Is on the verge of a Historic Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court as early as tonight. Welcome to monday. Its meet the press daily. Im Steve Kornacki in for chuck todd at nbc news election headquarters in new york. And we are now just eight days away from the president ial election. Donald trump is trailing in the polls. A recordsetting 55 million plus votes have already been cast early in this election. And the coronavirus pandemic is flaring up yet again. The number of new cases confirmed in the United States is now hitting record levels, hospitalizations are going up around the country. And deaths have begun to tick up as well. And the white house is walking back comments made by chief of staff mark meadows yesterday that to some signal the administration had all but given up when it comes to trying to control the surge. Were not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines. Therapeutics and other mitigations why are we going to control the pandemic . Because it is a contracagiou virus just like when we look at this, were going to defeat the virus. Were not going to control it. We can try to contain it as best we can. If you look at full context what i was talking about, we need to make sure we have therapeutics and vaccines. No, the opposite. Absolutely the opposite. Weve done an incredible job. Were doing a great job. We are absolutely rounding the corner, other than the fake news wants to scare everybody. We are absolutely rounding the corner. Meantime, President Trump is barn storming the country maintaining as you heard it there his insistence when it comes to the virus, the country is turning the corner. Were rounding the turn. You know, all they want to talk about is covid. By the way, on november 4th, you wont be hearing so much about it, covid, covid, covid. Covid. Today, lets talk about covid. This country and their reporting systems are really not doing it right. If somebody has a really bad heart and theyre close to death, even if theyre not, if they have a very bad heart and they get covid. They put it down to covid. Other countries put it down to a heart. So, we have to be were going to start looking at things, you know, they have things a little backwards. They keep talking about cases, you know why we have cases so much. Thats all we do is test. If we cut our testing down in half, they would say well, they wouldnt say that. But cases would go down. The white house is also making clear that Vice President mike pence will not limit his own campaign travel. Nor limit any aspects of his public schedule, despite at least five people close to him testing positive for the virus. Joining me now from pennsylvania where President Trump is scheduled to speak later this hour is nbcs carol lee. Nbcs mike memoli is following the Biden Campaign in wilmington, delaware. And nbcs ali velshi is talking to voters in the allimportant state of North Carolina. Thanks for being with us. Carol, let me start with you, where the president is expected to be, shortly. Pennsylvania obviously so critical. Weve been talking about this to his electoral map calculations. Remembering the closing days of the 2016 campaign, and in those final days, we saw a different, i would say, more subdued, more stick to the script version of donald trump in the final days of 2016. What are we seeing on the campaign trail in the final days of this campaign . Reporter well, if anything, youre seeing a kind of defiant President Trump, where his argument in allentown, and hell presumably make a similar argument when he gets here. And then he goes on to martinsburg, pennsylvania. And it is essentially that weve been counted out before. Were going to win this anyways. This is the same narrative according to the president that we heard in 2016. And hes telling his supporters not to listen to it. Not to get complacent and not sit home and make sure they get out and vote. So thats really the message the president is bringing to the campaign trail today at these three stops. You know, pennsylvania is a critical state for the president. He got off the plane here in pennsylvania and said that he feels good about pennsylvania. He thinks hes ahead enough to not worry about it. But they are worried about it. The campaign really wants to hold on to pennsylvania. You only need to look at the president s schedule, his surrogates schedule, First Lady Melania Trump will make her debut on the 2020 campaign trail in pennsylvania this week. Its a real battle for the president for the 20 electoral votes. And also just anywhere across the country and all of these battleground states. Hes trying to energize his voters. Go there in person, thats the strategy. Encouraging them to get out early, get out on election day and help him win another term. Obviously, the polls showing that the president is at a bit of a disadvantage here. But hes trying to make the case, and hes not. And its actually looking better for him than the polling are showing at the moment, well have to see about that. But in the meantime, hes not wasting anytime from now until election day and expected to do several events a day from now until the election. And, carol, you mentioned melania trump, the first lady, heading to the campaign trail. Theres also the question of Vice President in proximity to people, his chief of staff, most notably, who have now tested positive for the coronavirus. But hes continuing to campaign. Hes not going to quarantine, hes not going to isolate. How is the campaign, how are the folks around the president s team explaining this decision . Reporter well, theyre essentially saying that the Vice President is an essential worker. Thats how theyre casting the Vice President. As somebody who is an essential worker. And that its essential for americans to get out there and vote. And thats what hes out there encouraging the country to do. Theyre saying that he is following cdc guidelines in terms of wearing a mask while hes out. Although he takes it off to do his events. But normally, if somebody were exposed in the way the Vice President potentially has been, specifically, with the direct contact through his chief of staff mark short who tested positive, typically, a person would then quarantine for 14 days. The Vice President so far has chosen not to do that. And they say hes going to stick with his schedule and hit the campaign trail. And i think that really underscores, steve, that the trump needs as many as they have out there in the country making the case for people to turn out and vote for the president. All right. Carol lee until littiz, pennsylvania. Mike memoli, you go from carol lee, to rallies happening all over the place, very different approach to the campaigning, to the closing of this campaign from joe biden. Are we going to see him i guess, when are we next going to see him . And how much of him are we going to see in the coming days . Yeah, steve, we do expect to see joe biden at some point today here in his hometown of wilmington. But notably, not in a battleground state with just eight days left to go until election day. And i feel like weve spent so much time over the course of this general Election Campaign talking about how joe biden has managed to campaign or not in the coronavirus era. Doing things virtually, doing things in person some combination of the two. Over the weekend, i sort of crunched the numbers and looked at where hes been since the Democratic National convention in august, usually, a kickoff to the stretch run. And its interesting what that tells us about bidens ability to campaign and how they view the electoral map. The number one state, in terms of a destination for joe biden, by far, pennsylvania, where carol is today. And thats ten visits since the Democratic National convention. The biden not just the closest geographically, but what bidens case in the primary and now the general election electorally as well, he feels a real connection to that part of the country and the type of voters we see there. Next on the list is florida, where we expect to see him on thursday. That will be his fourth visit since the convention. Obviously a battleground but a place they feel they can win back and put him back in the blue column. And on Election Night giving us a window of where this election is heading. But then we see him heading to georgia for the first time that the democrats havent won since 1992. They have a chance to win on the president ial level but senate races as well. The Biden Campaign when they first started laying out the general election strategy, a map they thought was realistic for them. They talked of 17 states, of those 17 states there are some that biden hasnt been to. When you look at him going to georgia tomorrow, and Kamala Harris making a return visit to arizona this week, this is a campaign that is signaling that they feel like they have multiple paths to 270, in all tiers of battleground states, where the Trump Campaign is very much in their view playing defense, steve. From mike memoli in wilmington. Lets go to ali velshi in North Carolina. What a beautiful backdrop, ali, in asheville, inconorth carolin one of the great spots this time of year. Talk about what youre hearing. Because weve got this it was a long exchange in that second trump and biden debate over the issue of the coronavirus. I think it exposed a pretty clear philosophical divide in terms of how theyre talking about it. Youre talking to voters in North Carolina about the coronavirus. What are you hearing . Reporter a couple things. First im going to start with whats in the bottom right corner of the screen. You can see the dow continuing to shrink. Thats on coronavirus fears the idea that its spiking around the world. Spain and italy put in lockdown. Now, you come back to North Carolina where it is spiking. This is one of those place that is a coronavirus hot spot. And every week, steve, ive been talking to different groups of voters in different parts of the country. When i was in arizona, it was more about coronavirus. In michigan, more about trade. And it is all about of course here. Every single one of my panelists, including didnt matter whether they were democrats or republicans voting for trump. Voting itself is not a hard thing to do in North Carolina. Theyve actually got that part under control. But this is a divided state. Joe biden leading a little bit at the moment. Lets listen a bit to what my panelists told me about their fears about coronavirus. There needs to be a National Leader who recognizes seriously that this is this is happening. That this is not a joke. Its not going to go away. We dont need to ignore it. We dont need to go into the white house or however, and say, well, im fine, everybody else is fine. That is not true, okay . And its not realistic. And theres so many people who have lost relatives and friends and who know and understand what this is. Its unempathetic, and actually, its cruel in many ways. And so that would need to stop. And also, i think that we know that closing down parts of the economy have to happen. You have a virus that spreads thats very dangerous. But this virus is not going to go away. Just like the flu didnt go away. But the guy youre voting for says its going to go away. In fact, he said it again today, he said its just going to go away. Its going to go i dont believe its going to go away. Thats an interesting point because its killed 225,000 people. Right. And the guy you are going to cast a ballot for in the next nine days says its just going to go away. The media is freaking out about it, its not a thing. How could you reconcile that . Well, if you realize we have vaccines on the way. The vaccines are coming and its going to help for it to go away. Honestly speaking we can say the same thing for the flu but its never going away. We have to deal with the virus the way it is today. If we shut down the economy and say were going to shut it down until it goes away, its never going to happen. This is very important for me. I dont believe masks should be an individual choice. I believe it should be mandated. There should be a federal and state law, to suggest that we are should be Wearing Masks at all times. We wear seat belts every day when we drive because it saves lives when we drive. And not to be in an accident. Masks saves lives. And, steve, once you get past the views and npopinions on wha joe biden and donald trump need to do on coronavirus, the underlying issue is the economy, right . Everybody is concerned how the economy is going to play out. Ive heard typically from my panel from republicans that democrats are trying to shut the economy down. That the white house has no plan here it comes on stark relief on this very day when were seeing a surge in cases around the world. A surge in cases in the United States, new records in cases, new numbers it deaths, now that weve seen better rules than here in the United States, nor closures. And that again is what affecting investors right now. Thats why were seeing the selloff. Investors are saying, hey, this is really real. This is coming back for a third surge. Despite what donald trump says, we dont have a plan or a solution. And the economic hit is going to continue well into 2021. Steve. Ali, im curious, whether its in North Carolina or other places that youve been visiting we keep getting these statistics when it comes to early voting. Records being shattered. Reporter yeah. Theres a possibility the turnout in this president ial election could exceed 150 million. Its never approached that number before. We could be shattering all sorts of records. Does it feel that way on the ground when youre traveling . Reporter yeah. Does it feel like people are plugged into this in a way they havent before . Reporter it has, in last couple of weeks, in North Carolina, theyve got weekend voting here. You can go to an app. Theyve got a good record of being able to do early voting and mailin vote North Carolina income. So, people are really doing it. And i have not, for several weeks, encountered anybody who has not made a plan to vote. It feels that its actually on in North Carolina. Like a lot of these swing states, steve, folks believe that their vote is important. 55 of americans typically vote in elections. I think well see a much higher number this time around but is this not a place that people think there vote doesnt matter. Particularly on Election Night, were going to get a lot of votes in. Ali velshi in North Carolina. Mike memoli in wilmington, North Carolina. Carol lee where the president is about to be in littitz, pennsylvania. Ahead, eight days away from the election right now, the paths to victory are getting smaller and narrower for President Trump. Were going to show you what that looks like on the big board. Plus, a top adviser from the Trump Campaign is going to join us. And later, the covid crisis stretching far beyond americas rural areas, hitting hard, too, leave be Health Care Workers overwhelmed. And some hospitals, at their breaking point. This administration and Senate Republicans want to overturn laws requiring Insurance Companies to cover people with preexisting conditions. Theyre rushing a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court to change the law through the courts. 70 of americans want to keep protections for preexisting conditions in place. Tell our leaders in washingtn to stop playing games with our healthcare. And sweetie can coloryou just be. Gentle with the pens. Okey. Okey. I know. Gentle. Gentle new projects means new project managers. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database so you can start hiring right away. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. 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. Good morning, mr. Sun. Good morning, blair. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. When owning a Small Business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Donny, no. Oh. Polls just came out, just came out. Let me tell you the real polls, okay . Because we feel were winning almost easily. Were leading in nevada. Thats nice. Way up in texas. In ohio, were way up. By four or five points. In florida, we have it down as four up in florida. You dont hear these numbers, right . Were nicely up four up in georgia. In arizona were nicely up, were winning big in iowa, but i should be for what i do for the farmers. In the national poll, were leading against sleepy joe biden. All right. Thats President Trump there. Thats how he looks at the polls. He says, you know what were going to do, were going to take all of the polls that are out there