Know. Hes actually 610. You just dont see it on the tv screen. Thats why he was confidently talking trash. I think he was only threatening you because he doesnt know about your transformation and its going to be wicked when it happens. Well done, my friend, nice to see you. Thank you for joining us this evening. Happy to have you here. I told you this would be a week with a whole bunch of news in it and today did not disappoint. Secretary, good morning to you. We are at a crucial juncture in combatting covid19, and weve got these new mask guidelines coming down. Your department oversees the cdc, so i want to put the question to you. First, what we can expect, and also, it sounds like its going to be organized around whether or not a person is vaccinated or not, which i would read as a kind of encouragement to get more people out there to get that vaccination. Fair to say . Good morning and thanks for having me, and absolutely. The message is clear. Youre vaccinated, guess what, you get to return to a more normal lifestyle. If youre not vaccinated, youre still in danger as well, so get vaccinated. Youre vaccinated . Guess what, you get to return to a more normal lifestyle. If youre not vaccinated, youre still a danger, meaning a danger to other people, and youre still in danger yourself as well, so get vaccinated. If youre vaccinated, though, you do get to return to a more normal lifestyle. The house secretary in the Biden Administration, xavier becerra, today, bottom lining this new reality, this new guidance by the cdc, bottomlining that pretty succinctly today. That bottom line as outlined by secretary becerra is still very simple. If you get vaccinated, the cdc says there is stuff you can now do safely without a mask. You want to have a cookout with a small group of friends or family for memorial day weekend or for this weekend . You can do that without masks on if you are all vaccinated. If youre not vaccinated, well, you are both at risk of getting covid yourself, and even worse, youre at risk of spreading covid to other people, so youll need to keep a mask on for an event like that. Which, frankly, will sort of suck if all your vaccinated friends dont have to wear a mask and you still do. In other words, get vaccinated. This afternoon, President Biden explains a little bit more about the new guidance and talked some about how far weve come. When i took office in january, we were losing literally tens of thousands of our seniors each week. Grandparents who were loved so dearly, moms and dads, pillars of every community, gone by the thousands every day. At that time, less than 1 of seniors were fully vaccinated when i took office. Today, in less than 100 days, more than 67 , twothirds of our seniors, are now fully vaccinated. That effort resulted in a drop of 80 in deaths among american seniors. I want to thank the team at the cdc for everything theyre doing to help us lead with science and bring our communities out of this crisis safely and responsibly. Now, i also want to thank everyone who has gotten the vaccine for doing your patriotic duty. Go get the shot. Its never been easier. And once youre fully vaccinated, you can go without a mask when youre outside and away from big crowds. I urge all americans, dont let up now. Keep following the guidance. Go get your vaccination now. Its free and its convenient. 90 of the American People live within five miles of a site where you can get a vaccination. You can do this. And we will do this. President biden speaking today about the new mask guidance, the cdc loosening up the mask guidance for outdoors, particularly among people who are vaccinated. I should tell you he also had a sort of drop the mic moment today when nbcs Peter Alexander asked President Biden why he was wearing a mask when he walked out of the white house to make his remarks today. Watch this. Sir, you chose to wear a mask as you walked out here. What message were you sending by wearing a mask outside alone . To watch me take it off and not put it back on until i get inside. The president flashed his high beams on that one. Sunglasses on, big grin. Its like classic biden. You got to be kidding me, man, right . You can watch me take the mask off as i come outside and not put it back on until i get inside. Thats what were doing here, guys. Come on. There will be no aviators at the state of the Union Address tomorrow, but i think you can expect some of that same tone, at least on covid. And i will tell you, were not supposed to call tomorrow nights address to the joint session of congress a state of the Union Address. We typically dont call it that the first time a new president gives one. But can i just say for a second how annoying that is this year . I mean, essentially the reason we dont call it a state of the union is that after new president s were inaugurated for the first time, we think of them as not having been around long enough, to not having done enough yet as president s to report on the socalled state of the union. So that makes sense, right, most of the time. Sort of. President s get sworn in at the end of january, and then they typically give this speech right away, so, like, Ronald Reagan was sworn in january 20th. The speech for him happens less than a month later, february 18. Before him, it was president bush, a few weeks later, he was speaking to congress three weeks later, february 9th. George w. Bush, february 27th. Obama, february 24th. Donald trump, february 28th. They all maxed out at like five weeks into their first term before they gave this first speech to congress. We all bent over backwards to not call it a state of the union because it was so soon after they were sworn in. Fine, i get it, i get it. But even with all those guys, its still a state of the Union Address. It still functions like a state of the Union Address. And number two, this year, its not happening in february. February is long gone, as is march, as is almost all of april. This year, whether its because of the pandemic or because of the january trump mob attack on the capitol complex or any number of reasons, this year President Biden has chosen to wait much longer than any other modern president has waited before he gives this speech. Hes waiting until the literal eve of his 100th day in office before he gives this first big speech to congress. Tomorrow is day 99 and thats when hes giving this address. And that means that its not like hes still finding his way around the oval office trying to figure out which door triggers the lock, right . The first speech by a new president always feels like a state of the union, anyway, even when its only three or four weeks into his new term. But in this case with biden, were 14 weeks into him being president. Were 99 days into him being president and the dude has some stuff to report. So i know were not supposed to call it the state of the union. Im going to keep accidentally not accidentally calling tomorrows biden speech a state of the Union Address even if were not supposed to. Because functionally thats what it is. He will be reporting on stuff that he has done. He is not just going to be reporting on stuff that he intends to do. And because he has already been there for almost 100 days, most of what hes got to talk about, obviously, is going to be about covid and the fight against this pandemic. We saw a preview of that from the president today. Even before he put on his sunglasses and started to walk away from the podium before dropping the mic on Peter Alexander like that. In these remarks, talking about the new guidance from the cdc, thanking the cdc for their leadership, telling americans we need to finish the job and get vaccinated, but also giving them credit for how far theyve come for this what administration has able to do. Hell be able to do some of that tomorrow, talk about what hes done. Because hes been there long enough to have done a lot already. The president s Approval Ratings overall are high. But when it comes to the handling of the coronavirus, his Approval Ratings are sky high. And so were going to hear a lot about that tomorrow night from a president who can get in there 99 days in and describe the state of the union and what hes done. And in terms of his agenda, in terms of what he wants to yet do, the popularity of the covid relief bill is strong and staying that way. Thats already been signed into law and is already going into effect. Monmouth just released new polling showing 64 support among the American People for the American Families plan that hes going to formally announce in his speech tomorrow, 64 support for that already. He hasnt even formally announced this yet. Monmouth also found 68 support for the infrastructure bill that hes already proposed that is currently making its way through the congress. 68 popularity on the infrastructure bill . It turns out thats a good way to be popular, right . Propose and pass things that the American People like by huge margins, then theyll like you, too. Crazy, i know. I think congress has started to cotton to the fact that when they pass things that are wildly popular among the American People, it raises congress Approval Ratings as well. So far, republicans have been immune to those charms and do not want to support what the democrats and the Biden Administration are doing, but as democrats in congress, the democratic party, the Biden Administration and, indeed, to a certain extent Even Congress as an institution gets more popular with the American People because of bidens stuff that they are finally getting passed thats making a difference in the country, well see how long that resistance lasts. The Approval Ratings for President Biden personally, for his handling of specific issues and for his legislative agenda thus far, im sure from the white houses perspective, those good numbers make this seem like a great time to put the president before the public in a big prime time address. They probably think it was worth waiting 99 days and not doing this in february when he had nothing to talk about. Theyre able to tout what hes done already in addition to what he plans to do next. And the risk of having scheduled it this way, of course, is that by this time in the presidency, 100 days into a presidency, you would also think the opposition would have started to define the new president negatively, would have found their footing in terms of criticizing and demonizing his actions, his proposals, the impact of what hes doing. Thats not happening among republicans. Republicans have not found their feet yet, to say the least, in terms of criticizing, let alone meaningfully opposing what biden is doing. I mean, this, too, is a remarkable thing about the state of the union right now and about the prospects for President Bidens agenda. Look at the string of weird, madeup cockamamie stuff that the republicans have been talking about since biden became president. Think about what you have heard from them. Think about what you have heard from conservative media and republican elected officials about their greats concerns and the things most animaing them since the Biden Administration has been in place. There was the freakout about mr. Potato head. There was a freakout about the muppets. Im not sure what that were mad about, but they were very mad about the muppets. Then they were mad about dr. Seuss. Then they were mad about joe bidens big meat ban, even though joe biden is not banning meat. That was totally made up. One fox news anchor, to his credit, yesterday did run an onair correction apologizing for the Fox News Channel saying biden would ban meat when thats not in the proposal at all. There was one fox anchor on camera apologizing in front of america for hyping that story. For the last few days, republicans have been all over that. Theyve also been hyping a totally different, also totally false story that all kids detained by immigration authorities at the u. S. Border were being given a childs picture book written by Vice PresidentKamala Harris. The implication was that the Biden Administration were giving the book to migrant kids at the border. That is totally made up. It is not happening. It is literally a story made up storey made out of whole cloth. Never proposed. But thats the latest one. Its become yet another new, animating, totally fake grievance in conservative media and among republican elected politicians. Because this is how they spend their time now. A New York Post reporter whose by line was on the New York Post on the fake Kamala Harris story. That reporter resigned tonight saying, an announcement. Today i handed in my resignation to the editors at the New York Post. The Kamala Harris story an incorrect story i was ordered to write in which i failed to push back hard against. That was my breaking point. That reporter from the New York Post, laura italiano, saying tonight she quit her job over being forced to concoct and advance that fake story about something the Biden Administration absolutely did not do. But its just one in a bunch of those now. And it, nevertheless, remains like a top story in conservative media right now and among elected republican members of congress who you would think have other things to talk about. It is weird, and i will tell you, i think its not just a sidebar. I think its an important thing about where our democracy is at and where the prospects for bidens agenda is at heading into tomorrows state of the union. It is rare but significant that republicans over and over and over again in these last 98 days have incessantly gone for these madeup sidebar crises and controversies one after the other that are not real things, and its certainly not things the Biden Administration is doing. There is other stuff to talk about if youre in opposition, right, if youre a governing party in opposition. They just passed a 9. 2 million relief bill. And with more coming after that. But the republicans are like muppets bacon muppets and bacon seuss if you are the biden white house, thats probably a good sign that the Opposition Party really does not know what to say about you and does not know what to say about the substance of what youre doing. In life in general, if people have to make things up about you to criticize, it probably means the reallife way youre living probably isnt too bad. But in the House Chamber tomorrow night, its going to look way different than it usually does. Unlike previous state of the Union Addresses, they are not, for example, picking a designated survivor. This always struck me as melodramatic and also a little scary. In case of a catastrophic attack on the capitol during the state of the Union Address, they usually designate one cabinet member who is in succession in line for the vaccine, only two members of the cabinet will be at the state of the union. It will only be the secretary of defense and secretary of state. All of the other members of the cabinet will be watching from home. We dont have to worry tomorrow night about Supreme CourtJustice Sam Alito heckling like he did president obama. Because only one Supreme Court justice is going to be there for the address as well. The chief justice, john roberts. The only guests in the entire chamber will be president s wife and the Vice President s husband, they are the only invited guests from outside of the government. There will be 30 members from each party and 40 house members, and thats it. The main reason for all of the restrictions is covid, of course is they are limiting space between all attendees. But what is going to be the most unusual state of the union tomorrow, there was quite recently a violent attack on the u. S. Capitol on january 6th. Just today, the trumpsupporting arkansas man who allegedly entered the capitol with a stunning device mounting on a hunting stick and went into Nancy Pelosi Office and wrote threatening notes, was photographed with his feet on her desk. Right now that man was released from jail. He has been in federal custody for three months. Right before the state of the union, they decided to set him loose. Kyle chaney and josh reporting tonight with these adds federal judges are considering these difficult cases of january 6 defendants and whether these defendant are dangerous enough that the court should keep them in jail until they go to trial. One of the new complicated things that they are contending with. Judges are really wrestling. One of the things everybody is newly having to contend with is that in the last week or so, former President Donald Trump has renewed his calls to his followers about how the election was stolen from him, saying he won the election. And how he needs their help to get it back, because joe biden, and on january 6 itself, those statements are with a lot of the attack. Right . The reason their lawyers have described those statements by President Trump in moves cases is basically make a case to the judges in these cases my client isnt a bad person an