Reporters he plans to visit georgia a week from today to rally support for republican candidates ahead of the two senate runoffs. But in the past few weeks are any indication hell likely be going to georgia to tout some debunked fraud conspiracies. Joining me now opinion columnist for the washington post, shauna thomas, msnbc political contributor, david jolly, former congressman and contributor, and latasha brown, cofounder of black votes matters. Thank you for joining me. Shauna, i want to start with you. You have followed a lot of these political campaigns and youre what i would call someone who gets into the weeds of political campaigning but also candidates, which what is donald trump right now thinking . There is a lot of telegraphing he wants to promptly announce his 2024 campaign. Is this the rabbit hole hes trying to go under . Well, i mean even in that presser that we saw after he thanked members of the troops on thanksgiving he didnt even really acknowledge the question of 2024. But i think what i cant tell you what hes thinking but i think what we can see is he wants to retain power of some sort, right . He wants to possibly have that 2024 race be something republicans are thinking about, and he wants to make sure that he is actually in control of the Republican Party and that they in some ways have to continue to kowtow to him. And i think the georgia runoffs is actually a very interesting test of what his power will be. He says hes going down there next weekend. How he speaks, how he behaves, how he talks about the race and these two candidates will help us understand what kind of power he has once we see how that vote actually turns out. Is there a large republican turn out, do they vote for perdue and lofler . Do the republicans end up keeping control, and will he be able to take any kind of credit for that . But a lot of that depends on what he says. And if he continues to undermine the electoral process in georgia, which he is still doing. And this is it, david jolly. I want to bring you in because listen to what trump had to say about the secretary of state from georgia. The secretary of state who is really hes an enemy of the people, the secretary of state. And whether hes republican or not this man what hes done. David, the secretary of state for georgia he penned an oped in the usa today stating not only did i vote for donald trump but my family voted for donald trump, but im trying to safeguard the integrity of the elections. As a former elected official speak to how unusual it is that we have a president right now trying to negate an election thats clearly not fraudulent . Well, its exceedingly dangerous, maria. And what i would say is just as donald trump tries to contextualize his loss as though he was cheated its on us to contextualize as well. What i mean by that is donald trump says the system is broken, the election is rigged. I think the narrative we should embrace is this is america at its strongest. This is how the system works. What weve learned through four years of donald trump is that the constitution is greater than the vanity of any one man, right . We saw the president investigated and actually impeached by the house of representatives for wrongdoing. We saw the senate in its discretion acquit him. Weve seen him file these meritless claims about a rigged election, and independent courts have thrown them out of court saying theres no merit. The American People who brought in donald trump in 2016 have ushered him out in 2020. The constitution is working. Where the danger is in Donald Trumps words is the deception of the bully pulpit and the deception of one man when he amplifies this notion about the secretary of state of georgia or that the election was rigged, that deception can undermine our own confidence. And thats why its important for us to contextualize the integrity of the elections in this moment, the strength of america in this moment and recognize it is a deception that donald trump is playing right now aross the nation. It is our job to reject it in this moment and properly record for history joe biden won this election and america stood up and with stood the deception of an incumbent president. Listen to these headlines we saw this week of all the courts basically saying that republicans are suing but they are losing. Three minnesota house lawmakers file lawsuit against secretary of state simon and lost. You see the ruling last night also from pennsylvania also showing that he lost. Speak to why its important for us to not only remind the American People but also folks that are outside of the United States that are looking for alliances in the United States saying can we trust your system. Right, well i think the key to this is what you started out by saying earlier. What is donald trump thinking . And i think hes not thinking anything at all. He suffered a narcissistic injury and hes reacting out of his gut. Thats why he went on Joseph Stalin on the Court Georgia secretary of state joining the media as enemy of the people. Evidently there are a lot of enemies of the people. So i think wed be surprised if donald trump were acting in any other way than the way he is right now. But we are seeing the institutions of democracy hold. Weve seen court ruling or up to 20 or so hes lost. Hes not won a single one of these cases brought after the election. And i think the world is seeing that we have a very bizarre man in a position of power for another 60 or 90 days, but the institutions are holding. We even see republicans few but enough of them standing up against what hes doing right now. We see the courts doing it. If only somebody like Mitch Mcconnell had some integrity wed be done with this. I want to bring you in. Your lives work has been to franchise voters. I we saw a harsh rebuke from the Appeals Court from trump saying, quote, voters not lawyers choose a president. The court declared at one point. Ballots not briefs decide elections. Why is this important for the work you do . I think when were talking about what happened in this election in georgia its so what happened to the folks in georgia rejected trump and rejected what we had to offer. So when were talking about what is at stake right now, when were talking about people rising up, thats what makes democracy strong, when people actually engage in the process. Lets be clear in this election cycle theres been a hand count and he still came out on the losing end. The people of georgia have spoken, and i think theyre going to come back out, were going to do it again. So its more reflective of people i think and more reflective of the strength of American People. Lets leave the image of donald trump on his tiny desk and now lets move forward that hes going to go to georgia almost seven days from now. Shawna, talk a bit about when race will look like. At the same time encouraging these same voters to go out and vote. Which is it for him . I think well actually see what comes out of his mouth when hes actually in the state of georgia. But you do rightfully point out the problem with his argument. If hes going to continue to say the vote was rigged and your votes didnt count properly and biden didnt win in the state, then how does he encourage people to go vote again with a system that hasnt actually changed that much and in some ways is even more taxed than it was before. And mind you the vote wasnt rigged. This is the count. Biden won georgia. It is what it is. But also if you look at that perdueossoff race, perdue got more votes than jon ossoff. So is he also saying that doesnt matter, that none of those votes matter . Its a really confusing argument. So its interesting to see what is going to be the test of Donald Trumps coattails . Which part of him wins out, and is he willing to modify his message enough to make his coattails mean something . Because if they dont mean anything and democrats end up winning those two runoff races then i think that means donald trump is in the wilderinous. Why do republicans have to do what he says or make him show up to events or anything like that if he cant bring these two republicans in a state that is very, very close over the finish line . And right now hes not doing a good argument for that, but im curious to see how he makes it work on december 5th. So david, asking you as someone who ran as well, is this becoming a referendum on donald trump . Are these two senate seats one big race . Talk to me about that. You know, maria i was elevated to congress in a nationally watched special election. I mean the entire political nation came to town. Its a weird dynamic. Its a very intense dynamic and Everyone Wants to come help. Did you want their help . Exactly. And without naming names but it rhymes with lot, there was a governor of florida i did not want to come to my race because his negatives were so high. For these two georgia candidates donald trump usually you want the guy who won the state to come to town for your behalf. Donald trump was the first republican to win georgia in about 30 years. So the question is why would you bring to town the republican who became the first republican in 30 years to lose the state of georgia . I think this will be an interesting test for today and Going Forward. Can the Republican Party survive donald trump the man . It will survive trumpism. Its stronger than ever. Republicans performed stronger than ever just as democrats have. Trumpism has not hurt the Republican Party by performance. Trump the man is suffocating the party. And i think thats going to be a little bit of a myopic or a little bit of a small example of what we see in georgia. Can the Republican Party survive donald trump the man . Its fine with trumpism, but can it sursurvive the man . We know with that in order for joe biden to pass some of his ambitious legislation hes going to need a senate thaworks on his side and its all eyes on georgia. Read the tea leaves for me. I think were going to see a repeat. I think its going to be an inten intense battle. But folks are really dedicated on voting this next election cycle. I do think part of the loss we saw in georgia is georgia is known to be a red state, but i think he bought a lot of weight in that campaign and hell continue to do so. So i do believe that what were going to see is were going to see a repeat of what we saw in the general election. Were going to see an upset. Back with us in the next hour and thank you. Thank you lotosha, for franchising voters and making sure election is working. G sure election is working look at the difference of these two shirts. The wrinkle guard shirt has less wrinkles and static, and more softness and freshness. To tame wrinkles on the go use bounce 3in1 rapid touch up spray. Bounce out wrinkles with bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets and touch up spray both, with a money back guarantee. Youre all, youre all i need youre all, youre all i need as long as i got you then baby you know that youve got me, oh yea. You ktturning downhe got me, temperature, dad. Ow. Thunk, lock the doors. Locking doors. Thunk, dim the lights. Dimming lights. [ croaking ] goodnight, honey. Goodnight. [ laughs ] thats my leg. Aw pft, pft. Evolve your home security. Get the peace of mind, safety and convenience of xfinity home. And dont forget to catch the croods, a new age now in theaters. Rated pg. Joe biden can be facing a crisis in iran when he takes office. Irans Top Nuclear Scientist was killed in a daytime ambush friday. The scientist was considered to be the architect of irans secret Nuclear Program halted in 2003. While nbc news has not independently confirmed details surrounding his death irans former minister has implicated israel in the attack but israel has not commented on the allegations. Joining me now a former state Department Senior advisor and host of sirius xm, and colonel lawrence wilkerson, former chief of staff for secretary of state colin powell. So id like to start with you. What exactly is happening right now . What are we hearing . The latest thats happening is that the iranian president has come out with a statement essentially saying iran is not going to walked into what he called a trap by the israelis to escalate and create a war because that is in his assessment what the israelis want. But its not clear thats the view of other elements inside the country. Some of this debate is starting to take place in public in which the argument made by the other side is these assassinations continue to take place because in their view it the iranians have not responded harshly enough to previous attacks and the only way to reprevent future attacks is respond really harshly to this one. If that happens, however, theres a significant risk for a major potential escalation of war. How unusual would it be for the United States to not have not bip informed of this . Do you believe the white house knew this was going to happen . It would be extremely unusual, maria theresa. I have to believe they were informed. Trumps whole effort now seems to befoul the recent elections. I dont think hes very attentive to it, but mipompeo t secretary of state is. The saudis are willing to fight the iranians to the last dead american. And i would add b. B. Netanyahu. Thats what ware looking at here. They want as a major outcome a war. As a middle ground outcome they want a Bombing Campaign against Iranian Nuclear facilities. And as a minimum amount they want any possibility of the new President Joe Biden reentering the joint comprehensive plan of action and it looks like theyre well on that road to success. To follow up on that i think what the colonel is stating what implicates perhaps the role of the white house in this, we know that netanyahu has been a very strong ally of donald trump. Donald trump has been very clear hes an ally of israel but also was the one responsible for pulling out of the nuclear deal with iran. And the idea that were hearing possibly is that donald trump perhaps did this, had the israelis do this informing donald trump, but also is this netanyahus attempt to do something under this Current Administration that he knows he may not be able to do with the Biden Administration. Well, the Biden Administration has certainly picked up where the we know it was more about eliminating the ability for iran to get a nuclear weapon. Netanyahu was opposed, the sod es were opposed but this was a coordinated effort between European Countries including russia and the United States. With the United States pulling out that really opened the door for israel and the saudis to look to other avenues to influence the United States. You also had with trump the National Security advisor and john bolton who was an iran war hawk. And so some of that still remains, and netanyahu just last week was meeting and talking with mohamed been solman the crown prince of saudi arabia. Thats the key thing is how much can they box in bidens options by engaging the United States under a Trump Administration or while trump is still commander in chief . So the u. S. Hasnt officially commented on what occurred. What is your take this idea perhaps what netanyahu is trying to do is box in president elect biden . No, i think thats absolutely correct. And i think its also correct with what wilkerson said there was probably some sort of implicit green light from the administration for netanyahu to go forward with this. However, its also important to recognize that netanyahu must also have calculated that biden probably does not have the political will to inflict a cost, impose a cost to netanyahu if he does these things to box in biden. And i think its up to the Biden Administration to prove netanyahu wrong because i doubt netanyahu would have gone down this path unless he felt it was pretty much costfree from him. Not just from trump but also from biden. So colonel wilkerson, we know right now the individual that look tuesday be taking over the secretary of state is tony blinken. Hes someone that has incredible experience on the diplomatic front. What would you be advising him right now . What should he be looking for as he enters what is going to be incredibly messy on the International Front . Listen to the november talk he gave. He knows the region better than anyone i know from israel. And yosi gave a talk that demonstrated the extraordinary complexities that are going to confront blinken and biden as they take the reins of power. Those complexities have to be taken into consideration, and its going to take exquisite diplomacy if its even possible to do the kind of things that need to be done. I dont envy their path because so many are opposed to their action. What are you thinking right now as youre looking into the transition of the Biden Administration . I think you had counseled what the colonel did is absolutely on point. What is going on right now in the joe Biden Administration is preparing to take this on . Weve actually seen an increase in uranium production it seems from iran, but weve also seen a lot of the sanctions have just not helped the iranian people. Speak a bit about what happens right now from a Biden Administration, again, finding this mess in your hands. It is not going to be easy for a Biden Administration to jump right back into this negotiated agreement that the europeans have upheld. And what tony blinken and the National Security advisor sullivan will be facing is a world and region that j