For fast penetrating Relief Absorbine junior pro. Nothing numbs pain more. That does it for the weekend, the sunday morning. We will see you back here next saturday at 8 00 a. M. Eastern. And be sure to follow us on social media theweekendmsnbc. Our man, velshi in the house. Good to see you. 10 00 a. M. In the east, you have your day ahead of you. It is the first day of fall, we purred we appreciate that. Im told, it is national Ice Cream Cone day, which is limiting for those of us who are glutenfree. But not impossible. Where there is a will, there is a wave. I have faith in you. This is the way im going to approach it. By The End of the day there will be an Ice Cream in the cone. But it doesnt count if we dont see it on social media. Let me tell you, theres going to be a cone. Im hoping for the stuff i have to do tomorrow, that it is going to be a glutenfree cone. But One Way or another, theres going to be a cone for that Ice Cream. Velshi apparently needs to start now. Good morning to you, to sunday, september 22nd. Only 44 days remain until Election Day. It all indicates the race is still very competitive. Even after an historic shakeup in the race, nothing has been able to move the needle significantly enough to get one candidate and outright advantage over the other. A Brandnew Nbc News national poll just released in the last hour, shows Kamala Harris has improved upon Joe Bidens numbers. In a twoway ballot, 49 of respondents say that they would vote for harris and running mate, Tim Walz compared to 44 for Donald Trump. These are national polls and are more likely to reflect the Popular Vote and the Electoral College votes. And while the results should give democrats some comfort that harris campaign has been effective, those numbers are still within the margin of error. With thousands of votes already cast and many more Absentee Ballots arriving in mailboxes in the coming days, both campaigns are now taking a more aggressive stance in these final weeks of the race. Following her wellreceived performance 12 days ago, Kamala Harris is seeking to do it again and face Donald Trump at least one more time. Her campaign announced yesterday the democratic nominee has accepted a proposed Cnn Debate scheduled for october 23rd, less than two weeks before Election Day. That is basically a dare for Donald Trump, who insisted that actually, he won the last debate and it doesnt intend to do anymore. A point he reiterated during his Rally Yesterday. The problem with another debate is that it is just too late. Voting is already started. She has had a chance to do it with fox. Fox invited us on and i waited and waited. They turned it down. They turned it down, but now she wants to do a debate right before the election with cnn, because she is losing badly. It is too late to do another. I would love to in many ways but it is too late. The voting is cast. The rally Was held by the way in in wilmington, North Carolina. North carolina is a Swing State were both campaigns are spending a lot of time and money ahead of november. Its also the focus of the political world for the past few days due to a scandal involving comments made in the past by the Gops Nominee for governor, mark robinson. Comments were uncovered and meticulously traced to him by cnn. Robinson has denied the Cnn Report saying quote, The Things you will see in that story, those are not the words of mark robinson, end quote. Notably, trump did not mention robinson or his predicament at all during his Rally Yesterday and robinson, who currently serves as the state lieutenant governor, with the this Years Lee Was conspicuously absent from the event which Was attended by other North Carolina lawmakers and officials. The former president has not pulled his endorsement of robinson yet, who he previously called, quote, Martin Luther King on steroids, end quote. Although trump appears to be ignoring the problem for now, Robinsons Scandal Campaign could be a liability for Trumps Bid to return to the white house, especially as voters have expressed a desire to move on from his brand of divisive politics. Which is the true test of this years election. Whether this is the moment when america leaves trump behind, and chooses a different path and a different vision, for the future of this country, this has been a long Election Cycle and its really only taken shape in the last two months when Kamala Harris Was thrust into the spotlight as Bidens Replacement at the top of the democratic ticket. To her credit she has proven she can mount a campaign in a short amount of time and counter trumps attack on the debate stage. Her election, would be an historic break, actually it would break many barriers. It would also serve as a Rebuke Of trumps Beers Rhetoric and pessimistic worldview. By trumps defeat would only be one piece of the puzzle because of the polls are correct and the selection is as close as the last one, that means tens of millions of americans believe that trumps words and ideology and that means we as a country, still have a lot of work to do. Joining me now is ken burns, the Awardwinning Documentarian of such films and series like the Vietnam War and most recently american buffalo. Is also this Years Recipient of the national center, Constitution Center pretty medal, and were given on tuesday that is given to individuals who quote, strive to secure the lessons of liberty, two people around the globe. Warm welcome back to you, to the show and it is great to see you again. Congratulations on receiving the liberty medal. Thank you, it is good to be with you. You have spent a lot of time studying and you and i have had conversations, thinking about some of this countrys most tumultuous periods in history. You talk a lot about how it Was more tumultuous during the Civil War. It Was as tumultuous during the civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War. I dont know whether it is worth any more of the comparisons, but how are you thinking about the current moment, as it relates to some of the worst moments we have raised in the country quite . There something unprecedented about what is going on right now, then other times you cited, and we can go back even further, to our revolutionary period. Im in the process of finished finishing a series on The American Revolution that will be out next year. You see the Civil War happening at our beloved revolution, this our own Civil War Was a section award. But the peaceful transfer of power, the free and fair elections, the independent of the judiciary, seemed in doubt. However, those of us who are historians and amateur historians, storytellers about the past, there is optimism that attends. You see the great faith, that lincoln Was not supposed to be reelected in an 18 six four and Was. 1864, and Was. I think what you have, are very similar echoes, rhymes, Mark Twain would say between this period and of course each moment as lincoln pointed out is unique to the present. And as he pointed out in a speech to congress, the dogmas of the quiet past are adequate to the stormy present as we must think anew and act anew and then we can save our country. So we can do a lot of historical speculation, a lot of parlor games about the what ifs. It at the same time we are dealt a hand of cards which we have to respond to pick lets talk about the various ways, we wont get through many of them but the ways in which one can respond at the moment and at an event in wisconsin friday, Liz Cheney, is a very conservative republican suggested that a new Political Party might be needed going forward. She said quote, theres certainly going to be a big shift i think in and how our politics work. I dont know exactly what that will look like, i dont think it will simply be the republican party, going to put up a slate of candidates and off to the races. I think far too much has happened that is too damaging. One Was the republican when the republican party Was formed in the 1850s, these are my words by the way, it Was a coalition of people who formerly belonged to other parties. So lets think about this. There may be a lesson in the realignment of politics and Political Parties in america, as opposed to the changing of the Electoral College, which is a truly hard thing to do. I think it is true, and while i am not sure, i think theres so much entrenched and ingrained about the two parties that it is going to be difficult for the republican party to figure out a way to escape the specific gravity of the darkness that now engulfs it. This is a party, as he pointed out allie, ali , they had one thing to do Out Of The Ashes of the Whig Party and other disaffected people gravitating to something new, is that they wanted the emancipation, they wanted The End of slavery. In the united states, and that republican party has morphed into some incredibly dangerous, almost resembling the know nothings of that period, that are racist and certainly a miami antiimmigrant and as Abraham Lincoln is turning over in his grave, as has the label of the republican party. So i think we have got to count on Liz Cheney being right, in the long term, that theres going to be some reconfiguration, that we are going to leave, at least the Maga Base behind and hope our country is able to create a kind of opposition, that has the values. Remember the great legislation and in the 20th century, that involve not only democratic but republican votes. Weather voting rights or civil rights or medicare or medicaid, even going back to social security. The republican party Was always, from the beginning of the 20th century, an engine of progressivism as much, if not more than the democratic party. And the states like wisconsin were laboratories of experimentation and social ideas, that would make government more responsive, level the playing field, Theodore Roosevelt is a perfect example of that kind of progressive, in the white house. So you can hope, there is, in my office, i have a poster of the intertwining, the snaking paths both parties have taken. One of The Things i think Was beneficial to the democratic party, as much as it has challenged it, since the civil rights act, of the mid1960s, is that it has lost those people who are uninterested in following jeffersons words, he himself had some contradictions obviously. That all men are created equal. All men and all people are created equal. So i think that is a wonderful new coalition that is coalescing, and if you just step back and think about the odd couple, not just Liz Cheney, but her dad, Kristi Old , dick cheney, and bernie sanders, are voting for the same person. A lot of the bluecollar votes and of course it is hard to ignore dick cheney, he is not a rhino, he is anything but and all of them, and his daughter believe that the Grave Danger is another term of Donald Trump. We will engage in patriotism in different ways, you through the remarkable films you have made, both honoring and fairly critical of our american history. I want to take a quick rake and when we come back we discussed what patriotism looks like, right now in this peerless moment of 2024. Ken burns, we will be right back. Back. s really like when our skin touches wool. You see why we need downy free and gentle with no perfumes or dyes. It not only makes your clothes softer, it is gentle on your skin. It breathes life into your laundry. A test or approve a medication. We didnt have to worry about any of those things thanks to the donations. And our family is forever grateful because its completely changed our lives. When youre a Small Business owner, your Todo List can be. A lot. [ Cellphone Whooshes ] [ sighs ] thats why progressive makes it easy to save with a commercial Auto Quote online so you can take on all your others todos. Already did. See if you could save at progressivecommercial. Com. Whoa howd you get your teeth so white . You gotta use the right toothpaste dr. C . not all toothpastes whiten the same. Crest 3d white removes 100 more stains for a noticeably whiter smile. New personal best. Crest. Lets say youre deep in a show or a game or the game. On a train, at home, at work. Okay, maybe not at work. Point is at xfinity. Were constantly engineering new ways to get the entertainment you love to you faster and easier than ever. Thats what i do. Is that Love Island . Ken burns, Awardwinning Documentarian back with me. Ken, in 2026, america is going to celebrate is 250th birthday, and ahead of that you will release a new documentary you were mentioning about The American Revolution. You are going back to the start. Tell me why you chose that as the subject of this film, as opposed as america is approaching this milestone. It is interesting, ali, when the ink Was not dry on the Vietnam Film we were in the process of locking it when i said we would do the revolution. And it Wasnt with an eye toward the 250th anniversary. I did worry that in 2026 we might be sort of consumed by a sentimental nostalgia, Fight And Drum stuff and what is good is The American Revolution started in and in 1775 and the 250th would come the year before him the beginning of the before the beginning of The American Revolution. We protected and accepted the violence of the Civil War, World War ii, vietnam and the first World War but we think of the revolution as these guys thinking great ideas. And it is about that. But it is also incredibly a bloody Civil War. So it is the ability to dig deep and understand the complexities of it. We live in a modern via culture, no insulting intended, which is everything is dialectically preoccupied. It is Red State or blue state, it is msnbc or fox. When you call balls and strikes as we have tried to do in our films, you realize that everybody has feats of clay. George Washington certainly does and there is no kind of perfect thing. You and i try to attend it, that patriotism that is so important for americans to have, is not just the last refuge of scoundrels but a very complex, selfexamination. Said liberty is never being too sure you are right. There be a better name for a judge and can there be anything better than that comment, that certainty is the enemy of everything. And we are certain about stuff we have forgotten to understand, sometimes the opposite may also be true, so you have to tell a true, honest and complicated past that is unafraid of Controversy And Tragedy but equally drawn to stories and moments that suggest abiding faith in the Human Spirit and particularly the role of this remarkable republic and a positive progress of mankind. That is interesting because when you are selected to be the recipient of this years liberty medal, you remarked, theres nothing more important in democracy than educating the public about history. We have been following the attacks on our countrys education system, which often involves the banning of books and disputes over curriculum about our history and the past and our modern history. Are you concerned about that growing as a political Pressure Point in recent years, the idea of history and how we teach it has itself come under attack. It has been criticized in such unfortunate ways and anybody is concerned about it. Listen, i can report back from the late 18th century, that i know categorically, what the founders meant by the pursuit of happiness. It isnt the pursuit of objects and a marketplace of things. It is lifelong learning in a marketplace of ideas. They felt, if were going to create a new thing, everybody here before had been a subject. If we are going to create these new entities, citizens, that had to lead a virtuous life and had to be virtuous Was constantly to educate yourself. That is what it Was about, and implicit in that is a kind of honest evaluation, not only of what has happened, what we know in science as well as arts and humanities, but what we dont know. Where we fail, where we come up short. So you begin to see that our experiment is all about future words. We are in pursuit of happiness. A more perfect union. We are a nation in the process of becoming. And unfortunately what happens is when we gravitate toward the certainty we say, we dont need to teach this. Slavery is not that bad, we dont want to upset kids who are already participating in video games, being yelled at by coaches, being talked about damnation by pastors, being engaged in a world in which they are as smart as the politicians who try to sort of slide us into arbitrary, almost soviet kinds of thing in which all of a sudden somebody is picture Summaries Picture disappears on the bureau and they never existed. We cant do that. We were slaveowners. We were born in slavery. The guy who said all men are created equal owned hundreds of Human Beings and did not see a kind of direction. If you do not own that you dont have a possibility to escape the gravity of negative things that have attended our history throughout, and our work is, in this moment, no more important than it has ever been. Is to escape the gravity of those things, to not go back, but to go forward. To quote, a person in the news, turn the page. Ken, i look for to seeing you Tuesday Night as you are awarded the nation