one last thing, i have this new book that came out on tuesday. i'm only doing two book events this year. the first one was last night. it was awesome in tulsa. the second one is tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. eastern, hosted by the striker in new york city. go to msnbc.com/bag man and buy a ticket. you can do this online event with me tomorrow at 11:30 eastern. michael beschloss is going to be doing the event with me, which is fantastic. the last time i mentioned this event, we had kind of an online pile up because lots of people tried to do it all at the same time. if you try to sign up tonight and get stuck in the online waiting room, they told me to

hit refresh on your browser. apparently there's no limit on tickets, the event is 11:30 tomorrow and it's the only one left, the last one i'm doing. that does it for me. thank you for your indulgence. now it's time for "the last word" with lawrence o'donnell. >> i'm hitting refresh on my browser here to make sure i get my ticket to the "bag man show." it's one of two, only two. it's amazing what has happened to the giant world of your book tours reduced now to just two. but kind of more convenient for you, right? >> i will say doing this online event last night with magic city books, i was so scared. i was like how is this going to work? there's going to be like a thousand people there, we're all crowded together inside the same software. it's so like when you're dealing with people who are running

these things, it's so seamless and covivial and i kind of dig it. i'd rather travel and see people's faces but as the next best things, it's kinda cool. >> okay. rachel maddow's kinda cool book tour tomorrow night. >> thank you, lawrence. >> thank you, rachel. >> we all know that sean penn is a better actor than i am because he has the oscars to prove it and i'm not an actor. he's not supposed to be a better political analyst than i am but he as a check to prove it. it's the check i had to give him when i lost a big political bet to sean penn. for me any bet is a big bet. it's actually two bets because sean penn talked me into another

one. and the full story of my gambling habit with sean penn will be told at the end of this hur in tonight's "last word" and it will contain a pleasant surprise for sean penn if he's watching tonight. if he's not, you can all tell him about it on twitter. with the biden/harris straight of administration's ability to govern depending on the outcome of the georgia election, the democratic candidate for one of those seats, jon ossoff will join us. laurie garrett will join us when we across the grim milestone of 300,000 deaths since the start of the coronavirus. but we begin tonight with today's formalizing of joe biden's victory in the electoral college, which was never in doubt and i mean never.

it was never in dpououbt for mer four years. he never once in four years of his presidency tried to win the votes of people who did not already vote for him. by midnight on election night it was clear to me that joe biden was going to beat donald trump by millions of volts ates and w electoral college and when it was explained in a conference call on how she expected the counting of the votes to proceed, i was even more absolutely certain joe biden would win the electoral college and be president. and then there was literally dancing in the streets when they projected joe biden as the winner of the electoral college but that stopped when trump's legal battles scared many into

thinking the outcome might be in doubt and some false seeds had been planted in the final months of the campaign of what the trump team might be capable of, including having public legislators choose the candidates in their case instead of the voters. one article suggested that there was an army of trump lawyers ready to fan out all over the country, when it turned out it was a small band of incompete s incompetents, buffoons. there was never a shred of legal truth in their point. that was not possible under

pennsylvania law and it was not under federal law. and i repeatedly pointed that out on this program but completely impossible scenarios just didn't seem so impossible to a lot of people in a world where donald trump was president, which i had once thought was impossible. the trump election challenges in court were nothing more than fund-raising gimmicks that have fueled a relentless e-mail campaign by donald trump soliciting money for these legal challenges that he can use for other purposes. donald trump will pretend probably there's aw way to challenge the result, which is technically true. but that would have to be supported by a majority of the house of representatives and a majority of the senate and so the inevitable is still inevitable. joe biden is going to be the next president of the united states. in the sequence of voting by the

states today in the electoral college, california had the honor of pushing joe biden and california's on kamala harris over the top in the electoral college. >> i will now announce the tally of the vote for the office of president of the united states. for joseph r. biden of delaware, a democrat, ayes 55, nos 0. [ cheers and applause ] i will now announce the tally for the votes for office for vice president of the united states. for senator kamala harris of california, a democrat, ayes 55,

nos 0. [ cheers and applause ] >> the california electors knew they were putting the biden/harris ticket over the top and their applause went on much longer than we have time to show you here. this evening the president-elect of the united states addressed the nation. >> good evening, my fellow americans. over the past few weeks officials in each state, commonwealth and district without regard to party or political preference have certified the winning candidates. today a member of the electoral college representing the certified winner cast their votes for president and vice president of the united states in an act just as old as our

nation itself. and once again, in america the rule of law, our constitution and the will of the people prevailed. >> this biden speech was different. it contained much of the expected feel-good rhetoric about the american democracy and the constitution that joe biden always delivers from the heart, but from that same heart came a rebuke, a frustrated, perhaps, rebuke tonight to the people who have revealed themselves as opponents of democracy in this country. >> 17 republican attorneys general and 126 republican members of the congress actually -- they actually signed on to a lawsuit filed by the state of texas. that lawsuit asked the united states supreme court to reject the certified vote counts in georgia, michigan, pennsylvania

and wisconsin. this legal maneuver was an effort by elected officials and one group of states to try to get the supreme court to wipe out the votes of more than 20 million americans in other states and to hand the presidency to a candidate who lost the electoral college, the popular vote and lost each and every one of the states whose votes they are trying it reverse. it's a position so extreme we've never seen it before, a position that refused to respect the will of the people, refused to respect the will of law and refused to honor our constitution. thankfully, a unanimous supreme court immediately and compleplcy rejected this effort. the court said a clear signal to president donald trump that they would be no part of an unprecedented assault on our democracy. >> joe biden praised the people

at the local level who made sure this election was fair and could not be stolen, not by russia, not by the president of the united states. >> one of the extraordinary things we saw this year was that every day americans, our friends and our neighbors, often volunteers, democrats, republicans, independents, demonstrating absolute courage. they showed a deep and unwavering faith in and an commitment to the law. they did their duty in the face of a pandemic. it was truly remarkable because so many of these patriotic americans are subject to so much. and numerous political pressure, verbal abuse and threats of physical violence. we all wish our fellow americans in these positions will always show such courage and commitment to free and fair elections. it is my sincere hope we never again see anyone subjected to

the kind of abuse and threats we saw in this election. it's simply uncon shun ubl. >> joe biden added a final lune -- line to what has been customary. >> thank god to all of our troops and all those who stand watch over democracy. thank you. >> joining us is host of "hell and high water" and zerlina maxwell is with us, whose show airs on peacock streaming services. zerlina, joe biden is the best i've seen at letting bygones and letting them be bygones very quickly. he has delivered speeches during the presidential campaign and the election where some

egregious thing that happened by donald trump and republicans trying to block his election, which he completely ignores and just speaks directly to the american people about what he hopes to do for them. today was a different speech. this was a mix. joe biden apparently wanted to leave a very clear marker that he saw what he saw and he knows who was trying to block democracy. >> right. and i don't think the american people should forget either. i think it's important for president-elect biden to put down a marker here, as you said, lawrence, and say, look, i got 306 electoral votes just like donald trump got in 2016 and donald trump looked like he had a mandate. he called that 306 win a landslide and proceeded to govern and implement really relentless policies that harmed particular communities which ironically turned out in record numbers to put joe biden in the

white house instead. and i think it's important for us all to remember that context as well because joe biden is speaking for the millions -- 81 million americans who sent a clear message of rebuke to this president, not just for what he's done in the past but what he's doing in the present and i think the 100 or so republicans who signed on to essentially overturn the will of the majority of the american people have demonstrated that they don't bleach elieve in this dem as much as the people who saved it do. >> let's listen to that passage where joe biden reminds us that donald trump said 306 in the electoral college is a landslide. >> together vice president elect harris and i earned 306 electoral votes, well exceeding the 270 electoral votes needed to secure victory.

306 electoral votes is the same number that donald trump and vice president pence received when they won in 2016. at the time president donald trump called the electoral college tally a landslide. by his own standards, these numbers represented a clear victory then. >> john heilemann, joe biden has within giving speeches recently without any reference to donald trump. this was not one of those speeches. >> right. no, it wasn't, lawrence. to go back, that is of a piece with the other point that you and zerlina were making earlier. it's very striking to me. there is a long-running critique of joe biden from the left, the progressives in the democratic party, which is that he is too eager to compromise with republicans. he thinks compromise is possible. he doesn't recognize the nihilism that is now at the

heart of the republican party, that he will be a patsy for republicans. and when you hear joe biden, i'm now just echoing this critique from the left, when you hear joe biden do what both of us who know joe biden would do if he won the election which is to say i'm here to unify the country, bet things done and be a president even for the people who didn't vote for me, that inflamed for somin the left the notion, oh god, here we go, joe biden is just going to let bygones be bygones, not recognize the existential threat to democracy that this postelection period has been and that republicans have largely sided with and capitulated in in a de facto and attempted coup and what joe biden tonight said is, no, i am not going to be a patsy. i go into this with eyes wide open and i think he was sending a very clear message to his

party that though he wants to be a unifier, he understands that the fist is necessary, that you cannot -- and the open palm is not the way governing is going to be the way it gets done in this party, you see the open hand and the fist. >> zerlina, someone told me there will be a victorious winner of the presidential campaign who on electoral college victory day will actually come out and specifically take a shot at 126 members of the opposing party in the house of representatives. i would have said to you, well, i know who that is not going to be. that will never be joe biden. in fact, no one's ever done it but, then again, no one's ever had 126 of them come out and say we want to defy the american voter and these 126 have clearly identified themselves to joe biden as people he can just

>> yes.about ever dealing with. because i think what they've demonstrated is the fact that they will go along with anything. it's not just that they won one basically case on a technicality out of 61 cases. it's the fact that the substance of these lawsuits were so frivolous that even republican judges were saying what are these lawsuits? ballots decide elections, not these attempts to overturn the will of the people. and i think what's very, very important for this moment is if the republicans if congress will go along with this, basically an empty page submitted in overturning the election in fafrp favor of trump, then they are not bought into the overall experiment and have demonstrated they are not going to work with joe biden on anything because they are not bought into the entire project.

>> quickly before we go, i know joe biden is very good at not taking it personally, but, boy, in his voice it felt like you were hearing a certain amount of personal offense of what those 126 republicans and donald trump were up to. >> and those republican attorney generals that were called out i think you're slightly right. part of this tonight was a calculated effort to send a message and say i'm not going to be pushover. but the other part it hawas a ge sense of aggrievement and frustration. he's a let bygones be by gongon for yooears because he's angry tonight. >> thank you both. i really appreciate it. up next, the attorney general of the united states is out of a job as of the day before

christmas eve. was he fired or did he resign? i'm not sure. we'll is senator amy klobuchar what she thinks next. fast. vicks sinex. instantly clear everyday congestion. let's see ....whoa! ...ot, oculus... someone please help! of course. you're tenacious, i'll give you that! [heavy breathing] product not yet rated. with sweet potato fries. eating a falafel wrap (doorbell rings) thanks! splitsies? ♪ oooh...you meant the food, didn't you?

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just after joe biden won the count today, there appears to be a negotiated settlement. donald trump announced that attorney general william barr will be leaving his job the day before christmas eve. the trump tweet and the attorney general's letter announcing this move did not use the words resigned or fired. the left to the president from the attorney general appears to have been written by donald trump. the first sentence refers to a discussion they had today, quote, on the department's review of voter fraud allegations of the 2020 election and how these allegations will

continue to be pursued. the attorney general's letter says you built the strongest and most resilient economy in american history. the letter is mostly a stream of praise like that about donald trump, having nothing to do with anything under the jurisdiction of the attorney general and on the second-to-last line just before wishing the president a merry christmas, the attorney general simply says i will spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the administration and depart on december 23rd. depart meaning depart on vacation? depart on another investigative trip to italy? that seems like a hastily written sentence for a resignation letter. it doesn't say he will depart governor service, it doesn't say actually in clear english my service as attorney general will end on december 23rd. it could be that william barr woke um this morning with no intention of writing this letter until it was essentially dictated to him at the white house today.

joining us is democratic senator amy clklobuchar, the ranking member on the senate rules committee. it's a strange letter from the attorney general. it was written after a meeting with the president in the white house. the president has been kind of public lily threatening to kind fire the guy. it reads like some sort of negotiated exit. >> or maybe someone else wrote it. i don't know. what i do look at here is you've got the president, the head of cyber security and homeland security were fired, chris krebs. there have been a number of other people that since the lebs -- election he has removed so we don't really know what happened here. to me barr has spent his time as attorney general really being more of a personal lawyer to

donald trump than taking that oath seriously to representing the people of this country. of course, though, i am concerned when you have mass departures like that. usually people do stick with an administration that are in key positions. they're ubl nsually not getting fired at the end. again, i just look at what we have to get through here to get out the other end to the light at the end of the tunnel, which is of course inauguration day. and one of my jobs as the top democrat on the rules committee is to work to make sure that inauguration happens and that everything goes smoothly with the report of the electoral college volts and ttes and the . >> senator to divert interest that for a second, it seems pretty clear procedurally there's nothing that can derail this. the congress technically can reject the findings of the electoral college but it would take a majority vote in the house and senate for that to happen. >> so one thing we know for sure is everyone better be there.

it's january 6th, the day after georgia, i guess a coincidence. it's january 6th and if any of the house members object, which you would think they may do to an individual state, then if they are joined by one senator, then it could end up going to both houses for a vote. and as you correctly pointed out, lawrence, the house will most likely and will overrule these frivolous objections. but you don't have to have both houses but given that we've already had several senators congratulate joe biden on his victory and today, by the way, three senators said this is over basically in their own words, that joe biden won, in different language, cornyn, thune and blunt, all three leaders in the senate on the republican side. you can see this vote may not go as some of those renegade house

members want. >> if you ever did have those vote in the senate, there would be enough republican votes to easily create a majority. a thought on the bill barr departure. it's very clear that bill barr will not be around on the final pardon day in the trump administration, which for controversial pardons is often the last day of that presidency and the pardon office and the justice department will no doubt be dragged into an investigation of the wilder pardons that donald trump issues at the end of his presidency. and with bill barr gone before christmas eve, he won't be dragged into that investigation. >> who knows if that contributed to this dispute and the reason he would leave early besides wanting to be with his family on the holidays, which we all do. but we've got jobs to do right now. i think, you know, we don't

know. it is concerning what the president may do, as you pointed out so well for weeks here when it comes to these pardons. the guy that's going to be in charge, rosen, is more of a -- he's worked in and out of government. he was over at the transportation department for a while there and is now over at the attorney general's office. we just don't know what track he will take when it comes to things that, you know, are basically some of. things that donald trump does as we know all the time, he proposed to do things that are against the law and against the constitution. that's why the justice department must do its job. >> senator amy klobuchar, thank you very much. >> each day they put up to two hours of debate, lawrence. we may have a long day. >> but we do know the result no matter what happens and we thank

you for helping america understand that. >> exactly. but it's still going to be something. >> thank you very much, senator. >> pulitzer prize winning reporter lawyery garrelaurie gas o on the first day of the coronavirus vaccine and why she says the map of the united states is now a map of the hot spots across the country. it co, finding the right words can be tough. finding understanding doesn't have to be. together, we can create a kinder, more inclusive world for the millions of people on the autism spectrum. go to autismspeaks.org

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today our nation passed a grim milestone, 300,000 deaths due to this covid virus. my heart goes out to each of you in this dark winter of the pandemic. about to spend the holidays and the new year with a black hole in your hearts. >> because the british have the national health service that covers everyone in the country, they told us accurately who the

fur first recipient of the coronavirus vaccine was in their country. that may not be true in our country. the vaccine is being delivered to 50 different state governments and then there's the possibility that the first americans who get the first vaccine work in the trump without and got it secretly after the "new york times" wrote of the news of a plan to vaccine everyone in the white house first. donald trump, who lies about everything, issued a tweet last night saying his white house staff should receive vaccines, quote, somewhat later, unless specifically necessary. unless specifically necessarily. who knows how many people in the trump white house already secretly got the coronavirus vaccine before the prn who was at least the first to get the vaccine publicly, nurse sandra

lindsey, a critical care nurse in new york city. >> i feel like healing is coming. i hope this marks the beginning of the end of the very painful time in our history. i want to instill public confidence that the vaccine is safe. we're in a pandemic and so we all need to do our part to put an end to the pandemic and to not give up so soon. >> joining us now, laurie garrett, pulitzer prize winning reporter covering global pandemic and msnbc sign contributor and is the author of "the coming plague." >> day one of the vaccine distribution and you tweeted a map of the hot spots of the country. and it was a map of the entire country. >> yes, i'm afraid that's true.

the areas that are not dark red are so lightly populated that that becomes the major reason why they haven't turned into hot spots. but many rural counties, anyone who knows the states you're looking at could say, yes, that's a very sparsely populated rural county and it still nevertheless a hot spot. we got over 110,000 americans hospitalized today for covid, a record breaker, with more than 300,000 deceased by official tally and of course as we've discussed before, lawrence, this is a gross undercount with lag times up to six weeks or more from some states to report deaths. so the true scale is probably closer to 330,000 or 340,000 key ceased americans. >> joe biden, we heard him refer

to this as a dark winter that we're entering into covid-19. in the middle of that dark winter will be inauguration day on joe biden on january 20th. if we have a surge in travel for christmas the way we saw a surge in travel for thanksgiving, by inauguration day, we will be seeing no doubt around the country the results of that travel. >> yes, unfortunately what's very disturbing is that, yes, there's a lot of good news about vaccines and we should be excited and it is tremendous that individuals such as the nurse that you showed earlier are getting vaccinated and may be well protected, but we need to be very clear, it's going to be many months before most americans have access to a vaccine. the approach ducproduction scal slow and shortages are showing up in all sorts of essential

chemicals used to make the vaccines, vital agents used in the processing of the mnra are also involved diagnostic testing. the burdening of all the manufacturers is tremendous and it's causing a real backup in r production in capacity of the vaccine itself. all over social media, people are already referring to the epidemic in the past tense, as if it's already in the rear view mirror. look, it's going to be a long time before most americans have access to a vaccine and in it interim, a lot of infection is going to happen. and if people lighten up on their self-protection in any way, if they back off on wearing masks, if they don't abide by social distancing and if they

travel over christmas, weir going -- we're going to see a horrible explosion in cases and deaths long before the vaccines reach mass distribution. >> and it's a two-shot vaccine, you get the second shot within a couple of weeks of the first one. after that second shot or a week or so after that second shot, do people then just take off their masks and go about their business normally? >> well, it is the official recommendation of our centers for disease control that, no, you continue wearing a mask. we don't know if the nature of the way these were done and the very rapid speed with which these were performed, we don't know really whether you're still capable of carrying the virus in your body, even though you're not getting severe disease. what we're measured in these

trials and in the one coming up for assessment later this week by moderna in addition to the pfizer vaccine, what was measured was a difference in the severe illness in the placebo versus vaccine group. it's 95 protective against the severe disease but you might still get infected. it's not necessarily protecting you against infection and being able to infect others. we need more studies to get the answers to that. in the meantime, wear the mask. >> lawyori garrett, thank you v much for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> joe biden will campaign for democratic candidates tomorrow. we'll be joined by georgia's

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in georgia today leading the biden slate of electors who met in the capital in atlanta was stacy abrams who was elected the presiding officer of today's electoral college meeting by her fellow el fellow electors. >> we have now cast 16 electoral college votes on behalf of state of joseph for joe biden and 16 for kamala harris as vice president of the united states. [ applause ] >> the future of the biden/harris administration is now entirely up the state of georgia with its two senate elections on january 5th, which will determine whether the

biden/harris administration will be dead locked or be in control of the senate. reverend warnock reminded georgia voters that early voting starts today. >> there's a lot of stuff to do this time of year, get the tree, jog, hang the lights. not yet. wrap presents. check. but this year there's one extra thing to do. vote. that's right. early voting starts december 14th so make voting part of your holiday plans. it will probably take you less time than it will take me to do this. i'm raphael warnock and i approve this message. >> joining us is democratic for united states senate, jon ossoff. thank you for joining us tonight. as i pointed out to the audience last week, every candidate for senate in georgia is invited on

this program every night, open invitation. you have accepted that invitation more than once. raphael warnock has joined us. the republican candidates have not. you're facing the refusal to even have a debate in your campaign. >> yeah. david purdue is still hiding out. david, if you're a fan of lawrence's program, i'm ready to debate you. i'm still ready. why don't you give the people the debate they deserve, senator purdue. imagine being too much of a coward as a u.s. senator to answer question in public in a crisis like this. and purdue is holding up relief for people, the same man who was buying up medical stocks. >> to see the electoral college

vote in georgia presided over by stacey abrams, reported out by stacey abrams was such app important historical punctuation point since no one did more to deliver that state than stacey abrams. >> stacy is extraordinary and a visionary and she's built institutions that have registered and mobilized voters in communities over the last decade. and this whole team in georgia, the state that's become younger and more diverse by the year. lawrence, think about this, georgia, the most competitive battleground state in the country, two u.s. senate runoffs for senate control. the standard bearers are a young jewish son of an immigrant mentored by john lewis and a black preacher who holds dr. king's pulpit at ebenezer baptist church who pastorred john lewis.

the momentum here is extraordinary and we are doing everything we can to get everybody out to the polls so we can define the next chapter in american history and not be mired in mitch mcconnell's nonsense for years to come. >> you're on a come. >> you're on a bus tour now around the state. you're cawing it the health, jobs and justice bus tour. what is the justice component of that? >> health, jobs and justice. and justice means we need a new civil rights act and a new voting rights act in this country to ensure true equal justice under the law for all regardless of race and regardless of class. look, when we pass a new civil rights act to end police brutality and racial profiling and hold local authorities accountable where there is bias on racial or class lines, we will look back on the peaceful mobilization of last summer after breonna taylor and george

floyd and ahmaud arbery were killed as our generations marched across edmund pettus bridge in 1965 which paved the way for the voting rights act of 1965. >> as you approach january 5th how much coordination is there with the other democratic campaign, with raphael warnock -- with his campaign you seem to have some appearances where you're together. will that be the case tomorrow when joe biden's there? >> yeah, the rev and i talk multiple times per day. our teams are in constant touch. we'll be rallying with president-elect biden tomorrow, rallying in savannah later this week. please everybody out there across the nation we are getting outspent on the air, but we're out hustling on the ground. help power the most extraordinary get out the vote effort in american history at electjon.com. help us defend voting rights and get out the vote in georgia.

>> raphael warnock and jon ossoff appearing with joe biden tomorrow. jon ossoff, thank you very much for joining us tonight. really appreciate it. >> thanks so much. >> thank you. tonight's "last word" about my gambling habit with sean penn is next. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ to high quality computer science and stem education. ♪ i joined amazon because i wanted to change education and i am impatient. amazon gives me the resources to change the world at a pace that i want to change it. ♪ we provide students stem scholarships and teachers with support. ♪ i'm a fighter and i'm fighting for all students. and other money managers don't understand why. because our way works great for us!

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can we be besties, simone biles? i guess? yessss! should we dismount now?

i am plot a betting man, and so it was with a mixture of fun and trepdition i shook sean penn's hand on a bet in the summer of 2008 as everyone was wondering who barack obama would pick as his vice presidential running mate. and he was absolutely sure it would be joe biden. and i didn't know because there was a list of long possible choices. sean was betting it would be joe biden and i was betting it would be anyone else. sean still hasn't cashed the check i gave him for losing that bet, and he offered another bet this summer on who joe biden

would pick for vice president, and this time i won the bet. but this time sean said that the money should go to the winners favorite cause. and so i sent sean penn's contribution to the k.i.n.d. fund today, the partnership i created between msnbc and unicef to provide desks to schools in malawi and scholarships for girls to attend high school in malawi. and i'm sending a matching contribution to sean penn's organization core, which is providing free covid testing in california and around the country. you can contribute by going to lastworddesks at msnbc.com and unicef will send them an acknowledgement of your gift. four years ago on this program we introduced you to joyce who

was 13 years old and attending high school thanks to a scholarship from the k.i.n.d. fund. she told us then she wanted to be a doctor and a poet. >> my poem is called little by little. no matter how far the distance is we are not shaken. little by little we'll go and reach our destination. we are not going to turn back. little by little we'll go -- little by little we'll go no matter how narrow the path is -- don't be shaken, don't turn back. little by little you'll go and reach your destination. >> joyce is 17 years old now, and this summer joyce from her home in malawi virtually attended harvard medical

school's med science program for high school students, and she has now been accepted at malawi's college of medicine which combines college and medical school. and here's what joyce told us about that just a few days ago. >> when i was selected to go into medicine i was so excited because i will be a doctor who i want to be, yeah. and also when i go there i'll finish my education, and also i will do the poetry part because i just don't want to be a doctor but i also want to be a poet so i can help the nation, i can support the world. i can have something to share with the world through being a doctor and being a poet. >> i can share something with the world through being a doctor and being a poet. we hope to show you more of joyce's poetry on later programs.

joyce, once again gets tonight's "last word." "the 11th hour" with brian williams starts now. well, good evening once again. day 1,425 of the trump administration, 37 days until the inauguration of joe biden as the 46th president. we come on the air at the end of a history making day, a day that saw the first vaccinations in our country. a day when the electoral college made joe biden's election already official even more official, if that's possible. this was also the day attorney general bill barr decided to spend more time with his family. there's one more thing. as we enter the teeth of this dark winter of the pandemic our nation's death toll today surpassed 300,000 souls. it will take months, perhaps a