This is not a virus disappearing, this is a virus headed back up. More than 50,000 cases on average in the United States, a dip on sunday but the data on sunday drops down a bit. You see we did get down here the end of august but trending back up. This was 20,000 cases a day up to the summer surge down some now back to 50,000 infections a day in the United States of america. Thats not rounding the corner thats the beginning of a possible fall surge. 50 states in the United States of america, 31 of them, 31 of them on this monday trending in the wrong direction. That means more new Coronavirus Infections now compared to a week ago. You see it the entire northern half of the country as it gets colder, the case count going back up. 16 States Holding steady, thats the beige. Only three states reporting fewer new infections right now compared to a week ago. 31 states trending in the wrong direction. The president is back on the road this week, cleared from his own coronavirus case to travel. Where is he going . Florida today, the case count is going on. Iowa, the case count is going up. Hes going to pennsylvania, the case count is going up. Going to north carolina, the deep red there, that means 50 more cases now than a week ago. So the president s travels today will take him into the middle of this fall coronavirus surge even though he says its disappearing and we have turned the final corner. Three weeks to election day, heres one way to look at it. Red line, the states the president carried in 2016, blue line the states that Hillary Clinton carried in 2016. The States Clinton won, most of them with democratic governors have kept the coronavirus case count lower than trump states. You see the trump states in a much more difficult position headed into the final weeks of this campaign than the clinton states. If you look at the top five states in terms of reporting deaths yesterday, all of them carried by the president in 2016. Florida, texas, georgia, louisiana, and arkansas reporting the most deaths on sunday. We hope these numbers stay down but weve learned this over the last seven, eight months, case counts, high positivity rate, death toll tends to travel after that. Despite the numbers, despite the map, listen to the president of the United States, he said hes feeling better, hes going to be on the road and he says pay no attention to this. Ive been tested totally negative. Im going to be out in florida tomorrow working very hard and i want to give my warmest sympathies to the families that have lost someone. Ive lost many friends. Ive lost five friends and probably more. But its were coming around the final turn and things are starting to really shape up. Lets begin the conversation this hour with the chief washington correspondent olivia knox. And from the times, julia her shfield davis. The president begins to travel today, three weeks left to campaign, he is trailing and trailing badly and he keeps telling people pay no attention to the facts, essentially. We have turned the corner, the virus is disappearing. It is not. It is not. It is a critical time for his campaign. You can see why hes doing what hes doing. He really has no choice because he has taken this approach for months of trying to downplay the seriousness of the virus, trying to downplay the implications of the virus, not just health wise but on the economy and everything else. Now hes in a position of where hes eroded a lot of his credibility with many voters. Thats i think part of the reason were seeing him lagging in the polls to Vice President former Vice President joe biden. But he really doesnt have a choice other than to argue youre not seeing what youre seeing with your own eyes. Hes downplaying the virus, his administrations role in doing that, and i think, you know, in these last few weeks hes so eager to be back out in these rallies and talking to voters that he really has to also downplay his own Health Challenges because we dont know you played that sound from him saying he has tested negatively, we dont have official word of that from the white house. They say hes been cleared to go back out and interact with people. But theres still a lot of unanswered questions, even about his own health. But the doctors say its okay for the president to travel, he told aids he wants to be on the road, but he is trailing and trailing badly. The question is a lot of his own aides had hoped his personal bout with covid would teach him to be more empathic, more factual about this. But were seeing something different. Right. In some ways what were seeing is what the president has been doing since the pandemic began, playing it down, promising itll be over soon. Whats different now is the calendar. Were closing in on what weve all agreed to call call election day even though millions will have voted by then. The pandemic is an international story, a national story. If you go to the key states, look at the media in arizona, iowa, florida, pennsylvania, look at the media in wisconsin youll see there are a lot of coronavirus related headlines. And no white house is equipped to push back against that kind of story where something is on the evening news, as likely, in des moines as well as d. C. There is one way to counter that, which would be if the president of the United States would give speeches about the virus, which he said im going to surge more help to the states like north dakota who have a problem right now. But instead, the speeches are almost exclusively about him. Right. You would think he would want to confront the issues of the virus and what hes going to do about it and getting a stimulus deal, which in the last couple days he wanted to see happen, recognizing this is judged as his responsibility, the pandemic is his responsibility and people are struggling not just health wise but economically and not having jobs and with the effects of that we do not see him doing that because he doesnt have a plan to promote right now. The stimulus negotiations are nowhere mostly because republicans dont want to sign on to as much money as the president now says he wants to spend but more broadly he doesnt have that sort of all hands on deck kind of response that he keeps saying he has had. But people dont see evidence of it. I think oliver is right, you cant tell people ive done a great job, and its going to be fine if in their mind there has not been a great job done. And people are going to vote between now and the next three weeks and theyre going to judge him on their own lives for the most part, not what hes saying hes doing well. Dr. Fauci is not happy about this, but hes the star of a new Trump Campaign ad. Let me play you a clip of this. President trump tackled the virus head on, as leaders should. I cant imagine that anybody could be doing more. Dr. Fauci says thats out of context, he was talking a long time ago about the work of task force and not the president specifically. And in his five decades of service hes never gotten involved in politics. The Trump Campaign thought it was important to run the ad. From september 8th to october 3rd, about 30 , 28. 5 of the ads were covid related. This week on television theyre up to 50 , of the ads are covid related. The Trump Campaign realizes they tried to push the pandemic aside but now they have to confront it. And no doubt they would harness dr. Faucis credibility since he has more approval than the president does. I think its from march but, of course, they want to do it, they want to harness themselves to that because their own credibility is not great. You look at tnot only the president now, but a lot of republicans. Theyre worried if the president goes down theyll lose the senate. This is the republican pollster, its not good for my side, pretty obviously in many ways downballot republicans in it with President Trump. Asked for any bright spots for the republican field he said im racking my brain and struggling. Three weeks before election day, as we call it, i get it millions are voting early, thats a tough line for the party to be in but they feel they have no escape because they feel if they leave the president they lose the base as well. Thats right. This is a challenge theyve known and have seen coming for many months and they are squeezed between the need to turn out the Republican Base which largely is very supportive of the president so they cant break from him entirely or even in a detectable way but they need to reach out to independent voters, to women, to folks in the suburbs, the sorts of people who if you look at the data right now are abandoning the president in droves primarily because of the Coronavirus Crisis but also other reasons. This Supreme Court nomination which has energized the right i think has raised concerns among moderates and women in particular. You hear democrats harping on the potential consequences for the Affordable Care act and i think those messages break through with the kinds of voters the republicans need if they want to be successful when they face their own reelections. Theyre in a place, like the president , where this is baked in. They cant get off of the message that theyve been on for the last several months. And yet we clearly see signs that voters are not satisfied with that and may well be looking for something different. So i guess the question for the Trump Campaign and the candidate himself is what can you do to break the die mal ik. You have 31 states, most carried by the president four years ago, reporting more covid cases. You have joe biden on the campaign trail with more money and on offense, going to states that are key to the president s map. The president having to go to florida, iowa, north carolina, three states an incumbent republican president should have in his pocket already. Its a steeper hill. The trump theory of the case is there are a large number of trump friendly voters who didnt come out in 2016 because they didnt think hoe had a chance but theyre going to m come out this time in part in response to the president s portrayal of a flaming hell scape if former Vice President biden wins. Could that happen . I suppose so. But the travel and spending tells the tale. Theyre spending money in d. C. On ads. Hes done a lot of stuff in florida, he reversed himself in offshore drilling, tried to Court Seniors down there. After blocking it for three years he expressed support for a puerto rico rescue package. Hes doing a lot in florida, which is a must win. But you talk about these deep red states but look at kansas and South Carolina where people who have tied themselves closely to trump find themselves also in trouble. Also in trouble because no matter what you tweet, say, something as personal as a health care crisis, pandemic, people get it. You cant tell them its gone when they see it in their lives every day, whether its the medical or economic disruption. Thank you for your reporting and incites. Up next, the confirmation hearing for judge Amy Coney Barrett but first a look back on the life of the justice she replaces, the late ruth bader ginsburg. I think discrimination against anyone is against the tradition of the United States and is to be deplored. The richness of the diversity of this country is a treasure and its a constant challenge, too. To remain tolerant and respectful of one another. When i was in high school, this was the theater i came to quite often. The support weve had over the last few months has been amazing. Its not just a work environment. Everyone here is family. If you are ready to open your heart and your home, check us out. We thought for sure that we were done. And this town said not today. I was drowning in credit card debt. 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Opening statements this morning the start of a bruising Supreme Court confirmation battle for judge Amy Coney Barrett. New polling shows the majority of americans oppose this fast track confirmation but less resistance to elevating barrett to the high court now than one month ago. Republicans see a chance to cement the president s judicial legacy and hope to improve the 2020 prospects by exciting turnouts. Democrats see barrett as a threat to the Affordable Care act and a threat to abolish or roll back abortion rights. The bottom line is Justice Ginsburg when asked about this several years ago said a president serves for four years not three. Theres nothing unconstitutional about this process. This is probably not about persuading each other, unless something really dramatic happens, all republicans will vote yes and all democrats will vote no. Health Care Coverage for millions of americans is at stake with this nomination. This well could mean that if judge barrett is confirmed, americans stand to lose the benefits that the aca proviets. Provides. Lets go to capitol hill. Manu raju. Judge barrett has to listen most of this day and the political arguments are stark. Reporter they are. And this is what weve been hearing since the day she was nominated last month. Democrats raising concerns about the lightning fast pace in getting her to the bench, as you mentioned 22 days away from the election, has not been a Supreme Court nominee confirmed after july in a president ial Election Year. But this would happen, assuming that all goes as planned and it appears it will, she will get confirmed by the end of the month. In a boost for republicans earlier this morning, mike lee of utah, who sits on the committee announced that he is cleared by his doctors who attend todays proceedings he tested positive for the coronavirus, he announced that ten days ago, but the u. S. Capitol attending physician said he could participate in todays proceedings. And along with thom tillis, who also tested positisitive about days indicated hell be back this week. By all accounts republicans will do just that and set up the confirmation vote by the end of the month. As Lindsey Graham noted there, the question is whether or not anyones views will change. At the moment it does not appear that way, but will she trip up in any way, tomorrow is when the questioning begins. Democrats will press her on the Affordable Care act, its unlikely shell get pinned down, shell side step as nominees attend to do. Will she recuse herself from any election related disputes after november. Roe versus wade. At the moment stark battle lines being drawn but republicans feeling confident about her nomination. Appreciate the live report, manu. Joining the conversation, sung moon kim of the Washington Post. As of now, it looks like the republicans have the votes and theyll ram it through. So democrats are trying to lay it as a campaign issue, what they expect of judge barrett. Listen to this on health care, trying to rally the American People with the election just three weeks away. They are asking the Supreme Court to strike down the Affordable Care act. Judge barrett has said she would overturn the aca. This person getting on the Supreme Court so she can get rid of Affordable Care act. You are being sent to the bench to do his political chores, abolish the aca. Its interesting listening to that in the sense that democrats note that she says something in the hearings to send this off the tracks. The democrats clearly dont expect that and we have a Supreme Court confirmation battle thats about a bigger legislative and political issue. Thats right. Whats so fascinating generally about Supreme Court hearings for nerds like you and me