>> period. yeah. >> i will net lopez, the new spies is online for "insider." thanks for coming on. thank you. we'll roll right into the fourth hour of "morning joe." it's 9:00 on the east coast, 6:00 a.m. out west. katty kay and jonathan lemire are with us. in just under an hour, the u.n. security council will meet again to discuss the war in ukraine. it comes just hours after president zelenskyy spoke to the south korean parliament warning that russia won't stop attacking until it is forced to. he now says the death toll in mariupol alone is in the tens of thousands. zelenskyy also compared russian atrocities with those perpetuated by north korea during the korean war and called again for the international community to do more to help. >> president zelenskyy also offered his opinion on what he's seeing in the actions of russian soldiers, saying, "russian soldiers were shocked by the normal equipment and normal food in people's houses in ukraine. the majority of them have never seen such a level of living in their country, so they began to loot, sending everything that has some value to russia, from wash mag sheens to computers, spare parts for cars. there were incidents when russian soldiers removed the ammo from the bulletproof vests and put the tablet es and computers there instead of protective armor. what we saw in our land was a clash between two worlds." >> katty it's so amazing. i remember when i was reading a book for the first time, there was an introduction by milton freeld mesne, and he talked about, he said, berlin was almost like this perfect laboratory experiment, one city, one culture, a wall down the middle, east and west. radically different as they could be. and here we are in 2022. i must say, to hear this in 2022 it's so shocking that russia is even this far behind ukraine, which once again, katty, explains why he's so desperate for them not to become members of the eu. >> yeah. i remember going through the wall before it came down when it was still the iron curtain and being struck by that. from the accounts of what these soldiers, the things they could save their live, taking out the armor plating in their vests and putting in tablets and computers, which will not protect them if they get shot at by ukrainian soldiers. they're just desperate to get their hands on these commercial goods. it's ukraine moving to the western capitalist, european union, to the modern world. that's what putin wanted to stop. he was moving on that timetable. he saw it happening faster and faster, and he wanted to stop it before ukraine was inexorably linked to the european union. he's fast tracked it. >> everything he wanted to happen has not happened. in fact, it's all blown up in his face. jonathan lemire, action this morning on the "morning joe" twitter feed. i quoted this morning jim garrity from "national review," a great quote -- we're always hear, oh, democracy is brittle, western liberal democracy is brittle -- i get so tired of hearing it because it's always a lie. always a lie. but he's talking about how badly china has reacted to the covid crisis. man, it is horrible there. he has this quote, evergreen quote number win, "authoritarian regimes are more brittle than they look." and here's another example of that. i added a little picture that i picked up. seven things every kid needs to hear. you may want to write these down, john. number one, i love you. that's important. >> that's nice. >> number two, i'm proud of you. that is so important we tell our children this. number three, i'm sorry. let them know, dad's not perfect, man. dad sometimes -- he screws up too. four, i forgive you. i forgive you. my love is unconditional. let your kids know that, jonathan. let them know that. number five, i'm listening. i'm hearing what you have to say. number six, you got what it takes. show them the confidence. number seven, communism has failed every time it was tried. only seven things that your kids need to hear. but why do i bring this up? why do i give parenting advice on the 14th hour of "morning joe" this morning? i tell you what, because, it's because it's critical of what we're seeing in russia. this is a class of civilizations, a clash of authoritarianism versus western democracy. we hear people chirping about western democracy's failures. that's all we ever here. it reminds me of jfk saying democracy, for all of its failings, has never had to put a wall up to keep its people in. we see this divide in stark terms with the story this morning not just between russia and the united states of america, the most powerful, the strongest militarily, the strongest economically, the strong eest culturally, but we're seeing it now between putin's authoritarian regime and ukraine. it's striking. that's why they fight. the ukrainians, who understand that the soviet union killed 4 million of their people in a famine in the early 1930s, the ukrainians want to be free. they want to be in a democracy. they want to have free markets. they want to get away from putin. this is defining it. this entire war. >> some strong twitter content there. >> say you love him. >> joe, i love you as well. if thank you so much. >> the point here is right, and first take the china moment. shanghai is in a two-week lockdown. there's chilling video over the weekend on twitter, people in their apartments just screaming out of frustration because they've been locked in their apartment for a week and face another one. you can hear them through translation saying let us out, we want to get some food, fresh air. the zero covid policy from china not working there and the economy rattled by it. of course, the battle of democracy versus autocracy is what this war in ukraine is all about. putin's decision to go in has only pushed ukraine further into the west. finland, sweden, mika, more likely, they're fast tracking applications to nato. we've been talking all morning how the eu is welcoming ukraine with open arms in an accelerated timetable. this has backfired for putin. it goes back to what president biden has said is the defining mission of his presidency, to prove democracy works and it can stand up to rising authoritarian forces. right now, though much of the world still has not fully come on board with the west's alliance here to battle moscow, certainly democracy seems to be winning. >> as more leaders show up on the streets of kyiv, it's more of a light shone on the fact that ukraine is supported by the west. national security adviser jake sullivan says the u.s. is committed to providing ukraine with the weapons it needs to fight russia, and, in fact, the defense department says it's already sent 1,400 anti-aircraft systems, 5,000 anti-armor systems, 45,000 sets of body armor, and 50 million rounds of ammunition. but president zelenskyy told "60 minutes" that the future of the war rests on whether more weapons can be sent. >> translator: it all depends on how fast we will be helped by the united states. to be honest, whether we will be able to survive depends on this. i have 100% confidence in our people and in our armed forces, but unfortunately, i don't have the confidence that we will be receiving everything that we need. >> this morning, the russian assault has begun in eastern ukraine. british intelligence is reporting heavy shelling in the regions of donetsk and luhansk. this is new video showing what's left after russian forces bombed a small farming village in the area. one of several civilian targets that have been hit. and the worst may be yet to come. these satellite pictures show an eight-mile-long convoy with hundreds of military vehicles headed for city of izyum, a russian staging ground for the attacks in the east. joining us now, nbc news national security analyst clint watts and former u.s. marine corps chief of staff to europe, colonel brendon kearney. clint, what's at stake, what's to come in the next few days? >> so, mika, big changes in the last two to three weeks. everything you see here in light blue, that's the russian withdrawal, the ukrainian advance taking those territories back, which essentially allows people like boris johnson to visit kyiv at this point. remarkable to think this would even happen. the battle shifting almost entirely to the east. and vladimir putin has signaled this in the start of this war. his justification for going into ukraine was to take donbas. obviously, that was lie. he attacked on many fronts, tried to topple the entire government. but this is the region, luhansk and donetsk, russia has pulled their forces to belgorod. this is what you'll be looking for many the coming two to three weeks, increased number of ar till ti fires, missile and rocket attacks, aircraft shooting missiles from as far back as inside russia. but even more importantly, the battle along these small towns in and around izyum where they try and connect their forces. the russian separatist forces here continue to move around up into the north. they are trying to link in with the russian military as they advance to izyum, which you referred to, slovyansk, and here, this is train station that was bombed by a missile last week. these will be the critical battlegrounds. the key difference here which president zelenskyy talked about in kyiv, they were defending in an urban environment, able to hold off whole columns. but in the east you'll see a different fight start to emerge. these are small towns spaced out over miles of terrain, flat and open. this is where the russian armored convoy are standing off. for the ukrainian military to hold this turf, they need more offensive weapons as opposed to defensive weapons they had before. that brings us to bringing in t-72s from places like the czech republic, possibly from eastern european countries, vehicles that the ukrainian military already has and the ones they've taken from the russians in recent weeks. it will be a battle of linings of supply in a battle of attrition in the next month. >> so, colonel kearney, than for your service to our country. we are forever indebted to you for that. thanks for being with us this morning. let me ask you, if you're in charge of the ukrainian forces at this stage of the war, what do you need over the next month or so? and looking at that map, what should those fors be doing? >> i think president zelenskyy nailed it saying he needs more of just about everything. when he gets that, i think what they need to do is they need to go on the attack. for them to sit back and go ahead and await a punch would be a huge mistake. it's what they did here brilliantly over the last five weeks. but it's time to go on the offensive for them. now, it will have to be a small offensives in very paresis locations. of course this is their land. they know where to attack. they know it better than russians do. that's wa i would do and we'll have to wait and see how this develops. >> colonel, it's katty kay. how quickly would these offensive weapons need to be shipped from nato countries if they're to make a difference in this battle, given that we are already seeing those long lines of armored russian vehicles approaching dednipro? it looks like the battle could start any day now. what's the time frame here? if we don't get to them tomorrow, is it too late? if we don't get it to them in three days, is it too late? how long do they have? >> well, you know, they need the weapons virtually immediately, katty. what's going to happen is without those weapons they really are in the proverbial hurt locker. the thing is, though, that you can almost overwhelm them militarily with too much supply at one time. so if there's a good resupply going on of these weapons and it's occurring on a sequential daily basis and those lines of communications, the lines of supply within ukraine are -- manage to stay up, then they'll be able to succeed with what they're faced with. they have internal lines. they can get -- take advantage of their own rogue network and get those supplies out there. again, these are weapons systems they've already been trained on. they're very, very familiar with them, so it literally is just getting the equipment into the hands of ukrainian soldiers. >> former u.s. marine corps chief of staff to europe, colonel brendan kearney, thank you so much. and retired infantry officer clint watts, thank you as well. coming up, at least 72 people, including multiple elected officials, test positive for covid after what's being called a superspreader event in d.c., this as cases rise in several states across the country. and in just a few hours, president biden is set to announce new measures to combat gun violence after another deadly weekend. we'll ask domestic policied a vilzer, former national security adviser, susan rice, about the move next. as we go to break, john lennon's son, julian, performed for the first time his late father's most iconic solo song, "imagine." julian lennon covered his father's anthem as part of the stand-up for ukraine global fund-raising campaign broadcast from poland. the performance ended the 59-year-old's previous vow to never perform his father's famous work. lennon explained in a youtube post, "the unimaginable tragedy in ukraine" compelled him to respond in the most significant way he could. this is remington. he's a member of the family, for sure. we always fed him kibble it just seemed like the thing to do. but he was getting picky, and we started noticing some allergy symptoms. we heard about the farmer's dog and it was a complete transformation. his allergies were going away and he just had amazing energy. it's a no-brainer that remi should have the best nutritious and delicious food possible. i'm investing in my dog's health and happiness. ♪♪ get started at longlivedogs.com where do you find the perfect graphic designer? 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(combative yelling) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. at walmart, target and other fine stores. what we know about this variant, ba.2, is it is incredibly contagious, more contagious than the original subvariant of omicron, and it caused a substantial spike in cases in europe. it's causing a little bump in cases here in the united states. we're at extremely low levels. but the good news is that the thing that we care most about, people getting really sick, hospitalizations, deaths, they remain low. >> that was white house covid response leader, and his comments come ahmed an outbreak in the nation's capital. 72 people have tested positive for covid after hundreds attended the gridiron dinner. the latest was new york city mayor eric adams. automatic attendees at the dinner were required to show proof of vaccination. that's 27 states seeing a surge in some cases. some cities are considering new restrictions. hours from now, officials in philadelphia are expected to announce whether they'll reinstate an indoor mask mandate. cases are up there 89%. in just hours, president biden will introduce an array of new measures to combat gun violence. the main target, ghost guns. the weapon can be 3 d printed at home, made of plastic, so they can bypass metal detectors. they also lack serial numbers, and many big cities say they are recovering from an increasing number of these weapons. in addition, president biden will nominate steve dettelbach as the leader of the alcohol, tobacco & firearms. the announcement comes after a weekend of violence in cedar rapids, iowa. two were killed and ten hospitalized after the nightclub shooting there. the investigation is ongoing. joining us now, white house domestic policy adviser and director of the domestic policy council, susan rice. she also served as national security adviser in the obama administration and it is great to have you on the show this morning. joe starts us off. >> so, susan, thanks for being with us today. you look at these ghost guns and the fact that they're custom made for terrorists, custom made for gang members, custom made for career criminals. i salute the president for making -- stepping in this direction. but nobody opposes this, do they? republicans don't oppose this, do they? >> well, let them speak for themselves, though, but there has been historic opposition from the nra and other pro-gun entities to any kind of restrictions on ghost guns. as you say, these are the weapons of choice for criminals, for terrorists, for domestic abusers because they are unserialized. they have no number on which to trace them back to the seller, and therefore, the owner. why this action that we're taking today is so important is that it will require that there be serial numbers on these so-called kits, homemade kits that people can purchase online with the parts and the directions to make a ghost gun at home in under 30 minutes. these are very, very dangerous weapons, and they are increasingly showing up on our streets as the weapon of choice for criminals of all varieties. >> so, susan, i'm confused. why would any gun group, why would anybody want guns to proliferate across the united states of america, where there are no serial numbers, where people can go through tsa checkpoints and take guns on planes and hijack planes? they can go into courthouses, kill judge, kill plaintiffs, kill anybody inside those courtrooms. why would anybody not support the banning of this dangerous technology? >> joe, for the same reason these people do not want commonsense background checks for all guns sold. they don't want to close critical loopholes in our background check system. the same people who want assault weapons on our streets. these are pro-gun lobbyists with a great deal of influence, unfortunately, in our congress and in this town. and they want nothing to do with the any kinds of restrictions on dangerous weapons, whatever their use. >> ambassador rice, good morning. jonathan lemire. great to see you. the president is expected to announce his new nominee for atf director as mika said. this comes of course as after the white house had to withdraw the nomination of david chipman following protests from republicans who were saying held not protect their right to bear arms. what sort of message is he seasoneding with his current nominee? >> steve is a career prosecutor, spent more than two decades in the justice department as a prosecutor, going after violent gangs, arsonists, violent criminals of all sorts. he's extremely well qualified. he was confirmed unanimously on a bipartisan basis when he was named u.s. attorney for the northern district of ohio. so he's extremely well qualified, and anybody in the united states senate who is concerned about reducing crime, dealing with our gun crime challenge, and ensuring responsible, reasonable thoughtful leadership at the atf should be supporting him. >> susan, it's katty kay here. just on ukraine, specifically about the united nations, you're the former u.s. ambassador to united nations, president zelenskyy recently addressed the security council and he was absolutely scathing saying they may as well pack up and go home. they weren't going to try and do something to keep the peace in ukraine. was he too harsh about the u.n.? it's been striking how absent the united nations has been from what's happening. peace keepers. secretary guterres has not gone to kyiv to visit zelenskyy. should the u.n. be doing more? could the u.n. be doing more? >> katty, tempting as it is, i'm not going to talk to foreign policy and national security in my current role as domestic policy adviser. i'll leave that to my very capable colleagues. >> all right. white house domestic policy adviser susan rice, thank you very much. it's always good to see you. we appreciate you coming on. >> thank you. coming up, elon musk's latest move calling twigter shares to fall this morning. we're watching closely as markets are set to open in the next few minutes. plus, after another rough weekend of cancellations, jetblue announces major changes to its summer schedule. what it means for you and your travel plans. andrew ross sorkin will be here to break it down next. it down . ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ this is a game changer who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. when you need help it's great to be in sync with customer service. a team of reps who can anticipate the next step genesys technology is changing the way customer service teams anticipate what customers need. because happy customers are music to our ears. genesys, we're behind every customer smile. >> tech: does your windshield have a crack? 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he asked a poll if twitter should remove the "w" in the name twitter. you can use your imagination there. so there were some lawyers and others who might have called him and said -- >> uncomfortable with that. >> -- i know you're pursuing a free speech approach but we may not want you to pursue the free speech. he liked a tweet that said thing about that this morning, sort of a signal what this may be all about. but the stock is down. some people think he'll sell his shares and go home. others think he might make a bid for this company and take over the whole thing and do it himself. >> is this guy okay? >> we don't know. kara swisher told us on friday elon doesn't care, his lawyers don't care. you know what, i think actually somebody does care. when he's going on -- it's not the smartest move for him to do it. we find out somebody inside his world does care about elon musk and his future. let me ask you about jetblue and flying in general. friday, okay, maybe you can give us more insight on this, so friday my son was going to fly from florida up to new york because we were in new york last week. three flights got canceled. it was an absolute madhouse. we were -- so i was rushing to laguardia to try to get home in time for my birthday and i was told get on the 12:00 flight or you won't get on a flight all weekend. i heard nightmare stories over the past three, four days. and mika and i were talking about this yesterday. it seemed like the demand is so outpacing the supply for seats, we're in some sort of strange almost post-covid crush back to the airlines. tell us what's going on and particularly with jetblue. >> by the way, what you're seeing is happening everywhere. i had the same problem on friday, had a flight that was canceled, had to go do a lot of maneuvering to get on a plane. jetblue says they're going to cut capacity over the summer, not increasing. >> what? >> what? >> saying they're doing that in part to prevent more people being disappointed where they have to cancel the flight at the last second, which is what you're seeing right now. it raises a larger question about two things. one is all of us at the table and taxpayers watching this broadcast, specifically we bailed out the airlines during covid. one of the things they said, we're a special industry, we need special protections because we need to help the economy, we want to be up and running when demand comes back to help move things through. and here we are, and the opposite has happened. you could argue we kept them in business. they would have gone bankrupt otherwise. as a result, i think there's going to be a larger question in washington about those bailouts, what was happening there, and this creates a bigger question about the takeover battles that are happening and consolidation in this space. you have jetblue now making a bid for spirit airlines. i think when you see these types of cancellations, especially on the back of all of the bailouts happening, you'll see politicians say, you know what, we have a problem here. >> that doesn't seem right at all. what is causing all this chaos? is it supply chain? >> it's demand. it's yolo. everybody wants to be back traveling, going on vacations, doing all this stuff. >> yolo. you only live once. and the second piece is there have been a lot of people, pilots, flight attendants, and we've seen this across all forms of labor, who said, you know what, i'm out. i don't want to do this anymore. so it's very hard. this is where i'll be generous and sympathize with the airlines, it's hard to scale up quickly, meaning to find new people to fill chose spots. these are jobs that actually require lots of training so it's not like just pluck people off the street and put them in that role. i got an email from a pilot this morning kwhog said this is going to be years before the airlines really are able to have all of the people properly trained in position. >> yeah. i heard a lot of we're waiting on crew, waiting -- mm-hmm. cnbc's andrew ross sorkin with the yolo explanation. thank you very much. coming up, why the "wall street journal" editorial board says this image of boris johnson on the streets of kyiv was much more than just a photo-op. that is ahead on "morning joe." - [narrator] this is dr. katz. he used to worry about the world's oral health problems. - i think i've got it! - [narrator] then, he invented therabreath formulas, for fresh breath, healthy gums, dry mouth, and healthy smiles. - [dr.katz] wow! - [narrator] now, the world's mouths have never been healthier. - (sighs contentedly) therabreath, it's a better mouthwash. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade is more than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading. personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪♪♪ there's no going back. this is a game changer who dares to be fearless even when her bladder leaks. our softest, smoothest fabric keeping her comfortable, protected and undeniably sleek. depend. the only thing stronger than us, is you. 42 past the hour. a live look at l.a.x. don't miss your flight. we get to the top headlines this morning. a top member of the house panel investigating the january 6th attack on the capitol says the committee has enough evidence to refer former president trump for criminal charges. >> we have not made a decision about referrals on the committee. i think that it is absolutely the case, absolutely clear that what president trump was doing, what the number of people around him were doing, that they knew it was unlawful, they did it anyway. there's not really a dispute on the committee. >> republican congresswoman liz cheney, the vice chair of the january 6th committee, is pushing back on a report from "the new york times" that members of the panel are split on whether to move forward. to date, trump has not been charged with a crime and denies wrongdoing. also this morning, politico says congresswoman cheney is set to announce her campaign raised $2.9 million in the first quarter bringing her total haul for the cycle to more than $10 million. yeah. >> and "the new york times" reports that former president donald trump's eldest son sent the white house chief of staff a text message two days after the 2020 presidential election. the laid-out strategies for declaring his father the winner regardless of the electoral outcome, people familiar with the exchange said on friday. the text was sent by donald trump jr. two days before joe biden was declared the winner of the election. it's simple, trump jr. wrote to meadows on november 5th, 202, he wrote at another point, "we have multiple paths. we control them all." nbc news has not reviewed the message. according to "the times," "the challenges to promoting alternative slates of electors to focus efforts on statutory dates on january 6th for certification of the results. "the times" reported a lawyer for trump jr. continue officialed to "the times" that the text message was sent but suggested it was someone else's idea that donald trump jr. was passing along. >> right. okay. >> just passing along. >> sure. ahead on "morning joe," the war in ukraine may be far from over, but our next guest says there are lessons we can learn right now. historian michael beschloss will be here after the break. [ marcia ] my dental health was not good. i had periodontal disease, and i just didn't feel well. but then i found clearchoice. [ forde ] replacing marcia's teeth with dental implants at clearchoice was going to afford her that permanent solution. 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>> thank you. >> michael, we were talking earlier this morning about the problems china is having, the problems obviously that russia has had, underperforming in just about every way in this war. every way imaginable. and i'm struck that the story showing russian soldiers shocked by the household goods and the food that ukrainians had in their homes. it reminded me so much of the split between east and west, democracy and totalitarianism, the haves and the have-nots. it's crazy in 2022 even after they lost the cold war, russia is still on the wrong side of history. >> sure it is. i loved what you and mika said this morning about the fact that we are in a clash of civilizations in 2022 in the un. our democracy is in mortal danger, as you both have discussed. and around the world, it's as if this is 1948, which you wrote about in your book, joe. or as if this is 1940, when people are wondering whether americans should side with -- get involved in the world and help the forces of freedom against hitler and the imperial japanese. mika, just loved seeing that image of your father. not only was he prophetic, as you know, in 2015, he was prophetic in the early 1990s. i think you will confirm, i knew him a little bit, and i know both from talks with him and also from what he said in public, there was a book written called "the end of history" by a fellow historian that i will not name, who is otherwise a good scholar. and the premise of that was, cold war is over, soviet union is dead, u.s. is the world's only superpower. and people drew from that, so let's cut defense spending. plus, let's not think about foreign policy anymore. your father, whom i totally agreed with at the time, and do now. he unfortunately was very acquainted with the dark side of history and especially knew, as a scholar, 900 years of russian brutality and expansion do not end overnight. >> absolutely. >> so one of the first lessons we now learn is, you know, listen to what he was saying in 1991. he said at that time, there is nothing more important than building democracy in the world and making sure democracy and russia succeeds. we americans and our presidents in the '90s took our eye off the ball. >> yeah, and joe and i have been going through his books. my gosh, from the soviet block to game plan to the grand failure to strategic vision. i mean, all of them really do a lot of predicting to what we are seeing today. >> it's remarkable how prescient it is. and michael, you talked about the early '90s, in the early '80s, in the middle of the cold war, at the height of the cold war, dr. brzezinski describing a russian very much like the russia of 2022. and you read that and you understand that vladimir putin has not undergone some grand transformation during covid. he's studying from soviet history, he's studying from the history of russian czars. i do want to pick up on one other thing that michael, you can, you can better explain to our viewers than myself. there's a constant information. jim garrity writing the national review about how brittle autocracies are. as brittle as they are, democracies are that flexible, in part, because we fight each other. hitler underestimated us. he paid for it. japan underestimated it, paid for it. osama bin laden underestimated us, paid for it. vladimir putin just the latest in the long line of tyrants to underestimate not only the united states of america, but western democracy. can you explain? >> people make that mistake all the time. you know, you know and mika's dad knew firsthand the number of people in 1940 who were saying, it's useless for the united states and canada and england to try to fight nazi germany and the imperial japanese, because they have the benefit of being a dictatorship. they can tell their people to fight at a moment's notice. one person can do the strategy, but as we've seen, in the last century, and i think in many centuries before then, dictatorships don't self-correct. the people in a dictatorship do not have an investment in the system. why are the people in ukraine fighting so hard? they're not doing it just because they've been told to by zelenskyy and their leadership. they're doing it because they love democracy, they love the history of ukraine. they been oppressed by the russians for hundreds of years. and those are strong emotions, when you're trying to keep your independence. >> for sure. >> look at americans in 1776. >> for sure. for sure, for sure. we've been talking about these remarkable scenes in kyiv over the weekend. in the latest editorial entitled "boris johnson tours kyiv ", "the wall street journal" editorial board writes in part, call it a photo op if you would like, but this one matters. ukraine has won the battle of kyiv, which mr. johnson called the greatest feat of arms in the 21st century. this solidarity sends an important political signal of european support, though it's not as crucial as more and heavier weapons, as a new campaign in eastern ukraine unfolds, the biden administration says it's also sending more weapons, but our sources say the flow is still too slow. president biden, please follow the prime minister and help ukraine win this war, not merely survive it. and that has been the question, michael beschloss, how to send enough. what is enough? what actually would give them overwhelming force? >> and talk about these images of johnson. >> yes. and he's sending a message to the russians that, by the way -- by the way, to the russians, that just in case they decide to use overwhelming force against kyiv, kyiv, he should now see the number of western leaders and western democracies that will try to stop that. you know, zelenskyy is basically churchill in early 1941, when he said to franklin roosevelt, as you both know -- i won't do my bad churchill imitation -- give us the tools, he said to roosevelt, in a radio address, and we will finish the job. we should give zelenskyy everything he needs, not only to support democracy in ukraine or in europe, but because when democracy is endangered anywhere, it's endangered everywhere. and this year, democracy is on the run. we've got congressional elections in about six months. there is a very good chance that we could be talking about dangers to our own democratic values and institutions and traditions six months from now in a way that we're not today. nothing more important, just as you both were saying, than making sure that democracy, not only survives and thrives, but tlooifs in the world, just as we armed the british in 1941 to help the british, but we did it for ourselves. because we want to live in a world that is safe for democracy. >> nbc news presidential historian michael beschloss, thank you so much. we really appreciate it. and that does it for us this morning. after four hours of "morning joe." we'll be back here tomorrow morning. >> it's been great! mika, i wish we had four more hours! i need four more hours! >> i love it. every second of it! jose diaz-balart picks up the coverage after a quick break. where do you find the perfect project manager? 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