today it's all about the art of the zoom meeting now that we're all suddenly on camera, so you can get great pointers and join the conversation only at knowyourvalue.com and on our social platforms. and that does it for us this morning. stephanie ruhle picks up the coverage right now. hi there, i'm stephanie ruhle. it is wednesday, september 9th. here's what's happening. this morning, the race for a coronavirus vaccine hitting a serious speed bump. drug maker astrazeneca announcing it will halt global clinical trials on its vaccine because of an unexpected illness in one patient. while the company says this is a routine check, it is unclear how long the pause will last. out west, fires in california, washington and now oregon are taking a very dangerous turn. new mandatory evacuations put in place across california overnight, as a total of at least 362 people have now been rescued by the national guard. and in oregon, the alameda

fire is exploding. the governor there declaring a state of emergency as thousands may be forced to flee their homes this morning. and do not forget what's going on in washington. 55 days out, both presidential campaigns are raising the stakes. today former vp joe biden will head to michigan to talk manufacturing in the home of the auto industry. after president trump spent the night rallying voters in north carolina, his third visit to the state in nearly two weeks. that is where we begin. mike memoli in michigan and carol lee at the white house. joe biden heading to michigan. he's talking buy american, manufacture american. that is a message president trump likes to deliver, but is joe biden planning to say who's actually going to do it? because president trump hasn't. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, steph. when the president is out on the campaign trail, what are some of the banners we usually see around him, behind him? it's promises made, promises kept. so what the biden campaign is doing is kicking off a new offensive where they're going to

take issue with that saying the president has not lived up to his promises, especially on the economy. biden of course in july released elements of his own economic plan. they call it build back better. today he's going to be adding to that with a focus on manufacturing and specifically offshoring. here's some of what he's going to be proposing this afternoon. one is a 10% surtax, extra tax on companies on the profits from goods made overseas that are sold in the united states. there's also a 10% tax credit for companies that make investments that bring jobs back to the u.s. he also wants to double the tax to 21% on all foreign profits brought back to the u.s. now, steph, the location is important here. when you talk about that tax credit that biden is proposing, one of the things that would qualify for it is, for instance, auto companies that make investments to produce next generation automobiles, electric automobiles. that's why he's going to be speaking to the united autoworkers union here behind me. and remember, steph, joe biden was one of the champions in the

obama/biden administration of rescuing that auto industry bailout early in the administration so expect to hear a lot from joe biden about that. that was key in this county specifically, mccomb county. this is one of those obama/trump counties where we saw a 15-point swing in 2012, a four-point obama victory to a nearly ten-point victory for president trump in 2016. so this is the biden campaign trying to win back those votes, steph. >> let's not forget it was president trump in 2016 in ohio telling people don't sell your houses in lordstown, their plants will not be closing, and of course during his administration that lordstown plant, that gm plant did close. the president doesn't control private industry. carol, i want to talk about what the president had to say last night because he's accusing democrats of being anti-vaxx er and said hundreds of thousands of people would have died if we listened to joe biden. let's make it clear, joe biden is absolutely not an anti-vaxxer

but he said this while delivering a speech to thousands of people who are not social distancing and not wearing masks, two things that we know increases the spread of the virus. >> reporter: yeah, that's right, steph. the president at this campaign event last night in north carolina really violated the state's restrictions based on the coronavirus pandemic in a couple of ways. there's a mask mandate in the state. there were people who -- some people were wearing masks at the president's event, some people weren't. the state has a cap at gatherings outdoors at 50 people. as you noted, there were some thousand people there, that's 20 times the cap that the state has. and so -- and there was very little, if any, social distancing in the crowd as you can see there from these images here. people are practically on top of one another. and what we heard from the president was -- were a couple of things. one, the criticism of former

vice president joe biden, which is not true that joe biden is not an anti-vaxxer. and we heard the president push for the governor of north carolina to open up the state. essentially defying the state's regulations on coronavirus and also pushing the governor to allow the kind of event that the president was having last night in north carolina to happen. now, we've reached out to the campaign, the trump campaign, we have not heard back from them. but it's worth noting that the attending attendees all signed that campaign waiver that said they will not sue or otherwise seek any sort of repercussions based on whether or not they contracted coronavirus from this rally, steph. >> we should note the gop chair of that event urged president trump to wear a mask before the event took place. obviously you looked at that image right there, he did not. carol, mike, thank you both. joining us now to discuss even further, robert costa, national

political reporter for "the washington post" and of course moderator of "washington week" on pbs. let's talk battleground states, roberto, because there's a new nbc news poll out showing that trump and biden are in a dead heat in president trump's adopted home state of florida, while biden is ahead by nine points in pennsylvania. what do you make of these new numbers? >> what we're seeing, stephanie, from these new numbers is an expanded political map for vice president biden. months ago many of my top democratic sources thought the 2020 race would be fought mostly in the industrial midwest. but now we see with these new numbers in florida that that state is very much in play and that the south increasingly is in play. jamie harrison in south carolina for the democrats running a strong senate race, according to polls, against senator lindsey graham. the biden campaign spending more money in georgia. so you see the sun belt, arizona, that senate race, wisconsin, now florida, this is a map where both campaigns are arguing there are many paths to victory.

>> let's talk pennsylvania, specifically suburbs. that's actually your home state. >> it is. >> president trump believes he's got the suburban vote in his back pocket. he repeatedly says that joe biden is going to destroy the suburbs. you're going to have riots in your backyard, yet joe biden is ahead in the polls when you look at pennsylvania. what's going on? >> well, you see with the biden campaign a lot of appeal in the northeast part of the state, which is where joe biden grew up near scranton, and he's doing better i'm told from my sources on the ground in philadelphia and making sure that people come out this time in a way they may not have done in the city of philadelphia in 2016. the suburbs, that is the battle ground. the white house believes its law and order message amid all of the protests, amid this racial reckoning in this country, will appeal to white suburban voters. but these voters in the philadelphia suburbs are increasingly moderate in their

temperament, sometimes leaning democrat, and the suburbs are at times more diverse than they were, say, 25 years ago outside of philadelphia and that's changing the whole dynamic and the debate. >> remember, when robert costa is talking about his sources on the ground in the suburbs of philadelphia, he may just be talking -- >> i don't just mean my parents. >> you could be. it could be he's talking from the doylestown bureau. let's talk about another suburban swing state, the suburbs in wisconsin. what have you been hearing from voters there? because both mike pence and kamala harris were in wisconsin talking to different voters with very different messages. >> it's a similar story in wisconsin in a sense that secretary clinton did not do as well in the city of milwaukee as democrats had hoped in 2016, so you see an emphasis in seeing that milwaukee comes out. there's also a belief that the milwaukee suburbs could turn a little away from their traditional republican leanings. think about governor tony evers

won against scott walker, a famous republican governor in 2018. i interviewed a state representative, robert vinings, a democrat, who won a state legislative seat in the milwaukee suburbs. she told me she believes these appeals to the white suburbs won't land in the same way that wisconsin prizes civility, prizes a peaceful discussion and that president trump has always been an uncomfortable fit there. remember, he lost the 2016 republican primary in wisconsin to senator ted cruz, who that shows you those voters a little bit more traditional conservative. >> all right, robert, thank you so much. again apologize for outing your key sources in the suburbs of philly. >> they're my best sources, stephanie. >> we've got to turn to the breaking news out west. it is getting serious out there. it is now being described as a once in generation wildfires, they are raging out of control in the state of oregon. thousands have evacuated to escape after the governor

declared a state of emergency. in california, firefighters are battling the second, third and fourth largest fires in its history all at the same time. more than two dozen are scorching the state with the largest, the creek fire, still not contained at all. miguel almaguer is in shaver creek and jacob ward in phoenix, oregon. jacob, to you first, this thing really exploded overnight. what's happening. >> reporter: steph, this really has been an unprecedented event in the wards of state fire officials. it's a combination of factors, a prolonged dry weather period and incredible winds, such such that as of yesterday the fire was jumping ten miles in a single afternoon and did not slow down at all overnight. this town where i'm standing, 4,600 people have been evacuated and this place has been hit by what is a classic wildfire condition, except that this is of course, steph, an urban

environment. so you have these spot fires popping up all over the town. as a result, fire crews are stretched thin. we have not seen a single fire crew put water onto anything yet. the officials here say they are trying at this point in simply get ahold of certain structure fires, but really attacking containment in the way that you would hope to do isn't going to happen before thursday. this is very much the feeling of an out of control fire situation hitting an urban center the way the wildfire does as we said in an unprecedented and scary way, steph. >> miguel, take us to california, because it feels like this time last year you and i were having this exact same conversation, wildfires raging out of control, unprecedented, and now here we are again. you're in front of the creek fire, still not contained. >> reporter: yeah, stephanie. oftentimes these fires are fueled by the same conditions, drought-like conditions, those hot temperatures and those nasty winds.

in this region here, the fire really ripped across this area in a matter of minutes. just a few days ago we saw homes that are standing that are now completely destroyed. we also know that this fire has swallowed about 135,000 acres. that number is certain to climb later on today. i can also tell you that firefighters have been running on the front lines for 72 hours straight in some cases before they're able to take a break. it's been very difficult for them to make any progress in this firefight. homes and historic businesses like this one were leveled in a matter of minutes. this wildfire is still destroying this area, hopscotching from neighborhood to neighborhood. firefighters are really doing what they can to kind of keep homes protected at this point. it's difficult for them to even battle the blaze, which is moving through so many of these hillsides. >> wow. we need those firefighters to stay safe. miguel, jake, stay safe where you are. thank you for keeping us up. we'll leave it there. we've got a lot more to cover.

coming up, much more. astrazeneca putting its coronavirus vaccine trial on hold. a former cdc director joins us on how big of a setback this can be. first, we've got breaking news. u.s. troop presence in iraq about to be cut nearly in half. we'll findi out why, next. ut whn , your dedicated adviser can give you straightforward advice and tailored recommendations. that's the clarity you get with fidelity wealth management. frnext time try bounce wrinkleut ofguard dryer sheets.? the world's first mega sheet with 3x more wrinkle relaxers. look at the difference of these two shirts... the wrinkle guard shirt has less wrinkles and static, and more softness and freshness. to tame wrinkles on the go use bounce 3in1 rapid touch up spray. bounce out wrinkles with bounce wrinkle guard dryer sheets and touch up spray! both, with a money back guarantee.

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breaking news this morning.

centcom commander announced that the united states will be pulling more than 2,000 troops out of iraq, nearly cutting the u.s. presence there in half. this comes as the president tries to undo the damage done by multiple reports that he denigrated military veterans and questioned their service, reports that the president continues to deny. >> they make this stuff up. they make it up. they make stuff -- it's called disinformation. they give a phony deal out. they did it two days ago with the military. there's nobody that loves the military more than me. so they made -- they made -- you know, i was very lucky, though. i had 15 incredible american patriots that came by and they said he never said that. they were there. >> reminder, fox news confirmed those reports. fox news. i want to bring in my friend paul reikoff, the founder and director of the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america and also the host of the angry americans podcast, which i highly recommend. paul, let's start with this. the administration official also

said the president will announce an additional withdrawal from afghanistan in the coming days. if all of this is damage control to get people -- to get military people back on his side, why wouldn't he have done it already? why is this suddenly a good idea? >> it's not a good idea. it's a sign of desperation. you know, it was said war is the extension of politics by other means. everything having to do with war, national defense, conflict, is political. and presidents have said they're going to end iraq before. you know, before i came on with you, i posted a link to a 2011 announcement by president obama when they said the iraq war was ended. they did a celebration at the white house. members of our organization were invited. that was 2011. now trump is moving only a third of our troops down in iraq. that's not going to look like the end of a war to those tro s troops. it's not going to look like an end of the war to the iraqis and it further politicizes the

division between our military and leadership. it's another example of how they are being used as props and toys for his political agenda. it's deeply damaging. friday is 9/11 so he'll probably double down and try to continue to make up for the lost ground because he knows he's hurt. this is hurting him very bad with independents like me, republicans and everybody in between. >> the president calls himself a law and order guy. he continues to say joe biden wants anarchy. he's up for defunding the police, which joe biden has repeatedly said he is not in support of defunding the police. but what messages are getting to veterans? you speak to veterans every day. help me understand how they are receiving all the news that they are getting, especially the ones about what the president has said, suckers and losers, about fallen service people. >> i call him on my podcast all the time president mayhem. that's what he is. everything that he touches, everything that he does creates mayhem, perpetuates mayhem.

he's like a political suicide bomber. everything that he hits blows up everything in the way. i think what our military sees is chaos. they don't see clarity, they see him attacking his own generals, they see a lack of discipline, they see a lack of integrity. right now as i talk to you, my 5-year-old is starting kindergarten upstairs, okay? this is the reality we're facing. my son can't watch the president. we don't have a president we can be proud of. we don't have a president who has any honor, who has any integrity, who respects anything. that's what we're dealing with right now across america and especially in the military. we need a commander in chief we can admire, we can respect, and most importantly that we can trust. >> but paul, you have not been a fan of the president in the last three years that i have known you, and he has had a lot of support from the military. do you think that's waning? >> yeah. i mean i've been critical of obama, bush and everybody along the way when it comes to iraq, there's a lot to be critical of. i left iraq in 2004 and we've

been hearing empty promises from politicians ever since. the military -- his support in the military is dropping significantly. it's dropping among veterans. you're going to talk about the coronavirus, we have to recognize that thousands, maybe tens of thousands of veterans, especially world war ii veterans, have been lost to the coronavirus. he screwed that up too. and the secretary of the va wilke came on your program and lied about hydroxychloroquine. he said it was working on middle-aged veterans and we have no proof of that. they're not testing for the virus across the va. so if they love veterans so much, can they at least test them for coronavirus and make it a priority before we lose more of them? i think that cuts to the core of what our troops and our veterans see. they're not partisan. they put country first and they want a president who does the same. >> speaking of wilkie, he could take over for mark esper as defense secretary.

what is your reaction to this? i'm pretty sure you started the hash tag where's wilkie. >> it's more chaos. trump is attacking his own secretary of defense that he installed who was a former executive who refused to recuse himself from raytheon business. all this war profiteering talk, trump is creating an environment of war profiterring. now he's undermining the secretary of defense and letting rumors fly that he may replace him with wilkie. that's because he is his most loyal political attack dog. he is a hack. he carries water for trump time and time again. he would not condemn the remarks the president made about john mccain. the secretary of veterans affairs will not defend p.o.w.s. that's how low this has gotten. that's why trump likes him. he knows he can counting on him politically at the expense of anything else along the way. >> paul, you told us a lot in a short amount of time. it is always good to have you here.

guess what, it's 9:23. if you've got a 5-year-old starting kindergarten 23 minutes ago, you better get up there, it is hard work. >> i'm on my way, thank you. >> good luck. up next, we're going to take another look at one demographic that is key to victory in november and that former vice president joe biden is struggling with. i'm talking about latinos. nos. start your day with secret. secret stops sweat 3x more than ordinary antiperspirants. with secret, you're unstoppable. no sweat! try it and love it or get your money back.

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we've got some breaking news right now. dramatic live aerials over the wildfires raging across the state of oregon. look at those shots now. it is stunning. we'll continue to monitor these fires and bring you developments as we get them. but this morning we're taking a closer look at politics and a key group to winning the white house in november, latinos. during the last month's political conventions, this tweet stuck out to my team and i. democratic strategist chuck rocha calling on fellow democrats to wake up when it comes to latino voters and dismiss at their own peril what they witnessed during the republican convention. new polls this morning show that democrats do not have the latino vote locked up, at least not in a key battleground state of florida where president trump

leads among latino voters by four points. but many latino voters say they should not be viewed all the same because there are many different opinions within the latino community, of course, reflecting a wide political spectrum. so this morning we have assembled a stellar panel to help us get a better understanding of those diverse perspectives and what they mean for november. joining us now, chuck rocha, a democratic strategist and was the senior advisor for bernie sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. saul trujillo was a policy advisor to the clinton and george w. bush administrations and christina ladonio. chuck, it was your tweet that started this for me. you tweeted at democrats about latinos saying this. your woke white consultants aren't going to save us. my brother, you worked for bernie sanders. you are well versed in the world of woke, so what are you talking about? >> what i'm getting at is i've been doing campaigns for 31 years. i'm the senior most latino

operative in d.c. so i've seen a lot of mistakes over my lifetime. i wanted to make sure i didn't see them again. as democrats we're like we'll just go in and do a little spanish tv at the edged, don't worry about those latinos, they'll come home. that's just not the case. i finished writing a book that explains if you invest in this community, if you will teach them and show them they are a persuadable voter like you would do a white woman in the suburbs and spend the same amount of money courting the latino vote, they will show up. at the democratic convention we were complaining there was no latino representation. at the republican representation they were nationalizing citizens on the stage. now, that don't mean you're going to get all of the vote. but just making those gestures that can skew up one point, three points, four points. and donald trump doesn't need to win all the vote, he just needs to win 4% to 8% of the vote and he'll be re-elected. >> christina, let's go to

florida. it was after the last devastating hurricane in puerto rico when president trump did so little to help puerto ricans and many moved to the state of florida. over and over on shows like this we said this is really going to hurt him in florida politically, but it's not. he is leading among latino voters there. why is that? >> steph, thank you for having me. because his message to the latino voters in florida is targeted at south florida mostly, at the cuban american votes, at the venezuelans, the colombians, even central americans that fled during the war in their countries and are terrified of socialism. it's the "s" word that president trump has been mentioning over and over again saying that biden/harris ticket would be a return of the radical left, exactly the same reason why they left their countries, and that seems to be working for them. >> but why is it that anyone believes that message about joe

biden, saul? joe biden has been in office for decades and there is nothing super progressive or socialist about him. why are people suddenly buying into this idea that joe biden is a radical? especially latinos, when president trump has said and done so many anti-immigrant things? >> well, i think, first of all, obviously in the state of -- obviously in the state of florida the population mix is a lot different than the rest of the country because of the immigrants that you just mentioned or the source of where they came from. one of the important points that i think gets missed by everybody is that latinos are very entrepreneurial. probably one out of every three or four families owns a business. so they do care about regulation, they do care about taxes, they care about their source of income and those items and issues that appeal to them or are important to their

family. so one quick point. if i'm biden and i'm not a political scientist like others are, but if i'm biden as a marketer, i want to make sure that i'm talking to them as well as all the rest that are the traditional democrat voting, democrat leaning kind of latinos. so business matters and talk business to those who -- the one-third or one-fourth that might be leaning in the direction that most people don't think they will. so not homogeneity. so talk business and issues that are important to their income and source of income. >> but chuck, doesn't that fall directly into this stereotype that only republicans are pro business? you'll be hard pressed to find a large number of latino ceos of fortune 500 or publicly traded companies, yet we've lost almost 100,000 small businesses since the coronavirus pandemic hit.

>> i think you're exactly right, stephanie. those small business, guess what they do? they employ more latinos. let me break down the underperformance and some mexico an red neck math folks back home with understand. it's with investment, pure and simple. donald trump is trying to put a lot of investment into our vote because he wants 4% or 5% of our vote. on the democratic side i have tracked $500 million going to super pacs focused on white voters. just $5 million have gone to latino super pacs focused on the same group of latino voters. when you don't invest in a community, they will not show up. we proved that with bernie sanders when we spent $15 million in just five states in the primary and he overwhelmingly won. democrats need to wake up, invest in our community if you want our votes. >> you know, stephanie -- >> saul, you say in order for -- yes. continue. >> i was just going to follow up on chuck's point because he's right on. you know, politics is business.

and when you think about where you want to grow in a business, you invest. when you don't invest, you don't capture the market share that you wanted to have or should have had if you were smart in thinking about what is the message, how do i talk to them, how do i win them and let them know that they're valuable. not that you're going to pat them on the head and say, gee, i love you, please vote for me. those days are gone. >> okay, but let them know they're valuable with 55 days to go. christina, there's a new op-ed in "the new york times" that talks about this christopher columbus syndrome. both parties forget about the latino voters after every single election. is that what latino voters tell you? >> it is what they have told me, but in all fairness, the trump campaign has been very presenting in the latino communities just like chuck was saying. latinos for trump has been

active for the past year. they have a field advantage. latinos con biden started up a few months ago. even though they're recording them very well, they're recording in different accents for different communities, the trump campaign has been very active, talking about an initiative with the ceo of goya but they have been active. yeah, we do see that christopher columbus syndrome problem. we had it with the obama administration promising an immigration reform. there's a little bit of mistrust with the biden campaign because of that immigration promise happening all over again and latinos not knowing if this is going to be another one of those broken promises. but we are seeing the biden campaign a lot more active in the past few weeks and definitely trying to catch up. >> stephanie, just one more -- >> chuck, where do young latinos come out -- yes?

>> let's not forget, people are upset with trump, period, ends of story. i'm still a registered republican but i won't vote for him because of what he has done in denigrating the latino community, because of the lack of real focus he's had relative to the latino business community with all the stops on immigration and a lot of other things that people need -- that workers across all sectors. and so let's not get overly focused on where he's at with polls because also the polling as we have seen in the digital era are not as reliable as they used to be when you could have people actually talking to real people, not bots, not surveys that people have fun with every day with all the surveys that they are served with. >> and remember, if it's all about -- >> and about that polling, if i could add something.

>> yes? >> about the polling, if i could add something. the latino community, the community that i've been out on asking questions in the past few weeks, there's a growing number of them telling me my vote is secret, not telling us how they're going to vote. we don't know why. is it part of that trump hidden vote, is it not? the key with the latino community is will they show up. that is the biggest question. enthusiasm is a major factor and in these times of covid, it's very, very difficult to measure that enthusiasm, steph. >> thank you all so much. you definitely made us a whole lot smarter, i appreciate it. coming up next, we told you earlier about a potentially major setback in the global race for a coronavirus vaccine. so how long will this astrazeneca trial be on pause? and another live look over oregon as the fires there rage on, looking like a -- literally

like a ring of fire in what is being called a once in a generation fire. esses... .to soccer practices... ...and new adventures. you hope the more you give the less they'll miss. but even if your teen was vaccinated against meningitis in the past... they may be missing vaccination for meningitis b. let's help protect them together. because missing menb vaccination could mean missing out on a whole lot more. ask your doctor if your teen is missing meningitis b vaccination.

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cascade + the power of oxi. the #1 recommended brand in north america. we've got a lot of news to cover today, but we cannot forget the important topic of the coronavirus pandemic. it is top of mind for so many parents who are sending their kids back to school this week. this morning the number of cases nationwide is over 6.3 million. nearly 191,000 americans have lost their lives. however, the numbers are on the decline with cases, hospitalizations and deaths, they are all down over the last week. at the same time, a new report from the american academy of pediatrics shows that the case rate among children jumped 16% in august and it now tops half a million. that is about 10% of all the cases in the country. finally at the top of the hour, surgeon general jerome adams will testify in front of the senate health committee about how he will help make sure the

vaccine process is not influenced by politics. good luck. this comes after an apparent setback. astrazeneca putting global trials on hold after an adverse reaction from a participant in the uk. i want to get the latest on this from nbc's keir simmons in london. keir, how big of a deal is this? >> reporter: yeah, it's a big deal and at the same time it's standard procedure. you have a little bit of news for you, steph, this hour. we're just hearing from the regulator here in the uk that is managing this process of this pause in this vaccine trial. the regulator telling nbc news in a statement we are urgently reviewing all the information and actively engaging in the researchers to determine whether the trial should restart as quickly as possible. steph, this isn't the first time that there has been a pause like this. this is phase two, phase three, tens of thousands of people taking part in these trials. but back at phase one there was

another pause in what we've come to know as this oxford university vaccine project, and that just lasted a few days. nbc news also confirming that it was somebody taking part in the trial here in the uk who became sick and who they are now reviewing their case. others are taking part there in the u.s. and brazil and south africa. astrazeneca making clear that this is routine action which happens whenever there's a potentially unexplained illness. it does underscore, though, steph, as we have said again and again, that you cannot know for sure that there will be a vaccine and that it's important that lots of vaccines are developed, that that work continues around the world, because we may find that only one or two are really effective and safe, steph. >> keir, thank you. i want to dig deeper into this with the best expert i know in the space, dr. richard besser, the president and ceo of the robert wood johnson foundation and former acting director of the cdc.

richard, let's start with that. astrazeneca's decision to put their trial on hold, they say this is completely normal, but we're also dealing with a time with the president saying get ready, we may have a vaccine by election day. >> yeah. those are kind of competing narratives. the first one, though, this is routine. you expect that during a trial there will be things found and you need to take them seriously, investigate them and determine was whatever the adverse event was, was it related to the vaccine? at this point they haven't released information in terms of what was the adverse event, but you want them to look at that and say, you know, well, with tens of thousands of people in this study, was this related to the vaccine or was it a heart attack or some other event that was unrelated that just happens when you have that many people in a trial. but it points to the importance of ensuring that our vaccine trials go forward according to standard protocol and that the fda and the cdc are left alone

to do what they do, which is ensure that any drug that is approved for use in people is safe and effective and that the cdc is able to determine who the vaccines are recommended for. i think it's still important to say if, when it comes to a vaccine, stephanie, because it's terrific there's all this effort going forward, but there's no guarantee that we will have a vaccine and that there's one that will be safe and effective. i hope there will be and i'm optimistic, but there's no guarantee on that. >> then to that very point, if what's happening at astrazeneca is routine, you know what's not routine? astrazeneca and eight other ceos who have -- of the biggest drug companies out there who felt the need to publicly make a pledge saying they will make sure their vaccines are safe and that they will not bow to political pressure. how extraordinary is it that these companies, who are going to make gazillions of dollars off the successful vaccine, wolf

the need to do that? >> well, you know, it is extraordinary. i think it's terrific they make that statement, but the reason we have regulatory agencies like the food and drug administration is that they -- the government has the responsibility, the fda has the responsibility to ensure that any drug, that any vaccine that comes forward is safe and effective. you would expect that a company would not put forward any product that they didn't feel was safe and effective, but we don't rely, we don't just counting on a company's word for that, we ensure that our regulators are doing the right thing. and we've seen episodes over the past couple of months where cdc and fda have been politically pressured. that raises concerns. the biggest concern i have, stephanie, is that we will have a safe and effective vaccine but people aren't going to want to get it because they're going to be concerned that the process was tainted. and so we have to do everything

we can to shore up that process and remove politics from the production of these important vaccines. >> but let's go bigger picture on where we are right now. the coronavirus continues to spread, and we are educated. we do know the practices we need to put in place and where we're seeing spikes, albeit on college campuses, other events, they are by people who are actively not social distancing, not wearing masks, turning their nose at any of these practices. do we now need to create different consequences for those who ignore the guidelines? they're making the rest of us sick and they're hurting us economically. we're being forced to shut things down because people are blowing off basic guidelines. >> yeah. the pathway to a sustained economic recovery is by following public health guidance. we've seen that around the globe as countries have been able to get their economies going to an extent that we haven't here.

and we have to find a way around it. you're right. the idea that wearing a mask and social distancing and hand washing and staying home when you're sick, that there's some political aspect to that, we have to get past that and come together as a nation. clearly we're seeing this -- the impact of the pandemic in every community, but we're not seeing the impact equally in these communities. low income communities, communities are color are getting hit hardest. that's going to be exacerbated as schools are reopening, and we haven't seen lower income communities getting the resources they need from the federal government to be able to hire staff and to change their classrooms so that they're safe places for students and teachers and staff. we have so much work to do. >> i know we're out of time, but we're not doing any of these things. last night the president spoke at a rally in front of a crowd of people not wearing masks and not socially distancing. so this idea of what we need to do, it ain't happening. what is going to be the result? >> yeah, we're not getting it at

the federal level. we are seeing it state by state, so there are some states that are doing the right thing and hopefully we can -- we can look at those states that are really taking this seriously, doing the right enforcing quarantines and enforcing masks and seeing the difference in those states. and hopefully that will encourage people to ask their states to step in where the federal government isn't doing what they should be. >> follow the rules, you'll sooner get your kids back in school. richard, great to see you, thank you. coming up, as the president tries to undercut mail-in voting efforts, a major issue could make voting in person even harder. vote watch is next. you don't want to miss this. vo wteatch is next you don't want to miss this.

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it is vote watch week here at msnbc. and we want to help you protect your very important vote. today we're looking at a problem that could get overlooked, the shortage of poll workers. 58% of poll workers were over 61 years old. because older americans are vulnerable to the coronavirus, many are choosing not to work at the polls this year. nbc's blayne alexander is at the state farm arena in atlanta, georgia, which will be used as an early voting site. you talked to people trying to get ahead of this problem. what did they tell you? >> reporter: absolutely, stephanie. let me talk to you about where i am right now. this is where the atlanta hawks typically play. leading up to november this whole floor is going to be covered with voting machines to make it the state's largest

early voting location. of course, millions of people are set to cast ballots by mail, but it is crucial that there be enough people to work the polls. so i spoke with one young volunteer and he said he's focusing on young people, recent college graduates, because he found that when he was a poll worker himself, he was the youngest person by far at his precinct and realized that's an issue that needs to change. take a look. >> the fact that i was able to be a young person on site and the fact my precinct was able to run smoothly is a testament to the fact of why we need more younger people like me on -- at the polls. we're always told vote, vote, vote, yes, you should vote, but also we need young people to take up the reins to actually work the polls. >> reporter: so a couple of important notes about that, stephanie. he told me he just set up an instagram account and immediately got a number of people as many as 700 people already signed up and he's hoping to recruit hundreds more before election day.

the other thing is the flip side, what we see if there are not enough people actually working. so, for instance, in maryland, they had a shortage by thousands of people and they had had to change the way that people go to the polls, so they're setting up these kind of super centers now that mean bigger places that can accommodate more people but that means fewer locations. several thousand state wide to fewer than 400, stephanie. >> lebron james has been encouraging people to go out and apply to work at the polls. people are getting engaged. blayne, thank you so much. really important story as we continue to work on vote watch, protecting your vote. that wraps up this really busy hour. i'm stephanie ruhle. my dear friend hallie jackson picks up live coverage on the other side of the break. jackson picks up live coverage on the other side of the break. that helps you master your backhand... ...then you should be able to get a bank account that helps you master your budget. virtual wallet® for digital banking from pnc. it's time to get more from your bank.

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we are coming on the air ready to take you to multiple news events happening live this hour. starting with in about 25 minutes in chicago, you're going to see attorney general bill barr updating reporters on a federal law enforcement operation in the city. but it happens to be the first time we will hear from him since that extraordinary move by the justice department to defend the president in a different case. looking to replace president trump's personal legal team with government lawyers to argue on his behalf in a defamation suit brought by a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her as she sexually assaulted him in the '90s. the president denied the allegations saying it never happened. we're taking you to that news