perhaps you know me as, the kung fu panda. ♪ ♪ ah, you're adorable. huh. oh, whah! welcome back to msnbc state of the union special coverage. president biden gave a forceful speech and made clear that democracy is under threat. not just abroad but right here in the u.s. in front of both chambers of congress, he reminded of the january 6th capitol attack in the very room, three years ago. >> history is watching. just like history watched three years ago on january 6. insurrection stormed the capitol , the threat of american democracy. many of you were here on the darkest of days. we also, they were not patriots. they stopped to overcome the peaceful transfer of power. january 6th lies about the 2020 election and the plots to steal the election posed a threat to the u.s. democracy since the civil war. they failed. america stood. america stood strong. democracy prevailed. >> the executive director of the georgetown institute of politics and public service. and brendan buck is here but he is the former press secretary to former republican speaker, jon weiner. this is the second time we have done this. it is a thing. brendan buck, you advise a number of speakers who sat in that chamber behind the president giving that speech. what did you make of speaker mike johnson? he had nods and smirks. i do not think i saw him send a. what did you make of his performance? >> he would turn to joe biden, john, and said he would not want to stand up. what was clear, mike johnson, did not have control over his members the way he was trying to. what republicans need to realize, these moments where you are engaging with the president, it does not work out well for you. he has the structural evidence. they think if they go at him he will melt. that clearly has not happened. lester they got into a back-and- forth with him and biden won that. marjorie taylor greene tried to debate him and he won that moment. that probably six out to me the most? >> she should up as a provocateur and he shut up as a president. >> exactly. he has the imagery. he is higher than them and the camera, every advantage you want. he took a moment. given that she probably believes he is old and senile, she was probably surprised he was able to handle that. >> the performance was used for >> on what your thoughts before we get to the overall -- what did you think about the presidents delivery, his approach, coming out strong, not allowing the speaker to introduce him? that was the first of the history of the state of the union speeches. clearly the president had an agenda in his head that he wanted to get through. something he wanted to convey. what was your take as someone who was in that chamber, knowing the protocols and how the president performed? >> there is a lot of conversation about it being a partisan speech and people taking issue. there is no doubt that it was a partisan speech, he went after his actual opponent. i have never seen that before. we talked a lot going into the speech, how will he balance firing up the base and extending the open hand to haley's voters? you have to pick one about firing the base, it was the more urgent need that they had. you probably will not win over haley voters by being a soft gentle democrat. you will win them over by making the point that donald trump is a big threat to this country, you cannot do that. i think it was the right way to go about it. is it an amazing speech that we were number. expectations were so lowered about how he can function, he very easily cleared that bar. >> some of those assessments are subjective and open to interpretation as we can tell from the number of people that we spoke to tonight. some of them felt his performance far exceeded expectations. it's important to contextualize all of this in the week that was. this was a huge race reshaping. you have nikki haley drop out. you have dean phillips drop out. crystallizes as a two-person race. it speaks to your point about the fact that the president and his team understood that going into tonight's speech. in many ways the general election starts in a clear way right now. they were contrasted. >> 100%. look, where i think i disagree a little bit, i do not think this was purely a base consolidation speech. maybe not reaching out to nikki haley voters, but in the pavement -- independent voters like the idea of protecting a woman's right to choose and investing in women's reproductive health. he hits on that. independent voters like the idea of fighting fees and raising costs for the american consumer. he hit that hard time after time today. he had the issues that do not just speak to the democratic base, gun control, he knows to reach out to suburban moms and independent voters and draw them in. in that sense it really was a good general election speech. yes, it was partisan. not a single person can say it was not. it was partisan in the sense that it was making the case for his reelection. not that it was purely a democratic speech. >> why are we saying it was partisan? >> it was for >> what is the follow-up? an example? >> the first time i have seen in a state of the union, he knows who the alyssa >> the former president of the united states alyssa >> who is running for president. he's a candidate to the office. >> donald trump literally botched the handling of a pandemic -- and matters. that is the point. that is what directly proceeded joe biden's of ministration. what joe biden and kamala harris have had to do, what they missed is directly connected to the administration that came before them. >> go back and listen to other speeches, presidents in the election year even if they do not know who the upcoming opponent is, they do not look backwards. they look forward. when you're looking backwards at the guy you are running against, yes, it will come off partisan. that is not a criticism. see i guess i am saying i do not agree. >> tactically and made sense to do what he did. do not pretend it was not partisan. >> they do not always go after their opponent but they draw contest in the state of the union speeches. donald trump in his 2020 state of the union speech, the year of his reelection campaign, went after the radical left in his speech. drawing a contrast with the others. >> that was the partisan point. >> my point, the state of the union, the president goes out there to make the case for his agenda. that is what presidents do. often times, one of the best ways to do that, to draw a contrast with the other side's agenda. i think that is totally legitimate. i'm not saying it was part a schism. i was happy to see him making a forceful case, as a democrat, i wish he had made it much sooner in the selection for >> i agree with that part of it. if nothing else, for me, it was a critical turning point tonight for the first time. he almost seemed sort of unfettered. he was relieved to smack folks around and to do the biden thing the way he likes to do the biden thing. brennan says a lot about how the republicans responded. to your point, they always think they have the upper hand until they realize they don't. there are a number of moments this evening where i think the party in that context, republicans, should have understood the moment enough to stand up and applaud -- i don't know, democracy, fighting cancer, educating poor kids -- you become so hardened in your response to the guy who is on the stage, you become, do you think they lose sight of the moment to actually get a little bit close to the guy who is winning the room? to win a little bit at the same time? >> it's such an insular party that they believe the talking points so much that it's hard to imagine that he can be other thing that a horrible person. the age thing, they are convinced he can barely function. we should appreciate it is not a republican and venture. poll after poll after poll shows that even democrats are concerned about his age. that was why this was an important speech. nothing he said was all that important. let's be honest. how he presented himself politically is much more important. i do not want to overstate that. the big take away was that he did not fall flat on his face in the way that the marjorie taylor greene greens were banking on. they were certain he would not be able to get to the speech without embarrassing himself. >> that is crazy. this is the third -- he's been president for the last three years. he has given an inaugural address. he takes questions from the press, not as regularly as he should, but he has given a joint address to congress in his first year. his second state of the union, you can argue the third if you count the joint address. what universe -- what team are they sipping on to believe the man could not get up there and rise to that occasion? >> it goes back to brennan's point about how they are high on their own supply. what was striking to me, for all of that nonsense, for the circus and the sideshow, you had the president very clear straight out of the gate saying the stakes are high. you heard echoes of his original campaign. crisis at home, crisis abroad, you need someone on day one who is ready to hit the ground running. they were echoes of what we have heard before. but, restating of the case to say, i will make it to you again and tell you at this moment we find ourselves in, the stakes are even higher than the first time. >> that is absolutely right. one thing you can say about joe biden with a great deal of confidence, the man is who he is and who he always has been. this is a guy who believes in a worldview that he has been arguing for and articulating since he first entered public service. what we saw tonight was him applying that to this moment. right? same the stakes are high. this is who we are as a people. this is who we need to be as a people. the threats are coming from more places than ever. what was astonishing to me going back to the whole issue of the republican response in the room at the time alyssa >> we will get to. in the room, they would not stand for certain things. i saw some republican commentary saying, i cannot believe joe biden led off with an issue as divisive as ukraine. you would think he would have reached out to something that brings us together. for me, i thought it was crazy that people thought an american president standing up and saying that we will not bow down to one of the world's greatest dictators, they thought that was divisive. that is where i think you saw two very different approaches to this entire campaign season. joe biden, is actually reaching out beyond his base. republicans are only talking to theirs. marjorie taylor greene was not being a provocateur, she was standing up there because she did not care how bad it looked to anyone outside of her voters back home in georgia. as we've been discussing during his state of the union address, president biden was not afraid to challenge republicans in some fiery exchanges. >> and exploded the federal deficit. they added more to the national debt than any presidential term in american history. check the numbers. the bipartisan bill with the toughest set of border security reforms we've ever seen. oh, you don't think so? oh, you don't like that bill, huh? that conservatives got together and said was a good bill. i'll be darned. that's amazing. the border patrol unit has endorsed this bill. the federal chamber of commerce -- yeah, yeah, you're saying low, look at the facts. i know -- i know you know how to read. >> i love it, i love it. mo, that was a moment. dude, i mean really, you know? >> it was a great moment. but i'll be honest, i was a little nervous about if that moment would come. he had a moment like that last year in the state of the union address. >> right. >> where he sort of parlayed the heckling and turned it into sort of a win on social security. and it was such a good moment, like you can't -- >> you can't force that. >> you can't force a moment. and so i was worried that they were going to try to hard to recreate that moment. it wasn't forced. he is just that naturally good at parlaying against an opponent, and the republicans, they did take the bait. they set the trap for themselves and he just swooped in and turned it. >> this was an issue, the immigration bill, that the republicans put up on a tee for this president. this was the perfect venue to hit it. you had republicans literally saying on the record i don't want to give joe biden a win in the election year, so we're not going to do that. of course he's going to take advantage of that. then again, they weren't smart enough to be discipline m.d. the moment there. to your point, he's better at this than people give him credit for. >> i need to know what you thought of the republican response, the official republican response. >> oh -- >> yes. >> it was interesting. i think katie britt was the absolute right choice to do this. i think she is the kind of person we want to be putting out to show that we are, you know, not all marjorie taylor greens. i think the delivery was unfortunate. she was clearly overcoached and as somebody who's been involved in these response, sometimes people come out of the woodwork, they hire people, i don't know what happened there. but i thought that she was delivering what was -- the message got lost for me just in the delivery, and that's unfortunately. that's hard to sort of walk back. but you know, i generally believe that if you want to do a good state of the union response, it can't be a mini state of the june yop. it needs to be coming from a real particular point of view. and she had a particular point of view, whether it was effective for everybody, i don't know. i think the idea was sound. i worry about the delivery. >> i want to know what the panel thinks about the kitchen. i want to be very clear, katie britt is the junior senator from alabama. as i, you know, i've worked for women politicians. you, the junior senator from alabama does not belong in a kitchen in a very lovely blouse in a kitchen in a very loverly blouse as though she is not a sitting member of congress. i heard nothing about her experience in the senate. i heard nothing about -- you know, she ran the alabama chamber of commerce. like alabama business council prior to that. she was a chief of staff on the hill for the -- for the seat that she now represents. you would not get that from what we saw here. what is with the kitchen? >> i'm going to be counterintuitive here and defend it just a little bit. >> the kitchen? >> just a little bit. i don't think she was trying to project her very impressive resume, i think she was trying to project suburban mom. >> do suburban moms belong in the kitchen, that's the question i want to know. >> so i don't -- look, i think the two worst jobs in washington -- the two worst gigs you could have, national party chair and state of the union response, right? like it just -- it rarely goes -- >> it's painful. >> -- well. and i think, you know, if any media consultant or campaign staffer who gets that call and says to their boss, hell yeah, you should do this is doing their boss a disservice more often than not. and when they do, they tend to overproduce and try to -- and overcoach and push these people into being someone they are not. katie britt actually is a very, very impressive -- >> she is. >> -- member of the senate. she is, i think, would be a potent running mate for donald trump and someone -- i think a debate between vice president harris and senator britt would actually be a really engaging debate to watch as just a student of politics. but when they overproduce -- right? >> i can just tell you, do you want to add anything else to what you just said before the internet get ahold of it, mo? >> no. >> okay. >> i think tonight she did not live up to her own potential, and i think if you ever watch any of her speeches you would see that. but what she did tonight i think was overproduced. it was a caricature of who they wanted to actually produce. >> i've got a lot of folks asking the question. initially, people who didn't know who she was thought she was an actress playing a politician. >> yeah. >> and that, to your point, to both your points, is the unfortunate part. but here's the rub. i think we're kind of overthinking some of this, because there's a real baseline approach that i think republicans took here having, i mean, i've been in these rooms as well for a lot of this stuff. the audience wasn't necessarily the folks that, you know, more broadly speaking. this was cultured and catered in a way -- the kitchen was deliberate. the sort of, you know, work a day mom look was deliberate. and it was an appeal -- a direct appeal to suburban white women to come back home. it's time to leave joe biden and come back home. and this was the opening salvo in that -- what will be a very important conversation for republicans going forward. >> so to add to what michael was saying, there's reporting in "the new york times" about the fact that there were already talking points being released by her teams. she came off like america's mom. she gets it. she is one of us. that'll be family's takeaway. what it was they wanted. let's move away from the style, which i think we all agree missed the mark, and talk just a little bit then about the substance. it is not an accident that she is from alabama, given that ivf and the actions of the supreme court of alabama are in the news. so it was telling to me that she touched ever so gently on ivf saying in very vague terms republicans would fight to protect it despite the fact that there actually was legislation before the u.s. senate that would have protected ivf that a member of the republican party shot down. and then she pivoted off of it very quickly. so even if stylistically she was trying to say you can come home, she didn't -- there was a lot of fear. that was the other thing. there were a lot of fears that were thrown out there, but i did not hear a real positive vision for what america could be that was trying to bring those -- >> well, on that particular issue, i don't think that we have, as a party, figured out reproductive health issues have figured out a good place to be. the party is generally sort of breathing a little bit of a sigh of relief after the state of alabama passed legislation to protect ivf. i think they're hoping it's going to go away. she had to check the box there. no republican, nikki haley, ron desantis, donald trump, no one has figured out how to talk about this stuff in a way that's not a losing issue. don't spend a lot of time on issues where you're not winning. she had to move on from it. i thought this was at least tonally better than what we had last year with sarah huckabee sander was much more american carnage, much more maga. this is an effort to show people we are not only that. substancewise, whether you agree or disagree with how she framed thing, i think she was at least trying to not be this scary republican. >> i heard a lot of american carnage in her speech, right? i mean, she painted a very negative picture of joe biden's america. >> she talked about rape. >> right? and i get it in a sense because a state of the union response typically is a response. it is typically designed to paint the president in the worst light possible. but to your point, like where i think republicans are struggling a bit right now is they are not offering actually an alternative. they are offering fear, and they are offering a promise to go back to a period of time that a lot of people don't want to go back to. and so, you know -- >> that time never existed. >> i'm talking about four years ago. they're promising to go back to donald trump's america, an america that a lot of people don't want to go back to. and so katie britt actually had a real opportunity to say here's what you get with us. here's what the republican party stands for, and here's how we want to move the needle. she didn't to that tonight. >> well, i don't think she's in a position to say that, because the person that gets to decide -- >> that's right. >> -- here's what you get with us is donald trump. he's been very clear with us. before i take us out, question, you talk about ivf, speaker johnson did some interviews today, and then at least one of those interview, he was asked about ivf. and he said, and i'm par phrasing here, but he noted that it's only been around since the 1960s, 1970s, so you know, there's still more research that has to be done. so i think sit they don't -- people have not figured out how to talk about it collectively in the republican party apparatus. but i'm more concerned, frankly, about what people actually believe. >> yeah, look -- >> nobody want to answer that. i understand. we can go. mo, brenda, go ahead. >> i mean, look, i think this is -- abortion is one thing in the republican party. ivf is not the same thing. there was this sort of rush after the alabama -- is that what every republican believes. no, that is not. will there be implications of this person hood bill that maybe people didn't appreciate? this was not -- i don't think the person hood bill was a scheme to get rid of ivf. and if it was, i don't think a lot of people realized what they were signing on to. it is not the unified position of the republican party. it snowballed really quick, and now we're just trying to put it back in the tube. >> yeah, i think lots of people have benefitted from ivf. the question is is an embryo an unborn baby. even in the alabama state legislature they didn't answer that yes. cliff hanger. we'll have you back next week to talk about ivf and all the other things happening. >> earlier, please. >> early. after a break, folk, former obama speechwriter david lynch is on with us. we're going to talk about some of the highlights from biden's night. stay with us, you're watching msnbc. >> i promise you i'll restore roe v. wade as the law of the land again. law of th land again ♪ ♪are you ready for me♪ ♪are you ready♪ ♪are you ready♪ scout is protected by simparica trio and he's in it to win it! simparica trio is the first chew with triple protection. whoa fleas! and ticks! (♪♪) intestinal worms! whoa! heartworm disease! no problem with simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. for winning protection— go with simparica trio. i still love to surf, snowboard, use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. and, of course, skate. so, i take qunol magnesium to support my muscle and bone health. qunol's extra strength, high absorption magnesium helps me get the full benefits of magnesium. qunol, the brand i trust. history is watching. if the united states walks away, it will put ukraine at risk. europe is at risk. the free world will be at risk, emboldening others to do what they wish to do us harm. my message to president putin, who i've known far long time, is simple. we will not walk away. we will not bow down. i will not bow down. >> let's get an assessment of president biden's address from the perspective of someone who's actually put words in a president's mouth. joining our conversation now, david a former speechwriter for president obama and author of thank, obama, my hopey, changey white house years. these speeches they are a group effort. there are core themes we heard throughout, one was the idea of affordability, specifically the president talking about social security. take a listen. >> the working people -- the working people who built this country pay more into social security than millionaires and billionaires do. it's not fair. we is have two ways to go. republicans can cut social security and give more tax breaks to the wealthy. that's the proposal. oh no, you guys don't want another $2 trillion tax cut? i kind of thought that's what your plan was. well, that's good to hear. you're not going to cut another $2 trillion for the super wealthy. that's good to hear. i'll make the wealthy pay their fair share. >> the president made it accessible, and i know that that is very, very hard to do in a speech. affordability was a through line through here. he goes on to talk about medicare and juggling drug prices and how his administration wants that to be available to everyone. so how do you get the lofty policy people in the room when you're writing the speech and then you get to what we got tonight, something that everybody can understand. >> well, i always felt like part of being a speechwriter, you're kind of the token ignoramu snshgs the room. if you stand and say, actually, i don't understand the policy from a policy from a policy perspective. what i thought president biden did really well tonight too, he didn't just talk about affordability in a broad sense. without being too aggressive about it, he called out some villains. if you talk to people right now, it's not just that affordability is challenging, it's that people feel taken advantage of. and joe biden was saying, i get it, i know who's taking advantage of you. i have the specific list, and we're going to figure out how to level the playing field for you. and that's a really big difference. >> if i may, though, if you have the rhetorical device of relying on villains, you have to rely on heroes. who then came across as the hero in this speech? >> i think most speakers think of themselves as the hero and also more than that, right, a movement. what can we do together. and i think that's what joe biden was talking about tonight. this idea of i have a set of plans, you know. i have answers to these problems. not vindictively. i thought it was really interesting, actually, there was a moment where he said wall street isn't the villain here even though they didn't build this country. he said delaware is full of corporations. >> he said i'm a capitalist. i want people to make money. >> but -- >> yes. >> -- that doesn't mean you get to take advantage of people. so having someone who says not just we need to level the playing field as a value but i have a way to do it. >> how do you put it all -- put it this way, after you put it all together and everybody's like, oh -- >> done. >> -- we're so proud of this speech. >> what you're saying is no edit, no edits. >> no edits. and then the president gets up and has those unscripted moments where what's on the prompter and what's on the paper is not what's coming out of his mouth. do you find yourself as the one who wrote the script, along with the bevy of other folks, sitting there going, oh, please, get back on point. get back on appointment. or do you ride the riff with him and kind of get the vibe? because maybe he found something in that moment, maybe caused by folks heckling or making gestures or whatever in the audience. but he found something else in that moment that he could bring and ad lib and expand it out or contract it. how do you guys look at those moments? >> well, can you just describe to people -- because at the white house, i don't think they understand that you are back there at the prompter when the president is giving the speech, and then when you're at the capitol, same thing. you're in a different room, you're back there on the prompter. when he goes off script, somebody's actually doing the prompter. it's not an automated situation. >> yes, and i don't know as much about when -- since he's become president. when he was the vice president, you know, you did not want to be joe biden's teleprompter operator. >> you still don't. >> okay. and i think one of the big questions for any speechwriter is essentially, you know, working for different people is just a very different job. and so when i was working for president obama, honestly, he would go off script. he kind of gave this look. you could see him read the speech and be like, okay, who wrote this? the 25-year-old guy? it's good, i could do better. and then he would. inevitably that would be the part where friend or family would be that's an amazing line, you wrote that? absolutely, i wrote that. that can be great. biden's speechwriters tonight, i think they were certainly not upset he went off script. i think he was really strong. i think you got the sense this is a guy who knows who he is. not every speechwriter is that lucky, but i was fortunate. >> we focussed on the beginning of the speech for good reason, because that's where they set the stakes, but i also thought there was an exquisite moment at the end of this speech, this question of the president speaking to expectations around his age, all of the discourse around his age. let's take a listen to that and we'll talk about it on the other side. >> in my career i've been told i was too young. by the way, they didn't let me on the senate elevators for votes sometimes. not a joke. i've been told i am too old. whether young or old, i've always been known -- i've always known what endures. i've known our north star. the very idea of america is that we're all created equal. deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. we've never fully lived up to that idea, but we've never fully walked away from it either. and i won't walk away from it now. >> a masterful construction. talk to me about pivoting off this question that is seen as a core political liability and instead making a case for his candidacy. >> so what really struck me about the end of the speech was how risky it was. because -- >> risky. >> yeah, absolutely. from a speech writing perspective, i could almost feel myself, if i had been in those discussions, saying should we even do this. and i would have been totally wrong. what you saw was he really had to do a great job for, you know, what was it, an hour, an hour plus before that, because if he had had some of these stumbles that clearly his republican friends were rooting for, even just a few, when he had said i've been called too old, that would have been the line of the night. so he was really pushing all his chips right in the middle of the table and deciding to end with something like that that says, yes, obviously, i am old. i used to be young, but this is about timeless values. this is about who we are and who we've always been. it worked, but boy, there were so many ways it couldn't have worked so. it was a really brave and gutsy thing both for him and his team to do, i think. >> david litt, i hope you enjoyed watching the speech and not having to be the person actually running the prompter. >> at the prompt we are the mouse. >> you have had a very long day. thank you so much for taking time to be with us. a quick programming note, this saturday our colleague jonathan is going to sit down with president biden. it will be the president's first interview after delivering the state of the union address. that interview is going to air this saturday, 6:00 p.m. eastern, and you do not want to miss it. do not want t miss it. it is because of you our future is bright. it's because of you that tonight we can proudly say the state of our union is strong and getting stronger. is strong and gettin stronger my lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy a future based on core values and a defined america, honesty, decency, dignity, equality, to respect everyone, to give everyone a fair shot, to give hate no safe harbor. now other people my age see it differently. the american story of revenge and retribution. that's not me. >> what is interesting to me is there were those lofty ideals, right, those were on full display, and then there was the piece that you were obsessed with around affordability. >> yes, the junk fees. last state of the union, last year he talked about junk fees, what the administration would do to take them on. since that state of the union there has been movement on that. just last week, or is it this week, my weeks are running together, credit card fee a rule has come out that has capped the late fees that folks can be charged on credit card fees at $8. that is -- that makes a monumental world of difference -- we talk about the everyday regular folks out there across the country. >> but what you got to do, simone, that's great, that's a great little talking point. that's a great little bit. >> what? >> but folks don't know that. >> that's what i mean. they're talking about it. >> here's my point and the reason i say it the way i did. tonight was a very good night for joe biden. and as much as members of my party are going to beat their cavemen chests about all of, this they know it was a good night. >> yeah. >> and they know at several moments, as brendan said a little bit earlier, the president punked the hell of of them and they walked right into it. and deservedly so. and so what america now needs to do, i think you can say safely he's got their attention. he's got the attention of the members of the house. okay, this is two times in a row this guy has played us, so we're going to, next time, right, we'll know better. but more importantly, the american people, i think he's gotten their attention. and i don't know how it's going to translate in the polling and all that. i think it's too soon to talk about that. there are going to be a lot of talking heads out there tomorrow morning. let's take a look at the latest polls overnight. don't pay attention to that stuff. focus on what the man did in front of your very eyes tonight, and i think you'll walk away from that moment going, okay, i get it. >> the policy matters. i will just -- i'm sorry. there were a lot of people on throughout the night, before and after, yesterday, the content of the speech doesn't matter but how he does excite the moments. and i think the performance and the delivery is important, but the content does matter. it's not a coincidence that the -- that he, the vice president, they're fanning out. i think, what's tomorrow, right now it's friday tchlts vice president is going to phoenix tomorrow. cabinet secretaries will be out and about. and the credit card fees things, the capping cost of child care at 7% of your income, those are things that regular people care about, that they can touch and feel. the housing, that's real for them. >> but he's got to bring the real joe biden, alecia, to that conversation. he cannot -- he cannot allow his team to bird cage him and put the formalities of the presidency around. we all know he's president. we know that. and we love that he is, all right? but now let him be leisure let him be uncle joe. let him be senator joe. he was senator biden at the end thoof speech. he was the last one out of the room talking with his fellow colleague, former colleagues and members of the house and the senate. so if they do that, i think not only will this be an instructive presidential campaign for historians but an important one for americans. give me the 81-year-old who knows america as opposed to the one who wants to take america down. >> and to your point about not reading into the polls, this is a scene setter. he set the scene. now it's up to him and his administration to sell it. thank you for joining us for msnbc's special coverage of president biden's state of the the union address. as always, you can catch the three of us back here on msnbc 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on msnbc. have a great night, or should we say morning? >> it's morning. >> 8:00 a.m.? morning? >> it's morning. >> 8:00 a.m. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? 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[ screaming ] get tickets! skadoosh. get tickets! good evening and welcome to msnbc's "state of the union" coverage. i'm elycia menendez here with simone sanders townsend and michael steel in washington, d.c. tonight president biden gave a rousing speech just a few feet from where we are now. noting the country is at an inflection point of democracy at home and abroad. here's how he opened his speech invoking fdr telling congress hitler was on the march. >> president roosevelt's purpose is to wake up congress and alert the american people this was no ordinary time. freedom and democracy were under assault in the world. tonight i come to the same chamber, now it's we who face an unprecedented moment in the history of the union. and yes, my purpose tonight is to wake up the congress and alert the american people this is no ordinary moment either. not since president lincoln and the civil war have freedom and democracy have been under assault at home as they are today. what makes our moment rare is freedom of democracy are under attack both at home and overseas at the very same time. >> and that was just the beginning. president biden drew a sharp contrast with donald trump on everything from democracy to tax cuts to reproductive rights. >> if you, the american people, send me a congress that supports the right to choose, i promise you i'll restore roe v. wade as the law of the land again. >> the president also joked several times about his age to applause and to laughter, and he ended his speech laying out his vision for the future. >> i see a future where defending democracy, we don't diminish it. i see a future we restore the right to choose and protect our freedoms, not take them away. i see a future for the middle class where the wealthy have to pay their fair share in taxes. i see a future where we save the planet from a climate crisis and our country from gun violence. above all, i see a future for all americans. >> so was this a speech we were expecting? >> yeah. i think, look, i was expecting the president to go out there and make the case. people have to remember take a step back, this is going to be the largest stage he's going to have between now and when folks start voting. the convention will be a large stage but not as large as this one. people watch sports a lot, they watch football, the basketball, the oscars will get a lot of views, and then it is the "state of the union." so this is a -- a nonpartisan arena, if you will, where the president of the united states comes to speak directly to the american people, people that usually -- that maybe would not see him unfettered at the podium not cut up into clips, not seeing him in viral, potentially manipulated ways on different social media sites or through the lens of -- somewhat pontificating about his interview. i thought he came and he got the job done. i've seen a lot of "state of the union" addresses. it had everything. it had inspiration, it had hope, a direct proverbial molly whopping if you will to the supreme court justice. >> molly whopping? >> yes, using the words of a justice while they're sitting in the front row. from the time the president came down the aisle shaking hands, what you saw tonight was president joe biden at his best. he likes being around people, he's a good retail politician, and he understood the stage he was on. he was comfortable. he was inviting the heckle. and to the point he was like what'd you say? at some points oh, you don't like that. and sometimes the members of congress took the bait, sometimes they didn't. the image of the vice president of the united states, vice president kamala harris standing up clapping, it's like she was giving an exercise there's a lot to clap about. but speaker mike johnson not emoting much. in previous years everyone could stand and clap for education, for children. well, you should be able to stand and clap for democracy. that should not be a partisan issue. >> that's the thing. look, i came away from this gob smacked. that's your molly whop. i got gob smacked. i'll tell you what out of the gate i don't know if y'all noticed the president was not formally introduced to the congress. the president ascended the podium and began his speech. and the speaker didn't get a chance to say, ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states for another round of applause. and it told me in that moment the president intended to own that room, that his goal tonight was to make it very clear, oh, y'all think i'm old, i've got something for you. you think i'm slow, i've got something for me. you don't like my policies, well, i'm going to talk about the ones you voted for, right? so i thought he really contextualized in a real way the conversation that has been long oesh due between joe biden and the american people, not joe biden and republicans in congress, not joe biden and the progressives in his party, but joe biden and the american people. and i think in the main, folks watching this got a little smile on their face and go uncle joe, okay, i hear you, i see you. and that was a good solid moment for him. and there were a lot of different vignettes and scenes we'll get into because they were legion. but the reality is he owned the moment from the moment he walked into the room. and again, he was the last to leave. and he's the first president to do that, where he stays around. if you watch him afterward, he's senator biden on the floor with those members. >> they had to pull him off. >> they had to pull him off. this guy -- folks, you keep underestimating joe biden. and every turn he finds a way to remind you why he's been successful in american politics and why regardless of the gaps and flaws and missteps and flaws and misspoken words, it sets him up well to start the conversation. >> this is what the president said when the camera panned today the supreme court justices he said the decisions to overturn roe v. wade, the supreme court wrote women are not without electoral power. he's like not kidding. and then he goes onto talk about the -- >> the unscripted part at that same moment when he looked at the justices and said with all due respect because that wasn't in script. he made it a personal moment and connection with them. and that's the part i think you've said it, i've said it, a lot of us have been saying it in the absolute political space, let the man go out and be the man and connect with the people. and when he does, it's a good day for the country, and it's a good day for his efforts to convince and win them over. >> yeah, this speech had a lot of policy in it. and i think -- as much i said before it was going to be about performance and delivery. and he definitely performed, definitely delivered. and the policy was substantive, and i think we're going to see hopefully the implications of that that policy. >> as you said we have a lot to unpack so luckily we have two hours, but for now let's bring ipnbc news congressional correspondent julia sirken. gabe, how does the white house feel today went? >> i've been speaking to several sources. one of them told me this was a feisty speech and president biden clearly met the bar here. you've been talking about it. this was a speech very heavy on policy, but it might be remembered on how the president actually delivered, the performance of this. he spoke about reproductive rights early on. he talked about raising taxes on billionaires and large companies, by helping out the middle clas and also talked a lot about foreign policy. some of the speech that got most of the attention, uh-uh leasia, when he took on republicans over the issue of immigration. this is something the white house has been ramping up in the last few weeks, calling out republicans on what they see as obstructionism when it comes to the bipartisan security bill. the president getting into it with marjorie taylor greene, saying the name of that woman allegedly murdered by an undocumented immigrant. the president did say her name, though he did say the wrong first name. allies of the president say he's not afraid to take on republicans on this issue, and they feel this will be a winnable issue in the coming months flipping the script on republican whose have sought to dominate the immigration issue before. something else he brought up, he announced that new policy in gaza, that the u.s. military will now lead this emergency mission to try and get more aid, humanitarian aid into the gaza strip by constructing this temporary port. i can tell you, alicia, and simone, right before the speech got started there were protesters outside the white house and also at the capitol who are upset with the president's handling of the israel-hamas war. that type of new policy, trying to let people know he is trying to get humanitarian aid into the gaza strip. now this -- you know, this speech delivered in front of millions of americans, widely seen as a kick off to the general election season. the white house announcing the president will be traveling to several battleground states in the coming weeks, going to pennsylvania tomorrow, also georgia over the weekend. and cabinet secretaries will also be fanning out over the coming weeks to try and sell the president's agenda. but, again, president biden's allies think that he delivered on the speech, that it was a fiery speech, and that it really sold his agenda to a wide swath of america here. alicia? >> yes, gabe, on gaza, the president saying in his speech tonight they've been working on establishing -- to establish an immediate cease-fire that would last for six weeks. some critics immediately noted they were looking to hear the words permanent cease-fire. so everyone still, again, not happy. julia sirken, you were there at the capitol. i know coming out of the president's "state of the union" address when the vice president and speaker johnson descended from the dance and came out, you were in the hallway. what did you ask speaker johnson, and what did he say? >> well, speaker johnson, simone, told me he thought the speech was overly partisan. this was a tone i also heard from other republicans. they were really unified in saying this was a divisive speech, this was a campaign speech, he had no unity. and everything he said they thought the immigration moment gabe was referencing that marjorie taylor greene had handed him was scripted, on the opposite side i heard from a border state democrat who told me he thought that moment was everything. he thought that biden really was able to flip the script on republicans when it comes to the immigration issue, one in which republicans have capitalized on for the last several years. i want to talk quickly about that moment on gaza because i spoke to jamal beauman, i spoke to progressives before the speech tonight including congresswoman kori bush who was wearing the palestinian scarf in the chamber. she told me she didn't know how she would react. depending on what the president said in the moment she had planned to protest in some way. of course her guest is a palestinian woman who was a student here. jamal beauman after the speech told me the president went farther in criticizing israel than any president he'd heard from. he wish he'd call to specific examples in gaza, but overall democrats appear very happy with the speech. some democrats, simone, telling me they believe this was a slam dunk, believed biden was funny when it comes to questionings about his age. certainly they feel very positive about how biden had performed here. on the flip side, again, you had republicans speaking to that campaign style biden used. johnson told thorpe he was practicing his poker face behind biden. certainly you saw him making expressions when it came to that. certainly johnson's expression on that stage and democrats and republicans certainly coming away with different views how this speech went, which is as expected. >> all right, nbc's juli sirken and gabe gutierrez, thank you so much. you heard there, right, the commentary, michael, from republicans. this idea that somehow this speech was more partisan than expected. >> oh, please, spare me. these guys are wining about oh, there was no unity. marjorie taylor greene was on the house floor wearing a maga hat confronting the president of the united states, so spare me the unity crap. they don't give a damn about unity. all this fake oh, offense that the president was partisan or the president, you know, had a -- you know, sounded more political or the president didn't unify -- what are you trying to unify? you don't want to unify with the president. you had a chance. you had legislation. you saw senator lapgferred sitting there agree wg the president when the president said, well, i had a bill and the conservatives wrote it and you guys tore it up. >> perhaps -- i think we do have some sound particularly from the president talking about vladimir putin. maybe this is what they're talking about when they said the president is partisan. >> now my predecessor, a former republican president tells putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. that's a quote. a former president actually said that bowing down to a russian leader. i think it's outrageous, it's dangerous, and it's unacceptable. >> that's a unifying moment for me. >> i -- i would agree. i think it is -- it speaks volumes to where republicans in the house of representatives, or not even house of representatives, republicans in period are when apparently joe biden talking about vladimir putin trampling on the sovereignty of democratic nations abroad, our allies, members of nato that's somehow partisan. that's not something they agree with. >> you expect them to be triggered. that's the whole part to be triggered. >> to be triggered is part of it. i think what you were teeing up when you talked about the partisan piece of it there were a number of times, over a dozen where there was a very sharp contrast from the president with his predecessor on a range of issues. on a range of issues from democracy to reproductive rights, there was a contrast being drawn to that. i think part of what was articulated by the president at the top of the speech, right out the gate was the stakes are extraordinarily high, right? i can't begin this with pleasantries. >> and he didn't. that was stark. >> and most of these speeches tend to begin with a state of the economy. that is what voters tend to be motivated by, care about. he did not start there. they made a very deliberate choice to say the stakes are very high at home and abroad. and i think that set the stone for the rest of the speech to say we are talking about a choice here, and i want to draw that choice out for you as soon as possible. >> i wrote down at the very beginning that the president has gone straight for the gut. he walked up to that podium and he looked everyone in the eye, and he was like let me help yawl understand what we're confronting here. and he setup the two freedoms, the freedoms globally and the freedoms of individual rights and liberties, personal freedom, personal choices very important and salient here here and abroad. i thought that was compelling as he kept pounding at the gut, because he was relentless in the beginning of that speech. and it was almost as if -- simone, at some point i found myself going, okay, i'm getting the vapors. it was just one after the other. >> i really think folks should go back and look at what joe biden said when he first announced that he wanted to run for president in 2019, and then what he said throughout 2019 into 2020, what joe biden said not in his "state of the union" -- after he took the oath of office in his inaugural address. what he said in his first address to congress, actually not a "state of the union," and what he said, what he said at the top of this year. he has been consistent. the reason i think the way he started this speech the way he did is because that is what he truly believes. when i sat down and talked with joe biden in 2019 why do you want to be president, and he said i think we're in the battle for the soul of the nation. i believe he believes it, and he feels it viscerally. we saw that add the top of his remarks tonight. >> so much to dig into with this speech. coming up president biden had the republican congress in his sights tonight. he was not afraid to demand action from them and to call them out in front of tonight's audience of millions for overturning roe v. wade, and so much more. we're going to discuss next. >> tonight i'm directing the u.s. military to lead an emergency mission to establish a temporary period in the mediterranean on the coast of gaza that can receive large shipments carrying food, water, medicine, temporary shelter. no u.s. boots will be on the ground. a temporary pier will enable the massive increase of humanitarian increase getting into gaza. and israel must do its part. israel must allow more aid into gaza to ensure humanitarian workers aren't caught in the cross fire. they're announcing they're going to -- they're going to have a crossing to northern gaza. humanitarian assistance cannot be second consideration or a bargaining chip. protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority. s toy - vapes increase cravings - trapping you in an endless craving loop. nicorette reduces cravings until they're gone for good. what is cirkul? cirkul is the fuel you need to take flight. cirkul is the energy that gets you to the next level. cirkul is what you hope for when life tosses lemons your way. cirkul, available at walmart and drinkcirkul.com. whoa, how did you defeat them? with a little kung fu strength and by connecting my devices to the most powerful force of all. skadoosh. hah, huh? cool right? amazing. harness the power of xfinity internet and stay connected to the things you love. ah, they'll be like this for hours. hello dad, hello dad, hello da. uh-oh. good bunnies. ahh! here's why you should switch fo to duckduckgo on all your devie duckduckgo comes with a built-n engine like google, but it's pi and doesn't spy on your searchs and duckduckgo lets you browse like chrome, but it blocks cooi and creepy ads that follow youa from google and other companie. and there's no catch. it's fre. we make money from ads, but they don't follow you aroud join the millions of people taking back their privacy by downloading duckduckgo on all your devices today. president biden came out of the gate tonight going after do nothing republicans in congress starting out calling out republicans blocking critical aid to ukraine. >> i say this to congress. we have to stand up to putin. send in the bipartisan national security bill. history is literally watching. history is watching. if the united states walks away, it will put ukraine at risk. europe is at risk. the free world will be at risk, emboldened others to do what they wish to do us harm. my message to president putin who i've known for a long time is simple. we will not walk away. we will not bow down. i will not bow down. >> joining us now is democratic congressman of nevada. he is the chair of the congressional black caucus and a member of the house armed services committee. chairman, thank you for coming in with us in stud ye today. we appreciate it. i mean you were just at the capitol literally around the corner. >> yes. >> you were in the chamber tonight obviously. the congressional black caucus members were all out there in force. how do you all think the president did tonight? did he meet your expectations? >> he met the moment. he centered the american people as the reason that we had this incredible comeback from the pandemic and the economic downturn. he talked about the historic job creation that has occurred, the fact we have historic unemployment in black and latino communities. we have created more than 14 million new small businesses in just the last three years led by black women and latinas. this is a historic comeback, and he centered the people. that is what i've been asking the administration and this president and vice president to do. we did this, the american people did this. and he also talked about the possibilities of what more we could do. i was so pleased that he focused on housing and the fact that that is so important to building equity, building wealth, closing the racial wealth gap. he talked specifically about ways we could have pathways to homeownership, reducing the cost of rent, addressing homelessness in communities. but he also challenged the american people that we have to come together and that there was a clear contrast between those who want to build up our country versus those who want to tear it down. those who want to build up communities, those who want to tear it down, those who want to bring us together to solve problems versus those who want to tear us apart. and i think now the american people have a clear contrast in november. >> one of the contrasts the president sought to draw was between himself and his former predecessor on the question of obamacare. i want you to take a quick listen to what the president had to say and we'll talk about it on the other side. >> folks, the affordable care act, the old obamacare is still a very big deal. [ applause ] over 100 million of you can no longer be denied health insurance because of pre-existing conditions. but my predecessor and many in this chamber want to take prescription drugs away by repealing the affordable care act. i'm not going to let that happen. it'll stop you 50 times before it'll stop you again. >> i appreciate the call back reference in former president's here or there. i also appreciate the fact this is firm ground for democrats, and it puts republicans in a really untenable political position where obamacare has proven to be politically very, very successful. people like it. it is my understanding this is part of what we're going to see the president leaning in on this question of obamacare and the question of reproductive rights in the next weeks and months. >> and as it should be. we have a choice between president biden and vice president harris who are fighting to get access to health care, expand coverage, reduce health care costs, cap insulin at $30 a month, cap out-of-pocket costs for seniors at $2,000 a year. we're trying to -- he talked about expanding benefits for more americans versus donald trump and more americans in the house hoowant to take those benefits away. we're talking about protecting a woman's right to make her own health care decisions about her body or a family's ability to have a child through ivf, and the other side wants to take that away. they want to deny women the freedom to make decisions about when to start a family or whether to start a family, and that is going to be center. i love the fact that the president said to the supreme court justices, you are going to find out just how powerful women are at the ballot box this november. >> that's the molly whop i was talking about. >> that's a molly whop. that's a good one. i like the molly whops. congressman, i want to focus a bit more on the internal problem. coming into tonight the president clearly had some issues with progressives in his party. 100,000 michiganders had a different perspective on his leadership around the middle east, but he came in and he started punching folks in the gut. and certainly took some well-deserved shots at my party, but also i think made -- had some clarifying moments for some in his own party. do you think he started to scratch the itch for some of the more progressive members in the house who have been at odds with his leadership on a number of fronts? but even beyond the house out across the country, democrats, particularly young voters who look at his leadership and is like, no, i don't want a piece of that? do you think he started to scratch that itch to say, yeah, maybe i missed something about this guy that i underestimated or didn't understand? >> well, he clearly talked about the fact he is on the side of the american people, that he's fighting for them every single day despite the obstruction from republicans in congress. we have a conservative ideologically driven supreme court who has taken away fundamental freedoms, fundamental rights. now they're trying to take away economic opportunity from everything from being able to have access to capital to eliminating student debt. despite that obstruction, the president has found ways to still deliver for the american people. more than 3.5 million families and students have student relief debt, over $140 million. that's central to the issue. yes, there are difficult issues particularly around international affairs, but what i appreciate about the president is he -- he spoke directly to the israeli government and to netanyahu to say, yes, you have a right to defend yourself, but you also have a responsibility to protect innocent people in gaza and in the palestinian area. and that is an important issue that people care about. we are seeing the images of the destruction of lives and people, and that is something we have to hold israel accountable to. >> definitely not a conversation that is going away. mr. chairman, darrell george, a young man out of texas who has been suspended because of the way in which he has locked hair that is corn rowed back, and he was suspended because of his locked hair, because his hair violated the school policy, he was a guest of the congressional black caucus tonight. we've heard a lot of nods to civil rights, to voting rights. the 59th anniversary of bloody sunday, john lewis and others on the bridge, the edmund pettus bridge, you all commemorated that this past weekend. do you feel as though the pieces of the speech about -- we heard a little -- i don't think i heard the word dei, but it was nodded to. do you feel as if the president effectively spoke to those pieces tonight, and what more do you want to see in this tour going to be launched from the president, vice president, and cabinet members on down in particular? >> i was honored to have darrell george and his mother in the gallery tonight as the guests of the congressional black caucus. this is an 11th grader attending a high school in texas who is not being permitted to attend school, she's actually an in-house suspension because of the style of his hair. they're more concerned with what's on his head than what's in his head. and we spoke to him -- a number of members spoke to him and his mother. it was a very emotional meeting because it really goes to the essence of they're trying to break this young man's spirit. they're trying to break him down. and we talk a lot about the school to prison pipeline and the need to disrupt that. and really what's happening right here is unconscionable. i am calling on the department of education to intervene on this situation, to make sure this young man returns to school, that he receives the education that he is entitled to under the law. and we are going to do everything within our power. yes, there are other issues. they want to ban books. they want to ban bodies, and they want to now ban locs. they're more concerned with controlling people than they are with giving people freedom. we do have more work to do on protecting issues on diversity and equity. we have more work to do to ensure that the economic tools that have helped create wealth particularly in the black community, in business. that's why i'm calling on corporate america to affirm commitments. i'm pleased at the work the administration is doing, but we have more work to do because we're not going anywhere. i want to be absolutely clear, the predecessor to this administration, donald trump, wants to take us back, back 50 years. we just commemorated the 59th anniversary of bloody sunday. and as you walk over that edmund pettus bridge and you remember our late congressman john lewis and the other foot soldiers who marched with them, they marched for voting rights. they marched for freedom and for opportunity. and those are the very things that are now under attack, under assault, and there are certain people who want to take us back. we want to move forward. there are certain people who want to teardown our communities, we want to build them up. and there are certain people who want to divide us, we want to bring people together. that's the choice on the ballot in november. i thought the president did a great job of laying that out. now the american people have a clear choice, and we've got work to do to make sure they understand the importance of their voice and being heard at the ballot box. >> chairman of the congressional black caucus, steven horsford, thank you for being here. coming up, folks, just 241 days, and that count down is to election day. president biden put maga republicans on notice tonight about exactly how he plans to run for re-election this year. here's what i've done, and here's what the other side has done and has offered. and that offer is nothing. >> happened 59 years ago today in selma, alabama. hundreds of foot soldiers for justice marched across the edmund pettus bridge to claim their fundamental right to vote. they were beaten, they were bloodied and left for dead. our late friend and former colleague john lewis was on that march. we miss him. march. we miss him. scout is protected by simparica trio and he's in it to win it! simparica trio is the first chew with triple protection. whoa fleas! and ticks! (♪♪) intestinal worms! whoa! heartworm disease! no problem with simparica trio! this drug class has been associated with neurologic adverse reactions including seizures. use with caution in dogs with a history of these disorders. for winning protection— go with simparica trio. thanks to our bipartisan infrastructure law 40,000 new projects have been announced all across your community. by the way, i notice some of you strongly voted against it, they are cheering on that money coming in. i like that. i'm with you. i'm with you. if any of you don't want that money in your district, just let me know. >> y'all don't want the cash, we can dash. that was president biden poking fun at congressional republicans who had been all too happy to take credit from voters for the infrastructure project, his bipartisan infrastructure bill brought to their districts. one of his biggest success stories indeed. joining our conversation now is congressman robert garcia. he's a democrat from california and a biden campaign surrogate. it's so good to have you in the house, congressman. so how about those projects all those republicans out there are taking credit for, right? >> listen, republicans been taking credit on twitter, social media on all the projects in their district. and the president delivered and he delivered huge tonight. just the energy, the vision, looking forward, you can feel it in the room. i think all my colleagues and democrats are really excited to hear the president lay out a vision for the future, not just to talk about those infrastructure projects, lower the price of ininsulin, all the things he has done, he actually focused on the future, and that was something for us was really important tonight. >> you talk about the future, we can play this. what he talked about on housing, which alicia talks about this all the time, housing is right in front of people, everyone is dealing with. the rent is too damn high, it's very expensive to buy a house. if you got money to buy a house, you feel broke. i want to play for you the president talking about the cost of housing. >> i know the cost of housing is so important to you. inflation keeps coming down, mortgage rates will come down as well, and the fed acknowledges that. but i'm not waiting. i want to provide annual tax credit that will give americans $400 a month for the next two years as mortgage rates come down to put toward their mortgages when they buy their first home or trade up for a little more space. just for two years. >> often when americans express a dissatisfaction with the economy really what they're talking about is affordability, and housing is one of the key pillars of affordability. we tend to talk about eggs, we talk about gas. we don't talk about one of the baseline things which is your housing. and one of things i've heard said by housing experts is this is about feeling secure. if you cannot put a roof over your family's head, if you cannot guarantee your family's housing, then you feel personally like a failure. and you feel insecure at the most base level. >> this was actually for me one of the highlights of the speech. for folks across the country, they know people are talking about the cost of housing. and not only the president addressed homeownership, which we know is the key to the american dream, he talked about renters, talked how expensive it is for folks to get by, how expensive it is for families to pay the rent. and so people wanted to hear the president talk about housing, talk about the rent being too dam high and he did that tonight. that is going to be a home run part of his speech for working families across the country. the fact he stuck to these kitchen table issues around housing, health care, insulin, i think that's going to resonate. i think you're going to hear a lot of working families tonight just be very satisfied with the biden speech. >> there were some other things in the speech that were not i think written down. you talked about -- we talked about marjorie taylor greene, the congresswoman from georgia and the buttons she had and the outfit that was a violation. she -- when the president came down the aisle and was greeting folks, she greeted him and gave him a button. there was a point in the speech where he pulls out the button -- literally this speech had everything. it had props, pulls out this button and says the name of the young man who was killed in georgia that i think marjorie taylor greene and other republicans were going to use as a foil. and he was killed by an undocumented woman. and so -- the president used the term illegal when he was responding in the heat of the moment. i heard the word illegal. there were people in my text messages that heard the word illegal. i -- i wonder what you thought about that moment. >> i mean two things. first, one is marjorie taylor greene is a disgrace. and the fact she pulled that stunt, wore that hat, was so disrespectful, she should not have been allowed to do that. and that is actually shameful what she did, completely gross. >> and to be clear there was a woman who was killed. >> yes. i wouldn't have used the word illegal. he began talking about immigrants right after that. i think as an immigrant myself, i think hafs hardened to hear the president talk about the immigrants and the push back and the rhetoric poisoning the blood of this country. that's not a word anyone should use to describe anybody, and i think it's unfortunate that republicans are trying to create wedges especially around immigration. at the end of the day the president wants to help secure the border, the president wants immigration proposal, and that's what we should be focused on. >> all right, the congressman has spoken. congressman robert garcia, thank you for joining us at the table. appreciate you. >> thank you. >> we're going to be right back with msnbc's coverage of president biden's "state of the union" address. don't you go anywhere. ere. michael steele. >>ia know what, i thought it was very interesting. we were talking a bit off air about that moment, which was when the president used the term illegal. and what was interesting was for me just the politics of that moment. you know it's going to come back. you know republicans are going to grab that clip and try to make a lot of it, but i don't think people should. i think people need to cool their jets about that because it is not something that, "a," took away from the speech for me. and "b," just kind of reflects the difference between the various cultures that exist out there in way people perceive certain things. i think for the president it was just a moment in the heat of it just kind of -- >> i think what's more complicated than that, though, is that immigrant rights advocates have for years, for the better part of a decade -- >> working to change that. >> yes, because it's about humanizing immigrants as such we can have a conversation that comes from a place of shared humanity rather than this idea people are defined by a single act or single lawch i do think a lot of people feel there was ground lost tonight and the core messages around an immigration system that is orderly, fair, and humane, were undermined by that ad-lib. >> i can bet you somewhere there is a senior advisor that may or may not work in the white house, that's on the phone with reporters right now or holed in court, in one of the bars as we speak saying how are they -- they say he's beholden to the progressives but he used the term illegal. they're working to spin it and you know what -- >> it'll be all all right. >> it'll be all right, but as alicia said, words matter. words do matter, and i think the feedback is also very important. and when you say some stuff, people got to give you feedback. sir. >> you can't lose sight of the fact there are a lot of americans that language still resonates unfortunately. >> we have an entire hour to continue discussing this because our special coverage continues after a very quick break. stick around. i want to come back to this. >> we need to circle back. >> a core value of america, our diversity across american life, banning books is wrong. instead of eraising history, let's make history. instead of e, let's make history if you spit blood when you brush, it could be the start of a domino effect. new parodontax active gum repair breath freshener. clinically proven to help reverse the four signs of early gum disease. a new toothpaste from parodontax, the gum experts. if people think putin will stop at

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