News, the president is speaking out about trumps behavior, whether he should get Intelligence Briefings, whether he would vote to impeach if he were still in the senate. I ran like hell to defeat him because i thought he was unfit to be president. I watched what everybody else watched, what happened when that crew invaded the United States congress. But im not in the senate now, i will let the senate make that decision. Should former President Trump still receive Intelligence Briefings . I think not. Why not . Because of his erratic related to the insurrection. What is your worst fear if he continues to get these Intelligence Briefings . I would rather not speculate out loud. I just think that there is no need for him to have that Intelligence Briefing. What value is giving him an Intelligence Briefing . What impact does he have at all other than the fact he might slip and Say Something . Tonight the latest reporting from the New York Times says trumps defense lawyers, bruce castor and david schoen, have, quote, worked feverishly on friday to get up to speed on the case and prepare for the trial. It adds that they had yet to learn anything about how the trial would operate, including its schedule, how much time the defense would have to present its arguments and the rules for entering evidence. Im in shock were starting tuesday and we have no agreement for how any resolutions will be put forward, mr. Schoen said in a telephone interview. We have no rules, no agenda, no time frame. There is no possible way this is consistent with due process. Politico reports that trump allies are concerned about the Public Relations blowback from the trial as democrats layout the events of january 6th methodically. Quote, some of his most ardent supporters fear the trial could further damage his reputation. The democrats have a very emotional and compelling case, said former white house chief strategist steve bannon. Theyre going to try to convict him in the eyes of the American People and smear him forever, though, of course, that ship may have already sailed. As all of this unfolds, joe biden today took his first flight as president on air force one. In this case the smaller version, the 757 version of the aircraft for the short flight over to delaware. The president is refusing to back down amid opposition from republicans who want to shrink his nearly 2 trillion relief bill. He said his strongest message yet that he is willing to move forward on his Economic Relief plan without republican support. Both the senate and house have signed off on an initial version of a budget plan that would begin turning bidens proposal into real legislation. Speaker pelosi and House Democrats met with biden today. She says she wants the house to pass its version of bidens plan within a couple of weeks. The economy remains anemic after nearly a year of this pandemic, just 49,000 jobs were added to our economy in january. Were still down 10 million give or take, something biden took note of today. It is very clear our economy is still in trouble and im going to act fast. I would like to be i would like to be doing it with the support of republicans. If i have to choose between getting help right now to americans who are hurting so badly and getting drive bogged down in a lengthy negotiation or compromising on a bill thats up to the crisis, thats an easy choice. What republicans have proposed is either to do nothing or not enough. The president said today he wont budge on the idea of 1,400 stimulus checks, but tonight he signalled his proposal to raise the minimum wage to 15 may not, in fact, be part of the final bill. I am prepared as president of the United States on a separate negotiation on minimum wage. But that may not be in your American Rescue plan . No, i put it in but i dont think it is going to survive. Meanwhile, the administration is stepping up its effort to get more americans vaccinated. Today Yankee Stadium officially opened as a mass vaccination site in new york. The president has signed off on a series of initiatives to use the Defense Production Act while Invoking Fema and the u. S. Military in stepping up vaccinations. Pentagon sending over 1,000 troops to various sites across the country. Today the cdc director said the u. S. Is beginning to see a decrease in cases since the postchristmas peak on january 8th, even though numbers remain dangerously high. We now know the full toll of this pandemic, but you may recall what Journalist Bob Woodward wrote, that there were early signs back in 2020 when Trumps National security adviser told the president way back on january 28th, over a year ago now, quote, this will be the biggest National Security threat you face in your presidency. This is going to be the roughest thing you face. Well, meanwhile this is what the public heard. Were working very strongly with china on the coronavirus thats a new thing that a lot of people are talking about. We only have five people, hopefully everything is going to be great. I want to emphasize that the risk to the American Public currently is low. You have an experienced, first class, the worlds best Public Health care system infrastructure and professionals looking out for you. My administration will take all necessary steps to safeguard our citizens from this threat. And we all saw how that went. On february 5th, 2020, one year ago today, democratic senator chris murphy of connecticut sent this out on social media expressing his concerns. Quote, just left the Administration Briefing on coronavirus. Bottom line, they arent taking this seriously enough. Notably, no request for any emergency funding, which is a big mistake. On february 7th, trump revealed to bob woodward that he knew just how lethal this virus was. It goes through air, bob. Thats always tougher than the touch. You know, the touch, you dont have to touch things, right . But the air, you just breathe the air and thats how its passed. It is also more deadly than your you know, your even your strenuous flus. This is deadly stuff. With that lets bring in our leadoff guests on this friday night. A familiar face to us around here, nbc news veteran alexandra jaffe. She is these days a political reporter for the associated press. Jason johnson, campaign veteran and journalist, contributor and professor of politics at morgan state university. Dr. Patel, clinical physician, former senior policy aid during the ohm administration. She is now a nonresident fellow over at brookings and is among our medical contributors. Good evening and welcome to you all. A special welcome to you, alexandra. I would like to begin with you. As we all know, impeachment could not come at a busier time for this brandnew administration, and here comes the clicheriddled question to you about whether or not the Biden White House can walk and chew gum at the same time. Absolutely. It is the question theyve received for the past, you know, month, even before biden came into the white house, and they have repeatedly insisted that they can. Theres every indication that they can. Biden has a packed week next week. He is heading to the nih on thursday, the Defense Department to meet with the secretary of defense on tuesday, and a Vaccination Center on monday. While thats happening, his legislative agenda is moving forward on capitol hill even as half of the day will be spent on this Impeachment Trial. The house is working on markups of the covid19 bill. Senators are already talking about amendments to that bill. So despite the fact that much of the nation will be focused on impeachment and, of course, you know, the news cycle is going to be dominated by impeachment, joe biden and democrats on capitol hill are working to move his agenda forward. Jason johnson, i have one for you. One of the president s Impeachment Lawyers was on fox news tonight and was asked about the prospect of all these videos of rioters, insurrection, looting, the taking of our capitol, how they could possibly counter that in defending the president. Ill play for you his answer. Well talk about it on the other side. Theres an awful lot of tape of cities burning and courthouses being attacked and federal agents being assaulted by rioters in the street, cheered on by democrats throughout the country and many of them in washington using really the most inflammatory rhetoric thats possible to use, and certainly there would be no suggestion that they did anything to incite any of the actions, that certainly there wasnt any anyhow. But here when you have the president of the United States give a speech and says you should peacefully make your thinking known to the people in congress, hes All Of A Sudden a villain. So you better be careful what you wish for. So, jason, what do you make of that legal audio visual strategy . The second question, do you have any indication the outcome this time will be different from last . Well, i will get to the second question first, brian. No, the outcome is not going to be any different. Republicans will not vote to impeach donald trump again. They will give a bunch of speeches. They will say theyre disappointed. They will say theyre unhappy and they wont vote to impeach him. But i have to say on the scale of My Cousin Vinnie to Jackie Childs with really bad lawyering, it makes sense five people already dropped out of trumps Legal Defense team. Here is the thing. The argument that you can distract the public by saying that protests last year about the murder of george floyd are somehow similar to a president of the United States who spent twoandahalf months lying about an election and then gining up a crowd to attack the capitol, a crowd that consistently said they wanted to hang mike pence, a crowd where we have video of people saying, we are doing this for donald trump, people picking up phones saying lets call trump and tell him were here, i dont remember anybody protesting last summer saying, were doing this for nancy pelosi. I dont remember anybody protesting about Breonna Taylors death and saying we are doing it for chuck schumer. If the argument is to somehow claim democrats have done the same thing donald trump did, thats going to fall upon deaf ears. Maybe it will satisfy some of the right wing maga folks but they werent going to change their minds anyway. Theres no chance that anybodys mind is going to be changed to defend donald trump based on the defense his lawyer was laying out tonight. Doctor, please take us into the territory of what is still an uncontrolled pandemic officially. I read today that if this current pace of vaccination continues, it will take us seven years to get where we want to get. But if i asked you to give us a positive report on the effort to stop the spread, could you . Yeah, brian, actually there are glimmers of hope. You are right, we do need to accelerate vaccinations, but to give some context, yesterday we did about ten times as many vaccinations in a 24hour period as there were coronavirus cases. So there still are too many new cases of coronavirus, but theyre coming down as you mentioned. And then we are Getting Better and better news from manufacturers. Johnson johnson filed for an emergency authorization yesterday. It looks very likely that they will receive fda authorization in the next week or so, and that will give us, brian, an incredible number of onedose shots that are highly effective and can be an incredible kind of tailwind for this vaccination. And then on the heels of that we are looking at probably getting even more promising data from novavax and other manufacturers behind that. So youre correct. On the current path it would take us a long time, but were about to see through new manufacturing as well as what the president is invoking from the Defense Production Act some real ability to get to that precious Herd Immunity sooner than we think. Alexandra, i know in your job you get to write the first draft of history, especially at the associated press. I also know you know recent political history, so thats how ill load up this question. Whats the downside of President Biden getting this Relief Package with not a single republican vote . It has been done. Well, the risk is that he poisoned the well for future legislative negotiations with republicans, which weve already heard republicans warn, you know, you push this through without any bipartisan support, then the rest of your agenda may be dead on arrival. Biden has laid out a pretty ambitious agenda after this covid aid package. We are likely to go into an infrastructure package. He wants to get work done on climate change, on health care. And so it makes things that much tougher if republicans say, you know what . You werent negotiating in good faith from the start. It also raises some questions about his brand. Joe biden has built a political band over decades as a deal maker and a person who genuinely believes in bipartisanship. Thats how he came to be known as Vice President , thats how he was known during his time in the senate, and thats how he ran his campaign. Even on Inauguration Day he promised to unify the country and to work across the aisle. So i think some voters that were won over by that pitch may be wondering if, you know, this is the president that they hoped he would be and maybe wonder if he has broken some of those promises. There could be political ramifications if he pushes things through unilaterally. That said, it is worth noting this package has widespread support. We have seen polls showing americans overwhelmingly support it. So the optics, he is pushing forward a plan that americans support and clearly need. It is pretty positive for him at this point and it may insulate him from any political fallout. Jason, you are going to think you are the lucky recipient of the video daily double but i have another one for you. This is mtg from today. Well discuss on the other side. Im fine with being kicked off of my committees because it would be a waste of my time. Now i have a lot of free time on my hands, which means i can talk to a whole lot more people all over this country, and i can talk to more people and make connections and build a huge amount of support. Im going to be holding the Republican Party accountable and pushing them to the right. So, jason, for bringing home the bacon to her congressional district, when you take away Committee Assignments there goes the bacon. So not so much on running for the folks back home, but fundraising, yes. Building her own personal stardom, yes. Do you think Kevin Mccarthy views this as a problem or kind of a secret asset . You know, mccarthy probably thinks it is a secret asset but we have to look at the history of this. The history of this is sarah palin. It becomes a selfaggrandizing thing for the individual that doesnt really manifest in improved votes. Marjorie Taylor Greene is not going to flip anybodys seat in 2022. Marjorie Taylor Greene is going to raise a lot of money for herself, but whether or not she becomes something beneficial to the Republican Party, i dont think thats going to happen. Look, her antisemitic, her racist comments, the fact she cant bring anything home to her constituency, the fact she was threatening cori bush, the fact she refused to apologize for anything she did, the fact she mainstreamed qanon, which is basically a White Nationalist death cult, none of those things will be beneficial. If the republicans had even a lick of common sense, what they would be thinking about is for all of the years that they tried to demonize nancy pelosi and all the years they tried to demonize aoc, ilhan omar and the squad and Everything Else like that, thats what is going to happen to them with marjorie Taylor Greene. If they let her go running around the country with free time, idle time is of the devil. Everything she touches she will ineffect. Not just with covid because she wont wear a mask, but she is going to infect them with the qanon stink. But mccarthy cant control them, so he is going to let her run wild. Doctor, lets talk about not wearing masks. The state of iowa back to your bailey wick, is ready to go back to the old days, lifting restrictions, lifting public occupancy rules, lifting mask requirements, gathering limits as the Des Moines Register puts it today. We are oing to sound like a scold if we say isnt that the fastest way to fill up Emergency Rooms and perhaps force another lockdown . Yeah, brian, i mean this is now so clearly been demonstrated countless times from the Republican Convention to rallies to Grocery Stores in florida where they actively are proud of not wearing masks, that doing all of this is exactly the formula for overwhelming your health care system, for denying care for all other medical conditions because you are tying up your Health System with covid cases. And, furthermore, infecting and killing people. So it really is i have gotten to the point where that type of action really should be held accountable in a court of law. These are actions that are absolutely going to lead to deaths and hospitalizations in cases, and who knows what kind of chronic symptoms, brian. So this is the kind of political posturing that is getting the American Public nowhere but further down. So i hope that this gets put to i truly hope that people come to their senses, not just in iowa but around the country where theyre using this as a badge of honor to show kind of this individualism when the true individualism, brian, is to take this seriously and realize your actions can affect people exponentially. Thats actually the definition of viral spread. We are much obliged to our big three for finishing the week with us and starting off our friday broadcast. Alexandra jaffe, jason johnson, dr. Kavita patel, greatly appreciate it. Thank you all. Coming up for us, why one of our next guests, a lifelong conservative, says it could be beneficial to keep this marjorie Taylor Greene around. Later, an extreme group of political activists taking aim at the government, but not the ones from a month ago on the hill. Pulitzer prize winning historian john meacham is here. What our past can teach us about defeating extremism in our midst. All of it as the friday edition of The 11th Hour is just getting under way. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. Can it help with snoring . Ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And. Done. And now, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 0 interest for 60 months on all smart beds. Ends monday. When you switch to xfinity mobile, youre choosing to get connected to the most Reliable Network nationwide, now with 5g included. Discover how to save up to 300 a year with shared data starting at 15 a month, or get the lowest price for one line of unlimited. Come into your local xfinity store to make the most of your mobile experience. You can shop the latest phones, bring your own device, or trade in for extra savings. Stop in or book an appointment to shop safely with Peace Of Mind at your local xfinity store. Record number of republicans voted for President Trump. I want to tell you republican voters, support him still. The party is his. It doesnt belong to anybody else. Faithful till the end, marjorie Taylor Greene wants to make it very clear her allegiance to donald trump remains strong. She spoke out one day after losing her Committee Assignments. The democrats in charge of the house made the unusual move after the republican leader, Kevin Mccarthy, refused to do so. Politico points out today, quote, with his sights set on winning back the house and with it the prize speakers gavel, mccarthy is carefully trying to thread the needle between two competing and often overlapping factions in his conference, the republican establishment and the protrump wing. Well, for more we are thrilled to welcome to our broadcast Caroline Randall williams, an author, poet, academic and currently writer in residence with the department of medicine, health and society at Vanderbilt University in nashville. We welcome back bill christal, author, writer, thinking and veteran of the reagan and bush administration, currently editor at large at the bulwark. Caroline, welcome indeed to the broadcast. Thrilled to have you. What i hope is a layup to start you off, is mtg more of a threat to the dems or the republicans . I love that question. I think that she is sort of obviously more of a threat in my mind to republicans if theyre you know, most of the decent republicans that i know have either actively abandoned the party and, you know, set up factions like mr. Crystals or theyve left the party all together, that kind of thing. But i think that the republicans that are trying to claim that this is a party of decent americans who are sane and on the side of all americans, they are going to have a really hard time justifying those claims and that allegiance in the face of her ongoing rise. So i think she is much more of a threat to the Republican Party. Bill crystal, you made the point it is better to have her around, that you think it is actually useful. Expand on that. Well, im being slightly ironic, but she says out loud what other people dont quite daresay when she says the party is trumps, it is nobody elses. Think about that for a minute. What is she talking about . In America Political parties belong to the voters who vote for them, the people who belong to those parties, the elected officials of those parties. The party is trumps, it is nobody elses . Thats something you say literally, thats an authoritarian statement, right . The party belongs to the leader. In this case it is not even the leader who is in power, who is president , it is the expresident. I mean can you one cant imagine a republican member of congress saying this even about a beloved former president , Ronald Reagan in 89 or barack obama in 2017, and would like kind of crazy. The party is barack obamas, it is no one elses. You know, he was president , we respect him and it is a political party, and were free citizens and were each an elected official, obliged to follow our own judgment. So the kind of authoritarianism i think is a wakeup call and thats why it is useful to have her say it. The others are intimidated by trump. She is proud of being part of a party that is not really the kind of party you want to have in a republican government, in a democracy. Bill, what about being a member of congress . I mean getting tossed from committees frees up her time so she can spend more time with her conspiracy theories, but the folks at home send you to washington for a reason. I mean one hopes. Maybe some of the folks send you to make a statement and to cause trouble and to advance, to fight the liberals and all of that. I mean it is part of a general degeneration of our politics. I mean when she says that you dont i mean you react correctly, but a lot of people think, yeah, all this do anyway is give speeches and attack people. When you look at how congress works, much too much is that way. She is, again, an extreme manifestation of a problem that goes much deeper than her alone. Both of our guests have agreed to stay with us. Im just going to sneak in a commercial break. You will hardly notice it. Coming up when our conversation continues, the politics surrounding the second impeachment of that guy. The secd impeachment of that guy. At jackson hewitt, we offer safe and easy ways to file with a skilled tax pro. Securely drop off your documents, have them picked up, or upload them, and work with a tax pro online from home. Safe and easy ways to file that work around you. Oroweat bread. Gathering, baking and delivering the goodness of nature. From one generation to the next and from seed to slice. Ahhh. Ahhh. Ahhh. Ah. I believe that when those stories are told of the human toll that was unleashed as a result of the recklessness of the former president of the United States of america, i hope that some of my Senate Colleagues will searched their consciousness and Do The Right Thing. Congressman jeffries from new york. We will indeed find out soon. In just four days Donald Trumps second Impeachment Trial gets underway. Thats hard to do. Still withis, Caroline Rand All Williams and bill kristol. Caroline, i want to hear you out on the subject of witnesses. We know how powerful and compelling Witness Testimony could be. We saw a lot of it on the floor of the house yesterday, just members of Congress Talking about that day. Weve also seen the power of the video from that day. It is so oddly mesmerizing when you realize theyre taking our capitol, theyre looting our capitol. Talk about the doubleedged sword of witnesses, the other being the shenanigans the republicans might try to get into. You know, i think that when i see those images and then you pose that question that way, brian, what really comes to mind is that i think these lines were drawn i mean they were drawn a long, long time ago, but theyve been reactivated. It has been it is a little late to think that the testimony could sway people whove already chosen a side because we all know that watching, you know, our side prevail or storm the steps would move us and we all know that watching the other side do it or watching the other side be sad about what we perceive as our triumph wont hurt us. I think i struggle to believe that these people who have stood by brewing these appalling behaviors and this insane rhetoric and being complicit in it for the last four years at least, i struggle to believe that the sort of visual outcome of that is going to do much swaying because i think that there are a lot of really smart people that are serving the Republican Party in the house who already know that this is who theyre working with. I think that the Southern Strategy is paying off now. I think it was a deal with the devil and the account is being called in, and all of the republicans who followed lee atwater into the 80s are paying for it now and being willing to use strategies that rely on implicit dog whistles and racism and appealing quietly to White Supremacy to get votes, one, thats when the Republican Party stopped being the party of lincoln, and it is you know, it is sad to me that i dont i dont see this as some sort of i dont see the promise of bearing witness as something thats going to move people to Do The Right Thing at last because i think it is a little late for that. Bill kristol, i couldnt say it any better than that. Let me start with you where she left off. Is there any card the democrats can play . What, if anything, would give air cover, which is a necessary commodity in washington . You have speculated about republicans that might come over. What would give them air cover to suddenly find their courage, gather themselves up and vote to convict . I think caroline is right. It is unlikely. Theyre looking for an excuse not to convict, and that excuse is going to be a bogus argument i think that they cant convict a president once he is out of office even though he was impeached while in office and even though i think the constitutional evidence is pretty clear. I would say the one thing, i think the House Managers are going to make a strong case, and i think the way to do it is both the incitement to the riot, which is pretty the breaching the capitol may be the grounds for that was laid over the last four or five years, maybe it was laid over the last 25 years as caroline suggests. Still, it is different than what has happened before, and i think then the fact that trump did nothing as it was happening and he is the president. Other people have given irresponsible speeches, so trumps lawyers can kind of muddy those waters. No one else has been president , watched the capitol be breached, be assaulted by people acting in his name, people to whom he spoke just a couple of hours before, people who were in washington because he asked them to come to washington, and the president watches it on tv, apparently enjoys it, does not try to call them off for, what, two or three hours, does not seem to call a meeting of the National Security council, doesnt call the Defense Department, doesnt call the justice department, doesnt call the fbi, doesnt make sure that all resources are being rushed there to stop the injuries, the mayhem, the deaths as it turned out. I think if you could somehow juxtapose those, if you could show those images you are seeing now, you are showing now what is happening at the capitol and split screen show President Trump in the oval office. You have to have other photos of him, watching television and doing nothing. And just do it almost every half hour. 1 30, 2 00 p. M. , 2 30 p. M. It just brings home what an incredible dereliction of duty it is. There are demagogues, there are irresponsible statements, other president s have said things that were, you know, as i say irresponsible and illadvised. No president has sat passively watching television when the capitol of the United States was stormed, and apparently enjoying it and then tweets at the end of it all praising the people who did it. I think theres a chance that might get to people. Bill kristol, thank you. Brilliant stuff as always. Caroline, please take this the right way. I was so tired of watching you be brilliant with lawrence odonnell, often just minutes before we came on the air. I so greatly appreciate you accepting our invitation so we could spread some of that brilliance around our audience. We hope it is the first of many times. Thank you both. Have a good weekend, no matter which team you are rooting for. Coming up for us tonight, onesixth, the taking of our capitol, and lets call it what it was. It happened a month ago tomorrow, but as john meacham will tell us, it is far from the first time the gop had to take on extremists within. Today is the day american patriots start taking down names and kicking ass stand up and fight lets have trial by combat. We fight. We fight like hell. And if you dont fight like hell, youre not going to have a country anymore. Were going to walk down to the capitol. Remember, they werent inciting anything. Tomorrow marks one month since the rhetoric at that rally spawned a deadly riot and the looting of our nations capitol. On the current state of the gop, Ron Brownstein writes the following in the atlantic this week. The question of how republicans deal with extremists in their ranks is now more urgent than perhaps at any other point since the birch societys heyday in the 60s. The gop is morphing into a quasiauthoritarian party, one thats becoming more willing to undermine democratic norms to maintain power. We are so pleased to have back with us tonight our friend john meacham, Pulitzer Prize winning author, president ial historian, a professor on the american presidency at Vanderbilt University. He occasionally advises the new president on historical matters and major speeches and relevant to our conversation. He is coauthor of the handy book, we use it every year around here, impeachment. John, first of all, big night. You add in willie geist and you have the holy trinity. I know i will hear from him. You should all be very, very proud. Following caroline was not my plan. You never go after a star, so well, ive been wanting to have her on for a long time as our staff will tell you. Lets talk about other times this particular party has had, shall we call it, an extremist problem. Well, i was thinking this week about a passing conversation i had, was lucky enough to have with George Herbert walker bush who in 1962, 63 was chairman of the Harris CountyRepublican Party in houston. George h. W. Bush was a hugely ambitious, eager politician, son of a senator from connecticut. Wanted to be in politics the next year before he turned 40, he announced for the senate, challenged ralph yarbrough. He was not someone who was uninterested in his political future, and the john birch society, which had been founded i think in 1958, saw general marshall, President Eisenhower as, quote, conscious agents of the communist conspiracy. It opposed the flouridation of water, believing it was a communist plot. I believe there was a Student Essay Contest on what was the best grounds on which to impeach chief Justice Warren from power. This was, you know, kind of a qanonlike group, and george bushs task as chairman of the party in texas and texas was a Birch Stronghold was to purge the party, to try to say, this is not who we are. Those are extremists. And he did it. Bill buckley did the same thing at National Review in the same era, and i remember asking the former president whether that had been painful. And he said in that way of his, you know, the way to do george h. W. Bushs voice is mr. Roger s trying to be john wayne. Painful, no. It was hard and i did just fine. I think it is an important point for republicans who were republicans before the trump takeover, and i know there are arguments it wasnt a takeover but a natural development. I think thats a much more debatable point. But at this hour there is a live, extremist element threatening not only the health of one of our parties but the health of the nation itself and the literal health, as we saw, if i may sayso, in leader hoyers amazingly good speech this week. The health of our elected representatives. You may say, if you are a democrat, if you are a progressive, you may say, good, let the Republican Party implode, and that may be fine. It may be fine to have this particular iteration of it, but since jefferson and hamilton the country has needed two parties. Having a healthy competition ultimately is good for the country. The problem now, of course, is that one of those parties is not a rational actor, but the example of president bush shows that you can stand up to extremists and still thrive in that party. Is it possible in 45 seconds to speculate how they get their brand back as a party . I guess they have to want it first. They have to want it. There has to be you know, im kind of in the camp that it probably needs to break up just as a clinical observer. You probably need to have the core, core trump people leave. I dont think the Establishment Republicans insofar as there are any want to see that happen because they know it is probably a decadelong loss. But the party probably needs that, i would argue, in the same way the republicans needed to get rid of the not anticommunism, which was fine, but the anticommunist extremists and conspiracy theorists. Thats what this is really about, brian, right. This is about can you agree on facts, can you understand that we are devoted to the same ends, which is a more perfect union, even if you disagree almost to the death on the means. The other member of the vanderbilt faculty on with us tonight, john meacham. A pleasure, as always. Have a good weekend. Thank you very much. Coming up for us tonight, why one rural clinics race to vaccinate everyone they could find was put on an unexpected pause. Well bring you that report when we come back. Its time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. Can it help with snoring . Ive never heard snoring. Exactly. No problem. And. Done. And now, save 50 on the sleep number 360 limited Edition Smart bed. Plus, 0 interest for 60 months on all smart beds. Ends monday. As someone with hearing loss i know what a confusing and frustrating experience getting hearing aids can be. Thats why i founded lively. Affordable, highquality hearing aids with all of the features you need, and none of the hassle. I use lively hearing aids and its been wonderful. Its so light and so small but its a fraction of the cost of the other devices. They cost thousands less. Its insanely user friendly. You take the hearing test online, the Doctor Programs in the settings. You dont even need to go into an office. Theyre delivered to your door in a few days and youre up and running in no time. It connects via bluetooth to my phone. You can stream music and you can answer phone calls. The audiologist was so incredible shes full of all kinds of little helpful hints i love it. Theyre a game changer for me. I feel like i can take on anything. It feels great to be in control of my hearing. Better hearing has never been this easy. Try lively riskfree for 100 days. Visit listenlively. Com something we want to show you from the State Of Georgia where vaccinations have been halted in one rural county. Technically for inoculating too many people. It is a story you need to see and we get this report tonight from nbc news correspondent stephanie gosk. Reporter state Health Officials with boxes of vaccines, a pretty common sight these days, but they arent delivering doses. Were just going to out here in the rural community. Reporter they are confiscating them from this Rural Health Clinic in elberton, georgia. It was a lot of shock and then a lot of anger because we knew immediately everything we tried to do up until now to vaccinate our county was laid to waste. Reporter the state Health Department didnt issue a warning, it just shut the vaccinations down for six months because dr. Jonathan puhn and his staff inoculated local teachers and the state said it is not their turn. We vaccinated a total of 177 School System employees. Reporter and you did that while you were vaccinating seniors . Thats right. We were trying to do it all simultaneously. Reporter at a time when vaccination clinics were struggling to get up and running, this one bought an ultra cold freezer and a new building to administer the shots. When the vaccine arrived they were giving out 60 to 70 doses a day. We were the only ones vaccinating every day at this rate for the county. Reporter the clinic says it was so efficient it wrapped up phase 1a early and moved on to essential workers, but the state made a change, putting seniors 65 and older ahead of essential workers. Dr. Puhn says they didnt know. There was never any malicious intent to defy the state and nothing that was trying to move people ahead of each other. It was just trying to vaccinate everybody as quick as we can. Reporter is it fair to say there are people sitting at home today who are eligible for vaccines and who would be here today if you werent closed down . Absolutely. Reporter the medical center, which has treated locals for more than 50 years, appealed the state decision, but the Health Department says the problem is supply and it feels forced to set an example. Went outside of the phase in such an almost deliberate manner, it was something that we could not ignore. We needed to make sure that others that are vaccinating understand that when we have such limitations on our Vaccine Supply we have to follow a plan thats been clearly communicated. Reporter sure through there is a compromise that doesnt keep them out of the loop for six full months . What happens in three months when you open it up to the general population, and here you have a facility thats ready to go and instead is dark . As ive stated before, we will continue to monitor this situation. Reporter State Officials have increased vaccines to other locations in the county and say there is sufficient local access. Whether it is a state, a county or a clinic, is facing almost, you know, an impossible situation, a sophies choice. Who do you decide to give a limited number of vaccines to when everybodys deserving . Reporter dr. Puhn says he understands and wants to follow the rules. Is it emotional for you and your staff to see this place empty . It is heartbreaking because we we poured everything in the past few months to try and make this a success. Reporter but for now, all they can do is wait. We have seen a lot of tears shed, a lot of sleepless nights trying to understand why this would happen to people who are trying to Do The Right Thing. Reporter stephanie gosk, nbc news, elberton, georgia. Unbelievable story. Another break for us, and coming up there are two kids of bowls this coming sunday, super and puppy. One of them will feature the first new lady and the brandnew white house residents. Youre watching msnbc. You. Youre watching msnbc. Last thing before we go here tonight. It is super bowl weekend, which means it is puppy bowl weekend. And if you are blessed enough to love a dog, if you are blessed enough to know the love of a dog, you have no doubt rejoiced along with us that dogs are back in the white house. And the first lady will appear with them during the puppy bowl with this Public Service announcement. Hi there. Im jill biden here at the white house with our two dogs, chip and major. For a lot of us during this pandemic, our pets have been such a source of joy and comfort, and maybe a bark or two on a video conference. The Unconditional Love from a dog is one of the most beautiful things on earth, and we owe it to them to keep ourselves healthy. So please keep wearing your masks, even when youre out walking your dog. Right, guys . First lady with two very good boys to take us off the air tonight. That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. It comes, of course, for our thanks for spend inthis time with us. As always, have a good weekend unless you have other plans. On behalf of all of my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. Was one of those moments where you just want to go back two minutes. Two minutes ago he was laying beside me, and he was alive. Now he is gone forever. Inside a sleeping house, an armed intruder hunts for prey. I heard angie scream, oh my god, oh my god. And i could see blood running down his neck. I nudged justin, and he didnt respond. And her fiance had just been