"meet the press daily." i'm chuck todd, on what has just been a mix of emotions today. president trump is desperate, isolated and he clearly knows he is losing. and he picked all days of today, the funeral service of civil rights icon john lewis to raise the historically un-american idea of delaying the election. a power that the constitution, by the way, does not grant him. to our knowledge, and we asked nbc historian michael beschloss to be sure, no president has ever raised in public this, but the idea was immediately rejected by presidents lincoln and roosevelt, respectively. the idea has been rejected by pretty much every congressional leader on capitol hill today, including mitch mcconnell. >> never in the history of the country, through wars, depressions, and the civil war, have we ever not had a federally

scheduled election on time and we'll find a way to do that again this november 3rd. >> folks, it's no wonder the president may want to delay the election or undermine the legitimacy of the results. more than 150,000 americans have died amid a pandemic that he has gravely mishandled. in a reminder just how deadly and serious this virus is, herman cain has just dined from it. he was diagnosed after attending one of the president's ill-timed rallies in tulsa. we're also reminded today that this administration is scrambled to address this country's worst economic contraction ever. and what made the current president's call to delay the election even more was the image of three the former presidents honoring john lewis today. a man who epitomized the american story, including this country's fight for free elections. that contrast was clearly on president obama's mind when he delivered today's eulogy.

>>ch t ch thtoday, we witness w own eyes police officers kneeling on the necks of black americans. george wallace may be gone, but we can witness our federal government sending agents to use tear gas and batons against peaceful demonstrators. we may know longer have to guess the number of jelly beans in a jar in order to cast a ballot, but even as we sit here, there are those in power who are doing their darnedest to discourage

people from voting by closing polling locations and targeting minorities and students with restrictive i.d. laws and attacking our voting rights with surgical precision, even undermining the postal service in the runup to an election that's going to be dependent on mail-in ballots so peek don't get sick. >> once again, president trump picked, of all days, this day, to do this. that was a response. later this hour, we are expected to hear from president trump. he will be holding another daily news conference from the briefing room, which the white house started doing because of their concern about his poll numbers. speaking of which, yesterday afternoon, the president tried to paint the democratic party as a movement of radical and violent enemies seeking to literally destroy america and indoctrinate your children. we are not exaggerating how he said it, he simply said it. joining me now from the white house is shannon pettypiece and

michael beschloss. and someone with us, someone who knows the president, or i think at least thought he knew the president well, former white house communications director anthony scaramucci. anthony, we'll get to you in a minute. shannon, i want to start with you. the president weighed in on the chaos he caused with that tweet this morning and let me read it. "glad i was able to get the very dishonest lame stream media to finally start talking about the risks to our democracy from dangerous univertal mail-in voting. not absentee voting, which i totally support. must know election results on the night of the election." the president, once again, trying to create a distinction between absentee voting and mail-in voting. there is no difference, other than one ballot, you request, the other might be mailed to you. nothing else distinguishes the two. it's a distinction without a difference. i guess this is cleanup, since they have all this direct mail out, trying to get voters to do

absentee ballot voting in florida and michigan. >> and if you thought this morning that this reviving the controversy about mail-in voting was a way to distract attention from other things like this worst economic decline in u.s. history, you know, you can obviously see that from the tweet where he's saying, i'm glad i got people's attention there. there's certainly, i think on one part, an element of the president trolling here with moving the election date. oh, you don't think it's safe to vote, why don't we just move the election day, that sort of internet trolling, but also, this is one of these pet issues for the president that goes back years, to his claim that millions of people voted illegally in the 2016 election and starting a whole voter fraud commission that found no voter fraud and, you know, seems to have moved on thfrom this issue and now has revived it. people think this may be a

hedge, in case he loses the election. that could certainly backfire on him if he win, because then democrats could make accusations of fraud on their own if they want to, but it certainly is another one, as we talked about yesterday, culture war issues that, you know, is great, not for the people who are interested in his governing, but are interested in the culture war and the fight and going after the democrats and whatever they are for, the president is against. >> shannon, i got to ask this, though. so, between the bizarre doctor demon business from a couple days ago, over hydroxychloroquine and this, the you know, so, staff is trying to say, i mean, this is all strategic? is this a plan by the president? is this some sort of -- is his staff trying to rationalize that there is a method to this madness? >> i mean, i know from talking to people with the campaign and people within the white house that there has been an effort to move attention away from coronavirus.

i mean, last week, we saw that they pushed into issues of fear and crime, you know, that that's where the president sees a strong suit on, you know, one of his strong suits. this issue of voter fraud has been something he sees one of his strong issues on for years. you know, again, the hydroxychloroquine doctor, hydroxychloroquine has become another one of these culture war issues that resonates with the people who like to see the president as a fighter, not a leader. and because amid all of this is still, you know, we passed 150,000 lives marked here with coronavirus. and if this election is about coronavirus, the polling indicates the president will not do well. if it is about other things, a culture war, if it's about crime and fear and voter fraud, then the numbers ibd kate maybe he has a shot. at least better than coronavirus. >> i want to move, michael beschloss, put some historical terms here. i was -- mitch mcconnell brought up the civil war. it's not often i get to do this.

i'm going to throw up -- >> me, either. >> it's not a sound bite, i get to throw up a lincoln quote here. there were people that had -- brought up this idea and lincoln himself on november 10th, 1864 said, we cannot from free government without elections and if the rebellion could force us to forego or postpone a national election it might fairly claim to have already conquered and ruined us. michael, i know you've tried all day, we were -- there is no other american president, has talked about this in public ever. correct? >> not even close. and barely in private. there were a few people who suggested in 1944, when we were nearing the end of world war ii that fdr might want to postpone the national election to give himself perhaps another year before he had to run in november 1944. he would not hear of it, because just like lincoln, he felt that the important thing was to show democracy in action and if you

let fighting against fascism turn you into a government that look eed fascist or like a dictatorship, that meant that you had essentially lost the war. and the difference between franklin roosevelt, among 9,000 other things and donald trump is that in terms of fdr and any other mature president or disciplined candidate, they think in terms, as you know, we've discussed this, in terms of years and decades. donald trump seems so psychologically rattled, you look at these tweets, it's all about the next ten minutes. i'm sure it gave him emotional relief to throfloat this idea, if he's going to think about doing something that, he's got to have cooperation from congress, and just as you said, mitch mcconnell immediately cut him off and i don't think that nancy pelosi would be very interested.

>> let's take a step back. i know you absorbed the lewis funeral today along with the rest of us. the contrast of the three presidents and i've been thinking about this all day long about how this president cannot give a eulogy. there -- >> no. >> the fact that people do not seek him out for these moments at all and to see the contrast of three former presidents doing what they do, i'm just curious, put that in some historical context for us. >> well, you know, we hired donald trump, we american voters, whether you voted for him or not, the american voters hired him to do a job. and 50% of his job is to be a chief of state who is there to unify the country, as well as propose things that people might disagree about. and one of the times that presidents can use to unify the country, sadly enough, is funerals of our most esteemed

leaders, as well as inaugurations and a few other ceremonies, and one of the things that is, you know, pleasing to us americans is when you see people like george w. bush, who hugely disagreed with john lewis in his lifetime politically, nonetheless, saying, you know, in the light of history, i recognize that john lewis was a great leader who deserves the honor of eulogies by former presidents. when you've got a current president who is so angry and so petty and so involved with whether john lewis was nice to him in his lifetime or not, that he cannot appear at something like this, he is not doing half his job. the. >> and i'm curious what you thought of president obama's the bull connor references, with some -- p in invoking that, those visuals, to what we've seen recently, whether in lafayette park or in portland and then, of course, the george wallace line that -- i don't think that was subtle.

>> no, i think it wasn't settle and it was particularly astonding, given that barack obama has been pretty opaque and pretty subtle in his criticisms of donald trump thus far. but i think he's absolutely right. this is bull can nor, this is george wallace. for donald trump yesterday to put out a tweet suggesting that to preserve the suburban lifestyle dream, he's going to try to prevent lower income people from being able to build houses or buy houses in suburbs, that's exactly what john lewis and martin luther king and others in the mid 1960s were campaigns exactly against. martin luther king moved to chicago, to the southwest side, risked his own life because there was a movement against fair housing, to keep african-americans and others out. >> yeah. dch michael, i really approach ya that. i want to shift gears here and try to at least, and anthony this is your job here, try to at least -- provide an explanation

of why the president did what he did today. it looks to me, anthony, like this is somebody who feels as if -- is he this desperate, does he feel cornered? what do you -- what can you -- what insight can you provide here? >> well, i want to tie it back to something that michael has often talked about and he wrote a book 20 years ago, or annotated it related to lbj and the tapes. if you listen to lbj on those tapes and his frustration with vietnam and his stubbornness, the president has elements of lbj's personality. it's almost like he's married george wallace's instincts to lbj's inflexibility. so, now we're in a situation where scientists have gone to him, friends have gone to him, said, hey, we really need to have locked this thing down and put masks on, otherwise 150,000

to 300 thoushs people are going to die. now he didn't listen to them. now he's sitting here with the mail-in ballot issue and he recognizes it's very, very hard on the data systems to predict what's going to happen with mail-in balloting. he's getting that feedback with the campaign. and he has this sort of tweet. there's two elements of that tweet. one, to rile everybody up on this network and other networks. number two, it's to deflect from the disastrous economic numbers today. our gdp has fallen 33%. it is the worst gdp differential in modern economic history, so, he wants to deflect there. and then, the third thing, chuck, which i have seen all too well, he'll throw these things out and then he'll begin the process of splitting the -- as he's doing with the secondary level tweets, well, i'm just trying to raise the conversation. >> i want to play for you, you know, by happenstance today,

mike pompeo, the secretary of state was on, was testifying in front of the senate today and tim kaine asked him about the president's tweet. listen to this response. let's play it. and i want to get your reaction on the other side. >> can a president delay the november presidential election, mr. secretary? >> senator, i'm not going to enter a legal judgment on that on the fly this morning. >> you are one of the most highly trained and accomplished lawyers who are part of this administration. can a president delay a presidential election? >> senator, the -- in the end, the department of justice and others will make that legal determination. we all should want, i know you do, too, senator kaine, want to make sure we have an election that everyone is confident in. >> anthony, mitch mcconnell,

kevin mccarthy, pretty much a slew of republicans who are, like, no, the constitution, here are the facts -- mike pompeo couldn't bring himself to say that, he said, no, well, there has to be a legal opinion -- is it just -- is there that much of a penalty for contradicting the boss? >> well, i think so. he was definitely preaching to an audience of one there, and, look, he took constitutional law in the same place that i took it. he knows it's in the constitution. he knows it's impossible. the correct answer to the question is, the president cannot do that, whether he wants to do it or not. but you know, secretary pompeo is in a rough spot in his own mind. i have been in that spot. he's painted into the corner and he's now moving the goal posts of his own personal integrity to please the president. it's a rough place to be for people. at some point, you say, no mas, i can't do this, i can't do it to my family, i can't do it to my personal integrity. obviously secretary pompeo is not there yet, but my heart goes

out to him, because he's trying to serve the country, he's a west point grad, harvard law school grad, but he is making a mistake here. he needed to have spoken more declaratively back to senator kaine. >> look, you tweeted today that you think the party ought to ask donald trump to resign. and they might, let's say even they did, we know that wouldn't be effective. i'm curious, do you expect anybody around -- is this one of those moments that you could see people, you know, you, eventually, walked away from him. john kelly's walked away from him, jim mattis walked away from him. is this one of these moments where more are going to walk away from him? >> well, you know, we had, in 1974, we had warriors like senator dole that saw their friends die for the constitution and for our freedom. well have a lot of vets in the congress, we have a lot of vets that are republicans that are serving. we just like everybody in our party, the republican party to think about their patriotism ore

t over the partisanship and not be intimidated by the president. the great thing about our president, it's really the people that are ruling the country. these people are supposed to be put there to serve. what is going to help your career right now is to speak truth to power to the american people. he really should resign. he's incapable of handling what's going on. he should do what lbj did in march of 1968, all right, i'm not going to stand in november for this election. he just does not have the skill set to handle this crisis. if you look at the intersection of the crisis and the president's communication skills, they are just way off, chuck. and a very smart person that loved the country over the party would look to him and say, hypo, it's time to go now, pack up. >> shannon pettypiece, michael besh loss and anthony scar

moochie, appreciate all three of you, helping us to try to unwrap what has been quite a day. thank you to all. and we are awaiting, of course, the start of president trump's news conference, set for 5:30. it's possible the virus is the topic, but at this point, we don't know. once he begins speaking, we are going to bring it to you live. also ahead, much more on the widespread backlash over the president's divisive rhetoric. going to talk with a top republican strategist who believes we are in the midst of a national crisis. also talk to a republican congressman who is trying to be part of a problem-solvers caucus and the question now is, is this a problem that can be solved? we'll be right back.

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welcome back. we've got more to talk about. president trump today became the first president in history to raise the idea of delaying the election, an idea that was swiftly rejected by democrats and republicans on capitol hill.

another reminder of really what may be a potential identity crisis that's facing this republican party. joining me now, a former adviser to mitt romney, the chief strategist for that campaign, stewart stephens, the author of a new book, "it was all a lie: how the republican party became donald trump." stewart, it was a day like today where i've been trying to figure out, what does -- what would -- if a republican senator, who is in a tough re-election fight, came to you right now, what do i do now? every time i turn around, the leader of my party is taking me in one place, i want to disagree, but i don't know what to do. it seems as if this trap has been laid and there's no way out. >> i think it's one of these moments that hopefully these incumbents are going to ask themselves, why in the world did you run for office? if you didn't run for office to

stand up to someone who is threatening to suspend elections, the president of the united states, why? i mean, we used to say, if you only stood for re-election, you don't stand for anything. and this is a moral test. that's what donald trump has been from the beginning. and most of us in life, i certainly do, those in life try to avoid moral tests, but this is one that's unavoidable. it's a test that largely the republican party has failed. and this idea that donald trump the just sort of says these things in jest, the inability to imagine donald trump has always been one of donald trump's gr t greatest strengths. and he's not a normal person and people who are normal tend to think that those who aren't acting normal will revert to normalcy. but trump never will. and that's the reality that has to sink in, and i think you really have to defend the united states. >> you know, one of the things that's striking about his -- the

various threats he puts out, is that a lot of times, they're empty, but every once in awhile, they're not. and i sometimes get caught in between these two ideas, is he lazy or dangerous or is it a little bit of both? >> i think it's both. what trump is is ultimately an animal of survival. if you think donald trump is acting this way now, because we have the worst gdp numbers in history, more americans have died than ever before in the last four months and he's way down in the polls, how is he going to do about a week out if he's still heading this way? i think it's very dangerous. and people say, well, you know, the courts will stand in all of this and there's some truth to that, i think america is certainly proving to be a lot more resilient and stronger than, say, germany in the '30s. >> right. >> but i could ask, you know, if donald trump sent dhs troops into the county courthouse on

november 1 to impound ballots, what would happen? who is going to stop him? the courts are going to say, return the ballots, but they're going to have the ballots and then there's going to be a whole chain of custody and is this really a valid election? and i think you have to imagine what seems unimaginable with donald trump and prepare for it. >> so, i -- you know -- how do you do it if you have, again, i look back at the current leadership on capitol hill on the republican side of the aisle and you and i both know many of them are extraordinarily uncomfortable in this moment. but at the same time, i don't know about you, but it's like, it's not enough for you and i to say, hey, behind the scenes, we know they're extraordinarily uncomfortable. outside of principle, what else do you do here? i mean, this party looks like it's really strafractured becaut looks to me that most of these elected republicans have

decided, trump is going to lose, i have to save my own hide but i'm not going to do it by distancing mist from him on this election, but i will do it on one of these coronavirus relief bills. is that what we're watching on capitol hill right now? >> listen, i mean, i think the problem with trump has as been -- he takes your soul, but he doesn't deliver. and that's what's happened with everyone that tried to negotiate with trump. trump is always asking you to bargain with yourself. okay, you know this isn't good, but if you support him, i'll get this, what is this? maybe it's a tax cut, maybe it's a judge, maybe it's an appointment, maybe it's some legislation you care about. i think you have to put all of that aside and, look -- the current republicans in office and the democrats, they're heirs to the greatest generation. and courage isn't standing up to donald trump. courage is getting out of the boat when the guy in front of you just got shot.

i find it extremely disappointing and troubling that these republicans can't summon the courage to stand up for basic fundamental democracy against donald trump. and you know, what i've given up, is believing there's going to be anything other than fear that is going to motivate these republicans, and that's why i think it's so important that donald trump be defeated in large numbers. it is the only path forward to lead to any kind of reform in the center-right party. >> you know, it's so clear reading your book, stewart, that you are a man without a party. you're not somebody who is some closet democrat, you have fill lof call differences with some liberal ideology. you can see it in your book. what do you do if the republican party doesn't -- decides not to fully -- fully get rid of the trump virus? >> i've thought about that a lot, and what i'm going to do is support democrats. because i think, really, to me,

that's the only honest choice. we're either going to be run by democrats or republicans in this country. listen, i spent decades pointing out flaws in the democratic party, i don't think it's perfect, but right now, i think that it still believes in some concept of what it is to be an american that i just find so troublingly absent in republican party's acceptance of donald trump and i think that you have to take a side. and if the republican party is the trump party, i'll support democrats. and i'll do it because i think it's the better choice and it's the right choice, not because i think that they're perfect. >> joe biden's got a line that always makes me laugh. you're not running against the almighty, you're running against the alternative. it sounds like you've looked at the alternative and made a

decision. stuart stucevens, much appreciated. thank you for coming on. >> all the best. up next, we're going to head to capitol hill and the president is set to begin speaking from the white house briefing room any moment now. when he begins, we're going to take you there live. ta-da! did you know liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? given my unique lifestyle, that'd be perfect! let me grab a pen and some paper. know what? i'm gonna switch now. just need my desk... my chair... and my phone. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

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welcome back. republicans on capitol hill today pushed back against the president more decisively than

they have almost at any time in this presidency. many of them tweeting very quickly they do not support delaying the election and many of them reminding the president that it is congress that sets that date. congressman rodney davis, who is the ranking member on the committee of house administration, which has jurisdiction over federal elections, tweeted that the election will be held on november 3rd as planned and required by law. house minority leader kevin mccar think says there will be no delay this november. >> i understand the president's concern about mail-in voting, which is different than absentee voting, but never in the history of the federal elections have we ever not held an election and we should go forward with our election. no way should we ever not hold our election on the day that we have it. >> with me now is republican congressman tom reid of new york, cochair of the bipartisan problem-solvers caucus. congressman reid, it is always good to have your choice here and on the air. i got to ask you about this.

i know there's been some immediate push-back by many, by yourself and many of your colleagues on what the president tweeted, but i got to ask you, how damaging of a tweet was that by the president? >> well, i don't think it's going to be leong-term damaging. we are going to move onto a new cycle in 24 hours, but it's good that we came out in one voice and said, no, we're not going to delay the election, november is when it's going to happen and that's rightfully so. having the conversation to make sure it's safe, make sure that it's secure and that there's no fraud, that's a legitimate conversation that needs to be had between now and then. >> considering that the president talks about this is e issue, do you think, the white house is going to be more supportive of providing more money so there can be more protections, help the postal service handle these things? are you in favor of trying to

provide the resources necessary to help states conduct what is going to be a unique election this year? >> i'll tell you, i'm a republican who believes in giving people as many opportunities to get to the ballot, have their voice heard come this november. so, i believe we should be embracing the idea of vote by mail. i believe we should encourage folks to participate in the election process, because that's when democracy dies. and you're seeing the numbers. people are disengaging from elections in historic rates. we need everybody to come and vote and express their opinion. that's when america is the strongest. >> well, let me ask you this. democrats put a whole bunch of whole extra money in for helping with this election. are you supportive of, in this next round, i want to get even more, i want to talk about unemployment assistance in a minute, do you think this next round of relief on the virus ought to involve aid to states with helping them specify sicic

conducting this election? >> you know i've been a proponent for 60 days, i've been leading one of the charges in the house and so when it comes to that assistance, i believe that money could appropriately be utilized for carrying out our elections in a safe, secure fashion and making sure the voice of america is heard this november and it may not happen all on november 3rd, but it will happen over that period of time and what we have to do is make sure the resources are there. and i'm confident that's going to happen. >> do you have -- is there a unified republican counterproposal yet to what the democrats have passed in the house or do you get the sense that there's stuff all over the place these days? >> i think there's stuchl all over the place in the house right now. and if you are referring to the heroes act what the house proposed in their original proposal, they all know, everyone talks to us, they know that wasn't a serious bill, that was more of a political bill, that was a campaign fodder type bill and it wasn't realistic. and it's been treated that way in washington, d.c. and the hill

by the negotiators and people in the room. i've been there, i've heard it. and all i can tell you is, right now, the senate is moving forward and we got a legitimate opportunity to do a bill that's going to help the american people. about a trillion and a half, could balloon up a little higher than that, but i think you're going to see this get done over the next seven days and you're going to see relief to americans as the priority. >> you may have made a little news here. do you think this bill could be closer -- do you think the compromise, you are essentially splitting the difference here, what you may have just hinted at, we know the cost of the house bill is 3 trillion. one of the ideas circulating in the senate was 1 trillion. you think this could be closer to two? >> well, i think 1 1/2 is more realistic. and that's all about the negotiations and the dials. because, you know, we need a tremendous amount of relief in america today. and you need state and low kale aid, you need unemployment reform, you need things like child care, you need schools to have the resources to reopen.

that's going to take some money. and there's recognition of that. and as you negotiate this, because you're going to have to get about 60 -- at minimum 60, probably 70 to 80 votes in the senate to get this through the house, in order to do that, i just think the realistic -- i've been here for ten years, i can see that being the realistic number. >> do you think donald trump represents the republican party well in your mind? >> i like the -- you know, i've supported the president, you know that. it's been very clear on my record. i supported the president, but i've called the president out when i've disagreed with him. and i think that's what democracy -- and as a leader, i try to consider myself a leader. i speak my truth. and i speak how i feel. so, when the president has ignited the economy, cut the regulations and the policies that led to the tax cut, those are all policies i support. and that type of policy would not have occurred absent president trump. and that's the truth. and i will just tell you, at the

end of the day, it's not about republican brand of donald trump or not donald trump, it's about, what do we stand for as individuals, what do we stand for as the republican party and when you talk about those policies that are huge like that, those are -- i'm proud to be a republican to stand for those policies. >> is there ever a moment when you hear the president tweet, i mean, i don't know if you heard stuart stuchb stevens earlier, the price is too high. there's a point where the price of compromising, you might like a policy that he puts in, but the price becomes very high to support that bargain, does that price get higher for you every day? >> well, no. i express my disagreement, respectfully. he's the president of the united states. i have a respect for the office. and also have a respect for him as an individual. i know him, i've talked with him. i believe where he's trying to take the country in regards to the policies. and so, you know, we're aligned on that. and so, if i disagree, i express

it. if i disagree with a proposal, i vote against it. that's what i can com. that's what leaders in congress do. and i will just tell you, i try to be one of them. i leave it up to the people to decide if that's the case. the. >> congressman tom reed, republican. as always, sir, you always come on from the problem-solvers caucus i really appreciate you coming on and sharing your perspective with us. >> we're going to get through this. we have to stop fighting and we have to start solving. that's what it's all about. >> yeah, well -- >> we will. >> someone needs to get off twitter. >> we'll get this solved, chuck, you know we will. america's strong. don't forget that. >> we shall see. thank you, congressman. we are a couple minutes away, we just got the two-minute warning which when it comes to the trump white house is usually not two minutes. so, there it is. >> expressing our sadness at the passing of a wonderful man and a dear friend of mine, herman

cain. he was a very special person, i got to know him very well, and unfortunately, he passed away from a thing called the china virus. we send our prayers to herman's great wife, gloria, wonderful family, and i have to say, america grieves for all of the 150,000 americans who had their lives taken by this horrible, invisible enemy. we mourn their loss as a nation, we mourn their loss as people, as people that love one another. and we're working very hard to not only contain the this horrible event, this horrible plague, it's what it is, is a plague, but also to come up with this here putics and vaccines

and we're making a lot of strides. all over the world, they're having tremendous problems, resurgence has taken place in many countries that people thought were doing well. despite a wide range of approaches to the pandemic between countries, this resurgence in cases is occurring throughout large portions is the of our planet, in japan, china, australia, belgium, spain, france, germany, hong kong, places where they thought it was -- they really had done great, it came back and in a couple of cases came back very strongly. the virus was said to be under control, but new cases have risen very significantly once again the. so, when you think somebody's doing well, sometimes you have to hold your decision on that, you have to hold your statements. since the beginning of june, daily new cases have increased by a factor of 14 times in

israel, 35 times -- that's 35 times -- in japan and nearly 30 times in australia, just to name a few. the these were countries that were doing incredkrecredibly we leadership was being praised. latin america now leads the world in confirmed infections and with the scarcity of testing in latin america, the true numbers, you have no idea what they might be. and i can say scarcity of testing almost anywhere except for our country. this disease is highly contagious and presents unique challenges to our border states. meanwhile, states like california, washington state, maryland, virginia, nevada, illinois, oregon and many oth s others, they were thought to be doing well and they had a big resurgence and were hit very hard and governors that were extremely popular are not so

popular anymore. they were held up as models to follow and then they got hit and i'm not even saying it's their fault, it's probably not their fault, it's just the way it is, it is highly infectious. one of the most infectious diseases that anybody has ever seen. not since 1917, over 100 years ago, has anyone seen anything like what we're witnessing now. but these states have also seen the virus substantially rebound and, again, no one is immune. no one is immune. these facts illustrate the imposi imposing determinate that a blanket shutdown to achieve a temporary reduction in cases is certainly not a viable long-term

strategy for any country. people are starting to understand the disease now. we certainly have understood a lot about the disease, that we didn't have any idea, nobody haw anything like this. the primary purpose of a shutdown was to sflatflatten th curve, insure sufficient hospital capacity and develop effective treatments and therapies to reduce mortality. and we've done that, but it can come rearing back. when you least suspect it. we did the right thing initia y initially, we saved millions of lives, what we did. did the right thing. but a permanent shutdown would no longer be the answer to all if. a small shutdown of certain areas, but we don't want to do that. small shutdowns can be very helpful, but not for a long period of time. we understand what we're dealing with now, but it's a very

complex situation. and i can only say thank heaven that we -- that we are so advanced in what we're doing in terms of vaccines and therapies. we now know a great deal about the virus and how to treat it and who it targets. almost half of the deaths come from less than 1% of our population. think of it. half of the deaths, really a tremendous number, half of the deaths come from less than 1% of our population. those living in nursing homes and assisted living facilities. the average age of those who die from the illness is 78. we've announced very strong measures to protect those who are most vulnerable. the scientific path forward is to protect those at highest risk while allowing those at lower risk to carefully return to work and to school with appropriate precautions. i'm once again urging the american people to protect their

if dear family and friends and anybody who is elderly, especially if somebody's elderly and they have heart problems, if they have certain illnesses, diabetes is a very bad one, having to do with what we're discussing. but you want to protect the elderly and socially distance, wear a mask if you cannot socially distance and practice vigorous hygiene. everyone, even healthy young people, should be taking extraordinary care to avoid infecting those at the highest risk from this terrible disease. the elderly and those with chronic health issues have to be protected. in the current hot spots across the sun belt, the data is showing very encouraging signs. arizona, in particular, has

crossed an important threshold. for every person with the virus, we're now seeing an average of less than one additional person infected and the numbers are coming down and coming down very substantially. they're starting to come down in florida. arizona's really leading the way. i was in texas yesterday and they're starting to come down significantly, we believe, in texas. need another few days to figure that one out, but it looks like they're coming down very significantly. earlier today, i visited the red cross headquarters to discuss plasma therapy, which is a tremendous -- tremendous thing that they're looking at and they have a lot of experience with it. potentially life-saving treatments that infuse sick patients with powerful antibodies donated by those who have recovered successfully from this disease. more than 2 million americans have recovered from the virus and today we're asking them to visit coronavirus.gov and

volunteer to donate plasma. we need plasma. it's something that's been very effective and we need plasma from those who were infected an plasma from those that were infected and successfully recovered, as most people do. most people do. plasma is one of the many promising treatments my administration is accelerating. we've secured over 90% of the world's supply of remdesivir which is terrific and encouraging antiviral drug that can effectively block replication of the virus. we've approved the use of the widely available steroid which is been very successful. it has shown success even in patients at more advanced stages of the disease.

on july 17, we announced an agreement to build manufacturing plants and hundreds of thousands of doses of its antibody treatment which is currently in late stage clinical trials. moving along very rapidly. that's regeneron. as a result of significant strides in treatment, the mortality rate in those over the age of 18 is 85% lower than it was just in april. so in a very short period of time. think of that. just 18. 85% lower than in april. now an update on our economic comeback including on capitol hill. throughout this crisis, my administration has taken the most aggressive action in history to rescue american workers. we love our american workers. and we've set records on job

creation. records, two months in a row. we enacted a $3 trillion economic relief package. the paycheck protection program alone saved over 50 million jobs. we delivered $300 billion to direct cash payments to americans. we approved $500 billion for our hardest hit industries. $500 billion. we allowed struggling homeowners to reduce or defer their mortgage payments and we put a nationwide moratorium on evictions from federally backed properties. a big thing. a very big thing. we also suspended student loan payments for six months and we're looking to do that additionally and for additional periods of time. as a result of these extraordinary steps by the administration, we added a record 7 million jobs in the two months past alone. to ensure this comeback

continues, which we think it will. great foundation to build on. we were the strongest country in the world. nobody close. we were outdoing everybody from china. if you remember for many years, you heard that in 2019, china would surpass the united states. well, it didn't. we gained on them very significantly. we took it to a level that nobody has ever seen. 2019. and we'll be back there very shortly. it won't take very long based on everything that we're seeing. it won't take very long. i think next year will be an excellent year. maybe one of our best years ever from an economic standpoint. we can never, ever forget the people that have been lost. we never will. we'll never forget them. never forget what happened. this could have been stopped in china them should have stopped it. and they didn't. i'll asking congress to pass additional legislation to

support americans in need. first, we want a temporary extension of expanded unemployment benefits. this will provide a critical bridge for americans who lost their jobs to the pandemic through no fault of their own. this was not anybody's fault from the standpoint of jobs. it happened. terrible thing happen. it could have been stopped. it happened. i want to thank senate republicans for fighting to extend unemployment benefits today and to face a very strong democrat obstruction which i'm surprised at. because this is great for our country and it is great for our workers and wasn't our workers' fault. second, we're asking democrats to work with us to find a solution that will temporarily step evictions. we do not want people who have lost their jobs due to the virus to be evicted from their homes or apartments. we don't want that to happen of third, we need democrats to join us, to pass additional economic

relief payments for american citizens. like the payments sent directly to 160 million americans earlier this year, which was a tremendously successful program. this money will help millions of hard working families get by. my administration is also asking democrats to work with us to pass $105 billion to help schools safely reopen. children are not at the lowest risk. if you look at what's going on, the younger, the better. amazing. the immune system. but children, the lower they are in age, the lower the risk in terms of the age group itself. i tell the story that in new jersey with thousands and thousands of people dying, sadly dying, the governor was telling me only one, phil murphy, only one died under the age of 18. that's incredible.

with thousands of people that died in the state of new jersey. one made an impact. one died under the age of 18. children are at the lowest risk of any age group from the virus. indefinite school closures will inflict lasting harm to the nation's children. we must follow the science and get children safely back to school while protecting children, teachers, staff and family. we have to remember that there is another side to this. keeping them out of school and keeping work closed is causing death also. economic harm but causing death for different reasons but death. probably more death. if governors do not want to open the public schools, the money should go to parents so they can send their children to the school of their choice. so we say if a school doesn't want to open or if a governor doesn't want to open, maybe for political reason, maybe not. there is some of that going on. the money should go to the

parents so they can send their children to the school of their choice. if schools stay closed, the money should follow the students. so families are in control of decisions about their sons and daughters. about their children. but to pass a bill, democrats must reject the extreme partisan voices in their party. they have tremendous voices. they're looking at november 3rd and a day later say let's open up the country. the democrats have to reject the extreme voices in their party so we can get our country going even quicker than it's going now. we have a lot opening and a lot of states that you thought were doing pretty poorly from the standpoint of the virus, and they're actually coming back very strong. this pandemic has underscored the importance of economic policies that put american

families and workers first. got elected on the fact that i put america first. for many, many decades, in my opinion, we put america last. if you look at the crazy, horrible disgraceful trade deals that we've watched for many years, destroy our country, nafta, we terminated it. we have usmca which is a great deal and the farmers are doing really well, despite the pandemic. but we put america first. america's families first. and america's workers first. but that means bringing jobs and factories back to our shores, reducing unnecessary regulations, and creating new training opportunities for jobs and for the future. we've can you tell regulations at a level that no president has ever cut regulations, and we've cut taxes more than any president in the history of our country. americans always rise to the challenge and we will emerge more resilient, more

self-reline, more independent and more prosperous than ever before. i want to thank you all. if you like, we'll take a few questions. >> are we going to launch an effort to try to delay the election in or was that just a trial balloon this morning? >> what i want to explain to people, it doesn't need much explanation. you look at article after article. new york's mail vote disaster. tens of thousands of mail ballots have been tossed out in this year's primaries. what will happen in november? it's a mess. this is done by "washington post." can you believe it? the "washington post" of all papers. fake news but in this case, it's not fake. it's true. this is done by the "wall street journal." here's another one. vote by mail experiment reveals potential problems within postal voting system, ahead in the november elections. and you see what's happening with so many different places.

they're doing even trial runs. they're a disaster. and i don't want to see an election, so many years i've been watching elections. and they say the projected winner or the irn with of the election. i don't want to see that take place in a week, after november 3rd or frankly with litigation, years, years, or you never even know who won the election. you're sending out hundreds of millions of universal mail-in ballots. hundreds of millions. where are they going? who are they being sent to? it's common sense. you don't have to know anything about politics. the democrats know this. the democrats know this. so i want to see, i want an election, a result much more than you. i think we're doing very well. we have the same fake polls. we have real polls. we're doing very we.