Other than the fact that i have been unable to so whats the grade, sir . Untreating us fairly, i give ourselves an a. But the grade is incomplete. And ill tell you why. If we come up with the vaccines and therapeutics, then i give myself an a plus. All right. President trump in conversation with bob woodward who last night shared that previously unreleased audio from an interview from late july when the president gave himself that glowing grade. 140,000 americans had lost their lives from the coronavirus. Now, about two months later, the coronavirus death toll in the u. S. Has surpassed 200,000 lives. You know, its its a grading scale i dont think any of us understand or would be comfortable with. I think its a grading scale straight out of trump university. Because we can grade it from the very beginning where he was a liar and admitted he was a liar to the American People. When he had been told by his own people inside the white house, in january, that this was going to be the biggest crisis he faced of his presidency. When his own trade adviser had told him that half a million americans could die. With that information, donald trump was saying that it was one person coming in from china and soon it would go away. Thats not helping you. Thats not helping any american. That would be really that, that would be like george w. Bush continuing to say, after 9 11 hit, that there was nothing to see here. That there was no concern. But he went on. And then he said that it was just 15 people coming in. And that soon that would be down to zero. He lied about china. He said time and again that china was doing a great job. He told bob woodward that china was a great partner and president xi was a great partner and told americans they were being transparent about everything. Now hes claiming that hes being really tough on china. Whats the impact of this . And why did he do it . You know why he did it, he only cares about one thing. He doesnt care about you. He doesnt care about the good of the American People. He certainly doesnt care about our standing across the globe. He only cares about him and his political standings and for him thats measured by the Dow Jones Industrial instead of the number of americans dead. Now we can compare u. S. Death rates with other countries across the globe. And, of course, you know, despite his lies and even if youre in his personality cult, you know hes lying. You just choose to pretend to believe the lies. But the numbers are the numbers and theyll always be the numbers. And its not a coincidence that if you live in wisconsin and you just go across the border or if you live in michigan and you just go across the border, what do you find . You find a country where six people died yesterday of covid. Now, every death is a tragedy. So im not going to say only six people died yesterday in canada. But for a country that was suffering 1,000 deaths just south of there, in the United States, even yesterday, when our death count was down a little bit, over 50 times the number of americans died yesterday of covid than died in canada. You can do all the adjusting you want for population size. We still come out the loser. And donald trump still comes out president of the United States who botched the Biggest Health care crisis of the past century. The biggest economic crisis of the past 80 years. And the biggest political crisis of the past 50 years. So, nobody is giving him an a grading wise, mika. Hes going to try with the Supreme Court now. All he wants is to keep distracting americans and have them forget that 200,000 americans are dead when so many of those americans would still be alive if donald trump hadnt spent the last six months lying to you and to your family. Simple measures could have saved so many of those lives and he led them a different way. Those you touched on not just 200,000 plus souls lost to coronavirus but the other consequential news story were looking at this morning the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. With us we have reporter Jonathan Lemire. Host of nbcs politics nation reverend al sharpton. Historian and professor jon meacham. Former u. S. Senator now analyst Claire Mccaskill. And nbc news correspondent host of way too early, good morning kasie dc, congratulations on your first show. We have a lot to cover this morning, joe. 200,000 plus people lost to the coronavirus. And also the political discussion surrounding the death of Supreme CourtJustice Ruth Bader ginsburg. The second woman to serve on the nations highest court died on friday at the age of 87. There will be a bitter political fight to fill her seat on the court. The president says he will nominate a replacement and Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell said the nominee will get a vote. Whats different now from 2016 when Mitch Mcconnell denie deni president obamas selection of Merrick Garland. Mitch mcconnell wrote over the coming days we are all going to come under the tremendous pressure from the press to announce how we will handle the coming nomination. For those of you who are unsure how to answer or forthose of you inclined on giving a nominee a vote, i urge you all to keep your powder dry. There are already two defections, the republicans need four. Senator Susan Collins whos in a tough battle in maine and senator Lisa Murkowski said they oppose a nomination before election day. Meanwhile, senator grassley said in july, if i were chairman of the Judiciary Committee and this vacancy occurred i would not have a hearing on it because thats what i promised the people in 2016. Were also watching senator mitt romney, who has not indicated where he stands. Democrats have warned republicans to follow the pre precedent they set in 2016 when the republicans refused to consider president obamas nominee because it was an Election Year. Mitch mcconnell said he would not give Merrick Garland his he hearing. The day after Ruth Bader Ginsburgs death, senator Lindsey Graham said he is, quote, dead set on confirming whoever trump nominates for the seat. This comes despite multiple times if a vacancy came up in the runup to the president ial election he would hold off on confirmation. If theres a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term you can say Lindsey Graham said lets let the next president , whoever it might be, make that nomination, and you can use my words against me and youll be absolutely right. Ill tell you this, this may make you feel better but i really dont care. If an opening comes in the last year of President Trumps term, and the primary process has started, well wait until the next election. And ive got a pretty good chance youre on the record. Yeah. Hold the tape. I guess on the record as a liar, which well talk about in just a second. But joe, you know the moment the news broke about the death of Justice Ginsburg, a lot of our friends on the left and the right were calling, first of all, very, very saddened about her death. But secondly, very worried about the election. Our folks, our liberal friends, were worried this would hurt their chances, our republican friends that this was their moment they were having their october surprise. And you said, no, its the other way around, immediately. Why was that . Ill get into that in a second but first i have to talk about Lindsey Graham. Theres a guy i came in with in 1994, a friend of mine, and we we worked closely together in congress. And i was talking to a couple of other friends who are no longer in politics but who are friends of lindsayeys and who came in d theyre so astounded he would lie so openly. Its like, this is a guy we knew and he would lie that blatantly to the people of South Carolina and america, when its on tape. We really cant get our arms around that, we havent been able to get our arms around that for several years now. But its so interesting, Lindsey Graham, was a guy that led the impeachment against bill clinton, and we republicans were so shocked that bill clinton answered in one of his questions before the grand jury, it depends on what the meaning of is is. And oh my god. Oh my god. The National Review and the wall street journal editorial page, we were running around talking about the destruction of the english language,. You start with language and the rest of culture collapses and soon dogs and cats are sleeping with each other and locusts are descending from the heavens eating the flesh off of our skin in d. C. Really, the absolute freak out the republicans had because of bill clinton and his lack of character and the him saying what the meaning of is is. We really did talk about what a horrific moral crisis this was. And Lindsey Graham was at the front of that parade. Lindsey is not deconstructing language there. Lindseys not engaging in moral equivocation. Lindsey is just lying. And hes lying openly and its just like an applebalm says in twilight of democracy, theyre not even trying to hide it from you. Theyre lying openly. It is steve danes by the way, steve danes is doing the same thing in montana do voters like this . No, they hate it more than anything else. I found, and claire with tell you this, if you say to the people, i know youre not going to agree with this, i know youre not going to like this, this is where i stand, if you dont like it vote against me. I did that all the time and the closest anybody got to me in a general election race was 62 to 38 . And i was the first republican elected in my district since reconstruction. People dont like when lindsey lies to their face and its on tape. And he thinks donald trump can get away with this so i can get away with it. But donald trump hasnt gotten away with this. Republicans were crushed in 2017 and local and state and national elections. Republicans were crushed in 2018. The largest vote landslide in the history of midterm elections. Republicans fared horribly in gubernatorial races in 2019. And 2020 is not looking any better. And they keep acting this way. But i you go back to the question on why the second i heard this news i thought, uhoh for republicans. This isnt going to go well for republicans and theyre going to walk right into the trap. Its because of something that senator paul simon of illinois when he retired said. A reporter asked, what was your greatest insight in all your years in politics, and senator simons said, in politics, sometimes when you win you lose. And sometimes when you lose, you win. And ive looked at this from every angle that i can, and theres just no winning hand for the republicans to play here. Now, hear me out. If you ask people if youre prolife, prochoice, youre split down the middle. I think it tilts a little more towards prochoice now. But if you ask do you want roe v. Wade to be overturned, as my grandmother would say, thats a horse of a different color. Poll earlier this year, Kaiser Family foundation, about as nonpartisan as it gets, 75 of americans do not want roe v. Wade overturned. Only 29 do. Of the 29 who do want roe v. Wade overturned, ive got news for the Trump Campaign, those people stayed with you through charlottesville. Those people stayed through you through your your your racist comments about shole countries run by black people. Those people stayed with you even when you were caging children on the border. Those people stayed with you through your worst offenses. Your most inhumane comments. You telling people that they had great genes. You getting crowds to laugh because a man got shot and knocked to the ground. Those people are with you. Where will it hurt you, donald . Among suburban voters, among women, you just look at the polls, among more educated people, those are the people that you need help with the most, that youre going to lose. And guess what, Susan Collins, again going back to my grandma, Susan Collins didnt need this. My grandma would say, i need that like i need a hole in my head. I never really knew what that meant. But Susan Collins needed this like she needed another tough vote. Like, no. This is a nightmare for Susan Collins. Even if she votes against it. This is a nightmare for Corey Gardner. Again, stay with me. Im a guy that voted prolife nonstop. Stay with me, this is just basic politics. Corey had the 29 already. Of suburbs of denver, oh my god, the voting turnout among women and suburbanites in denver. Whoa. Claire mccaskill, this is not this is not Wishful Thinking on my part at all. This is just politics 101. I actually tweeted the night of rbgs death, hey, you know what, pray for her family, okay. And save your hot takes because theyre all wrong. This is a nightmare for republicans. And as somebody said on twitter, im quoting them, not me. Donald trumps just too dumb politically to figure that out right now. Yeah. I was watching kasie congratulations by the way on way too early, and i heard the representative from axios say the fallout for democrats. No. Its the fallout for republicans. Youre exactly right, joe. I remember the sinking sensation in my gut when i heard that kennedy had resigned. Believe me, there are half a dozen candidates for the u. S. Senate that are republican emcouple bents that had the same sinking sensation on friday night. This is not what they need right now. They are the ones that are senators in states where roe v. Wade is going to have major support, along with gay marriage and the aca, so you look at people like Corey Gardner, joanie ernst, thom tillis, Susan Collins, theyre in a tough position. And what makes it tougher is they are now in full display, showing the American People what liars the republicans are. They didnt say in 2016 it had something to do with the party of the president. They didnt say that. The president had been duly elected by the people and they said, no, the people get to decide in november. They didnt say if we were the same party no. Theyre making that up now. Just like graham is making up this is the thing that really killed me about his excuse. He said it was because of what the democrats did to kavanaugh in the confirmation hearings. That tape you just played where he said, hold the tape with goldberg at the atlantic where he said i would not do this. That was after the confirmation hearing. So he already knew what had happened in the confirmation hearing to kavanaugh when he said that. So its unbelievable how stupid he thinks the people he thinks the people of South Carolina are stupid. Its amazing to me. He does. Hes insulting the people of South Carolina thinking they are that dumb they would say this is kavanaugh. Like you said, that guarantee he made to the people of South Carolina, he made that guarantee after kavanaugh. You know, kasie, heres a thing that actually is even, i think, more dangerous for republicans, and claire just touched on it. Yes, the press will talk about abortion and yes, the 10 on the right and left will talk about abortion. But for 75, 80 of americans, the most important issue coming out of this is the fact that another justice added to the Supreme Court by donald trump will kill the Affordable Care act once and for all. Will kill preexisting conditions once and for all. This really is, at the end of the day, if you want to talk about the issue that will matter most if Mitch Mcconnell and donald trump and Lindsey Graham get their really get their hopes and wishes of lying to the American People and pushing this through, this is going to be devastating for millions of americans that depend on the Affordable Care act. Because donald trump and republican attorneys general are trying to take away people preexisting condition coverage and their Health Care Coverage and if another justice gets through, thats whats going to happen. For democrats this should be about health care, health care, health care. And it is, joe. Thats the message Chuck Schumer delivered on a Conference Call yesterday with all of his members. They are focused on this. They know its the message that appeals to the widest range of americans. Even, frankly, a lot of Trump Supporters who dont want to lose coverage for their preexisting conditions. Ive talked to a lot of sources over the last couple of years about this lawsuit that you referenced, theyre set to hear arguments essentially a week after the election, ten days after the election. And a lot of my republican sources have wondered why the Trump Administration has been so focused on this because it is so dangerous. Republicans in congress have not been able to come up with an alternative Health Care Plan. Even when john mccain went down to the senate floor and put his thumb down on the changes that republicans were going to make to obamacare, it wasnt even clea