officers and suspects. will these duty to intervene policies be enough to stop all brutality and discrimination, probably not on their own. able to penetrate the blue wall of silence that stops so many officers from reporting colleagues' wrongdoing? hard to say. when change is in short supply, sure is a decent place to start. . ♪taking a break from all your worries ♪ ♪sure would help a lot ♪ ♪wouldn't you like to get away? ♪ ♪ ♪ sometimes you want to go ♪ ♪where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ ♪and they're always glad you came ♪ once upon a time, at the magical everly estate, landscaper larry and his trusty crew... were delayed when the new kid totaled his truck. timber... fortunately, they were covered by progressive, so it was a happy ending... for almost everyone. so it was a happy ending... i earn 3% cash back at drugstores with chase freedom unlimited. so i got cards for 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[music: sung by craig robinson] all are of... various: ♪ i'm a ganiac, ganiac, check my drawers ♪ [sfx: sniffs] ♪ and my clothes smell so much fresher than before ♪ try gain flings and you'll be a gainiac too! the only detergent with oxiboost and febreze. the omicron variant, sent infections soaring to unprecedented levels in the last two months two be showing signs of peaking in the united states. infections are starting to plateau and fall in the east. this comes as many hospitals at capacity are now seeing fewer admissions than the week before. however, officials acknowledge it could be weeks before the intense strain on medical facilities subsides. making matters worse the department of health and human services says nearly a quarter of u.s. hospitals are facing a critical staffing shortage meaning less attention and care for all patients. put that in real numbers, the labor department estimates the health care sector lost nearly half a million workers since february 2020. start of covid. those are felt immediately in the covid wards but continue to have an adverse affect on other parts of the hospital as well. in texas only 40% of the state's rural hospitals have labor and delivery units for newborns making it a so-called maternity desert. whole sections of texas currently have no access to obstetrics. reports in rural texas of people giving birth in parking lots either no space or no employees to aid the process. the crush on hospitals also affects patients seeking surgery to improve their quality of life. for example, an ohio man fell at his home two years ago rupturing a disc in his neck. after almost a year and a half of waiting, finally sent for surgery last week in a hospital 47 miles away, but those plans were canceled because of staffing and bed shortages. describes his neck pain as at times a 12 on a scale of 1 to 10. telling the "washington post" "i'm upset after waiting so long now i don't know when i will have my surgery." for more on how to potentially solve this problem i'm joined by a doctor, cardiology, president and ceo of the association of american medical colleges also the, was the secretary of the smithsonian institution and the former presidentcornell university. >> a pleasure to be with you and your crew. thank you. >> thank you, sir. i was saying, five states have 40% or more of their hospitals reporting staff shortages. we know that some of this is the pandemic, burnout from doctors and people leaving their careers. but what's the rest of the source of the problem and how do you fix it? >> well, first, let's go back and underline something you already said that's very important and can't be overemphasized. the pandemic is still with us. some areas definitely are showing some decrease in cases of omicron. other areas are still rising. that's number one. number two, we've had shortages predicted of physicians and shortages of nurses for some time. we're predicting that the association of american medical colleges as many as 124,000 positions short in the next 12 years, and the nursing shortages in this country since the early 1900s. that's setting the stage. on top of that, you have covid. on top of that you have the important procedures that were put off early in covid, and this is really a perfect storm. these are all the things that are behind it, but the staff shortages are terrible, and as bad as i'm worried, especially worried about the physician shortages, i'm more worried about the shortages of every other staff especially nurses right now. >> yeah. it's across the board. i guess there are always, when you have labor shortages, a couple of solutions, maybe three solutions, one, look at the truck drivers. training more truck drivers and maybe paying them more. the other one, comes to doctors and nurses getting more people through the education pipeline, what you deal with specifically. and then there's the matter of immigration. we already look for doctors all over the world. we need to look harder. where do you think the solutions lie? >> all of the above. you and i have talked on this program earlier, ali, about immigration. it's very, very important that we continue to bring people into this country. many, many people are dependent on fabulous doctors and others who come from over seas. it's also true that for the longer term, the pipeline has to increase. there's good news this year. we had an 18% increase in those applying to and actually getting into medical school. then thirdly, of course, the pipeline is terrific. the pathway is terrific, but that's not going to help us in the short term. so in the short term one of the things viewers can do, get vaccinated. in vaccinated, get boosted. because the unvaccinated, unfortunately, are at much, much greater risk of terrible outcomes either from omicron, said to be a milder disease, a milder variant of covid, but still something people can actually do. what we're doing right now is doing our very best. the government has helped sending in the national guard in, in certain areas. make no mistake about it. there's no quick, easy short-term solution to this. we're going to be under stress and we have to do everything we can to protect these hospitals. >> david, your association, the association of american medical college tweeted january 21st on the border across the country medical students and faculty stepped in to provide basic medical care to migrants. the need enormous. part of a bigger idea you floated and we've talked about letting advanced medical students enter the field earlier than typical. is that a long-term solution or a band-aid? >> well, for the terrible problems we've had with the migrant community on the southern border, i have to say sort of a band-aid. longer term, could medical school are shorter? it's possible. there are experiments going on out there in some of our 155 medical schools, and granting institutions. i think it's got to be a combination of things. careful review of our immigration policies, and then also finding out how we can actually bring some people into the health care workforce and they do not all have to be physicians. as you know, there are many other people in the health care workforce who are absolutely dependable and excellent and we need them to help us get through all crisis a of crisis. >> so thoughtful. great to have you on the show with us again this morning. appreciate it. the president and ceo of the association of american medical colleges. thanks for being with us. it has been a violent week in new york city. four police officers have been shot. one killed in just the last week. in the face of that, the new mayor eric adams is pledging to get guns off the streets. get guns off the streets. it's the number one heart failure brand prescribed by cardiologists. entresto was proven superior at helping people stay alive and out of the hospital. heart failure can change the structure of your heart, so it may not work as well. entresto helps improve your heart's ability to pump blood to the body. and with a healthier heart, there's no telling where life may take you. don't take entresto if pregnant; it can cause harm or death to an unborn baby. don't take entresto with an ace inhibitor or aliskiren, or if you've had angioedema with an ace or arb. the most serious side effects are angioedema, low blood pressure, kidney problems, or high blood potassium. ask your doctor about entresto for heart failure. entrust your heart to entresto. why does walgreens offer prescription copays as low as zero dollars? ♪ ♪ so you won't have a medicare in the world. ♪ ♪ plus, 90-day refills and same day delivery. larry? that's even less to medicare about. fill your medicare prescriptions with walgreens and save. ♪ ♪ (vo) verizon is going ultra! and so is manny! event planning with our best business unlimited plan ever! with 5g ultra wideband now in many more cities and up to 10 times the speed at no extra cost, the downloads are flying fast! verizon is going ultra, so your business can too. the new york police departments in mourning this weekend amid an uptick of gun violence in the city. one police officer dead another fighting for his life ambushed responding to a domestic dispute on friday. a rookie police officer jason rivera, 22 years old, shot and killed. the other officer in critical condition. a third officer on the scene shot the suspect as he attempted to flee. the third currently hospitalized in critical condition. the other officer unharmed. the third and fourth nypd officers shot in the last week and so far in 2022 five officers have been shot. the first few weeks of the year have been pretty violent in new york city under new leadership of mayor eric adams. a former police captain himself. gun violence a huge priority for adams as he's taken over, the police department reinstated a controversial plain clothed anti-crime unit largely focused on getting firearms off the street. it was dismantled last year after its tactics were deemed unconstitutional. urging new yorkers to stand together at this tragic time against those who perpetrate gun violence. >> this was not just an attack on three brave officers. this was an attack on the city of new york. we are not going to win this battle by dividing lines between us. we must save this city together. we're going to honor the memory of this officer, lost to gun violence by standing eyed against these killers and those who are arming them. >> continue to follow that story, rising gun violence in new york city. coming up, rising temperatures from nasa showing some of the hottest temperatures ever recorded in 2021 and affecting futurerations and our physical and mental health right now. more on that in a moment. more on that in a moment. water is freezing. nice! if it's got to be clean, it's got to be tide. fries or salad? 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(all) to screening! after democrats failed to pass voting rights this week president biden's build back better will likely face the same fate. specific agenda items in the package too urgent to the left in legislative limbo namely measures to fight climate change pap growing number of democrats trying to move ahead with just this section of the bill salvaging what they can before the party may lose the elections in the mid-term elections. there's some indication senator joe manchin could go along with some of the climate provisions making democrats eager to regroup on this issue and get something done. this move comes as nearly every part of the united states is recently experienced some kind of severe weather. deadly tornadoes, heat waves, hurricanes, wildfires. all believed by scientists to have been exacerbated by climate change. on top of that the world keeps getting hotter. new data from nasa shows the past seven years, warmest in recorded history. particularly in 2021. a year in which a lot of industry was shut down and a lot of people didn't commute. global temperatures were among the highest ever observed. climate experts say the window is quickly closing for the world to rally and take sufficient action to save the earth from future generations. for more joined by meteorology bonny schneider, author of upcoming book "taking the heat." good to see you, my friend. let's start with the fact you are a meteorologist, and over the years as you and i worked together we have really seen an evolution in the realtime connection between more severe hurricanes. hotter and more frequent fires. forest fires. these extreme weather things and climate. made that scientific connection in a very mainstream way. >> that's right, ali, and thanks for having me on. you know, you're right. through the years we've not only seen more intense extreme weather events but certain events happening more often and impacting more people. why we're seeing record numbers of natural disasters occurring every year, and unfortunately intensifying as the years continue. as a meteorologist, often i'm in a studio and talking about what's happening in terms of when a storm is hitting, but i've also, like everyone else, noticed the human impact and why i decided to write this book. when looking at extreme weather, for example, we know that it affects physical health. somebody could be injured by debris during a storm, or have an accident driving during a flood. but there's a lot more to the picture than that. with these climate-induced events we're seeing a major affect in terms of emotional and mental health, and that's why i wrote this book to kind of really draw the connections between not just physical but mental and emotional well-being when it comes to climate change add the threat we're experiencing right now. doctors i've interviewed and the medical experts say these impacts are already happening, and only going to get worse. >> let's talk about this. because if i'm out there covering a fire or hurricane or a tornado or a flood, i see, very obvious to me and my viewers what the impact on those people would be. particularly if you're in a fire. you know it will cause you to have respiratory issues, but you're actually talking about something beyond that. you're talking about the health effects generally to people who are not around extreme weather, but are affected by climate and the affects psychologically on people. talk to me a bit more about that. >> well, we know that often after any kind of traumatic event people may experience post-traumatic stress. what i've done with my research, comes to hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, severe floods, wildfires, people are feeling the impact, the psychological trauma for a longer period of time, and, again, these storms are more intense, happen for frequently and impact more people there's a greater risk for psychological impact when it comes to post-traumatic stress. we're also seeing this unprecedented level of anxiety in young people. there was a recent study out by the lancet for 18 to 25-year-olds, internationally, 10,000 interviewed, and majority of them say they are very worried about the climate crisis. and this isn't just producing fears. it's also producing a measurable level of anxiety and that is what i focused on a lot in the my book interviewing psychologists and psychiatrists impacted by think new term, ecoanxiety. >> you say it's not an official diagnosis. meaning nos classified as a mental illnesses or psychological disorder, used to describe focus of the patient's distress. whether climate change is experienced indirectly or directly. it can translate into impaired mental health resulting in depression and anxiety. for people my age, i might find that hard to understand, but for people in gen z, lived with it entire lives and concept existential threat to humanity take as toll on them. >> that's right. organizations like the climate psychiatry alliance, climate psychology alliance are advising other therapists to treat these issue as. don't rush them off. people are experiencing real levels of anxiety. you mentioned, this generation facing it since children and are well aware of it and that's only intensified. dealing with that psychological stress. i want to touch on something else you mentioned, ali. even if the event is happening you might see it on tv, or read about it on social media, these events, these extreme weather events and just the climate in general is impacting people in a different way. talk about nostalgia, miss home, being in our homes. a new term coaled solostalgia. we can be in our home, things look different. people feeling emotional stress as well. particularly true tore indigenous people seeing environments reshaped by climate change. >> yeah. a lot in your book about indigenous people and minorities who suffer these things at different proportionate levels. bonnie, thank you. good to see you my friend. "taking the heat." a good idea to read things like this. don't want to read the science think about how it affects you. coming up next, one of "the" moat competitive elections in this year's mid-terms. check in on pennsylvania's election with the lieutenant governor john fetterer. john f it provides instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours. its powerful decongestant targets congestion at the source, with a dual action formula that relieves nasal congestion and soothes sinus pressure by reducing swelling in the sinuses. for instant relief that lasts up to 12 hours, ♪ i see trees of green ♪ ♪ red roses too ♪ ♪ i see them bloom ♪ ♪ for me and you ♪ ♪ and i think to myself ♪ ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ a rich life is about more than just money. that's why at vanguard, you're more than just an investor, you're an owner so you can build a future for those you love. vanguard. become an owner. [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ control of the house and senate could very well slip away from democrats in this november's midterms. one of the states to watch is pennsylvania, which will hold primaries for one of its u.s. senate seats in may. the race is expected to be one of the most competitive elections of the entire year as dozens of candidates, democrat and republican, fight for the chance to replace the incumbent, the republican pat toomey, who is retiring. remember, pennsylvania is the battleground of all political battlegrounds. joe biden's victory in the election was only confirmed once the results from pennsylvania were in. and the state very well could decide which party controls the senate next year. there is a crowded field this year, with 14 democrats in the running for the chance to be the democratic nominee. the front-runners are lieutenant governor john fetterman, state representative malcolm kenyatta, conor lamb and val arkush. on the republican side, the pool of candidates includes some eyebrow raising names like former tvim mehmet oz. an unusual and inevitable piece missing from the race is donald trump's two cents. after the candidate he endorsed dropped out, he's remained uncharacteristically quiet, at least for now. joining me is the aforementioned lieutenant governor john fetterman of pennsylvania, one of the democratic candidates for the united states senate. paint for us, please, my viewers, those who are not like you and me, from pennsylvania, what this race looks like and to what degree pennsylvania is a microcosm of the political and cultural battles that we're having in america right now. >> that's a great question. i've always been a candidate, whether it is in 2016 or 2018 or in 2022, i'm always going to tell the truth. it is going to be a difficult cycle for democrats here in pennsylvania. anyone that is not saying otherwise isn't being honest. that's why we believe that, you know, while i want to say that we're all good democrats in the race here on the -- on our side, but we believe we're going to need to create a new map in order to win in pennsylvania because ultimately independent voters are the key in pennsylvania, and we need to appeal, we are -- have been and are competing in the reddest counties here in pennsylvania, and it is going to be a weird cycle as you alluded to in your introduction. you got an odd celebrity tv doctor in the race, you have a hedge fund billionaire in the race, you've got candidates having to drop out. it is going to be strange. one thing i do know, it is going to be difficult and we believe that our grassroots campaign that is drawing in support from 88% of pennsylvania zip codes and 175,000 grass roots donors is uniquely positioned to win in a -- what is going to be a difficult year for democrats here in pennsylvania. >> there are 14 democrats at the moment. there are four essential front-runners, people thought of as being in the lead. and those four that i mentioned all represent something different. they all have strengths in different demographic and geographic parts of the state. what is your advantage? >> i would just -- as i alluded to earlier, that we -- i'm the only candidate in the race that has run state wide here in pennsylvania. we have donor density, against, among 88% of pennsylvania zip codes, which i guess communicates to me the level of enthusiasm. we have, again, 175,000 grassroots donors and have been leading in both fund-raising and polling. i think it is a good indication of the grassroots enthusiasm that we have here for our campaign. but we're all good democrats in this race. and they are all running strong campaigns in that regard. and as i said, it is going to be a difficult year and ultimately i believe that the candidate that does things differently, the candidate that has a unique path is the one that is best suited to win in a state as difficult as pennsylvania is. >> what do you say to people who say you're too liberal? >> i would say that that's just not true. there isn't one person in this race that is running on anything different in terms of a platform that what i'm running on. and whether that's minimum wage, whether that's support for unions, whether that's support for gay and trans communities, whether that's support -- acknowledging climate change, there isn't one candidate. now that may have been true in 2016. that may have been true in 2016. but now the party has shifted to the platform that i ran on in 2016 and, you know, i'd like to point out what happened in pennsylvania in 2016, in that senate election. >> well, let me ask you this. i didn't really mean it in terms of you versus the front running democratic candidates, i'm talking about if you become the nominee in the election, are you too liberal for rural pennsylvanians? >> i disagree, absolutely. our positions are, i think, what a majority of pennsylvanians want. as the only one that is on republican or democratic side that has run state wide in pennsylvania. when i joined governor wolf on the ticket in 2018, that -- >> i think we have an internet problem -- we got him back. sorry, lieutenant governor, we froze for a second. continue your thought. >> yeah, i just said that in 2018, when i joined governor wolf on the ticket, that ticket got a million more votes and we beat the republican by 850,000 votes. so that tells me that there is a broad range of appeal for these basic fundamental policy ideas and positions. i don't believe that there is anyone that is too liberal. it is just a matter of it is going to be a tough cycle for democrats and we need a different kind of democrat that has demonstrated an ability to appeal. and make the case in all 67 counties as i've -- i'm the only one that has run here in pennsylvania. >> lieutenant governor, good to see you. thank you for joining us this morning. lieutenant governor john fetterman of pennsylvania is a candidate for the united states senate primary in that state. that primary will be in may. mr. fetterman and anyone else running for office this year is going to have to answer to voters who are uncertain about democracy, the economy and the pandemic. a brand-new nbc news poll, which we will release in a moment, gets at the heart of how americans are feeling about the direction in which this country is going. another hour of "velshi" begins now. >> good morning. i'm ali velshi. it is sunday, january 23rd. just over a year into the joe biden presidency, and we are getting a clear picture of where things stand in america now, where things are going and how things could have been for better and for worse. right now, breaking, right now, is a new nbc news poll showing biden's approval rating at 44% among registered voters. the lowest of his presidency. he has a 54% disapproval, the highest of his presidency. just 39% of americans view joe biden positively, that's only two points more than how americans view donald trump right now. and while 47% of americans prefer