public. the other developments that relate to all this january 6th business is the committee now scouring those trump documents that he failed to hide, losing at the supreme court. it was just last week. it was just last week that the supreme court handed down that big 8-1 decision, a stinging rebuke for trump. for people who say how does this all work, does any of it matter? the rule of law is holding. days later the committee is receiving and processing what looks to be about 770 pages of once secret documents from inside the inner sanctum and the upper levels of the trump white house. what's in there? the short answer is we don't have all the texts yet, but we do have reporting on some of the examples, the categories. meeting notes at the time they were preparing for january 6th, drafts of the actual january 6th speech which could be incriminating. we know trump wanted to hide it, as well as high level correspondence, that could be emails, notes, from then white house chief of staff mark meadows. the met does notes are believed to include information about the high stakes meetings in the oval office at that time. stay with me when we say oval office meetings. unlike other presidents, basically every other president, there's really no supposition or evident that he was doing any governing work at that time. if there were oval office meetings, they are believed to have focused on his obsession at the time which was trying to steal the election and illegally stay in power after january 20th. when i say oval office meetings if that was about president bush or eisenhower or obama, you would think, it could be a national security meeting. there's a reason why these meeting notes may contain information about the contemporaneous state of mind and planning about stealing the election. we also reported on the maga world witnesses who have tried to duck or resist the subpoenas. we're also seeing, though, the way the process is working against the vast majority of people contacted. today a conspiracy theorist, alex jones, admitting he went in. he was deposed by the committee. pleading the fifth almost 100 times. another loss for a trump ally, lawyer john eastman who was part of the memos, the paper trail that was trying to make these kwaus see legal arguments that there was ways to stay in power, the memo to pence outlining the procedure to stay in power. a judge ordering him to respond to the committee's subpoena for his emails. that's an evidentiary request. he's also pled the fifth separately to about 150 questions. you see that lawyers can't just walk away even though they do have legal, valid privilege claims. some are dodging and weaving, some are giving testimony, a version of testimony and television interviews. they will be held to the same rule of law standard, and they all need to keep their bar memberships. that brings us to a trump aide and lawyer who appeared on this program on friday, boris epshteyn admitting he was involved in the fraudulent electors plot. what he called alternate electors, while he insisted whatever he wanted to do was legal. >> everything that was done was done legally under the leadership of rudy giuliani. we fought for the truth. >> that's his view. he has every right to share it. to paraphrase a few good men, the witness has rights. but you hearted him there, part of the claim that he is making and peter navarro has made who is also admitting plots to stay in power and overrule the election is that they sthee as somehow valid according to the rules or somehow provided for by various statutes or constitutional measures. they're entitled to that defense. the news tonight is the feds are investigating this as a criminal matter. they will have the last word about whether this is according to the rules and if anyone is further charged, it goes through the urt co-system. presumed innocent, but you get your daye in court and a trial will decide. i want to give you a little more on what we're learning today that we didn't know yesterday about how the feds view that plot. there were these fake or fraudulent elector certifications. you go up the line, we're talking about the number two in the justice department, deputy attorney lisa monaco who has now said, and this was reported first here by cnn, quote, we've received those referrals. our prosecutors are looking at those and i can't say anything more on on going investigations. i can tell you that is a standard and proper statement when there are matters of major public interest. as you probably know, all the way back to james comey and the hillary emails and any number of stories, it will be practice to sometimes confirm a probe without giving more information. confirming a probe is bad news for anyone who is worried about being a person of interest or a target or a defendant of a criminal probe. mr. epshteyn has said on this program and elsewhere that they were doing it according to the rules. we have congress looking at whether the rules were broken and a doj probe into the actual rioters. that brings us to oath keepers leader stewart rhodes, pleading not guilty to conspiracy and the judge is setting trial dates for later this spring and summer. it's a lot. i'm joined by ellie miss stall as well as democratic strategist juanita tolliver. ellie, your reaction. >> in the words of powell, one, two, three, for, fifth! if you're a lawyer, you want to plead privilege. for your lawyer to go in 176 times and plead the fifth, that's an interesting piece of information. in terms of the other thing with the monaco confirming that these potentially fake electors ballots are being investigated, that's the first irnd case -- one of the first indications we've gotten that the department of justice is listening to congress. congress has asked -- politicians have asked the department of justice to look into that. that's not mainline part of the january 6th committee investigation. the fact that merrick garland is at least doing that, is at least kind of looking into this issue speaks well for i think going down the road -- if merrick garland will take up the baton. >> let me jump into that. it's very interesting and i think viewers have followed this because it's been a big news story. nou it is a big investigative story. ellie, i think you're speaking to something that is the inner branch activity here, and i just want to be really precise about it and let you respond. there's two ways that congress can engage on these things. they can do work and provide information or evidence that can form the predicate of an investigation. that's okay. they can also just demand political things like, gosh, it would be great if their opponents were under investigation. that's not okay. and i draw that distinction because we're living in this era where there's been a lot of pushing on the doj and all these pressures. walk us through what you're seeing as the legal predicate. at the end of the day, a lot of investigations start with leads. they can come from a random person. they come from sometimes independent journalism. we know when we're working on stories, gosh, this could lead to something. they could come from someone in a position to know. the only place they shouldn't come from is a bias or political targeting. speak a little more on that and then i'll bring in juanita. >> you don't want a politician to say, look, i've got to run against this guy in the fall, can you look into this guy? that's not what's happening. what i read is happening is congress has information and they're like here department of justice, here other branch of government, here is information we have found. perhaps you would find it interesting. monaco is confirming that the department of justice is finding information and is conducting an appropriate investigation to see where that information leads. that's what we want. we want the government to be able to talk to each other. we don't want the government to pressure -- inappropriately pressure each other. what it looks like right now is a sharing of information, not a politically pressured investigation, and i think that's a good thing and i think this is the first indication we have that that kind of intergovernmental cooperation is happening. >> let me take that to juanita on the political side. whether people like it or not, we live under the rulings of the supreme court in this country. the supreme court has found politicians have a right to lie. they can run on lies. they can run around and tell lies. that is not something that sends them to jail. whether people like it or not, that's the law. what we're not allowed to do in this country is you cannot lie in a voting booth. that's voter fraud. you can't certify when certifying electors. that's a government abuse of power to try to steal an election. it seems while there's many lies that people know about, there's at least an investigation -- i don't want to prejudge anything, not my job. there's at least an inquiy as to whether the lies were made in forums where they could be criminal. >> that's exactly right. i appreciate you establishing the lies, ari. it's also illegal to obstruct the certification of those votes which is another major question of the select committee. this signal from the doj is showing that they are looking at documentation that is available now that these archival records have been released. this is all about the falsified materials and the push that was potentially coordinated through the white house to get these electors to even step forward. what we heard and what the gentleman said that you interviewed last week, we tried to do this as a backup, just in case those votes weren't certified, just in case those electors weren't certified. but what they did, there's a chance that organizing at these statehouses which is where they did this action in different states, organizing at statehouses across the country in battleground states like michigan and pennsylvania, koush criminal activity. i'm thinking also politically in the narrative that this shapes for the public that is paying attention to this and how it could potentially have an overshadowing effect of the upcoming midterms and notifying voters that, hey, the doj is paying attention, the doj is acting on your behalf. as you and ellie have established, that is the right thing for the doj to do and it's a sharp departure from what we saw the doj do under trump where they accessed members' phone members like representative schiff and representative swalwell, and they are not behaving in that way. i think keeping that dividing line in communication is essential here for the public paying attention. i appreciate you and ellie for raising that. >> juanita, there's this other headline about who was pushing what. this is bernie kerik, a giuliani figure and then a trump figure, also a convicted felon, by the way. he told the january 6th panel that it was this army colonel that came up with this, quote, idea. i would call it a coup, to seize voting machines by the military. he said phil wadron originated the scheme, which would almost certainly have been illegal. having the pentagon seize voting machines is indeed illegal. in fairness, this was so wacky, that even the wacky people were like, that's wacky. i just want to be clear about the facts as we follow. there's no yet public evidence that, for example, mark meadows or the president signed off on this military idea. but i'm curious juanita as a student of the era we're living in, what you think of people like kerik and waldron were even getting an audience at the highest levels of government. we can only imagine what the military thought about this kind of meddling. >> let's think about the context of the moment. the date of the draft of this executive order shows bill barr had already designed. i think you also had white house counsel also threatening to resign if they were going to replace acting a.g. rosen at the time. so trump was looking for anybody he could lean on, anyone, and cue these players who probably shouldn't have had audience with the president or access to that information. and it shows the desperation of trump to do anything because what was outlined in that draft order was a military coup. that is what is striking here. i think that is what should be emphasized. you're right, there is no evidence yet that meadows signed off on it or trump signed off on it. as the select committee digs through these documents, there could be something in handwritten notes, draft materials, draft talking points, something that signals trump did sign off of it. that's something i'm keeping my ear to the ground on as the select committee goes through those 770 documents. >> juanita and ellie, thank you. we'll dig into how state republican officials want to create a police state of informers. it's not conservative, but it's happening right now. also tucker carlson going pro russia again. how it is getting boosted in moscow. then you might have seen on your screen. neil degrasse tyson is back on "the beat." he's here live after this. afte. the brand i trust is qunol. ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ light under control. ♪upbeat music♪ transitions™ signature gen 8™ available now, in 4 vibrant style colors. transitions™ deon, hand it over. available now, in 4 vibrant style colors. now how does that make you feel? like a part of me is missing. gabrielle? this old spice fiji hand and body lotion has me smoother than ever. that's what it does. and it's easy to get a quote at libertymutual.com so you only pay for what you need. isn't that right limu? limu? sorry, one sec. doug blows a whistle. [a vulture squawks.] oh boy. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty♪ ben isn't worried about retirement his personalized plan is backed by the team at fidelity. only pay for what you need. his ira is professionally managed, and he gets one-on-one coaching when he needs it. so ben is feeling pretty zen. that's the planning effect from fidelity vs. mozzarella stick when heartburn hits, fight back fast with tums chewy bites. fast heartburn relief in every bite. crunchy outside, chewy inside. ♪ tums, tums, tums, tums ♪ tums chewy bites ♪[music]♪ at aetna® we're shifting medicare coverage into high gear with benefits you may be eligible for when you turn 65. benefits that may include a $0 monthly plan premium. telehealth emergency coverage while you travel an over-the-counter allowance plus dental, vision, and hearing because the right medicare plan should help you feel...yeah, like that. aetna medicare advantage plans call today to learn more. [♪♪] did you know you can shorten your cold with cold-eeze® lozenges? cold-eeze® can shorten your cold by 42% try cold-eeze® the number one best-selling zinc lozenge. and try new cold-eeze® ultramelt™ chews in a great-tasting orange flavor that quickly dissolves on your tongue. that's the whole point of being the government. if you don't like something, you simply make it illegal. >> the government can just make anything illegal that it doesn't like. that's a quick joke on the perils of government overreach from a comedy, pirate radio. there are increasing moves by local and state governments that kind of go down that road. for context, let's remember. say you're a traditional conservative or libertarian. that means you believe government power should be used sparingly. so many of these moves are fundamentally anti conservative. they are a inconsistent and politically naked political approach on trolling your opponents and the outrage politics of the maga era. take the governor of virginia who ran on the phantom issues of banning from schools what was not being taught in schools. it was called critical race theory. it was not in virginia. he talked about into as a way to inject race in the schools and he's launching a tip line so parents can nark on teachers who are teaching divisive subjects. just as another maga-style governor ron desantis is proposing a government ban on certain topics in schools with a separate attack on anything that might make certain people uncomfortable. >> we are going to be including in this legislation giving parents a private right of action to be able to enforce the prohibition on crt and they get to recover attorneys' fees when they prevail. >> this is a real thing even if the posters look like a kind of self-satire. the child, a minor, holding up the anti crt sign, something he's never been taught. desantis saying that way parents might sue their schools if critical race theory is alluded to. crt is not taught. it's more of a cleej at level lens when it arises. there's nothing wrong with it, by the way. but we don't get into it if it's not on the table. these bans are being pushed in at least ten other states. it's part of a wider movement. texas republicans trying to direct schools to identify books that could cause students guilt or anguish that they might be racist or sexist or oppressive. it's seen as something for white students. meanwhile, there have been over 150 recent incidents involving the attempted censorship of books in schools and libraries, many from the same right wing frame. taken seriously all this reflects a twist on conservative cancel culture, but you have to insulate certain people from the opposing views they abhor, but apparently you have to insulate people on the right. reporter david corn calls it the snowflakization on the right. it's the kind of government censorship identified in many, many classic warnings about political dystopias. >> have any of you guys ever seen one of these bad things for real? we burned almost every physical book in the country. it's about time you guys grow up, there won't be one book left. >> get rid of all the ideas, all the books. that's where book burning leads in fahrenheit 451, the suppression of ideas on a road to the suppression of far more than ideas, a road to ignorance, the suppression of human rights, a police state. it is worth being vigilant when you see politicians taking steps towards these things, anti conservative moves like trying to dictate factual history or this republican pushing parents to snitch on their own teachers. do we really want the government stoking this? 21 savage discussed some of these matters in snitches and rats. he told on his brother, his brother told back. they say they're twins. we call them siamese rats on got. we're living in a strange time when it's republican politicians pushing snitches and rats in our own schools. we turn now to the author of that piece i quoted, washington chief david jones. >> good to be with you, ari. >> snitches and rats, banning books in history. how seriously do you take this? >> i take it very seriously. for years conservatives and republicans have made fun of liberals on the left saying you need safe spaces, you talk about triggers. don't you want to have a marketplace of ideas, are you afraid to face the harsh realities in life. that was always i thought an overstated criticism. now they're rushing in to protect their people from being discomforted from conversations about history, race, gender inequality. look at the definition ron desantis is pushing in florida. it's not just for schools. it also covers the workplace. people are prohibited from doing things, saying things, teaching things that make anyone, quote, feel discomfort, guilt, anguish or any other form of psychological distress on the account of his race, color, sex or national origin. if you're in florida and they teach you about the forcible relocation of the seminole indians and you live on land that used to belong to the seminole indians and you feel guilty because of that, well, then you can say no, you can't do this. i don't want to feel bad. don't teach me about the history here. of course, this applies to teaching about the holocaust and slavery and everything else. one of the many problems here is the definition. who defines what makes me feel uncomfortable. if you walk around telling racist and sexist jokes at work, they make you go to a seminar, a training seminar so you stop doing this. they ask, why do you think you're doing this? might it have to do with your background? now in florida, that might be banned because that would make someone feel uncomfortable or anguished. this is really about saying you're making me feel bad because i'm white, i'm oh a man, i'm this, that or something else and i don't want that to happen. so it's as if everyone on the right -- everyone who they're putting this in place for are gigantic snowflakes who can't have uncomfortable conversations. >> it goes deeply to mind control. it's very hard to care about something that you don't know about at all. if you're brought up in a world where you don't know there's a homeless problem in america because perhaps you live in a place where you don't see it and you're not exposed to it, then when someone comes up and says, well, we have this tax to try to deal with the homeless problem. you say i don't even know there is one and i don't care about that. axios says it's almost immaterial what the books are. it's about the readers, about all the folks organizing our discourse. this is basically saying don't be fooled into thinking it's even about, quote, unquote, education. it's about ruling certain parts of the discourse out of order by the right. >> if you have conversations that are difficult about past inequities or current irn equities, what does that lead to? it leads to what are we going to do about it? if you talk about race and the history of race in this country, the next question is what do we do about it? that's the question they don't want to get to. that's where they want to stop. so you take this out of the public discourse. you don't let people have their own voices who want to talk about these things. think what it does for the teachers now in florida and virginia and the other places, your don't want to be caught in a cultural crossfire. they're going to start self-censuring themselves so people don't snitch on them. >> that's why i'm glatd you say snitch, because that's why i quoted 21. it is that environment and it is a quasi attempt at a police state. whether people sue or not, on a teacher's salary,out can't risk being sued. david corn, thank you for your breakdown. people can check out david corn's piece on that. later tonight we'll show you tucker carlson going pro russia. why? as promised, the great neil degrasse tyson coming up. we go into not only the war on science but what we can learn from science and a very cultural commentary. stay with us. y cultural commentary stay with us the new ww personal points program. it's particular to you. what's your favorite food? avocado you can fill a bathtub. i love it. with guacamole. all over. helps the skin, helps the body. don't pay until spring. join today at ww.com. offer ends january 30th. look! oh my god... oh wow. i want my daughter riley to know about her ancestors and how important it is to know who you are and to know where you came from. doesn't that look like your papa? that's your great grandfather. it's like opening a whole 'nother world that we did not know existed. you finally have a face to a name. we're discovering together... it's been an amazing gift. i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and it's the first and only s1p receptor modulator approved for uc. don't take zeposia if you've had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or mini-stroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat not corrected by a pacemaker, if you have untreated severe breathing problems during your sleep, or if you take medicines called maois. zeposia may cause serious side effects including infections that can be life-threatening and cause death, slow heart rate, liver or breathing problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema, and swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels. though unlikely, a risk of pml--a rare, serious, potentially fatal brain infection--cannot be ruled out. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, medications, or if you are or plan to become pregnant. if you can become pregnant, use birth control during treatment and for 3 months after you stop taking zeposia. don't let uc stop you from doing you. ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia. your plain aspirin could be hurting your stomach. vazalore... is the first liquid-filled aspirin capsule clinically shown to cause fewer ulcers than plain aspirin. try new vazalore. aspirin made amazing! such tree-mendous views. i'm at a moss for words. when a cough tries to steal dad's punchlines, he takes robitussin naturals powered by 100% drug-free ingredients. are you gonna leaf me hanging? soothe your cough naturally. now to something special we have planned for you. let's start it like this. i think we know some of the most contentious political debates today turn on empirical science. how is covid transmitted? do vaccines work? is the earth getting warmer? what does 99% probability mean? these are factual matters that transcend politics, but politics can go to war against facts. a theme explored in this hit new film starring meryl streep as a trumpian president consumed by pr and operating a corrupt family umpire as they face an existential threat requiring a scientific emergency response, how to prevent a planet-killing comet heading towards earth. >> madam president, this comet is what we call a planet killer. >> we just call it a potentially significant event. >> but it isn't potentially going to happen. it is going to happen. >> exactly. 99.78% to be exact. >> oh, great. so it's not 100%. >> call it 70% and let's move on. we should get some of our scientists on this. no offense. when are the midterms? >> three weeks. >> three weeks. so if this breaks before then, we lose congress and then there's nothing we can do about it anyway. it will be gridlocked. >> the timing, it's atrocious. >> i'm going to make a statement, a presidential statement to the american people. we're not going to tell the press about it ahead of time because that would have the appearance of breaking emergency. >> may jesus christ bless every single one of you, especially the honorable members of my own party. we will prevail. >> you heard them there, the political timing was bad. you hear that? the who satirical plot probes how our society would respond to a science-driven wake-up call, and the film's answer is really badly. this movie "don't look up" follows some of the classic tropes of doomsday movies, a killer astroid or alien invasion that requires your heroic leader and all of our collective action. it shows how those fairytales might react today. if the few experts who have experience in comet prevention are overruled by political idiots or insider billionaires. what is the comet? it's an allegory about science denialism so you the viewer, the citizen, can decide. maybe it's climate change, maybe it's covid, maybe it's the next pandemic that could be more of an existential threat than covid. are people getting the message? this is a film tackling big themes with serious ideas, but also has the stars like streep, leo dicaprio, jennifer lawrence. it has become a blockbuster hit, surging to be the second most watched netflix film ever. hood often ducks movies with an overt political message. this movie i think has one. and that has people thinking, and it is about politics, but it's not just about politics. to g beyond politics and to get into a film that so many people are talking about, as promised, we turned to acclaimed astrophysicist neil degrasse tyson. welcome back. >> thanks for having me back on. thank you. >> absolutely. we think of you as pretty scientific, pretty empirical. i'm curious how you think the film applies to warnings, is it hyperbolic for those likening change to a planet-killing comet. >> it was clearly a documentary based on life experience interacting with the press, social media, with the political landscape. everything there just felt like a dose of reality that scared me actually. i thought to myself -- yes, it's -- there are exaggerated dimensions of it. but the exaggerations don't come from nowhere. they come from actual conduct by actual people in actual positions of power. that's the scary part. back some years ago there was the science march. why science should have to march, that's a whole other question to be addressed. but during the science march, one of my favorite posters irsaw someone hold up was every disaster movie begins by someone in charge ignoring the warnings of a scientist. so this movie -- allegory is too soft a word. allegory is, well, there's a hidden message. there's nothing hidden. a comet is going to take us out and how are we going to react? >> it's like the diplomats say. you're terry cloth, that means you're very soft. maybe they were too soft on some of the problems. i want to look at another aspect of this. neil stays. in the film, even when the warnings arrive, they have to fight through many muck of our superficial a.d.d. discourse weighed down by the selfish consumerism of late-stage capitalism. >> guys, the comet is stressing me out. >> the comet is coming. people got to dig in. >> clean sweep for president orlean. >> how hot he is. >> the comet actually contains almost $140 trillion worth of acids. >> over 40 million data points on you and every decision you have made since 1994, doctor. i know who you are. my algorithms have determined eight fundamental consumer profile types. >> the president's plan to save earth and make it so we can all have a home is going to work, right? >> every single man, woman and child on this planet is going to die. >> did it make you laugh or cry? >> both. i didn't know i had those two emotions simultaneously within me ready to burst forth. i thought leonardo dicaprio did a great job just as the frustrated scientist. he has a job to do, and that is to understand what is objectively true in the world, and usually it doesn't matter to the public what we do when we look up at the night sky. occasionally when it does, you kind of maybe should pay attention to that and no one did. he wasn't media savvy on purpose just to show -- we're not rewarded for that as scientists who work in labs. so i think the director, adam mckay was right on -- the director, writer and producer. he captured all of the tropes of modern life from the social media to the political mayhem to the cultural -- the tribalism as people gather together and have group think without regard to what role an objectively true bit of information might have on how they're thinking. so, yeah, it's all there. if you compare it to other films, not to get too inside film on you, there's a film some years ago called idiocracy which was a future where nobody valued being smart and nobody was smart and what world was that. this is for me a modern version of that except more real because we've all seen and felt and maybe even participated in the elements of this storytelling and how it all just implodes by the end. >> yeah. you talk about how, quote, unquote, tribalism can be fused with willful ignorance, denialism, and that just resonated exactly with right now. a denialism that can put your own adherence in danger. i want to show everyone, neil, this part where it really echoes the covid era. they're very clearly maga-style crowds literally chanting in the face of this potential comet "don't look up" which is a horrifically stupid way to avoid even using your own eyes to find out if there's a comet about to kill you and your family and everything you love. >> do you know why they want you to look up? do you know why? because they want you to be afraid. they want you to look up because they are looking down their noses at you. they think they're better than you. >> don't look up. don't look up. >> don't look up. don't look up. >> a lot of hollywood is supporting the just look up movement but i haven't seen a pin like that. >> this pinpoints both up and down. >> i think we're all tired of the politics. >> you, the working class, us, the cool rich and then them. >> don't look up. >> don't look up. >> don't look up. >> what the hell is that? >> they [ bleep ] lied to us. >> neil, i just got to tell you, i really felt that. i cover a lot of things, try to do the job, but that really hit for me, the idea that you could literally tell people don't look up, don't use your eyes. it doesn't feel like a big reach to me. >> that was my favorite -- the most intriguing part of the entire film for me, how you can gather that many people outdoors at night while the comet predicted to be there in the sky by the astrophysicist, predicted to hit the earth, shortly in their future hit the earth, and people are taking what is objectively true and creating a political message that is not true and getting people to then believe that. it's like, oh, my gosh. it's all compressed into just a couple minutes of that clip. and i think, we've seen this happen. i don't even know if i have a solution for this. i'll offer one. here it is. in school we are taught that science is this satchel of facts. you learn it and regurgitate it for the final and then you go home. later on you learn that one of those facts got modified or discarded for some other fact. you say, well, science doesn't know what it's talking about. because you didn't learn science as it should have been taught, as a way of querying nature, as a means of decoding what is or is not true in this world. and there is no enterprise humans have ever conducted that rivals its ability to establish what is objectively true and not. if you don't see that, we're all in trouble. >> you're talking deep, no surprise. we know you. you're talking deep. you're talking about the epistemological level of how we know what we know and whether we've been given the tools or given some of the wrong premises where, well, the cdc updated its guidance. yeah. it's a new virus. no, they don't know what they're talking about. we happen to be talking through the tv media. i did want to say while the film deals with all this other stuff we just showed, politics, et cetera, it has several legitimate critiques of media, tv print and online and how sometimes we all come up short on science stories or putting personality above facts or, as we'll see in some of these clips, sometimes having a scientific it literacy. >> unfortunately there was an immediately backlash that quickly became a meme. >> oh, jesus. >> that's terrible. >> they just think i'm crazy. >> dr. mindy on the other hand had some very high favorables. vegan babe wrote -- >> bottom line is you told us the science was 100% and it's not. now we look like idiots. >> we're hearing that there is no comet or that there is a comet but it's a good thing or maybe it's a bad thing. we are so confused. >> the reason we know there is a comet is because we saw it. we saw it with our own eyes using a telescope. if we can't all agree at a bare minimum that a giant comet the size of mt. everest hurdling its way towards planet earth is not a [ bleep ] good thing, then what the hell happened to us? >> neil. >> only silence can follow that clip. what else is there to say? by the way, the science that is infused in those story lines as a friend and colleague of mine who russ we tand on that film, the size a comet the size of mt. everest. that was the size comet that took out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. there's a lot of authentically informed commentary when it comes from the mouths of the scientists in this. as you went into that, you were talking about the culpability of perhaps some media. the fact is, when we know something with that level of certainty, it's not up for you to take the 1% or the 1.5% and make that half of your rebuttal, right? it's not how that should work. you don't say -- oh let's have equal sides give the view and, no, no. scientists are being authentically -- we're being genuine when we say we make a measurement and measurements have uncertainties. you work with that. you don't say anything is 100%. you say 97%, 98%. if someone told you don't cross the street because there's a 97% chance you're going to die, are you going to cross the street? no, you're not. you're going to wait until those odds improve. here we have scientists putting out these kinds of numbers and we have people saying, oh, you don't know at all. and if someone -- if someone reverses their guidelines, okay, because we learned more information. that's a feature of science, not a bug. so this is how we need to think about what -- are you going to judge a scientist by how long they never update their outlook on the state of the world and the better ones never change their mind? no, that's why we make measurements continuously. >> this is why we had you on. we've gone from don't look up to look both ways before you cross the street, if you learn nothing else from neil today. thank you, sir. i appreciate you coming back. >> thank you. always good to be here. neil's book is "a brief welcome to the universe." you can get that right now. when we come back, the tucker-putin connection. stay with us. my name is douglas. i'm a writer/director and i'm still working. in the kind of work that i do, you are surrounded by people who are all younger than you. i had to get help somewhere along the line to stay competitive. i discovered prevagen. i started taking it and after a period of time, my memory improved. it was a game-changer for me. prevagen. healthier brain. better life. people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible... with rybelsus®. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to the possibility of lower a1c with rybelsus®. you may pay as little as $10 for up to a 3-month prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. first psoriasis, then psoriatic arthritis. even walking was tough. i had to do something. i started cosentyx®. cosentyx can help you move, look, and feel better... by treating the multiple symptoms of psoriatic arthritis. don't use if you're allergic to cosentyx. before starting...get checked for tuberculosis. an increased risk of infections some serious... and the lowered ability to fight them may occur. tell your doctor about an infection or symptoms... or if you've had a vaccine or plan to. tell your doctor if your crohn's disease symptoms... develop or worsen. serious allergic reactions may occur. watch me. ask your rheumatologist about cosentyx. yep, it's go time with wireless on the most reliable network. ok, that jump was crazy! watch me. but what's crazier? you get unlimited for just 30 bucks. nice! but mine has 5g included. wait! 5g included? yup, even these guys get it. nice ride, by the way. and the icing on the cake? saving up to 400 bucks? exactly. wait, shouldn't you be navigating? xfinity mobile. it's wireless that does it all and saves a lot. like a lot, a lot. all eyes on russia and any possible invasion of ukraine. pentagon has put over 8,000 u.s. troops on stand by for any possible deployment in the region. this is the context, the anxiety about what putin will do next for tucker charleston pushing this kind of russian message on fox news. >> the fact is ukraine is strategically irrelevant to the united states. no rational person could defend a war with russia over ukraine. why is it disloyal to side with russia but loyal to side with ukraine? they're both foreign countries that don't care anything about the united states. kind of strange. >> tucker carlson there may be pushing a dovish message and may be foreign policy many would agree with but it a little different than he said. the reason nato and the u.s. and other groups are involved is ukraine remains a democracy, russia is ruled by a dictator and tucker carlson has been on this for months. tucker gets approvingly replayed sometimes on putin's state run tv. >> you have to ask yourself why -- >> [speaking foreign language]. >> back here in the u.s., there are impacts, democratic congressman tom malinowski said i'm getting tweets those that watch charleston and are upset that we're not siding with russia in its threats. tucker seems to have some sort of larger pattern here with tyrants who learn to the right. he famously went to hungary last year and had a fawning visit with the strong man there, victor and suspended elections in his own country. now, there are as i mentioned valid debates about overseas interventions and this may be a time many people want to stay away from any reactionary hawkishness but to continuously seemingly echo the views of dictatorship by charleston may be debating as american democracy, traditions and commitments are under assault right here at home right now. we'll be right back. t home righn t home righn we'll be right back. for all the freshness and softness of home. even when you're not at home. feel the difference with downy. >> woman: what's my safelite story? >> vo: my car is more than four wheels. it's my after-work decompression zone. so when my windshield broke... >> woman: what?! >> vo: ...i searched for someone who really knew my car. i found the experts at safelite autoglass. with their exclusive technology, they fixed my windshield... then recalibrated the camera attached to my glass so my safety systems still work. who knew that was a thing?! >> woman: safelite has service i can trust. >> singers: ♪ safelite repair, safelite replace. ♪ ♪ ♪making your way in the world today♪ ♪takes everything you've got♪ ♪ ♪taking a break from all your worries ♪ ♪sure would help a lot ♪ ♪wouldn't you like to get away? ♪ ♪ ♪ sometimes you want to go ♪ ♪where everybody knows your name ♪ ♪ ♪and they're always glad you came ♪ thanks for spending time with me tonight as we learned if they tell you don't look up, consider looking up. that does it for us since "the reidout with joy reid" starts now. >> wise words indeed. have a fantastic evening. good evening. we begin "the reidout" with butler, now you may be a little known name but don't let that fool you. this is a marine with a big military resume. starting with the war against spain in 1898. he was twice awarded the medal of honor, hollywood loved him so did theodore roosevelt that called him the ideal american soldier but the story we're going to tell didn't happen in a conflict overseas but rather in pennsylvania.