man, what a night. that is going to do it for us for the moment. we'll see you again tomorrow or until something else calamitous happens, "way too early with kasie hunt" is up next. ♪ congress stunned after president trump out of of nowhere calls for major revisions to the long awaited covid relief deal. everybody thought it was a done deal. the question this morning, is it? plus, another slew of pardons from the president, among them convicted murderers. early endorsers and those convicted in the russia investigation. considering the pardons he has already issued, the question worth asking is the president abusing his sacred power? and the u.s. suffers the deadliest day of the coronavirus pandemic yet, as health

officials try to ease concerns about a new strain in the uk. the question is whether the more infectious virus is already here in the united states. it is "way too early" for this. good morning, everybody. or is it good evening from out here in los angeles. welcome to "way too early," the show that will not let me rename it "way too late" even just for one day. i'm jacob silveroff. president trump is wiping the slate clean for convicted murderers. the commutation just last night including the man who helped launch the mueller investigation, george papadopoulos ealong with alex van der zwaan, along with paul manafort both, of course, lied to the fbi.

three republican members of congress also received a pardon, duncan hunter of california, chris collins of new york and steve scott of texas. also on the list, four security guards from blackwater, the private military party founded with eric rinse. they received full pardons for their role in killing more than one dozen iraqis including two children. for triggering that massacre it ended up with machine launchers and grenade launchers used on unarmed iraqis. in another move, president trump blasted the bipartisan covid relief bill in a twitter post. calling for more stimulus checks for americans and glimplying th he's going to remain president past january. >> i'm asking congress to end this bill and increased ridiculously low $600 to $1200

or $4,000 for a couple. i'm also to get rid of the necessary items from this legislation and to send me a suitable bill, or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package and maybe that administration will be me, and we will get it done. >> that disjointed message came as a shock to many of trump's own aides including those on the economic team who just hours later had praised the very legislation. "the wall street journal" notes that mark meadows kept the video under wraps, even within the white house, until an hour before it was posted. it's unclear whether the president intends to veto this legislation which has taken months for congress to agree on. top democrats are unsurprisingly calling out president trump's hypocrisy surrounding the

details of the covid relief bill. the company spent months pushing for at least $2,000 checks which were put by staunch opposition by republicans including the president himself. nancy pelosi tweeted democrats are ready to bring this to the floor this week by unanimous consent. let's do it. senator chuck schumer weighed in adding maybe trump can finally make himself useful and get republicans not to block it again. he also called on mitch mcconnell to academic on congresswoman's alexandria ocasio-cortez's off to boost stimulus checks. house democrats will attempt to pass a stand alone bill to provide for $2,000 direct payments tomorrow. joining us tomorrow, co-author of the playbook, jake schumer. good morning, jake. >> good morning. >> thanks for getting up early with me. with the holidays coming, where

is congress going to go from here to try to increase the video checks? >> this isn't a video game, jacob. there's a lot of real world implications. let's tick through them. number one, unemployment benefits, the supplemental unemployment benefits that congress has passed during the pandemic, they expire on december 26th. the government shuts down december 28th. the president is leaving for mar-a-lago this afternoon. and nancy pelosi is not going to get consent to push a $2,000 direct payment bill to the house. mitch mcconnell is unlikely to pass it and he asks for congress to get rid of what he considers wasteful spending. he has signed bills with the exact same spending that's in here dozens of time in his presidency. so it's difficult to really understand what's going on

inside his mind. i'm not going to try to do that, but the reality is, he has five days until this government shuts down. and he needs to make a decision. and the irony here, jacob, if congress if he vetoes this and his vetoes are upheld on capitol hill, joe biden will get credit for a large stimulus package when congress will inevitably push this through again. i'm not sure what's going on in his ahead, dozens of aides i spoke to overnight and last night were befuddled, too. >> sounds like jake sherman is saying $2,000 stimulus checks not going to happen? >> seems very unlikely to me. this was a very large intricate package. i've been surprised with this administration, i just don't see that. happening for a variety of

reasons. nancy pelosi is not going to get what she referred to as "uc," y unn you unanimous consent. >> jake sherman. thank you, my friend. on the same day the president said he might remain in office, vice president mike pence also suggested the election fight is far from over. here he is yesterday, speaking to a group of young conservatives in florida. >> and as our election contest continues, i'll make you a promise, we're going to keep fighting until every legal vote is counted. we're going to keep fighting until every illegal vote is thrown out.

we're going to win georgia. we're going to save america, and we'll never stop fighting to make america great again. >> a growing number of house republicans say they will challenge the results of the election when congress needs to certify the electoral college results on january 6th. the latest is texas congressman lance gooden. in a letter to senators john cornyn and ted cruz, he writes, quote, in light of the numerous reports of fraud and lingering questions hovering over the vlade of election results across the country i cannot in good conscious vote to certify these results. he goes on to stay there must be a full audit of every ballot in states like georgia, arizona, michigan and pennsylvania where there is widespread reports of fraud and abnormality. nbc news reached out.

and senator cornyn has already gone on the record saying he objected to the electoral college vote. he thinks it would be a bad mistake. the president is now going after number two senate republican john thune for saying efforts to challenge biden's efforts will fail. in monday, thune said in part, i just don't think it makes a lot of sense to put everybody through this when you know what the outcome is going to be. yesterday, the president shot back, rino john thune, mitch's boy should just let it play out. south dakota doesn't like weakness. as we touched on yesterday, axios reports that trump turns on anybody who refuses to believe in conspiracy theories. and then writes trump thinks everyone around him is weak,

stupid or dislawyer and increasingly seeks comfort only in people who egg him on to overturn the election results. we cannot stress how unnerved trump officials are by the conversations unfolding in the white house. and he and allies plot efforts to subvert the outcome of the election, adding, quote, but it all appears to have hardened trump. including pence, pat cipollone and chief of staff mark meadows saying they have hoped to stymie the election results. >> can you imagine what they would be thinking now if i asked you if you want to be the next united states senator of the

united states in the great state of california? >> are you serious? >> this is the official, this is the ask, brother. >> i'm honored, man. and i'm humbled. because of this. >> california's secretary of state alex padilla getting emotional as governor gavin newsom tells him he's going to be the state's next senator. the 47-year-old will be california's first latino senator. he was considered to be the front-runner due to his close relationship with the governor. he was also endorsed by senator dianne feinstein. vice president elect harris called padilla calling him a dear friend. there were calls to fill the seat, as there are no black women in the senate. still ahead, president-elect

joe biden assures that he'll be ready to take over on day one. the and l.a. lakers, the latest, those stories and a check on the weather when we come off.

the first fda-approved medication of its kind, tremfya® can help adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. most patients who saw 90% clearer skin at 28 weeks stayed clearer through 48 weeks. in another study, the majority of tremfya® patients saw 90% clearer skin at 3 years. serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore cost support options.

stnarrow it to all thes ikarate moms... in desperate need of brown sugar. meaning, you. you're the one we made mywalgreens for. with pickup in as little as 30 minutes. hiya! get 30-minute pickup at walgreens.com

welcome back. time now for sports and a doubleheader on opening night in the nba. i want to start with the late game here in the west before taking on the clippers just 71 days after securing the nba championship, followed by the shortest off-season in nba history, the lakers received their rings, marking the 17th title with the franchise in the fourth to lebron james. outside of being the most expensive ring in nba title history, there is a great deal of symbolism that went into the piece. according to an espn interviewer with the ring's designer. to recognize the 95 days the

lakers spent in the orlando bubble. each of the 17 purple stones composing the "l" on the ring's face weighs 52 carats of yellow diamonds in the ring representing the 52 wins. the lakers playoff motto "lead the legacy" is emblazon eed in hand wrien, and the mamba snake. and revealing the retired lakers greats with a special emphasis on kobe's number 8 and number 24. the only thing they repeated last night was a season opening loss to the clippers. kawhi leonard scored 26. the clippers spoiled the lakers'

ring night with 116-109 victory. in new york, brooklyn tips off nets basketball led by steve nash by a dominant win over the golden state wardiers. kevin durant, k.d., making his debut after rupturing his achilles in playing in the finals. kyrie irving scored a team high 26, on the way to 125-99 victory. college football and bowl season upon us. zack wilson flashing nfl potential in the victory over central florida in the boca raton bowl. the boca raton bowl leading the cougars in the first quarter. wilson racked up five tds in the opening half. two on the ground, three through the air. byu would add a pair of rushing

scores and defeat 29-23. and footballer leon messi, overtaking pele for the most scored in the 644th for barcelona. it came in the 63rd minute over the barca lead, taking the ball with stride to the finish into the corner of the net. now. it's time for weather, let's go to meteorologist bill karins for the forecast. bill. >> hey, good morning, jacob. yeah, we got a crazy forecast coming across the country. this is a powerful storm. we have wind problems, snow. we're going to get ice out of this. we're going to get the possibility of flooding. you name it the storm's going to have it all. the first problem is the winds. middle of the country, we have wind alerts. we will see power outages today.

here's the peak wind gust predictions. notice the 70-mile-per-hour winds, anyone flying to get to their christmas destinations going to be some bumpy sflie y . look at the northeast, christmas morning, winds could gust up to 60 miles per hour in boston. high winds even possible. of course, remember the 2 to 3 feet of snow we had last week? well, now flash flood watches, 1 to 3 inches of rain. buttons o s snow we could be deg with flash flooding, roof collapse because of the weight of the snow on top of the roofs. so we have numerous problems out there. and it's not just the northeast. we could see heavy precipitation through the southeast, too. here's the snow forecast. a lot is rain. on the back side we will get

snow from minneapolis to wisconsin. jacob, look at that, northern alabama, even northern georgia, even atlanta, christmas eve has the potential to see snow. for all of the kids in atlanta, that would be a rare treat. on behalf, bill, of all of the rest in southern california, we are very jealous. be careful, have a happy holiday and stay safe, my friend. still ahead, president-elect weighing in on immigration policy yesterday, tamping down expectations when it comes to his day one promises of reversing the most damaging of trump policies. we'll play his latest remarks as well as the reporting from the border. we're back in a minute. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. want to sell the best burger add an employee.ode? or ten... then easily and automatically pay your team and

file payroll taxes. that means... world domination! or just the west side. run payroll in less than five minutes with intuit quickbooks. stnarrow it to all thes ikarate moms... in desperate need of brown sugar. meaning, you. you're the one we made mywalgreens for. with pickup in as little as 30 minutes. hiya! get 30-minute pickup at walgreens.com

our bargain detergent couldn't keep up. with us... turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. the united states of america reported a record of 3350 covid related deaths. and it surpasses the national

record set last wednesday when the u.s. posted 3,383 deaths. president-elect joe biden warned yesterday that the worst of the coronavirus pandemic is still ahead. while offering assurances that his administration will do everything possible to put an end to it. >> one thing i promise you about my leadership during this crisis. i'm going to tell it to you straight. i'm going to tell you the truth. and here's the simple truth, our darkest days, in the battle against covid are ahead of us, not behind us. so we need to prepare ourselves to steel our spines, as frustrating as it is to hear, it's going to take patience, persistence and determination to

beat this virus and there will be no time to waste to take this crisis and turn this around. my administration will start to do this in part on the first day in office with masking requirements, new accelerated protection, protective gear. we're going to challenge congress and the american people to step up immediately as well to do their part. >> the centers for disease control confirmed yesterday that the new coronavirus strain first reported in the united kingdom could already be here. european officials say it could be up to 70% more infectious of other virus. but the cdc says, quote, at this time, there's no sign that this variant causes more increased risk of illness or death. and saying that there is no hard evidence that the new strain is infectious. the cdc did note that the genetic coding of most covid

cases in the u.s. have not been sequenced so the new strain could have slipped past researchers. still ahead on "way too early," president trump issues a slew of pardons and puts a wrench into it. before we go to break, we want to the know, why are you awake? email your reasons to way too early.com. we'll be reading the answers coming up later in the show. unstopables in-wash scent booster downy unstopables why are we doing this? why are we doing what? using my old spice moisturize with shea butter body wash... all i wanted was to use your body wash and all i wanted was to have a body wash.

i will send out an army to find you in the middle of the darkest night it's true, i will rescue you oh, i will rescue you

the we have to find just nosomething else.it. good luck! what does that mean? we are doomed. [laughter] that's it. i figured it out! we're going to give togetherness. that sounds dumb. we're going to take all those family moments and package them. hmm. [laughing] that works.

audiences give "the croods: a new age" an a. dun, dun, dun. and now the croods are coming home. that's my girl. -boom! it's 100% joy from start to finish. heads up! [ screaming ] [ gasps ] go go watchcroods.com.

♪ good morning, everybody. welcome back to "way too early." it is 5:30 in the morning on the east coast, 2:30 in the morning here out west in los angeles. i'm jacob soboroff in for the one and only kasie hunt. one of the big stories we're following this morning, the pardons and commutations of 20 people last night by president donald trump. among those pardoned include four contractors for blackwater who were convicted for their role in the massacre of more than one dozen innocent iraqis, also four former republican congressmen and two men who lied to the fbi after being swept up in robert mueller's probe. let's bring politico insider shannon west. good morning. >> good morning. >> we know the president was planning on doing this, to issue more pardons but when you look at whom ultimately received

these pardons, you know, it's just, speaking for me here, hard to digest. >> yeah. look. it's worth noting that the president has the constitutional power to pardon whomever he wants as long as it's for a federal crime, not a state crime. he can pardon people who haven't even been charged with crimes yet. but it is certainly remarkable how much president trump has departed from the norm in terms of going through the typical justice department, legal, ethical legal process review in terms of who to grant executive clemency to. and the way he's ignored that in order to commute the senses of his friends and allies. i think according to a professor at harvard law school, even though trump has only pardoned a couple people which is less than his predecessors, 88% of those have gone to people who are his

political loyalists or have a direct tie to president trump. this is not the last job. we know he's considering pardoning people, including his three eldest children, his son-in-law, jared kushner, his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, we could see more pardons for other people convicted in the russia investigation, including one of the most prominent names in that probe, his former campaign manager paul manafort. >> i wanted to ask you about that but you got to it before i was able to. what about bill barr? today is bill barr's last day as attorney general of the united states of america. hard to believe that the timing here is coincidental. >> yeah, you know, it definitely raises some questions. but we know that barr had be -- you know, he'd been on the rocks as far as trump's attorney general for months now. and certainly, in terms of, you know, the resignation letter that he offered last week -- or

the week before, i get lost in the period of time with things that have happened in the transition letter. that tumultuous and rocky relationship with the president. it is interesting that these pardons come right before his last day as attorney general. he has been willing to do trump's bidding through most of his tenure as the chief law enforcement officer of the united states. so, by many accounts, this wasn't entirely surprising for this to come right before barr leaves. >> we can talk about the trump children. i mean, there's so many people who were pardoned last night by the president that we could talk about. but, to me, what sticks out in particular is not only these blackwater pardons, but also the pardon of two border patrol agents whose sentences were commuted by president george w. bush for shooting a migrant smuggling mae inmarijuana. what is your take for the

president's regard for human life with these pardons? >> it, frankly, you know, doesn't really say much. with a lot of this convictions, the former patrol border agents and the blackwater agents, these are championed as wins of the rule of law. it doesn't really say much about the integrity of the u.s. justice system, the rule of law, and what law enforcement means in this country. >> business insider sonam sheth, thank you for getting up early with me. still ahead, sean penn's response after causing a stir on social media with his appearance on yesterday's "morning joe." that's coming up next in "the cooler." ♪yo yo yo yo yo yo 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. secret. ♪ all strength, no sweat my kids, they know i'm a scientist. but it's hard to explain to them what i do every day. ♪ right now, i'm working on purification technologies that help advance vaccine and therapy research for covid-19. one day, they'll realize i wasn't just trying

to help them go out and play again. i was trying to make it safer for the whole world to get back outside too. ♪ birds flyin' high you know how i feel ♪ ♪ breeze drifting on by you know how i feel ♪ [man: coughing] ♪ it's a new dawn, it's a new day... ♪ no matter how you got copd it's time to make a stand. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy helps people breathe easier and improves lung function. it also helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes,

or eye pain occur. it's time to start a new day. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. and save at trelegy.com. lelet's get fast, accuratell range oresults.ions. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy. introducing letsgetchecked health testing you do at home. know your health. know yourself. order now at letsgetchecked dot com (betsy)) quarter mile of tinsel. of lights. (harold) and real snow all the way from switzerland. (betsy) hmmhm... gonna be tough to top. well played. (vo) add some thrill to your wish list. at the season of audi sales event. get exceptional offers now.

it's 5:37 in the morning, time now for some of the stories that will have people talking about today. if you were tuned in yesterday, you might have seen montgomery montgome "morning joe" interview with actor sean penn. here's a refresher. >> we have the logistics in place to be able to do that if called upon to do that, if those running that show see our hand raised. >> amazing. penn was on the show to discuss his nonprofit c.o.r.e. community organized relief effort. but twitter was quick to point out the actor's hair which looks pretty nice. one saying the physical embodiment of how we're all feeling as 2020 comes to a close. and the actor tweeting, quote, nice to see sean penn and i are both thriving during this pandemic. even mario lopez, believe it or not, weighed in saying, quote,

respect. sean penn took all of the tweets in stride, and he joked himself that the russians allegedly hacked his hair to encourage people to donate to c.o.r.e. which a test there it's a great group of people and everybody owes him a huge debt of gratitude. and now we're always tracking what steve kornacki is up to next. the famed khaki-clad heartthrob. one of the sexiest man of the year, a new honor, new jerseyan of the year. said in a statement, quote, steve kornacki might not be in new jersey anymore. but new jersey is very much in him. and since no new jerseyan has had a greater impact on the national election nan he dithan kornacki is the clear choice. here here.

and it's about the highest honor, our resident new jerseyan, willie geist tweeted saying even the boss spruce springsteen is right, you know what, that's right. still ahead, as thousands of migrant families cope with the trauma of being separated by southern border, i'm going to take you inside the effort to provide them with mental health care. "way too early" is coming right back. still fresh unstopables in-wash scent booster downy unstopables narrow to those whose dogs... also fit under the bed. no, not that one. ok, that one. meaning, you. you're the one we made mywalgreens for. with pickup in as little as 30 minutes. to make saving, shopping, and holiday chaos...easier.

introducing mywalgreens. join for 30 minute pickup at walgreens.com

some people say that's ridiculous.reens. i dress how i feel. yesterday i felt bold with boundless energy. this morning i woke up calm and unbreakable. tomorrow? who knows. age is just an illusion. how you show up for the world, that's what's real. what's your idea? i put it out there with a godaddy website. make the world you want.

what is your time line for rolling back some of the specific trump administration immigration policies? >> i already started discussing these issues with the president of mexico and our friends in latin america. and the time line is to do it so that we in fact make it better, not worse. the last thing we need is to say we're going to stop immediately the, you know, the access to asylum the way it's being run now. and end up with 2 million people

on our border. it's a matter of setting up the guard rails, so we can move the direction. i will accomplish what i said i will do. a much more humane policy based on family unification. but it requires getting a lot in place. and it requires getting the funding to get it in place. including just asylum judges, for example. so it's a matter of it will get done, it will get done quickly, but it's not going to be able to be done on day one, lift every restriction that exists and find out that -- and go back to what it was 20 years ago. and all of a sudden, find out we have a crisis on our hand that complicate what is we're trying to do. >> that, of course, is president-elect joe biden during his news conference just yesterday, standing firm in his position to roll back the trump administration's immigration asylum policies but cautioning that it's going to take longer than day one to get it all done. doctors, of course, say the trump administration has

traumatized thousands of families separated at the southern border. hundreds remain unreachable. there's another way to track down the families in order to offer mental health services. and last week, i got an inside look at that effort. the team inside this california bungalow has a seemingly impossible task. when you hear people talk about the search for separated families, this is one of the place where is that search starts? >> absolutely. yeah. our job is to find the families affected by this policy. >> melissa works with families of agencies, a nonprofit for families reunited after being separated by the trump administration, that is, if they can find them. the u.s. government handed over a bunch of data to you all. and that data, what, is sitting on your computer right now? >> actually, yes. >> but much of that data wasn't current and for some families the government had no contact information at all. just one reason parents of 678

separated kids are still unaccounted for. >> just right here. >> you guys are literally going one by one. >> one by one, yes. >> called sponsor number and spoke with someone, it wasn't the correct family. >> correct. >> a search on white pages doesn't disclose information. >> correct. >> you basically are detectives. >> exactly. >> another reason is politics, in 2019, the white house rejected a deal which a judge later ordered. today, sentence nieca is treati 2850 families. and they were separated in 2018 and now in therapy for trauma. in the two years since you got back with your dad, how are you feeling? >> translator: i was happy, but at the same time, nervous and scared. i still have the feeling a separation could happen again. >> what would you say to other families who, maybe, are scared to pick up the phone when seneca

calls. >> translator: to really to not be scared. i'm a real life example of this helps and all they want to do is help us. >> as families like this receive treatment the search for hundreds of others continues. joining us now is the founder and ceo of seneca's founding agency ken berra. ken, good morning to you. >> good morning. >> ken, i wanted to ask you about the delay that took place because the trump administration ultimately killed the original agreement to put the work in place. what was the impact of that delay, both on the search itself, but really on the families? >> well, trauma happens over time. and the longer it goes untreated, the more difficult the situation becomes. so, what we had was an additional three or four months where the families were in limbo. and that delay also kept us from being able to reach out.

and so, more of the information was not useful, because families had moved, families had changed locations, families were disconnected. >> you heard, ken, what president-elect biden had to say yesterday that rolling back the trump administration's policies will take some time. i spoke with some transition officials yesterday who wouldn't comment. it's not that they wouldn't commit, but they weren't ready to comment yet, on even whether or not the seneca contract, the mental health services for the separated children, that contract would be extended. you know, where are you on this? do you believe that the incoming administration is going to extend this critical work that you're doing to help the families? >> we can only hope so. we've been able to reach about half the families that were separated from the initial list. and we think that's about half the total number of children that are impacted and families that are impacted. so, we need more time. unfortunately, covid has created an additional delay with

families being moved. and families not -- locations not being easily available. we're hoping to continue the outreach. all we can do is reach out to the administration and hope they understand that families need the help. >> not to put too fine a point on it, when does the contract expire? when do you guys have to sort of hang up your operations, stop going out and stop looking for these families? >> we're extended for another five months. and we're hoping to be extended well beyond that. >> all right. so, into the first several months, at least of the biden administration. ken berrick, thank you to you and the work that seneca is doing. >> thanks. >> yeah, thanks, ken. earlier in this show, we asked why are you awake. anecessa nessa tweeted, i am wake because

this little one needs to eat. trisha, an 11-year-old got loose in the kitchen yesterday, oh, no, smashed up the cake. you got to eat that. you can't throw that away. gary said, jacob, it is always way too late for ugs in california. amen. today is the last day teaching music to hundreds of onlionelmentry public school students dale by before a well needed break. happy holidays. you help me get started the right way every day. from my mom, who i know is watching, she said, every time there is a commercial, i set an alarm to wake me back up. good job. blue heart emoji. mom, go back to sleep. coming up next, a look at the axios one big thing. and on "morning joe," president-elect joe biden's pick for secretary, pete buttigieg. also, chris krebs, who was fired

after contradicting president trump's false claims of voter fraud. "morning joe" is moments away. p. but when we realized she was battling sensitive skin, we switched to tide plus downy free. it's gentle on her skin, and out cleans our old bargain detergent. tide pods plus downy free. safe for sensitive skin with eczema and psoriasis. to severe plaque psoriasis uncover clearer skin that can last. in fact, tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin.

serious allergic reactions may occur. tremfya® may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms or if you had a vaccine or plan to. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. janssen can help you explore cost support options. your happy place. tremfya®. uncover clearer skin that can last. find your breaking point. then break it. every emergen-c gives you a potent blend of nutrients so you can emerge your best with emergen-c. (burke)stomer) happy anniversary. (customer) for what? (burke) every year you're with us, you get fifty dollars toward your home deductible. it's a policy perk for being a farmers customer. (customer) do i have to do anything? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) nothing? (burke) nothing. (customer) hmm, that is really something. (burke) you get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. see ya. (kid) may i have a balloon, too? (burke) sure. your parents have maintained a farmers home policy for twelve consecutive months, right?

♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ (burke) start with a quote at 1-800-farmers. teeth sensitivity as well as gum issues. does it worry me? absolutely. sensodyne sensitivity & gum gives us the dual action effect that really takes care of both our teeth sensitivity as well as our gum issues. there's no question it's something that i would recommend.

according to the cdc, as many as 2 in 5 americans struggle with psychological issues caused by the pandemic. with the arrival of winter, coping can be even more challenging. nbc news senior national correspondent kate snow has more. >> say "my mom makes lemon muffins." >> reporter: diana appreciates she still has a work as a speech pathologist in atlanta. but her life is not what she plann planned. single in a one-bedroom apartment, she's isolated. how would you describe your mental health through this? >> really anxious. i think part of that comes through trying to guess what will be next. >> reporter: her entire family is in new york. >> it's hard to be the one who is not there. >> reporter: i hear your voice shaking. >> yeah, that's the hardest part. i'm missing out on all this, and it doesn't feel like my choice. >> the cumulative effect of all that isolation is really going

to start showing up in the mental health of folks in this country. >> reporter: psychiatrist brandy jackson says feeling anxious is understandable. a good diet, exercise, sleep, and hydration will help. she also recommends meditation apps and teletherapy. >> if your on the fence about therapy, if you're saying, well, i might not be bad enough to go and talk to someone, i would urge you to take that leap. >> reporter: apa.oapa.org has a psychologist locater by zip code, as well as medicare.gov. lower income americans can check their state's plan. seeing a licensed clinical social worker like diana is doing can be more cost-effective help. >> i did the most ridiculous thing of all, which is get a dog. >> reporter: not ridiculous, says dr. jackson. >> there's actually really good data for pets and how they can help lower our blood pressure and help us with our mood. >> reporter: she just got a new

companion, too. >> our thanks to kate snow for that report. i want to bring in senior political correspondent for the "washington examiner," david druker. good morning to you. >> good morning. >> you've been focusing a lot on the two georgia senate races. give us a quick state of play. >> well, look, i think it is going to be closer. i think it is close. we don't know if it is going to finish close. i think there is a reason why georgia came down to the wire in the presidential campaign. it's because georgia, over the past few years, has been changing, moving from red to purple. i think a lot of republicans presumed it would take a little bit longer than 2020 to get there. i think the issue for republicans is can they navigate all of the things in their party. between senate republicans, mitch mcconnell, handling the aftermath of joe biden's

victory. for democrats, can they keep everyone motivated and win the argument, that what joe biden needs is not bipartisanship in washington but full control of the car, you know. the keys to the kingdom with a democratic senate to go along with the democratic house. in both chambers, the heart gma would be narrow, but it'd allow democrats to control which legislation goes to the floor, block what it doesn't want on the floor, and it'd give biden, theoreticall theoretically, more running room. that's an argument that they have to win, especially with suburban voters and others that we saw vote for republicans down ballot, even as they voted against president trump. you want to give democrats a sort of larger mandate. >> you know, i want to ask you about the president's impact ultimately in this race. i think he said he was going to go down there, what, the day before the election, if i'm not

mistaken. the last, what, 12 hours alone, the president has issued these 20 pardons. he's attempted to blow up the existing covid and government funding bill. he's continuing to challenge the results of the election, obviously. how could i forget? what will be the president's impact if he actually shows up in person down there in georgia? >> well, look, the president proved even in losing re-election that he was able to motivate his supporters to turn out. i mean, his vote count went from, what, the low 60 millions to, you know, nearly 75 million, or somewhere around there. his problem was joe biden just did better. but all across the country, even in red districts, red states where the outcome was never going to be in doubt, republicans turned out. so he has this proven ability, we've seen this in areas where voters are inclined to support him, to turn them out. there are areas of georgia where

they need to improve their numbers, at least percentage per capita, to compete with the sort of blueing of the suburbs, where democrats are doing so much better in and around atlanta. years ago, it'd be center city, you know, atlanta itself would be democratic, then these outer ring suburbs would be republican. that has been changing. so i think for the president to be engaged and the president to tell voters that support him, "i want you to show up and vote for kelly loeffler and david purdue," i think it is an unqualified good. i think the question is whether the message can be disciplined enough, and whether or not he doesn't spice up the message with, you know, criticism of republicans in the senate while he's trying to convince everybody, theoretically, that you need to keep the senate in republican hands. >> yeah. david, thank you. i know you're sticking around for "morning joe." all of you stick around.

my mom texted, she's not going back to sleep. she's sticking around for "morning joe." this is "way too early" for wednesday morning. "morning joe" starts right now. senator perdue never gave up. he delivered real help for georgians. billions in covid relief, direct checks for georgians. critical funding for vaccine distribution. small businesses, public schools, and help for folks out of work. >> i am asking congress to amend this bill and increase the ridiculously low $600 to $2,000, or $4,000 for a couple. i am also asking congress to immediately get rid of the wasteful and unnecessary items from this legislation. and to send me a suitable bill or else the next administration will have to deliver a covid relief package, and maybe that administration will be me. we will get