He still has his job. The coronavirus is still a Public Health emergency in the United States to the tune of well north of 4. 5 million confirmed cases now. Over 154,000 americans dead. The centers for Disease Control now projecting the death toll could top more than 180,000 by the end of august. Thats according to an internal government document obtained by yahoo news. University of washington predicting 230,000 dead by election day. Several states are still fighting an intense resurgence of this virus with the sun belt hit especially hard. Trump spent the afternoon in one of those states, in fact, greeting a small about mostly unmasked crowd in tampa, florida. It was his 45th trip to florida as president. He arrived as that state set its fourth consecutive oneday record death toll from covid19. Florida is also in the midst of trying to prepare, as we said, for hurricane isaias. Trump tried to put an optimistic spin on both threats. My guess its going to be a pretty rough storm, but i know one thing. After having done this for 3 1 2 years, youve seen worse. Youve seen some beauties. We continue to take very aggressive action to combat the virus in florida. Were providing Additional Resources and personnel to help save lives. The single best way to defeat the disease is personal responsibility. Wear a mask when you cannot avoid crowded places or socially distance and wash your hands as often as possible. I think things that are going to be really spectacular. Were very proud of whats happening, and well get rid of it. Well beat it, and it will be soon. Well ask miamis mayor about these dual challenges to his city just a few minutes from now. The president also said he expects to release his Health Care Plan very soon, possibly sunday. Remember it was just 12 days ago trump told Chris Wallace hed be signing a full and complete Health Care Plan within two weeks. As for his handling of this health crisis, new abc news ipsos poll finds 34 of americans approve of his pandemic response. Twothirds of those surveyed, 66 , disapprove. This morning three members of Trumps Coronavirus Task force, the governments testing czar, brett giroir, dr. Anthony fauci and cdc director Robert Redfield were on capitol hill fielding questions from house members about the government response. Dr. Fauci, can you help us understand why when europe has largely contained the virus, the United States has seen a continued rise in new cases . When they shut down or locked down or went to shelter in place, however you want to describe it, they really did it to the tune of about 95plus percent of the country did that. We really functionally shut down only about 50 in the sense of the totality of the country. We feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021. Weve seen all kinds of that stuff during protests, and we know the protests actually increased the spread of the virus. Youve said that. So the protests dont increase the spread of the virus . I didnt say that. Youre putting words in my mouth. I just want an answer to the question. Did the protests increase the spread of the virus . I dont have any Scientific Evidence that anything would it possible for our nation to have results for all covid tests completed and returned with 48 and 72 hours . Is that a possible benchmark that we can achieve . It is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today given the demand and the supply. It is absolutely a benchmark we can achieve moving forward. At least mr. Giroir was being candid there. The experts warn that without adequate and timely testing, the country will continue to struggle to return to normal. Well just keep going the way weve been going in other words. And the economic toll from this pandemic has been devastating as you know. In less than an hour, that 600 weekly unemployment benefit that has helped, oh, 30 millionplus americans make ends meet officially comes to an end. But the senate left town for their long weekend yesterday. Congress and the white house no closer to a deal to extend that aid or any kind of an agreement on a larger relief bill. Instead there were more accusations about whos to blame for the failure to reach even a shortterm fix. We have made no less than four different offers to democrats on capitol hill. Four different offers have been actually rejected, but more importantly than that, theyve not even been countered with a proposal. What were seeing is politics as usual from democrats up on capitol hill. The white house offered a shortterm approach of continuing with that 600 additional federal money to go on top of state Unemployment Insurance payments, and you rejected it. So no, that isnt true. Lets just set the record but explain why they made no such offer. They made no such offer. So dont accept something as fact just because the white house said it. They made no such offer. Speaker pelosi and chief of staff meadows, Close Friends as you can tell, are to meet in her office tomorrow morning. Before leaving for his florida visit today, the president was asked about the negotiations. Are you going to spell out exactly what you want right now . They know what i want. And what i want is i want our people to be able to live and live well because it wasnt their fault that china brought in this pandemic, that china brought in this plague. Its chinas fault. You want to know the truth, china should be paying for it. Trump was also raising the volume on his effort to discredit voting by mail, part of a process of casting doubt on the integrity of our upcoming election. Why arent you spending more energy to get the resources and the funding for the states that they want to be able to secure this election for all americans . Peter, you know nothing about my energy, okay . You know nothing about what im doing. Everyone knows mailin ballots are a disaster. This will be catastrophic for our nation, and youll see it. Im always right about things like this. I guess i must be. I wouldnt be sitting here. And late today, the president told reporters hes mulling over taking action against the social media platform tiktok. We know this in large part because sarah cooper turned it into a video on tiktok. Tonight on the plane to washington, the president apparently went further. He wants to ban tiktok starting as early as tomorrow from operating in our country. And about the talks of the chinese selling tiktok to microsoft, he says hes against that too. Its a lot, but our initial guests here tonight can handle it. Our leadoff discussion on a friday evening includes susan page, usa today Washington Bureau chief. Dr. Anne rimoin, professor of epidemiology at ucla, where she also runs the citys center for global and immigrant health, specializing in emerging infectious diseases. And robert costa, National Political reporter with the washington post, moderator of Washington Week on your pbs station. Susan, id like to begin with you. Keeping in mind were 95 days out, this is a president looking straight down the barrel of reelection. How would you grade this week in the history of this white house . I think i would Say Something i say at the end of every week, which is this was the most momentous week ever. I know other weeks have seemed that way, but think about this week. We saw the biggest economic decline in growth since we started keeping records. We saw that more than 1,000 americans a day are dying from this deadly pandemic. And we had the president of the United States suggest that we just might delay the election in november. So this was a week that just i cannot remember another week in my time as a journalist where theres been such a confluence of such dire crises. And as you say, put on top of that an election in 95 days. Robert costa, i want to play some of your interview with former new jersey governor and trump adviser on and off, chris christie. Well talk about it on the other side. He is on the same page with the people who are advising him now, and i think that youll continue to see that happen over the course of the next 95 days. So, robert, not to be snide, how will we know when trump makes that pivot to listen to and follow the advice of his advisers . It might never come, brian, based on my reporting today, talking to governor christie and others close to the president. That christie question came about because the New York Post reported over the weekend that governor christie and Jared Kushner and bill stepien, the new campaign manager, all went to bedminster last weekend and had what the New York Post called a come to jesus meeting with President Trump, trying to get him to turn the page a little bit as he falls behind Vice President biden in the polls. But this is a president , brian, who i covered up close this week in texas, flying in the pool on air force one. A president alone, charting his own course when it comes to the virus response, distant from dr. Fauci and others. You think about dr. Fauci today testifying about hydroxychloroquine having issues and challenges, yet the president earlier this week going with doctors who are very controversial when it comes to hydroxychloroquine, going against his own food and drug administrations guidance. And that approach is just not going to change based on my conversations with trump associates. Yeah, i was going to say why change now . Anne rimoin, i have something for you too. This is a bit of dr. Faucis testimony today. Well talk about it on the other side. I think there was such a diversity of response in this country from different states that we really did not have a unified bringing everything down. So diversity of response, thats a euphemism for scattershot failure. And, anne, is our National Policy as of tonight and Going Forward does it remain the lack of a National Policy . I was just going to say, brian, when you say National Policy, what National Policy . We dont have a National Policy. We had a hearing this morning about how we were going to move forward with a National Policy, and theres still nothing clear in there. You know, we still have where we stand today is we still are lacking in testing. Were lacking in contact tracing. We are lacking in therapeutics and vaccines. We know the few things that works the masks, the social distancing, all the five things that fauci mentioned today, masks, social distancing, dont go to bars, stay away from crowded places, wash your hands. Thats all weve got, yet we cannot get on the same page in all states and have a National Policy. The idea of having this kind of patchwork just means that we are going to be leaving opportunity for this virus to continue to spread as it has out of control until we actually do come together to do something. You know, i think we need to realize that until we actually come together and do what we need to do as a country, we are doomed to be in this spiral. We have never been more dependent upon each other as people, as states, and as a nation before. It is time for people to do the right thing, wear a mask, social distance, hand hygiene, but have states actually mandate this and get people on the same page. It took a long time for people to get on the same page about wearing seat belts. It took a long time for people to get on the same page about smoking. It took a long time, and people are still trying to get on the same page about not texting in a car. Wearing a mask is the same idea. It should not be political. The politicization of science is whats responsible for this mess. It is totally unnecessary. Robert costa, again not to be snide, i would ask this question of a member of the senate, but they all left town. What do you have to tell people by way of hope, people who have come to depend on these additional payments theyve been getting because theyve been idle, out of work during a pandemic . I would look beyond the rhetoric if youre paying close attention to this because on the surface, it seems like both sides are far apart. Chief of staff meadows going out there and saying hes made offers, but the democrats havent taken them. But lets remember the facts here. For the last five to six months, Speaker Pelosi and secretary mnuchin have been the key players. Theyre still at the table. Theyre still having conversations. Theyve cut major stimulus deals in recent weeks, and theyre likely to do it again based on my conversations with Top Democrats and white house officials. But what this is about right now is this 11th hour stage to steal your own phrase where they all need to posture a little bit, signal to their base that theyve done all they could to fight for their different points. But you already have the white house making its own offer for a shortterm bill, a narrow bill. What the democrats and Speaker Pelosi really want right now is a little bit more on the table, to come together on something beyond just extending Unemployment Benefits for four months. They want to see more of a wholesale approach. Thats the democratic view. But they havent stopped talking. Theyre still meeting, and they know for both parties, its important to get something done just 94 days before the election. In many of these swing states, people are counting on these benefits, and these are the kind of voters in many of these swing states who were veering between going trump or clinton in 2016, and they may be uncertain this time around. These are the swing voters, oftentimes lower, middle class voters who are counting on this, and it will be a factor in their vote. Susan page, back to the clip of chris christie, which is so interesting. And no knock on the wifi service at pbs, but its always hard to see in these zooms and skype interviews. He looked like he had a straight face, saying the president s on the same page with the advisers around him. Talk, however, about the obvious disconnect between the president s talking points during this week that was and what most americans are forced to be concerned about. You know, i can guarantee you that the president s team was not saying, why dont you talk about delaying the election and then banning tiktok . Because when you think about the things that americans are worried about this week, neither of those are the subject at hand. Americans are very concerned about this pandemic, which is not under control, just keeps getting worse, about the Economic Situation thats followed, and about whether a government that continues to seem dysfunctional is going to be able to put together another package of relief as we head off a cliff. Remember, 30 million americans lose enhanced Unemployment Benefits today, and americans are also simultaneously losing the protection, the moratorium on eviction from their homes. So we are heading into difficult times for millions of our fellow citizens, and well see if our government is up to helping them. Absolutely right. Anne rimoin out on the west coast, during our conversation, the times is just out with a new piece. Were going to put the headline on the screen. It has to do with your state of california becoming the first state to reach 500,000 total cases. Anne, you and i have had this discussion before. They were doing so well. The governor seemed to have his arms around this. Does this mirror the same problem in so many other sun belt states . In short, what happened . You know, tony fauci said it today in the hearing. We opened up too soon, and were seeing exactly what you said. We are seeing the effects of what happens when you open up too soon. The virus wasnt gone. We did not eradicate the virus. We just pushed it down to a much lower level than it was beforehand. And we dont have a magic pill here. We dont have some magic solution. Its only going to be dealt with by hard work. And we stopped doing the hard work. We relaxed. We got complacent, and we are paying the price. And every state is going to pay this same price if they relax because the virus is among us. It is here. Its not going anywhere, and so everybody should be doing their best right now. Its time to double down. Its now or never. We have schools trying to open up. Anne rimoin on the west coast, susan page, robert costa in washington, great thanks to our beginning three for starting us off on another consequential friday night. Coming up for us, florida is about to find out what happens when you mix a pandemic with a hurricane. Remember, please, this is a virus that thrives on close quarters like evacuation centers. The mayor of miami standing by to talk with us on whats a busy night for him. And later, is your Government Armed and dangerous . The man who wrote the book on tyranny is also with us tonight, and his outlook is decidedly frightening. The 11th hour just getting under way on a friday evening. I think its pretty clear we will get, at a minimum, Tropical Storm force wind impacts, likely hurricaneforce wind impacts. Make sure you have your plan. Make sure you have seven days of food and supplies and medicine. There could be some power outages. Southern coast of florida is tonight under a hurricane warning. Thats Serious Business in that state as hurricane isaias heads their way. Unsettling news for a state that has earned its title as a global epicenter of the coronavirus with more cases than many nations on our planet. As we mentioned, florida set another daily death toll record again today for the fourth time in a row. Of the 257 new deaths reported, nearly 100 sadly were in Miamidade County alone. Predictably the approaching storm means coronavirus testing sites in miami and elsewhere are being temporarily closed. This is only going to extend wait times in many cases, which were already horrendous. Its a lot. We welcome back one of the men in the middle of this, miamis republican mayor, francis suarez, who also happens to be a coronavirus survivor. Mr. Memo, we know youre busy. Thank you for making a few minutes for us. Lets fastforward right to the practical. For this time tomorrow night, how do you house evacuees six feet apart, and how do you test people coming into evacuation sites who are presenting with symptoms . As you said, you know, this is, you know, an unprecedented set of circumstances. He had are accustomed to dealing with hurricanes and having mass evacuations. During irma, we evacuated i believe 400,000 people throughout the entire Miamidade County. There are 20 evacuation sites that are ready, and obviously people will have to social distance if we have to evacuate within the evacuation site. Theyre going to have to bring masks and disinfectants so that they can make sure that, you know, that theyre not doing anything thats going to create a contagion in an evacuation site. Even for our Emergency Operations center, we have to take similar procedures. Everyone has to take their temperature before going into our Emergency Operations center, which usually relies on close quarters for people to coordinate, but now were going to have to be socially distant. Everyone is going to have to be Wearing Masks inside as we, you know, deal with whatever can come from the storm. Is there a rough percentage of real estate in the city of miami that is susceptible to storm surge and high water in a hurricane this size in the past . You know, its all the coastal areas, and its usually, you know, a few hundred feet within the coastal areas. I would say its probably 10 to 20 of the entire you know, of the city of miami, which is a coastal region. And depending on what side the hurricane hits us, whether its the dirty side of the hurricane or not, that will depend on what kind of storm surge we get. During irma, we got about four to six feet of storm surge, and that was a category 1. Dorian, which thankfully did not make landfall in the United States but did over the bahamas, was a category 5 and sat on top of the bahamas for two days and created 15 to 20foot storm surge. Thats something that theres no city on the planet that is prepared for, and were certainly hopeful that we dont experience anything like that over the next 24 hours. The president today predicted a big decline soon in coronavirus cases in florida. Do you know where hes getting that . I dont know where hes getting that. In fact, you know, what were seeing is sort of a plateau over the last two weeks. Obviously we implemented mask in public rule. We have curfews both county wide at 10 00 p. M. And in the city of miami beach at 8 00 p. M. , particularly in south beach. We have Indoor Dining has been closes. So there are a variety of mitigation factors that weve seen reduce the percent positive from 20 to about 18 , and the new case increase rate, the rate at which it increases every day, has slowed from a high point of 125 new cases per day to a low point of about 8 new cases per day. But we still have not bent the curve. So im not sure where that would be coming from. What were seeing similar to houston is more of a plateau right now. Well let you go back to work. Were certainly thinking of you this time tomorrow night, say. Good luck to you and your city this weekend. Our thanks to mayor francis suarez, great city of miami, florida, for joining us tonight. Coming up for us, one of the leading experts on tyranny says this president is taking advantage of a posttruth internet to spread his propaganda. The author Timothy Snyder joins us when we continue. Everyone knows mailin ballots are a disaster. They think theyre going to send hundreds of millions of ballots all over the United States, and its going to come out. You wont know the election result for weeks, months, maybe years after. Maybe youll never know the election result, and thats what im concerned with. It will be fixed. It will be rigged. People ought to get smart. That is our president today continuing to peddle the false narrative that mailin voting is rife with fraud. A reminder that yesterday he suggested we should delay the election. Heres how House Speaker nancy pelosi responded today. To understand this, he wants to cancel the election or postpone the election. Really . Did he learn that from putin or something . To trumps suggestion, our next guest writes, quote, with this tweet, the president both revives fascist propaganda and exploits a new age of internet posttruth. He follows a trail blazed by fascists but adds a twist that is his own. With us to talk about it indeed, professor Timothy Snyder of yale university. He was a marshall scholar educated in the ivy league, specializing on europe and the holocaust. He happens to be the author of two books of note to our discussion always, on tyranny 20 lessons from the 20th century and the road to unfreedom russia, europe, america. Professor, while not enumerated on your list of tyrannical markers publicly ruminating about pushing off an election, where does this land on our list of tyrannical markers to be aware of . Well, i think whats essential is that we have a situation where the president is creating problems himself and then deciding that those problems are an emergency which require drastic action. If the president s postmaster general would support the post office, we wouldnt have any problem with mail. If the president had taken quicker action or acted now on covid, we wouldnt need so many mailin ballots. And in general if the president and his party supported legislation about domestic and foreign reform to protect the vote, we would be in a much more secure position than we are. So we have problems that could be addressed with policy. The danger is that we have a leader who instead of policy prefers to manufacture an emergency. And manufacturing emergencies, creating situations where you say, we have to do things that are extraordinary, like suspend elections, finding these moments of exception, thats what fascist leaders do. And mr. Trump is very good with this kind of language, so we have to be wary. The phrase the center holds comes to mind. Are you confident that the center will hold . I saw that this is perfectly keeping on brand for 2020. John dean tweeted tonight his suggestion that ups and fedex be engaged in this to be carriers of ballots as a workaround to our weakened United States postal service. Are you confident that norms and good people will carry the day . I think its a very good question because i think in the end, institutions are only as good as the people, as the citizens who carry them forward. And i think that mr. Dean and the other smart, intelligent patriots around the country are doing the right thing if theyre thinking about what we should do in anticipation of november. What we know is we have a country thats used to democracy, thats being governed by a president who doesnt like the rule of law. This is pretty much a guarantee given his poll standings that there will be some kind of insecurity and uncertainty in november. What we need to be able to show as citizens and as a society and a nation is that were mature enough to handle a little bit of uncertainty, that a problem isnt the same thing as a crisis, and that an outcome which is democratic and which follows the law is more important than any individual persons desire to win. Your book enumerates so much of what weve seen, and i should hasten to add before we saw it, buildings with the leaders name on them, military parades and on and on. It also enumerates the sight we have now seen in portland, oregon, militarized, all but anonymous, camouflaged federal agents, in quotes, when they first went to work grabbing people into unmarked vehicles, i know that got your attention. Yeah. I mean the question is does the land of the free need a kgb . I would say the answer is no. The United States of america does not need a secret police. We do not need a police force which appears without insignia, which doesnt identify itself, and which pulls random people off the street. Thats the nightmare of an authoritarian or totalitarian state. Thats a line that we should not be crossing. We should also be concerned about where this comes from. History tells us that the people, the men who staff these kinds of organizations, are very often people with experience in lawless zones. That means concentration camps or places like our detention centers. It tells us that they are very often people of experience defending a border or working at a border, which again is the case here. And another thing which is concerning is that all of this is taking place not on the base of law but on the basis of a conspiracy theory. The president mouths dangerous words like anarchists and so on and terrorists. Thats all a conspiracy theory. Nothing like that is actually happening in the United States. So these are all historical reasons to be very concerned. This is why in the book i said be wary of paramilitaries and also be reflective if you must be armed. These are things that we should be keeping in mind. We of course can see the dangers of this. We can still talk about it, and we can still stop it, and we should do the right thing before its too late. To our viewers, the book is short. The book is inexpensive, but the book contains so much of what weve just discussed. Professor, we are always grateful for your time. Thank you very much for joining us once again. Coming up for us after our next break, a retired fourstar u. S. Army general calls the administrations decision to withdraw thousands of troops from germany a straightup gift to Vladimir Putin. Well talk to him about that when we come back. Germanys delinquent. They havent paid their fees. They havent paid their nato fees, and theyre way off, and theyve been off for years, and they have no intention of paying it. And the United States has been taken advantage of on trade and on military and on Everything Else for many years, and im here, and ive been straightening it out. But germany owes billions and billions of dollars to nato. And why would we keep all of those troops there . The pentagon is already moving forward with plans to pull u. S. Troops out of germany. Fred kaplan who writes for slate characterized the president s decision this way, and its generous. Quote, far from being a major strategic and positive shift, as secretary of defense mark esper characterized it at a News Conference wednesday, it is purely an outburst of trumps angst and revenge aimed at german chancellor Angela Merkel for various slights against him. We should quickly add here we have to hope it is just that and not Something Else motivating this president. So back with us again tonight to talk about it, retired fourstar u. S. Army general barry mccaffrey, decorated combat veteran of vietnam, former battlefield commander in the persian gulf, former head of the u. S. Southern command, former member of the clinton cabinet. General, a couple of questions here. Why should the secretary of defense carry this out and not resign in protest . Why is what the president is doing, pulling 12,000 of our men and women out of germany why would that be at or near the wish list of Vladimir Putin . Im astonished that secretary esper, who is a very experienced, bright guy, could say that with a straight face. The centerpiece of u. S. National security is nato. Germany, france, and the uk alone have 600,000 active forces. Our purpose in europe is to deter aggression. A lot of our forces in europe are paid for partially and supported by the germans and by nato. So pulling them out and particularly redistricting some of them around to italy and brussels and spending billions of dollars moving them is not only fracturing nato, but it looks like petulant behavior by mr. Trump toward the head of state of the most economically advanced nation in europe, germany. It doesnt make any sense. Its a wish come true for mr. Putin, a kgb thug who has gotten russia, i might add, in serious economic and political trouble. I want to play for you an exchange between romney and pompeo on this topic on the hill. Well discuss on the other side. I have heard from highest levels of the German Government that this is seen by them as an insult to germany, and i cant imagine at a time when we need to be drawing in our friends and allies so that we can collectively confront china, that we want to insult them. General, thats what republicans in the senate used to sound like until 2018. Asking you, knowing you may not have a ready answer, where are the republican members of the senate . Theyre supposed to be the check on this. Theyve all been struck mute. I think basically its become, and from their viewpoint, political survival in the primary season. You know, the voters in both parties in the primaries are extremists, tend to be extremists. Theyre energized, and they dont want to be knocked out of office. So theyve sat there watching things unfold that are a direct threat to the safety of the american people. Its astonishing. You know, we talk about combat multipliers in military power. A combat multiplier is your allies. And, again, the allies we have in nato share our values, have Enormous Economic strength. Yes, they should be paying more for nato collective defense, but theyre already there on the ground, and our presence adds to the deterrence of russian mischief against poland, against the ukraine, against the baltic states. Its an astonishing slap at u. S. National security effort to pull these troops out right now, particularly based on the obvious rationale that it was momentary anger. Its a personality conflict of poor mr. Trump against Angela Merkel, who he called stupid, i might add, with her ph. D. In physics. General, lets talk one last question on forces domestic. You lived there in seattle, washington, not far from portland, oregon. Seattle was supposed to be the second front of these militarized feds. I follow you on social media. I see your reaction every time someone suggests defunding the city police department. In addition to giving birth to a new trump ad every time that phrase is used, whats the danger on the local front . Very low. Its probably 150, 200 people that are out of control every night. A lot of the Stores Downtown are boarded up. Of course partially covid is killing the u. S. Economy along with seattles. But the city is not a dangerous place yet. I think, you know, the bottom line is mr. Trump deploying these dhs Law Enforcement agents was looking for a confrontation and got it. He achieved his purpose. Theres thousands of national guards, state police, local Law Enforcement in both oregon and the state of washington. Theyre capable, and by the way under the constitution, charged with enforcing criminal law, not the feds. So it was just a political provocation by mr. Trump. I think hes now realizing its gone wrong on him, and hes withdrawing those forces hopefully. We dont want a National Police force in the United States, and thats really what hes started to create. General, great to be able to talk to you always. Thank you very much for spending part of your friday night with us. Retired general barry mccaffrey. Coming up for us, as the world races for this coronavirus vaccine, that raises think about it some tougher questions. Who gets it . How many will have to get it to stop the disease . The story, both fascinating and disturbing, from our own Richard Engel coming up next. The virus is still spreading. Californias economic challenges are deepening. Frontline workers stretched too thin. Our nurses and medical professionals in a battle to save lives. Our schools, in a struggle to safely reopen, needing money for masks and ppe, and to ensure social distancing. And the costs to our economy, to our state budget . Mounting every day. We need to provide revenues now, to solve the problems we know are coming. That man, dr. Fauci, said again today bestcase scenario is a vaccine at the least formulated by the end of the year. And once there is a vaccine in hand, theres worry about a kind of wealthdriven vaccine nationalism that will leave countries in a lifeordeath competition. We get this story tonight from our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel. Reporter as the u. S. And europe scramble to secure vaccines even before theyre fully tested and ready, concerns are growing tonight about a coming freeforall with rich countries gobbling up supply. And virologists warn unilateral approaches wont work, that unless the world is immunized, the virus will keep coming back. If the goal is to really end the pandemic, you have to take a global view. Reporter Seth Berkeley is the ceo of a group called gavi, the Global Alliance for vaccines, responsible for vaccinating 60 of the worlds children. Gavis ambitious plan in coordination with the World Health Organization is to secure deals with Drug Companies for 2 billion doses of a variety of vaccines and distribute them more equitably around the world concentrating first where infection spreads the most, among doctors and nurses. Gavi hopes immunizing a targeted 20 of the entire planet will break the pandemics back. Even if a country has access to vaccines, if it wants to go back to normal, if it wants to have trade, if it wants to have tourism, if it wants to have an ability to move around, it cant have large reservoirs of virus in other countries. Reporter more than 160 nations have signed on to gavis Global Vaccine Initiative with one notable absence, the United States, though talks are ongoing. How troubling is it to you that President Trump and his administration arent buying into this . Lets see how that goes. My suspicion is that the u. S. At the end will Pay Attention to the global issues because i think at the end, that will prevail. Reporter gavi says its goal is to push out 2 billion vaccine doses by the end of 2021. And our thanks to our chief Foreign CorrespondentRichard Engel for that. Coming up, deja vu all over again. What is it about this president and hurricanes . Well explain after this. These folks, they dont have time to go to the post office they have businesses to grow customers to care for lives to get home to they use stamps. Com print discounted postage for any letter any package any time right from your computer all the Amazing Services of the post office only cheaper get our special tv offer a 4week trial plus postage and a digital scale go to stamps. Com tv and never go to the post office again hey, last thing before we go tonight and leave you to your weekend, this hurricane heading for florida tonight is no joke even without a pandemic. This is a very serious storm. And when we show you this photo, you will perhaps remember what made this notable at the time. This was september 4th of 2019. The president was warning of the approaching hurricane dorian. The warning cone did not include alabama, but he had already said it did. He hates to be wrong. So one sharpie stroke later, suddenly alabama was added to the cone of uncertainty. Alabama was never supposed to get the storm. Alabama never got the storm. It put the National Weather service, its government parent noaa, and actual forecasting professionals in a very tough spot. Now, were showing you this prior to playing something for you. Listen carefully here. This is the president in florida today. Its approaching the florida coast. The storms already passed through puerto rico and the virgin islands. And ive approved emergency declarations for both of those areas. Were in Constant Contact with georgia, south carolina, north carolina, alabama, and anybody else that may have a problem. But we think its going to be its going to work out very well. Perhaps you caught it. Just threw alabama in there again. Alabama is nowhere near the projected cone as of tonight. So be an educated consumer. If you see this, if you see a kind of sharpie protuberance adding alabama to this storm, it means in plain english somebody thinks youre stupid. Stay with us for storm updates all weekend long. Please have a safe and healthy weekend. That is our broadcast for this friday night and for this week. Thank you so very much for being here with us. On behalf of all my colleagues at the networks of nbc news, good night. Im really sorry. I understand why they hate me. To anyone that loved him. For the role i played, i played, im deeply, deeply sorry. It was right out of a soap opera. The husband, the wife, the affair with the local dentist. Blew me away. Like wow. He could pull me in so easily. But the script turned dark when her husband turned up dead. Everything was a blur. She just said they found him in his car outside his gym. We all assumed it was a