have a country that would be in a massive depression. >> the battle over science, as the president campaigns across the country, urging states to open up amid a spike in cases. the question is, will reason win? and with just 15 days until election day, barack obama prepares to hit the campaign trail for joe biden this week. question is, will the former president be able to fire up voters for the former vice president? and the teams with baseball's best records in each league are set to square off in the world series. question is, will the rays' underdog story continue in the fall classic against the dodgers? it's "way too early" for this. good morning! and welcome to "way too early," the show that remembers when the word fact wasn't a dirty word. i'm kasie hunt on this monday, october 19th. we will start with the news. despite rising covid cases and warnings about the virus spreading in tight spaces, the president continues to hold packed campaign rallies. right now he's on a tour of western states. yesterday he campaigned in nevada, and today he'll be in arizona. the president also ignited a firestorm as he campaigned in the midwest on saturday, railing against the democratic governors of michigan and wisconsin over lockdown measures and playing along as his supporters chanted "lock her up," this chant aimed at michigan governor gretchen whitmer. this came just days after the fbi revealed a militia plot to kidnap her and try her for treason over covid lockdown measures. >> what you're doing in michigan has been amazing. now, you've got to get your governor to open up your state, okay? [ cheers and applause ] and get your schools open. get your schools open. the schools have to be open, right? [ crowd chanting ] >> lock her up! >> lock her -- lock 'em all up. and then, i guess, they said she was threatened, right? she was threatened. and she blamed me! she blamed me. and our people were the ones that worked with her people, so let's see what happens. let's see what happens, but i'll have to tell you something, our fbi has to start looking at antifa, and they have to start looking at some people that they're not looking at -- >> governor whitmer tweeted in response, writing, "this is exactly the rhetoric that has put me, my family, and other government officials' lives in danger while we try to save the lives of our fellow americans. it needs to stop." whitmer also said this on "meet the press" -- >> it's incredibly disturbing that the president of the united states, ten days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me -- ten days after that was uncovered, the president is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism. it is wrong. it's got to end. it is dangerous, not just for me and my family, but for public servants everywhere. >> the president also attacked the governor of wisconsin for not reopening as covid cases surge there. on friday, the wisconsin department of health tweeted, "more records we didn't want to break, 3,861 confirmed wisconsin cases reported since yesterday. and for the first time, the seven-day average of new confirmed cases tops 3,000. let's work together to protect everyone in wisconsin and stop the spread." but this was the scene the next day in janesville at the president's campaign rally. no social distancing and only about a third of his supporters wore a mask. the people who attended also had to park two miles away from the airport and take shuttle buses to the event. and the state health department released a statement saying it currently discourages gatherings of any kind, but urged those who do gather to wear masks and maintain physical distancing. don't see much of that there. the crowds at president trump's campaign rallies have also taken to chanting "lock him up," whenever the president starts attacking joe biden and his family. and those chants were heard several times over the weekend. watch. >> joe biden is a corrupt politician, and he has been for a long time. it's a corrupt family, and these people didn't ask him one single question about it. [ lock him up! [ crowd chanting ] >> no, it's true. yeah, lock him -- it's true. i'll tell you something, though, it is very -- lock him up. you should lock them pup. lock up the bidens. lock up hillary. [ crowd chanting ] lock them up. [ crowd chanting ] >> lock him up! >> joining us now, the author of the "washington post's" early-morning newsletter "power up," jacqueline alemany. jackie, good morning. it's great to see you, as always. >> hey, kasie. >> just sitting here listening to that at this hour of the morning with just, you know, a really over two weeks until election day, it has a very sinister feel to it, and this is, of course, coming amid questionable reports related to joe biden's family that the president is seizing on here. you know, i don't want to ask you to explain it, because it is so hard to explain, but why don't we talk through where we stand right now on the trail and kind of what this type of moment means as we hurdle toward election day? >> yeah. you know, what we're hearing from the president, his fixation on hunter biden on sleepy joe biden, is just another example of the frustrations that republicans are having with this president who is unable to stay disciplined and laser focused on the few positive things that are happening in his administration right now 14 days out from this election. instead of delivering a closing message that's focused on amy coney barrett, his scotus nominee, securing and cementing a conservative majority in the supreme court, or even, you know, some of the good news that the president has plucked out of the economy, the comeback that he's making in some of the jobs that the administration claims they've regained. instead of focusing on that, he is focusing on his grievances, leaning into his core beliefs about the coronavirus, which are not scientifically grounded in what's going on with what his own cdc recommends doing, and then leaning into these attacks against people who have higher approval ratings than he does. and that's what we're hearing a lot from republicans at the end of the day, that even if you just look at the numbers here, what is the president doing, why is he rebufg masks, which, you know, are polling really high, why is he attacking governor gretchen whitmer, who has bipartisan support and now has been, you know, the target of a kidnapping plot? and then, why is he going after hunter biden, which resonates with his base but doesn't necessarily resonate with the rest of these republicans that he's now hemorrhaging? >> yeah, i moon, jackie, let's talk about whitmer for a second, because we obviously heard her respond there with my colleague, chuck todd, on "meet the press." but pretty stunning, especially considering this group is -- it's not just antigovernment officials, it's also antilaw enforcement. these types of groups have been labeled as domestic terror threats or people have warned about them being such. and to have the president of the united states essentially seeming to, if not encourage it, then i mean, it feels like he's encouraging it, but he also is getting it right back from the crowd, which tells you how that feeds off itself. >> exactly. and as my colleague, ashley parker, noted last week very astutely, this president supports anyone who will support him. you know, if any of these right-wing militia groups and these various fringe groups that really pose a threat to americans in this country express any ounce of support for this president, he is likely to revel in that and use it to rile up his crowds, especially as he's delivering hail mary after hail mary in these final two weeks, trying to narrow that gap. but i think, you know, that aside, paired with this, the problem is, is that this president keeps going after these high-profile women who have really high approval ratings, and it's hurting him with these especially white, college-educated women that he previously had won over a bit more support from in 2016, and is now really struggling with. >> yeah, those women that he was essentially pleading to, please like me. i'm not sure that this helps in that regard. the "washington post's" jackie alemany, thank you very much for getting up with us. we appreciate you being here. we want to turn now to the coronavirus pandemic. pfizer, the aparneparent front-runner in a vaccine for the u.s., announced friday that they will not apply for emergency authorization of its coronavirus vaccine until at least mid-november. and while a vaccine could come before the end of the year, this will likely rule one out before election day. for months, president trump has promised a vaccine before the election, raising concerns that political pressure could force a vaccine through the regulatory process prematurely and without assurance that it is safe and effective. dr. anthony fauci, meanwhile, appeared on "60 minutes" yesterday and explained why he wasn't surprised by president trump's recent covid-19 diagnosis. >> were you surprised that president trump got sick? >> absolutely not. i was worried that he was going to get sick when i saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask. when i saw that on tv, i said, oh, my goodness. nothing good can come out of that. that's got to be a problem. and then, sure enough, it turned out to be a superspreader event. >> reporter: after three days in the hospital with covid-19, president trump returned to the white house and soon started holding political rallies. >> that's dr. anthony fauci, two weeks before our election, after the president got covid. still ahead, house speaker nancy pelosi gives the white house a new deadline to reach a stimulus deal for coronavirus relief. plus, another presidential debate scheduled for this thursday. and we now know what topics are going to come up during the questioning. those stories and a check on our weather when we come right back. r weather when we come right back. incomparable design makes it beautiful. state of the art technology makes it brilliant. the visionary lexus nx. lease the 2021 nx 300 for $359 a month for 36 months. experience amazing. at your lexus dealer. hi jen! hi. so you're the scientist here. does my aveeno® daily moisturizer really make my dry skin healthier in one day? it's true jen. really?! this prebiotic oat formula moisturizes to help prevent dry skin. impressive! aveeno® healthy. it's our nature. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ it's been the magic one tonight. this time he hits a ball to deep right field! bellinger has done it! and the dodgers lead in game seven! >> time now for sports. the dodgers taking the lead last night with cody bellinger's tie-breaking solo home run in the top of the seventh inning that sends los angeles to the world series for the third time in four years, beating the atlanta braves, 4-3, in game seven of the nlcs. bellinger connected an inning after keke hernandez launched a game-tying pinch hit homer, all that after a defensive marvel from first-year dodger mookie betts, who robbed n.l. mvp candidate freddie freeman of a solo shot in the fifth. wow. the dodgers, who matched an nlcs record with 16 homers overcame a 3-1 series deficit by winning three consecutive games while facing elimination for the second time in franchise history. the dodgers will meet the american league champion rays in the first neutral-site fall classic since 1944. after tampa bay's win in game seven of the alcs late saturday night wiped out the chance for an october rematch with the astros, whose 2017 world series victory over l.a. has been tarnished by revelations of houston's sign-stealing tactics that season. the rays are one of six major league franchises that have never won a world series, while the dodgers are going to try to capture a seventh title, what would be their first, though, since 1988. game one slated for tomorrow night. turning now to the nfl and the 49ers hosting the rams on "sunday night football." to san francisco. niners' qb jimmy garoppolo lasted just 31 plays last week because of an ankle injury. last night, he only needed his arm. garoppolo tossed three first-half touchdowns, putting san francisco ahead, 21-6 at the break. and the 49ers hang on to defeat los angeles, 24-16. time now for weather. let's go to meteorologist bill karins for a check on the forecast. bill, happy monday! good to see you. >> yeah, good morning to you, kasie. and i think this was the weekend that everyone in least the northern half of the country realized we're closer to winter than we are summer. it was chilly in many areas, and that's the case, that's the story, is the cold and some of us are going to get some snow. so, let's go to the radar. the green and yellow on the map shows where it's raining. so it's a rainy umbrella morning from indianapolis to st. louis through the southern ohio valley. the rain in the rockies in montana tomorrow will be heading to areas like minnesota. and this is the snow forecast. montana, especially higher elevations, obviously. bismarck could see an inch or two, fargo two to three inches. but look at the pink coloring from central and southern minnesota, wisconsin, including the minneapolis/st. paul area. you could be talking about the possibility of 2 to 4 inches of snow. again, this isn't today. this will be as we go into your tuesday. so, the brief chill is with us in the northern plains. it's actually very warm still in the west. look at vegas today at 91. we're still pretty warm in the southeast. and it's a brief fall chill because we will see a lot of areas warming up through the middle of the week. d.c.'s going to be 77 degrees on tuesday, very nice. southeast, no problems whatsoever. and then by the end of this week, some of that warmth really surges into areas like new york city's going to be in the 70s on wednesday and thursday. friday not bad, either. even indianapolis is going to be pretty nice. so as far as your week-ahead forecast goes, today we're seeing the rain in the ohio valley. there's that snow breaking out from the northern rockies, and tuesday into areas of minnesota/wisconsin. wednesday, some showery weather remains in areas of florida. notice we're still very warm. look at d.c. on wednesday, 80 degrees! that's pretty unusual for this time of year. and also, if you saw any of the pictures from the fires this weekend in colorado and the west, there's no rain in sight for areas of california. in case of that fire in colorado, it's the biggest in colorado history, the calwood fire. fire season can't end soon enough. >> it really can't. we're thinking of all those folks out there. bill karins, appreciate it, my friend. see you tomorrow. still ahead here, a republican senator appears to mock kamala harris' name, and his democratic challenger raises nearly $2 million off the incident. that story and more, next. e incident that story a mndore, next. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪ (announcer) once-weekly ozempic® is helping many people with type 2 diabetes like emily lower their blood sugar. a majority of adults who took ozempic® reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it. here's your a1c. oh! my a1c is under 7! 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email us your reasons for being up and watching with us at [email protected] or send me a tweet @kasie. use #waytooearly, and we will read the best answers and show you some of the cutest pictures later on in the show. everyone remembers the moment they heard... ..."you have cancer." how their world stopped and when they found a way to face it. for some, this is where their keytruda story begins. keytruda- a breakthrough immunotherapy that may treat certain cancers. one of those cancers is advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer where keytruda is approved to be used with certain chemotherapies as your first treatment if you do not have an abnormal "egfr" or "alk" gene. keytruda helps your immune system fight cancer, but can also cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body. this can happen during or after treatment and may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have new or worse cough, chest pain, shortness of breath, diarrhea, severe stomach pain or tenderness, nausea or vomiting, rapid heartbeat, increased hunger or thirst, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in urine or eyesight, muscle pain or weakness, joint pain, confusion or memory problems, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. these are not all the possible side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, or if you've had an organ transplant, had or plan to have a stem cell transplant, or have lung, breathing, or liver problems. today, keytruda is fda-approved to treat 16 types of advanced cancer. and is being studied in hundreds of clinical trials exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see the different types of cancer keytruda is approved to treat at keytruda.com, and ask your doctor if keytruda can be part of your story. with two new haunted houses, the screams are just getting started. wear your favorite costumes and the fun never ends. come get your halloween on, happening now at universal orlando resort. ♪ welcome back to "way too early." it's 5:30 on the east coast, 2:30 out west. i'm kasie hunt. president trump attacked progressive minnesota congresswoman ilhan omar over the weekend at every stop, from the southeast to the upper midwest. >> omar, omar. i think we're going to win. you know what, i think we're going to win minnesota because of omar. [ cheers and applause ] think of it. she hates our country. she hates our country. she comes from a place that doesn't even have a government, and then she comes here, she tells us how to run our country and she hates our country, and we're going to win minnesota, first time since 1972. if you look at the house with pelosi and these people, it's like they hate israel. and they believe in omar, who came in here, married her brother or something, and came in here legally. come on. come on, justice. let's go, justice. department of justice. how about ilhan omar? [ booing ] you know, i'm going to win minnesota because of ilhan omar. she hates our country. i mean, you see the way she talks. she hates our country. no, please don't tell her to leave. that happened once before. i got in a lot of trouble. they started screaming, "she should leave," and they got me in trouble. they said, why didn't he protest? and that's why we're going to win minnesota. it hasn't been won since 1972 by a republican. we're going to win minnesota! of course, having people like omar doesn't hurt, either. omar. ilhan omar. she doesn't love our country too much. i don't think so. they crave power, and god help us if they ever did get it, god help us. i can tell you that. you just have to look all over the world at different places. god help us. now, it doesn't hurt that in minnesota, they have ilhan omar. [ booing ] who hates our country, who's broken the law. i mean, she's broken the law. let's see what happens, but she's broken the law. but she hates our country. [ crowd chanting ] >> lock her up! >> nah, we're going to win. we're going to win, because of what we did with minneapolis. we saved minneapolis. >> so, now that we've listened to all of that, let's call it what it is, which is race-based fearmongering. also, all recent polls have former vice president biden up by double digits in minnesota. meanwhile, several trump aides are privately concerned that the president may not win re-election and they've begun looking for work on capitol hill, according to "the new york times." but campaign manager bill stepien and others have reportedly stressed to republicans in washington that they expect to outperform the polls, saying their own data puts them closer in arizona and pennsylvania than polls published by news organizations. and that the trump campaign's voter registration numbers and turnout operation will ultimately provide a narrow edge in swing states. but as the "times" puts it, "fear of retaliation by mr. trump has muzzled most members of the party." as one republican strategist says that the president was, "not delivering a consistent message at the most critical juncture of the campaign." let's call that an understatement. joining us now, nbc news political reporter monica alba. monica, good morning. it's great to have you here with us so early. you have been out on the trail with the president at some of these rallies, and the president seemed very combative all weekend. i mean, we just showed people, some of the attacks he was leveling at ilhan omar. to say the least, this does not represent a strategy of attempting to focus on the area, for example, that voters usually give him the most credit for, the economy, or any of the other things that republicans would like to see him run on. >> exactly, kasie. there really isn't a crystallized re-election message. and just two weeks, essentially, out from election day, that is a problem for the president. so, instead, he has relied on where he feels comfortable, which is exactly as you say, personal attacks and calling out his critics and his opponents. those "lock her up" chants we've now heard from years associated with everybody from, of course, former secretary of state hillary clinton to just this weekend when i was in michigan, the "lock her up" chants were about democratic governor gretchen whitmer, who, of course, had been the target of a plot to kill and kidnap her just weeks prior, and the president joined in on that, seeming to imply of anyone who criticizes him or who he doesn't like, "lock them all up." that is just one example of how that message has taken on completely new energy and the president seems to be feeding off of, again, that negativity at his rallies. but we also really need to discuss what actually they look like. he continues to bring together thousands and thousands of people on these tarmacs. and yes, while these events take place outdoors, it still comes as those cases in the midwest, where the president was over the weekend, were spiking. michigan had seen the single highest day increase in cases the day before the president was there. it was similar in wisconsin. and it comes at a time where the president also continues to bash former vice president joe biden for wearing a mask and implying and still sort of tying this idea that wearing a face covering is somehow connected to weakness. and so often, as we see at these rallies, masks are handed out, they are encouraged sometimes, but they are never, ever required. and it's just so striking as we see this wave coming for the fall, all of the concern you hear dr. fauci expressing, and the president just continues to defy all of his health, and really, safety experts on this, kasie. >> yeah. and monica, quickly, i mean, what is the campaign saying? i mean, this seems like -- obviously, it's health risk, but also potentially a political risk, if there are all these people who then get sick from this and decide, yeah, the president's not handling this the right way. >> and of course, the president himself was sidelined from the trail because he got sick with coronavirus, but then he came back and he's holding even bigger rallies than he was before that happened. the other critical thing to note here, kasie -- and you're right -- is that now, certain states have had to do contact tracing because they believe there are illnesses that have been linked to these rallies, such as in minnesota a couple of weeks before the president got sick. it's hard to say, of course, exactly where people contract the virus, but now we know there are at least a dozen or more cases of people who were at that bemidji, minnesota, rally who were ill, some of them who were even hospitalized later, kasie. >> all right. nbc's monica alba, thank you very much, my friend. it's good to see you. stay safe out on the trail. still ahead here, last time it took 300 years to bring back the sanderson sisters to the city of salem. now, less than two weeks from all hallows eve, the iconic witches from the disney classic "hocus pocus" will return once again. those details coming up next in "the cooler." "way too early" back in just a moment. cooler. 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[music playing] welcome back. the u.s. budget deficit has now skyrocketed to $3.1 trillion, tripling in size from the fiscal year of 2020. the treasury department announced friday that the budget gap for the fiscal year hit 16.1%. it's the largest since 1945, when the country was fighting in world war ii. president trump was asked on friday how he plans to cut into the deficit, and he said the economy's tremendous growth will get it done. >> we have $27 trillion of federal debt now. if we have another stimulus bill out of congress, are you worried that the entire amount of federal debt will be too large for us to pay off in a sensible way? >> well, you and i talk about federal debt a lot. i know it's on your mind. it's certainly on my mind, david. the one thing i will say is, we were starting to, prior to the plague, we were starting to get that number down. you know, we were getting that number -- the interest rates were so low and we were seeing things on such a positive scale. and then we had a -- really, we had no choice but to put money in. in other words, you had to put money in. you had to force money in because of the pandemic. but we were starting to focus on that very, very deeply. we were making it long term. we were getting ready to pay off interest. we were getting ready to pay off debt. and a lot of good things were happening. it's very concerning to me and we're going start doing that. i think you're going to see tremendous growth, david, and the growth is going to get it done. meanwhile, stimulus negotiations on capitol hill seem to be at a standstill as gop senators express their wariness of adding another $2 trillion. senator marsha blackburn saying on friday, "you've got good enough, solid conservatives in the senate that you're not going to have much of an appetite for another $2.2 trillion in spending." that does seem to be the case. meanwhile, president trump's plan to mail millions of seniors discount cards to buy prescription drugs has hit legal and budget roadblocks. hit roadblocks. i can't imagine why. according to politico, health departments top lawyer sent an internal memo saying that it could violate the election law. it's a significant blow to trump's hope to promote the plan before election day. meanwhile, democratic lawmakers has raised questions about whether the administration can add billions of dollars in medicare spending for what they call political reasons. the cards would allow seniors to save $200 off the prescription co-pays. trump initially said 33 million medicare recipients would get the cards, but administration and congressional officials say the latest estimate is 39 million. i guess we'll see. two weeks left. earlier on in the show, we asked why are you awake? kim wrote to us. up because i'm one of those annoying people who actually gets excited by monday mornings. #way too early. election anxiety dream woke me up. oh, dear. this email from matt shue a new york teacher, headed back to the classroom after eight months. he writes while it wasn't the best feeling trying my real clothes on after a lot of pandemic couch time i'm excited to teach again. let's learn. good luck today. this email from mike because the water heater let go, turning the basement into a wading pool. what fun. i'm so sorry to hear that. i got this note from noah who said my rooster woke me up. i suppose if you have a rooster that probably happens. coming up, a look at axios' "1 big thing." and on "morning joe," gary peters is in a tight race in michigan. plus, joe's interview with former second lady lynne cheney. 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>> some black lawmakers are demanding the treasury department go to an african-american and that's in a potential biden administration that should have the caveat up front. but clearly, when you look at the polls, a lot of people on -- a lot of members of congress, a lot of people around town are starting to think about what biden's cabinet is going to look like. i'm sure you have picked up this, it's all anyone is talking about at times and that presents some complications because treasury has never had an african-american lead it, never had a female lead it. and three of the names sort of the establishment candidates janet yellin, brainard, they're all qualified but they want an african-american to be in that position. so that's folks like roger ferguson, melanie hobson. it gets nuanced and layered because some of the potential candidates, they come from a financial services industry. they come from wall street. and there's going to be a big push from the progressives in the democratic party to make sure that you don't have anyone from wall street making decisions at treasury. this is a looming fight. it hasn't quite burst out into the open, but it's a taste of what's to come for potential cabinet selections in a potential biden administration. kasie? >> it does make some degree of sense this is playing out behind the scenes but people are usually careful about not measuring the drapes in public especially considering the surprise we were handed in 2016. let's talk about one of the big moments this week. maybe perhaps the final major high-profile moment of this campaign and that's the debate coming up on thursday night with our own kristen welker. what reporting do you guys have about how the president is preparing for this? is he going to do anything differently? >> don't interrupt. give biden time and space to make a few mistakes. they went back and looked at the tape and interrupted joe biden 71 times and that prevented him from tripping over himself. they want to give him space to make the mistakes that could change the trajectory of the race, so tell a few jokes. have sort of a lighter, softer tone and demeanor. they went back and looked at trump's third debate against hillary clinton and they liked the tone that he struck there. so that's what's in the briefing book, but kasie, big question. will donald trump read his briefing book and will he take the advice of his advisers? kasie? >> yeah, well, i mean, that's exactly what i was going to say, hans, which is we don't have any evidence that he's doing the things that his advisers are telling him that he should be doing. and in 2016, he actually did in the final weeks. he did kind of double down, he displayed discipline. any signs we're going to see that this time? >> potentially. the one thing i would suggest is that donald trump is seeing the numbers go down, at least in the polling and he's talking publicly about losing. his ratings are down. he cares about ratings. think about this as an executive at a news organization talking to a rogue anchor. they're telling the rogue anchor how to behave and soften themselves and there's an acknowledgment they have to let the anchor be the anchor. that's the dynamic playing out here. and if we know anything about donald trump, he likes being on television. he likes the way he presents his arguments and he's his only producer. that's where we are at in october of 2020. >> he is in fact his own producer. i think my question is whether the country is tired of being produced in this way. hans nichols, thank you so much. we will all be reading axios a.m. in a little bit while. you can sign up for the newsletter at signup.axios.com. my question for this week -- how exactly is the president's campaign going to handle going in to this debate with kristen welker, my colleague on thursday night. everyone knows her knows how fair, straightforward and professional she is at her job. and if it's attacking her that's got you setting up for your own performance, you have it a little bit backwards. that was "way too early" on this monday morning. thanks for getting up with us. "morning joe" starts now. but at the same time he hasn't worn masks consistently. and he's pushed back against what you said. >> i think it's less science and more of a statement. >> what kind of statement? >> we're strong, we don't need a mask. that kind of thing. >> is that -- >> maybe sometimes equates wearing a mask with weakness. >> does that make sense to you? >> no, it doesn't. of course not. >> do you have a feeling there's sometimes an all out war against science? >> oh, yeah. i mean, particularly over the last few years. there's an anti-authority feeling in the world. and science has an air of authority to it. so people who want to push back on authority tend to