0:03

If it's Friday, the Supreme Court weighs in

0:05

on guns, striking down a Trump-era ban on

0:07

what are called bump stocks, keeping the legal

0:09

and political debate over gun safety in the

0:12

spotlight right in the heart of this election

0:14

year. Plus new

0:16

reporting from inside former President Trump's

0:18

closed-door meetings with Republican lawmakers and

0:21

powerful CEOs in Washington, where the

0:23

presumptive Republican nominee spoke about tax

0:25

cuts, abortion, and more. And

0:29

millions of Americans facing excessive heat

0:31

warnings in the North and relentless

0:33

rainfall in the South, raising

0:35

new urgency over how to handle the

0:37

extreme weather events being made, even worse,

0:40

by climate change. Welcome

0:53

to Meet the Press now. On this Friday,

0:55

I'm Peter Alexander. The Supreme Court ruled today

0:57

on another issue that could be top of

0:59

mind for many voters this November. After yesterday's

1:01

ruling on a closely watched abortion

1:04

case, today the Supreme Court weighed

1:06

in on the topic of guns,

1:08

striking down a Trump-era ban on

1:10

bump stocks, an attachment that allows

1:13

semi-automatic rifles to fire more quickly.

1:15

The court ruled today that bump

1:17

stocks could not be regulated as

1:19

of machine guns and that the

1:22

government overreached by banning them. This

1:24

was a 6-3 decision. It was split

1:26

along ideological lines. In his

1:28

concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito put

1:31

the onus on lawmakers, saying Congress

1:33

can amend the law. The

1:35

Trump administration banned bump stocks after the

1:37

deadliest mass shooting in American history. Fifty-eight

1:40

people, you'll remember, were killed, hundreds of others

1:42

injured, at a music festival in Las Vegas

1:45

in 2017. At

1:47

the time, the acting attorney general

1:49

praised then-President Trump for calling for

1:51

the ban. As late as last

1:53

year, Mr. Trump seemed to be standing by that

1:55

decision. thing

2:00

and nra i went with them and they

2:02

said it doesn't mean anything or actually all

2:04

they do is teach at it shoot very

2:06

inaccurately so we did that but

2:09

today the former president campaign seemed to

2:11

shift its messaging saying the supreme court

2:13

decision should be respected and touting his

2:16

endorsement by the nra this comes

2:18

after mr trumps land president by now on

2:20

the issue at the gun rights

2:22

groups uh... convention just last month with them

2:26

they are coming for your guns one

2:28

hundred percent certain crooked joe has a

2:30

forty year record of trying to rip

2:32

firearms out of the hands of law-abiding

2:34

citizens in my second time we

2:37

will roll back every bite attack on

2:39

the second amendment attacks are fast and

2:41

furious starting the minute that

2:44

crooked joe shuffles his way out of the

2:46

white house the by

2:48

administration today criticizing the court's decision

2:50

in calling on congress to act

2:52

on guns the campaign blaming mr

2:54

trump for nominating the three conservative justices

2:56

who were among those voting as part of

2:58

the majority two days ago

3:00

president by the thoughts of trying to

3:02

rally voters on this specific issue speaking

3:05

before gun violence prevention advocates i've

3:09

heard of the total the nra convention

3:11

recently he's proud of quote i did

3:13

nothing on guns when i was president

3:16

and by doing nothing he made the

3:18

situation considerably worse that's

3:20

why everytime by the summer while

3:22

all of you here today are so damn

3:24

important we need you we

3:26

need to overcome the unrelenting opposition

3:28

of the gun lobby recent

3:31

polling suggest there are some voters who could

3:33

make their choice this year based solely on

3:36

guns ten percent say they vote for or

3:38

against the candidate simply on this

3:40

issue alone it does fall just below the

3:42

issue of abortion which as we

3:44

noted the supreme court also weighed in on

3:47

this week throwing out a challenge to a

3:49

commonly used medication abortion drug democrats

3:51

jumped on that ruling with cautious

3:53

optimism warning voters know that the

3:56

fight is not over as they seek

3:58

to link any restrictions on any reproductive

4:00

rights to former President Trump. For

4:02

his part, Mr. Trump has yet

4:04

to weigh in directly on that

4:06

abortion medication decision, but yesterday he

4:08

told congressional allies on Capitol Hill

4:11

that the party needed to talk

4:13

about abortion, in his words, quote,

4:16

correctly, saying the issue is costing

4:18

Republicans. Joining me now

4:20

is NBC News' senior legal correspondent my friend

4:22

Laura Jared, and NBC News' Dasha Burns. She

4:24

covers the Trump campaign for us. We'll get

4:26

to you in a moment, Dasha. Laura,

4:29

let me ask you, walk us through this decision as it

4:31

relates to bump stocks. This is about

4:33

guns more than it is about the Second

4:35

Amendment, right? That's right, and look, if you

4:37

are somebody who is a survivor of gun

4:39

violence in this country, it's cold comfort, I

4:41

imagine, for a court to say, look, this

4:43

is a technical reading of a statute, and

4:45

you can't say it's a machine gun, so

4:47

therefore we're gonna allow bump stocks. I understand

4:49

that, but the legal framework here is, if

4:51

it's not a machine gun, it can't be

4:53

regulated. And so Justice Thomas, for his conservative

4:55

majority, saying we don't think it's a machine

4:58

gun, it's really up for Congress to regulate.

5:00

And as you outlined from Justice Alito, they're

5:02

not saying there isn't anything that we can

5:04

done here, they're just saying it's not for

5:06

the courts to do. And so just to

5:08

be clear about this, what Alito was saying is, Congress, you

5:10

can take this ball, you guys can run with it. Oh,

5:12

by the way, when Donald Trump was in office, he

5:15

helped ban bump stocks, but didn't pursue in Congress

5:17

an effort to get rid of them, which would

5:19

have basically said the Supreme Court doesn't have anything

5:21

to say on that. That's why it's sort

5:24

of a bizarre sort of term about

5:26

how the legal landscape has played itself

5:28

out here because it was a Trump

5:30

era rule responding of courts to that

5:32

deadly massacre, but the Biden administration ended

5:34

up having defended in court, which they

5:36

were happy to do. And

5:38

now it's sort of tump backing away from it, even

5:40

though it was his rule. And he's kind of

5:42

dismissed it as well, basically saying, hey, this is unimportant

5:45

as we saw. Or it wasn't gonna do much

5:47

anyway. Yeah,

5:49

again, sort of a bizarre framework practically,

5:51

but legally, there is something that still

5:53

can be done here. The court isn't,

5:55

again, saying that nothing can be done

5:57

forever. It's just in Congress's hands. Dasha, I

5:59

wanna ask you. The topic and have a lower last

6:01

one you because we were said nonsense the sporting

6:03

waiting for really we don't know what advanced what

6:06

diseases coming from the supreme court we got a

6:08

couple weeks ago left in this month before the

6:10

end of the term. There are several major issue

6:12

still to be determine what are the ones the

6:14

your watch. Another been one on guns having

6:16

a deal with leather. Somebody who is under

6:19

an order of protection for domestic violence should

6:21

be able to have a firearm is a

6:23

big case about the federal law on that

6:25

court. The had begun petition for Hunter Biden.

6:27

Zigzagging. Sacha having to do with

6:29

done that's another big one on abortion. We

6:31

someone just yesterday about the abortion pills or

6:33

that one that we're still waiting for has

6:35

to do with a conflict between federal law

6:37

that says you get an abortion It has

6:39

to say the health of the mother save

6:41

the life of the mother sport about states

6:43

that have banned worse and how do you

6:45

reconcile that complex than of course the last

6:47

who were waiting on last but not least

6:49

one involving the former president and his efforts

6:51

interfere with the last election a cases he

6:53

says is completely immune from prosecution but if

6:55

the justices disability in that case is gonna

6:57

go to trial. Though likely not anytime.

7:00

Soon had to be clear as it relates to

7:02

the former President, he says that he should be

7:04

immune from prosecution of the same time he's campaigning

7:06

on prosecuting the current present, the United States else

7:08

it's been a challenge and position for hims for

7:11

to maintain as well more precise. You'll see tomorrow

7:13

and see since Saturday today that Dasa. Let me

7:15

ask you if I can't about this from a

7:17

Donald Trump made Us Executive order on bump stocks

7:19

when he was present. but today it's his campaign

7:21

to sort of distancing himself from it. Yeah,

7:24

and it was such justices that he

7:26

appointed that overturns this ban right? But

7:28

today it's his campaign is saying that

7:30

ah, the quarter spoken in their decision

7:32

should be respected. Saying that are the

7:34

press for a former President. Trump has

7:36

been and always will be a fierce

7:38

defender of American second amendment right of

7:40

course and Laura pointed out there this

7:42

is. It's a second Amendment type of

7:44

ruling, but it's notable that this is

7:46

the pasta from the campaign give it's

7:49

We know that the former President is

7:51

not one to pull punches when there's

7:53

a supreme Court says. It's that he

7:55

doesn't like. But with this, eleven of

7:57

these. And then

7:59

as as we know, obviously he controlled

8:01

the republicans were in a position in congress where they may

8:03

have been able to move on this in

8:05

some form if he wanted to ban it via

8:07

congress he did not do that if he made

8:10

any remarks about what a future trump term would

8:12

look like i was looking up some of his

8:14

past quote it was just what a month ago

8:16

when he was speaking about this issue and saying

8:18

his priority is that is to push back on

8:20

anything as he described of any biden attack against

8:22

the second amendment is more about guns in the

8:24

second amendment but it does sort of draw his

8:26

line in the sand and

8:28

that's right i mean there was some

8:30

bipartisan will at the time there were

8:33

public and and democrats that were open

8:35

to legislation to ban bomb stocks instead

8:37

he let the executive order out which

8:39

by the way at the time with

8:41

something that the nr a of course

8:43

that massive gun lobby that's very powerful

8:45

republican politics it was something that i

8:47

already themselves were open to you with

8:50

that third decision rather than do nothing

8:52

rather than go via legislation in congress

8:54

this is the third option that allowed

8:56

the former president to take some sort

8:58

of action at a time when

9:00

most voters wanted something done here

9:02

but without the sort of permanence

9:04

and lasting power of legislation

9:06

instead an executive order that has been challenged

9:08

by the supreme court and now we are

9:11

we are peter and let

9:13

me ask if i can about this

9:15

abortion medication decision about the abortion pill

9:17

just yesterday donald trump we know was

9:19

in washington he was visiting with some

9:21

of those republican lawmakers on this topic

9:24

he is sort of been all over the

9:26

map on this issue he said he wanted

9:28

to be in the hands of the state's

9:30

democrats and the white house criticize him saying

9:32

basically you put these three conservative justices in

9:35

place that overturned rovi wade right now what

9:37

is his current sort of position as it

9:39

relates to communicating this message which he himself

9:41

has acknowledged is a big problem for

9:43

republicans this fall yeah he's

9:45

walking an interesting line here peter where

9:47

he does continue to tout the fact

9:49

that he was responsible for the justices

9:51

that overturned roe versus wade but he's

9:53

been kind of almost chastising some of

9:56

his fellow republicans for not quote talking

9:58

about it correctly as he put in

10:00

his meetings on the Hill here yesterday, saying

10:02

they need to be doing better, emphasizing exceptions

10:04

for rape, incest, and life of the mother,

10:07

that they shouldn't be pushing policies that are

10:09

too far to the right. But he continues

10:11

to say that he's going to have

10:13

more policy announcements when it comes to the

10:15

issue of abortion, when it comes to, Mr.

10:17

Pressstone, for example, he said over a month

10:19

ago now, I believe, that he was gonna

10:22

make an announcement on this in two weeks.

10:24

We haven't yet seen that. So there are

10:26

still a lot of questions that have not

10:28

been answered about where former President Trump stands

10:30

on the nuances, the important nuances,

10:32

when it comes to reproductive rights,

10:34

Peter. Yeah, and certainly on this

10:36

topic of Mr. Pressstone abortion, the abortion pill,

10:39

in particular, Dasha Burns. We always appreciate reporting.

10:41

Thank you so much. We should note former

10:43

President Trump's trip to Washington was not just

10:45

about presenting this sort of show

10:47

of force, this united front with House and

10:49

Senate Republicans. Mr. Trump had another closed door

10:52

meeting on his calendar while he was in

10:54

D.C., back at the Capitol for the first

10:56

time, or Capitol Hill for the first time

10:58

since the January 6th attack. He spoke to

11:00

a group of business leaders while in town.

11:03

Among the big names there, Tim Cook, Jamie

11:05

Dimon, and CNBC's Brian Schwartz reports

11:07

that Mr. Trump told the group

11:09

of CEOs that he would cut

11:11

personal and corporate taxes and flash

11:13

business regulations. If he wins in

11:16

November, Brian joins us now

11:18

on set. Brian, walk me through this. What

11:20

was the particular pitch from Mr. Trump to

11:22

these CEOs? Well, there was about

11:24

80 CEOs there, Peter, and really it was, let's

11:27

go back to the old days, okay? We're gonna

11:29

have four more years of what he believed is

11:31

a better economy. You kind of touched on it

11:33

before, cutting the corporate tax rate from 21 to 20%, cutting

11:37

income taxes, going away,

11:39

business regulations. This is what he's trying to

11:41

tout. It's not really much of a, put

11:44

it like this forward-thinking mentality. It really is

11:46

kind of looking back and going, hey, we're

11:48

gonna go back to the 2016 to 2020

11:50

days. Come

11:53

with me, support me. And

11:55

there are two sides to what's going on

11:57

here. One, at that meeting. you

12:00

know the trump campaign told the today you know he was

12:02

he was well received uh... but you

12:04

know what's been equally as important as what

12:06

people thought after the meeting and how people

12:08

look at them after what took place that

12:10

i think it's gonna be just a good

12:12

dynamic one to be clear remember right that

12:14

the trump tax cuts ballooned the debt while

12:16

he was serving as president passed at a

12:18

meeting house republicans earlier the day also pitch

12:21

this plan that would eliminate income tax and

12:23

impose an all-terra policy what can you tell

12:25

us about that and and

12:27

what would it do in terms of

12:29

how the government is funded yeah i mean

12:31

look at this is one of these things i

12:33

just don't buyer is actually gonna happen with both

12:35

now this is going to go if in order

12:37

for him to do this i feel like you

12:39

have to change around the tax code such an

12:41

extent where he'd have to get congressional approval it

12:43

seems like that's where this would have to go

12:45

right because i mean you're going to

12:48

replace the income tax system with an all-terra

12:50

policy okey-dokey you'd be a bit have to

12:52

go back around a congress and if congress

12:54

was what that do what what an all-time

12:56

and so let's take a minute work what

12:58

is an all-terra policy do that i can

13:00

help your inflation why they did they were

13:02

thinking that he details actually what this is

13:04

what for me what would it seem like

13:07

it's basically we try to eliminate all these

13:09

concepts complex income taxes and put on sort

13:11

of large-scale tariffs to a variety of good

13:13

are coming into the night and he's already

13:15

talked about doing this at some scale anyway

13:17

but it would have to be at a

13:20

scale where you're eliminating the concept of income

13:22

taxes and i feel like you know that's

13:24

so far that's so unheard of that i

13:26

cannot imagine in decision congress's what the next

13:28

term that it did that this is actually

13:30

going to take place we shall say it's interesting

13:32

when you talk about the issue the economy can

13:34

you remember not too long ago four years ago

13:37

former president trump is saying if joe biden takes

13:39

office the stock market which was a key metric

13:41

for him in office he said it would take

13:43

it would just go right down the bottom of

13:45

the barrel and out-the-record highs hitting forty thousand of

13:47

course the dow jones not too long ago let

13:49

me ask you about the new policy we heard

13:51

Eliminating taxes on worker tips, right?

13:54

Walk us through this. it does

13:56

seem right. Nevada obviously a crucial

13:58

state. You got a lot. Those

14:00

workers of the hotels and casinos their what is

14:02

he trying to accomplish here? is it really just

14:04

a plate of those worker fly I don't think

14:06

it's as I put it was work as I

14:08

do think it's a plate of people some is

14:10

t says he saluted to I mean if you

14:12

if the idea here is that your to your

14:14

eliminating reducing taxes on tests for that could be

14:16

against the have a knack a real boost to

14:18

work or so it away you're looking at I'm

14:20

looking I'm from such it of he's trying to

14:22

appeal to people who are less a restaurant workers

14:25

kind of the middle class at trying a real

14:27

that men with listen let's go with a version

14:29

of the economy that. I can bring the

14:31

tables and that Joe Biden does not at

14:33

the have for he was workers and year

14:35

Joe Biden the final total workers themselves. The

14:37

middle class all the time is no class

14:39

jobs so that's that's the idea here with

14:42

that scientists get into that lane real and

14:44

kind of the middle class where her people

14:46

may be work in restaurants who rely on

14:48

Sept and that can be a boost his

14:50

campaign of the another day another thing or

14:53

another demonstrates of wise easier sometimes of be

14:55

a candidate for the try to do the

14:57

present referencing when everyone goes act on it

14:59

that of course would require congressional approval about

15:01

Prime for he said nice to see in

15:04

person doing soon before we go to a

15:06

break. A quick updates to bring in for

15:08

the Department of Justice A D O J

15:10

you remember announced that he would say announced

15:12

late this afternoon the Attorney General Merrick Garland

15:15

will not be prosecuted by his own department.

15:17

This comes after House Republicans you'll remember voted

15:19

a whole Garland in contempt of Congress for

15:21

declining to provide audiotapes audio recordings of present

15:23

Biden that are protected by executive privilege. The

15:26

Justice Department's decision was expected after by the

15:28

presence assertion of executive privilege over these recordings.

15:30

the d o j has declined

15:32

similar prosecutions in the past coming

15:34

up absurd manipulate what it is

15:36

at a sam that's awesome topic

15:38

radiate officials are describing russian president

15:40

vladimir putin so called peace proposal

15:42

is present by meets with the

15:45

pope what other world leaders on

15:47

the final day of the g

15:49

seven summit in italy for southern

15:51

florida in a state of emergency

15:53

look at some of the pictures

15:55

thereafter dealing with days of having

15:57

slotting and another round of flash

15:59

floods that could be on the way.

16:01

You're watching Meet the Press now. Welcome

16:12

back to today, after G7 leaders announced a

16:14

$50 billion loan to Ukraine,

16:16

and ahead of this weekend's Ukraine Peace

16:18

Summit in Switzerland, Vladimir Putin unexpectedly announced

16:21

Russia is ready for peace talks, outlining

16:24

his conditions for the end of the

16:26

war, all of which are being viewed

16:28

as non-starters by Ukraine. Russia's

16:31

conditions include the withdrawal

16:33

of Ukrainian troops from four

16:35

regions that Russia illegally annexed at the

16:37

start of the war, and

16:40

Ukraine renouncing its plans

16:42

to join the NATO alliance. Ukraine

16:44

responded they called this so-called proposal

16:46

manipulative and slammed Vladimir Putin

16:48

for trying to present himself as a

16:50

peacemaker when he is the one who

16:52

launched this war in the first place.

16:55

NBC News chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel is in

16:57

Ukraine and filed this report for us. Just

17:01

one day after President Biden announced a

17:03

10-year security pact between

17:06

the United States and Ukraine with

17:08

the U.S. committing to arm this

17:10

country, share intelligence, continue

17:13

to finance the military

17:15

and reconstruction here, President

17:18

Vladimir Putin offered his terms

17:20

for a possible peace deal.

17:23

He was speaking to diplomats

17:25

in Russia, the Russian foreign ministry,

17:27

so this is now a policy

17:29

that Russian ambassadors and senior officials

17:32

will take around the world. This

17:34

is now Russia's official negotiating stance.

17:37

Vladimir Putin said the war can

17:39

be over immediately if

17:42

Ukraine gives up forever

17:45

four provinces in this country, four

17:47

large provinces, each one of them

17:49

about the size of a state

17:51

in the United States, and they

17:53

are four provinces along

17:55

the Russian border. He

17:58

didn't talk about Crimea, but said... Of

18:00

course Crimea, which is a peninsula

18:03

in the Black Sea, he said

18:05

of course that belongs to Russia,

18:07

even though Russia illegally annexed it.

18:11

Ukraine and many other countries do

18:13

not accept that illegal annexation. But

18:15

he said, aside from Crimea, which

18:17

he says is already Russian, he

18:21

wants these four border provinces.

18:23

Now, the issue is, there are many issues,

18:26

but one of the main issues is that

18:28

Russia does not even control these

18:30

four provinces. Russia launched

18:33

its occupation, an invasion

18:35

of Ukraine, about two and a

18:37

half years ago. But Ukrainian

18:39

forces have managed to drive

18:41

the Russians back close

18:44

to their border. So Russia

18:46

holds some territory within these

18:48

four border provinces, but not

18:51

all of the provinces. And that

18:53

is what Vladimir Putin says he

18:55

wants as a basis to begin

18:57

the negotiation. So in practical terms,

19:00

Ukraine, if it were to accept

19:02

this, and Ukraine is not contemplating

19:04

it, accepting it, it says that

19:06

this is ridiculous, is absolutely rejected.

19:09

But even if Ukraine were to

19:11

contemplate it, it would mean Ukrainian

19:13

troops voluntarily filling

19:16

in their trenches, packing up their

19:18

gear, pulling out of frontline positions,

19:21

but also pulling out of

19:23

Ukrainian cities where Ukrainian forces

19:25

are fully in control, cities

19:28

not far from where I am in Ukraine

19:31

right now, heading toward the east, and

19:33

abandoning them to Russia. Ukrainians

19:37

don't want that. Ukrainians don't want

19:39

to make huge territorial

19:41

concessions. They don't want to

19:43

make any territorial concessions, especially

19:45

right now, a day after

19:47

the U.S. signed

19:50

a major security pact with Ukraine,

19:52

which included a long-term

19:54

pathway to joining NATO.

19:57

The big problem, however, remains U.S. presidential

20:00

elections. This security pact which

20:02

was signed by President Biden

20:04

could be undone by a

20:06

future American president. Richard

20:10

Engel on the ground for us in Ukraine. Richard,

20:12

thank you. I want to bring in Ian Bremmer,

20:14

the president and founder of Eurasia Group and GZERO

20:16

Media. Ian, I just want to get

20:19

your gut reaction to Vladimir Putin and

20:21

this so-called peace proposal that he is

20:23

making right now and what your view

20:25

is of the timing of

20:28

this announcement given that all the G7 leaders are meeting

20:30

together in Europe as we speak. Well,

20:32

very shortly we have a

20:34

peace conference that is being

20:37

organized in Switzerland by the

20:39

Americans, many other countries in support

20:41

of Ukraine and so

20:43

this is Putin balancing off of that

20:45

with something that is clearly a non-starter.

20:47

But I'll tell you who it isn't

20:49

a non-starter for. It's not

20:51

a non-starter for Hungary's Viktor Orban.

20:54

It's not a non-starter for the

20:57

so-called the National Rally Party and

20:59

Marine Le Pen who may

21:01

well occupy the premiership in

21:04

three weeks time depending on how France's

21:06

election goes. And it may not be

21:08

a non-starter for Donald Trump who

21:10

has said that he would end the war in

21:12

a day if he became president and

21:15

that of course he would want a

21:17

ceasefire immediately and then to begin negotiations

21:19

and if this was Putin's position and

21:22

he's willing to have a conversation that

21:24

starts on that, he's going

21:27

to look a lot better. So I mean

21:29

if you're Vladimir Putin right now looking at

21:31

the political calendar in the coming weeks and

21:33

months, the timing is very propitious for

21:36

you to throw a little chum in the

21:38

water and see who wins. And

21:40

I just want for our audience to make it

21:42

very clear three of the countries through these

21:45

G7 nations, France among them the UK have

21:47

seen far-right parties

21:49

in their countries gaining ground,

21:52

gaining seats in the European Union's governing

21:54

body here. They got a bunch of

21:56

elections coming up in the months ahead

21:59

here. how concerned should a

22:01

mariner americans those worried about the maintenance

22:04

of this westerly as sort of be

22:06

about this moment specifically as we witness

22:08

what's happening ahead of us in europe

22:11

well if you're a putin a divide

22:14

and conquer is your strategy divide nato

22:16

divide europe and conquer more of ukraine

22:18

that's what he's trying to do if

22:21

you're american you should care a lot

22:23

about that to the extent that you

22:25

think nato is valuable and that the

22:27

americans uh... really get a lot out

22:29

of having the world's most powerful multilateral

22:31

defense alliance course a lot of americans

22:33

don't care about it a lot of

22:35

americans think that other countries don't pay

22:37

enough uh... they think that the

22:39

united states shouldn't focus on global security should focus

22:42

more at home that's one of the reasons why

22:44

we continue to see anti-establishment political

22:46

figures in the u.s. poll better and better

22:48

and better if you think your own country

22:50

is illegitimate your leaders aren't doing much for

22:53

you why do you care about things like

22:55

free trade the promotion of democracy of internationally

22:57

uh... or the support of global alliances having

23:00

said all of that the europeans are

23:02

spending more on defense and they care

23:05

a lot more about what's happening on

23:07

their front lines precisely because they're

23:09

worried about this war that russia is

23:11

doing reasonably well in right now in

23:13

ukraine and even if trump were to

23:16

become president in the u.s. he would

23:18

see a nato that is larger that

23:21

is stronger and it is

23:23

spending more money on its own defense

23:25

in europe than was when he was

23:27

president before and if he saw it

23:29

fit to say hey i like nato

23:32

now they're doing more because of me

23:34

takes care of everything you know that's

23:36

not necessarily a losing proposition for nato

23:38

long-term you talk about the growing

23:40

nato finland sweden the examples of that let me

23:42

ask you very quickly about the announcement we've seen

23:45

this tenure security agreement between biden and the ukrainians

23:48

what should we make of that in more broadly

23:50

here it does seem like it lays the foundation

23:52

for whatever a future ukraine looks like but it

23:55

seems like that the long way away is this

23:57

just trying to set the table It's

24:00

not very significant, frankly. I mean, it's

24:02

long term, but there's no guarantees. The

24:04

more significant headline that came out of

24:06

the G7 is the

24:08

50 billion that the G7

24:10

countries are agreeing on to provide funding directly

24:12

for Ukraine defense that is coming out of

24:14

collateralizing the frozen Russian assets that are in

24:17

the US, that are in Europe, that are

24:19

in Canada. But even if you're talking about

24:21

rebuilding, does that mean you're thinking about some

24:23

agreement that ends this thing? Because otherwise, this

24:25

war could go for a long time. This

24:28

war is going to go for a long

24:30

time unless Ukraine ends up partitioned. The problem

24:33

is Ukrainians believe they can take all their

24:35

territory back, but militarily, there's no way for

24:37

them to actually accomplish that. Yeah,

24:39

Ian Bremmer, it's always a pleasure to have your perspective

24:41

with us. Thank you so much for joining me. Coming

24:45

up next, ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas,

24:48

or once again at an impasse as the

24:50

fighting on Israel's northern border intensifies. We're gonna

24:52

take you live to Tel Aviv and to

24:54

Beirut. Coming up next, you're watching Meet the

24:57

Press Now. Welcome

24:59

back to Meet the Press Now. I'm

25:01

Peter Alexander, and as mediators try to

25:03

prevent that ceasefire proposal

25:05

between Israel and Hamas from falling apart,

25:07

new escalations in northern Israel are

25:09

threatening to put new strain on those negotiations. Just

25:13

this afternoon, Sirens blared as Hezbollah launched

25:17

a major missile and rocket attack into

25:19

northern Israel. The Israeli Defense

25:21

Forces say that the Israeli

25:23

forces are not going to be able to take

25:25

the necessary action to prevent the

25:28

terrorist attack. They say it tracked approximately

25:31

35 projectiles, some

25:33

of which they were able to intercept. It

25:37

does follow days of cross-border strikes,

25:39

including an Israeli strike earlier this

25:42

week that killed a senior Hezbollah

25:44

commander in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, in Gaza,

25:46

Israel once again said it

25:49

will not stop its military operation in Rafa, with

25:51

a military official saying the IDF will move forward

25:54

and achieves all of its goals.

25:57

The US State Department maintains that...

26:00

It has yet to see Israel launch

26:02

a full-scale military operation in Rafa, something

26:05

that President Biden has said would be

26:07

his red line. And joining

26:09

me now with the very latest from that

26:11

region, Raf Sanchez, who is in Tel Aviv,

26:13

Kirs Simmons on the ground for us in

26:15

Beirut, Lebanon. Gentlemen, thank you for being here.

26:18

Raf first to you yesterday. President Biden, as

26:20

we saw, told reporters that he is, in

26:22

his words, not confident that a ceasefire deal

26:24

could be reached. What are you hearing from

26:26

both the Hamas, Hamas officials,

26:28

Hamas side, and Israeli officials on

26:30

where things stand right now? So,

26:35

Peter, in terms of the diplomatic choreography of

26:38

these ceasefire talks, you'll remember it was exactly

26:40

two weeks ago President Biden stood up in

26:42

the White House in the afternoon. He

26:44

laid out that three-phase ceasefire proposal to

26:46

end the war in Gaza to free

26:49

all of the hostages. He

26:51

took Hamas until this week on Tuesday

26:53

to respond to that proposal, and they

26:55

sent back a whole series of changes,

26:57

some of which the U.S. say are

26:59

workable, some of which they say are

27:01

not. So right now we are in

27:03

the stage of the U.S., Egypt,

27:06

and Qatar, the mediators, going back

27:08

to Israel, trying to understand which

27:10

of these Hamas changes could be

27:12

acceptable to them, which of them

27:15

are just a total nonstarter, and

27:17

trying to see if these gaps

27:19

can be bridged. And, Peter, fundamentally

27:21

there remains a zero-sum divide between

27:24

Israel and Hamas, and that is

27:26

the question of whether this is

27:28

a deal to end the war

27:31

entirely, which is what Hamas wants,

27:33

or whether this is a deal

27:35

to pause the fighting temporarily, which

27:37

is what Israel says it wants.

27:39

It says it will not end

27:41

the fighting in Gaza until Hamas

27:43

is completely destroyed, and the mediators

27:45

have the difficult, difficult task of

27:48

trying to bridge the gaps between

27:50

the two. Peter. Meanwhile, there

27:52

are more than 100 hostages still in Gaza, and

27:54

there are Palestinian civilians losing their lives as

27:56

well. Kier, again, from your view, we're seeing

27:58

Israel and has been... exchange fire

28:01

across the Israel-Lebanon border. How

28:04

does this sort of recent cross-border series

28:07

of strikes compare to previous ones? Clearly this

28:09

has the risk of becoming an escalation.

28:12

This is a real concern on both

28:14

sides. It's

28:18

a real concern, and I think it's a real concern

28:20

in Washington, Peter. And there are reports

28:22

that appear to be accurate that

28:25

President Biden's senior adviser will head

28:28

to this region once again. Of course

28:30

he would be, because every time there's

28:32

an escalation like this, the US needs

28:35

to demonstrate that it is paying attention

28:37

and that it doesn't want

28:39

that. Now, this escalation, as you mentioned at

28:41

the top, Peter, it has

28:44

happened after Israel killed

28:47

a senior Hezbollah commander.

28:50

It does today appear to have died down a

28:52

little bit. It's not the first time there

28:54

was an escalation like this. And

28:58

both sides do

29:00

still appear reluctant to

29:02

descend into a full-scale

29:05

war. Certainly Hezbollah's

29:08

deputy chief in

29:10

command has said, just

29:12

in the last 10 days, that they don't

29:15

want a wider war. That's not because, of

29:17

course, there's any love between Israel and Hezbollah.

29:20

It is because, certainly on the

29:22

Hezbollah side, they don't, I think at

29:24

this point, see an advantage to that

29:26

scene. From the Hezbollah perspective,

29:28

they think Israel is having real

29:31

challenges in Gaza, and that in

29:33

a sense they will continue to,

29:35

in their words, back Hamas, but

29:37

they don't want to take it

29:39

further than that. And

29:41

Kir, as you know from where you are in Beirut and

29:43

as I have seen in past

29:45

skirmishes fighting between the two

29:47

sides, it's hard to explain to Americans

29:49

the proximity between these two. It's

29:52

literally just across the border from one

29:54

another, like a football field that separates

29:57

some of the people that live on each side

29:59

of the border. border there. I want to ask

30:01

you your reaction to this, though, Raph, what are

30:03

you hearing from inside Israel about whether it can

30:05

afford to fight a second front? This has got

30:07

to be a real concern for Benjamin Netanyahu right

30:09

now, who is already so thin in terms of

30:11

resources, because so many folks are still focused on

30:13

the situation in Gaza. Yeah,

30:18

I think that's right, Peter. So it

30:20

would be difficult for Israel to fight

30:23

on a second front against Hezbollah, who,

30:25

remember, are far, far more powerful than

30:27

Hamas while they are still engaged in

30:30

Gaza. I think in an ideal world,

30:32

the Israelis would like to wrap up

30:34

their operations inside of Gaza before they

30:36

turn to the north. But they may

30:39

find this situation forced on them. Prime

30:41

Minister Netanyahu is under intense political pressure

30:43

to do something about the situation in

30:46

the north. As you said, daily

30:48

rocket fire, 70,000 Israeli civilians

30:52

displaced from their homes,

30:54

widespread forest fires, acres

30:57

and acres of fields set on

30:59

a flame by those incoming Hezbollah

31:01

rockets. And the Israeli government has

31:03

basically said this is

31:05

an intolerable situation and

31:08

that it needs to change either through

31:10

a diplomatic deal, which the U.S. and

31:12

France are trying to broker, or potentially

31:15

through a military operation in southern Lebanon.

31:17

But, Peter, Israel would really struggle to

31:19

fight a full-scale war inside of Lebanon

31:21

without American support, especially to replenish the

31:23

interceptors for the Iron Dome. So they

31:25

would need a certain level of buy-in

31:27

from Washington before they moved ahead. This

31:30

is an awful situation that the world

31:32

is witnessing right now. Raph, just quickly,

31:34

we heard from one of the hostages

31:36

that was rescued last weekend in a

31:38

new video statement released today. What is

31:40

he saying? Is he in good condition?

31:45

He seems to be. This is

31:47

Andrei Kozlov. He's one of the

31:49

four hostages rescued on Saturday. He

31:51

was an immigrant to Israel from

31:53

Russia. He spoke in English.

31:56

He said that he was deeply grateful to

31:58

be back in Israel this Shabbat. But

32:00

he is deeply deeply aware that there

32:02

are 120 other Israelis who

32:04

remain inside of Gaza And

32:07

he asked people to turn out at the

32:09

weekly rallies Calling for a hostage

32:11

deal urging the Israeli government to do what

32:13

it has to do to get these people

32:15

home Peter Raps Sanchez Kiera

32:17

Simmons our all-star team in

32:20

that region tonight. Thank you gentlemen

32:22

and after this break It's gonna

32:24

be a long hot summer already

32:26

underway You were looking at the

32:28

brutal potentially record-breaking forecast for millions

32:30

of Americans across the Midwest and

32:32

Northeast as we head And in

32:34

this Father's Day weekend a dangerous

32:36

heatwave steamrolling across the country

32:38

The White House's climate advisor is standing

32:40

by to speak to us about

32:42

the rise in global temperatures and the administration's

32:45

response That's next right here. You're

32:47

watching meet the press name Welcome

32:58

about South Florida right now is

33:00

experiencing its fourth consecutive day of

33:02

near historic levels of rainfall Get

33:04

this more than a foot

33:06

and a half of rain has fallen in

33:08

some communities in just the last 72

33:11

hours alone despite these totals state officials

33:13

there say there have been no reports

33:16

of any deaths Fortunately and while more

33:18

than 7 million Floridians are under a

33:20

flood watch right now much the country

33:22

is dealing with the opposite Really a

33:24

potentially devastating heat wave which could bring

33:27

record high temperatures to st. Louis, Chicago

33:29

New York all of it and

33:31

summer doesn't even technically start until

33:34

next week according to the Associated Press

33:36

analysis The US saw

33:38

a record number of heat related deaths

33:40

last summer and this season they fear

33:42

many fear could be even Deadlier

33:45

NBC News correspondent Priya Sreeter is joining

33:47

me now from North Miami Priya I

33:49

mean the pictures I have friends there

33:51

have been sending me videos from outside

33:53

their home It was just relentless for

33:56

days. When do we expect a break from

33:58

all this rain? Well,

34:01

Peter, we're hoping that this weekend things

34:03

will die down a bit, but 7

34:05

million people here in South Florida remain

34:07

under a flood watch. And as you

34:09

can see behind me here in North

34:11

Miami, this is one of just several

34:13

roads that still is flooded. You can

34:15

see vehicles still submerged and abandoned. We've

34:17

seen a steady stream of tow trucks

34:19

today going to address all of these

34:21

abandoned vehicles. Some people have

34:23

told us that it seems like a

34:25

zombie apocalypse here because so many vehicles

34:27

were just stalled and left abandoned in

34:29

the middle of roads on sidewalks, in

34:32

medians, and in parking lots. And it

34:34

created quite dangerous driving conditions, not just

34:36

because people were trying to drive through

34:38

water, but also because they were trying

34:41

to navigate around these cars. Now forecasters

34:43

were projecting another two to five inches

34:45

of rain today. And on

34:47

a normal June day in Miami, that wouldn't be a

34:49

big deal. But when you add that on top of

34:52

the 15 to 20 inches that you mentioned that has

34:54

fallen here over the last 72 hours. That's

34:57

really what could trigger those flash flood

34:59

warnings. So Governor DeSantis did issue a

35:01

press conference earlier today and he said that

35:03

they're deploying about 90 water pumps.

35:06

We actually saw one of those come to

35:08

this street twice today, but in that time

35:10

period, it also started raining. So as you

35:12

can see, it didn't do much to get

35:14

rid of the water that's at least on

35:16

this road, Peter. Yeah, Priya,

35:19

stay dry. Be careful down there. We're thinking about all the

35:21

people in that part of the country in South Florida right

35:23

now. I'm joined now by

35:25

Ali Zaidi. He is the White House's national

35:27

climate advisor. Ali, it's nice to see you,

35:30

not on the North lawn, but I guess

35:32

by satellite. I'll see you back at the

35:34

White House on another occasion to do this

35:36

conversation in person. But how does the White

35:39

House, how do you balance prevention of climate

35:41

changes effects with the sort of mitigation of

35:43

what we are already experiencing? Well,

35:46

good to be with you. And we

35:49

are seeing those visuals, the gut

35:51

wrenching effects of climate change, not

35:53

a line in a

35:55

scientific manual, but a reality in communities

35:57

all across the country. The

36:00

fact of the matter is, where we

36:02

are in the crisis means we've got

36:05

to do both things at the same

36:07

time. We've got to help harden our

36:09

infrastructure, raise our roads and bridges, improve

36:11

the resilience of our communities, be

36:14

partners in the response, and

36:17

then at the same time attack the

36:19

root cause of climate change, which we

36:21

know is putting greenhouse gas emissions, burning

36:24

fossil fuels, putting that into the

36:26

atmosphere, and continuing to drive global

36:28

temperatures. We've got to do both

36:30

things, and that's what the president has

36:32

done, a historic investment in resilience, $50

36:34

billion in his infrastructure law,

36:37

and the world's largest investment

36:39

in tackling greenhouse gas emissions.

36:42

I want to ask you about that, the

36:44

Inflation and Reduction Act, in just a moment.

36:46

But let me, I know you're a policy

36:48

guy, not a politics guy, but in the

36:51

senseless of terms here, what can this administration,

36:53

what can the Biden administration do to address

36:55

climate change in such a way that a

36:57

future administration, if former President Trump returns to

36:59

office, cannot undo? As you

37:01

know, the former president has a very

37:03

different view of climate change. He's described

37:05

it as a hoax in the past.

37:07

He said that windmills can cause cancer,

37:09

of course an unfounded claim. There is

37:12

no evidence of that. How do you sort

37:14

of, how do you institutionalize

37:16

some of these things? Well,

37:19

one of the most profound ways you can

37:21

do it is by building the infrastructure we

37:23

need to tackle the climate crisis. There

37:26

are 185,000 charging stations that

37:28

line our roads and highways, new offshore

37:30

wind farms where the steel is going

37:32

in the water, 80,000 farms

37:35

that have signed up to take

37:37

on climate-smart agriculture practices, over 100

37:40

factories and counting manufacturing clean products in

37:42

America. No one's going to drive around

37:45

and rip the steel out of the

37:47

ground and take us backwards,

37:49

regardless of the policies in Washington.

37:51

The big question is, how quickly do

37:53

we move forward? How do we accelerate

37:55

the pace of progress? And

37:58

I think that comes... down to leadership

38:00

and it comes down to policy direction.

38:03

So I want to ask you about that because every

38:05

time I've been at the White House officials will say

38:07

to me, this is the year of implementation. We're going

38:09

to see a lot of this construction taking place. I

38:11

want to hit you. I want to hit you specifically

38:13

on the topic of these, these EV charging

38:16

stations right now. The

38:18

transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, has said that we need

38:20

about 500,000, half a million

38:22

of these stations by 2030. That

38:26

means we got to pick up the pace a ton

38:28

right now. How many charging stations have

38:31

been built from the money

38:33

that was directed to this effort from the

38:35

IRA so far? Yeah,

38:37

the Inflation Reduction Act provides the private

38:40

sector with tax incentives with loans and

38:42

grants to get these charging infrastructure built.

38:44

We now have 185,000 chargers built. That's

38:48

almost double the number on our roads and highways

38:50

relative to when the president took office. And that's

38:53

going to be 500. So I just want to

38:55

make sure I get it right. So

38:57

are those chargers all that

38:59

you're referring to being built from the IRA? How

39:01

many are being built from the funds directed by

39:03

the IRA? So

39:06

almost all of those chargers

39:08

are claiming tax credits provided

39:10

through President Biden's Inflation Reduction

39:12

Act. There are

39:14

also credits being provided to manufacture

39:17

those technologies here in the United

39:19

States. We've got about 40 factories

39:21

that are manufacturing chargers or

39:24

part of that supply chain. That's

39:26

happening because of the president's

39:28

investment agenda. And by

39:30

the way, thanks to his

39:32

leadership, we've got the entire

39:34

auto sector now sprinting to

39:36

establish U.S. leadership on delivering

39:39

choices to consumers rather

39:41

than locking us out of

39:43

leadership in this next generation

39:46

of transportation technologies where, frankly,

39:48

before the president took office,

39:51

China was absolutely the leader.

39:53

Today, the U.S. has repositioned

39:56

to lead once again. who

40:00

are dismissive of this as a top issue, I think

40:02

only 5% of voters in a

40:04

recent NBC News poll say that climate change

40:06

is the most important issue facing this country

40:08

right now. What do you say to those

40:10

Americans who are not convinced that this should

40:12

be a top priority, especially when countries like

40:15

China, they fear, and India, based

40:17

on some evidence, are not pursuing the same path

40:19

that the United States is? Well,

40:22

look, folks I talked to are concerned

40:24

about the air that their kids breathe,

40:26

and they're glad that Joe Biden is

40:28

investing in school buses that run on

40:31

electric, not on diesel. Folks I talked

40:33

to are concerned about where the jobs

40:35

are gonna be in the future. They're

40:37

glad that tens of thousands of jobs

40:40

are being created in the clean energy

40:42

economy. They're concerned about energy costs, and

40:44

they're glad that Joe Biden's providing tax

40:46

credits and rebates to reduce home energy

40:49

bills and utility bills. So, look, maybe

40:51

the conversation at the kitchen table isn't

40:53

about climate science, but it's about topics

40:55

that relate back to whether the US

40:58

is stepping up to win the future

41:00

and lead on clean energy, and the

41:02

president's policies are helping us do that.

41:04

Sally Zadie, always a pleasure to have you here. Thank you

41:07

for making time to speak to me today. Coming

41:09

up next, President Biden's birthday wished to former

41:11

President Trump's field with a diss. You're

41:14

watching Meet the Press now. ["Meet

41:17

the Press Now"] ["Meet

41:21

the Press

41:23

Now"] Welcome back.

41:25

Today is former President Donald Trump's 78th birthday.

41:28

The Trump campaign putting out some footage

41:31

of Republican senators presenting him with a

41:33

cake on Capitol Hill or near the

41:35

Capitol yesterday, where, well, that's

41:37

what it looks like behind closed doors. And

41:39

while we've seen birthday messages roll in from

41:41

his political allies, we also saw one from

41:44

his campaign rival, President Biden, posting a video

41:46

on social media earlier today, accompanying with the

41:48

message that read, happy 78th birthday, Donald. Take

41:51

it from one old guy to another age

41:53

is just a number. This election,

41:55

however, is a choice. Joining

41:58

me now on set is Basil Smickel, former.

42:00

executive director of the New York state democratic

42:02

party. Also fortunately for us and NBC news,

42:05

political analyst, Rich Lowry, editor at National Review.

42:07

Gentlemen, nice to have you guys with me

42:09

in person. Rich, let's get to you on

42:12

this for a moment. So first, as Republicans highlight

42:14

every awkward moment or misstep that Biden makes right

42:16

now, even not a misstep, just every step he

42:18

takes right now to try to make an issue

42:20

of this, is this sort of line from the

42:23

Biden campaign, a way to try to neutralize this?

42:25

You sort of, you laughed at that a little

42:27

bit. We're both old, right? So

42:29

let's talk about other stuff. But the

42:31

problem he has is, yeah, Trump is old,

42:33

Trump's capable of gas as well, but he

42:36

just seems much more vigorous in public. He

42:38

doesn't walk the way Joe Biden does, which

42:40

is increasingly rickety. He doesn't have the blank

42:42

stare sometimes Biden seems to have. So

42:45

this is why the one thing there's

42:47

a super majority that Americans agree on is that

42:49

Joe Biden is not fit for another four years.

42:51

Now he might win anyway, but that's a huge

42:54

obstacle for him. Well, the Basil, I want your

42:56

reaction to that right now, because

42:58

as Joe Biden says, it's not about your age,

43:00

it's about the age of your ideas right now,

43:02

his sort of casting is an unlikely person to

43:05

be framing this argument, but he's saying, hey, I'm

43:07

the man of the future. I'm looking with these

43:09

more progressive thoughts, these more moderate views than this

43:11

other guy. It's a contrast of opinions and views.

43:13

All right, I don't know. I

43:15

would disagree and take issue with that fit

43:17

for office. I mean, we could talk about

43:20

the age issue. And I

43:22

think the reaction that we had, which

43:24

was the laugh is exactly what he

43:26

wanted, right? Because it does, to

43:28

your point, it does sort of balance out the

43:30

age issue, which I do believe is top of

43:33

mind for a lot of Americans, but on the

43:35

issue of fitness, when we

43:37

focus on the policies, Joe Biden's still

43:39

coming forth with a lot of really

43:41

great policies for the country. We probably

43:43

don't talk enough about the Trump gas,

43:46

which could speak to his age in the ways

43:49

that some are sort of tagging Joe Biden's

43:51

age with these gas as well. And

43:54

I do, but I also think that, yes, you

43:56

see some energy around the Trump rallies, but the

43:58

reality is you're gonna see that. around

44:00

the Democratic rallies as well as the campaign. The

44:02

Biden campaign is counting on this being a big

44:04

contrast moment where we had this debate June 27th,

44:07

I believe just a couple of weeks away from

44:09

us right now. They want Americans who don't

44:11

realize that Donald Trump's going to be the other guy in the

44:13

ticket to be like, oh wait, this is happening, here we go

44:15

again, 2020, Part 2, as it were. These

44:19

things are performative as much as

44:21

anything right now. On both sides,

44:24

what should the Democrats be concerned about and what

44:26

should Donald Trump's allies be concerned about? With respect

44:29

to the debate, I thought it was

44:31

a great strategy for Joe Biden to

44:33

do that because I think

44:35

it fits his... To do what?

44:39

To call it out early and to set the terms,

44:41

knowing that Donald Trump would be like, yeah, I'm ready

44:43

for you, right? Because this

44:45

works to Joe Biden's benefit.

44:47

No audience on policy

44:49

in a seated position

44:51

in a way that he can engage in a

44:54

way that I think shows off his strength a

44:56

lot. What's tough about debates though is we all

44:58

witnessed, right, is that there's going to be some

45:00

folks over at CNN doing this thing. The fact

45:02

checks are generally speaking supposed to be completed by

45:04

the candidates themselves, right? And Joe Biden has to

45:06

be quick in terms of those fact checks, which

45:09

as anybody who's dealt with Donald Trump knows can

45:11

be a unique challenge. For Donald Trump though, Rich,

45:13

there are some unique challenges here as well. I

45:15

mean, you know, he had a day where he

45:17

sort of... A show of forth, look at the

45:19

United Front of the Republicans yesterday. Behind closed, it

45:21

was celebrated. Fox said, what a great day. He

45:23

was on message just hours earlier. He was ripping

45:26

on Milwaukee as a horrible city. And even if

45:28

he didn't say it was a horrible city, he

45:30

said the crime rate there is horrible. But oh, by the way,

45:32

that's not true because murders are down 39% year over year. So

45:35

what's the risk of him being on

45:37

social? I see this debate as a

45:40

competition to be normal. Okay, so Biden,

45:42

he can't mumble. He can't descend

45:44

into incoherent sentences. That would be very bad for

45:46

him. And Trump can't do what he did in

45:48

the first debate in 2020. He

45:50

can't be out of control because he does

45:52

have this amazing reconsideration of him among some

45:54

crucial segment of voters who look retrospectively and

45:56

approve of him. more than they did even

45:58

when he was in office. So that's a

46:01

huge advantage. He doesn't want to remind them

46:03

of the things they don't like about him.

46:05

What do you say about the cynicism of

46:07

voters right now who saw that? It was

46:09

all over the news. The photo behind closed

46:11

doors, Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump shaking hands.

46:13

The two hadn't shared words,

46:16

I think, since 2020. It's

46:18

been more than, you know, it's been four

46:20

years basically since the two of them were

46:22

together. This is a guy, Mitch McConnell, the

46:24

top Republican in the Senate who said he

46:26

was practically and morally responsible for the attack

46:29

on January 6th. Trump said

46:31

reportedly racist comments about Elaine Chao. His wife,

46:33

he called him a broken old crow or

46:35

maybe something not as pleasant. And then they

46:37

see the two of us, Saturday we're all

46:40

on one team. Do you wonder,

46:42

I mean, I'm certainly, you can understand like what are Americans supposed

46:44

to make of moments like that? It just feels like

46:46

what is going on here? Yeah, the insults of

46:48

his wife are just, any other

46:50

politician, those would be like the worst thing they

46:52

ever said in their career, but Donald Trump has

46:54

a different- So why did Donald come back and

46:56

shake hands and say we're all on board? It's

46:58

Trump's party, one. McConnell didn't want to get here

47:01

and he's got a choice. He's

47:03

a very Republican conservative guy

47:06

and he's going to want Trump over Biden, even though

47:08

he has huge misgivings with Trump. So he didn't want

47:10

to be in this moment, but here

47:12

he is. Basil, let me show you what happened in

47:14

Milwaukee yesterday. The people of Wisconsin were paying close

47:16

attention to the reporting from behind

47:18

closed doors with Republicans. This is

47:21

the headline from the Milwaukee Journal,

47:23

Sentinel Trump, Milwaukee, horrible in quotes.

47:25

I mean, in a key

47:27

battleground state, right? One of three in the

47:29

Midwest, the Donald Trump, Wisconsin,

47:31

Michigan, Pennsylvania, needs to

47:34

try to win this fall. That's not the headline you

47:36

can be looking for. Is this going to be a

47:38

difference maker or does none of this matter? Does it

47:40

all just sort of wash away? It can make a

47:42

difference as long as the DNC helps the state party

47:45

actually continue to promote that message for the next five

47:47

or so months. But look, you're

47:49

right that the crime rate actually has

47:51

gone down, but we see this as

47:53

a Republican strategy, right? Take issues that

47:55

they feel are endemic to cities and

47:57

try to extrapolate that to the suburbs.

48:00

that in New York, in congressional races, in

48:02

the gubernatorial race, even in 2022, there's a

48:06

belief that that's a winning strategy. It has not

48:08

been a winning strategy, but it is part of

48:10

an old trope. You tag Democrats with being soft

48:12

on crime and hopefully it'll bring out everybody else.

48:14

Yeah, a lot of these cities, crime is down

48:17

year over year, but still elevated over 2020. A

48:20

lot of it's post-pandemic, right? But it's true, but it's definitely

48:22

too high, I think most Americans do. Right. And it's not

48:24

a problem in the suburbs, it's a problem in the city.

48:26

I mean, it's very bad for the cities to have elevated

48:28

levels of crime. But I think the

48:31

core of the race is

48:33

economy, immigration, inflation, jobs,

48:35

and whether you think these guys are going to do a

48:37

good job. Biden's job approval is under 40 and a lot

48:40

of polls. And I think they're trying

48:42

to, the Biden campaign, focus on peripheral stuff. He said

48:44

this thing behind closed doors about Milwaukee. He kind of

48:46

joked he's going to be dictator for a day. Let

48:48

me ask you about one thing that's not as peripheral

48:50

as the topic of abortion, because I do think that

48:53

Democrats more than anything are going to try to rely

48:55

on, especially in states like Arizona, where it is on

48:57

the ballot. How does

48:59

Donald Trump handle this? He's still looking for the

49:01

way to speak about this topic. He'd prefer not

49:03

to talk about it, right? And that's what his

49:05

position is. I'm not going to support federal legislation.

49:07

We'll just let states figure it out. He's mostly

49:09

not wanting to talk about it. Apparently yesterday said

49:11

Republicans should talk about it. That's what I asked.

49:13

But if Biden pulls this out and I think

49:15

Trump would win if it was held today, the

49:17

election, I think he has a better chance

49:20

of winning in November. But if he does pull it out, Dobbs will

49:22

be a huge, big deal. Do you think he has a better chance

49:24

of winning in November? Trump. Do you think Trump has a better chance

49:26

of winning? Yeah. Okay. That means we've got

49:31

five more months to have that conversation. Gentlemen, thank you.

49:33

We're going to be back Monday with more Meet the

49:35

Press now. And if it is Sunday, it's Meet the

49:38

Press on your local NBC news station. I'm

49:40

going to have exclusive interviews with Congressman

49:42

Byron Donald, a potential vice presidential pick

49:44

for Mr. Trump and Ro Cotta, the

49:46

progressive Democrat. Plus, Kristins meet the moment

49:48

interview with Emmy award-winning actor Michael Imperiali.

49:50

Don't miss it. The news continues with

49:52

Tom Costello and for Hallie Jackson right

49:55

now.