>> that is gonna do it for us tonight on this final friday eve, we will see you again tomorrow when undoubtedly, the news will be better, or won't it? won't it? now it's time for the last word with lawrence o'donnell. good evening, lawrence. >> good evening, rachel. have you noticed anything different about my tv show this week? >> no. neither than the fact that you are achieving new levels of perfection every day. >> here's the thing, i'm coming from a different undisclosed location this week. >> really? >> it's supposed to look like

all of my undisclosed locations, it's pretty close, you're not supposed to guess. this one is actually a couple of thousand miles away from my last, undisclosed location and, rachel, here's the thing, here's the thing, it's the first time, not gonna say where i am, but it is the first time, in the year and a half, that you and i have been doing our shows in the same state. so we can just kind of leave it at that. >> you're in normally a two? >> we're so close, rachel. we haven't been this close since 2020. february, first week of march, 2020. >> it takes me back, i totally thought that i had locked up the wardrobe, and i was the only one who could broadcast from nor india. but now that i know you're here, i'm gonna come find you. >> the same state. thank you, rachel. >> thank you. >> thank you.

well, as of tonight and this could change because thinks could take a dramatic turn for the worst in every moment. as of tonight, president joe biden is managing the most successful american military evacuation from a war that america lost. as of tonight, the biden administration and the american military have managed to evacuate 7000 people from afghanistan, after the capital city of kabul came under the control of the people who won the war. in vietnam on nob in 1975, after saigon then the capital city of south vietnam went to the north vietnamese army, republican president gerald ford was able to get absolutely no one out of vietnam, no one. in those final days before the last american helicopter left saigon, leaving thousands of our allies behind, the ford administration was able to evacuate a total of 7000

people. the biden run of evacuation as well on its way to evacuating many more people than the american military was able to evacuate from vietnam in the final days. in vietnam, the americans were being driven out of the country out gunpoint. in afghanistan, so far, the taliban have not fired a shot at the american military. in both desperate last minute evacuations, the american military did its very best. the final days in both countries are filled with stories of american military heroism but there are demonstration of the military inability to invade a country, spent 20 years losing a war, and then evacuating in a way that meets with the approval of an american news media filled with people who think they know how to do was the american military has never been able to do. what you are not hearing in any

of the critical analysis of how the biden administration and the american military have handled the evacuation of afghanistan, is the example of who has done this sort of thing better. no one is telling you that the russians did a much better job of invading afghanistan, losing the war there, and then evacuating. no one is holding up the russian evacuation of afghanistan as the model? no one is holding up the evacuation of any defeated army from a foreign country, as the model. and of course, no one is holding up the american evacuation of vietnam as the model of how to do this, because the american evacuation of vietnam was much, much worse, in every way by every measure. every war produces a limitless flow of tragic individual stories. the end of every war produces a similar flow of tragic, individual stories, but no

individual story can tell you what your war policy should be or should have been. if this is your first experience with watching people left behind in war, then use it to decide whether you will support the next american war. but if you use it, as an example of something you know how to do better than the american military, then you are making the mistake of believing that the madness of war can be matched. the american military does not know how to manage the madness of war. catch 22 is a phrase that has entered our daily vocabulary to describe impossible situations. 60 years ago, joseph heller put that phrase in our vocabulary through the title of his war novel, catch-22 which captures the clumsy and inefficient processes of the american military which he experienced first hand serving in world war

ii. armies are not efficient machines, they are not run like automobile factories as we discovered when the ceo of the ford company became the secretary of defense during the vietnam war. he was lost in that job, as lost in that job as any of the other secretary of defense's during the vietnam war. the american military is a massive bureaucracy does the something swell, but the things that it does not know what to do is the same thing that no military, in the world, knows how to do. that is organize a dignified, honorable retreat and full evacuation from a war that we lost in a foreign country, without leaving anyone behind. when someone tells you that the evacuation from afghanistan could have been run better, ask them why that has never happened before in history. i asked them why this should be the very first time in history

that a desperate military evacuation from a lost war should not be chaotic and messy. president biden is now being criticized for saying that he knew that it would be chaotic. president biden was the united states senator when he watched the chaotic exit from vietnam, of course he knew this was going to be chaotic. and of course he could not say that publicly before the chaos developed because such a statement by the president would have immediately created the chaos. the american news media is a very good at telling the tragic individual stories of the war, it is very good at forgetting the stories, so far, in all the tragic stories being presented to us about people struggling to get out of afghanistan, people who deserve our full sympathy and support, there is no story quite like the story of two friends who were left behind in vietnam.

gorgeous, gorgeous blue eyes, long eyelashes, of which i was very envious. that's how darwin judges sister remembered him. darwin judge was a 19 year old, lance corporal in the marine corps from martial town iowa who spent less than two months in iowa in vietnam before he was killed, he did not die alone, his 21 year old buddy, from a suburb of boston was right beside him when they were both killed in a rocket attack. that was charlie mcmahon's 11th day in vietnam. charles mcmahon and darwin judge became the answer to john kerry's famous question in his senate testimony as a vietnam veteran against the war. how do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake? it turns out, there were two men. charles mcmahon and darwin judge, hit by the saying rocket

attack. they were in vietnam to help manage the final desperate exit. they were there to protect the people trying to get on those final helicopters they might have been on that final helicopter on april 30th 1975 if they had lived just one more day. it's a day after charlie mcmahon and darwin judge were killed in action, the last american helicopter left side gone and left their bodies behind. in a hospital. in saigon. it was a mistake, it was the kind of mistake the american military can make in a situation like that. the american military did not just leave behind friendly interpreters in vietnam, they did not just leave interpreters who helped reporters in vietnam, they did not just leave many friendly allies and vietnam to

help the american military, and worked on american military bases they also left behind, hundreds of babies and children who were fathered by american soldiers of the 18 years of the american military involvement in vietnam, and they left behind the last two men to die for the mistakes of the vietnam war, they left charles mcmahon and darwin judge behind. massachusetts senator ted kennedy, went to work for his continuous, the mcmahon family and a year later he managed to secure the return of the bodies of charles mcmillon and darwin judge, he never criticize president ford for leaving them behind. senator kennedy never said he had a better idea about how to manage the evacuation of american troops, american allies for war that we lost. the democrats did not attack republican president gerald ford for how he handled the exit from a war lost by democratic and republican presidents. the government of georgia, he

was a navy veteran and running for president on the day that the last american helicopter left vietnam, and he did not criticize how our republican president gerald ford managed that evacuation, because jimmy carter knew that the military was doing its best, jimmy carter knew there was no good version of an evacuation from a lost war. no one was surprised by the chaos and the dishonor of the american final exit from vietnam. the world was not surprised. every day of the vietnam war was chaos. including the final day. just a year after the evacuation from vietnam, at the democratic national convention in his acceptance speech for his presidential nomination, jimmy carter said this. at ion, >> i've never had more faith in america than i do today.

we have an america that in bob dylan phrase is busy being born. not busy dying. [applause] >> in that speech, jimmy carter did not criticize gerald ford's management of the american evacuation from vietnam, none of the anti war protesters who had been demanding a withdrawal from vietnam, for over ten years, attack gerald ford's management of the final withdrawal from vietnam. no one in the anti war movement, including the vietnam veterans believed that they had a better idea about how to evacuate a lost war, or that the american military was capable of doing a better job of evacuating from a

war that they lost. a lesson of the vietnam war and the war in afghanistan, including the last days of those wars is not that we have to teach west point classes a future generals how to safely and honorably evacuated from our lost wars without leaving anyone behind. the lesson for a country that has not won a war since 1945 is stop launching wars of dubious legality, and unclear moral purpose that we do not know how to win. the people who own the american exit from the afghanistan war or the people who advocated launching thought war and more importantly, the people who never learned that the people who never stopped advocating for continuing that war we're

wrong. leading off our discussion is someone who was there, in the thick of our politics, in the aftermath of the vietnam war, he was a speech writer for jimmy carter and then a white house speech writer for president jimmy carter. he is now a staff writer for the atlantic. jim, thank you very much for joining us tonight. i find the discussions that do not involve memories that range as far back as 1975 to be frustrating. so i am glad you are here. one thing i'm fascinated about is how the evacuation of vietnam did not become the political football that the afghanistan has become instantaneously. when you say first florence thank you very much, i agree with everything that you are saying the horrors of the war, for generations to go and there are horrors now but when you

start a war you buy into the end of that. war and i agree the solution -- jimmy carter, his promised achievement as a president, he's often said that he did not go to war in four years. when he was in office. i think that as you dimly recall because as a very young man then, in the 19 seventies were -- there were horrors on every front. the first president in history to resign, president nixon resigned, it was the watergate scandal, after the fall of saigon, there were the horrors of the comair rouge onslaught in cambodia. and i think that part of jimmy carter's campaign, both for the democratic nomination, then against robert ford, was to talk about the tragedy of the tragedy of vietnam and cambodia -- and the united states needed not to put itself in that situation again until learn

from that tragedy and to do better as opposed to what we have been seeing in the last week, as you pointed out. >> we have a polling saying that 62% now believe that, as of a couple of days, ago believe that fighting the afghanistan war was not worth it. it is hard to imagine support for the afghanistan war going up from there at this point. so the president is doing something, the 62% of the country things should be done, and when you say not worth fighting, using that it should have been done years ago. >> it should've been done -- i think that there is a whole separate debate about the date when the cold war in afghanistan was -- quote, unquote, lost. when we remember the leaders of the bush administration was started to start stop focusing on afghanistan preparing for the invasion of iraq.

but i think that there has been what joe biden said in his remarkably blunt speech earlier this week, is that he realized that it was not going to be -- he was not going to pass this war on to a fifth president, after having been on the watch of four presidents, including him. so i think the polling and just the tenor of american politics say that most people in the -- recognizing the tragedies happening right now, that even recognizing that, there are -- this was not a wise use of american power. >> i want to use both of your hats as someone who worked in the white house and now someone who works in the news media. because the news media, many in the washington press corps, i've been relishing and what is one of their favorite experiences, which is the got you moment with the president, and i think there are going to gotcha moment with the president. joe biden is saying after the

fact that he is not surprise that there is chaos, he is obviously old enough to have seen the chaos of vietnam. and he did not say that before the fact. now i'm on the point that the united states -- the president of the united states could never say that there is chaos possibly are likely in a situation like this. but was it like for you to be a member of press when you watch a president kind of trapped in the presidency, as it were, and not being able to say things that certain points that he can say as events develop, which is what we are watching here. and then the news media is complete inability to process what is actually happening in. that the news media famed naive htet of, oh, we have this huge contradiction within himself! >> i think a very astute point you made early on was what would've happened -- something we have been in your to buy the chaos of the past five years. we have a president who could

not say anything, and no sense -- he had no gravity attached to as normal presidents. where any normal president, as joe biden would've known as his years in the senate, is that there are great consequences to what a normal president can say. and you can imagine just the additional chaos, apart from what we are seeing if biden had said wet people want him to say in the. press a week ago, a month ago. so yes, i believe this is a kind of kabuki. >> james follows, thank you very much for joining. a severe perspective on this is invaluable. your experience in 1975 with a presidential campaign at that time is an invaluable window for. us thank you very much for joining us. >> thank you lawrence. >> coming up, a trump supporter terrorize the capital today, this time it was a guy with the pick up trump who said that he

had a bomb and he believed that trump would be reinstated as president. congress was not in session this. week when they come back, they will take up the infrastructure bill, that is next. ll, that is next but if you're a kid with diabetes, it's more. it's the simple act of enjoying time with friends, knowing you understand your glucose levels. ♪♪ millions of vulnerable americans struggle to get reliable transportation to their medical appointments. that's why i started medhaul. citi launched the impact fund to invest in both women and entrepreneurs of color like me, so i can realize my vision and give everything i've got to my company, and my community. i got you. for the love of people. for the love of community. for the love of progress. citi. [ heavy breathing ] allergies with nasal congestion overwhelming you? breathe more freely with powerful claritin-d.

claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ] claritin-d. get more airflow. as someone who resembles someone else... i appreciate that liberty mutual knows everyone's unique. that's why they customize your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. [ nautical horn blows ] i mean just because you look like someone else doesn't mean you eat off the floor, or yell at the vacuum, or need flea medication. oh, yeah. that's the spot. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty ♪

every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest gig-speed broadband network. and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! >> here's something the taliban because we're building a better network every single day.

did not do today. a trump supporter terrorize capitol hill, saying he had a bomb. 49 year old floyd ray roseberry of north carolina drove a pickup truck onto the sidewalk in front of the library of congress, multiple buildings were evacuated including the cannon house office building. mr. roseberry told police he had a bomb and surrendered after officers negotiated with him for about five hours. officers collected quote, possible bomb making materials. during the standoff, ray floyd roseberry live streamed from inside the truck, in the live

stream the man demanded that joe biden and other prominent democratic politician stepped down, accusing them of killing america. he called on other patriots and southerners to join him on capitol hill to begin a revolution. talking points memo says that in a video posted yesterday floyd ray roseberry says that trump will be reinstated as president wants joe biden is driven from office. when members return to washington next week as long as there is no demented trump supporters threatening to blow up the capitol, speaker nancy pelosi plans to have the house begin voting on the biden infrastructure legislation during or just -- a scholar at -- and host of the podcast from the recap. john, let me start with you, the infrastructure bill on the form of the budget resolution

is one of the things that supposed to be cued up for their houses return next week. but of course, that's all pending how many pick up trucks of trump supporters might be negotiating with cops about exactly when they are going to get out of their trucks or blow up the capitol. >> yeah, lawrence, that is a very optimistic picture you paint there. unfortunately, it seems opposite, it seems to be right on. you don't get cases that are clear than this one, and you know, we all understand what the threat is that the post january 6th riot, and we now see multiple attacks on the capitol, we now see multiple people wanting to do damage to the capital, the capital has now become like a crime target for the maga riot and the white grievance crowd that are out there, and i think there's no reason to think that it is going to stop anytime soon.

as you know, i'm predicting a new era of political violence, unfortunately, for a while. today is just another piece of evidence that we are not going further away, but closer. in fact, i think, you know, i am bracing for worse ahead. not on the domestic legislative front, but on people coming back to that building in trying to do damage to that building, unfortunately. >> norman ornstein, one thing that could help is for kevin mccarthy, next week or soon or to get all of his members, republican members together, to make a statement that president trump is not going to be reinstated, ever, he's allowed to run for the office again but there is no such thing as reinstatement. now, what are the chances of kevin mccarthy actually doing that, and are they equal to, or less than the chances of kevin mccarthy supporting the biden infrastructure legislation? >> it's about the same, which is a big, fat zero.

we should note here that the republican representative, most croaks issued a statement supporting this violence that was threatened by this bomber. somebody who had been involved in helping to instigate the insurrection, and what i would also like to say -- see kevin mccarthy do, which is equally as unlikely, is to denounce his whole member for in effect giving and okay to violence. that is where we are now in those politics. and to segue into the infrastructure plan, one would hope that these nine democrats, who have said that they are not going to support anything involving that larger, ambitious, infrastructure package, the 3.5 trillion dollar one, unless and until they get first the bipartisan package, it would be very nice if they made a statement that really was against this kind of

insurrection and said we are going to support legislation that improves america. pelosi is putting them on the spot by packaging these things together, and saying he wanted to vote on your package, we're gonna put it together with the other one and see if they respond. >> john heilemann, nancy pelosi has been so good at navigating these kinds of legislators chose horses, that it feels like there is a lot of confidence, nancy pelosi will put it all together next week in the house with the nine democrats who want a different procedure from all the rest of the democrats, and make peace between them and the more progressive democrats. and i don't know, i have that feeling, but in any of the world in the past, if we had nine democrats taking a stand like this, we would say this thing is in trouble. >> well right, what more than that, lawrence, part of the

confidence that people had, i think people still do have the confidence you're talking about, and they have good reason to have the confidence, the kind of incredible lockstep, well organized, well orchestrated legislative -- that has been the staff and all of that experience that it has, working hand and glove with nancy pelosi's office chuck schumer's office have been the only reason why this whole high wire act that you and i have observed, we haven't seen anything like this there's never been anything as complicated, or anything as costly. the combination of these two pieces of legislation are off the charts in terms of dollar value, and the complexity to get them through, trying to put them together the same time, without that kind of coordination in that kind of skill and experience, it'll have no chance. we sit back and say, of course nancy pelosi will pull it off, and again, as i've said, there's good reason to think

that, but the reality is right now, that all of that complexity just got magnified, or multiplied by the fact that moderates suddenly woke up and said that they had as much leverage in terms of trying to extort differences both in process and outcome as progressives had all along. that should be your correct, this thing was already this hard to do, it's not impossible, and yet i think somehow the stakes are so high that the combination of pelosi, schumer and biden, and what would have been the cost of failure the political cost, the -- it might just make this thing all too big, and too complex in some ways to fail. norm, what do you think? >> i don't think it's out of the question that this could go down on a vote when the first comes up next week. i think it would be really bad given the fact that so we need to democrats have criticize joe

biden, the statement to begin this program this program was very powerful. i do believe that pelosi has a backup plan if that happens. and we might come back with something that we talked about earlier in the week. if what they want is a stand-alone vote on just that one narrower package, bring it up with just one small change so that if they vote against that a second time, they really are looking like nothing but people going for extortion and being obstructionists, but if you do that, there is time at least to go through the larger infrastructure package. this also means that the john the west's voting acts would go down -- she's added on a lot of pressure on these members, and ultimately, i just have to believe that pelosi is going to find a way to prevail. but don't be surprised if it

takes a little bit longer than next week. >> all right, we need you both on standby for next week. norman ornstein and john heilemann, thank you both for joining us tonight. >> thank you. lawrence >> thank. you and coming, up jason furman was the chairman of obama's council of -- and he has seen things in the biden economic recovery that he has never seen before. his one word description of this is, quote, wonderful. professor jason furman joins us next. an joins u next next when you have an irregular heartbeat, it's more. it's dignity. the freedom to go where you want, knowing your doctor can watch over your heart. ♪♪ (man) go on, girl, go on and get help! that's it, girl! [heartwarming music] (man) ah! (burke) smart dog. with farmers crashassist, our signal app can tell when you've been in a crash and can send help, if you want it.

it's new and one of many farmers policy perks. also, our signal app could save you up to fifteen percent on your auto insurance. (man) that's really something! (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. [dog barks] (both) good girl! ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ ♪ you probably think visa is a credit card company, huh? ♪ but it's actually a network. ♪ connecting just about everyone to just about everyone else. ♪ it can open eyes with a cup of coffee and change minds on what makes a business, a business. and it is working to connect everyone, everywhere. so, meet visa. a network working for everyone. ♪

feel the clarity of non-drowsy claritin. and 24-hour relief from symptoms caused for everyone. by over 200 indoor and outdoor allergens. try claritin cool mint chewabls for powerful allergy relief plus a cooling sensation. live claritin clear. over the years, mercedes-benz has patented

thousands of safety innovations. crash-tested so many cars we've stopped counting. and built our most punishing test facility yet, in our effort to build the world's safest cars. we've created crumple zones and autonomous braking. active lane keeping assist and blind spot assist. we've introduced airbags, side curtain airbags, and now the first-ever rear-mounted front-impact airbags. all in the hope that you never need any of it. ♪ ♪ here's something you don't hear

economists say very often, no wait, wait a second. here is something you have never heard in a commons not economists say. quote -- that is what harvard professor jason furman said about the

july report and now the picture is looking even better. joining us now is jason furman, former chairman of the council of harvard advisers. he is a professor of economic policy at harvard's kennedy school. professor jason furman, in all of my hours with economics professors, i never remembered the world, wonderful, all use trendy thing. it's called the dismissed science for a reason. what is going on here? 8:30 am, the jobs numbers come out, i open a -- open them the second they come. out the first thing i see, 943,000 jobs. that is just a really high number. i then went and checked a about a levy in numbers. the blood got unemployment rate, the wage, number the number of people working part-time, every one of those numbers improved in the month of july, all

moving in the direction we want them to move. >> and we have unemployment -- go ahead, sorry. the unemployment number now, but we are -- what we are still in the pandemic, it is just extraordinary. >> yes. i mean. if you ask me a year ago, you asked me six months ago, i would've thought that it would take a lot longer to get to where we are now. we are definitely not all the way, there we have a lot to go. on the unemployment rate right, now it's 5.4%, prior to the pandemic it was 3.5%. there is no reason why we cannot get back. they're hopefully we can get a lot of the way back there by the end of this. year but after the damage the economy went through last year, it is healing more quickly than we have seen in previous recessions. many of which were not as bad as this recession. >> and there is more fuel coming to the economy if the infrastructure package gets through the congress.

one >> you yes absolutely. and i think the president says build back better, and he says build back better for a reason. if we can return the economy to exactly where it was in february 2020, that would be pretty good. it wouldn't be good enough, that was an economy that had a lot of inequality, that had not enough opportunities for people to work, too many children not in preschool. and of course, an economy that was not green enough. so all of those things need to change. we don't need just to prepare damage, a lot of what is coming next is to build something better. >> of, course in the nature of infrastructure spending, it is not a one-year spending program. this kind of building goes on for many years. the building that will be authorized by the infrastructure bill. and the economic benefits of

that work go on for years after the construction itself is completed. >> that is exactly right. and it is such a great opportunity, right now, a lot of this is being paid for, the president has proposed tax increases on low income -- high in income households. and some rollback of the corporate rate reduction. but frankly, i think we can borrow. the federal government can borrow at a 1.3% rate right now, that is lower than the inflation rate, and when you are making an investment, the question is, is that investment going to pay off overtime? is it going to create economic growth? is it worth the cost of that borrowing? and it is -- a lot of investments past that. test >> another thing built into the cost of this infrastructure bill, is that there have not been infrastructure bills for several. years so if you have neglected

at the maintenance, if you have neglected the upkeep, of course then it's going to be more expensive than doing regular maintenance. >> exactly right. again, you look at the federal debt, the federal debt does not include maintenance. it does not include the cost of not investing in children. and children that don't go to preschool, don't grow up and succeed and have the earnings that the other will wise have. you have a whole concept here in terms of what we are. doing we are dressing them sooner and that is a smart, or more cost-effective thing to do. >> professor jason furman, thank you very much for joining us, tonight i always appreciate. >> it thank. you >> thank you. and coming, up the delta variant has up ended our previous thinking about the coronavirus and how long we will be living with it, and how many shots of vaccines we will need to get through it.

up next, harvard epidemiologist has has been studying this will be joining us. be joining us. claritin-d improves nasal airflow two times more than the leading allergy spray at hour one. [ deep inhale ] claritin-d. get more airflow.

age before beauty? why not both? visibly diminish wrinkled skin in... crepe corrector lotion... only from gold bond.

we gave new zzzquil pure zzzs restorative herbal sleep to people who were tired of being tired. i've never slept like this before. i've never woken up like this before. crafted with clinically studied

plant-based ingredients that work naturally with your body. for restorative sleep like never before. cdc reported 157 694 new cases of coronavirus today. three of those cases are senators, republican senator roger wicker, i guess kane from maine, andrew -- republican senator lindsey graham also puck tested positive this month. all four senators had been fully vaccinated before they were infected. alabama, the state with the lowest vaccination rate, has run out of icu beds due to the surge in coronavirus infections in the state. the alabama hospital association said that there were negative 29 icu beds that were forced to wait in emergency rooms to wait for a.

bed we in the mississippi hospital, there are only seven icu beds and 96 patients need. them yesterday, the biden administration announced continued effectiveness of the vaccines will depend on getting a third booster shot for the moderna and pfizer vaccine. there is no way guidelines yet for the booster shot of the johnson & johnson single dose vaccine. joining us now is doctor michael michael mina fit. doctor mina, thank you very much for joining us tonight. the issue of the vaccine booster shot raises the question of just how protected vaccinated people are. i, for example, have never stopped wearing masks indoors, at stores, i now know that in november, i will be eight months away from my second shot of moderna. so the effectiveness of this vaccine is on a downward slope

during that period of time, apparently, that is my understanding of the signs. so what should vaccinated people be doing in protecting themselves as we head to ward our third shot, our booster shot we? >> that is a great question. vaccinated people, right, now should, on the one hand, recognize that just getting the vaccine at all has given you a massive leg up to ensure that if you do get this virus, you will not end up in the hospital. it is the most like lee scenario. but as we move further and further away from the day that you got your vaccine, unfortunately, the oldest individuals of our society will be the quickest to have their protection start to wane. which is why the boosters are starting to be recommended. and also why it has become controversial about whether or not everyone needs it or just the older individuals and

immunocompromised people recognizing that the vaccines might not be doing what -- might not be sufficient to prevent transmission is important. we have to recognize that the virus is able to transmit in some people who are vaccinated. and we have to be aware of that as we move around and what our expectations are for what's benefit we are getting. it is a medical benefit to not allow us to not end up in the hospital, but it is effective against delta in terms of limiting spread. >> is breakthrough the right word for describing vaccinated people who get infected? we call that a breakthrough in infection like we should be surprised or shocked that somehow the virus got through the vaccine wall. >> well i don't think that breakthrough is the right word for somebody who becomes asymptomatically infected, it is detected in the tests.

the vaccines were not indicated or designed to stop transmission. but when people become symptomatic, that would be defined as a breakthrough infection, in my book, because that's really the indication that these vaccines have, that's with the trials measure. and i would say that none of this is surprising. we expected, or at least, many people, expected that these vaccines would weigh in. overtime the tremendous efficacy of the 95% that we saw was right after people got vaccinated. that's when you have the most antibodies circulating. naturally, just like in any vaccine, waning is and expected outcome. >> if we were not developing -- let's just go to the hypothetical universe where we were not developing new variants. and the vaccine was still fighting the same old variant that it began fighting in february, with that have anything to do with the length

of effectiveness of the vaccine? >> it would foreshore. the mutations that are rising that have now led to delta and will inevitably lead to further variance down the road, are certainly giving the virus a leg up to both transmit more readily but also appear to be giving it an ability to start to chip away at our immune protection and enable to infect individuals a bit easier. so if we were still dealing with version one of this virus, for example, that really matched the vaccine as well. whereas now, the vaccines that we've gotten, including the boosters, unfortunately, are going to be, i do want to say outdated, but they are based around this genomic sequence of the virus that is no longer actually in circulation. we have now moved on to delta. and that is a slightly different sequence. >> doctor michael mina, thank you very much for joining us tonight, we really appreciate

it. >> absolutely. >> we will be right back. ll be right back nothing rhymes with liberty mutual. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ (brad) how does apartments-dot-com maintain the superhuman levels of productivity necessary to help more renters get into new homes than any other site? it's really as simple as taking the ol' power nap once in a while. [brad makes a snoring sound] and cockadoodle-dooskie- wakey-wakey... that should clear out the digital cobwebs for a few months or so. apartments-dot-com. the most popular place to find a place. ♪ someone once told me, that i should get used to people staring. so i did.

it's okay, you can stare. when you're a two-time gold medalist, it comes with the territory. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. when you sponsor a job, you immediately get your shortlist of quality candidates, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. visit indeed.com/hire and get started today.

so then i said to him, you oughta customize your car insurance with liberty mutual, whose resumes on indeed match your job criteria. so you only pay for what you need. hot dog or... chicken? only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪

every single day, we're all getting a little bit better. we're better cooks... better neighbors... hi. i've got this until you get back. better parents... and better friends. no! no! that's why comcast works around the clock constantly improving america's largest gig-speed broadband network. and just doubled the capacity here. how do things look on your end? -perfect! throughout this process, my because we're building a better network every single day.

north star has been remembering what it was like when my late son beau was deployed to iraq. how proud he was to serve his country. how insistent he was to deploy with his unit. and the impact it had on him and all of us at home. >> it has been seven decades since we have had a wartime president who knows what it feels like to have a son or a daughter serving in a war zone, during world war ii, president roosevelt had four sons serving in the war at the same time. one student churchill's son served in combat with the british army in world war ii. president eisenhower who present over the final months of the korean war in the first year of his presidency, had been the general of in command of allied forces during world

war ii. his son served in that war and the korean. war presidents lyndon johnson and nixon both had two daughters. they presided over the disastrous vietnam war while their sons-in-law were serving in that law war. the presidents who launched our biggest foreign wars did not and. them president roosevelt served admirably, he died in office at the age of 62, the month before germany surrounded, and five months before japan surrendered. when president nixon was forced to resign, it became ford's duty to stare helplessly at america's defeat in vietnam and our chaotic and dishonourable exit from vietnam. and now president biden's and ensure that he did not. start president biden is the four -- fourth president to be the commander -- he decided that there should

not be a fifth. >> what is happening now is -- could just as easily have happened five years ago, or 15 years in the future. we have to be honest. our mission in afghanistan is taking many mistakes, many missteps, in the last two decades. i am now the fourth american president to preside over war in afghanistan. two democrats and two republicans. i will not pass this response -- this responsibility on to an fifth president. i made a commitment to the american people when i ran for president. that i would bring america's military involvement in afghanistan to an end. it has been hard and messy, and yes, far from perfect. i have honored that commitment. >> president biden gets tonight 's last word, the 11th hour starts now. >> good evening, once against a

212 of the biden administration. there is mounting pressure to speed up the airlift to get people out of afghanistan, as new reports indicate the white house was warned about the disaster that would quickly unfold after the official u.s. withdrawal. tonight, the president will speak to the nation again about these evacuations. as the administration tries to ramp up the mission, they still lack a full count of the number of americans in afghanistan. >> we don't have a precise number, the reason is because we ask americans to register with the u.s. government when they arrive in country, we build the database like that. lots of amid reckons don't do you register, a lot of people come, and then never let us know they left, we can't know for certain how many americans are in country. we will get any american who wants to get to the airport, and who says i want to get out and get on