this is the 76th anniversary of this event. i want you to know i wasn't there because i was too young to make it up. these birds have a new appreciation of the word let freedom ring. >> president biden with some jokes during the turkey pardon at the white house yesterday. meanwhile his campaign is facing calls from fellow democrats to become more active and aggressive against donald trump. speaking of the former president, we'll explain what happened yesterday in the gag order hearing for his federal election interference case. and also ahead we'll bring you the latest in the hostage negotiations between hamas and israel, which appear to be centered on a pause in the fighting in gaza. good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this tuesday, november 21st. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we've got a lot to get isto this morning, and we'll begin with new polling that shows americans overwhelmingly supporting boosting security at the southern border while they're less enthusiastic about helping countrie embroiled in foreign conflicts. in the latest nbc news survey 74% of registered voters say they are inavor of the united states spending more money on border security while 22 say they oppose doing so. the next most popularctn the country could take is providing humanitarian aid to gaza, which 58% are in favor of and 36 ers opposed. that falls to 5% when asked about providing more funding and military aid to israelnd ukraine, and an even lower number, 53% when it's to support providing more funding and military aid to taiwan. but we should note all of those have the support of majority of americans surveyed. to politics now, the commission on presidential debates has announced the dates and locations for next 's presidential debates. th candidates nominated to lead their party's tickets in the 2024 general election will first meet september 16th at texas state university. the second presidential debate is scheduled for october 1st at virginia state university, and the third will be at the university of utah on october 9th. only one debate is scheduled september 25th in easton, pennsylvania. so far both the biden and trump campaigns have declined to comment on the schedule. let's remember this. last year the republican national committee voted to bar gop candidates from participating in debates organized by the commission after years of former president trump trashing the organization for alleged bias. so unless that is revisited, these debates may not happen at all at least not with this organizer. speaking of trump, he hosted house speaker mike johnson in person for the first time just days after johnson publicly backed trump for president. two sources familiar with the meeting tell nbc news that the two men gathered last night at trump's mar-a-lago estate in palm beach, florida. speaker johnson essentially broke with tradition when he backed trump for president because congressional party leaders typically hold back from endorsing a candidate until after a presumptive nominee is established. but, of course, in 2020 it was johnson that led an amicus brief that was later signed by 100 republicans in support of a texas lawsuit that sought to invalidate the election results in four battleground states won by president joe biden. johnson cast his lot then. meanwhile, a growing number of former top aides to ex-president trump are publicly warning a second trump presidency would be a grave threat to the nation's democracy itself. "the washington post" interviewed 16 former trump advisor who are now speaking out against him publicly. and that includes john kelly, who was the longest serving chief of staff for the former president. kelly tells "the post" that he cannot understand how trump continues to have the support that he enjoys, and that he doesn't know what to do or what he could do to convince voters of the threat trump poses if he were be re-elected. quelly tells the newspaper this. what's going on in the country that a single person thinks this guy would still be a good president when he said the things he said and done the things he's done, it's beyond my comprehension he has t support he has. the retired four-star general contue "i came out and told people the awful thing he said about wounded soldiers, and it didn't have half day's bounce. you had his attorney general bill barr come out and not half a day's bounts. if anything his numbers went up. i think we're in a dangerous zone in our country." others who spoke out against trump to "the post" including former attorney general bill barr, former white house counsel ty cobb, former national security advisor john bolten, former trump pence advisor mark shwart. biden who has been using humor more and more to address questions about his age joked about his birthday at a white house event yesterday. >> i just want you to know it's difficult turning 60, difficult. this is the 76th anniversary of this event, and i want you to know i wasn't there because i was too young to make it up. >> biden also posted this picture on instagram yesterday with the caption reading, quote, thanks for the birthday well wishes today, everybody. turns out on your 146th birthday you run out of space for candles. and i will say for those of you listening on the radio the candles looks like it's on fire or the cakes looks like it's on fire. stressing that his experience, accomplishments as president and stamina to do the job will make him fit for another term. joining us now when you say reporter for "the washington post." tyler, good morning. good to see you. in your latest piece you and your colleagues at the paper interviewed 30 people with connections to the biden campaign. many expressed anxiety over the president's re-election chances. other than concerns about biden's age, which have been well-documented and i've also been writing this week how democrats are divided how to handle that tricky number, beyond his age, what else. >> i think there are a host of issues worrying democrats at this precise moment given we see polls that show trump leading and right now i think the democrats and biden campaign argue it's too early and the campaign will change over the course of the next year. even the fact they're seeing biden losing to trump is enough to send shivers throughout the democratic party. there's the polling, the age, also the direction and message of the re-election campaign. president biden has not held a campaign or kick off event. he's not done a host of campaigning at all, and i think that is a concern for democrats who see trump going around the country campaigning for the nomination very aggressively, and they don't see the same from joe biden. >> yeah, and one argument biden people are making more and more of late is that trump is constantly in our headlines. it's been a long time most americans have listened to him. you and i do every day. this is our job, but a lot of people don't, and they won't start tuning in to him until next year, and they'll see wait a minute this behavior has grown more erratic and perhaps more dangerous. but let's talk about the idea of the biden-esque communicator, biden-esque messengers. as you said the campaign really hasn't kicked off. are democrats worried he may struggle to find and deliver the message democrats need to have out there? >> yeah, i think there's this oscillation between trying to put forward a positive message talking about the president's accomplishments and his record and then attacking trump. democrats want -- some democrats want to see biden go out more aggressively contrasting with trump. jonathan, as you know and have heard the president say many times over the last few years his political phrase of don't compare me to the almighty, compare me to the alternative. and democrats say, okay, we want to see you make that contrast between you and trump more clear. they want him to hone in the election is likely to bea binary choice between biden and trump. and even if you're not satisfied would all of biden's policies, democrats say he's the better choice than trump. he's done that in recent weeks and his campaign has put out statements in paperwork. i think there's this persistent issue they think he doesn't have a clear enough message, a cohesive enough message to drive a narrative about his campaign. >> we'll hear about the efforts his administration is taking to combat the spread of fentanyl. "the washington post" tyler, thank you for joining us. we get into polling but here's one person who's doing really, really well as new polling shows that taylor swift is standing on holy ground in terms of her own popularity. as she wraps up the bruzwrilzen leg of her record breaking heiress tour, the latest nbc news surve shows swift is viewed more positively than any of the leading candidates for the 2024 presidential election. 40% of voters say they have a positive view of the grammy winner while 16% say they have a negative view. president biden and. frankly, just my own anecdoteal survey here, only 40% of people have an approval rating of liking taylor swift? it's not a 95 i think. still ahead here on "way too early" we'll hit some other headlines including a major show of support from ukraine from the biden administration and fears congress will significantly cut funding for the war torn country. also, we'll take a look at the holiday travel rush and a check on the thanksgiving forecast when we come right back. thanksgiving forecast when we come right back ♪ today, my friend you did it, you did it, you did it... ♪ centrum silver is now clinically shown to support cognitive health in older adults. it's one more step towards taking charge of your health. so every day, you can say, ♪ youuu did it! ♪ with centrum silver. it ain't my dad's razor, dad. ay watch it! it's from gillettelabs. this green bar releases trapped hairs from my face... gamechanga! ...while the flexdisc contours to it. so the five blades can get virtually every hair in one stroke. for the ultimate gillette shaving experience. the best a man can get is gillettelabs. - bye, bye cough. - later chest congestion. hello 12 hours of relief. 12 hours!! not coughing? 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ice hockey. i'd sure love to see them play ice hockey. >> he and the first lady will spend thanksgiving in nantucket, massachusetts. and though the president will be traveling on air force one, the rest of us won't be so lucky and severe weather is expected to hit this week. nbc correspondent tom costello has more as airlines brace for record travel demand this thanksgiving. >> reporter: the tsa calls it the 12 days of thanksgiving as more americans travel early and work remotely before and after thursday. >> we get out on a monday and we come right back after before the crowds come. >> reporter: what could slow things town. >> mother nature, of course, is the "x" factor in all of this. >> reporter: if you could fly in the slow season between thanksgiving and christmas, airlines have millions of empty seats to fill. now many are offering cut rate deals as low as $29 one way on southwest. so far this year only 1.3% of flights have been delayed, the lowest in a decade. most blamed on weather and airline issues. but amid record passenger levels, pilot and controller errors have led to 23 high profile near misses this year on runways and in the air. transportation secretary pete buttigieg. is the system right now really being stressed beyond its capacity >> well, demand is growing. it's going to continue to grow, so the system has to grow with it. >> reporter: for this week the faa is opening 159 new fast lanes in the sky as fast flights get priority over priority planes. next here we'll turn to sports and the hoy lights of a very anticipated matchup on monday night football. we'll have that and other highlights for you next on "way too early." hat and other highlights for you next on "way too early. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. i got this $1,000 camera for only $41 on dealdash. dealdash.com, online auctions since 2009. this playstation 5 sold for only 50 cents. this ipad pro sold for less than $34. and this nintendo switch, sold for less than $20. i got this kitchenaid stand mixer for only $56. i got this bbq smoker for 26 bucks. and shipping is always free. go to dealdash.com right now and see how much you can save. hey, you should try new robitussin honey medi-soothers for long-lasting cough and sore throat relief. try new robitussin lozenges with real medicine and find your voice. you know? we really need to work on your people skills. here's a shot from smith. he's got it! they're going to mark him at the one. and you know what the eagles do from here. >> smith's 41-yard reception in the fourth quarter of last night's super bowl rematch between the philadelphia eagles and the kansas city chiefs setup a go ahead tough push touch down, there it is. philly scores. it was the second rushing score of the game for their quarterback, jalen hurts, as philadelphia rallied from 10 points behind at the half on the road. the chiefs, though, still had a chance with less than 2 minutes to play. they converted the fourth down and then got help. a perfectly placed ball from patrick mahomes was dropped by wide open on what whd with have been a 51-yard go ahead with under 2 minutes to go. instead the eagles complete a second half shutout stopping the chiefs on that fourth down-play and put the game away for 21-17 victory. the defense is quite good this year, too. the lack of weapons which you saw there with that receiver drop, that's what could doom them come playoff time, an important win for the eagles. we should note taylor swift not in attendance. she's on tour. following sunday's 32-6 loss to the buffalo bills tim boyle will now take over as quarterback for the new york jets when they take the fields for the inaugural black friday game. >> just given the opportunity all the difference to the quarterback. really give him an opportunity to see what we can do with the offense. >> is trevor going to be the backup? is zack going to be the backup? >> all three will be up on game day. trevor will be the immediate back up. >> that's the jets head coach explaining the move that now makes zack wilson the third straight qb behind trevor simeon as well. wilson the pick in the 2021 draft who take over this season after aaron rogers was injured in the season opener and benched three times by the jets in the last 13 months. time now for the weather and let's go to meteorologist michelle grossman for the holiday weekend travel forecast. >> not looking great. we have a big storm. this is a high impact storm going to impact travel as we go throughout the day. the good news is it's out of here tomorrow but dealing with this lots of rain, the reds, the oranges, the yellows. on the northern side we're seeing some wintery weather and seeing that into the interior north east and new england as we go throughout the day. a wintery mix that makes it tricky to travel. on the tail end of this we're looking at storms. we have the expectation of more tornados as we go throughout the afternoon hours. that would be mainly portions of of alabama into the northern part of florida. that could be as early as this morning. winds gusting up to 16 miles per hour, a few tornados possible. the hail risk is low but we're looking at heavy downpours. detroit, raleigh, charlotte, and atlanta and even possible delays in st. louis, nashville and new york city, and it's going to be a tough day. again, we're looking at the wintery weather on the northern side of the system, so all sorts today and out of here and blustery and windy as we go throughout wednesday. >> we'll keep an eye on it. michelle grossman, thank you very much. still ahead here an update on the gag order in donald trump's federal election interference case. we'll get expert legal analysis on yesterday's hearing and what could come next. 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(laughing) you live with your parents, but you own a house in the metaverse? mhm. cool...i don't get it. here's to getting financially ready for anything! and here's to being single and ready to mingle. who's ready to cha-cha?! ♪ yeah, yeah ♪ welcome back to "way too early." it is exactly 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, which means it's 2:30 a.m. out west on this tuesday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. a three-judge panel on the u.s. court of appeals looks poised to at least narrow the gag order against former president trump in the federal election interference case. now, trump's defense team argued that the gag order, which stops trump from discussing witnesses and prosecutors in the case, violates his constitutional rights. nbc news reports, quote, the judge didn't immediately issue a decision -- the judges i should say -- but they indicated in their questioning that they could leave the g