And i saw it all yesterday. One buffoon called this the shutdown the worst mistake in American History and maybe in world history. The buffoonery continues, willie, and whats incredible is as one doctor told us, one expert told us, were in the second inning of a nineinning game and these fools, i will say, yes, fools, are acting as if this is over. And its the ninth inning and everybody just overreacted just like they were doing in february and march. They still are not learning their lessons. And theyre not acknowledging the fact that the reason the numbers arent as high as they could have been, the reason that the hospitals have not been swamped as they could have been is because of action that was taken, because of stayathome orders and because of social distancing. Thats not taking my word for it, thats taking dr. Anthony faucis word for it. Thats taking dr. Deb before birx word for it. Thats an ignorant take, but ive seen it out there too. Even as the u. S. Crossed the 1 million mark for confirmed cases of coronavirus yesterday and the death toll from the virus now has surpassed that of the 20year vietnam war. 58,220 americans were killed during the roughly 20year war while nearly 59,000 americans have died from covid19 in just under two months. In terms of confirmed cases, there now are more than 1,018,000 reported across the country. That represents about a third of all the cases in the world. The president was asked about that at an event at the white house yesterday. Back in late february you predicted that the number of cases would go down to zero. How did we get from your prediction of zero to 1 million . Well, it will go down to zero ultimately. And you have to understand when it comes to cases, we do much more testing than anybody else. Were going it show more cases because were doing much, much more testeding, double anybody else. Somebody said if you add everybody else combined, that would be a number. And it will be at the appropriate time, it will be down to zero, like we said. Joe, i guess we have to stay again, thats not true. We dont have more than the rest of the world combined in terms of test. He was up last night talking about the cases that we have here, the 1 million mark and he said effectively the reason we can tell you about a million cases which, yes, is a big number, is because weve done so much testing, he said. Of course on a per capita basis thats absolutely untrue as, again, dr. Fauci would tell you and told us again in a Television Interview yesterday, we have to do better on testing. Well, and if you look at the testing thats happened around the world and if we had the same per capita testing as some other counts, obviously that 1 million that 1 million number would be much higher. But, again, its very important to remember the president said yesterday, oh, yes, it will be down to zero. What the president said on february 22nd was we have one person coming in from china, its all take he care of, nothing to worry about. What the president said in february, what he even said in late february was its just 11 cases, soon it will be down zero. Its 15 cases, soon it will be down to zero. In march he was telling africanamerican leaders that it was going to magically go away. This is just going to magically go away. And, again, john heilemann, what is so staggering to me is that some of the same propagandists for donald trump who are echoing his lies, saying that this was just a media generated hoax are the same people now who are saying, wait a second, you know, this was the worst thing that ever happened. Why dont you rush back out . Why dont you go back to work . Why dont you go back to restaurants . Why dont you open your businesses right now . Of course the hypocrisy of it all is theyre saying this from within the confines of their safe studios, their safe talk radio studios, theyre mothers basements where theyre blogging these things. And once again, doing things that i think in the if you turl be se future will be putting americans lives at risk. You can be for reopening the government as i am and mika is and a lot of people are, but theyre repeating the same mistakes over and over again. And once again theyre not using the word hoax, but theyre getting there pretty quickly, especially i saw it all over yesterday in trump media, this idea that somehow the hospitals made a terrible mistake preparing for a pandemic when, in fact, the only reason they werent completely slammed is because of extraordinarily difficult decisions made by all americans about social distancing. Right. I mean, look, lets just remember i cant believe we have to talk about this. Remember what it was like in that period of mid to late march and throughout the month of march when governors in new york, california, and other states were looking at statistical projections by their departments of health that while in the worst case were calamity ous for their health opts and hospital systems. They were unclear. No one had ever done a thing like large scale social zangs or stayathome orders. Nobody had any idea if people would follow the rules. No one knew what the effect of those rules would be. So governors did what we would beg them to do, what we would pray for people do, which is prepare for the worst, hope for the best but prepare for the worse. The this is like the conventional wisdom, thats what youre supposed to do. These governors had no idea whether those rules would work or not. They implemented the rules and prepared for the worse. As it turned out, miraculously and great credit to the American People who followed those rules to stave off calamity, we ended up pretty. Goode. Although 60,000 deaths is pretty bad. The number of deaths of the tote talf the vietnam war is pretty bad. We avoided the worse. But thank god that the governors decided to do what we would again, republican or democrat, what you would want if someone in your family was sick. If one of your friends was sick. What would you want the governor in your state do some to prepare for the best . To not have the hospitals ready for the potential of overflow . Its mind boggling how idiotic these comments are. And not just hypocrital, they are cavalier cavalier and dangerous. For people who have lost someone in this tragedy, its a slap. Face to hear this from the media. And we have big choices to make Going Forward about how were going to reopen. About the prospect that in the fall this coronavirus could come back, potentially with the flu. The head of the cdc, the head anthony fauci, everybody on Donald Trumps task force thinks that the virus will be back in the fall. If people listen to whats happened here, we are not going to be prepared for whats going to be a worse version of this pandemic a few months from now. Thats the problem with Donald Trumps schizophrenic approach where he puts out guidelines that his doctors helping put together. And if states would follow those guidelines, i think wed be in good shape. But he puts out the guidelines one day. And then argues them. The next day he starts pushing for people to go back. And he calls the governor of georgia saying, yeah, why dont you open up tomorrow . The governor of georgia announces hes going to open up. Then donald trump attacks the governor of georgia for opening up. Now hes saying positive things to the governor of texas about opening up. What do you think happens when texans start dying . So its the inconsistency. And you have, again, these trumpists out there that, again, are they think that they, carving out a political position that is going to help them in the future with a conservative base. Fighting back, pushing back against doctors, pushing back against nurses, pushing back against health care officials. But, mika, if you look at the polls that are coming out, whether its the pugh poll, the fox news poll, or of course an npr poll yesterday, mika, the overwhelming majority of americans support what governors like Governor Newsom, governor dewine, doing a great job in ohio. Another republican governor, Governor Hogan doing a great job in maryland. Governor cuomo, theyre supporting what these governors, republican and democratic alike, are doing. Theyre scared. They want leadership. And these polls just crossed this morning, more americans disapprove of President Trumps handling of the Coronavirus Response according to a new npr maris poll just released this morning, 55 of the americans say they disapprove of the president s response to the coronavirus pandemic. Thats up six points since last month. 44 approve. Over 6 in 10 believe their states governor is handling the crisis better than President Trump. Americans also shared their thoughts about which 2020 contender could handle the virus and the economy better. 55 say they would prefer for joe biden to be handling the coronavirus pandemic. 40 would rather have trump managing the crisis. By the way, this in the middle of the greatest crisis since world war ii, joe biden preferred by 15 . Of course the reason why, in part, were going to keep going through this poll, but when joe biden in late january is warning the pandemics going to get worse and donald trump still in march is just saying its going to magically go away, that gives you some insight as to why americans know joe biden saw this coming all along and warned people in january about what was going to happen. Here opinions fall along partisan lines, but it does include 55 of independents who say they would prefer that biden be handling the crisis. And 51 of americans want joe biden handling the economy. 44 say theyd rather it be trump. Willie. And, willie, thats pretty remarkable number too if you look at joe biden on the economy, more americans prefer joe biden handling the economy. Donald trumps calling card, what hes always bragged about saying this is the difference between him and other republicans or him and democrats, he knows how do things. Well, no, actually americans have seen his failures in developing a strong testing regiment, has kept this country closed longer. And if you look at his own doctors, if you look at his own scientists, if you listen to what nurses and medical providers say, they all say by the way, ceos are saying it too. We cant reopen our economy until we strengthen our testing. Everybodys saying it. Ceo from ceos to nurses. And so i think thats partly what youre seeing in those poll numbers that show americans prefer joe biden to donald trump when it comes to handling the economy. Yeah. And through all the chaos, as you know, President Trump has basically staked his presidency on a strong economy. Its where he always goes when hes in trouble. Look at the unemployment numbers, look at the stock market. As those have collapsed over the last couple of months, he no longer can hang his hat on that. And youre seeing some of that in those numbers. In terms of opening up the economy, that same npr poll mika was talking about asks whether its a good or a bad idea to resume certain normal activities without further testing. 91 of americans say it is a bad idea to allow people to attend sporting events. 85 agree schools should remain closed. 80 think restaurants should not allow customers to dine in. And 65 say its a bad idea to allow people to return to work without testing, mika. Well, by the way, mika, 85 think its a bad idea to reopen schools. What was donald trump doing yesterday . Pushing to reopen schools. Theres such a mixed messaging. Katty kay, in the uk its very clear and its interesting that their Prime Minister has been through this and, perhaps, sort of found the truth of it. Its not a virus that you can play around with. Yeah, Boris Johnson went from being a skeptic to some extent about this in early march when he was still bragging about the fact that he was going to shake peoples hands, weve played that clip on the program before and then ending up a month later in the icu and now begging the British Population to stick with this because he can see the perils of opening up too soon. Itsing in the npr and the pugh poll, even if you request americans if they have lost their jobs do they want to open up the economy precipitously, they still say no by a margin of 4 to 1. They realize the cost of this. And actually theres a really good theres a lot that america can learn, because were a little bit behind the curve from other countries. Germany opened up a week ago last monday. In the space of nine days of having loosened some restrictions, allowing a few more businesses to open, allowing some kids to go to school, their infection rate from the virus has already spiked up again. Thats just in the space of eight days. And i think thats a really good lesson for people, about you can start the process of opening up, yeah, and everybody wants to. Were all going crazy. People need to get back to work. But there is this risk that the reinfection rate will go up again and then you end up with more hot spots. I think what governors are really trying to do around the country is get their infection rate so low that were almost back at the status quo of before this all started so that then they can test and find out where the hot spots are and see whats happening. But we should be looking to other countries that are opening up now to see what experience they have. You know, john heilemann, you look at those numbers from this poll, npr poll matches, pugh poll matches, other polls that have been out that show an overwhelming majority of americans think that their governors are doing the right thing. Their governors are being responsible. Id love to put that poll back up that shows 85 of americans think its a bad idea, and mark me as one of those americans, even though im saying reopen the parks, let people walk on beaches, reopen public spaces, let people socially distance safely, lets start figuring out a way to move towards reopening the economy. But reopening schools, 85 of americans think this is a bad idea. And yet you have donald trump going out suggesting that schools reopen this year. You have the attorney general of the United States of america at the same time donald trump puts out guidelines that hes now hes already forgotten the guidelines hes put out. So these conservatives not conservatives, theyre idiots. These trumpists who think theyre finding a way forward politically by attacking stayathome orders, theyre the 10 . Theyre the 15 . Theyre in the minority. If they think this is how theyre going to build the future of the Republican Party after trump loses this fall, they are badly mistaken. And they can look at any polls, including fox news polls. Right. I mean, look at there are two things to say in those numbers, just to stay focussed on them for a second, right . Look at the Approval Ratings of the governors in the states that have been hardest hit by this virus who have had the most aggressive stayathome orders. Look at the Approval Ratings for Governor Cuomo, for gretchen whitmer, for gavin newsom, jay inslee and others. Take florida out for the purpose of this discussion. And ohio as well. Yes. And ohio. And mike dewine. Take the top ten states combination of hardest hit by the virus with stutough stay of home orders. All of those are 60 approval rating. Many of them are over 70 . They all have 20 points on where donald trump currently stands in terms of just the basic thing of approve disapprove. Thats point number one. And then your point about the polls about the schools, right, overwhelmingly if you ask parents long before this pandemic and you said to a parent, do you agree yes or no with the statement that a school is a petry dish for virus, in general schools are petry dishes. Kids are constantly giving each other i mean, the story of every fall and fwhirwinter is k play with each other, doing the things kids do, they all come home and give their parents and siblings, thats the normal thing in American Family, every American Family understands that the school is a petry dish. So, of course, when you now have things living in the petry dish that can kill you, of course parents are going to be like, im really not enjoying homeschooling my kids, its really difficult for me, we all have cabin fever, yes, all of those things are true. But i do want to send my child into a petry dish where one of the bugs that lives there could kill my kid or kill me . Of course youre going to see numbers north of 80 that people are going to be most skeptical of this, of all the things in the economy, i think you will see enduring poll numbers that will have parents most wary about opening up the schools. And so when donald trump says Something Like he said yesterday, you got to stop and think for a second, you know, what porlls are you looking at, buddy . Can anybody on your Political Team read a poll . I dont want you to govern by poll, but right now some of these polls are screaming messages if hes worried about his own political future would do dwol immedia do well to heed. People want to be safe and they follow the logic here. And then theres the whole issue of the emotional toll that this is taking on the country. Yesterday we showed you a new Usa Today Suffolk University poll which showed that joe biden leads trump 57 to 39 on the question of who cares about people like themselves. That number in mind when listening to this next piece of sound, yesterday President Trump was asked if hes spoken with the families of anyone who has died in the pandemic other than the family of his one friend that he has mentioned along the way. Take a listen. Youve spoken about your friend who passed away. I was wondering if youve spoken to the families of anyone else who has lost loved ones to covid19, if theres any particular stories that have affected you . Well, i have many people. Ive spoken to three, maybe i guess four families unrelated to me. I did, i lost a very good friend. I also lost three other friends, two of whom i didnt know as well but they were friends and people did i business with. Probably almost everybody in the room did. And its a its a bad death. Its not a its a bad thing. It grips on to some people. Now, we found out that young people do extraordinary well, thats why i think we can start thinking about schools. But of course were ending the school season. So, you know, it wouldnt be probably youd you wouldnt be back for too long. I notice where purdue univers