biden doing adds to th but ifat you watch a longer version of that same moment or watch it from other angles, you can see biden is watching other parachuters out of frame and giving them a thumbs up. but 90 minutes after the rnc posted their video, the new york post reposted it, but this time with the video cropped so you never see any of the parachuters biden is looking at, making him seem even more out of it. and of course hours later the rnc's video got the fox news treatment. >> during a parachute demonstration biden got dazed and confused, how shocking and started to just wander off like that as other g7 leaders looked on in agony. >> fox news says the other world leaders looked on in agony, never mind the fact the other leaders are quote on the record calling biden's acknowledgement of other parachuters, quote, very polite. the next morning the story was the front page of "the new york times" quote, meander in chief. trump's campaign quick to push that out on his own accounts. it's a conservative echo chamber and doesn't seem to care what it's echoing back and forth is true or not. we've seen this cycle again and again. two weeks ago it was the rnc pushing anc d-day video making seem he was reaching for a chair that wasn't actually there. the issue with that being there was a chair there. biden was just waiting to sit until defense secretary lloyd austin's name was announced as were others if you look at the actual noncropped video. this week the rnc is pushing a s misleading clip of biden at a fund-raiser claiming a that bid freezes before obama grabs his arm and leads him offstage. as the ap points out in its own fact check what the video actually shows is biden cheering for applause before exiting the stage with obama. but, you know, facts didn't stop trumpno posting a video of himsf complete with the caption, is this really who you want to be your president? misleading photos, videos, not a new phenomenon in american politics. what is new having a conservative party and a presumptive nominee for president all pushing misleading videos with no regard for the facts.eg last night in wisconsin trump continued toon lob disingenuous personal attacks against the president as part of a 90-minute rant just filled with lies. trump, of course, also repeated the false claim that he won the 2020 election. he also implerred supporters to be on the lookout for more fraud this time around. >> we want to watch it. we want to watch for the cheating. we have the guard the vote. we have to stop the steal. the radical left democrats rigged the presidential election in 2020, and we're not going to let them rig the presidential election in 2024. >> liberal activist lauren winder released secretly recorded audio of long time advisor roger stone talking about what he sees as trump's plan to challenge the election results this time around if trump loses. this recording recording without stone's knowledge who believes the 2020 election was stolen and get him to respond about what he thinks will happen if trump thinks the election is stolen again. >> at least this time when they do it, you have a lawyer and a judge his home phone number standing by so you can stop it. >> if you recall as i know you do after the 2020 election trump and his campaign filed 62 lawsuits claiming the election had been stolen. one of those lawsuits ended with trump's team winning three days for pennsylvania voters to cure ballots that weren't counted. but the other 61 lawsuits, well, they failed miserably. in this newly released recording stone isn't trying to relitigate thosest failures and claim the election is rigged. he isn't just saying he expects the 2024 election is rigged, he's also saying the republican effort to take those false claims to court will be much bigger and better run this time around particularly now trump's daughter-in-law, laura trump, controls the rnc. >> stone down-played the statements he made in those recordings saying that, quote, all the election integrity provisions he mentioned are perfectly legal, but that's not exactly a denial that these bad faith election challengeserize indeed coming. in the misinformation ecosystem that is priming for exactly this kind of stuff, how do we protect our democracy? during the 2020 election former white house counsel bob dower helped lead the response. bauer is out with a brand new book that tackles these issues. it's called "the unraveling." in it bauer examines the line between hard nose political combat and the politics devoid of ethics. quote, political actors bear responsibility to demonstrate ie the choices they make that politics can and should be an honorable and ethical calling. good politics can be played hard and passionately but also with respect for the limits beyond which it cannot go -- it cannot ethically go. not all the limits are clear. not everyone agrees on the limits. however, there has to be agreement that there are limits of some kind and that political actors are accountability for honestly confronting choices and accepting responsibility for those they make. joining me now bob bauer, president biden's personal attorney, former white house counsel in the obama administration. again, his new book, "the unraveling, reflections on politics on democracy and ethics without crisis." thank you so much for being here. i'm fascinated by the fact in the book you describe yourself as having a warrior mentality, but you also question whether winning at all costs is worth it. i wonder how you walk the fine line between those polls when you know that the other side, they're not afraid to go low. >> it's a bipartisan question what kind of politics we're going to have in this country, whether it's going to be a true small "d" democratic politics or anti-politics that treats an adversary as an enemy, an adversaryem not to be defeated t an enemy to be destroyed, that treats the law as something that can be shunted to one side or as you pointed out in your opening there's no limit to lies pedaled to voters, no responsibility on those who write the ads or cover the ads to police them for some measure of honesty and fairness to voters. andrn a policy without ethics i not a democratic politics. now, to the question you asked, i want to stress this. i reject the premise and i think i andmi others and democrat campaigns have done this for quite some time. i reject the premise you can't compete hard, you can't be vigorous in your campaigns and at the same time run them ethically and win. you can win. i was with the obama campaign of 2008. hepa won. in 2020, he won. so victory is possible but the overall effect, corrosive effect of those without ethics, is something we have to be deeply concerned about and that is an issue for democrats as well as republicans. >> bob, understanding past is prologue, i want to talk a little bitwa about 2020 and howt applies to what you're looking for 2024. so summer 2020 you outlined a multistep strategy in the summer in anticipation of trump questioning the results of the november election. i wonder whenof you realized yo were going to actually need to execute on this plan. >> remember former president trump made no bones about his belief he couldn't honestly lose an election and the election he lost would be a rigged election. in fact, hegg claimed he hadn't lost to ted cruz in the iowa caucuses, that there was something fishy about that election as well. so he flagged that as did others ind his campaign circle, and a lot of energy and effort went into thinking through what sort of steps they might to challenge the election, to undermine the process beforehand or challenge the process after. and i write in my book how much effort went into identifying any conceivable ntchallenge. by the way, thousands of lawyer hours, thousands of pages of memos, not all of it came to pass, but having said that, there were threats we anticipated. they did come to pass, and as you pointed out in your introduction, trump and his campaign did not succeed at all. >> so as you just laid out setting the groundwork this is possibility, he's doing the same thing this time around already saying he'll call into question the results of the 2024 election. it is interesting we're talking tonight because as wewe come on the air there's a fox news poll that actually shows president biden leading trump 50% to 48% nationally for registered voters, which is notable because that's the first time we've seen that in this poll this cycle. do you believe that team biden is prepared for the novel ways, right, the new ways that team trump has imagined once again subverting democracy? >> well, i recount in the book how we prepared in 2020, and it was exhaustive. and i can say the preparations areep just as exhaustive if not more so this time around. and i want to be clear the effort here is not just to prepare to protect to win, it's to prepare to protect the process. and i will say at the same time i'm involved in this campaign -- and i am very involved in the campaign --am i also work with republicans on issues that are meant to be bipartisan, to support our election officials in the conduct of elections. that's where the partisan politics has to stop. it has to stop at the point of which we're attacking the process we all depend upon for the fulfillment of the democratic process, for fulfillment of democratic will. >> forgive me, bob, in as much you're clear about the fact this is a bipartisan challenge, you're also clear about the fact when we talk about republicans, this isut bigger than donald trump. you t fault republicans in the senate for what you call an egregious offense against norms, when they ignored president obama's nominations of merrick garland ins the supreme court. you also note that, quote, when another election year vacancy developed on the death of ruth bader ginsburg, the senate decided to rush the delegation of amy coney barrett months off. it somehow lost its force for them in 2020 when the nomination was theirs to make and the seat was theirs to fill. how corrosive was that specific breach iniv ethics? >> in my view, this is the kind of step taken just to win, to push through that result because you can push through that result that added together on all the other actions of that kind that are taken really does have a long-term undermining effect not just on the way the process should operate but on the public's confidence in the process. the public loses faith that politics is an honorable calling, and that at some point in seeking their favor, seeking their vote inhe the campaign, there is a limit -- there's a limit to what responsible political w actors will do, in e same way that they have to hope in trying to enact public policies, there's a e limit to what people in government will do to win a policy debate. there haspo to be those limits. i'm convinced, by the way, that victory is possible while adhering to those limits. but nowo the public's confiden that's true has been shaken. >> bob, you write in the unraveling after the moment affjanuary 6th where you thought, quote, democratic life will get back to normal. that seems very quaint now. i'm sure you'll agree nothing feels normal. we're in the middle of what we keep calling the most consequential election of our lifetime. i just wonder five months out what it is that keeps you up at night. >> you have to worry about everything. we are living through a period of very polarized politics in which we have seen a lot of ethical compunctions fall away, norms challenged. not just norms challenged, literally repudiated, repudiated in principle. and i do believe, however, if i can strike an optimistic note having traveled around the country and spoken to election officials and community leaders both democratic and republican, that, yes, there is a wing of the republican party that donald trump commands that is prepared to repudiate those morals, prepared to challenge elections, prepared to say the system is irredeemably corrupt. but there are others some of them quiet who think even if they will vote for republicans, that we haveil to defend the democratic process and that there is a form of democratic politics that is ethical and respectful of the voters and respectful of democratic traditions andat norms. i've heard that from republicans, and i believe that there is a large number whether their republicans, independents, democrats, more than a majority that wants to stand up and defend the democratic process in the united states. so as much as i worry at night because you've asked what i worry about and it's a fair amount, i have confidence that ultimately as i have confidence in 2020 that we're going to see the country, the voters stand up for the processe that is currently under such severe attack. >> that optimism that you shared is iphigh demand and short supply, so thank you for ending this y there. president biden's personal attorney, former white house counsel in the obama administration, and the author of the brand new book "the unraveling, reflections on politics withouts ethics and democracy in crisis." thank you so much, bob. all right, coming up for us a big applause line of donald trump's rallies these days, his threats to cut funding to public schools with vaccine mandates. but first the strengthening alliance between kim jong-un and vladimir putin. it was on full display today. what it all means for national security and the 2024 presidential election. that's up next. 4 presidential election. that's up next if you're one of the millions of people with diabetes who suffer from low and high blood sugar, dexcom g7 is one of the easiest ways to take better control of your diabetes. my blood sugar would suddenly spike or really go low out of nowhere. it was really scary. 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(announcer) dexcom g7 helps protect against highs and lows. call now! - [narrator] life with ear ringing sounded like a constant train whistle i couldn't escape. then i started taking lipo flavonoid. with 60 years of clinical experience, it's the number one doctor recommended brand for ear ringing. and now i'm finally free. take back control with lipo flavonoid. ♪ ♪ [ grunts ] [ laughs ] these were the scenes outside of north korea's capital today where the red carpet was rolled out for a carefully choreographed parade of two dictators. for the first time in over two decades this week russian leader vladimir putin paid a rare visit to his counterpart, kim jong-un, as part of a continued effort to strengthen russia's alliance with north korea. there was a welcome ceremony complete with goose stepping soldiers, thousands of north koreans lined the streets chanting putin's name. his por for from the russian flag plastered basically everywhere. but it was a defense agreement that vladimir putin and kim jong-un signed today which calls for russia and north korea to defend one another in the event of a, quote, aggression against either country. in other words, a nato-style defense pact, which "the new york times" is calling one of the most visible rewards mr. kim has extracted from moscow in returns for the dozens of ballistic missiles and over 11,000 shipping containers of munitions that north korea provided in recent months to support putin's war with ukraine. although the details of the agreement were not immediately clear, it could mark the strongest bond between the two countries since the end of the cold war. last month six senior u.s. officials told nbc news the biden administration is increasingly concerned about the intensifying military alliance. those officials said the u.s. is also bracing for north korea to potentially take its most provocative military actions in a decade close to the u.s. presidential election, possibly at putin's urging. the timing could be disciped to create turmoil in order to hurt president biden's electoral chances and help donald trump's. joining me now to discuss, former u.s. ambassador to russia and the obama administration, michael mcfaul. ambassador mcfaul, thank you for being with us. i wonder what you make of this trip, of this agreement. does it suggest that putin is, in fact, desperate? >> without question putin is desperate. he would not have made this trip, first time he's been here in a quarter century. and when i say here i'm sitting in seoul, so it's up the street from where mr. putin was. that is by coincidence, by the way. i'm not trolling mr. putin. i just happen to be here. it is nerve-wracking for people of south korea as well because what you see is a real genuine just like you said nato-style mutual agreement. they've never been this close, and i think it's important to remind people it wasn't that long ago. it's just literally a few years ago before putin invaded ukraine when the united states and russia and china disagreed on many, many things. but what they cooperated on was trying to prevent the expansion of kim jong-un's nuclear weapons program. what this suggests -- what this treaty -- i shouldn't call it a treaty. what this security package suggests is right now all those bets are on, and putin is not just trying to prevent it, he's trying to help them expand their nuclear arsenal. that is very, very dangerous new development that we're seeing here in north korea. >> help me understand, ambassador mcfaul, what this means practically for ukraine in its ongoing fight against russia? >> it means that putin will have more munitions, more weapons to kill ukrainians. it's just that simple. and the fact that he doesn't have those weapons i think underscores how desperate he is. there's been a lot of chatter recently about how well the russian military is doing and the russian military complex is back. i think we needed to pump the brakes on that. yes, they are growing stronger. yes, they are getting technology from countries like china but also countries from the west. that's disturbing, and it's important i think that president biden at the g7 last week focused on that. but the very fact that he needs this pretty, you know, crude kinds of technologies, these munitions, soviet era munitions from north korea suggests that putin's running out and this deal will help him advance his war into ukraine. it's bad news for the ukrainians. >> i want you to help me also understand this in the context of the 2024 election, which is we know what former president trump thinks of putin. we know what he thinks of kim jong-un, the way in which he has praised both of these leaders. if he were to be elected to a second term as these two nations are cozying up to one another in part because they were both anti-west, anti-u.s., what does that then mean for this country? >> well, you said that we know about those relationships, but i hope the american people remember just how crazy things got in the first term under mr. trump when he just reaped out and putin was one of his closest allies and friends. he said it repeatedly for years and years and years about kim jong-un -- i'm paraphrasing here, but mr. trump, president trump said we fell in love. think about that. these two leaders are meeting today, putin and kim jong-un to, one, threaten in a more direct way ukraine where we're trying to help ukrainians. and i'm sitting here in south korea, and let me tell you our south korean allies here are extremely nervous about what they're seeing in north korea, and they're very nervous that mr. trump has embraced both of these gentleman. so for our allies in europe and for our allies in asia, they are nervous about the return of mr. trump, and i think we need to think about that hard before voting him back into office. i think it will create tremendous disruption with respect to our alliances, and even if no