Transcripts For MSNBCW The 11th Hour With Brian Williams 20200722

The threat of the virus for about the first week of april. Today he advocated maskwearing. He warned the American Public its going to get worse before it gets better all appropriate warnings for about the first week of april. And because mainstream media, network, and print were tonight full of straightfaced, unironic and casually normalizing stories about the president s new tone, they called it, and because covering president s and presenting their quotes in the old way went out with those old president s, and because this matters at a time with 140,000 dead, a virus out of control, and now ripping through states like utah, it is fair to presume, as some already have, the president is hoping the electorate forgets that he was an early and consistent coronavirus denier he is hoping the electorate somehow forgets the six months that led up to today and how he has sought to diminish the threat at just about every turn. Were finding very little problem, very little problem now, you treat this like a flu the democrats are politicizing the coronavirus. This is their new hoax what would people gain from wearing a mask, and why are you opposed to wearing one yourself . I just dont want to wear one myself yeah, no, i dont take responsibility at all. The number of coronavirus cases in the u. S. Now approaching 4 million. Infections have been surging across the sun belt especially for weeks. Tonight the president said this. Some areas of our country are doing very well. Others are doing less well it will probably unfortunately get worse before it gets better, something i dont like saying about things, but thats the way it is. Thats the way thats what we have the president spoke alone in the briefing room. Remember, this was billed as a White House Coronavirus briefing, the first since april. He brought charts but no expertise with him, no fauci, not even birx, no mike pence, the chairman of the task force, to thank the president for his extraordinary leadership, though trump was asked about the experts. Why are your doctors not here with you today wheres dr. Fauci, dr. Birx . Well, dr. Birx is right outside. Some 80,000 americans have died since the last White House Briefing on the virus. Its the largest Public Health crisis of the modern era, nothing close. The president now acknowledging the safeguards that states moved away from in their rush to open back up. My administration will stop at nothing to save lives and shield the vulnerable. Were asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask. Get a mask whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact weve done more testing by far than anybody were doing massive numbers, and the numbers are coming down. The virus will disappear it will disappear. I think that i always like to say as, you know, either way when you look at it, the governors are working with me. Im working with the governor. Were working hand in hand i think were all responsible. Yesterday you tweeted out an image wearing a mask, and then last evening we saw you not wearing a mask at your hotel. Well, i dont know the hotel. I was pretty far away from people in other words, the president s trying to say last night didnt count heres that video of the president last night that we first showed you at the end of our last night broadcast, wearing no mask while shaking hands and surrounded by a group of people. Tonight House Speaker nancy pelosi made it clear she holds one donald trump responsible for the pandemic toll on the nation. I think a good deal of what we have suffered is clearly the trump virus. So what youre saying is thousands of americans have died because of what the president has done or not done is that what youre saying yeah. Yes, thats what im saying. Meanwhile, we learned today that new cdc data is showing the number of cases in different parts of our country anywhere from 2 to 13 times higher than reported it suggests a lot of people who didnt have symptoms or didnt seek medical care may have continued spreading the virus. The ceo of one of the Biggest Companies to process covid test results now says the virus is spreading faster than it can expand capacity. Amid all that, trump is also trying to work out a deal with republicans for this next relief bill the Washington Post reporting he appears to have backed off efforts to actually cut billions for testing and tracing as well as for the cdc theres also growing backlash to trumps federal deployment of agents in portland, oregon the pentagon says the defense secretary, mark easy per, has raised concerns, of course, within the administration, mind you, about those agents patrolling the streets of our cities dressed in camouflage uniforms similar to those worn by our troops in war zones esper, as you may know, among those cabinet members very careful not to offend the boss today the white house was asked to explain the continuing presence of federal agents on portland streets under the law, we believe that agents can conduct investigations of crimes committed against federal property or federal officers, and in the case where you have someone shooting off a commercial grade firework and then running across the street, we dont believe that extends past our jurisdiction. Also the New York Times has filed this tonight the paper says the u. S. Ambassador to the uk, Robert Wood Johnson iv, an heir to the Johnson Johnson fortune and own heer of the new york jets sd in 2018 that the president had asked me to find out if the British Government could help steer the british open Golf Tournament over to turnberry t on that note and here for our leadoff discussion on a tuesday night, ashley parker, pulitzer prizewinning White House Reporter for the Washington Post. Robert costa, National Political reporter also with the post. Also happens to be moderate Washington Week on pbs and a. B. Stoddard, a veteran of political journalism good evening and welcome to you all. Ashley, i have to say you called it this afternoon in that you predicted a president adhering to script, needing to hit certain marks. He did that before taking questions. It was your paper, toluse olorunnipas headline at this hour last night that indicated bringing back these briefings was an effort to bolster the campaign was today a de facto Campaign Appearance today was not today what you saw was the president sticking to script it went as well as his aides could have possibly expected in the sense that again, he read the words off of the script. He advocated for Wearing Masks he acknowledged a bit of the reality that this is going to get worse before it gets better. But i think if you were watching today, in hernt and even as positive potentially a performance as this was for the president , you also see the risks. If you watched him, he was basically talking in a monotone, looking down to anyone who studies the president even cursocursorily, a not enjoying himself this was not pleasant. He came a bit more alive when he was taking questions from the immediate, but there inlie the problem. As soon as he deviated from the script, he first contradicted his own press skkt, who had been out there before reporters that morning. She had said he gets tested multiple a days for the coronavirus. The president had said he cant ever recall being tested more than once in a day sometimes he gets tested every two days so one of them has the facts wrong. And then more problematically, much more problematically, the president said he wishes Ghislaine Maxwell well so, again, when the president is off script, and by that i mean literally not reading from a script, he has a tendency to make headlines that are not what his team wants if you look at his actualen demeanor when he stuck at the script, i think it raises the questions of how long can he bring himself to continue to do that ashley, indeed i have that moment for you there were no questions about these feds on the streets of portland and perhaps soon chicago and elsewhere. No questions yet on bounties paid to kill american troops in afghanistan that russia was connected to but here comes the question, the exchange about ms. Maxwell, who is in the slammer, who is going to be in the slammer for a year prior to trial, an accused sex trafficker as longtime assistant to Jeffrey Epstein i just wish her well frankly. Ive met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach, and i guess they lived in palm beach but i wish her well, whatever it is ashley, to your point, this is the danger in a president hearing perhaps republicans are wistful, wanting new knowledge, data from the government, the public in Public Health, wanting briefings, and a president who assumes that means they want him. Thats exactly right, and thats ultimately why he stopped the briefings about two months ago. What the public wants and what theyre tuning in for, and frankly what the president s own aides and advisers want is the president to get up and be a leader and be a healer and present to the nation sound, scientific advice that they can use. What should the schools do in the fall when is it safe to return to schools . Why should parents feel confident sending their kids back to schools . What about teachers who are nervous . What is the plan for schools what is the plan for schools if they open in september for inperson learning and theres an outbreak . What happens to those families then and that is just one tiny aspect what happens with Contact Tracing . What is the plan to ramp up testing so you can get results in 24 or 48 hours, not eight or ten days rend ring them useless. That is what the public wants to hear the president confuses it with a campaign rally, a prime time speaking spot as he described it, and just wanting to hear from him that is where he will get in trouble. Today we saw his best, most disciplined effort, and there were hints of that trouble again, the analogy we use at the post is the president is sort of like a teapot. Hes capable of discipline, skrikt reading, following a teleprompter at some point he starts to boil, and he needs to let off steam, and the concern for his team is that happens in one of those briefin briefings where he goes wildly off script and gets some of those tougher questions from the media that you just outlined. Robert costa, over to you and your cell phone. The republicans you talk to, is this the briefing they had in mind it depends on the republicans and whether theyre in congress or out in the states i was talking to a democrat, sylvester turner, the mayor of houston, texas, and i asked him about these briefings. He said he doesnt really care if the president s there at the podium or not at the podium. What he really wants is truth. What hewants is good information, and hes a democrat, the mayor of houston but like so many of these mayors across the country, hes dealing with a population that is looking to the federal government to whether they should wear a mask or not. Theyre looking for guidelines in terms of opening the schools. Across this country, there are officials, mayors, governors, who may be allies with the president , may be political enemies with the president , but they need information. They need money for their schools, for their communities, for their fire departments, their hospitals. This is a serious time, and everyone im talking to, including republicans out in the states, are looking to washington not to see whether President Trumps going to give remarks in front of cameras today or not but whether hes going to provide the country with a plan, a strategy, and clear leadership a. B. , what should we have heard at an event like today right well, brian, again it was very good that the president actually put his head down and read every last word of the script that checked all the boxes republicans were demanding that he checked wear a mask, telling young people not to pack into bars well take care of our seniors he did his usual riff on defending his performance and finding every last ventilator and on and on, but he tried to illustrate, you know, that hes putting in a big effort and hes you know, he really has a lot of empathy for people who have died and whose families have been destroyed. But really he wants everyone to know one more time that the death count is super great it could have been so much worse. More than 85,000 people have died since his last briefing, and what we didnt hear, brian, to your question, is a plan. Theres never been a plan to control the spread of the virus. And on july 21, there wasnt a plan and so after our first case january 20th, a plan should have been in place to use the defense production act, to massproduce masks and every component of testing, vials, reagents, syringes, swabs. We are in a testing crisis we are not finding way enough virus. Its as the cdc says between 10 and 26fold of what we see, and theres no plan to open schools. So what are the briefings resuming for so that the president can get back some credibility that he squandered in these First Six Months without a federal plan, testing, tracing, isolation, and all those resources that Everyone Needs in localities across the country for school, there cannot be a recovery economically or for mitigating the virus because theres no apparatus in place to control the spread the plan right now is its really too bad deaths and infections are up its really tough, but were just going to move on, and ill keep coming to the mics now and then theres not a national plan, and he refuses to impose one well, indeed, a. B. , its why we said it was the best april briefing hes ever given the problem is it comes in midjuly and heresi my followup questin for you. Do you think this is an act of a kind of doubleverse uber gaslighting that the goal is really and sincerely at some level to hope the electorate somehow forgets the last six months right up till today right, i do think that if he he believes he has been begged by all of these Republican Leaders who have been off his message, his antimask message for weeks now. Youve noticed the cries for help theyve been out there pounding the pavement about the reality of the numbers and the importance of maskwearing they have been begging him to address this and act like he cares about whats happening and that hes on it. They understand all republicans do that this is a federal burden, and the government is not responsible for our personal health or our financial solvency, but the government is in charge of our collective security. It exists for that and pandemic preparation and mitigation and protection is the burden is not on the federal government and not all these governors that are trying to keep trump happy in republican states and are just up to their ears in democratic states. So the idea for the president s team is, go out there. Act like youre empathizing, like youre really taking it seriously, like youre not moving on and youre not dismissive say you really understand that its tough but, yes, donald trump will be back to talking about anarchy in the streets as soon as he can possibly take the chance hell be giving more interviews like he did to chris wallace, and he will hope that because he gave a few of these pressers, that the voting public believes that he was, you know, at the table with mike pence and taking it seriously all along robert, we did hear a glimmer, something close to that talking point that youve heard recently that taxpayers who are out of work are making such good money thanks to these government relief checks that its a disincentive to going back to work lets lay that aside for one moment as i ask you what is the status of the talks surrounding the next and, one would presume, final relief legislation back to the legislation at hand, this is about legislation in washington, and we at the post are tracking it minute by minute but theres a human face to all of this. So Many Americans are wondering are they going to get an extension of their Unemployment Insurance, are they going to get another stimulus check, how much will it be, when will it be. And washington is under intense pressure, both parties, to get something done, one, to make sure schools have the money they need if they are going to reopen at some point this summer or fall, and theyre also looking at whether the congress can come together at all on stimulus, whether its a check for americans in october or Unemployment Insurance at this point the white house keeps pushing a payroll tax cut, but im hearing from my republican sources, brian, its likely that gets put on the shelf. Theres not support for it but theres still a lot of disagreement you saw it at the senate gop lunch today about whether republicans can get behind another plan thats 1 trillion or more in scope and the conservative wing of the gop could cause leader mcconnell some problems, but ultimately based on what im hearing, the republicans are going to come to the table because theyre looking at the senate map, brian, and theyre saying we could lose power if we dont get a bill thats passed, something for us to talk about beyond President Trump and his conduct. A lot to ask of our big three tonight, and they delivered. To ashley parker, to robert costa, to a. B. Stoddard, friends all. Thank you very much for coming on and helping us out. Coming up for us, one doctor tonight called the situation in Miamidade County desperate. Well ask the mayor of miami beach if he thinks the president s briefing was too little too late on that score. And later, retired u. S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore has some strong words for what hes seeing there on the streets of portland, oregon. Well ask him why he thinks we are misusing the department of Homeland Security and the militarization of our Law Enforcement. All of it as the 11th hour is just getting under way on this here tuesday night experience the adventure of a bigger world in a highly capable lexus suv. At the golden opportunity sales event. Get zero percent financing on all 2020 lexus models. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. On all 2020 lexus models. I have the power to lower my blood sugar and a1c. Because i can still make my own insulin. And trulicity activates my body to release it like its supposed to. Onceweekly trulicity is for type 2 diabetes. Its not insulin. It starts acting from the first dose. And it lowers risk of heart attack, stroke, or death in people with known Heart Disease or multiple risk factors. 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Save without even leaving your house. Just keep your phone and switch to xfinity mobile. You can get it by ordering a free sim card online. Once you activate, you only have to pay for the data you need, starting at just 15 a month. There are no term contracts, no activation fees, and no credit check on the first two lines. Get a 50 prepaid card when you switch. 5g is now included with all new data options. Switch and save hundreds. Xfinity mobile. We have embers and fires, and we have big fires, and unfortunately now florida is in a little tough or in a big tough position you have a great governor there. You have a great governor in texas. You have people that are very, very skilled people, and i think theyre going to handle it very well florida sadly looks more like Southern California at the height of fire season. Florida reported over 9,400 new coronavirus cases for a total of almost 370,000 confirmed infections the state is gaining on california, which has double their population florida now reporting about 11,000 new cases a day some parts of the state taking more drastic measures to try to get control of this. Remember, after becoming one of the first states to loosen restrictions under the leadership of trump acolyte Governor Ron Desantis. The city of miami beach has imposed a curfew for some of the busier areas starting at 8 00 every night, and we welcome to the broadcast that citys mayor, dan gelber and back with us tonight is dr. Mercedes carnethon, vice chair, Preventive Medicine at the Feinberg School of medicine at Northwestern University mr. Mayor, id like to begin with you the president today shouted out your governor saying hes doing a good job your governor today said, quote, we are on the right course how do things feel to you there . Well, weve never had more people admitted in our hospitals. Weve never had more people in our intensive care units weve never had more people on ventilators, and we have over 1,300 people that have succumbed to the virus in just Miamidade County, so i dont consider this a win by any stretch we are all, the local mayors and commissioners, we are struggling to figure out how to get around this, and we havent gotten the kind of help we need frankly at the state level and certainly not on the federal level. You had a lot of company. In plain english, do you look back and think we reopened too soon oh, we opened later the state opened up earlier. We waited weeks andeven when the county opened up, we waited more weeks the problem is a compliance one. On april 3rd, we implemented a mandatory mask rule minutes after the cdc said we should do that and for the 109 days since, we have been struggling, trying to get people to wear masks because its become somehow a political statement. So now 109 days later, the president has said hes for them love to have that have been said when we started this, but we didnt, so i guess well just have to go forward and hope he continues to see the light so to speak. Dr. Carnethon, same exact point the mayor just raised. The president now saying we should all wear masks when were in contact with other people and cant remain distant wouldnt that have been helpful, say, first week of april, last week of march . Absolutely. I think what we saw with states that took early action to shut down and to follow the recommendations from the cdc and those states that took early action were those states that had the very acute, early burden of Coronavirus Infections and deaths and frankly that scared those of us who were living in those places we were willing to be compliant, and as we started to open up, we were willing to take personal responsibility for protecting ourselves by following the mandates that were stated by the centers for disease control. We were in an unfortunate position i think new york and Washington State were in a fortunate position where we didnt have discord between cities and the state, in part because we all recognized that we were in this together and that universal policies needed to be in place because it doesnt work very well to try to stop something in one small locality when people can move freely between. As well, when you dont see universal use of protective equipment, people start to question and wonder why rather than simply normalizing the behavior and thats why right now im glad that the messaging has changed, but its going to be very difficult, as the mayor points out, to change attitudes and to gain compliance and, mr. Mayor, back to you on the point the doctor just made you did try to be diligent you continue to try to be diligent you didnt open when others did. Its just that in our society, we are all so mobile now youve got disney world open now disney world is trying to stop the consumption of food and beverage by people who are on foot and walking through the park though stair stitheyre st welcoming guests you are up against, to use a beach metaphor, a crashing wave. Yeah. Listen, its not helpful that our governor has declined to issue a statewide mask mandate you know, look, ive been saying for months, a lot of others have said this, the president and our governor have a lot of people who listen to what they say. For three months, they havent been stressing this compliance issue. They just havent. In fact, our governor a week or so ago in the middle of our surge called it a blip, and there has been this attempt to make it sound like everythings fine we need people to realize how important it is. We need people to lean into compliance, and we need our leaders to lead. We really havent had that i mean the idea that the president now has been sort of dragged or shamed or frightened because of polls into acknowledging that masks are okay is sort of ridiculous given the fact that for three months, weve known that theyre very critical to the stoppage of much of the spread of the virus in a Community Like ours, its very important. So its really a compliance issue right now, but its a messaging and a leadership issue at its root. And, doctor, what about schools . It strikes me its such a deeply personal decision for families its such a deeply fraught decision for School Boards its really easy to open schools. Its much tougher to keep them open absolutely. And whereas weve been talking about the need for National Leadership and National Policies, where we cant have National Policies work, i think, is on School Openings. Until we have a National Mandate and a National Policy about the use of masking, we arent going to see the declines that we need to see to have Community Burden rates at a level where it is safe to open schools there are some communities around the country where opening schools probably can be done as safely as possible, particularly if students are Wearing Masks, if teachers are Wearing Masks, and precautions are taken. But, you know, thats in a state with a burden of less than 5 in 100 people with disease. Its a very different thing in a state where 15 out of 100 are affected or 25 out of 100. In those cases, there need to be local decisions about what happens with School Openings in anticipation of these decisions, there are certain states and cities that are taking steps i live in chicago. We recently had one of our freedoms rolled back, that freedom of bars and Indoor Dining and even the size of indoor gyms. And those steps needed to be taken because as my colleague said today in the tribune, dr. Girarden, we have a series of yellow flags. So we have a compilation of yellow flags that suggests we may be going in the wrong direction. We dont want to wait until we have red flags and our hands are forced on not being able to continue safely reopening. Dr. Mercedes carnethon in chicago, mayor dan gelber, miami beach, thank you both so much for joining us greatly appreciate it. Coming up, he says those camouflaged, militarized federal agents in portland are on a mission of protest suppression we are quoting retired u. S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore, standing by to talk to us thats how a home and auto bundle is made. [ chuckles ] so, what are some Key Takeaways from this commercial . Did any of you hear the bundle your home and auto part . I like that, just not when it comes out of her mouth. Yeah, as a mother, i wouldnt want my kids to see that. Good mom. To see wait. Im sorry. What . Dont kids see enough violence as it is . Ive seen violence. Maybe we turn the word bundle into a character, like mr. Bundles. Top o the bundle to you. [ laughter ] bundle, bundle, bundle. My kids would love that. Yeah. In a highly capable lexus suv at the golden opportunity sales event. Lease the 2020 nx 300 for 339 a month for 36 months. Experience amazing at your lexus dealer. For spending a perfectly reasonable amount of time on the couch with tacos from grubhub . Rewarded get a free delivery perk when you order. [group] grubhub. woman chattering [narrator] ordering dinner for the family . family gasps rewarded with a side of quiet. baby murmuring grubhub rewards you, scooter horn honking get a free delivery perk when you order. doorbell rings [group] grubhub. Every american needs to be concerned about whats happening right now in portland because its unfortunately coming to your city. Its like a roadshow on the part of our president , and hes using portland as his test case. A warning tonight for the rest of the country from the attorney general of oregon shes filed a second lawsuit to force the removal of those feds from the streets of portland and when we say feds, what we mean is no name tags, not easily identifiable, militarized, cam ohwearing, quasi secret police force that our friend Steve Schmidt has called federal storm troopers and jackbooted thugs. Oregons demanding the feds stop detaining their citizens, in some cases forcing them into unmarked vehicles without telling why theyre being arrested the acting Homeland Security secretary chad wolfe, former lobbyist with no Law Enforcement experience, who happens to be the fifth person to serve in that job under trump, he defended the officers actions in two separate appearances today. I dont need invitations by the state, state mayors or state governors to do our job. Were going to do that whether they like us there or not. Thats our responsibility. These Police Officers are not storm troopers they are not the gestapo as some have described them. That description is offensive. Its hyperbolic, and its dishonest. Seemed like he might have been talking right to Steve Schmidt. Back with us tonight, the pride of louisiana, retired u. S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore, who of course led the relief effort on the ground in new orleans in the days following katrina. 37year veteran of our armed forces happens to be the author of a book called leadership in the new follnormal, and i sure hope hes going to update some chapters after this normal is over perhaps general, what made you the angriest looking at these pictures out of portland, oregon number one, they were wearing military uniforms. That uniform represent the cloth of our nation for people who dont draw overtime, who serve around the world at the direction of the National Command authority, and its not to be used as an instrument of protest suppression. The other thing you see people in that uniform that we take a lot of pride in, that uniform is designed to blend into terrain, not to make you look like a warrior. Theyre wearing these uniforms as a function of intimidation, to look like warriors. Real soldiers just dont walk up to people and start beating on em. Real police dont do that. The police have the authority to detain you, and then somebody else will decide whether you get charged or whether you go to jail for whatever offense you might have violated. These men are going out, and i imagine some women, and literally beating people with batons, not apprehending them as we saw in the case of that navy veteran the other night, and just beating em and as we see in this case, detaining people and taking them away they are not representative of good Law Enforcement at all. They are acting like an uncontrolled mob on the street with uniforms and badges that they dont show. As you see right there, they beat this man up you cant you shouldnt police dont do this watch this what kind of bullshit is this . Wolfe need to be run out of washington he has no business in charge of Homeland Security. Were talking about people like khurtoff and tom ridge those type of people of stature led Homeland Security. They have denigrated this to a Lawless Group who go around and think they can can suppress demonstrators doing peaceful as well as disobediencetype demonstrations this is a shame. General, theres an author, a professor up at yale we have on on occasion. He wrote a very small but powerful book called on tyranny and it was kind of timed for the start of the Trump Presidency he lays out things to look for in society that you may be teetering on tyranny heres the one he says about this be wary of paramilitaries. When the proleader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come and, general, i dont think were at this point, but a kind of militarized, roving, National Police force is not what we citizens signed up for well, weve merged into this s. W. A. T. Teams, local sheriffs, a police force, a federal fbi, now Border Patrol all merging themselves into military uniforms get the hell out of our uniforms our uniforms represent a mission in america to save lives, not to take lives do not suppress people right but protect people right to protest. They need to get them out of our uniforms, and i hope this will come out in the next bill is coming out of the senate that force these civil and federal police from wearing military uniforms its a denigration of our uniform to be out and doing things like beating on people while theyre protesting, and not apprehending them but punishing them police do not have the authority to punish people theyre given the authority to apprehend and protect themselves they cannot go around and just beat the hell out of people with sticks, and thats what these federal police are doing shameful on mr. Wolfe for leading such a band out on the streets of america the Lieutenant General who wore the uniform of this nation for 37 years has kindly agreed to stay with us through one commercial break and coming up, his take on the current leadership in our new normal and trying to survive a pandemic at the same time. Usaa is made for whats next were helping members catch up by spreading any missed usaa insurance payments over the next twelve months so they can keep more cash in your pockets for when it matters most find out more at usaa. Com the open road is open again. And wherever youre headed, Choice Hotels is there. Book direct at choicehotels. Com. And the clock could be ticking towards bad breath, receding gums and possibly tooth loss. Help turn back the clock on gingivitis with parodontax. Leave bleeding gums behind. Parodontax. We did a lot of things right. We did a lot of things right, including with equipment so its a shame that it happened it shouldnt have happened china should have stopped it that was part of the president s response when he was asked whether or not he would take responsibility if things get worse, if more americans die. Lets go back to our guest, retired u. S. Army Lieutenant General Russel Honore. General, responsibility is leadership leadership depends on the chain of command as no one need remind a 37year veteran. What is your level of confidence in this president as a leader . And i note for our viewers, youre a louisianan where you guys were the petri dish for this thing early on and where youre coming back after flattening the curve and spiking again. Absolutely, brian im scared as hell i really am, not to the point where this is all i think about, but im scared im scared for people my age im scared for poor people who do not have resources to get the testing done im afraid for people, working people who have been trying to get tested for months. I think what the president did today is to start to own the problem, and i hope he realized what he said because sometimes his audio and his video doesnt match and that he might come back tomorrow and change but had he did what he did today six months ago and start to take some ownership of this not only in words but in deed, hes finally admitted its good to wear a mask. And i know up front it was somewhat confusing but the president has failed to use the power of the defense production act to produce the test kits we need and the antigens we need to produce those tests so we have sufficient testing to cover the entire nation. And now weve gone into school season, and were going into the flu season in the fall and all of the Public Health people and im a Logistics Command and control guy, but i spent a lot of time with Public Health, with doctors, to include senator cassidy, one of our senators here from louisiana, been working on a plan to do the Contact Tracing as well as the isolation. And we hope the president will approve enough money so we can get the testing at the level we need and that he continue to take ownership and tell the nation, tell the nation, demand the nation and tell the governors its okay to shut down in florida, texas, california, and mississippi and louisiana dont shut down, were going to be in a real mess going into the end of august and the beginning of september he needs to take ownership he needs to look forward and get the testing done and get the quick testing resourced and get it done now, brian we cannot wait this is his virus now. It was the china virus, but now its his general, dont you move an inch until you hear the allclear. To our viewers, i was there the day this man rode into new orleans to take control of the katrina response, and ive kind of been an unvarnished fan ever since. Retired Lieutenant General Russel Honore, thank you its a great pleasure to be able to talk to you anytime coming up, counselors, cabins, campfires, kids. These rituals of summer interrupted like so much else in life you heard the general. Except for the places that have figured out how to do it right and the parents willing to put their trust in them. G to be payg for this for a long time. They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. 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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. Humira is proven to help stop further joint damage. Want more proof . Ask your rheumatologist about humira citratefree. If you cant afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. I wouldnt hesitate to send my kids back to school yeah, but you see, heres the problem. A lot of parents are scared and hesitant at the thought of sending their kids back to school in the middle of a pandemic it is, again, a deeply personal decision with the school year quickly approaching, summer camps are seen as kind of a test run of sorts for getting kids back together in groups our report on that tonight from nbcs Stephanie Gosk reporter with School Districts scrambling to get ready for the first day back, whatever that may look like, a reality check on what is possible in miami. Were going to be closing all of our summer camps effective this week. Reporter parkrun day camps shut down early after four cases of covid were discovered among campers and staff. Many educators see summer camp as the canary in the coal mine for reopening schools. And there have been mixed results. In missouri, 82 kids and staff got sick at an overnight camp earlier this month even with extra Safety Measures in place like health screenings, voluntary selfquarantine before camp began, and new air Filtration Systems in cabins but at the hideaway day camp in pennsylvania, success. What has worked the best for us is keeping those campers in a controlled environment, so in very small groups, rotating together and away from other groups. Reporter so when two campers tested positive for covid, only those children and staff had to be quarantined but camp is not school most of your activities are outside. Most schools activities are inside for sure. I think its going to be quite the challenge. Reporter facing those challenges will take smart planning and money today the Senate Majority leader proposed 105 billion for schools. Their educations depend on it in some cases, their safety depends on it, and so do the livelihoods of working parents reporter but some teachers are worried. Floridas Largest Teachers Union is suing the governor over his order to reopen schools five days a week. Theyre saying they want to open up these schools but yet theyre not putting more funding. Reporter Governor Ron Desantis said on monday the aim of the order was to give parents options including Remote Learning if they prefer. While at hideaway day camp, the benefits of being with other kids are open. I was ready to do Something Different and get out of the house. I think they are thrilled, overwhelmed, and, you know, were kind of seeing them come back to Life Reporter for the school year, thats a goal everyone shares Stephanie Gosk, nbc news and coming up here, just today we were given a glimpse of something of a miracle at sea, or as elon musk calls it, tuesday. The story when we return from our final break. Bile app, bile app, your bank can be virtually any place. So, when you get a check. You can deposit it from here. And you can see your transactions and check your balance from here. You can save for an emergency from here. Or pay bills from here. So when someone asks you, wheres your bank . You can tell them heres my bank. Or heres my bank. Or, heres my bank. Because if you download and use the chase mobile app, your bank is virtually any place. Visit chase. Com mobile. Im szasz. [norm] and we live in columbia, missouri. We do consulting, but we also write. [szasz] we take care of ourselves constantly; its important. 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You cant fly to europe if you want to. You cant drive to canada for that matter. No one can blame our neighbors to the north as they have managed their response to the coronavirus. And all that is why we thought we should end tonight on something good or, at minimum, interesting. And then elon musk came along to supply it. The very same spacex rocket that blasted those two astronauts into orbit 51 days ago, nicely giving us something fun to watch other than tiger king during quarantine, well, yesterday that rocket carried a south korean satellite into orbit thats a record short turnaround for starters, and while the rocket came back okay, they wanted to try recovering the nose cone, two pieces that protect the satellite during launch and then split apart to send it off into space so elon musk, as one does, launched two boats with a lot of complex science on board along with a big net, not unlike the kind that catches the occasional flying wall enda and there they were, gently lowered by parachute into the floating catchers mitt at sea all in a days work. So just to review, we cant fly to europe or drive to canada, but we can use a net on a boat to catch a piece of metal falling to earth from outer space. That seems about right for the america of the year 2020, doesnt it thats our broadcast for this tuesday evening. As always, thank you so very much for spending some time with us on behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night so this is one of those nights where i tell you that i had something all planned to talk about right here at the top of the show. I had been planning it all day we had worked on a whole big a block, reported it out, factchecked it, started producing it for televisio