raise questions, right? so lifewise last summer had a teacher summit, and patriot mobile, a group that many of your viewers would be familiar with because we talked about it a few time, they are an openly far-right christian organization that supported and funded this event. and you see joel penton, the founder, go on a program. and it's -- you know, you start to see that political association. >> see the sort of roots or maybe the treetops where this is all going or coming from. antonia, amazing reporting. that is our show for this evening. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next. if they were smart they'd take january 6th and go hard at it, and they would say he wants to pardon these people who attacked our capitol. there were people some of them had automatic weapons at a hotel in virginia hoping to be able to be called up.

we had people saying where's nancy pelosi? we had people who were taking desks, sit agat the desk of the speaker of the house and attempting to find people in order to bring them to justice and saying to -- yelling at the police kill them, kill them all. and so why trump has done this is beyond me. >> that was carl rove, a former senior advisor to former president george w. bush with some advice for democrats and strong criticism of donald trump. we'll bring you more of his comments straight ahead. meanwhile, the former president is running out of delay tactics in his hush money case. we'll bring you an update on that looming trial. and we'll have for you the latest on the growing global outrage over the israeli air strike that killed humanitarian aid workers in gaza. the leader of that organization is now calling the strike a targeted attack.

good morning and welcome to "way too early" on this thursday april 4th. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for starting your day with us. we have a lot to get to this morning, and we'll begin with the growing tensions over the war in gaza. and with that as a backdrop, president biden and israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu are expected to seek by phone again today. this will be their first direct communication since the israeli air strike that killed seven world central kitchen workers. earlier this week biden expressed some of his strongest criticism of israel to date saying he was outraged and heartbroken by those deaths. it's worth noting that biden and netanyahu last spoke on march 18th when the president warned the prime minister against carrying out a military offensive in the southern city of rafah. meanwhile, world central

kitchen founder jose andres, the celebrity chef, is calling for an investigation into what he is now saying was a deliberate attack on his organization's workers. speaking on camera yesterday for the first time since the israeli air strike, andres rejected the israeli government's claim the blast was accidental. >> they were target systematicically car by car because they were not successful in hitting, they keep trying. this happened over more than 1.5, 1.8 kilometers. this was not just bad luck situation where, oops, we dropped the bomb in the wrong place -- or no. every country actually, the united states that had nationals that die in this attack, we need to have an investigation that is neutral. humanitarians and civilians should never be paying the

consequences of war. this is a basic principle of humanity. at the time this looks like it's not a war. it seems it's a war against humanity itself. >> on tuesday the white house says president biden called andres on the phone to, quote, convey that he is grieving with the entire world central kitchen family. additionally, the united states and israel remain deeply divided over israel's plans for a ground invasion of rafah, and it was evident in a virtual meeting on monday between senior officials from both countries. the meeting grew contentious, and at one point israel's minister of strategic affairs, ron dermer began yelling and waving his arms around as he defended the plan. that's according to two u.s. officials and one former u.s. official familiar with the meeting. american official president including national security advisor jake sullivan and secretary of state antony

blinken kept calm and did not respond in kind according to those officials. israel presented a plan to move over 1 million civilians from rafah to tents that would be setup north of the city. but israeli officials only thought through a fraction of where those tents would come from. also the plan did not address basic needs such as food, water, or sanitation. when u.s. officials said they did not deem this idea as realistic, that's when their israeli counter parts erupted. two administration officials did note it's long been routine for dermer to be animated during meetings and described this meeting no more contentious than other recent conversations between the two governments, underlining their last intention there. joining us now white house correspondent for politico and coauthor of "the playbook," our friend eugene daniels. eugene, good to see you this morning. it does seem like we're at some sort of inflection point in the

relationship between the biden administration and israel. the nens meeting monday. president biden making no secret of his anger about the air strike that killed those humanitarian workers. biden and netanyahu set to speak today. but yet and we're hearing louder and louder criticism from democrats about this in the last couple of days, though biden has said he's unhappy he hasn't changed policy towards israel including conditioning any aid or weapons that go there. is there any sense that could change? >> not really. you know, while you have president and the administration's public frustrations outrage becoming more and more as the weeks go on, the same thing is happening in people looking at an administration who is telling reporters that the president is upset, that is making sure that everyone understands how frustrated president biden is with netanyahu over this world central kitchen incident and the

larger tactic as it's gone on. but for what folks watching and paying attention what they say is it doesn't matter if you're not willing to change anything. this is president who has said from the very beginning he's going to stand with israel the entire time and make sure they have what they need to essentially make sure october 7th doesn't happen again. even john kirby, the nsc spokesperson, said that earlier this week when talking about the world central kitchen situation. asking over and over is this going to change, and basically they said the president is very upset but they're going to continue to give the weapons. and i think what you're going to see is more frustration with folks. the president and netanyahu are going to have this conversation. they have this long relationship where they can do tough talk as aides put it on the phone with each other and then kind of move on and continue their relationship. at some point people want to see

the super power, the united states acting like a super power. and they feel there's a little too much of the tail wagging of the dog here with israel. >> we'll certainly have more on this throughout the morning onmist star-spangled banner. eugene, stay with us. former advisor to george w. bush -- rove tore into trump for his callings to pardon those who stormed the capitol on january 6th. >> what those people did when they violently attacked the capitol in order to stop a constitutionally mandated meeting of the congress to accept the results of the electoral college is a stain on our history. and every one of those sons of [ bleep ] who did that, we ought to find them, try them, and send them to jail. and one of the critical mistakes made in this campaign is that donald trump has now said i'm going to pardon those people

because they're hostages. no they're not. they're thugs. i'm a republican. i don't want to have a democrat president. i want to have a republican president. but we're facing as a country a decision -- and everybody gets to make it as to what kind of leadership we're going to have. and to me it is a mistake on the part of the trump campaign to allow the president's impulses to identify himself with the people who assaulted the capitol rather than people who stand for law and order. >> so pretty strong words there. and rove has been critical of trump before. eugene, what's the biden campaign's approach here. there are some republicans deeply critical of donald trump. liz cheney, mitt romney, carl rove. how does the biden campaign plan to utilize their words and potentially even get them to appear on behalf of the current president? >> it was also chris christie, there are all these senators

having stayed away from donald trump having criticized him, lisa murkowski, susan collins, these kind of folks. our colleague jonathan martin did this amazing column asking the exact question, why hasn't biden called kristi, and we talked to campaign officials. what they say essentially is their focus right now is on the voters, that they're talking to republican voters. you've seen ads where they are obviously leaning into the words of republicans, people who run against donald trump in what was supposed to be a competitive primary and has since dropped out. and they'll probably use carl rove's words in order to do that. the question is whether or not they're actually going to talk to the people. and i think what's on their mind is nowadays everyone kind of has an opinion on joe biden and donald trump. and so asking chris christie or having someone like carl rove,

someone to stump for them would maybe not be as useful as it was in the old days. but we also have to look to 2020 when they had the former ohio governor john kasich at the actual convention, sydney mccain at the convention. it's likely they'll do something like that again, but they don't seem that interested in reaching out to the lawmakers or the folks at what used today be the top of the republican party and more so focused on talking to those kind of independent minded republican voters or moderate voters at this point. >> start to see if that strategy changes in the months ahead. politico's eugene daniels, thank you for starting us off this morning. we reel appreciate it. an update on a story we brought you yesterday. lawmakers in nebraska have rejected an effort to change now the state counts its votes.

they wanted the state to shift to a winner take all system. currently nebraska splits its five electoral votes. two go to the overall vote winner of the state with the remaining three going to the winner of each congressional district. in 2020 you'll recall donald trump received four of the five electoral votes. we had some reporting here the biden campaign was reaching out to nebraska democrats certainly concerned about this because in 2020 biden won one electoral college vote, and his easiest path to the white house this time would be if he wins pennsylvania, wisconsin, and michigan and that one nebraska vote. that would give him 270 and he could afford to lose all the other swing states. if the nebraska vote was taken away, they would need to win somewhere else to. the republicans say they may try other efforts to change the law here, but it would be an extremely uphill climb. at least for now it appears the situation in nebraska will not change, but we'll keep an eye on it. it is an important, important

story. still ahead here, the manhattan district attorney's office hits back at donald trump's delay tactics in his upcoming hush money trial. plus special counsel jack smith criticizes a ruling by the judge who's overseeing trump's classified documents case down in florida. those stories and a check on sports and weather when we come right back. we come right back you can't leave without cuddles. but, you also can't leave covered in hair. with bounce pet,

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prupublicity. the manhattan d.a.'s office was quick to hit back. in a new filing they say the former president was the one to stoke the case and shouldn't be awarded with adjournment and actively seeking and i'm no lawyer but hard to argue with that one. we're also following, though, a major new development in trump's classified documents case. special counsel jack smith is strongly criticizing a recent order by the judge who's presiding over that trial. in a filing late tuesday the special counsel argued that judge aileen cannon's proposed jury instructions are, quote, flawed and wrong. smith urged judge cannon to rule quickly on the jury instructions and her on her view whether trump can be charged under the espionage act. trump claims the law does not apply to him, and smith threatened to appeal if judge cannon rules in trump's favor.

the dispute stands from what role the presidential records act plays in the case. trump insists the classified documents became his personal records under the act when he took them to mar-a-lago after leaving the white house. smith contends trump told no one of the decision and it would not matter even if he did because the presidential records act does not govern classified documents. both trump's and smith's replies came in response to judge cannon proposing two jury instructions that basically followed trump's argument. one potential instruction would have told jurors that they and the court had no power to review trump's decision to keep the records. in his filing smith called that legal premise simply wrong and that it would distort the trial, concluding that the presidential records act should not be play any role at all in this trial. we'll see what the decision is and when it might begin. next up we'll turn to sports and bring you all the major headlines out of yesterday's action across major league

baseball. plus we'll show you the wild brawl between bitter rivals last night on the ice. we'll be right back with all that. we'll be right back with all that (♪♪) (♪♪) try dietary supplements from voltaren, for healthy joints.

ohtani first dodger home run. >> there it is, nine games into the regular season shohei ohtani finally hit his first home run in dodger blue. his solo shot in the seventh inning provided some insurance for los angeles on the way to a 5-4 win but completed a three game sweep of their rival the san francisco giants. meanwhile, in phoenix yankees captain aaron judge also connected for his first long ball of season entering the day with his fewest hits ever in six games. he was just three for 24. judge launch that two run

opposite to right center in the fourth and then added an rbi double. the diamondbacks already come back a couple times thin this game. they cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the 11th but because of earlier moves were left with no dh. so therefore they had to send their pitcher to the plate with two outs and bases loaded. you can predict how that went. >> and the 1-2. strike three. ball game over. >> okay, that pitch was pretty clearly off the plate. a generous call, but i guess the pitcher wasn't going to hit there anyway. 6-5 victory over the diamondbacks. they will host the toronto blue jays in their home opener tomorrow, and the red sox completed a sweep of the oakland a's. now to the celtics where they are guaranteed to finish with the league's best record. the c's won their 11th consecutive home game last night

with a 135-100 blow out over a good oklahoma team. and secures boston home court advantage throughout the playoffs. that will be important. to the nfl now. the buffalo bills have traded away their top offensive target. four-time pro bowler stefon diggs is headed to houston. diggs is joining a now loaded texas offense headlined by cj stroud and newly acquired running back joe nixon. meanwhile, just one of the five wide receivers who caught passes for the bills last season now remains in buffalo. dixon unhappy there, but i'm sure josh allen will be able to figure it out. and the neighboring new jersey devils and new york rangers were very quick to drop the gloves in madison square garden last night. the game start would a massive line brawl involving all ten skaters on the rink in the

opening face-off. literally 2 seconds into the game. eight players, four from each team received game misconducts and were ejected. that is one way to start a game. rangers went onto beat the devils 4-3. time now for the weather and meteorologist angie lassman is here with the forecast. angie, does not feel like spring across most of the country. >> no, it doesn't. especially new england where they're dealing with snow and i know it's not what you want to see in april when you step out for an early morning commute. we still have that unsettled weather across michigan snow, across the ohio valley still dealing with rain and snow and got the rain across parts of the north east. we've got 8 million people under these winter alerts and much of it across parts of new england including folks dealing with not just the wintery weather and even the rain but the potential for some really strong winds. we've got 5 million people under wind alerts. at this time you probably heard the wind outside your window. last night we received 40, 50

mile per hour gusts outside these spots. and still going to watch the potential and places like vermont could still see stronger winds as the morning goes on. the system is still not going to let up. we're going to be dealing with this snow across new england for the next day or so. we'll see a couple of rounds of scattered showers. nothing like what we saw yesterday as far as rainfall totals erthe rumble of thunder you might have heard, but we're going still to be dealing with the breezy, chilly weather on top of the rain and snow in some of those areas. when it comes to totals, prettym impressive this time of year. we've got potential to see additional snowfall through the evening hours tonight, 6 to 9 inches, potentially up to a foot of snow in some of these spots, this is going to be their largest snowfall of the year. >> angie lassman, thank you as always. next up here on "way too early," nato leaders are celebrating the 75th anniversary of that historic alliance. we'll talk about the significance of that amid the

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welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:30 a.m. here on the east coast, 2:30 out west on this thursday morning. i'm jonathan lemire. thanks for being with us. nato foreign ministers are meeting in brussels today to mark the 75th anniversary of the alliance. on april 4, 1949, the north atlantic treaty was signed in washington with just 12 members from north america and europe. now 75 years later nato has 32

members. and spokesperson for russia's foreign ministry yesterday called the alliance a cold war mind-set, this as nato leaders consider a proposal that would provide more long-term assistance to ukraine. the heads of state meeting from nato to mark the meeting held in and will. meanwhile a string of international terror attacks and a united states policy known as duty to warn made news several times in recent months. in january an explosion in iran took the lives of at least 100 people attending a commemoration for the late iranian general ku sem sole money. "the wall street journal" reported weeks later the u.s. gave iran specific information that could have helped. and last month when gunmen opened fire at a concert hall in moscow they killed nearly 150 people. this week "the new york times" reports that the u.s. warned russia in early march that the concert hall was a target of the islamic state terror group.

a new piece for politico magazine dives into how these countries react to america's warnings and why the u.s. is warping them at all. joining us now one of the coauthors of the piece, director of research collin clark. his work focuses on domestic and transnational terrorism, international security, and geopolitics. collin, good to see you again this morning. so let's talk a little bit about this policy. what are some of the reasons why the united states tips off allies and adversaries alike? and then walk us into the process of why and how these countries decide to heed or not heed u.s. warnings. >> thanks for having me, jonathan. yeah, there's a number of reasons why the united states does this. and first, let me start out by saying we don't exactly expect reciprocity here particularly from the russians, but there are moral and ethical reasons to do

it. there could be u.s. citizens among these crowds. however unlikely in the case of moscow, and there are also practical reasons, too. this is a way of reaching out to our allies but also to our adversaries and reminding them of the reach of u.s. intelligence, which i think you've seen here now not only with the attack in iran in early january but now with the recent unfortunate attack in moscow where the united states gave the actual venue itself -- so really a huge miss on the part of the russians, i'd say a big black eye for the kremlin after this one. >> certainly putin dealing the aftermath of that now. and may be connect today an escalation of the war in ukraine. that's where we want to turn now. there's been more and more missile strike from russia hitting more ukrainian cities. we've seeing reports of very slow but still slow grinding progress by russia on the battlefield. talk to us about what you expect to come out of today's nato

meeting. yes, it's a celebration of an verse but also trying to respond to a very present danger. >> yeah, it's the anniversary. it's responding to what could be another looming offensive on the part of the russians. and i think, you know, if the leaders gather and being honest there's a real eye towards what happens in washington and throughout the united states in november. donald trump looms large here. he's threatened to withdraw from nato on multiple occasions, and i think if we've learned anything from trump, it's to take him at his word however nefarious his intentions may be. we have to really prepare for this, and i think nato countries are doing exactly that with a real concern if he does win re-election in november, things could look really different in 2025. >> colin, talk about that loomic russian offensive. there's been a lot of chatter in recent weeks in national security circles. obviously the u.s. and allies trying to piece together what moscow might do. what's the sense as to when this

may come, what it might look like. at this point what is russia capable of? >> yeah, it's a great question. i think, you know, russia feels a sense of momentum with some recent gains on the battlefield in ukraine. there's a clear war weariness that's settled in among the ukrainians and, you know, expected, right, after this kind of grinding war of attrition that we've seen for the past several years. and this is the time where nato allies have to stand stalwart behind kyiv. this isn't a time to buckle. it's exactly what vladimir putin has been banking on, which is at some point nato cohesion is going to fade. the u.s. and its allies are going to be distracted, and there's certainly no shortage of distractions given the war in gaza and elsewhere. but i think, you know, as we've said from the beginning, wave got to stay in this for the long run because putin thinks in much longer time horizons than we typically do in the west.

>> of course putin secured another six years at least in power. colin clark, thank you so much for your insight this morning. we really appreciate it. coming up next we'll switch to business news and get some insight on what's mostly been a down week when we turn to our friends at cnbc. we'll be right back with that. o friends at cnbc. we'll be right back with that. you didn't live this strong, this long to get put on the shelf like a porcelain doll. if you have postmenopausal osteoporosis

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registered what had been its third straight losing session. what do we think today? are we going to see a rebound? >> well, at this stage it does look like that's going to be the case. we have futures suggesting it will be a positive start to the trading session on wall street, but i have to tell you, john, that it's all about economic data. today we're getting u.s. rate deficit figures, initial jobless claims. but the key economic point is due tomorrow when we get nonfarm payrolls. now, all of this data is important because investors are trying to figure out when the federal reserve might go ahead with the first rate cut. and i have to share this one with you. yesterday we heard from one of the most hawkish members of the federal reserve, rafael bostik and he told cnbc he old expects one rate cut this year. trying to figure out we might hear from the fed.

>> such an important story line all yearlong. the employment data shows hiring in the private sector did increase higher than expected last month. what are some lessons we can glean from this about the labor market? >> well, we're still looking at a very strong u.s. economy. let me share the numbers with you. in terms of private sector hiring, they have added 184,000 jobs in the month of march. that's much higher from the 155,000 seen in the previous month. now, this data is also important in a sense that it works a little bit like a barometer to understand how the nonfarm payroll numbers is going to be. and of course it's why we're expecting that tomorrow when we get that final figure that we might be looking at once again another and further evidence really that we are still looking at a very strong u.s. labor market. and of course, that makes the conversation around rate cuts

even more complicated for the fed. >> yeah, no doubt there. and lastly, silvia, i want to bring an update to a story we covered on monday. disney has now won a hard fought proxy battle against a group of activist investors who it sought to secure seats on the company's board. what does it mean for disney and perhaps the entertainment industry at large? >> so it's perhaps still a bit too aurally to understand the full implications for the whole entertainment industry, but there's a few aspects that are very clear at this stage. for now we are seeing bob iger staying at the helm of disney, but he's due to leave the company in 2026. so the question mark around succession is still there. who is going to replace bob iger in 2026? and now this proxy battle really has also been very costly for the company. let me just tell you about some of the measures they introduced in the wake of this battle. they've tried to please investors by investing in epic

games. they've also announced cost cuts, a 50% increase in dividend and a $3 billion share buy back. let's see for how long disney will continue to please investors and whether perhaps it might need to go even further when it comes to some of these measures. >> all right, cnbc's silvia amaro live from london, thank you as always. still ahead we'll turn back to politics with a look at how republican lawmakers are responding to donald trump's constant claims of presidential immunity. and we'll get an update on the fight over funding for ukraine ahead of congress return to capitol hill next week. that's all straight ahead. don't go anywhere. t ahead. don't go anywhere. - so this is pickleball? - pickle! ah, these guys are intense. with e*trade from morgan stanley, we're ready for whatever gets served up. dude, you gotta work on your trash talk. i'd rather work on saving for retirement. or college, since you like to get schooled. that's a pretty good burn, right?

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welcome back. to washington now where republicans in congress are showing little appetite for president trump's absolute

immunity argument in his upcoming election interference case. only two gop senators and just 26 house members have signed briefs supporting the former president's argument that he has absolute immunity for actions he took while president. that comes as 41 senators and 136 house members signed a brief backing trump when colorado attempted to remove him from the gop primary ballot a few months ago. joining us now senior congressional reporter for punch bowl news, andrew -- good to see you again. so let's talk about this. it does feel like that most republicans just sort of fall in line and do whatever trump wants, but at least on this issue we see a little bit of a different trend. try to explain it for us, if you will. >> right. so with the colorado case that was kind of an easy thing for republicans to get behind donald trump on especially those who are skittish about him privately to show support for the eventual

nominee for their party, right? you had everyone from ted cruz to mitch mcconnell within the senate republican conference sign onto that brief. and in total around 200 republican lawmakers for that one. when it comes to the immunity case, that is entirely different. you have one republican senator, genitor roger marshal and just 26 house members. those members are fringe members, hard right members, pro-trump all the time 100% members. and i think it's a reflection of of the fact that the former president's argument in the immunity case is pretty unpopular because it's a very expansive view of executive authority, a lot of republicans do not share that same expansive view of the president's inherent power and, you know, republicans found the colorado case to be something they could easily latch onto and say, hey, i'm supporting trump in this one, the immunity case not so.

>> so, andrew, it feels like congress has been on recess for a better part of a month or more. they're finally back on monday, the fight for ukraine aid will be at the forefront. i've got new reporting this morning about how the white house is trying to help speaker johnson get to a vote and maybe even try to protect him from a coup that could come from republicans angry about a vote there. talk to us a little bit where you understand the ukraine aid fight stands. >> yeah, so as you mention, there are a lot of democrats who are interested in making this as easy as possible for speaker johnson given that he has this motion to vacate, you know, basically loom over him no matter what he does, right? marjorie taylor greene has filed a motion to vacate, said she's going to deploy it if and when speaker johnson tries to put a ukraine bill on the floor. what speaker johnson is trying to do is make this more palatable to most republicans

by, you know, arguing that he can offset some of the costs of the ukrainian aid package with some budget gimmicks, and on top of that he's floating the possibility of trying to reverse the administration's ban on liquefied natural gas exports. that's something republicans have been talking about for a while now. it unifies republicans most importantly for speaker johnson. but the white house and democrats obviously aren't going to go along with something like that, so it's going to take some sort of negotiation, some sort of give-and-take between the white house and democrats. and of course speaker johnson. and i think the goal if you are president biden and if you are hakeem jeffries house democratic leader, is provide speaker johnson with as much cover as possible to try to get this legislation through, because democrats and, of course, the president, really, really want this to pass. >> andrew, ten-second answer here. what do sources tell you? will it get done eventually? >> yeah. look, i think it eventually gets

done at some point and the question is just whether, you know, it's going to have republican poison pills attached to it and whether that's something the senate can swallow. >> certain we'll speak to you again soon. thank you as always, andrew. up next here, vice president kamala harris talking about trump. show you that from tiktok. and coming up on president biden. president joe biden and president netanyahu are set to speak on the phone today for the first time since several aid workers including one american were killed in an idf strike in gaza. and plus the trump documents case on note. what he says to throw the case in the president's favor.

also ahead, the grandson of harry s. truman will join the conversation to mark nato's 75th anniversary and its impact on president truman's legacy. "morning joe," a few short moments away. with fasenra. fasenra is an add-on treatment for eosinophilic asthma that is taken once every 8 weeks. fasenra helps prevent asthma attacks. most patients did not have an attack in the first year. fasenra is proven to help you breathe better so you can get back to doing day-to-day activities. and fasenra helps lower the use of oral steroids. fasenra is not for sudden breathing problems or other eosinophilic conditions. allergic reactions may occur. don't stop your asthma treatments without talking with your doctor. tell your doctor if your asthma worsens. headache and sore throat may occur. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection.

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welcome back. the biden campaign is not mincing words on its latest tiktok. this one about abortion access. and vice president kamala harris lays out why they say trump is at fault for overturning roe v. wade. >> trying to think about how we get here you need look no further than the previous president who was clear when he intentionally hand-picked three members of the united states supreme court with the explicit intention that they would undo the protections of roe v. wade. in states across our country laws imposed and passed that

punish doctors and nurses, punish women and don't even make an exception for rape and incest. and the former president's intentions going forward are pretty clear. a push for a national abortion ban. >> joining us now host of "the fast" podcast an msnbc political analyst. thanks for being with us, molly. the biden administration is taking this head-on. a major factor in this year's election. what we're seeing now out of florida? >> look, democrats are really smart to just keep going with this, because, remember, more and more as this becomes a salient issue you see trump trying to back away from it saying i want a 15-week ban, and i think the, the sort of underlying fantasy there is that somehow that means abortion is allowed until 15 weeks, but really what it means is that in

the states where they have more liberal abortion laws, that will be capped. >> right. talk to us about what do you think the -- has the biden campaign been effective in its messaging? what more do they need to do and frankly go to other side. what about former president trump. >> infrastructure week, but for abortion. i would say i think, look, biden needs to talk about this again and again and again because republicans are not being smart about it. right? you listen to the oral supreme court arguments an meth pris meth pa pris tone, definitely going to see democrats continue to push on that and well they should. look, republicans have been really stupid about this opinion you can see them, like, we're

coming for ibf, coming for birth control pills. this, an election year. if they were smart, they'd be like, no. democrats are being crazy. instead, no, no. ibf needs to be regulated. the heritage foundation saying ibf needs to be regulated. this is a really out there stance. >> yeah. talk about the electoral college map. nebraska. that one electoral vote the biden campaign is banking on. certainly concern. i reported talking with state officials in nebraska how serious this effort would be to change the law. looks like it was defeated last night, although republicans are not ruling out trying again. talk to us about precedent trying to change the rules middle of the race? >> republicans like to change the rules. we've seen gerrymandering. this is like a long history of republicans just trying to sort of cheat so they can win. i think it doesn't work this legislative session, because they don't have enough. will they try again? for sure.

look, i think there's some worry here on the part of republicans. trump has lost elections since that 2016 election. so if you're banking on trump, it's a really scary gamut. >> staying with the map. a new wave of battleground states polling in the last day or so showing a dead heat in wisconsin, narrow leads for trump pretty much everywhere else. feels like biden has momentum yet numbers haven't changed a lot yet. what's your read? >> again, i think -- i'm really a little dubious about these polls but i also think you can't ignore them. what's good about biden world is they're really nervous. right? they are nervous. they know the stakes, and they have a lot of money and opening all of these field offices, and they are sending biden across the country again and again and again. wisconsin, michigan. i mean, the thing about biden i think works for him that we didn't necessarily have for democrats in 2016 is that when you put biden out there, people like him. like, they like him.

they like his message. they find him sort of appealing. in wisconsin you'll remember that the governor got re-elected basically running as a sort of biden-type. right? he said i got re-elected for sort of being a boring white guy. an old white guy. i think that reads well for whatever reason. he happens to push a lot of really coup progressive legislation and yesterday was with bernie sanders you know, bragging about lowering the cost of inhalers. i think that's a pretty good look. >> molly, reading your last article for "vanity fair" about trump's track record of poor picks in congressional races's check that out. thank you for joining us this morning and thanks to all of you for getting up "way too early" with us on this thursday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. >> -- i don't know what will happen now. we have some difficulties ahead. but it really doesn't matter with me now, because i've been to the mount