Transcripts For MSNBCW Morning Joe 20201028

Covid. He said this at one of his rallies. Covid, covid, covid hes complaining. Hes jealous of covids Media Coverage. [ laughter ] if he had been focused on covid from the beginning, cases wouldnt be reaching new record highs across the country this week. Hes jealous. That is a great point. Hes jealous of covids Media Coverage. Hes jealous of the coronavirus. He is. Willie. Hed fire him if he could, willie. President obama is in the pocket, as we say right now. His approach for the last week or so has been to mock President Trump, let joe biden take the more serious, stern criticism. And president obama is out there with substance mocking the president of the United States in including his jealousy of the covid coverage. The president is going to make it right up to election day that theres too much coverage of the thing thats dominating everyones life, not because of Media Coverage, but because its in everyones life. And coming up on 228,000 people according to the tally on the screen that have died. All the jobs that have been lost, all the kids missing school, but the president thinks its getting too much coverage. And here we are, were and were seeing the impact on the economy, once again, not because scientists and doctors are saying you need to take care of yourself and your families, but because americans are a lot smarter than donald trump. Theyre not going to go out, theyre not going to risk an outbreak in their family. Theyre not going to risk the lives of senior citizens. But youre seeing the stock mark market yet another day going down considerably. Consumer confidence going down not because of the Media Coverage of covid, and not because theres more testing and thats causing more cases of covid. But because there are more cases of covid and more people are dying of covid. It is again, those woodward tapes, those woodward tapes we thought were instructive for what they said of Donald Trumps past performances. But theyre actually theyre so instructive, mika, of his current performance that hes actually hes been caught lying on audiotape. And he thinks his supporters are so stupid, the type of people that you can leave abandoned in a field, he thinks his supporters are so stupid that even though theyve heard his own words saying how dangerous covid is, can he do as his Closing Argument, he can lie through his teeth more about covid, more about an economy that hes completely trashed, and about a Health Care System that hes completely trying to turn upside down in the middle of this pandemic by doing everything can he do to abolish the Affordable Care act. It looks like hes going to get his wish with a Supreme Court that will vote now to do away with americans preexisting conditions. And he can get a lot done with his Supreme Court nominee as it pertains to this election. But, again, a president angry at a virus that he, himself, could have controlled and anybody else could have done a better job than him. Along with joe, willie and me, we have White House Reporter for the Associated Press Jonathan Lemire. Former u. S. Senator now an nbc news and msnbc political analysts Claire Mccaskill is with us this morning. So, willie, 1988, 15 years before Jonathan Lemire was born. Awe. The los angeles dodges win their last world series. They did it again last night. Long time coming, 32 years. Its been a long time since kirk gibson was pumping that fist as he rounded first base in game one. They womn last night 31. They are the best team in baseball, have been all season, they deserve to be world champions. Mookie betts had a big game, put the game on ice in the eighth inning with a home run. But the headline out of this game will be the decision by rays manager kevin cash to yank blake snell, the 2018 cy young award winner. He had given up two hits. But what happens with the analytics, they look into the binder, hes been through the lineup twice, i dont like what i see, lets yank him. You can see the frustration on snells face, reliever comes in and loses the game for the rays. This isnt a question of 2020 hindsight guessing this on this decision. This was in realtime a suspect move that we were all wondering why he was doing this. Youre right, he didnt want batters he didnt want snell to face batters a third time. But snell was dealing. The dodgers couldnt touch him. You ride him as long as you can. It couldnt have been more predictingable, the dodgers instantly pounced and tied the game and went on and won the game. Theyre a deserving champion, this is their third world series in the last four years. They lost the other two, one of them to the cheating houston astros. Certainly happy for clayton kershaw, one of the games best pitchers who had some post season strug whogles who gets a championship. Mook kip bett mookie betts, it would be nice if the red sox could get guys like that. The kind of guy you want to build a team around, young fans and your team would want to buy their jerseys and make him the sports hero for their team. But he plays on the wrong coast. One of these years, and i dont know when, but one of these years, our Boston Red Sox may have a player like mookie betts. But, claire, lets talk about the rays for a second here. An incredible run by a team that beat the yankees, beat the astros, and have built an Incredible Organization in a town that, lets just face it, in a town that doesnt love baseball. They dont even like baseball. If you look at, you know, their attendance records. But you could actually see this coming last year. I remember looking up at the end of the year and seeing that the rays had won i think 90, 91 games. Nobody had seen that coming. Theyve got a great coach, regardless of his decision last night, theyve got a great organization. And as a team theyve got a lot to be proud of this morning. Yeah. Nothing hurts my heart more than a terrific Baseball Team that doesnt have the fan base it deserves. And thats certainly the tampa rays at this point. Im crying in pie beer too. You lost mookie betts, we gave aw away osarina. We gave him away from the cardinals. We both have something to be depresed about in terms of losing players that could have really contributed to the teams that we love. What an incredible post season he had, mika. I know weve been talking about him through the entire series and youve just mika wont stop. Yeah. She wont stop. She says this kid. Yeah. This kid. I like what i see. Yeah. Okay. All right. All right, guys, and claire. Well get back to first of all the president and covid, covid, covid or marsha, marsha, marsha for any of you brady bunch fans. But first some new battleground states. Now, marsha, marsha, marsha if marsha had killed 225,000 people on the brady bunch. 27, thats true. Slight plot twist. Okay. Battleground state polls. Weve got a week less than a week till the election. Lets start with michigan, the latest Reuters Ipsos poll puts joe biden ahead by 59 . And in iowa, the latest Iowa Research poll shows biden leading by four points, 50 to 40 fix with a margin of error of plus or minus four points. And in North Carolina, the reuters poll shows biden ahead by one, 49 to 48 with a margin of error of 4. 4 points. Willie, let me just say and start off by saying i trust absolutely no polls. I think its a hangover from 2016. But i trust no polls. If Donald Trumps within three points of joe biden in any poll, i immediately color that state red. For no good reason, but i hear i hear what people in the media are saying about this race, and it sounds remarkably similar to what they were saying about the clinton race four years ago. And, yes, joe bidens over 50 in a lot of these polls. And, yes, joe bidens popularity is higher than ever. But we live in a tur multichewous wormult tumult ch yosoyotumultous world. Weve become a skeptical society over the past four years. How many trump people are even picking up the phones . I know theyre doing the best they can do, but for some reason i just am very skeptical when i start hearing people talking about how joe bidens moving towards a comfortable win. Youre not alone. Youre joined by just about every democrat i know who is sake saying i dont believe these polls for a second. Thats why everyone ghoos ohas out and vote. People want to get their vote banked right now. New york, the sta North Carolina, the state of florida, thats tight. Who knows what way thats going to go. And joe biden yesterday spent his time in georgia, which shows you how that campaign is thinking that they even can expand the map. Even that had democrats concerned. Why are you in georgia . Weve got to lock down wisconsin, michigan, and what about pennsylvania . Claire, youre always a good ba rahm r barometer in how the election turns out or doesnt. Joe biden has a wider lead than Hillary Clinton had at this time four years ago, but yet, some skepticism from democrats. Theres two or three things that are different that make me feel a little better. I am like every other democrat. I will not believe it until i see it. However, the coalition that trump had which was, you know, he was competitive with collegeeducated women four years ago. He won seniors. And he won independents. Well, he is not winning in any of those categories now and he is losing collegeeducated women by, like, 25 points. So, i look at that, i also look at his favorability. Hes much more liked than Hillary Clinton was at this point. And then the other thing im looking at in the data, forget about the polls, look and see whos voting. In georgia, 1 out of 4 voters in georgia that have already voted are firsttime voters or not reliable voters. These are typically not the people who show up early. The people who show up early are typically the ones who vote every single time. So the fact that were getting this kind of early turnout from infrequent voters and new voters gives me hope. Well, the crucial state of florida has surpassed its 2016 early vote totals. Floridaians from cast 6. 8 million ballots already with almost 4 million cast by mail. The statewide turnout thus far is 46 , according to the u. S. Elections project. With 42 of voters being democrats, 37 republicans, and 20 independents. But, in miami dade county, which did not mail absentee ballots out until the last possible day, turnout was less than 46 and lagging for democrats. And as of tuesday evening, the state reports that in miami dade, 52 of republicans, 47 of democrats, and 37 of independents have either voted early in person or cast a mailin vote. Democrats maintain about an 80,000 vote advantage so far in miami dade county, a county where democrats democraneed a s showing for a chance to win that state. Is that enough, joe . Not right now. But well see what happens. Weve got several more days of early voting. Jonathan lemire, this is going to sound a little complicated for some that havent followed Florida Politics and early voting. But lets talk through this very quickly. So, with florida voting you have absentee bohl ballo absent ballots coming, they get counted. Then on election day, both sides were assuming about 35 of floridas population was going to be voting on election day and that would tilt heavily toward the republican party. What has happened as instead of 35 of people vote openiing on n day, some people are thinking that number may be down to be 20 , 25 because so many people are voting early. Hillary clinton had i think about 250,000 vote lead going into election day. With republicans picking away at that 450,000 vote lead that democrats had last week, now its probably half of that. Chances are good by election day both parties are going to be even. And what weve got to figure out, what the parties need to figure out is whether theyre cannibalizing sameday voting. So what theyre doing is how many of those republicans are moving their election day vote early and changing the calculus of how much bidens going into the final day ahead in the thought was republicans werent who are bind was up by 430,000, 450,000 votes early because theyre like those are people that would usually vote on election day so they say theyre cannibalizing those votes. Now that republicans doing so well in early voting, republicans and democrats are asking the same thing of that. So, all of this is pretty good way of saying its going to be a few more days until we can figure out exactly what these trends mean. But, democrats were feeling a lot better when they had 430,000 votes banked instead of now probably by the time they report this morning it will be closer to 250,000 votes banked. Joe, you laid that out really well. That is the key here. Are these simply republicans, in this case, who would have voted on election day but have decided to vote early . To go ahead and do that perhaps after the president s wave of ral tlis rallies in recent days. We nope his rhetoric has been to push to vote on election day. So are these simply republicans who changed the timing of their vote or are they new voters . Thats the question that both campaigns for both parties are obviously watching right now. But certainly it is going to be a few more days before we know more about these trends. And florida remains the tightest battleground state on the map, and its the one that the Trump Campaign certainly feels most confident about and, frankly, needs to because theres really no path to victory without it. The president , hes out west today, but most of the day, but ends his night in florida. Hes got more events in that state tomorrow. They know that he simply has to have it. Joe biden, meanwhile, has mentioned and he and his running mate Kamala Harris expand the map a little bit. Biden in georgia yesterday, hes going to iowa this week as well. Another state the president won pretty handily in 2016. Kamala harris is heading to texas. I do think that yesterdays move did you raise spark some concern among democrats that is biden getting over his skis here . Is this Hillary Clinton going to arizona in the final week of 2016 instead of staying in the upper midwest . But the biden camp feels confident. They feel like they can do this. They can make the trump team play defense and that they have the ability to expand their map and they wanted to lean into the fdr symbolism of how big this biden presidency would have to be. So, claire, let me ask your opinion. Listen, my opinion is, yes, i love winning land slides. When i ran i loved running up the score as much as i could. But i was only focused on 50 plus one. I didnt give a damn if i got 95 or if i got 50 plus one. I wanted to win. And i saw biden in georgia, im like, dude, you should be in western pennsylvania. You should be in philadelphia. You should be in i think he should be in philadelphia and in pittsburgh and all points in between over the next six days. But im just curious, is that too conservative of an approach here . Yeah, i think it is. I actually disagree with you. I think it makes you know, i hate prevent defenses. I hate them. I like teams who go for points even when theyre in a position that it looks like they might win. Aggressive. On offense. And thats what this campaign is doing. And i think its terrific. Hes been to pennsylvania so much, joe, and hes going to be back in pennsylvania over and over and over again. And i really do think they have a reason to feel pretty good about wisconsin and michigan. So why not go to georgia where the polling is, frankly, almost as favorable as it is someplace like arizona . And, you know, weve been feeling pretty good about arizona now for weeks. So spending time in georgia, spending time in North Carolina, spending time in iowa, maybe even a stop in ohio, i mean, we know now bloomberg has put real money into texas and ohio. The people in texas are dying for joe biden to stick his toe in down there, for him to actually show up. And it wouldnt surprise me in the weekend before the election if you see joe biden in texas. Well, you know, willie, claire calls it prevent defense. The way i look at that time was more like punching somebody in the face until their head is knocked off their shoulders. Youve just you make sure you win and you just pound away at it. I guess i would say thats actually three yards and a cloud of dust. But, if theyre feeling good about it, my feeling is that wisconsin and michigans looking so good right now for biden that they focus on pennsylvania. And if they win those three states, thats the election. Its over. Doesnt matter what happens in every other swing state. But to that end, youve got some new polling out of the upper midwest. Whats it say . Yeah, to underline the point you just made about michigan and wisconsin there is just while youve been talking to claire, Washington Post abc news poll shows joe biden up seven points in the state of michigan. This is among registered voters, not likely voters, up seven. And then wisconsin in this poll, joe biden up 17 points in the state of wisconsin. 57 to 40 in the Washington Post abc news poll that just crossed. Thats covid, covid, covid. Claire, that probably is covid, covid, covid. Theres an old saying the generals are always fighting the last war. As a lifelong almost a lifelong republican, as a democrat and then republican, as a republican in my public life for so many years looking at wisconsin, wisconsin was always out of reach for us. It was always a state we tried to win, we got close to winning, but was always out of reach. I campaigned for some candidates in 1998 in wisconsin, looked around and i said, this aint republican territory. And im i was shocked by michigan four years ago returning to norm that some democrats, some lifelong democrats, some loyal democrats took a chance on a guy who said he was going to shake things up. And they said, okay, well try the republican this time, but now you look at those wisconsin numbers and theyre like, not again on your life. You know whats happening, i believe, in wisconsin and michigan . And it may happen also in pennsylvania. These rallies are not helping trump with the voters he needs. No. Priorities usa was out with a poll yesterday that shows with persuadable voters they look on and go what are you doing . Yes, it is covid right now. So the visual of watching that campaign, watch the Trump Campaign, they herd these people in and make them stand shoulder to shoulder because they want it to look like its a bigger crowd. They dont allow them to spread out. They have barriers up to make sure that they are so close they could breathe on each other and spread it. And theyve seen the numbers go up in their states after these rallies. These rallies are hurting joe biden excuse me, are hurting donald trump, and i think thats one of the reasons youre seeing this spread in wisconsin. That, and of course hes getting an assist from bidens getting an assist from ron johnson whos been such an idiot that i think the republicans in wisconsin have really the shine has gone off of the aprpl for the republicans in more ways than one. And one more thing to underline, this is in fact likely voters, i want to correct that. So you have in this poll anyway, joe biden up 17 points among likely voters in the state of wisconsin. And to underline claires point from earlier, heres the women vote in wisconsin. Joe bidens up 30 points, plus 30 among women. Gees. And michigan up 24 points among women. There you have it. That sort of puts a bow on exactly what everyones been saying here for the last few minutes. Pretty pink one. And Jonathan Lemire, the white house has known for some time that they were in trouble in wisconsin. Theyve started backing away from it. I know donald trump went there, but youve been telling me that theyve known for some time that michigan and wisconsin was even if it was out of reach by five points, six points, that they could never get there. Now i think claires right. I think were starting to see the impact of of an outbreak in wisconsin, pretty significant covid outbreak in wisconsin. Field hospitals being built and donald trump clumping together as many people as they can. And its like i told you yesterday, the democratic person that i talked to that has probably taken more polls than anybody this year said our polls are showing us that the best thing that can be done for joe biden is when news outlets show pictures of Donald Trumps super spreader rallies, it really hurts him in the polls. Maybe thats why his numbers have just completely collapsed in wisconsin. Right. Now, joe, remember when this cycle began a year and a half or so ago pre pandemic, the Trump Campaign of those three great lake states felt the best about wisconsin. They thought that the state party was stronger there. They liked the trauk frainfrast there. Thats where they thought they could place their bet because they only need one of those three to win. Thats that was the original conception. But two things have gone terribly wrong for the Trump Campaign. They went all in on law and order after what happened in kenosha and that backfired. We have seen public following suggest that voters did not trust donald trump and would prefer joe biden on that issue despite trumps scare tactics on law and order. And then this surge in coronavirus cases in wisconsin that happens here just in the runup to the election which seems to be causing voters to brake habreak hard away from trump. And there are those on the Campaign Staff who do recognize that these rallies are markers of enthusiasm and, importantly, keep the president happy. Thats a lot of what this is about. He himself wants to have these rallies. Feels like thats his way of connecting with the voters. But they recognize there are moments when they have backfired. They create these images that so Many Americans, particularly seniors, are horrified by. Crowds packed in together, no social distancing, very few masks. And were seeing here his numbers really plummet in the upper midwest, which underscores what some people on his campaign have thought, that his focus here in this last week should solely be on the sunbelt, florida, georgia, North Carolina, arizona, and then just try your best for pennsylvania because you need one more and thats where the margins seem to be closest. But, as we discussed yesterday, his Campaign Travel and approach remains scatter shot and without much of a focus. And hes expected to go back to the upper midwest, to these very states, michigan and wisconsin, again this weekend. One last point as we talk about where joe biden is and we heard concern on this show and weve heard from democrats that maybe hes reaching too far for places like georgia. Way the Biden Campaign is looking at this, theyve basically got three a list candidates that they can spread around the country in joe biden and Kamala Harris and, yes, president obama. So if joe biden goes to georgia, president obama, the most popular living american politician, can be in florida and they can spread Kamala Harris this week to nevada and arizona. Whereas, donald trump say oneman show. Hes going to draw those crowds in certain places, but they do feel like they can afford to have joe biden in georgia because of the power and the draw that is president obama. Yeah, absolutely. And still ahead on morning joe, temperatures were near freezing in omaha, nebraska last night. I felt so bad for these people. The president had his supporters buffed in for his rally. But left many of them stranded in the cold afterwards. What . I think some had to go to the hospital. Plus, it was four years ago today that then fbi director jim comeys october surprise rocked the election. The New York Times Michael Schmidt has a new look at how comeys wife tried to stop it. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Guys, always listen to your wife. Its a choice between a trump boom or a biden lockdown. Lets lock it all down. Speaking of lockdowns, lets get your governor to open it up. Lets get him to open it up. Lets get him to open it up. We made usaa insurance for members like martin. An air force veteran made of doing whats right, not whats easy. So when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. Thats how you do it right. Usaa insurance is made just the way martins family needs it with hasslefree claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. Because doing right by our members, thats whats right. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa i feel good i knew that i would, now i feel good get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entree. Only at applebees. We knew that this was. Really, really bad. We had ample forewarning. Schmidt has a new look at how lets get him to open it up. Schmidt has a new look at how lets get him to open it up. Completely ignored the science, completely ignored the warning signs. There were things that could have been done. A lot of people have died needlessly, and theres nothing more frustrating than feeling like youre fighting against someone who should have your back. We are not going to stamp this out unless we have a change of leadership. Ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. After gutting protectionsf rejecfor our air and water, and putting us at risk, isnt it time to wipe things clean . Joe biden has led the way, with a bold plan that protects our environment while creating new jobs. And tougher rules for clean air and water. So all of us can live healthier lives. Its time to get back on track. Lcv victory fund is responsible for the content of this advertising. I decided that i wanted to go for Electrical Engineering and you need to go to college for that. If i didnt have internet in the home i would have to give up more time with my kids. Which is the main reason i left the military. Everybody wants more for their kids, but i feel like with my kids, they measurably get more than i ever got. And i get to do that. I get to provide that for them. President trump made a Campaign Swing through the midwest yesterday holding rallies with packed crowds and michigan, wisconsin, and nebraska. Super spreader events all over the country. After wait. Do they have tirks shirts fshi . Super spread center im sure. Hes a human super spreader. The human super spreader. The 2020 campaign tour. I survived the super spreader tour of 2020 with a ventilator on the back. Literally unless you didnt. You know, it actually would be a time of joking in had shthis sh it wasnt southern believably true and not funny. He wrapped up in omaha, nebraska, last night, though hundreds of supporters were left behind in nearly freezing temperatures for hours with no transportation. Youve been left behind. They were bussed in and then left there. Oh, god. Trump departed omaha on air force one around 9 00 p. M. So he flew out on his president ial jet. Very comfortable with a refrigerator and he could wash his hands 50 times. After the rally attendees began lining up for buses. They were bussed in, so they figured theyd be bussed out to return to their cars. A lot of mountain dew. These supporters, many of them were elderly. Waited for those buses to take not her. Them to distant park lots as vehicles tried to navigate through airport traffic. Reports placed the outdoor temperature at 32 degrees, according to the Washington Post. By 10 30 p. M. , there was still no buses in sight. Crowds didnt fully clear the rally until 12 30 a. M. 3 1 2 hours after the president departed. Great planning. Super spreader planning. Nbc news has obtained omaha Police Broadcast calls that describe at least seven people being taken to the hospital due to severe temperatures. A political reporter for the omaha world herald posted these last night with the message, if youre waiting on someone who attended the trump rally in omaha, it may be a while until they get a bus to get out. Traffic along the small roadway to the private side of the airfield is packed up and puss were havi buses were having trouble getti getting through. Buses werent able to get back to transport people out. Its freezing and snowy in omaha tonight. What penl wiople will do for thn man, he truly does not care about you. The atlantic saint applebaum summed up this way, trump leaves supporters stranding in the cold is a perfect metaphor for 2020. There you go. But, claire, you have, again, you have donald Trump Campaigning across the midwest. Campaigning in that omaha district, that are all important omaha district. I wanted to go back to, and of course we certainly hope that all of those people that were stranded out there are doing okay and those that went to the hospital are recovering all right this morning and are comfortable this morning. Its really im sure, claire, you know from where your from, i know living in upstate new york that gets dangerous really quickly. So we really are hoping and praying theyre fine. But lets talk about this midwest strategy again. Hes locked out in wisconsin. Looks like hes locked out in michigan. Omaha, that district still pretty close. But if youre donald trump, do you focus on those sunbelt states . Is that your best chance winning those sunbelt states from arizona to, in florida and the to North Carolina and taking pennsylvania . Theres no much about the Trump Campaign that doesnt make sense to me politically. The visual of people in very dangerous situations in light of this pandemic is one thing. But he is going out of his way to try to pick up one or two electoral votes in places like maine and nebraska where they divide their electoral votes in their state. Meanwhile, biden is going someplace to pick up dozens. It seems to me that, you know, trump is behaving as if hes comfortably ahead in arizona. And that hes comfortably ahead in texas. It is fascinating to me that he is not trying to shore up texas at this point. You talk about a blowout, if biden were able to somehow turn texas. So it is and by the way, probably there might be more voters in texas that wouldnt be as offended by the super spreader events as perhaps in the midwest where all of us really believe you should try to look after your neighbor. Even if rural areas. There is such a sense of community about, you know, taking care of one another. So i dont get him doing this. It shows you what a tenuous position theyre in with electoral map. We talk about the logistical problem in omaha last night. Lets talk about the soon tent he was saying at the rallies yesterday. He continued his false claim that the increase in coronavirus cases is due to an increase in testing. The trump administrations testings are admiral says otherwise. Here first is President Trump fold by the admiral. And you know why we have so many cases . Because we test more so we go around and by the way, were testing very young people too. Were testing people, thats lets go with this and everybody. In many ways i hate it. In many ways i hate it. Overall its good to have the testing, we find out where it is and there are a lot of things. But they use it to make us look bad. Testing may be identifying some or more cases. I think thats clearly true. But what were seeing is a real increase in the numbers. Compared to the post memorial day surge, even though testing is up, this is a real increase in cases. We know that not only because the case numbers are up and we can calculate that, but we know that hospitalizations going up. Lets bring in reporter for the Washington Post eugene scott who hosted that conversation with the admiral yesterday. Also dr. Ly r roy. You injured hterviewed him yest hes one of those officials that has been walking this line for six to seven months now by coming out and saying the facts and thereby undermining the president s claims. Did you see frustration for the admiral that the president continues to go out and downplay this crisis even as it gets worse . Didnt seem to express any frustration but he was very clear that his messaging was quite different from the president s. If you saw the entire interview, at least five times not only said that people should wear masks and stay away from crowds, he held up a mask to his face trying to show how to put one on. And it was just mind blowingly different from what were getting directly from the white house as the president planned to go that very night to go speak to a large crowd and criticize his opponent and other people in the Public Health field for wearing a mask and talking about covid so much. It just was another reminder of how inconsistent the messaging coming from the white house is and how deaf sthagt hvastating been for so many people looking to washington to figure out how to navigate this pandemic. Lets hear from you, because youve taken the hypeangle view abo about where we are. We know its the high as its been, weve gone state by state and showed the cases rising. You and others, dr. Fauci, everybody else warned us about this back in march. They said theres going to be more, we might get through the summer, well come back in the fall, it will come back in the winter. So from where youre sitting, where are we in this crisis . Good morning, willie. I cannot believe that its october, almost november 2020 and we are far, far worse today than we were back in march and april when i started talking to you on morning joe. Statements like that from the president , still talking about making this false, its just a flatout lie to say that testing is causing cases. Lets be clear, and by cases we mean infections in human beings. These infections are caused by only one thing, and its a virus. A highly contagious, viral pathogen that doesnt need help president issing. By the president holding these massive rallies, hes the viruss number one wing man and its directly correlating to what were seeing in the field. Frontline workers are being bombarded again by patients and now with winter coming, were going to see a rise in other respiratory viruses such as influenza, not to mention Heart Disease and stroke and cancers. Its going to be a significant burden on the health care community, willie. So, doctor, i guess i wonder, a 60yearold man who wants to go to a trump rally like the ones we just showed comes to you and says, i want to go to this rally, what what do you say . What would you say to this person to help them understand, perhaps, a different point of view . Or is there no talking to them . Well, you know, mika, pre pandemic i devoted my career to taking care of people with Substance Abuse or addiction, people that are homeless, people at Rikers Island incarcerated. So what i would say to this gentleman or any person out there who are elderly or more vulnerable to this virus and becoming severely ill, i would ask them whats your goal . If your goal is to support a certain candidate, thats great. You can support them safely from your own home. You can donate, you can mail in ballots, you can maybe go in to a polling place you know, wearing a mask. But keep yourself safe and keep your family members safe. Thats the message i would say. Because right now, mika, the administration clearly has kind of given up, right . Do you remember when chief of staff mark meadows said something to the effect of were no longer going to control this pandemic. Were going to focus instead on what i would consider are downstream efforts, treatment, therapies, right . Thats not the same annes investigating in upstream strategies such as prevention, masks, distancing. Downstream thinking is classic that classic downstream costly, ineffective strategies. Thats not whats going to work in order to contain a massive Infectious Disease outbreak, mika. And, in fact, ubetweeugene, have republicans mocking yesterday Vice President joe biden for not having big crowds at his rallies when, in fact, theyre laid out so theyre a safe distance and Everything Else in warm springs. But youve been looking at and writing about the role of president obama in this campaign. We talked about it a few minutes ago. He was out in the state of florida, seems to be thoroughly enjoying himself up on stage. And it really is extraordinary when you take a step back whether you have a former president of the United States this openly going after this specifically, this gleefully going after the man who came after him. Absolutely. And it appears that president obama has been deployed to motivate the 20082012 obama voters who set out the 2016 election. The number of those individuals is beyond 4 million and about a third of them were black americans. So what he spent time doing yesterday is pretty much what he did in philadelphia as well. He tried to remind those voters of everything that he believes that President Trump did wrong, especially related to the economic downturn and the pandemic. And was warning voters if they dont show up this year, things could get worse. Hes hoping that his message will motivate these individuals. It appears to be effective so far when you look at some of the early voting happening in some of these swing states like North Carolina, arizona, and florida. Washington post eugene scott, doctor, thank you both. Great to have you with us this morning. Coming up on morning joe, four years ago then fbi director james comey decided to reopen the clinton email investigation just 11 days before the election. A move for many that has come to mark a turning point in secretary clintons 2016 campaign. The New York Timess Michael Schmidt joins us with his reporting on that next on morning joe. S us with his reporting on that next on morning joe. An official message from medicare. Did you try it yet . 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Im sure that some of you may have heard about a letter that the fbi director sent out yesterday. [ booing ]. Well, if youre like me, you probably have a few questions about it. It is pretty strange. Its pretty strange to put Something Like that out with such Little Information right before an election. Hillary clinton reacting to then fbi director james comey announcing are you okay, joe . You know, i still why are you tapping your pen like that . When it came out i remember the moment. When it came out. We were in the car. When it came out, the question that i couldnt understand it was raining. Was first all of why he put it out. But even if you get past that, there was a way to frame it to say, as any lawyer would in america okay. There is something nothno the contents of this letter that should lead you or anyone else to believe that the overall conclusions of the fbi will be altered by the contentsch dof d, da, da. But as a matter of due diligence, we need to look through this. But the way he dropped it the way he did, it was like a bomb. And, by the way, people blamed vladimir putin. They blame hillary not going to wisconsin. She should have gone to wisconsin, thats fine. And putin, yeah, he did some stuff. They blame everybody. It was this comey letter. Like, we have we have listened to Donald Trumps speeches and four years of these tweets, deranged tweets from this man, and devastating Foreign Policy because of this letter. The race was over until this letter dropped. Im not saying james comey was doing it for any reason other than he thought that it was what he was supposed to do. But he also thought he was supposed to hold a press conference after he didnt indict Hillary Clinton. You didnt indict her, or you dont indict her, okay. And if you dont indict her, you dont hold a press conference a that politically indicts her. By the way, we said that in realtime as well. Let me say that slowly for you. We said that in realtime as well. It didnt make sense then, it still doesnt make sense today. Joining us now, New York Times reporter thats why i was tapping my pen. Saw that tapping. That tapping makes me nervous. Yeah. New york times reporter and Msnbc National Security analyst Michael Schmidt. Hes the author of donald trump, the United States inside the struggle to stop a president. And his latest piece for nbc think is an excerpt from his book entitled comeys october surprise. Shook america four years ago today. His wife tried to stop it. Okay. She did . Okay. So sblfs te so tell us what happened. This is not a question willie and i usually ask on this show, but why dent listen idnt he li wife . Come on, man the night before the decision, jim comey comes home from work and hes in the kitchen and he says, youre never going to believe what i have to do. And comeys wife immediately recognized the problems with the decision. She could see that this was going to be bad for her husband, and she could see more importantly that it was going to be bad for Hillary Clinton. And she argued with her husband telling him, saying this is too close to the election. How can you do this . And shes pushing back on him and forcing him to try to explain why he believes he needs to do this. And comey in a very matter of fact way lays out what he says are two awful options. The speak or conceal. And shes aghast at what shes hearing. She can understand her husbands logic and why hes deciding to do that and she knows not to invoke Hillary Clintons name as a way of trying to say, look, youre going to, you know, devastate her candidacy and potentially hurt donald trump. But its this moment, theyre peering into the future of American History in a way that no one else, no one else in the country knew what was going on. And theyre sitting at their Kitchen Table discussing this. And shes really trying to stress test this decision. And it gets a little theres a little bit of friction in the room and the he gets a little bit of frustrated with her because he doesnt think that hes really helping her as he confronts what he knows will be one of the most the biggest decision of his career. Yeah. Claire mccaskill, we can certainly sympathize with jim comey saying, my bodh gogod, wh this informati if i have this information and then it comes out after the election, i completely look like i was in the tank for hillary and was covering up information that could be detrimental not only to her campaign, but to her legal standing. At the same time, i thought the way he released it was so hand fisted from the had to be a better way to release Something Like this with ten days left in the campaign. Comey delivered the presidency to donald trump. And it is ironic that trump has spent almost four years trying to pretend that somehow the fbi and the department of justice and the Obama Administration was trying to keep him from being president. It is so stupid. Comey delivered the presidency. It is support it zblid atupi comey has to go to his grave knowing he elected donald trump, and i think he does know he elected donald trump. But the other thing is, when you look at the time period, michael, when you look at the time period that they had this laptop, it went like 30 days. They could have dug in and gotten all the information and the letter he could have given out two weeks before the election could have been the letter that he had gave out right before the election that cleared her. But instead, they sit on it. I mean, you talk about malpractice, you talk about a problem, that is what this country had happen to it in the election. It wasnt that they were trying hurt donald trump, it was their incompetence elected donald trump. The the thing that i think if comey were to address this, hes spoken a fair amount about this, when the decision is presented to him, he believes that this process of having to go back and look at the emails is going to go on for many weeks. It will be something that maybe will even take months do. And i think that if comey had known that they were going to be able to go through these emails as quickly as they did, because by the sunday before the election they had figured out that there was nothing there, im not sure he would have done what he did. But what happens is that they make the announcement and within within a matter of days, by the next week, by the sunday before the election, they have determined that there is nothing here, theres nothing that changes anything. And they put this second statement out just i believe on the sunday before before the election. They put this statement out that basically says we havent found anything. So it looks like, to the public, that this was an there was like, you know, why did this happen . And obviously there are reasons that were happening and theres thousand of pages of Justice Department documents that come out afterwards that explain it. But that was the fbis story at the time. And it certainly did cast these questions over clinton that she had largely put behind her as folks were going to the election. And i think that, you know, for comey, the ironic thing of the entire thing is that in donald trump, you know, donald trump does as much damage to the fbi as would have been done had the fbi been accused of covering up for Hillary Clinton. And i think what comey would say, he would say i had two really bad choices in front of me. Mike, its willie. Good morning. It feels like over the last four years since that decision made by director comey hes been in many ways repenting for it. You know, whether its his tv appearances, his book, the instagram posts where hes looking off alone into the woods, all these things where hes going after donald trump, does he now, as you talk to him nor book, do for this book, does he regret the decision he made . He said i had a tough choice, i didnt like to do it but i had do it. Does he live with regret over that . I think much more the latter than the former. I think that comey thinks that he had two bad choices and he made the best of those two bad choices in that if he had done if he had not said anything and there had been something there on the emalsils which he didnt know when he made the decision, then i think he believes it would have done irreparable damage to the fbi. Now, people on the other side of that arguments would say that donald trump, as president , has done as much damage as could have been done to the fbi and to the Justice Department in the way that he has politicized things and the way that hes interfered in its work, in the way that he has talked about its investigations and the way that he has tried to use the powers of the Justice Department to protect himself and to target his rivals, including comey. His repeated calls for the Justice Department to investigate comey and to demonize comey. So, i think what comey would say, he says i made the best of two awful decisions and no matter what i did, i was there was going to be damage that was done to the fbi. I mean, the funny thing about it all is that when comey is fired, so thats november of 2016, hes fired in may of 2017, the president , you know, relying on rod rosensteins rationale in a memo for why comey should be dismissed, the president says it was comeys handling of the email investigation is why he should be fired. Now, a lot of people would say that his handling of the email investigation is why donald trump got elected president. But comey would probably say, look, i was going to take it one way or another and i had a decision to make. All right, Michael Schmidt, thank you very much. The new piece for nbc think is out this morning based on the reporting from his latest book. And Claire Mccaskill, thank you as well. It is just past the to p top of the hour now. Jonathan lemire is still with us. Lets bring in msnbc National Affairs analyst, cohost of show times the circus and executive editor of the recount, john heilemann. Ceo of the messina group, jim messina. He served at White House Deputy chief of staff to president obama and ran his 2012 reelection campaign. And Pulitzer Prize winning author and president ial historian, doris kerns good win joins us. One of her many sbooks leadershbooks is leadership ship in turbulent times. The latest Washington Post abc news poll finds joe biden up 17 in wisconsin, 57 to 40 . In michigan, the same poll finds biden up seven, 51 to 44 . The latest reuters puts joe biden ahead by nine in michigan, 52 to 43 . In nevada, the latest times shows biden lead big six, 49 to 43 . In iowa, the latest iowa nexstar Research Poll shows biden lead big four points, 50 to 46 . North carolina, it shows biden ahead by one, 49 to 48 . So notwithstanding, what i said last hour about polls and not believing any of them, john heilemann, the margin in wisconsin could be off ten points and joe biden would still be ahead by seven points. So, i suppose biden may have a little bit of breathing room in wisconsin, but its so interesting a year ago we looked at the badger state as the ultimate swing state. Everybody was focussing on wisconsin, wisconsin, wisconsin. And here we are less than a week to the election and both camps understand even if donald trump doesnt, that joe biden has wisconsin put away and michigan not far behind. I think, you know, joe, i feel uncomfortable at any point at this point talking about anything being put away only because, i mean, weve seen opposite consistent polling out of those two states that suggest a strong and steady lead for biden and now a widening lead if this poll is to be believed in wisconsin. I dont think anybody thinks no one in the world thinks joe bidens going to win wisconsin by 17 points. The reason i have any his tans at th hesitance less than a week out, were getting down to the steady lead in the strong polling in the battleground states, some of things weve talked about in the last six months besides that are rearing their head related to the upper the great lake states, wisconsin, michigan, all of them have voting systems that are going to be really put to the test. All of them none of them have all three of them have said that they dont expecting to van outcome on Election Night. In each state that does not have an outcome on Election Night is a state that donald trump is has already told us hes going to mess with at least to try to mess with. And anything thats not out on november 3rd is suspect and im going to cry fraud where we dont have a final count on Election Night. Those three great lake states are in that category. I raise it because it is something weve talked about for the last six months, but i think in these closing days its easy for us all to forget that they would start to treat this like a normal campaign with a normal president who treats the process with respect. This is a president who has telegraphed his desire to try to steal this election for the last six months. And now as were starting to see these long lines, these various questions about the Supreme Court intervening in the wisconsin case, the court fights happening, particularly in those three great lakes midwest states. I am concerned not that joe bidens position is not strong in all three, because i think it is. I saw some private polling yesterday that suggests that hes up eight in pennsylvania, which i thought was a polling that i found quite credible. Its not that his position isnt strong this those places, but those are places where think the president s strategy doesnt just stop over these last six days. President s strategy for how to win in those states extends beyond election day and extends in realms that are legal and sometimes extra legal. I would be its part of the reason why im not i think no one in the Democratic Party should rest on what the sense of security about anything that theyre seeing in any of these closing days polls. This could be a knife fight that goes on well after election day. The president s team has said they just want to keep the states close enough so they can have legal challenges and they can take to the Supreme Court. And now, of course, Amy Coney Barrett on the Supreme Court and donald trump bragged to his crowds even before he named her that he was going rush through a pick so he could have somebody that would help him win his election fights. Which, of course, if she doesnt remove herself from those cases, then, of course, that would forever tarnish her legacy at the Supreme Court. Let me say that again. When the president and ted cruz both say we need to get somebody on the Supreme Court to rule in our favor for any election challenges and then that person is output on the Supreme Court, select and put on the Supreme Court after that, obviousliupy volunteer to remove yourself from consideration of that case or you undermine your credibility. Joe, lets talk about some of these polls. You look at whats happening in wisconsin, look at whats happening in pennsylvania. John talked about a credible poll in pennsylvania that shows that up. I think theyre all going to be much closer than that. Id be shocked if any of those midwest states other than wisconsin was more than four points. But still, the trump team has been telling reporters like lemire and other White House Reporters for some time, they just cant crack bidens 4 or 5 lead in michigan or wisconsin. If thats the case, whats Donald Trumps best path to 270 . Hes got to have pennsylvania, right . Hes got to hold your home state of florida and then hes got to hold pennsylvania. And you look at it yesterday, he moved a bunch of money, his own political money from florida into p trying tennsylvania tryip the bleeding there. He looks at the Electoral College and thats his only hope to hold on. I agree with you, these polls are a little bit way too, in my opinion, high. Theres no way anyones going to win wisconsin by 17 votes or even double digits. But if you look at the scenarios, hes just got to put all of his money on pennsylvania. And, again, you know, when i ran a president ial campaign, my whole theory was we needed as many different pathways to 270 electoral votes he was could get. And right now donald trump only has one and that one is sliding a way very quickly. So his campaign is moving everything on to the pennsylvania chips and saying lets ride here. So, joe, he lets talk about the early voting in florida. Floridas best minds are blown away about the early vote, suggesting a week ago that 35 of floridians would be voting on election day. Now theyre saying it maybe down to 25 , maybe 20 . Ta m right now theyre furiously going through the numbers to try to figure out if republicans and democrats alike are cannibalizing their sameday election day voting to vote early. And they just dont really they cant really grasp whats going on. But a lot of concern on the democratic side how well republicans are doing early. Whats your take on what youre seeing out of florida . A couple things, joe, are super interesting. First of all, you have both bases looking like their coming and theyre coming big. The early numbers are just huge. The democrats are in a place where they can now go chase these sporadic voters. These voters that dont always vote. And the early numbers are looking like theyre getting all their super democrats to go vote very early in numbers that are just historic. Especially in the africanamerican communities, which is so key to any Democratic Victory in florida. The interesting numbers for me, though, are the nonpartisan numbers, the independents who are voting in just very big numbers. We know from polls and from talking to folks who have already voted that theyre leaning joe biden. And theyre leaning joe biden by a few points. You start to look at some of these numbers, the concern for democrats, though, is two things. Number one, trump has always performed a little bit better than expected in south florida. You and i have talked about this in the past. And then, two, democrats have got to stop the bleeding in north florida where Hillary Clinton just got absolutely destroyed. They got to get to kind of an obamalike number with those voters. And so those are the two numbers i really want to continue to see. But on the democratic side, joe, the democrats are coming and theyre coming big and that really makes it very clear that floridas going to be, as you and i have talked for two years, a one or twopoint state. Yeah. Take a look at that new ad put out by the dnc on why President Trump does not deserve another four years. Born and raised in new york city from his father he learned the lessons of his success, lie, cheat, and steal. He inherited hundred of millions and squandered it on failed businesses. Six bankruptcies, settled 25 million for scamming students. Soon left thousands including the Justice Department for discriminating against black people in his housing. Accuse by 26 women of sexual misconduct. Including assault and rape. Donald trump as president he pledged to take on american carnage. Instead, he caused it. Stoke the fire of racism and division. Lizing losing a trade war with china. Pushing millions off the health care. Refusing to lead in a global pandemic. Standing back and standing by as over 225,000 americans died from covid. I dont take responsibility at all. America cant afford four more years of donald trump. Im joe biden and i approve this message. You know, doris, whats not in that ad that for me right now is the most disturbing, especially as i look at my friends and loved ones who are voting for donald trump, is the fact that as were in the final weeks of this campaign, for the first time in American History you have a sitting president calling for the arrest, the indictment and the arrest of his political opponent and putting pressure on his attorney general to arrest his political opponent whos leading him in the polls. There is no precedent for this, is there . There is no precedent for that. Nor is there a precedent really when you think about it for a president who is facing an extraordinary crisis and not dealing with it and saying, i dont have responsibility for it. I mean, historys going to suggest that every incumbent who runs for reelection in the midst of a crisis, it is the single most important issue that hes going to be judged on when the people go to the polls. I mean, so it was in 1932 when hoover failed to take sprorefus responsibility for the depression. It looked like lincoln would lose the election because they werent doing well in the north until atlanta fell and it turned and he was finally able to win reelection. Same in 1944 when the allies were doing well and fdr was elected to an unprecedented third term. To not take responsibility is one thing, but he didnt take it in january and february when he knew that the virus was serious. Another thing he didnt take it when he was wartime president and he said im going to ults powe use all the powers and never mobilized the production act. Then he said in the hospital i thought maybe there would be a turn, i learned about the virus. But now were entering the worst time of this virus and theyre saying weve turned the corner. Thats what hoover kept saying weve turned the corner. And you had fdr out there saying no, its at the worst level and im going to do something about it, act about it and have a plan and it was a landslide victory for fdr and hoover was thrown out. Theres nothing other than the virus people are feeling it in their everyday lives. You cant talk about fake news. He can talk about arrest higgs opponents and law and order, but thats what its going to come down to. If thats true, i think his tril jud history will judge him for how he didnt take responsibility for whats facing every single one of us today. As someone who has run a couple of president ial campaigns, youre used to hearing from your supporters and democrats, the hand wringing about where the candidate is in the last days of the election. Why isnt he in my state . My state needs him. What do you make of some of that hand wranging that we hand wringing that weve heard, joe biden needs to lock down pennsylvania. He does have the added benefit of having barack obama to deploy toth ore states to other satates. How are you looking at this . You see the single most important thing is locking down the midwest. You see them being laser focused on that. Theyre going back there every single day with some surrogate including biden, harris, and obama. I think the georgia speech was smart. It was a national speech. It wasnt just about georgia, it was their Closing Argument and they went to a place that made sense and gave a national message. And i think going there is absolutely fine as long as you go back and make sure that you do what you have to do, which is win the midwest, make sure you have florida and continue to focus on arizona. So i think it was a very smart move. I think the Biden Campaigns being very disciplined about what theyre doing and how theyre deploying their money. And, you know, in the end the most important thing they have left isnt money, it isnt candidate, it isnt anything else, its time. And how are they going to spend their time . If you look at both campaigns, you have the Biden Campaign on the offense in places that the democrats didnt win four years ago. And you have the Trump Campaign on complete defense, just trying to hold places. I mean, willie, they took him to nebraska last night. Yeah. And had an absolute mess here. And, you know, theyre just in place wheres they should have locked down a very long time ago, like ohio, like iowa. And thats, i think, the story of the tape here in the final days of this campaign. The Trump Campaign just trying to staunch the bleeding all over the place. The president fighting for a single Congressional District that a lot of people think is gone for him anyway. Jonathan, i know youve got a question for heilemann. Oh, i do. Oh, no. I wanted to ask you bay different sta about a different state on the map. Its difficult how the president s path is. He has to keep the states he won last time around, georgia, iowa, ha ohio, texas. We know what an uphill climb he has in pennsylvania. That doesnt get him there. Lets talk about one more state, arizona where he is today for a pair of rallies. And has been facing pretty stubborn deficits in the polls, four, five, six points. What do you make of the landscape in arizona in the president can thread the needle, he can run the table on all those other states we just mentioned, including pennsylvania this would be very hard. He still has to get arizona too. What do you think . Right. I think heres what i think, jonathan. I think as a state that ive spent . Time some time in in the last month or so if i were ranking them in terms of the ones where trump is in most trouble, wisconsin and michigan, as joe was discussion earlier, would be right at the top. I would put arizona in the third slot. I think about the way the Biden Campaign has the lead that theyve had in arizona over the course of the last year, the performance of Martha Mcsally and mark kelly, look at the polling in that senate race, look at the demographics in the state, the waco individual has played politically there. By demographics i mean a combination hispanic voters and seniors who have been devastate by the pandemic, i think that arizona has been a problem, a severe problem for the Trump Campaign for a long time. So the scenario that i keep looking at as i play around with my 270 to win scenarios, jonathan, is a scenario where michigan and wisconsin are both michigan and wisconsin and arizona are all gone for donald trump. And the president s team, i think, deep in their hearts understand that those are likely that thats likely the case. So if they can focus at that point on winning florida where they always have felt more confident than the polls have given them reason to, North Carolina where i do think they are in the best position theyre in in any of these battleground states, and then fight it out as jim just suggested for pennsylvania, what does that give you on the map . That gives you 269 to 269. If Everything Else holds. And so in that scenario, you know, why is donald trump out there fighting for individual electoral votes . Why is he in nebraska too . Why is he trying to look at places where he can pick off a single electoral vote on the map . Thats the question claire mccam mccaskill asked in the last hour. They think a may just described, a map where they lose wisconsin, michigan, and arizona but win florida, pennsylvania, and in that scenario again, 260 ism 69, 269. Democratic night player in a lot of ways and were talk about where are the marginal states . Can trump steal a state . Seal an individual Congressional District here or there . How does that play out . I think thats a scenario that everyone should be aware of and looking out for as we get closer and closer to election day. Doris kerns goodwin, president obama has been out on the campaign trail and i just sort of ripping into trump on so many levels. He has a lot of material to work with, some might say. But have you ever seen this type of thing before where a former president is just openly trashing a current president . No. The level of anger and the level of support for biden that hes showing, anger toward trump, it shows you what obama feels about where we are in this country today. I mean, just think of it what obamas talking about so well, we are facing a situation right now where the worst part of the virus is upon us. The administration has said we cant control it. Theres no National Mandate on masks. The people who understand the medical experts are our generals as obamas been talking about, what we need to do, theyre telling us to wear masks and the administration will not allow that national guidance. You know, weve been left on our own in a certain sense, the individuals have. And theres a certain sense theres this great guy Robert Sherwood who was fdrs aide, he said its fine for the president to stay in a picture box when people can take care of themselves. But when adversity steps in and you need leadership, thats when he has to step out and address adversity. And what obama is doing is talk about what a president needs to do, what it means when youre living way crisis and not take responsibility for it i think what hes doing is unprecedented. I think he feels the need of where we are in the country right now. Everybody has to realize, whatever were doing right now with practical understandings, we are entering the worst phase of the virus. And if were left alone, its going to be up to us as individuals. Think obamas feeling that sense and talking to us about what we have to do to vote and exercise our power right now. Were going to get any control over whats happening in our destiny now, its up to us. And thats a really powerful message and im glad hes doing it. Somebody has to do it and think bidens doing it as well. Im glad he went to warm springs. What he did as warm springs was to talk about a president who had been paralyzed, who had come through with resilience to lead the country. Hes talking about were in a dark time now, we need leadership and we too can come through with resilience and get us through virus and get us on the other side. I think that was a very powerful message. Doris, thank you so much. And john heilemann, speaking of president barack obama in the latest episode of your new podcast from the recount entitled hell and high water, you spoke with some folks from the obama brain trust, david axelrod, david and elisa, what did they tell you . Well, we talked a lot about this question of barack obama back on the campaign trail, mika, and it was great to have the three of them together again. Three people who prayed a crucial role in his victories in 2008 and 2012. And they, you know, he was literally talking over the weekend, he was down in florida over the weekend and they were all kind of remarking on the joy that he seemed to be taking in playing this role in this campaign. And elisa said that there was a phrase that obama liked to use whep w when he was in the white house and in the campaigns when he had had been cooped up for a while and suddenly liberated to say what he wanted to say. He would refer to himself, he would say the bear is off the leash. Thats how he feels right now to a lot of his former aides. Im sure jim can attest to that too. The bear is off the leash right now and obama, hes coming to this fight way degree of urgency, the stakes for the country could not be higher. He obviously thinks that donald trump is not just a bad president but a throeat to american democracy and hes taking up the fight for joe biden allowing in some ways kind of taking up the traditional vicepresident ial role allowing joe biden and Kamala Harris to be unifiers and barack obama is take the negative message to donald trump. People forget how good obama is at that, with the combination humor and the sharpness of the sta let dpoe t stiletto that he can wield, its a negative messenger. Hes doing essentially the dirty work, allowing joe biden to be the unifying figure right now whether he does that dirty work out there aught campaign trail. His three former advisers all were looking on that and talking with a kind of warmth and also a sense of hope about his ability to actually get the jub job donr joe biden. Jim messina, the way donald trump has controlled the Political Landscape over the past four or five years is by shock and outrage. Mika this past weekend was with one of her daughters and she called me up and she said, have you seen the news today . I said, no, but i can tell you what happened. She said what . I said donald trump said the most outrageous thing and youre not going believe how outraged the democrats and the media it was incredible. She goes, what did he say . I said i dont know. Hold on let me check twitter. And three minutes later i go, okay, lets see. He said this. And mika was like, oh, my god, thats so shocking. Yes. Theres a pattern. Thats the game plan. He owns the libs. He shocks the libs. He shocks the media. And he thrives. His fuel is outrage which is, of course, why barack obama is so devastating in his attacks because what donald trump can never handle is being made fun of. Somebody that does it as well as barack obama, does it in a mocking in a mocking voice and laughing at him and saying, wait, wait, man, wait, you wanted to put Nuclear Weapons in hurricanes . You know, so everybodys laughing. And that really is the way that you undercut Donald Trumps political livelihood. Take away the shock, take away the outrage and just show the plain stupid of it all. Hes doing it better than anyone ive ever seen. And, you know, you saw it yesterday. Hes a happy warrior to johns point. Hes having fun out there and hes, you know, ending the campaign being the guy on the attack, which allows biden to be so positive and allows him to give a speech like the speech he gave in georgia. Yesterday obama was incredibly devastating when hes like, Donald Trumps bragging about he has the support of putin and xi of china and all these other dictators. Well of course he does because hes good for them. And did he it in a way that no other democrat could do it. He did it with a smile on his face. He did it kind of openly mocking him. And, joe, could you imagine being with donald trump which he saw ba rahm rarack obama going him . Theres not enough money in the world nobody that room. Because you know he understands how devastating it is. Remember with these undecided voters, obamas an over 60 Approval Rating while Donald Trumps negatives are 21 in the voters in the balt ground states. Its not just fun for the democrats to watch obama doing this, its incredibly important and its really effective. And he is lebron. He knows where to take the shot from the court. And when he starts talking about secret chinese bank accounts, thats just solid gold. And he just keeps hammering at it and hammering at it. Thank you so much, jim. Greatly appreciate it. I want to just explain, john talked about this in shorthand a couple minutes ago about the 269 to 269. One of the reasons why donald trump went to omaha and stranded hundreds of people now the freezing cold weather is because if you play out the map the way johns talking about where biden wins wisconsin, biden wins michigan, but trump wins pennsylvania, North Carolina, florida, biden wins arizona, then at that point its 269 to 269. If, if trump wins the Congressional District that he won in maine four years ago and if trump wins omaha, the omaha Congressional District. If trump loses that single district in nebraska in the final tally, under johns scenario, which is a very, very possible scenario, is biden 270, trump 268. And you call joe biden mr. President if that happens. Thats how tight this race could be if donald trump wins pennsylvania, North Carolina, and florida. All right. John heilemann, thank you develop much for being on this morning. Still ahead on morning joe, House Speaker in signals that there is no Coronavirus Relief on the way before the election. Nbcs kasie hunt and politicos jake sherman join us with the latest on those stalled jakes wearing khakis by the way. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. If we were focused on covid now, the white house wouldnt be having its second outbreak in a month. The white house. Let me say this. I lived in the white house for a while. Its a controlled environment. You can take some preventative measures in the white house to avoid getting sick, except this guy cant seem to do it. Hes turned the white house into a hot zone. It. Hes turned the white house into a hot zone. This is the feeling of total protection now that we protect your identity, and mobile phone, as well as auto home and life youve never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. Research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed. And get to and stay undetectable. Can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Dont take dovato if youre allergic to any of its ingredients. Or if you take dofetilide. Hepatitis b can become harder to treat while taking dovato. Do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor,. As your hepatitis b may worsen or become lifethreatening. Serious or lifethreatening side effects can occur, including allergic reactions,. Lactic acid build up, and liver problems. If you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction,. Stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. Tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c,. Or if you are, may be, or plan to be pregnant. Your doctor may prescribe a different medicine. Than dovato if you plan to be pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first trimester. Dovato may harm your unborn baby. Use effective Birth Control while taking dovato. Most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping,. Tiredness, and anxiety. So much goes into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. Mccammond from axios. Kasie, no Coronavirus Relief until after the election . It seems that way, mika. Frankly, the writing has been on the wall probable for the last couple of weeks as weve been talking through this. Nancy pelosi announced it more directly in a letter to her members in the last 24 hours or so. The politics of it made it too tough. They twietd lowaited too long. They passed one back in may and the republicans said we want to wait and see. They thought and hoped, i think, that we would be look at a vshaped recovery is how a lot of them described it and they didnt want to spend the money. But it became pretty clear and i think its becoming clearer a little bit by the day that they are going to need something bigger, something else. The Federal Reserve has been warning about this. So now i think the real question turns to how does the outcome on tuesday and in the days that follow affect what theyre able to do . I think theres been some concern about the unpredictability of President Trump. I think congress is pretty capable, id be interested to know what jake has to say about this. I think mcconnell and pelosi would be capable of getting a deal in a lame duck session. But think theres real questions of how if President Trump loses how he would hand that wile tha situation that may give americans pause. We may be looking at january before anything real gets down. Jake, these negotiations are not some abstract exercise. Peoples businesses will close forever because of this failure. People lose their jobs. Their lives will be altered forever because of this failure to. So you know the arguments very well, nancy pelosi says Mitch Mcconnell, weve had something on your desk since the summer. Mitch mcconnell says were not going to vote yes on a package that includes a bunch of stuff thats unrelated to what the problem in front of us really is. So where does, as you look objectively and youve combed through all of this, where does the blame lie . Where can americans look and say thats the reason that my Small Business is closing . Its a complicated question. Number one, our Politico Morning Consult poll this morning showed that the fl plurality blame trump and republicans in Congress Something around 45 . Kasies 100 right. This does not get easier after the election for many reasons. Number one, yes, nancy pelosi and Mitch Mcconnell could cut this deal in a matter of days, i would imagine. Nancy pelosi had all of the cards here. She had all of the leverage because steven mnuchin, weve kwauld h called him in playbook washingtons eager man. Because he keeps run back to the table and ceding to Nancy Pelosis plans. When your opponent in a negotiation is giving in to everything, you have the incentive to keep holding out for more and more. Now, if washingtons going to turn all blue come january or february, lets say, whats the incentive to get this done in the lame duck . This is not a binary. This is not a simple calculus for members of congress. Its an intricate calculus thats not only a decision on whats needed for the economy and the american people. If it were only that simple, there would have been a deal a hundred days ago when these talks started. Its about personalities, its about when democrats believe they could get the most bang for their buck, so to speak, and thats probably under a joe biden presidency. Now, i would say one other thing. Nancy pelosi has said she wants to kind of clear the decks for joe biden and do a deal in the lame duck to help him out, help him get a quick start next year. Will donald trump hand democrats a big victory in the lame duck while he is presumably at least absorbing the results of the election if he loses . I dont know the answer to that. I think thats quite complicated. Alexi, turning to you. I know you spoke with representative ilhan omar. President trump predicted he will win minnesota and launched another attack against congresswoman omar. You know, we are going to win minnesota because of omar. Because of omar, she likes telling us what we should do, how we should run our country. Isnt that nice . Omar, no, were going win. She hates our country. My god. You spoke to her for axios. What did she say . Whatd she tell you . Yeah, we talked a lot about the fact that, as you know, mika, kasie, and jake, so much has changed over the last year alone. But one thing that hans hasnt changed is President Trumps willingness to lob these deeply personal attacks against women in congress. Especially omar from minnesota. And we see his propensity do that even when hes in states that arent her own, like michigan. She represents minnesota and serves there. But even when hes in nearby states i cant help but attack her. When i talked to her about this idea, i asked her who it means for her role in congress if he wins and her ability to get her job done. She talked a lot about the fact that it makes her feel unsafe and puts her own life at risk. But shes kind of looking forward to what she and other progressives hope is a President Biden who they can push on these progressive policies. Because while trump is lobbying these personal attacks against her, she has to focus on getting these progressive policies implemented and being able to have a democratic president she could work with. Because President Trump say nonstarter on policies especially, but even in terms of having a conversation with. All right. Jake sherman, you have some polling on the republican attacks on hunter biden. How are they shaping up . Are they sticking . They are. Were actually seek an unusual somewhat unusual level of breakthrough on this story. Our poll shows the Politico Morning Consult poll shows this morning that 50 of people have heard a lot or some of the story. And that is it does say that 51 heard not much or nothing at all. But to put this in context, this is a story thats by and large lived in the right wing media scape. Its not broken through to the front page of the New York Times or Washington Post or wall street journal but has kind of remained in that universe. I would say that it does seem a bit high, not that the pollings wrong, i think it seems unusually high for one story thats existed in one ideological sphere. We heard senator cruz in that interview with swan yesterday, he said i dont think the hunter biden story moves a single vote. Thats ted cruz saying that. Kasie hunt, so Much Movement for joe biden on the president ial election, but there could come a huge move come tuesday night in the senate, as you know. Hour republicans feeling right now and whats the handful of races youll be watching closely on tuesday . Yeah, willie, this is because the president ial race is obviously so important, people tend to lose sight of this. But this will potentially determine if joe biden were to win the president vir how hcy, first two years in office would go. Its so incredibly important. Right now democrats are pretty confident that theyll be able to take back the senate. The big question mark is whether we are going to see this blue wave sweep across the map. Because the trends in recent years would suggest that its more likely that all of these races go together rather than just a hand full of them. But from you want to look at a couple races where republicans are hoping that they have candidates that can pull things out because theyre going to separate from President Trump, really the one race i would put in that category right now is michigan. I talked to Debbie Dingell this morning on way too early and she said shes nervous about that race. She said its the one race that reminds her of trump and clinton in 2016. Youll remember that she warned people that President Trump could win in michigan in 2016. So democrats definitely concerned about their incumbent there, gary peters. And remember with this margin so close, every single one of these seats matters. Back up the reality is, democrats are still up, it seems, in North Carolina which is a critical race. Iowa is one that is more problematic for republicans, thats joni ernst. And they probably definitely than they wanted it to be. I think thats one that could really shift. And the question is going to be once these returns start coming in on Election Night, are we talking about states like montana and alaska, places where we thought the republicans would hold on easily but where democrats seem to be polling unexpectedly well. So theres a lot of questions, of course, across the map, willie. But right now i would say that the assumption among Senate Republicans is that theyre going to lose the senate. Of course anything could change in these days that we still have left here before tuesday. Willie. All right. Kasie, stand by. Alexi mccammond and jake sherman, thank you both. Coming up, a look at what could be one of the biggest upsets in the race for congress. Its not just florida, Mike Bloombergs super pac now plans to fund ads for joe biden in ohio and texas as well. Will explain why they chose those two states. Morning joes coming right back. E two states. Morning joes coming right back. [announcer] welcome to intelligent indoor grilling with the ninja foodi smart xl grill. Just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. Squaw sf you know we won that big Supreme Court against your governor. Why isnt it open . Still not open . Shes appealing the case. Hey, governor, let your state open. Gets your kids back to school, governor. Not a good governor. And you know what else . Im also getting your husbands, they want to get back to work. Were getting your husbands back to work. And everybody wants it. And the cure can never be worse than the problem itself. Okay. President trump yesterday in michigan. Joining us now, Missouri State senator democrat jill schupp. She is in missouris second Congressional District race. Day of wasserman of politico reports that state senator schoop could pull off, quote, one of the biggest upsets on Election Night. Thank you very much for being og on the show this morning. Thank you for having me. What are you hearing from voters and what do you think is making your campaign a contender . I will tell you that people in this community really want to see a change. They are excited and energized to have somebody who working on their behalf, not on behalf of the big corporations and special interests, and it starts with the most basic thing. People want access to Affordable Health care. People are concerned about my opponent, the current congresswoman who voted against the Affordable Care act five times. There are many, many people in this community with preexisting conditions. They want to make sure their health care is intact. So that is one of the biggest issues, even before the pandemic, for the people here in this community, and they are energized and excited about somebody new who really my goal was never to get into politics. I got into politics as a result of a problem in my kids school that needed to be fixed, and we had to step nobody else stepped up, so i did. I ran for office. We fixed those problems. We came up with solutions, and i know and the people here know that you need to work for solutions to problems for the people in the community, and thats why i believe they are so energized behind a new candidate, somebody who is here for change. Senator shupp willie geist. We talk about suburban women. You are the perfect person to talk to because you are the suburbs of st. Louis, relatively wealthy suburban area of st. Louis. What are you seeing among the suburban women that we talk about broadly across the country . What are their concerns . Thats top of mind as you go out and campaign . Right. Thank you. Good to see you, willie. I think again the biggest concern people have is Affordable Access to health care. People with preexisting conditions, especially now in this economy, young adults who are up to age 26 want to be able to stay on their Parents Health care, especially if they are not employed right now. People want to get through this pandemic. They have seen an absolute lack of leadership both at the top of the ticket and from the person who represents them in washington. You know, if we had done this months ago, we wouldnt be talking about these things. But access to health care, they want schools to open again safely instead of opening and closing. We know our kids need inperson learning. And people are worried here about rebuilding our economy. So the same issues here in suburban st. Louis are the issues that we see around the country arksd peopnd people wany to go to washington and represent their interests, somebody who stands with them, not with the big corporations and special interests. And, willie, this is a very split district in terms of party. Thats why we are virtually tied in this race. People want to know that the person who is representing them cares about solutions and listens to people on both sides of the aisle to get at the best solutions to the problems that they face. This is not a district where you can vote with your party 97 of the time and expect to be representing all of the team here. People want to know somebody is reaching out to them, willing to make positive change on their behalf even if that person is from the other party. Kasie hunt, step up. Senator shupp, good morning. You mentioned how split your district is. I am curious about whether, especially when you talk to people who have perhaps voted either way, a democrat and then republican republican or independents, are they tired of what they are seeing from President Trump every day . Are they tired of the show, or do you feel like republicans who live in your area are still excited and energized by the way he conducts himself every day . You know, i will tell you that people are tired of the partisan bickering thats going on in washington. They are tired of what they are hearing at the top of the ticket. I have republicans who have stood up and publicly supported me in this race. A lot of the republicans in our community feel like their party has left them. So they are looking for somebody who is willing to go and represent them and hear them out. There is not a lot of enthusiasm in this district. We saw President Trump win by ten points in this district in 2016. Right now joe biden is up in the polls in this district, and to see that a democrat and a republican in this Congressional District are in a tie 4949 in the polls tells you that something dramatic has changed. And people want to see something different. They want to feel that theyre heard and represented and he want to know that there is somebody going to washington who is listening to the people back home and will bring their concerns and issues to the fore and make sure we are doing things to create Good Solutions for everyone in the community. All right. Missouri state senator jill shupp, thank you very, investigate much. Good luck to you. Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is funding lastminute Advertising Campaigns for joe biden in ohio and texas. The Bloomberg Team conducted private polling over the weekend and concluded that ohio and texas were the most vulnerable states for President Trump. Using his super pac, the former mayor of new york city will air ads in all television markets across both states, costing around 15 million. Until this point, bloomberg has focused on florida where he pledged to spend 100 million supporting joe biden. And still ahead, former president barack obama mocks President Trump brutally on the campaign trail, saying he is jealous of the Media Coverage that coronavirus is getting. I think he might be. Plus, here is a live look at new orleans. Hurricane zeta is expected to make landfall here as a category 2 storm this afternoon. We will have the latest on where its headed. Morning joe is back in a moment. K in a moment r insurance so you only pay for what you need . Really . I didnt aah ok. Im on vibrate. Aaah only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Your happy place. Find your breaking point. Then break it. Every emergenc gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergenc. Balanced nutrition for strength and energy. Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. Okay, so, magnificent mile for me i thought i was managing. My moderate to severe Crohns Disease. Until i realized. Something was missing. Me. You okay, sis . My symptoms were keeping me. From really being there for my sisters. So i talked to my doctor and learned. Thats us. Humira is for people who still have. Symptoms of Crohns Disease after trying other medications. The majority of people on humira saw significant symptom relief in as little as 4 weeks. And many achieved remission that can last. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections, including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma,. Have happened, as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,. Serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common and if youve had tb,. Hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Be there for you. And them. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, remission is possible. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With the ninja foodito intelligesmart xl grill. Ing just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. Cant watch anything else. You turn it on, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid, covid. And whats his Closing Argument . That people are too focused on covid. He said this at one of his rallies. Covid, covid, covid he is complaining. He is jealous of covids Media Coverage. If he had been focused on covid from the beginning, cases wouldnt be reaching new record highs across the country this week. Hes jealous . That is great. He is jealous of covids Media Coverage. He is jealous of the coronavirus. He is. Fire him if he could, willie. Yeah, i mean, president obama is in the pocket, as we say, right now. His approach for the last week or so has been sort of to mock President Trump, let joe biden take the more serious stern criticism and president obama is out there with substance mocking the president of the United States, including his jealousy of covids coverage. Its an amazing argument. The president is going to make it up to election day, that there is too much coverage of the thing thats dominating everyones life. Not because of Media Coverage, but because its in everyones life. Coming up on 228,000 people according to our alley on the screen have died. All the families that impacts, all the jobs lost, all the kids missing school. But the president thinks its getting too much coverage. Well, and here we are. And we are seeing the impact on the economy once again. Not because scientists and doctors are saying you need to take care of yourself and your families, but because americans are a lot smarter than donald trump. They are not going to go out. They are not going to risk an outbreak in their family, risk the lives of senior citizens. You are seeing the stock market yet another day going down significantly. Consumer confidence going down, not because of the Media Coverage of covid and not because there is more testing and thats causing more cases of covid, but because there are more cases of covid and more people are dying of covid. Again, you know, those woodward tapes, those woodward tapes we thought were instructive for what they said of Donald Trumps past performances, but theyre actually, they are so instructive, mika, of his current performance that he is actually, he has been caught lying on audiotape, and he thinks his supporters are so stupid, the type of people that you can leave abandoned in a field. He thinks his supporters are so stupid that even though theyve heard his own words saying how dangerous covid is, he can do as his Closing Argument, he can lie through his teeth more about covid, more about an economy that he is completely trashed, and about a Health Care System that he has completely trying to turn upside down by, in the middle of this pandemic, by doing everything he can do to abolish the Affordable Care act. And it looks like he is going to get his wish with the Supreme Court that will vote now to do away with americans preexisting conditions. And he can get a lot done with his Supreme Court nominee as it pertains to this election. But again a president angry at a virus that he, himself, could have controlled. And anybody else could have done a better job than him. Along with joe, willie and me, we have White House Reporter for the Associated Press jonathan lamire, former u. S. Senator now an nbc news and msnbc political analyst Claire Mccaskill is with us. Less than a week until the election. Lets start with michigan. The latest reuters poll puts joe biden ahead by nine, 5243 . In nevada the latest New York Times Siena College poll shows biden leddiading by six. In iowa, the latest iowa next star Research Poll shows biden leading by four points, 50 to 46 with margin of error plus or minus four points. In North Carolina the reuters ips owes poll 49 to 48 biden with a margin of error of 4. 4 points. Willie, i trust absolutely no polls. I think its a hangover from 2016. But i trust no polls. If trump towdonald trump is wit points of joe biden in any poll, i color that state red. For no good reason at all. D i hear what people in the media are saying about this race, and it sounds remarkly similar to what they were saying about the clinton race four years ago. And, yes, joe bidens over 50 in a lot of these polls. And, yes, joe bidens popularity is higher than ever, but we live in a tum you wiultuous world, c world. The polls started by people picking up the phone, calling, getting responses. We have become a far more cynical, skeptical society, even over the past four years. How many people are telling the truth . How many trump people are even picking up the phones . I know they are doing the best they can do, but for some reason i just am very skeptical when i start hearing people talking about how joe biden is moving towards a comfortable win. You are not alone. You are joined by just about every democrat i know who is saying i dont believe these polls for a second. Everybody has to vote. Its part of the reason you see these massive lines for early voting. People dont trust the mail. They dont trust the polls. And as you said, North Carolina, the state of florida is of big concern. Thats tight. Who knows which way thats going to go. And joe biden yesterday spent his time in jordan, whigeorgia,s you that they can even expand the map. Even that yesterday had democrats concerned. Why are you in georgia . What about pennsylvania . Claire, you are always a good barometer for us on this having lived through a lot of elections and watched the way it turns out or doesnt turn out. Where are you right now . Joe biden has a wider polling lead than Hillary Clinton had at this time four years ago, but yet some skepticism from democrats. Yeah, there is two or three things that are different that make me feel a little better. I am, like every other democrat, i will not believe it until i see it. However, the coalition that trump had, which was, you know, he was competitive with College Educated women four years ago, he won seniors, and he won independents. Well, he is not winning in any of those categories now and he is losing College Educated women by like 25 points. So i look at. I also look at his favorability. He is much more liked than Hillary Clinton was at this point. And then the other thing im looking at in the data. Forget about the polls. Look who is voting. In georgia, one out of four voters who have already voted are firsttime voters or not reliable voters. These are typically not the people who show up early. The people who show up early are typically the ones who vote every single time. The fact that we are getting this kind of early turnout from infrequent voters and new voters gives me hope. Speaking of hope, both campaigns have a lot riding on florida. Weve got a look at the early voting trends there next on morning joe. Joe. Its still warm. Thanks, alice says hi. For some of us, our daily journey is a short one. Save 50 when you pay per mile with allstate. Pay less, when you drive less. Youve never been in better hands. Allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Im a peer educator,. A fitness buff,. And a champion for my own health. I talked with my doctor. And switched to. Fewer medicines with. Dovato. Prescription dovato is for some adults who are starting hiv1 treatment or replacing their current hiv1 regimen. With. Just 2 medicines. In 1 pill, dovato is as effective as a 3drug regimen to help you reach and stay undetectable. Research shows people who take hiv treatment as prescribed. And get to and stay undetectable. Can no longer transmit hiv through sex. Dont take dovato if youre allergic to any of its ingredients. Or if you take dofetilide. Hepatitis b can become harder to treat while taking dovato. Do not stop dovato without talking to your doctor,. As your hepatitis b may worsen or become lifethreatening. Serious or lifethreatening side effects can occur, including allergic reactions,. Lactic acid build up, and liver problems. If you have a rash and other symptoms of an allergic reaction,. Stop taking dovato and get medical help right away. Tell your doctor if you have kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis b or c,. Or if you are, may be, or plan to be pregnant. Your doctor may prescribe a different medicine. Than dovato if you plan to be pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first trimester. Dovato may harm your unborn baby. Use effective Birth Control while taking dovato. Most common side effects are headache, nausea, diarrhea, trouble sleeping,. Tiredness, and anxiety. So much goes into who i am. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Ask your doctor about dovatoi did. Hiv medicine is one part of it. Its time you make the rules. So join the 2 Million People who have switched to xfinity mobile. You can choose from the latest phones or bring your own device and choose the amount of data thats right for you to save even more. And youll get 5g at no extra cost. All on the most reliable network. So choose a data option thats right for you. Get 5g included and save up to 400 dollars a year on the network rated 1 in customer satisfaction. Its your wireless. Your rules. Only with xfinity mobile. The crucial state of florida has surpassed its 2016 early vote totals. Floridians have cast 6. 8 million ballots already with almost 4 million cast by mail. The statewide turnout thus far is 46 . According to the u. S. Elections project. With 42 of voters being democrats, 37 republicans, and 20 independents. But in miamidade county, which did not mail absentee ballots out until the last possible day, turnout was less than 46 and lagging for democrats. And as of tuesday evening, the state reports that in miamidade 52 of republicans, 47 of democrats, and 37 of independents have either voted early in person or cast a mailin vote. Democrats maintain about an 80,000vote advantage so far in miamidade county, a county where democrats need a strong showing for a chance to win that state. Is that enough, joe . No, not right now. But, again, we will see what happens. We have got several more days of early voting. Jonathan lamire, okay, this is going to sound a little complicated for some that havent followed Florida Politics and early voting, but lets talk through this very quickly. So florida voting you have absendai ballots coming, that usually tilts strongly towards democrats. Then you have inperson voting which usually tilts towards republicans. Then on election day both sides we are assuming 35 of floridas population was going to be voting on election day and that would tilt heavily towards the republican party. What has happened . Instead of 35 of people voting on election day, some Party Leaders are now thinking that number may be down to 20, 25 because so many people are voting early. Hillary clinton had, i think, about a 250,000vote lead going into election day. With the republicans picking away at that 450,000vote lead that democrats had last week, now its probably half of that, chances are good by election day both parties are going to be even. And what we have got to figure out, what the parties need to figure out is whether they are cannibalizing sameday voting. So what they are doing is how many of those republicans are moving their election day vote early and changing the calculus of how much biden is going to be going into the final day ahead. The thought was republicans werent worried when biden was up by 450,000 votes early because they are like, those are people who usually would vote on election day. They are say they are cannibalizing those votes. Now that republicans are doing so well in early voting, republicans and democrats are asking the same thing of that. So all of this is a pretty good way of saying its going to be a few more days until we can figure out exactly what these trends mean, but democrats were feeling a lot better when they had 430,000 votes banked instead of now probably, by the time they report this morning, closer to 250,000 votes banked. Joe, you laid that out really well. That is the key here. Are these simply republicans in this case who would have voted on election day that have decided to vote early, to go ahead and do that, perhaps after the president s wave of rallies in recent days. We know his rhetoric has been to push day of voting in most places because he cast such doubt on these mailin ballots. So are these simply republicans who changed the timing of their vote or are these new voters . Thats the question that both campaigns, you know, for both parties are obviously watching right now. But certainly it is going to be a few more days before we know about these trends. And florida remains the tightest battleground state on the map. Its the one that the Trump Campaign certainly feels most confident about and, frankly, needs to because there is really no path to victory without it. The president , he is out west today, but most of the day, but he ends his night in florida. He has more events in that state tomorrow. They know that he simply has to have it. Joe biden, meanwhile, as mentioned, he and his running mate, Kamala Harris, expanding the map a little bit. Biden in georgia yesterday. He is going to iowa this week as well, another state the president won pretty handily in 2016. Kamala harris heading to texas. I think yesterdays move raised, sparked some concern among democrats, is biden getting over his skis here, is this Hillary Clinton going to arizona in the final week of 2016 instead of staying in the upper midwest. But the biden camp feels confident, like they can do this, they can make the trump team play defense and they have the ability to expand their map and they want to lean into the fdr symbolism of how big this biden presidency would have to be. Claire, my opinion is, yes, i love winning landslides. When i ran, i loved running up the score as much as i could, but i was only focused on 50 plus 1. I didnt give a damn if i got 95 or if i got 50 plus 1. I wanted to win. And i saw biden in georgia. Im like, dude, you should be in western pennsylvania. You should be in philadelphia. You should be in the i think he should be in philadelphia and in pittsburgh and all points in between over the next six days, but im just curious, is that too conservative of an approach here . Yeah, i think it is. I actually disagree with you. I think it makes, you know, i hate prevent defenses. I hate them. I like teams who go for points even when they are in a position that it looks like they might win. Aggressive, on offense. And thats what this campaign is doing and i think its terrific. He has been to pennsylvania so much, joe, and he is going to be back in pennsylvania over and over and over again. And i really think they have a reason to feel pretty good about wisconsin and michigan. So why not go to georgia where the polling is, frankly, almost as favorable as it is someplace like arizona . And we have been pretty, felt good about arizona for weeks. So spending time in georgia, spending time in North Carolina, spending time in iowa, maybe even a stop in ohio, we know now bloomberg has put real money into texas and ohio. The people in texas are dying for joe biden to stick his toe in down there, for him to actually show up. It wouldnt surprise me the weekend before the election if you see joe biden in texas. Coming up, when it comes to our elections we have talked a lot about the thread posed by overseas adversaries. There is another issue raising alarms much closer to home. Nbcs cal perry has new reporting on that. As we go to break, a note. Joes new book saving freedom, truman the cold war and the fight for western civilization is coming out november 24th. But you can preorder it now. Morning joe is coming back in a moment. We made usaa insurance for veterans like martin. When a hailstorm hit, he needed his insurance to get it done right, right away. Usaa. What youre made of, were made for. Usaa in mass incarceration of black and brown communities. The shame is on all of us. Im working to right the wrongs of injustice. Ending cash bail. Ending the war on drugs. Decriminalizing sex work, and passing major sentencing reform legislation. But until we Reimagine Community safety and end police brutality, we must keep working to reform our racist criminal Justice System thats shameful to us all. Security secretary jeh johnson is standing by. We will talk about Election Security ahead of the tuesday vote. First, some Severe Weather to keep track of. A powerful system is taking aim at Southeast Louisiana with strong winds and intense rain. Lets go straight to bill for a check on that and at the forecast. Bill. Good morning, mika and joe. Unbelievable. For the fifth time in Hurricane Season a storm heading for louisiana. This one is heading right for new orleans later on today. Just got the update from the hurricane center. Perfect 2020 fashion, this storm is stronger than expected and it looks like we are going to have a category 2 landfall now instead of a category 1. It will probably maintain that strength over the top of new orleans. We are talking extensive wind damage expected later today in new orleans. So its moving to the north at 17, 90mileanhour winds, less than 300 miles away from new orleans. Here is the forecast path. That center red line goes right over downtown new orleans. We are pretty sure the eye of the storm will be over new orleans 7 00 p. M. This evening. The strongest wind damage will be in the new orleans area between 4 00 p. M. To 6 00 p. M. Local time today. Thats when everyones going to want to be in their safe room. Thats when the glass will be shattering and we will have a lot of issues with water and storm surge, too. Then the storm races off to the midatlantic coast come thursday. Here is the wind projections. Expecting 70 to 90, maybe near 100 miles an hour in Southeast Louisiana, coastal mississippi, and we will see Power Outages well into areas of even alabama with this storm. We are talking about the possibility of days without power for new orleans and southern mississippi, biloxi included, too. We will continue to watch the storm throughout the day here on msnbc. Once again, the big head line, northern is going to get hit by a category 2 hurricane as we go throughout this afternoon into early this evening. Unbelievable. Youre watching morning joe. Well be right back. Ight back. [announcer] welcome to intelligent indoor grilling with the ninja foodi smart xl grill. Just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. Gimme five, good job all right isaac, good to see you. How are you, man . Nice to meet you mr. Vice president. God love you, i just wanted to say hi. Well i cant preach like you guys can. America is a place for everyone. Those who chose this country, those who fought for it. Some republicans, some democrats, and most just somewhere in between. All looking for the same thing, someone who understands their hopes, their dreams, their pain to listen. To bring people together. To get up every day and work to make life better for families like yours. To look you in the eye, treat you with respect, and tell you the truth. To work just as hard for the people who voted for him as those who didnt. To be a president for all americans. Im joe biden, and i approve this message. And if we win, we get to tell you how Liberty Mutual customizes Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Isnt that what you just did . Service stand back, im gonna show ya how doug and limu roll, ya you know you got to live it if you wanna wi. [ music stops ] time out only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Whos sujoe biden. Rop 15 . Biden says, every kid deserves a quality education and every family deserves to live in a safe, healthy community. Thats why i support prop. 15. Vote yes. Schools and communities first is responsible for the contents of this ad. Proposition 16 takes on discrimination. Some women make as little as 42 of what a man makes. Voting yes on prop 16 helps us fix that. Its supported by leaders like Kamala Harris and opposed by those who have always opposed equality. We either fall from grace or we rise. Together. Proposition 16 provides equal opportunities, levelling the Playing Field for all of us. Vote yes on prop 16. They all endorse yes on prop 25. To end unfair, unjust, discriminatory money bail. Governor gavin newsom and van jones. Theyre voting yes on 25. The western center on law and poverty. The Dolores Huerta foundation. Californians for safety and justice. And the california Democratic Party. They all agree that the size of your wallet shouldnt determine whether or not youre in jail. So, vote yes on prop 25. Whosgovernor gavin newsom. Ail. The governor says prop 15 is, fair, phasedin, and long overdue reform, that will exempt Small Businesses and Residential Property owners. Join governor newsom. Vote yes on 15. She blamed me. And it was our people that helped her. I dont get i dont get it. Our people, my people is the fbi. President trump speaking to reporters yesterday in lancing, michigan carbsing some doubt on the plot to kidnap the states democratic governor gretchen whitmer. You can read the affidavit for yourself if you doubt that. Now new reporting on an increasingly frequent image on americas streets. Heavily armed groups calling themselves militias. We received rare access to he had looers within this movement. [ crowd chanting ] selfdescribed militias are becoming a regular sight on the streets of Many American cities often dressed head to toe in military fatigues, often with firearms strapped to their chest. We are security and we uphold Constitutional Rights for people whether thats i tell people this all the time. Whether thats our Constitutional Rights or others. Reporter he leads the group burglaries on equal amendment rights. Do you think thats inciting standing on the street with a no, because you have to remember, you have the right to hold a weapon no matter what. I think its people making an assumption based on what they believe. We tried that earlier today but they separated us. Reporter we have seen you in frankfurt and louisville. Why does your group come out on the streets . To make sure everything remains peaceful. Reporter she says they have 80 members. We have seen them outside of kentuckys capital heavily armed against covid restrictions and on the edge of demonstrations for Breonna Taylor. We dont want the towns burnt down. We dont want anybody shooting each other. Reporter Law Enforcement says a militia presence makes their job nor difficult. It does not help the situation. The police are doing all they can, but theyve got their hands tied and a lot of people against them. Guys, guys, we have to keep our composure. We cannot put our hands on somebody like that. Reporter their increased presence has led many in the city to take precautions. Justice now we have a levlutionary black Panther Party who is doing our security. Reporter are you worried about the presence of militias in kentucky . Yes, since the legislative body that i serve in voted to allow people to carry, open carry without a permit. Our legislative body has been very clear that it supports institutional systemic racism. Its sending a message that they are welcome in kentucky. Reporter do you think some of these groups are racist . Some are. Some of the black groups are racist, too. I dont vouch for either one of them. Reporter the Southern Poverty Law Center has photos of you carrying confederate flags. Some people in my group are puerto rican, blacks, cubans. I have a mixture. Reporter these groups so visible now that this became a defining moment of the first debate. Proud boys, stand back and stand by. So you thought it did kind of speak to your group . I think it did. I think the reason why he said to, you know, stand by and stand by was, you know, he sees it the same way. Reporter and like many, he fears the election could bring unrest. Are we sawing civil war . People say civil war in these groups all the time. I think thats a possibility. Probably a close possibility. Though most people will try to make it a black and white thing. I think its a right and left thing. A close possibility of civil war. Wow. Cal joins us from lancing, michigan. Cal, fascinating report. Let me start with how were defining militia. What does that mean exactly . A lot of these people are selfappointed, they will lean on the Second Amendment that calls for a well regulated militia. What exactly is a militia . Well, so they are defining themselves as militia technically in the dictionary definition they are not. They are nothing to with the government. We keep saying they are selfdefining them sefs as militia. They are not homo genious groups. She doesnt see the proud boys as a militia. But thats not necessarily comforting that you have a range of views because then you have radical views. The Southern Poverty Law Center is tracking over 180 groups, and some have extreme views and, of course, the concern is that the president will continue to use rhetoric. It is a fascinating and a dangerous moment in america when you see that these demonstrators in louisville who have been protesting on behalf of Breonna Taylor for months are now calling on the black Panther Party to protect them. It is indeed a very interesting time in this country. What do the selfappointed militias want . I know every group has a different theme and different idea and different objective. Generally speaking, when they are out in the streets strapped with ar15s, what are they seeking to do exactly . They say that they are creating order, that they are protecting protesters on both sides, both the black lives matter protesters and anybody who comes out to counter demonstrate. They say they are supporting Law Enforcement. The interesting thing about this is, in the past, these groups have shared one thing in common. They want Less Government interference and they dont usually support the president. Whats different now is you have a number of groups that support donald trump and that listen to the president as well. And we recall that 17yearold in august in kenosha said he was there to help Police Killed two protesters and injured another one in kenosha, washington. Cal, thanks so much. Joining us now former secretary of Homeland Security under president obama j serino, also with us professor of spriprince university and capitol hill correspondent host of way too early kasie hunt is back as well. Secretary johnson, beginning with you, you were Homeland Security secretary under president obama for four years. How much do you see this idea of militias and these groups we have seen in some cases commit violence having changed even in the time since you left office . Its changed significantly, willie. First, as your previous conversation staked out, calling these various different groups militia may actually give them too much dignity. They are selfappointed. Their authority derives from no government. And the environment we are seeing right now with all of these different groups on the streets with weapons, frankly, is a product, a direct product of the environment set by our National Leadership that, in many ways, is encouraging this level of tension in the streets right now. And we have heard repeatedly from fbi director christopher wray, for example, that white supremacist groups, some calling themselves militias, are the biggest domestic threat error t in the country. How concerned are you about the tinderbox we see in the streets and the encouragement we get as we heard directly from the people in cal perrys piece they are getting from the president of the United States . I cannot foreclose the possibility of real tension boiling over in the period leading up to the election or in the immediate aftermath of the election. I do need to stress, i believe we should stress, that notwithstanding this reporting, what were seeing, no one should be discouraged from exercising their right and their responsibility to vote either by mail or in person. Im very encouraged we have seen 70 Million People who have apparently voted so far, even before the election. Everyone should do so. No one should be diskurnged or intimidated by this. Secretary johnson, you wrote an oped friday about the second anniversary of the pittsburgh synagogue shooting, titled pittsburgh synagogue shooting was one of many warnings, but are we listening now . Its a great question. Are we listening . Are people at highest reaches of the government, people you still know and talk to in the National Security world, are they aware of and dealing with this problem . At a certain level, yes. The fbi is focused on it. My old department, dhs, within certain quarters there is very focused on this threat. Congress needs to step up and basically pour cement on the various programs that exist to deal with violent nationalism of this sort to ensure their continued viability. Of course, at the president ial level we need a president who is willing to condemn this type of activity dangerous. Ask anybody in Law Enforcement, as the leadin showed, at the local level, Law Enforcement does not want these groups on the street. Eddie, its remarkable to hear someone from inside one of those selfappointed militia groups say to cal perry, yes, that moment on the debate stage when donald trump said stand back and stand by, that he later dismissed and said, come on, that doesnt mean anything, thats what they heard, stand by, be ready for what may be coming. He doesnt appreciate, or maybe he does appreciate, which would be even worse, that his rec rit incites and inspires some of these people. Right. I mean, look, willie, that comment was made in the context of what we have been describing as a kind of cold civil war in this country. We know that hyperpartisan ship in america tracks along racial lines ain very interesting and complex ways. We heard in cals reporting one of the members of the militia talk about civil war in the aftermath of this election. We have a cold civil war that could easily become hot. We have the collateral dead, having everything to do with a hyperpartisan environment that has led to 227,000 people dead because selfishness is now read as liberty. So we are in this moment where the country is in some ways standing on a knifes edge. This is a question i would want to ask the secretary, willie. What do we do when we know that certain militia will show up at the voting booths, right, and try to engage in voter intimidation come november 3rd . How ought local police force, local Law Enforcement, how ought we should be responding to what we already know will happen, and that is folks in some ways showing up at the polls tying to intimidate voters come november 3rd, secretary . I am really enjoying this. Morehouse questioning. But, eddie, it could be a very tense situation, and to have Law Enforcement directly engaging these people, many of whom are probably real amateurs when it comes to handling very dangerous weapons. And so i hope that Law Enforcement in this type of context is well versed and well trained in tactic of deescalating a very, very dangerous situation. It could get very tense out there. Kasie hunt. Mr. Secretary, speaking of this tension and Law Enforcement and how they should respond, weve seen some reports in michigan in particular about local Law Enforcement agencies essentially saying that they dont plan to respond if poll workers call them and say, hey, were having a problem here that needs to be addressed or deescalated, and that in those instances the Michigan State police will stand by. How concerning do you find those reports . If there is a systemic effort to intimidate people from exercising their right to vote, that is a matter for Law Enforcement. I think in that context, Law Enforcement would be abdicating its responsibility if there are armed groups, armed individuals at polling places to try to intimidate people and prevent this from exercising their right to vote. That is a matter for Law Enforcement, state and federal. All right. Former Homeland Security secretary jeh johnson, always great to have your exert inside look on these matters. News out of europe concerning the coronavirus. France is expected to impose a monthlong National Lockdown as the country is the covid19 epicenter in europe. Most of frances population already had been living under a nightly curfew from 9 00 p. M. To 6 00 a. M. Over the weekend the country reported more than 50,000 new cases in the region of paris more than twothirds of icu beds are reportedly occupied. Yesterday, the country recorded just over 520 deaths. The highest number since the deadly first wave last spring. Again, france now going back into lockdown. Coming up next on morning joe, the number of early votes this year is already more than half of the total number of votes in the entire 2016 general election. Well talk to one of the big celebrities hoping to drive up those numbers even more. Rapper an activist common joins us next. Keep it on morning joe. [announcer] welcome to intelligent indoor grilling with the ninja foodi smart xl grill. Just pick your protein, select your doneness, and let the grill monitor your food. It also turns into an air fryer. Bring outdoor grilling flavors indoors with the grill that grills for you. On the sleep number numbers 360 smart bed. Ale can it help with snoring . Ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And done. And now, save 1,000 on the sleep number 360 special Edition Smart bed, now 1,799. Only for a limited time. I feel good i knew that i would, now i feel good get a dozen double crunch shrimp for one dollar with any steak entree. Only at applebees. Wwill be to get control the of the virus will take that has ruined so many lives. What would joe biden do to beat covid . Double testing sites so we can safely reopen, manufacture ppe here in america, restore the white house pandemic office, save the Affordable Care act and protections for preexisting conditions. This is not a partisan moment. This must be american moment. Ff pac is responsible for the content of this ad. Smooth driving pays off with allstate, the safer you drive the more you save you never been in better hands allstate click or call for a quote today teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. Does it worry me . Absolutely. Sensodyne sensitivity gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. Theres no question its something that i would recommend. Some of the places he holds rallies have seen new spikes right after he leaves town, and over the weekend his chief of staff said, and im quoting here, im not making this up. His chief of staff on a news program says were not going to control the pandemic. He just said this. Yes, he did. And, yes, we noticed youre not going to control the pandemic. Listen, winter is coming. They are waving the white flag of surrender. Former president barack obama in orlando yesterday. Donald trump scheduled to hold a rally today in bullhead city, arizona, just over the border from nevada. Apparently in order to avoid nevadas social distancing orders that cap public gatherings in that state at 250 people. The president will travel to good year, arizona, for another rally before heading to doral, florida, later tonight. For the democrats, Kamala Harris will travel to phoenix and tucson to urge people in the state of arizona to make a plan to vote early, including returning their mailin ballots. More than 71 million ballots already have been cast in the 2020 election, according to the u. S. Elections project. Battleground voters account for more than half of the early ballots cast. In all but one traditional battleground state, early voting is more than 40 of the total vote for 2016. Texas leading the nation in early voter turnout with 82 of the total number of 2016 voters already having cast their ballot. According to the center for information and research on civic learning an engagement, part of the texas voting phenomenon is a 600 increase in voters under the age of 30. And on that note, joining us now, grammy awardwinning rapper and activist common, he has been out on the campaign trail in several battleground states encouraging young africanamericans in particular to vote. Hell be in North Carolina later today. Common, it is so good to see you, my friend. Appreciate you taking some time. I know how busy you are. You are on your way to North Carolina. You have been in florida and georgia and south carolina. Crisscrossing the country to try to get young people out to vote. So, when you talk to them, common, what are they telling you back . Are they telling you . Do they feel different, energized in a way they havent been in the past . Yes. A lot of young people have felt inspired. I think the energy we saw from protests is being taken to the polls, and a lot of people feel like they, young people, black, brown, weve been connecting with them, and they feel inspired to vote. They feel the power within it. I think they feel like its their duty. For those who, who were, like, on the fence about it, or questioning, are they a part of this american structure, we do our best to encourage them and let them know voting is one of the greatest ways they can express their power, and actually make a step towards changing their situation. So its been inspiring. Ive been moving and then, like, celebrating the fact that theres so many people out and showing they care. It just makes me think about humanity and our country, and in the future. Theres so many people, common, as you know, who just feel marginalized by the political process. Politics dont work for them. Politics hasnt changed their lives, hasnt made their lives better. How do you impress upon them that an election, that going out, standing in line, casting a vote, might actually make their lives better . Well, first i give them the case that, you know, the prison system and criminal Justice System has affected black and brown communities so strong. And its the systemic thing. You know, a lot of the reform we want to happen has to happen through policy change, through elected officials. So i just let them know, its not normal for us to be going to jail the way weve been sentenced to jail and for people that have, charged with long sentences because of marijuana and now marijuana is legal. We want those things to be responded to. Reversed. Those are, like, laws that take elected officials to do. Really, the prime example i give them is what happened in minnesota and what happened in kentucky. Hmm. With george floyd being killed, god bless his soul, for people in minnesota, the elected officials being right by the people of minnesota. They charged the Police Officer that, you know, hes going to be on trial. They took into account the voices of the people. And kentucky, when Breonna Taylor was killed in her sleep, the attorney general did nothing. Just said, it didnt really matter, and i really connect that to saying, hey, if you dont vote for the attorney general, the district attorney, people down the ticket, then you allow these people to be in office and make these decisions when black and brown lives are being taken for no reason, and thats the only way we can change it, is by going out and vote. So i em break it down into something thats affecting our lives every day. Jobs and opportunities, bringing grants and money to our neighborhoods. Creating connections with Community Activists on the ground, and political officials. Because a lot of young people, or Just Community organizers sometimes feel that, well, i can only be a community organizer. Im down for the people and doing work on the ground. So i cant do political work, but, no. They can hand in hand, and there are people who represent us in any elected positions who want to do right by the community. So i give them the sample, income the state of illinois, our states attorney or Jaime Harrison running in south carolina. You know . I just try to connect the dots and just show them something, speak to them real a. Compelling case. Common, eddy glaum from princeton is with you. I respected you for a long time. This question, you laid out a compelling picture. How do you respond to your colleagues . Lil pump and locka floca and others say they are supporting donald trump. So how do you counter other voices within your guild, within your craft who are actually offering a different sort of vision than the one that youre putting forward . First and foremost, i have to respect their voices, because thats who they are and thats what they feel, but, you know, when i sit and combat that or just even just, i listen to them and then i say, whatever you believe donald trump is saying he will do, he hasnt done. History history, his word, has shown that he just speaks and theres no truth to it. Show me what donald trump has done for the black community . And when you say economics. Were in one of the worst economic situations we could ever be in, and i havent seen even prepandemic, i didnt see the conditions economically for black men and black women changing. So, like, some of us get caught up in the fact that, oh, donald trump is, he pitches at the economics. Im going to do good for the black community. Its never happened. So many things that he said have never happened and never have been true. So i just like, say, hey, man. Listen, you show me where the change is happening. Show me. And look at this persons history. Hes been calling us the n word for the longest. He talks about other nationalities like they dont exist. He tells people, go home. He cages children. Are you going to put finance and money over people . Over the love for people . Over the treatment of humanity . So i dont see any where the interest lies in donald trump, and also its like, this is an opportunity for us to actually see things change, because if and when we have joe biden and Kamala Harris in office and also have the senate, then a lot of the things were talking about with criminal justice reform, black economic justice, they are all in alignment. Thats, theyre in alignment, from the president down to the Jaime Harrisons, to those in georgia, its alignment. Things can get done when the democrats have the senate right now. If they have the senate, house and the president ial seat, it can get done. Work can get done, and we can hold them accountable. Whats that i counter to people who, especially black men who are saying, like, trump, i mean, really, i actually dont i dont actually believe it sometimes, to be honest. Just going to be real, that e. I dont believe it, but i still hear it now and try to give them another side. So let me let me followup really quickly. Now, youre using your influence, your celebrity in order to pursue a political agenda. What do youic make of folk who some ways characterize hiphop artists, celebrities more generally, as leaders of the black community . They expect them or give them a certain kind of authority . How do you view the ways sometimes your voices are weighed in the context of the political environment . Well, eddie, i do feel, i just read something in scripture today that said to whom much is given much is required, and i do believe we as artists have a duty to, to shed light on people, and to spread the word of of information. And to be responsible to people who listen to us, or people who are paying attention to us. Im not holding us all accountable to be you know, we have to meet people where they are. Every artist may not have their heart and desire yet to be speaking on those things. So i cant generalize and say every artist should do that, but i do believe that with the microphone you can use it for something positive. You can use it to uplift, to spread information, and we, like, point blank, like, i learned a lot about certain political figures through music, through through family members. So a lot of it is word of mouth. We have that power to speak to people. Assay anyone who does has the microphone as a great person was said, artists reflect the times. So, please, speak to the people and give them the information, and we have to educate ourselves. That was one of the things i was very adamant about during this election, and even post this election, i want to be adamant about is educating myself, and our people, on candidates and people thats running and what they do in our communities. Because so many people dont think about, like, man, they just think about the president ial election, but im like, yo. These local officials affect you immediately. Daily. And, of course, the president s seat is high and the federal laws are high, but theres so many other aspects to it and i think we educate ourselves and we educate them. Using the microphone, speaking to the people and in fact leaving to do that in North Carolina. Common, appreciate you stopping in and spending time with us. Great to see you. Great to see you. Take care. That does it for us this morning. Thank you, eddie and kasie. Right back here tomorrow morning. For now, Stephanie Ruhle picks up coverage. Hey, willie. Hi there, im Stephanie Ruhle it is wednesday october 28th. Lets get smarter. Six days until election day. Six days. Roughly 64 million votes already cast. But if you wanted to mail your ballot and you havent done it by now, it could be too late. At this point officials from places like wisconsin, michigan and pennsylvania are saying, six days in not enough time to be sure your vote will be in on time. That is because in 29 states, absentee ballots must be received by election day, or theyre not going to count. In louisiana, you actually have to get it in the day before. Of course, you can still put your ballot in an official drop box, or you can wait in