can all move on now. good morning and welcome to "morning joe." it is tuesday, january 25th. with us we have the host of "way too early" and white house bureau chief at "politico", jonathan lemire. and president of the council on foreign relations, richard haass is with all of us this morning. i'm in warsaw, poland, again this morning where there continues to be grave concern over what russia will do with its troops on the ukraine border. the pentagon says it has put thousands of u.s. troops on high alert as fears increase that russia may invade ukraine again. nbc news chief foreign affairs correspondent, andrea mitchell, has the details. >> reporter: with fears rising that russia could invade ukraine, president biden centering a major show of force near russia, putting up to 8,500 u.s. troops on heightened alert, mostly as part of a nato force. >> military action could come at any time. >> reporter: the president at camp david this weekend, reviewing pentagon proposals to move thousands of troops to countries around ukraine, fly bombers over the region and send ships to the black sea. nato putting more troops on stand by and sending additional fighter jets and war ships. >> what this is about is reassurance to our allies. >> reporter: the president after a secured video conference from the situation room with european allies insisting they're united. >> i had a very good meeting, in total unanimity with our allies. >> reporter: germany stalling on the delivery of equipment to ukraine. russia denies it plans to invade despite spending more troops and jets to ukraine's borders. the u.s. ordering embassy families and civilians to leave ukraine on commercial flights while they can and warning civilians not to travel to ukraine or russia, upsetting ukraine's government which called those moves premature. but it was warned that ukraine could invade and install a puppet government answering to moscow. >> hey, richard haass. obviously this continues. we have been seeing this, talking about this for a few weeks now. it is a slow, rolling invasion if an invasion does come. actually, russia has allowed the united states to sort of gain its footing, for its allies to gain its footing and start supplying the ukrainian with some of the support that they need. talk about the timing with russia. what are they looking at? what are they waiting for? >> militarily, joe, russia has been ready for sometime, and the longer the time goes obviously you begin to see nato take preparations. you see ukraine beginning to absorb some weapons. so in some sense not waiting is in russia's interest. the problem is the beijing olympics, and they start in just over a week. putin is supposed to be there as the honored guest of xi jinping, and the olympics don't end until february 20th. so it is unlikely, i think, that he overshadows these olympics with invasion. plus, i think russia wants diplomacy to, quote, unquote, be seen to play out. i could be wrong obviously, but that's my sense. then given weather after february 20th, there's only a limited amount of time, roughly a month while the ground is hard enough to do something really large but it doesn't mean he has to do anything large. the word invasion is unfortunate here. i think it is better to think of intervention. an intervention suggests an entire menu of possibilities. the smaller, more focused an intervention is the less time pressure mr. putin will feel. >> richard, the pentagon went out yesterday to say nato is a defensive ally and it will defend the neighboring countries to ukraine if something happens. if there's an intervention, to use your term, what's the next step? tanks roll over the border, then what? >> you continue to see arms go into ukraine, but you will not see direct military intervention by nato forces inside the borders of ukraine. that will not happen. what you will see is the reinforcement of nato and people will say basically, we are going to take steps to fulfill our potential article five commitments, which is the idea if anyone in nato is attacked. basically you are telling putin, you can do what you want in ukraine, hopefully you will pay an enormous force for it, and one of the prices you will pay is we will do what you don't want us to do, increase our presence on nato's partner's borders. one of the risks is that nato might get stronger, not just to make sure he doesn't go beyond ukraine's border but as a permanent feature of a post-ukraine map of europe, if you will. >> richard, in sort of a bizarre turn we have seen over the past year or two people on the trump right supporting victor orban and his ill-liberalism, his attack on western democracy. now some of the same people are suggesting we should be supporting russia or at least not be against russia in their attack against ukraine. can you explain the difference between the united states' relationship to ukraine and the united states' relationship to russia and why we should be far more concerned about ukraine? >> well, russia sees ukraine, particularly vladimir putin, as almost an organic part of russia, that history has been unfair to russia. ukraine has been separated from it. there's obviously ethnic russians in parts of ukraine and crimea that russia occupies. the same holds for eastern ukraine. but russia wants to basically undo the -- >> no, no, i get that. no, i get that. that's not my question. >> okay. >> if americans are saying that supporting russia is the same thing as supporting ukraine and why is america supporting ukraine instead of russia, do they have that wrong? >> oh, absolutely. russia is anything but a liberal status quo, peaceful, responsible country. russia stands for everything in many ways we oppose. it stands -- how it is organized and its goals, russia wants to go back to a world where borders can be crossed with -- all borders except their own can be crossed with impunity. it is a much more violent world. it is a world where human rights, where economic rights of individuals are not respected. russia represents a very, very different -- almost a totally different trend or theme of history here, and their goals are not necessarily limited in europe. they really want to create a world where they are a dominant force in the european land mass. >> what about ukraine? not to interrupt, but what about ukraine? is ukraine just as bad as russia. >> oh, god, no. >> as these trumpists suggest? >> ukraine is imperfect, god knows. there's a long tradition of infighting, of corruption, its democracy is not fully grounded. one of the reasons, joe, it is way, way, way premature to talk about ukraine in nato is it don't fit many of the preconditions of being a nato member but ukraine is heading in the right direction. ukraine is not a threat to anybody. ukraine's forces are not massed to invade russia. ukraine has internal problems, i get it, and ukraine has not perhaps been as forthcoming as it should be at offering its russian minorities certain degrees of protection and autonomy. but no one should equate the two. ukraine is an emerging country that's moving -- the arrows are essentially headed in the right direction. the problem for ukraine is russia won't give it a chance. it won't give it time or space. >> the wall street urinal editorial board this morning says the united states can't stop the invasion but it certainly can raise the cost. it writes in this. president biden is considering troop deployment along with ships and aircraft and nato allies like poland and the baltic states closest to the russian threat. go ahead and send them, sir. mr. biden's strategy of restraint in the hope of not provoking vladimir putin has not worked. by the way, it never worked. it didn't work with bush, it didn't wore with obama, donald trump bending over backwards. restraint doesn't work. denying moscow control over ukraine is in the u.s. national interest. the consequences will extend far beyond ukraine as other american adversaries try to assert regional dominance. mr. putin could look to the baltics next, while iran and china also have malign aspirations. authoritarians are seldom content with merely controlling their own people. the u.s. and the west need to be prudent when pushing when to push back against regional address-offs. but helping ukraine is they extending european peace. russia not moving in quickly when it could have, it seems ha the biden administration in some ways starting to get its footing, the allies starting to get their footing. most are lining up, other than the germans which, again, is just deplorable what the germans are doing right now, but most are lining up and getting ready to make vladimir putin pay a cost. is there a change of attitude inside of the white house instead of where we were a week ago where it seemed like biden thought this was just a fait accompli? >> yeah, white house officials have told me the tone and tenor have shifted in recent days, highlighted by the president's meeting with his national security team at camp david over the weekend. it was from that meeting the decision was made here to have these troops ready for possible deployment. there is frustration with the administration. you hit it, on germany. there's not quite unanimity among european allies how to handle the russia threat. so much of europe depends on the national gas pipeline of russia. it is well documented. officials i talked to last night said they don't know putin's time table. yes, the olympics certainly loom large here, that he may not want to overshadow the olympics or endanger his relationship with xi jinping, the president of china, who, of course, put a lot into making sure the beijing games go off without a hitch. but he is an unpredictable actor. we heard from white house press secretary jen psaki saying if an invasion were to happen, it could happen at any time. aides point to me there are russian military drills scheduled for the region right after the olympics and that's something they're watching carefully, too, that potentially could be go time if it were to happen. in the meantime we will see. in the couple of weeks american forces, potentially a stronger deterrence from the u.s., reinforcing allies to try to prevent military action. >> richard, what have we learned about vladimir putin in the couple of decades he has been in power? what should the white house be looking at in terms of hough he respond? it has been pointed out that he has shrugged off sanctions, but sanctions have impact on the russian oligarchs, cutting them off from western banking institutions might put pressure on them. is that a good idea? >> i don't think it will do any good. putin has amassed on the order of 500 billion with a "b" dollars worth of reserves. his budget calculates in order to break even they need oil price in the 40s. oil is more than twice that. for putin who is a big oil exporter, that's an enormous cushion. he has china, one of the reasons i think he is unlikely to rain on xi jinping's olympics parade is china is part of the cushion to protect him against the impact of sanctions. if he is denied to certain aspects of the american-led global economic order he has other alternatives. you have kind of an authoritarian international telling the americans, you don't control everything. you control part of the world, i get it and you are part of the banking system but we have alternatives. let me share one thing joe has raised, it is one thing to prepare sending resources to allies, i get it. that's a smart thing to do but i don't think we should do it yet. the whole idea is to signal to putin, that's one of the prices you will pay if you go ahead. the whole idea is to change his calculus about the costs and benefits of going in. i think we are exactly right to prepare the forces, put them on a short warning time but not to send them yet. they ought to be held in reserve, we can do it if the time should come that putin actually intervenes in ukraine. >> so i'm looking at this piece, richard, joe, willie and john by fiona hill, who was in charge of russia and euro/asian affairs. she has incredible insight from observing putin. she writes this. putin wants to give the united states a taste of the bitter medicine russia had to swallow in the 1990s. he believes the u.s. is in the same predicament russia was after the soviet collapse, weakened at home and in retreat abroad. he thinks nato is nothing more than an extension of the united states. here is one more point here. this time mr. putin's aim is bigger than closing nato's open door to ukraine and taking more territory. he wants to evict the u.s. from europe. as he might put it, goodbye, america, don't let the door hit you on the way out. we'll be talking about this a lot more throughout the morning. now to other news making headlines this morning. wall street marked one of the best market comebacks in a long time yesterday with all three major indices finishing on a high note. investors began monday's session dumping technology shares. at one point the dow jones dropped more than 1,000 points, but shares rebounded as the day went on. president biden meanwhile joined the white house competition council for its second meeting yesterday to discuss efforts to lower prices and combat supply chain shortages for american consumers. joining us now, cnbc global markets reporter seema mody. seema, a lot going on. >> absolutely. good morning, mika. a dramatic rebound on wall street yesterday with stocks falling precipitously at the open and then really in the blink of an eye in early afternoon we saw the market stage this big recovery. the carnage was really centered around technology stocks. investors recently have been questioning whether in a rising rate environment these companies like facebook, google, apple that have taken out debt can continue to outperform. now, the fed's two-day meeting does begin today where the focus will be on just how much the central bank plans to raise rates. is it three or four times? the exact plan, that is what wall street wants to know and how the fed plans to combat high inflation. the timing, right now the expectation from investors is that multiple rate hikes will begin in march. so chair jay powell has a busy two days ahead of him. the commentary from him will be key and the market, of course, will be hanging on every word. we are also watching earnings. we are in the thick of earnings season right now, mika, big heavyweights which could set the tone for wall street from general electric, 3m set to report today, apple, tesla later this week. that will provide investors just a better gauge on how some of the biggest names on wall street are hoping with these persistent concerns around inflation, supply chain and the broader slowdown in china. now, the discussion on russia and ukraine, the prospect of an imminent invasion certainly coming up on wall street notes right now. but right now the key focus is the federal reserve. >> so, seema, let's talk about tech stocks. obviously they're getting off to a horrid start this year, but yesterday was just a tale of two markets. why the rush in halfway through the day after things were going so badly? did you have investors trying to buy the lows, and is it their -- is there any reason to believe anything has changed fundamentally and the tech stocks won't start going back down today? >> well, right now futures, joe, do suggest that the market will start in negative territory. we are looking at stocks in japan hitting a two-year low. the focus around technology has really been around, yes, this is a sector that has done very well since the onset of the pandemic. in fact, if you look at the s&p 500, technology has been the biggest winner. we have seen the biggest rebound in those companies. so there has been this broader conversation around valuations, should these stocks run up this fast, does it make sense. again, if the fed is expected to turn the tap on, continue to raise rates in an aggressive manner, can the larger companies that are sitting on debt, that rely on a lower rate environment, can they continue to do well in this type of move. now, in terms of yesterday's dramatic rebound, a lot of assumptions be made. yes, perhaps investors coming in midday to buy the dip. perhaps many people thought that the sell-off that we initially saw was overdone. today's performance and the weekly performance, that will perhaps provide just better look at how investors are placing their bets. of course, what we hear from powell, joe, that will be key as well. >> all right. thank you so much. >> cnbc's seema mody. thank you. thank you very much, seema. still ahead on "morning joe," new signs that omicron may have reached its peak. we will talk to the u.s. surgeon general about the case rates trending downward across the country. plus, coronavirus has had a clear impact on students. new data shows graduation rates taking a dip. also ahead, more trouble for british prime minister boris johnson following news of a birthday bash during covid lockdowns. and a story that will have you checking your spam folder this morning. you are watching "morning joe". we will be right back. we will be right back. biden: when i think about climate change, the word i think of is jobs. these investments are a win, win, win, for this country. creating jobs, cutting energy costs, protecting our climate. so let's not waste anymore time. let's get to work. this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but whatever work becomes, the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? ...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. it's still the eat 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"morning joe." lights still not on at the white house, 6:24 in the morning in washington. a grand jury request has been approved in georgia's largest county in the investigation into possible election interference by former president donald trump. a superior court judge made that decision yesterday after the request was submitted by fulton county's district attorney last week. she is investigating whether the former president tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. the scope of that probe includes trump's now infamous phone call to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger just days before the capitol attack. >> i only need 11,000 votes. fellows, i need 11,000 votes. give me a break. so, look, all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know -- that you've recalculated. >> when the grand jury convenes in early may they will have the power to subpoena witnesses who so far have refused to testify. in response to the d.a.'s request last week trump claimed his phone call with raffensperger was, quote, even more perfect than his phone call with ukraine's president, the one that got him impeached in 2019. it is hard to imagine a phone call more incriminating than the one we just played, the tape of the president of the united states asking the secretary of state to find the votes to give him that state. we should point out again the state of georgia has counted its presidential votes three times, including once by hand, all showing joe biden winning the state. >> the investigation into whether or not president trump tried to overturn his loss in that state. spoiler alert, he did. he hits the specific vote total that he needed to overturn the results and he is leaning on brad raffensperger there. it is suggested that this case poses more legal peril to him than others circulating, those in new york, there's an indication washington, d.c. might investigate his words leading up to the insurrection. this is something to watch carefully. the next step will be subpoena, whether or not trump himself or those around him, including some of the aides in the white house that day, make mark meadow, will they get him to testify. that we will find out in the spring. >> meaning au, we know former president trump worked around the clock in a number of states to try to get the vote totals flipped but not as explicitly have we heard it as in that phone call to raffensperger. >> you know, that phone call gets worse with time if it is possible. i mean it was bad when we first heard it, but hearing him say, you know, you can simply say that you recalculated. i mean, my god, as corrupt as it comes. let's go across the pond now. british prime minister boris johnson is facing new'ses he broke coronavirus pandemic protocols while the rest of the country was under a strict lockdown. according to itv news johnson held a birthday party at 10 downing street, a breach of the government's ban on indoor social gatherings at the time. johnson has been criticized for attending various events during the country's lockdown. he publicly apologized for attending a garden party, but his office says other gatherings were for work. johnson's own political party has turned on him for the scandal and an investigation into his alleged attendant -- attendance is ongoing. joe, i don't know, boris johnson is just a party animal, i guess. he just has to party. he's got to have his party. >> well, you know, he's got to party all the time. party all the time. party all the time, as rick james, i think. >> what? >> was rick james the one that said, my girl likes to party all the time. eddie murphy. >> eddie murphy. >> i don't know how i forget that. yeah, eddie murphy had a hit and didn't get in trouble for saying that. all of this leads me as i wake up to breaking news from the bbc that now the police are investigating this garden party, richard, it all leads me to just ask a question. is this country, is everything going so well in great britain that they can stop the entire country -- because i really, i think at this point, i really admire that country for having everything together so much that they can literally shutdown a country over a garden party and suggest that this is the most important thing going on in great britain. i mean, come on, at some point slap him on the wrist, keep going, worry about the russian invasion of ukraine and brexit and, well, again, whatever problems great britain have. but they have to be bigger than this. >> they are, but boris johnson dominates english public and political life almost in a trumpian fashion. what he did here was the hypocrisy of calling upon the entire society to make great sacrifices while he and people around him were not really struck a nerve. behind this, joe, is really brexit. boris johnson is the persohnive indication of brexit. yes, it is about the hypocrisy of the party and we'll see whether this vote of confidence and whether this party challenges him. my own view is he probably does survive but too soon to know. we will have to wait for the civil service report to come out in a couple of days. but this is as much about the direction he has taken the country and people are exhausted with him. they're unhappy, many are unhappy with brexit. the reality is far below and the lies are catching up. again, boris johnson is trumpian. that's what this is about, more than the party per se. it is about his leadership. labor is powerless to do anything so it is up to the torys, his party, shall we say. sooner or later the act will get old and he will come down. my guess is not quite yet. this is really about his governance, brexit, the state of the country, which isn't good. like here, people are just sick, if you will, of covid. there's a kind of exhaustion that's hitting the country. he is trying, by the way, to change the conversation as you suggest, for brits doing more, sending lethal aid to ukraine, but i don't think it is quite, shall we say, grab i.t. public or elite attention. >> it is gross hypocrisy if not a crime. a quick update on my girl like to party all the time. the song came out as a bet between eddie murphy and richard pryor about whether eddie could sing. he could and it went to number two. >> that's so good to know. >> i knew that rick james, the spirit of rick james was somehow involved in that record. but eddie went to number two with that, willie? >> number two with a bullet. >> wow. >> he was kept off the top of the charts by "say you, say me" by lionel richie. >> wow, news you can use. >> that's a big one. that's a big one, mika. you bet you slow danced to that in middle school with your blue eyeliner on, right? >> yeah. so for all of you -- >> with dark hair -- >> i learned a little polish here. [ speaking foreign language ] joe and willie. >> thank you very much. >> richard haass, thank you very much. >> we agree. >> look it up and you will know what i said, but we here in poland all agree, you all are crazy. coming up, a spike in gun violence in new york city has new york city mayor eric adams bringing back a controversial police unit. the mayor will be our guest at the top of the hour. plus, a music icon has a message for spotify. remove a popular podcaster or take down my music. more on that just ahead on "morning joe." just ahead on "morning joe." unitedhealthcare medicare plans offer so much more... ...so you can find just the right plan for you. like the “visit a doctor anywhere our rv takes us” plan. the “zero copays means more money for rumba lessons” plan. ♪♪ and the “visit my doctor while eating pancakes” plan. unitedhealthcare is the #1 medicare plan provider, so you're sure to find the right plan for you. including the only plans with the aarp name. get medicare with more. 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. [copy machine printing] ♪ ♪ who would've thought printing... could lead to growing trees. ♪ the republican majority on the florida senate education committee advanced a measure last week that attempts to bar the influence of critical race theory in schools and businesses across the state. florida governor ron desantis goes further, supporting a proposal that would allow parents to sue school districts that teach racism-related materials. meanwhile, a florida school district cancelled a professor's civil rights history seminar for teachers, citing in part concerns over critical race theory even though his lecture had nothing to do with the topic. for more on this let's bring in senior national political reporter for nbc news, mark caputo. his latest piece delves into what is exactly going on. also joining us the host of msnbc's "politics nation" and president of the national action network, ref rand al sharpton. great to have you both with us. joe. >> someone, sort through this for me, okay, because i grew up in florida school, high school, went to law school in florida. my kids went to public schools in, you know, florida and, you know, every february it was nothing radical about it, nobody was freaking out. in pensacola, florida, one of the most conservative areas in america, black history month, our children, thank god, would be taught about the civil rights movement, would be taught about the civil rights movement throughout the year. nobody batted an eye. what's happening here? >> well, you know, i think what is happening here are broader racial polarization we are seeing in partisan politics in part, as the republican legislature, as republican governor ron desantis have crusaded more against critical race theory which they're conflating with anti-racism training which is more controversial for a lot of people. it has produced various backlashes and kind of grassroots uprisings and caught in the middle of this are a lot of school districts. school districts are worried, school administrators are worried and school teachers are worried, look, if i say something that's interpreted or misinterpreted as being critical race theory, which is really a college level, high-level theory taught at the university, i could get in trouble. at least that's kind of the point of the legislation. what you saw here was a professor named j. michael butler at flagler college was supposed to give a speech, a lecture, an instruction to school teachers in osceola county, in the orlando area, about what he called the long civil rights movement. saying, look, civil rights movement was limited to the life of martin luther king. it started a reconstruction and it followed after martin luther king's death. but he got an e-mail just the day after the legislation you referenced passed, an e-mail on wednesday saying, yeah, look, we're going to have to cancel this. there are various concerns, and critical race theory was mentioned. this was done by a school administrator for the school superintendent ofs on yoel all county schools. we tried to talk to osceola schools about it and they didn't want to chat much about it other than to say, look, this is a problems and we need to discuss it more. >> yeah. and, again, let's just -- we're going to put three baskets right here. in the first basket, basically civil rights history, which we have all been taught and it makes us all better. it makes us all smarter. helps us put this country in perspective. then the second is critical race theory, which they were not training there. the third is, like you said, this anti-racism training. yes, we have seen some anti-racism training that does more than teach you how not to be racist. it is where, you know, you get the white fragility experts coming in and saying that you if are a white person, you know, you are fragile if you don't understand that you are bigoted and racist or whatever it is. but there are all of those -- there's also that basket. those last two are very controversial. from what i understand in this first basket, that's where this professor was. he was just teaching civil rights and explaining what's happened in this country over the past 400 years. >> yeah, that he very true. just like you, i went to florida public schools. you know, there's not a lot of time to really teach the history in the state about civil rights and about race, but florida does have an awful history when it comes to race. one of the reasons florida became a territory is the united states wanted to expand and protect the franchise of slavery from georgia plantation owners who were having slaves run away with seminole indians. so the united states invaded the territory of florida and waged a war of genocide against the seminole indians. it is something not taught that clearly in schools. you would ask earlier why is this happening. well, there is a fuller account, a racial reckoning, an historical reckoning of our past in this state and in this nation which is coming to the fore and producing a lot of tension for people who don't want to hear those facts. >> yeah, and let's be clear, florida has a horrible issue, a horrible history when it comes to race. we are not just talking hundreds of years ago. back in 1968 george wallace won the democratic presidential primary. >> very true. >> i think wallace may have won the democratic presidential primary in '72 as well. yes, we've had some serious racial problems in florida for some time. >> reverend al, obviously this is exactly what politicians like ron desantis want to do. they want to blur credit cal race theory. they want to blur these theories about white fragility with a basic mainstream teaching of civil rights. talk about the concern that you have about that. >> my concern is that they try and make any discussion of civil rights, of american history, of florida history the boogeyman and they try to merge it all together so that they can race bait and try to play to some voters who may not know the particulars as you've laid out three different baskets. really, they put at risk people that would teach american history, period. how do you do american history and not talk about the civil war, which a large part of it was based on race, and not be accused if you teach about the civil war, not be accused of violating the language of what they're saying, you cannot deal with race-related things. that can cover any number of territories. i think that it is really saying that we are going to lie about our history and mislead our children, which does not lead to bringing the country together or healing wounds. it leads to a distortion and it leads to people being mistaught. i think that it is simply some old fashioned race baiting that desantis and others are doing. >> so, mark, obviously there are some politics at play here when you talk about governor desantis. he is no dummy. he watched what happened in the state of virginia when governor youngkin talked a lot about schools and talked a lot about critical race theory which is sort of a catch-all. maybe graduate level critical race theory is not being in taught in our schools, but they're taught about guilt and privilege and to identify with their race first and foremost. how much more do you expect to see it this since it was a winning formula for youngkin in virginia? >> actually, ron desantis was one of the first governors in the nation though brought this up before youngkin had won even his primary in virginia. this has been sort of part of desantis's political dna here. the broader movement you are seeing in conservative circles and you are seeing from parents was concerns over lockdowns, concerns over masking and then concerns over curriculum and they've all sort of combined together. need to point out desantis's spokeswoman points out, look, the governor had nothing to do with this decision in osceola county. the government supports teaching history, she says. what they're against is teaching that, you know, whites are bad and essentially enshrining anti-white racism into curriculum and into work training. now, again, school boards and businesses deny that they're doing that but that's the debate and i think it is only fair to mention what their point of view is. the reality is this professor who had his lecture had it cancelled had it cancelled by a local semiconductor that was scared. he said this is an example of a climate of fear to where people are reacting to what they think is going to happen, both at the political levels in the halls of tallahassee and at the grassroot levels from angry parents. that's problematic from teachers of history like him, because he says what suffers is the big casualty is truth. >> mark, finally, you dropped a story last night talking about how puerto rico democrats are very concerned about the disconnect between joe biden and them, especially on the issue of judicial appointees. can you tell us about that? >> yeah. a bit of a different story. there are three judicial vark answeries in puerto rico and the governor has some picks. so far they have not only been ignored but other candidates have been advanced from what they understand. there are very complicated politics on the island. it is not really a republican/democratic frame that you hear mostly on the island. it is about status. should it remain a commonwealth, should it become a state or should it be independent. the governor, a nonvoting member of congress, jennifer cologne and florida representative ron sotos are all pro state hood. help found out one of those being fast tracked is pro independence. it was said that it was a slap in the face of the governor. a state chairman there was a campaigner for biden. they said biden has been tone deaf to his allies in puerto rico and this could have political ramifications. various puerto rican politicians come to florida and new york to campaign in the communities here. they are saying, why should we do that if the white house stiff arms us, doesn't move ahead with our pro state hood and the like. there's a lot of politics at play. behind the scenes there's the broader issue of joe biden's outreach to various latino communities in florida, texas and beyond. he has struggled since he started running for president in 2019 and this is another manifestation we are seeing play out in puerto rico. >> senior political reporter for nbc news, mark caputo. it is good to have you here at msnbc. >> good to be here. >> all right. mika. still ahead, first she was censured by her party in arizona and now new this morning, a campaign to oust senator kyrsten sinema. we will get a live report from arizona. plus, cory booker will be our guest. 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"morning joe" is coming right back. 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"saturday night live." you know, willie, they're pros, man. i mean those people at "saturday night live" are such pros. great imitation of the mayor, new mayor eric adams. you know who else are pros? us. us right here. >> who is that? >> on "morning joe" because there are a lot of people who were saying, hey, how are they going to handle the 14-second delay between, you know, america and poland. smooth as silk. smooth as polish silk. >> that's fine. >> i can't even believe. you don't know where mika starts and where we start. it is crazy, willie. >> seamless. >> yeah. >> it is seamless, right? >> it is. >> hmm, it is just like -- just like the defense of the kansas city chiefs. you know, when i kind of go on and on like this and people don't know if i'm going to fall off a cliff or not, well, that's fun, too, isn't it? we kind of put a little edge to it all. >> yeah. >> right, willie? >> a little tension in the morning. by the way you have to shout out chris redd who does mayor adams. debuted to good reviews. i suspect we will see more of it. >> does a great job. >> why don't we, al. >> go ahead, sweetie. >> well, you know, at some point if you would say, "mika" and then you would say a few words and you would stop talking, and then i would answer you. you know, it kind of goes like that, right. >> thank you, mr. prime minister. >> [ speaking foreign language ] let's just get to the news and the mayor of new york city. >> thank you so much. why don't we do that. let's bring in right now the mayor of new york city, who is right now regretting that he got up early to do this show. eric adams. mr. mayor, first of all, let's talk about the important things. first of all, have you ever been to poland? >> yes, yes, i have. yes. krakow to be exact. >> krakow. >> we need to get you over there sometime. that's number one. number two, what do you think of your "snl" impersonator? >> they owe me a pair of shoes because i spit out my wine laughing, you know. i sent chris a twitter tweet. he had me down pack, even down to my bracelets. >> no, it was very good. so we're going to be talking a good bit about your plan on crime, your plan to clean up new york. let's start by just asking questions. how has the job begun? how are things going? any early surprises that you didn't see coming, that you are having to adjust to? >> well, you know, think about this for a moment. because there was nothing that surprised me, and i'm sure reverend sharpton would tell you, i have been responding to calls of services and crises and organizing people for 35 years. the first day when i was elected i was on the subway station taking the train. i did that as a transit cop, responding to crises, responding to fires. this is what i did for 35 years, so i don't feel as though there's something new that is taking place. i am just continuing a long pathway of just giving my service to the city. >> you know, you have also garnered a good bit of support from all sides. this morning, woke up, read the "new york post." they said your plan to clean up the streets, to keep new yorkers safe is complex. there's a lot to it, but they think it just may work, coming from the "new york post" that's pretty high praise. talk about your plan to clean up the streets, to protect new yorkers and, of course, to protect nypd police officers. >> this is what i did throughout the campaign and really longer than that. my observations of what was happening in my city, in our city, i sat down from the start of the campaign putting together a blueprint to end gun violence because we were having a lot of shootings throughout the summer. what i noticed, that we have a sea of violence that many rivers are feeding this violence. we have to dam each one. we look towards the police department and believe they're not doing their job. that is not true. we are taking thousands of guns off the street, over 300 guns were taken off the streets since i was elected. 6,000 guns last year. 22,000 subway visits, another 1,000 cops going into the subway station. but when you look at what the police are doing, that's just one river. now look at the legislation that states it is our right to carry guns in this city. look at how our mental health system is failing. look at all of the other rivers, how our federal, state and city agencies are not coordinating the way they should. we are not stopping the flow of guns into the inner cities in america. that is what we must do and the blueprint must deal with damming every river to stop continuing to fill this sea of violence. >> as you know, mr. mayor, the man who police say shot and killed the nypd officer and injured another last week now has died from his injuries. authorities say la sean mcneil opened fire at officers jason rivera and wilbert mora while they were responding to a domestic incident in mcneil's mother's home in harlem friday night. police say mcneed used a .45 caliber handgun to fire the shots. a rookie officer shot mcneil twice when mcneil attempted to leave the scene. officer rivera died at the hospital. officer mora remains in critical condition. obviously this city, mr. mayor, mourns for the officer, both officers and their families right now. that third officer, a rookie who was just along to observe, he took decisive action and shot the perpetrator. what does this tell you about what we need for our cops in this city? this incident, as you know better than any mayor ever perhaps is when you go on a call you don't know what is behind that door. how do you protect police officers while at the same time protecting the rights of people in the city? >> and that's the perfect place we find ourselves in, with a mayor that has spent his life fighting for police reform. many people know my story, being arrested as a child, assaulted by police but going into the police department and fighting for public safety. public safety and justice is the prerequisite to prosperity. i'm going to say that over and over again, but you are correct. there are times you will respond to a call of service just to find out that it is totally different than what you expected. when i saw the videos -- and we are going to speak with the family and see if they want the entire country to see what happened to their children. this was horrific, to see how they were assassinated in that apartment. i take my hat off to the rookie officer, approximately six months on patrol. he responded with a level of poise. when i visited him and his family and spoke with him, but this case really personifies what we are up against. 40 additional rounds in a weapon that was used and an ar-15 under his mattress. if that person was not stopped in that apartment he could have created a great deal of loss of lives, if it wasn't stopped when it was stopped. those are the types of guns we have on our streets, and we have to give police officers in the city the support they need to provide the service or protection that we're looking for. they can't do this by themselves. they need help. we are doing our job. we need everyone else to play a role in keeping our city safe. >> mayor adams, al sharpton. i can attest to the last 35 years you have had to respond to urgent matters, emergencies, and you have done so and now as mayor. but let me ask you in terms of your plan. certainly many of us agree with dealing with mental health issues and certainly while the state legislature has to do something about guns, where there is a difference of opinion is on returning street crime unit. you brought this up during the campaign. many of us are very much opposed to street crime unit unless we understand where the guardrails are and where we will not get back into stop and frisk and other things. even though stop and frisk was brought down, never totally went away, we do not want to see the escalation of that. how do you tell people like me who are opposed to stop and frisk, opposed to street crime units, how these units are going to work? and how do you tell us that have fought for bail reform where the limit is, that we're not going to end up again with a disproportionate amount of people from our communities that are held just because they can't afford to protect themselves in a legal system when accused of a crime. >> great questions, rev. i think we start with the foundation of saying who is this person that's presenting this plan. we are talking about eric adams. we are talking about eric adams that testified in federal court to stop the abuse of stop and frisk. floyd versus nypd. my testimony was mentioned in the judge's decision on why she ruled against the police department for using methods that targeted black and brown people. that's first point. this is my life work of having justice and safety. second point, the type of plain clothe anti-violence unit, everyone will keep their cameras on. too many officers were turning off cameras when having interactions with civilians. that's not happening anymore. we will monitor those interactions. and in purposes where we need to better train, we will. in purposes where we need to discipline, we will. these officers are going to wear identifiable parts of police attire, apparel, such as the windbreaker jackets like you see other law enforcement agencies will wear, so you know who they are. the complaints we received was that officers dressed in jeans and sweat shirts were jumping out of car, not properly identifying themselves. we are going to learn from the past so we don't repeat the past. we will never use under my administration any abusive, targeting tactics that goes after people based on their ethnicity and where they live. that is not going to happen under my administration. >> so, mr. mayor, you more than most mayors in america has ever had know in terms of locating gun, finding guns, finding suspects, the best cops listen to the streets. the streets will give those people up if the cops know what they're doing. so how is this anti-gun unit going to work? are they going to be driving by in cars? are they going to be on foot? do you have enough police officers to join this anti-gun unit in order to suffocate the growth of guns in various neighborhoods in this huge, sprawling city? >> well, we're going to use -- first of all, we're going to beef up our gun suppression unit, an amazing number of 16 detectives that are assigned to analyze violent gangs. every time you see a shooting, look at the next sentence and you see gun related for the most part. they are going to target violent gangs, and we are going to make sure that we use the data that's there. we know who the shooters are, the trigger pullers in the city. so we're going to have precision policing to target those areas of the 30 precincts, 30 precincts, 80% of the violence in the city. many of them around our nycha facilities. the residents there are crying for help to stop being held hostage in their communities, but we also are going to use precision resources. that's the beauty of this plan. let's zero in on those young people who are on the pathway of violence. we know where they are, we know how many young people in homeless shelters are on the pathway of violence. we know the reading scores and with nycha residents, that our young people need support and help. we need to have precision resources to those areas that we know our young people are on the pathway of violence. let's do dyslexia screening in school so we don't have 30% of inmates in jail dyslexic, 65% of black and brown children never reaching proficiency in this city. we are putting people on a pathway of violence. my plan is going to balance both intervention right now using the proper police tactics and prevention, the long-term plan with my chancellor and my other agencies that must be engaged and get involved. >> mr. mayor, there's sometimes an overlap between people who have mental health challenges and those who commit violence. tell us about that part of your plan. also, you voiced some support for a movement that a lot in the community have wanted sometime which is to require nypd officers to live in the city in which they work which they're not currently required to do. tell us what you want there. >> let's look at the mental health first. mental health is crucial. we have to be honest with ourselves. we are saying, you know a person can't take care of himself, dangerous to himself, dangerous to others, but we believe it is more humane for them to live on the subway system or sleep on grate or not able to too care of themselves and in some cases create violence. i say we have to stop that. we have to make sure they get the wrap-around services they. >> reporter need. we have to place people in locales, in places where psychiatric beds are located so people get the support they need. we can't continue to have people walk the streets, live on our subway system and doing acts of violence harmful to new yorkers. let's partner them with mental health professionals and police officers so we can get it right. with the residency, a police officer is required to respond to a call of a crime 24 hours a day, not just eight hours, 24 hours. so right now new yorkers are paying their police officers that live outside the city, they're paying them to protect them for eight hours and then we're paying for another county to be safe for 16 hours. that just doesn't make sense. i want my officers to go to schools, children to go to schools in my city, supermarkets, cleaners, go to churches, synagogue, mosque. you should be in your city for 24 hours, paying your tax dollars into our tax pool here. that is what we must do and that is why i say let's keep our officers here. >> mr. mayor, before we let you go you obviously were elected largely because of the issues you address here. quality of life was the number one issue for people who voted in new york city. there is some question though about whether this can be implemented based on what we've seen from some other people including the manhattan district attorney who appears to be will to let some of this stuff slide. so are you confident that with the support of district attorneys and the governor and the state assembly that all of this will be put into place? >> yes. yes, i am. i could only do what is in my span of control. i don't control albany. i don't control d.a.s, i don't control the federal government. we will do our share like we are doing now, taking guns off the streets, but i need my lawmakers to make sure we don't place dangerous people back on the street. it just does not make sense that we're stating you will only be charged with a gun crime, the supreme court, if you expose it, if you carry it and don't expose it you won't be charged. that doesn't make sense. we need to stop the flow of guns and go after the gun dealers and manufacturers that are bringing guns into the inner city. i am going to do my part. i had to share with the american public and the new york city public, here are the rivers that's feeding the sea of violence. it is up to all of us to play a role to stop it. nypd is doing their job. everyone else must do their job. >> all right. new york city mayor eric adams. as always, thank you so much for being with us. we greatly appreciate it. >> thank you. take care. >> all right. you too. >> all right. still ahead -- >> mika, what do we have coming up next? still ahead on "morning joe," the biden administration is ramping up access to high-quality masks and covid tests. we'll talk to the u.s. surgeon general about the new effort to contain coronavirus as case counts drop. plus, virginia governor glenn youngkin is facing a new lawsuit over school mask mandates. we will dig into that legal fight. you are watching "morning joe." we will be right back. we will be right back. but whatever work becomes, the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? ...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. find your rhythm. your happy place. wherever the new world of work takes your business, find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. >> vo: my car is my after-work decompression zone. ♪ music ♪ >> vo: so when my windshield broke... i found the experts at safelite autoglass. they have exclusive technology and service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ before discovering nexium 24hr to treat her frequent heartburn... claire could only imagine enjoying chocolate cake. now, she can have her cake and eat it too. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? 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"the new york times" reports the state's attorney general's office and the state health department plan to appeal which would automatically restore the mask rule until an appellate court issues a ruling. joining us nous the surgeon general of the united states, dr. vivek murthy. i am here in poland and there are a couple of places i have been to, including a school, which has never missed a day since covid began. their technology and their practices are all aligned so that they had an effective way to stop the spread from day one. i just wonder if all of our abilities to stop the spread in the united states are aligned correctly by the government. >> well, mika, it is a really great question, and i do feel hopeful we do, in fact, have the tools that we need to not only get this virus under control but actually live our lives. that means have our kids in school. that means be able to work, be able to see our family and our friends. what are those tools we need? well, we need vaccines and we need therapeutics, for sure. those are medications to reduce the severity of the virus. we need widespread availability of tests and masks and we need investments in ventilation. a lot of the investments have been made over the last year, but we need those to be implemented fully in schools and workplaces across the country. that's where we have more work to do. to me, mika, two of the biggest areas we have right now to ensuring the tools we have are actually put to work to end this pandemic are the politicization of the pandemic, unfortunately, but also the misinformation that we've seen really spread like wildfire during this pandemic. we've got to address those if we want to get through this pandemic and get back to normal. >> where do you think the biggest need is, whether it be in technology or actual ppe, in terms of access to the best -- the best practices and abilities to stop the spread across the country is? >> well, mika, we know that with a combination of vaccines, boosters and both oral and intravenous medications you can knock down the severity of this virus a lot. we made a lot of progress on the vaccines on booster side, but the challenge remains is we still have millions of people who need to get boosted and who haven't been vaccinated at all despite the 210 million who are, in fact, vaccinated with two shots. on the therapeutic side, mika, we have more therapeutics available this month in january than any other month in the pandemic but we still need more. that's why we're working hard to ramp up production. if you put the two in combination, if you imagine, mika, a world in the weeks and months ahead where we have millions more vaccinated and boosted and widely available therapeutics, it is a scenario where we could dramatically reduce the impact of the pandemic. we finally have the tools to increase even further our mask and test production. you have seen it already in play over the last many months. we have many more masks and tests than we did one year ago today, but we have even more that we can do. i do think we are well on the way there, mika, but we are not going to stop until we have all of the tools in place in the quantity that is needed to ultimately end this pandemic and get us back to morning. >> good morning, dr. murphy. it is willie geist. good to have you on this morning. >> hi, willie. >> you are talking about schools, getting them ventilated and all of these things. it sounds like a conversation two years ago we have $2 trillion passed in this country to address some of those problems. to your point, what is taking so long? knowing about transmission among kids, knowing that kids 5 and older can be vaccinated, what is the possible defense for closing a school system entirely? a lot of schools, one kid gets sick, he comes out and school goes on, but why would you close entire schools as some districts still are doing? >> i'm glad you asked this question. schools are near and dear to my heart as a parent of two children who were not able to be in school in 2020 because of the pandemic but have been in person in 2021. the reason my kids have been in school is the reason millions of kids were able to go back is because of the billions in funds to improve ventilation and the safety of masking. the challenge you are alluding to is we still have schools across america that have not availed themselves of these funds. some of that is because they're facing blockades, if you will, sort of at the state level to put mask -- universal mask requirements in place. others have not been able to actually implement some of the improvements in ventilation, which we know help. that's a place where we are doing everything we can, not just providing the funding, providing technical assistance to schools to do this. i think we have much more both as localities, as parent groups, as states that we can do to make sure the safety measures are taken. if we do that, willie, we can keep our kids in school with much less risk. it is important for our kids learning but also their development and mental help. >> how do you balance, dr. murthy, as a public health official and as a parent this idea we've learned the last two years of the devastating impact of school closures on the mental health of children, what it does to family, that online learning for all of the best efforts of teachers and, my gosh, they've been amazing, it just doesn't work. it is obviously not the same as being in the classroom. how do you look at the balance of mental health and the need to keep kids safe physically in the classroom? >> well, willie, this has been one of the real deep pain points of this pandemic, a heavy price that we have paid in terms of our kids learning but also their mental health and well-being. it is one of the reasons why in december, willie, i issued a surgeon general's advisory on youth mental health because i was deeply concerned about the impact, not just of the pandemic but frankly of factors before the pandemic driving you have rates of depression, anxiety and suicide among young people. i think i as a parent, as well as all parents, want the same thing, which is to make sure our kids are well, safe and happy. that means we have to reduce risk and make sure that they are learning, make sure they have social engagement. i think parents who are living in parents of the country where safety measures are not taken find themselves in a difficult position. they know they have to get their kids back to school but they know there's more to keep their kids safe. no parent should be in that circumstance. that's why i'm urging elected leaders and leaders across the country and in localities and states to do everything they can to implement the safety measures we know work to keep our kids safe, and those include universal masking and testing and they include using the money we secured a year ago to invest in improving testing and ventilation. there's nothing more important than the safety of our children. we all should be coming together and uniting to take all of these measures to keep our kids safe. >> dr. murthy, can you give up as update on the possibility of vaccines for 3, 4 and 5 year olds. would it be one or a couple of shots? where are we on that? >> it is a good question. i have a 4 year old myself, an almost 4 year old, she will be 4 on friday. this question of a vaccine for kids under 5 is one of personal importance to me as well. we have heard from companies that are running the trials, from pfizer themselves, is they believe it will take a little longer, into the spring to actually get the data they need to be able to assess whether a regimen is applicable and good enough and safe enough for kids under 5. whenever that data comes in from the trials, the fda is ready and waiting to analyze that data. they want to make sure, again, of course, that the vaccine is safe and effective but they want to get a vaccine to kids as quickly as possible. so, you know, i'm hoping later this spring that that data will come, but the one thing i want every parent out there to know is there will be no corners cut in getting a vaccine to our kids. the same steps that are taken to review every other vaccine, the fda will take to make sure this vaccine is safe and effective for kids under 5. >> dr. murthy, you have been very outspoken about combatting the spread of covid misinformation. i want to get your take on where things stand with that as it relates to this next story as an example. rock legend neil young is given an ultimatum to streaming giant spotify over vaccine misinformation spread by a popular podcast host on the platform. in a statement to his manager's yesterday the "heart of gold" singer wrote, quote, i want to let spotify know immediately today that i want all of my music off their platform. they can have joe rogan or young, not both. rogan, who hosts "the joe rogan experience" podcast has frequently promoted unproven methods for treating covid-19 and down played the need for vaccines. last year spotify purchased his library for an estimated $100 million. dr. murthy, what do you think are the best ways to push back on misinformation about covid that continues to be aggressively pushed, whether it be joe rogan's podcast or all over facebook? >> well, mika, it is such an important question because we can have the best science available, we can have the best public health expertise available but it won't help people if they don't have access to accurate information. something i have always believed as a doctor is people have a right to make their own decisions but they have the right to have accurate information to make the decision with. now, when it comes to how we root out the misinformation in society right now and give people access to accurate information we have to do several things. we have to do several things. number one, we have to recognize technology platforms, particularly social media, these have an important role to play. these are the predominant places where we see misinformation spread. these platforms are not stepped up to do the right thing and not done enough to reduce the spread of misinformation. each of us has a role to play here because we all have platforms. particularly if you are somebody with a large following whether you are an entertainer, a politician, in the media, it is your responsibility, all of our responsibility to make sure we are thoughtful in what we are sharing. this is not just about entertainment. it is not just about garnering clicks. this is about people's lives. we have seen time and time again that misinformation costs people their lives, so, you know, we all have -- it is not just about what government can do. this is about companies and individuals recognizing that the only way we get past misinformation is if we are careful about what we say and we use the power we have to limit the spread of the misinformation. that will be a critical part of how we get through the pandemic. >> u.s. surgeon general dr. vivek murthy. thank you for being on the show this morning. coming up, senator cory booker joins us here on "morning joe." we will ask him about the plan for voting rights legislation that is stalled in the senate. first, our next guest has an insightful new memoire about what it means to be an american. 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your bottom line by switching today. comcast business: powering possibilities. ♪♪ welcome back to "morning joe." joining us now, calmness for "the daily beast", wajahah ali, the author of a new memoire, "go back to where you came from: and other helpful recommendations" on how to become an american. waj, you came to america 13 years ago. the book is out today. i want to hear about the book, but i am assuming your journey since is all a part of it. >> actually, i was born and raised to this country, but i came to new york, another country, 13 years ago from fremont, california. that actually counts, right? i actually came here -- i was telling willie and the guest i came to new york city as a broke man at the age of 28, a young playwright with dreams of putting on my play, single, trying to figure it out and here i am at the age of 41. that's a photo of me when i used to wear husky pants. anyone who used to wear husky pants, sorry for triggering you. i was born here and born to immigrant parents who had to be hilarious and name me wajahat ali. i only knew three things when i was dropped off, shut up, followed by idiot. i graduated from uc berkeley, i am a nonpracticing attorney and now i am an author. i am proud to be an american. >> i wore tough skins as well. >> you are one of us. >> my parents came as immigrants. my mom wasn't spending a cent so we went to the secondhand store in mclean, virginia, for all of our clothes. it was fun. give us a sense what you hope the reader will take away from the book and tell me about the title. >> so the book is "go back to where you came from: and other helpful recommendations to become an american." it is about those of us who are us and them, where america has as asterisk next to her name, and it is how to include the rest of us as protagonists of the american narrative. we are not trying to replace anybody. we want to share in the glory of an american. there are forces trying to restrict that dream and the only protagonist is the protagonist with the right to white complexion and we want to stand beside them and tell them and the world that this country also belongs to the rest of our kids with ethnic names. that's the book. >> waj, how does that manifest itself? it is important -- we can have broad conversations but what does it look and feel like? you talked about a change after 9/11 certainly. >> that's right. >> what did it feel like to you? >> i was a 20-year-old senior at uc berkeley, two towers fell, i was an undeclared senior and i was sitting there in my pajamas at berkeley and overnight i was blamed for the hijackers. this thing called islam became the enemy. overnight for 20 years i engaged in the condemn-a-thon. overnight this country turned on us. many immigrants who came after 1965 who thought they achieved the american dream we realized overnight we ain't white, the country will turn on you. we realized for the rest of us, we are not allowed to be american, we have to prove our patriotism, condemn harder and faster. we have to work together intersectionally because if one of us can become americans the rest of us can become americans. when i say stretch, push and expand it means so the rest of us have equal standards when a white terrorist the rest of white america doesn't have to sit and condemn it. how do you become american without the conditions, without the double standards, without the baggage of racism. i'm telling you, reverend al sharpton, people love to talk about racism. we have to work about it because we had a president who told us to go back to our s-hole countries even though we were born and raised in these country. >> this tension as you write in the book, the difference that pre-9/11 and post-9/11, this obligation that you have, i have as an african american, that you have to denounce everything is part of also trying to convince people i am an american, too. >> that's right. >> and it is something that always makes you other than. >> well, look at mitch mcconnell. i love that little freudian slip the other day. we are otherized in the way we look at each other. you learn to hate yourself, your skin color, your nose, your eyes, you are not the protagonist in the movies. i grew up watching hollywood '80s movies and i loved them. you go back and revisit the movie and those movies were racist as -- as the kids say. the type of vision i want is my kids who are brown-skinned kids, is that they too can dream. they can have the audacity to dream that they too can be the protagonist of the american narrative without the conditions, the double standards you and i have had to battle our entire lives. >> here you are, you are on tv, you went to uc bank of america, you are now in new york and a semi big deal. >> i like it. all right. >> how do you deal with the resentment that comes with all of that? >> i get lovely e-mails every day. i get wonderful advice telling me to go back to where i came from and telling me to go -- a got or a gamm el. why a goat or camel? i deal with it as humor because i think humor can booby trap the hate, turn against the aggressor. the root is fear and self-loathing. the dark heart of america is white supremacy, racism. it always has been. unless we acknowledge it, take a scalpel and excise it this country will never live up to its full potential. i'm telling you, the stop crt stuff, there are parents in america more comfortable with their kids getting covid than a book written by a black or brown author talking about racism. that's the selfishness, that's the fear, that's the loading. >> by the way, you should know semi big deal is as big a compliment as bill barnacle gives out. before we let you go, 49ers. you are a squad for life. >> for life. >> you like them this sunday? >> i like them this sunday. beating the rams six times in a row. america, if you are watching, root for the 49ers. they went to dallas, beat the cowboys. each time a cowboy fans cries a cowboy gets wings. he is immunized against covid but not the 49ers who are 4-0 against him in the postseason. root for america's team, 49ers. >> i suspected you had thoughts about that. >> how american is that? >> there it is. i'm in. congratulations on the book. >> thank you, sir. >> it is called "go back to where you came from: other helpful recommendations on how to become an american." it is out today. good to see you. coming up next, progress in the talks to end the current major league baseball lockout. we will tell you where things stand right now. plus a critical try underway on a vaccine to protect against the omicron variant specifically. new details when "morning joe" comes right back. s when "mornin" comes right back to be a thriver with metastatic breast cancer means asking for what we want. and need. and we need more time. so, we want kisqali. women are living longer than ever before with kisqali when taken with an aromatase inhibitor or fulvestrant in postmenopausal women with hr+, her2- 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call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ joe." a live look at warsaw, poland, where i am right now. it's a cold, rainy day, but i'm told this is balmy compared to what the weather is usually like here, so apparently i'm lucky. to the news now. new data shows high school graduation rates in at least 20 states dipped as the pandemic raged across the nation. the data from the education nonprofit chalk beat suggests covid may have ended nearly 20 years of progress. high school graduation rates ticked up in 2020, but then dipped after the first full year of covid disruptions. there are now concerns that the next several graduating classes could also be affected. and just a few minutes ago pfizer and biontech announced they have started the clinical trial of a vaccine to protect against the omicron variant specifically. the drug makers say they aim to enroll more than 1,400 healthy adults 18 to 55, the participants will be divided into three groups, fully vaccinated, boosted and unvaccinated to determine how many doses are needed. the cdc released new research on friday that found the current booster does provide protection against the omicron variant. willie. meanwhile, mika, major league baseball will continue after bargaining sessions showed a leg progress since the lockout began on december 7th. jonathan lemire, what is the progress? we have a couple weeks of football left, then the country's eyes turn to baseball. >> first they met yesterday at all, it was the first meeting in more than a week or only the second one since the lockout began. the players union dropped one of their demands about when free agency would start which was seen as one of the nonnegotiables in these talks. now it's up to the ownership group to do so the same. the biggest sign of progress, they are meeting again today. we don't want to overstate this, mike. there is still a long way to go before a deal is reached, but both sides seem to indicate we have time to get this done, maybe we lose a little spring training, but they still are targeting opening day and i think they recognize how much they would have to lose if they lost games. >> rob manfred the commissioner of major league baseball has a lot on his mind, he is a busy guy, but nothing is more important to him than making sure that baseball plays a full 162-game schedule because he is aware of what else is going on in our culture and in our society, covid, schools closing, things like that. america needs baseball, he knows that and they are going to get back on schedule. they've got to -- they cannot miss any games. >> too much to lose. >> they really can't. i mean, we have had two chopped up seasons, 2020-2021. we need a full season, 162-game season, and, my gosh, the players, the owners, everybody need to understand that. mika, what do we have coming up next? still ahead on "morning joe," senator kyrsten sinema played a key role in scuttling voting rights legislation on capitol hill. now her party is worried she will end up hurting the chances of her democratic colleague up for reelection in arizona. we will get a live report from maricopa county. plus, has the anti-vaccine right brought human sacrifice to america? best selling author kurt anderson joins us with his new piece, we will hear his argument on that next. with his new piece, we will hear his argument on that next this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. but whatever work becomes, the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? ...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the new world of work takes your business, the world works with servicenow. ♪3, 4♪ ♪ wherever the new world of work takes your business, ♪hey♪ ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ it's our january sale on the sleep number 360 smart bed. it senses your 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was submitted by fulton county's district attorney last week. she is investigating whether the former president tried to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state. the scope of that probe includes trump's now infamous phone call to georgia secretary of state brad raffensperger just days before the capitol riot. listen. >> i only need 11,000 votes. fellas, i need 11,000 votes. give me a break. look, all i want to do is this, i just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know -- that you've recalculated. >> it's possible that gets worse and it was bad when we first heard it. when the grand jury convenes in early may it will have the power to subpoena witnesses who have so far refused to testify. in response to the da's request last week, trump claimed that his phone call with raffensperger, that call you just heard, was, quote, even more perfect than his phone call with ukraine's president which got him impeached. joe? >> yeah, it was a perfect phone call, an absolutely perfect phone call. if i'm sitting there and i'm listening to it and i'm a prosecutor, i'm thinking, that's a perfect phone call. >> pitch perfect. >> because not only does he call the secretary of state for the state of georgia and says, i need all of these votes and i need one more vote, i need to find one more vote than i lost by so i can win, he then explains to the secretary of state how he can sell the fraud to the voters of florida and to the press -- i'm sorry, to the voters of georgia and to the press. so, yeah, it was -- it was a perfect phone call -- >> perfect. >> -- if you are a prosecutor. jonathan lemire, let's just track this on top of what's going on in new york, let's tack it on to what's going on with the city, let's take it up with what went on with the supreme court, what's happening with the january 6th commission. you know, i've heard a lot of people say donald trump gets away with everything and he's going to get away with everything. maybe it is a moment in american political history, maybe he is the guy that gets away with everything. that said, i have to say everything i've heard, that tape right there is about as damning as it can be and if a grand jury can listen to that and not indict, for a guy who is trying to rig an election, well, i'd love to see what the standard is. >> yeah, this is perhaps the most legal peril the former president has been in. the combination of things. it's certainly a low water mark, as you just mentioned it, we have prosecutors circling in a number of jurisdictions, we have the case with the trump organization in new york, there is the ongoing criminal case as well, the manhattan district attorney, we will see where that stands, there's still talk of washington, d.c. looking at what happened and his words inciting a riot and in georgia where some say where he is most vulnerable. we all just heard the tape. this comes while his political standing still remains pretty high among republicans but lower than it was. so those close to the president that i -- former president -- that i have spoken to still say he's intent on playing a king maker role in the gop ahead of the midterms, certainly much of the -- most of the republican party are still in his sway and he is leaning towards running again, but no decision made. it's interesting this all comes at the same time where he's feuding with governor desantis of florida who is perhaps his most viable republican opponent worthy to take him on. these legal matters may leave trump weakened going forward even if perhaps he is not convicted of something. >> heather mcgee, republicans for the last year or so from muddled their way through this talk of what happened on january 6, what was on around the election and trying to obscure it, whitewashing and changing the story. there was no whitewashing what we heard explicitly on a phone call asking the georgia secretary of state to recalculate so he would flip the state. >> it's pretty plain and i think that it's really important that the subpoena power is given to the state of georgia and to be able to get, for example, people like the secretary of state who already said they won't voluntarily come and testify about that call and other communications until there is a grand jury and a subpoena power. so that's crucial. it's crucial because this is not a one off. this is not actually a fringe position within the republican party. this idea of installing secretaries of state who believe and promote the big lie is the core republican strategy right now. we just saw evidence that arizona's secretary of state raised the pro-trump big lie secretary of state candidate there who would be the person calling strikes and fouls on the most important election where trump will likely be on the ballot is somebody who raked in twice as much as his democratic challengers because there is such energy around making sure that the umpires are in the favor of trump and the big lie. that's what's scary. we can't change what happened in the past, thankfully the wall did hold, but there is a campaign right now across the country to make sure that we have a very different set of people who are making those decisions in the next election. >> well, on the heels of voting rights legislation being blocked in the senate, a bipartisan group of senators is meeting to instead discuss the electoral count act. nbc news reports the group met for just over an hour yesterday to discuss proposals to update the law. no concrete decisions remained according to a democratic aid with knowledge of the meeting. it's not clear when they will meet again. the 1887 electoral count act is the law that determines how electoral college votes are counted in congress. it came under fire after the january 6th insurrection. any potential changes to the law would not directly address -- address issues of voting rights, as democrats originally wanted and as many, joe, agree is necessary in some parts of the country. >> yeah, well, it won't address all the things that need to be addressed on voting rights. it will address, though, one of the key problems with what happened on january the 6th when leading up to the insurrection with donald trump and steve bannon and others thought that the constitution and that this act gave mike pence the power to throw out votes. what a bipartisan bill that reformed this measure would do is let congress know, let future vice presidents know that they are in effect when the votes come to the house on january 6th they're performing a ministerial role. they are not there to decide whether to accept the electoral votes or not. it's a ministerial role. any challenges would be taken up in the courts. heather, that, of course, doesn't address the john lewis voting rights act and the need to move that forward. it doesn't address what i consider to be the second biggest problem right behind this, which is republican legislatures deciding whose votes to count and whose votes not to count, but i'm wondering is there -- if this is what joe biden can get right now, should he take this as a win and reform the -- that electoral count act? >> you know, it's a really good question because you just laid out two very big areas where the fundamental right to vote is still in jeopardy. and so i think this idea of taking the half a loaf is one that voting rights advocates are not ready to give up on. i think that it's really important that we understand the scale and scope of the threats to our democracy. this is not normal times. when we have political violence being mainstreamed in the republican party, we have the plurality of republican base voters saying that political violence like january 6th is warranted because there is so much of this fictitious election fraud, when we have all of this dark money, secret money going into election tampering and lining up the chess pieces to make sure that all of the little decisions, which polling places to close, what kind of id to accept, who to put in counting votes, who to let intimidate the vote counters and voters is lined up to make sure that there is minority rule and the greatest democracy on earth as the lights go out on it does feel like a really rough time to say, do you know what, we will just deal with what happens in congress after all of those decisions are made and we're certifying an election. >> we will see if these massive pieces of legislation are broken up and passed in sections. we want to turn to the covid fight right now and a fight over masks in virginia public schools as it enters court. at least seven school districts have sued governor glenn youngkin as he issued an executive order to make masks optional in schools. catie beck has details. >> my children will not come to school on monday with a mask on. >> reporter: to mask or not to mask, a question now reaching a boiling point in virginia schools. >> we must keep our counties mask mandate in place. not only do we need t but we as students demand it. >> reporter: in effect monday, newly elected virginia governor glenn youngkin's executive order allowing parents to decide whether their child should wear a mask at school, undoing the previous statewide mandate. >> it means that our son will be able to breathe more freely and we have looked forward to this day for a very long time. >> reporter: while some districts are celebrating the new direction others stand firmly against it saying it puts children's health and safety at risk at a critical time. several districts refuse to go comply with the order and requiring students to continue wearing masks, seven of them now taking youngkin to court challenging an order they call unconstitutional. >> i honestly don't want my kids in masks forever at school, that's not feasible, but they know it's the right thing to do to protect others. >> reporter: the governor's office responding monday saying they will defend their order as the legal process plays out and that they're disappointed that the school boards are ignoring parents' rights. youngkin tweeting guidance on the ongoing battle over the weekend. i urge everyone to love your neighbor, to listen to school principals and to trust the legal process. >> nbc's catie beck reporting for us there. interesting to see what happens in court there. this is something playing out in states across the country including in florida. >> yeah. it's incredible. former alaska governor sarah palin's libel trial against "the new york times" has been postponed after she tested positive for covid-19. proceedings were supposed to get under way yesterday but a judge has put the trial on hold until february 3rd as long as palin is recovered by that point. but also making headlines as part of this story, palin, who is unvaccinated, dined at a new york city restaurant two days before testing positive. according to city regulations, restaurant patrons are required to prevent -- to present proof of vaccination before they are allowed to eat inside. so what happened there? a restaurant manager confirmed palin's visit to the new york city. the manager said, quote, we just made a mistake. we're trying to get to the bottom of this. joe, you know, we've been to dinner in new york a few times and they make you show your vaccine card. i mean -- >> you don't get past the front door. so i find this -- this is really interesting, willie. not a big -- i mean, not a really big deal, but i will say it is fascinating because, you know, we've spent a lot of time in new york over the past month or so, and, man, when you walk into the restaurant, you know, people will hug me, joe, this is great, i love you, can i have your vaccination card? oh, sure. you get it. you know, i have had other people in the group with me that didn't have it, that left it at home, and they would be like, we're really sorry, mr. scarborough, we're sorry, ms. brzezinski-scarborough -- whatever else hyphenated name she has. we're sorry, mika, we're sorry, joe, they can't come in because it's the rules, we will get in a lot of trouble if they don't. i find this to be really fascinating that anyone would let -- >> it's mysterious. >> i will say anybody in a restaurant without seeing that vaccination card because they are hard core about it in new york. >> yeah, what sarah palin says is the person she was with was a regular and they knew he was vaccinated so they waved through the entire party. you're right, without exception. even places we go all the time, they pause, let me see real quick, read through it and they definitely check your vaccination card. this is the exception rather than the rule in new york city. >> can i -- how do i say this without being -- i want to be careful, but it's also interesting the decision she made. if you are not going to be vaccinated to expose yourself in a place where omicron still exists and is highly transmissible, what do you think is going to happen? i mean, let's hope she's okay, but now the trial has to wait. >> well, you know, the thing is if she doesn't want to be vaccinated, as i've said here time and again, my feeling is that's like somebody who decides they wants to smoke cigarettes, you know, no law against smoking cigarettes, no law against not getting vaccinated, but if you are not going to get vaccinated and you are in new york city you don't go out to restaurants and i find it implausible that any -- any restaurant would say, oh, i know the lead person in that party and wave them through because we all have -- we've all seen in new york city that just doesn't happen. i mean, i don't know what restaurant this was -- >> yeah. >> -- but they certainly are going to be -- i'm sure the city is going to be trying to figure this out. by the way, this would happen if it was aoc. so, i mean, people going, oh, why is everybody picking on sarah palin. it's not about sarah palin. if there were aoc, bernie sanders, nancy pelosi, and they got waved through a restaurant in new york city and it made news, yeah, city officials would be coming down hard on them because it just doesn't happen in new york. it hasn't happened in new york with all the people that i've been to restaurants with over the past month. so so much for restaurants and vaccine cards. let's bring in right now best selling author kurt andersen. kurt, thanks so much for being with us. it's a sleepy -- what day is it -- tuesday? it's a sleepy tuesday morning so we just thought we would have you come on, talk about how great america is. we're not can a screening toward a civil war and how everything in the words of -- what was it -- ray price, everything is beautiful in its own way. the only problem with that is you've written a column that has a really provocative title and i'm going to say it and then i'm going to duck. wait. hold on. it we just put kurt's face up here when i read the title. i want kurt's face up here. if you can't do the time don't do the crime as brett at that says. so this is his title "the anti-vaccine right brought human sacrifice to america." and you write this, quote, whether they were convinced covid wasn't real, that it was, god would keep them alive or alternatively use covid to kill them on schedule. that vaccines are satan's syrup or make you sterile or worse. in any case, vaccination mandates are like a gun regulation, a tyrannical plot by liberals and globalists or that the omicron variant was introduced to deflect public attention from ghislaine maxwell's trial. whatever the reasons millions of americans have been persuaded by the right to promote death and potentially sacrifice themselves and others ostensibly for the sake of personal liberty but definitely as a means of increasing their tribal solidarity and inclination to vote republican. the pandemic will eventually finish its course and supply of sacrificed victims will run out but the people who politicized and badly exacerbated this current mass fatality event must now realize if only unconsciously that large scale human sacrifice can be a useful modern political tool for a party idealogically committed to extreme inequality. what might be the next public health crisis they can exploit. a couple things. first of all, it is provocative. like robert boirk, you are a very provocative writer. two, donald trump, i have no doubt that donald trump started pushing his vaccine, no doubt at all, just knowing the guy through the years as i do. donald trump actually figured out that it was his people who were getting sick predominantly and his people who were dying and that's why he wants them to all start taking the vaccine because this is disproportionately impacted those on the trump right. but what gets me about this is that we have -- i have educated friends, went to the best institutions in america, some of the smartest people i know who are republicans, who are trumpists, and who buy into all this garbage. i had one say the other day, oh, it's just like the flu. yeah, you're right, the flu kills 30,000 people a year, this has killed a million people. so it is a bizarre -- it is a bizarre some would say death call. >> they would indeed. and, you know, from the beginning of the pandemic two years ago now people here and there on the left and the right would make comments about, oh, it's mass human sacrifice. it was at the time -- it was over the top, i think at least once made that as a joke on twitter, but it wasn't real for me anyway. it seemed like a figure of speech until last year after the vaccines came along and i saw a study in the fall that showed this incredible correlation between how trampian, how republican a county is on this very granular scale and the chances of dying of covid. it's an extraordinary correlation, right? it goes from the reddest your chances of dying are the greatest to the blue west your chances of dying are the least. i began wondering this really is like mass human sacrifice around the world historically and i felt like is that true? is that sustainable rather than just a crack? so i spent a couple of months looking at the anthropology and was amazed at what anthropologists have found to be societies in which this happens. they are not primitive tribes, they are big culturally complex places, intense social stress and, by the way, epidemics can trigger the practice. this complete intertwining of intense supernatural religious belief and governance. the checklist is amazing in terms of how it compares and parallels the united states. >> kurt, let me interrupt here for a second and just say, though, there are a couple of -- there are a couple of caveats here. one is you have people on the left who were sort of the original anti-vaxxers led by robert kennedy jr. a guy i have known for a long time and liked for a long time but he said really offensive things about vaccine and the holocaust and anne frank. also people of color who have been resistant, resistant to getting vaccines themselves. so it's not a neat right/left thing at all times, but obviously -- obviously there are political ramifications for the right here. >> well, and -- absolutely. and i've written for years about robert kennedy and other liberals who are absurd in their anti-vaccine, anti-science activities, but what you have here is a right, a republican party, politicizing it and doubling down, tripling down on that politicization once after vaccines were available. after this insanely incredibly effective means of dealing with it were available, the fox news empire and the republican party -- its subset, the republican party, has continued to disparage and undermine the idea of vaccination, whether it's sarah palin or tucker carlson. so it has been an organized settlement tick effort like these historical systematic efforts of governing elites to do this and it just -- so, you know, it's not a column, it's no a tweet, it's -- i spent a lot of time doing the research, finding the receipts, and it's not -- it's not a metaphor. i think it's real. and then i look back, i don't spend a lot of time in this piece doing it, but what is -- what is the absolute opposition to gun regulation on the part of the right the last four years if not a kind of mass sacrifice on the basis of this kind of religious devotion to guns equaling freedom. this is no vaccine equals freedom. and it's madness because at least two years ago when you said, the lockdown it's going to ruin the economy, bad for kids, bad -- all that stuff. okay. that was a real argument about costs and benefits of economics versus public health and living or dying. this is not that anymore. the economy is doing okay, right? by many respects doing great. there is no reason except this kind of irrational religious and quasi religious one that increases the power of republican politicians. >> all right. kurt andersen, thank you so much. obviously starting a debate. you know, it's so interesting, heather, that what connects the extreme elements of the gun rights movement that said basically anybody can own anything and there's nothing the government can do or else they're i'm peeked second amendment rights and what we see in the anti-vax movement, anti-mask movement and what we see in january 6th, it's just this hyper individualism that has gotten more extreme by the year that makes people who once vaccinated their children, forgot that they give their kids five vaccinations, forget that in states like mississippi they have the most extreme pro-vaccination laws or at least did without any religious exemptions, but then suddenly it became politically invoked to dart the other way and be anti-vax. >> that's exactly right, joe. you are so wise to connect those two. i'm always asking the question when you see crazy ideas begin to be part of the culture, who is selling these ideas, right, and how are they profiting from them? let's look up the supply chain of their terrible ideas that create a lot of self-sabotage and sacrifice. the thing that connects them all is the way that the right -- the elite on the right through fox news and all of this -- are trying to sell an opposition to government. what do they get out of it? how do they profit from having this sort of knee jerk almost religious anti-government fervor? it's because the government becomes too small to tax, too small to regulate. it ultimately ends up being an economic a argument. kurt makes that as well, the tie to inequality that ultimately even as seniors are dying in rural areas, mostly white folks, even as the people who are mostly dying from the increase in suicide when you have so many guns on hand are white men, two out of three of the increase in suicide deaths is among white men in rural areas, you know, the republican base but ultimately the republicans at the top, they are laughing their way to the bank when we get, you know this, sort of tiers anti-government sentiment that stops us from being able to do things like tax and regulate. >> and you actually have ron desantis in florida criticizing donald trump subtly for being too liberal on covid. that's exactly where the republican party is going. heather mcgee, as always, thank you for being with us. we really appreciate it. mika? still ahead on "morning joe," less bang for your buck. record high inflation has some restaurants adjusting prices across the board. we will dig into that. plus, senator cory booker will be our guest. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. ur guest this is the new world of work. each day looks different than the last. you're watching "morning joe." we will be right back. the servicenow platform will make it just, flow. whether it's finding new ways to help you serve your customers, orchestrating a safe return to the office... wait. an office? what's an office? ...or solving a workplace challenge that's yet to come. wherever the 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>> reporter: good morning, mika. well, of course, the democratic party here in arizona censured senator sinema over the weekend, its an understatement to say that the base of the party and the party affiliation here is not happy with her. i spoke with two members of the state legislature, one is also head of the arizona democratic party, and they say that all of this is happening in the backdrop of the arizona state legislature once again introducing bills to make it harder for people to vote. so they say that senator sinema's vote against the filibuster last week was just unacceptable. let's listen to what they had to say. >> so what are you hearing from the base of the party about senator sinema? >> well, people knocked on doors, people put their confidence in her and we are mindful, you know, that she did work towards the american rescue plan and the bipartisan infrastructure bill, but when it comes to protecting our voting rights, it's something that people feel is very important. so the fact that -- that she got in the way of seeing a voting rights bill move forward was something that people have been very upset about and disappointed and some outraged, but it's what folks are saying. >> i know it's a couple years away, but would you support her campaign next time around? >> absolutely not, and i think ultimately we've seen a lot of organizations who helped get her to the point that she is today to be able to demonstrate that we're serious. on that one particular issue, on protecting our freedom to vote, on standing up to restrictive voting rights legislations throughout the nation, this is one issue that we are not going to budge on. i think that that's why we're so organized to figure out who our new candidate is going to be in 2024. we've got to play close attention to this next chapter and i think ultimately we're moving on. >> you also spoke with voters there. what are you hearing from them? >> reporter: i did speak with voters, it was interesting a lot of voters actually did not want to talk politics, they say that arizona is too divisive of a state at this point, but the voters i did talk to there was a couple republicans especially who said that they are thrilled with senator sinema. they say that she is someone that they would perhaps support moving forward in the 2024 election. let's listen to them and we will talk on the other side. >> what is your opinion about senator sinema? >> i'm actually very impressed. i'm happy to hear -- or have a senator who thinks for themselves for the people. i don't think either party should have the ability to destroy the filibuster rules that have worked for years when one party is in power and the other party is not. i love the checks and balances in the united states. she's done a great job. i actually -- did i not vote for her but i admire her and probably would vote for her in the next election. >> i love her. >> really? >> yeah, she stands up for what's right for the people and she is not playing politics where she just goes by -- you know, the party. >> do you like her enough, do you think, to vote for her? >> yeah, i would vote for yeate. i didn't vote for her last time, but i would this time for sure. >> reporter: so, the question is, though, will those republican voters actually vote for her in 2024 against a republican candidate, but first, mika, she would have to get past a democratic primary, and there's lot of organizing to run a primary against her, even though it's a couple years away. >> nbc's leigh ann caldwell, thank you very much for that. joe? >> yeah. you know, it's really interesting, and you look at what's happening in arizona with kyrsten sinema, look what's happening in west virginia with joe manchin, and we of course talked about it on this show, a lot of people talk about it on a lot of shows. then you go into those states, you look at their approval ratings and you see their approval ratings are pretty darn high, especially in west virginia with joe manchin. you start asking yourself the question, well, can a more progressive democrat really win west virginia? i don't think so. do you throw joe manchin out and forget all the 40 judges he helped pass through, et cetera? i mean, we could go through it with both of these people who are democrats in red states, democrats don't usually win. it's a balancing act, of course, that every democrat has to sort through. why don't we bring in democratic leader senator cory booker of new jersey. he's a member of the judiciary committee and the foreign relations committee as well. it's always great talking to you. i have so much that we want to get to, but why don't we start with that question right now? people say they want to censure these two senators, they want to run primary challenge against these two senators. it's kind of hard running as a democrat in this environment in west virginia, maricopa county. how do you sort through the competing balances here, the competing instincts of democrats? >> well, two things. one, you know, we have nine months until a midterm election, then two more years until 2024 when they're both up. we've got to really focus on the problems we have right now. i disagree with them fundamentally on how their thinking we should meet this crisis with voter suppression. but they are friends of mine. they've been incredible partners in the american rescue plan, bipartisan infrastructure plan. they voted with biden more than 96% of the time. so my focus right now is meeting the crises of the moment from the expenses going up as you guys have been covering to frankly the reality in america right now, where states like georgia and texas, latinos, blacks are having to wait four, five, ten times longer in lines to vote that folks that live in wealthier, predominantly white communities. that's crisis in this country. you have to find a way to be who we say we are, a nation where everyone has equal access to polls. >> i'm wondering what your thought is about this bipartisan effort to pass the electoral count act reforms that would stop republicans or democrats in the future, anybody from claiming that they can decide what votes to accept and what votes to throw out. we've sort of, as you know because you were there -- it's one of the ways that donald trump tried to overthrow the last election. what were your thoughts on that bipartisan plan? >> look, we need it and we've got to do it. but i hope that's not going to defutz the urgency of the moment where you have states like montana that are going to pass laws that make it more difficult for african americans to vote. jon tester, makes it harder for students and native americans to vote. this is a guy that's won election base a few thousand votes and this is rigging the system. we need to count the votes right, but if you rig the game, the scoreboard doesn't matter. we have to make it a fair election. >> good morning, senator. it's willie geist. what is the future of that voting rights legislation that you want to get through and so many democrats and progressives want to get through but don't have the votes? the math is the math, and we found that out last week, trying to get it through, joe manchin and kyrsten sinema not on board with that getting the filibuster pushed to the side. so what is the path forward for so many people in this country who are very concerned about this issue? is it, as reverend sharpton said earlier, picking a part the pieces of it that are popular, that you do have enough votes at this point to get through and passing it piece by piece? or do you still hold out some hope somehow, some way, that the larger legislation can get through? >> well, i think that if you break this out pretty much all the pieces are supported by people on both sides of the aisle. i think right now people don't understand when they hear the big name of the bill. let's show them this is about stopping gerrymandering that is ridiculous in this country, republicans and democrats know it's wrong. let's talk about dark money and how we have billions of dollars being spent in our election where nobody knowing where that money is coming from. so i'm very much in favor of parts of this bill, the one about native americans' bill of rights or voting rights, support build at least one senator, murkowski, on the republican side. let's bring those forward and point out that hypocrisy of those who would be against such fair, just elections, and hopefully dramatize the larger hypocrisy that all of these republican legislators, not one democratic vote are passing these larger, doing it based upon a lie that is a cancer to our country, this idea that donald trump and others are spreading that somehow there is widespread voter fraud in our country when even his top officials say there is no justification for that claim and, therefore, no justiication for these laws that republicans are doing. what's happening in these states is they realize they cannot win fairly, so let's suppress students. let's make it harder for low-income or minority people to vote. and this, again, is bigger than our partisan politics. it really is to the core, to the heart of our democracy. we've got to be a better nation than this. >> senator booker, gong. wanting to shift gears here. you sit on the foreign relations committee. i wanted your assessment of the situation along the ukraine/russian border. 8,500 troops put on heightened alert yesterday. would you feel it important to deploy those troops to the baltic states? >> can i just draw the line to first tell you these are not related. the russians who are involved in a lot of this election misinformation, fueling lies in our country, they are trying to destabilize western democracy and do not want ukraine to be a westward-facing free, independent democracy. they are in an active hybrid war already in ukraine. clearly, they've taken crimea and clearly they're trying to undermine democrat sill there. so these are not unrelated, this global contest between authoritarian governments and free western democracies. it's playing out here in our home, but to answer your question, i am definitely not for deploying u.s. troops in ukraine. we should not get involved in combat operations there. that said, we have a big stake in the outcome, so we should be providing the ukrainians along with our nato partners resources to defend themselves. and i've joined with my senior senator bob menendez is making sure that we are showing the russians that if they do such a move the there will be unprecedented bipartisan economic sanctions on their nation as well as their top officials in both business and the military. >> senator cory booker, thank you very much for being on the show this morning. up next, the breaking news from pfizer on a vaccine that is specific to the omicron variant. we'll have more on that straight ahead on msnbc when stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage in 90 seconds. e picks up the covern e picks up the covern 90 seconds 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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ with a bit more thought we can all do our part to keep plastic out of the ocean. hey, there. i'm stephanie ruhle live at msnbc headquarters right here in new york city. it's tuesday, january 25th. we have a lot of news to get to, so buckle up and let's get smarter. this morning we are keeping a close eye on wall street after the dow saw a nearly 1,200-point swing yesterday from tensions overseas to possible interest rate hikes. we'll break down what is behind the massive volatility and the wild ride we're seeing on wall street. plus,