Meet the Press NOW — December 26

If it's Tuesday. Multiple rockets fired at US Forces in the Middle east today. The new attack coming just hours after President Biden ordered retaliatory airstrikes against Iran backed forces in Iraq. Plus, Israel's prime minister defiant, vowing not to stop the war against Hamas despite intensifying pressure for a ceasefire as one of his key advisors holds meetings with top Biden officials.

And former President Trump turns up the rhetoric and takes aim as rivals as the Republican field rushes to close in on the front runner in the final stretch before the first votes are cast in Iowa. Hello and welcome to MEET the Press now on rhino's in Washington where there are new fears of escalation on multiple fronts in the Mideast, Israel announced it is expanding fighting in central Gaza as militants launched new rocket attacks today against U.S. and coalition forces in Syria. This is now at least the 105th attack against bases with US troops since October 17th.

Today's attacks come against US forces just after three US service members were injured, including one critically, a drone attack on an air base in Iraq on Christmas morning. President Biden responded to that attack late yesterday with retaliatory airstrikes targeting facilities used by an Iran back terrorist group. A senior security official inside Iraq tells NBC News that the facilities were successfully destroyed and at least 20 militants were injured. The increased tension comes with Iran comes as the war between Israel and Hamas shows no sign of ending this despite growing pressure on Israel from the international community.

One of Netanyahu's top advisors is in Washington today meeting with Secretary of State Tony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Yesterday, Netanyahu met with Israeli soldier soldiers inside of Gaza and vowed yet again to keep fighting until Hamas is destroyed. And today Israel's military chief told reporters that the war will go on for, quote, many months. The IDF said today it is expanding its ground operation into an area known as the central camps.

It comes after the Hamas 1. Palestinian Health Ministry says an earlier attack on a refugee camp in Gaza killed dozens of people. The IDF says it's investigating what happened. For more I'm joined by NBC News Panga correspondent Courtney Kubi.

NBC News is Jay Grays in Tel Aviv. NBC News White House correspondent Aaron Gilchrist. Corny, let's start with you. What more do we know about the extent of these airstrikes?

So there were three locations that were struck. They belong they were used by Iranian backed militia groups, primarily Hezbollah. That's the main militia group in that area in Iraq and even into Syria. And we know, according to a statement from US Central man that came out late last night that they do believe that a number of these KH militants were present and killed in these airstrikes.

Now, the Iraqi government came out and condemned them today, specifically the office of the Prime Minister calling this a hostile act and in fact saying that the strikes actually targeted some Iraqi military locations. The popular mobilization force of the pmf and in fact one Iraqi service member was killed and more than a dozen others injured. The US Is not responding to that, but it does come as there is increasingly increasing concern about the potential for expansion of what you're seeing in Israel and in Gaza expanding out the region. I can tell you we literally just learned in the last few moments about another area where the US Military and the Pentagon are extremely concerned about.

That's in the southern Red Sea. We see a number of attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen against commercial shipping in the southern Red Sea in the Babalandan. We also got another one just today. This was an enormous attack, about a dozen drones and five missiles, missile cruise missiles and missiles that were particularly going after ship anti ship missiles.

The US military, US Navy ship and US F18 fighter aircraft shot down these drones and intercepted these missiles before they were able to impact. But this is a massive volley of weapons and munitions from the Houthis against shipping in the area. These are the reasons that the US Is so concerned about this potential for escalation. One of these sorts of these drones or these missiles were to strike a commercial ship, strike a US Military ship or one of the ships as part of this new maritime force there we could see a real expansion or escalation of the conflict into the region.

So is that the reason that we are now seeing US Strikes on targets? Now they're hoping to quell this escalation. Isn't there also a risk that it could inflame the already tense situation in the region? And right, it's such a delicate dance because there's a huge concern about escalation or provocation.

But there's also an attempt here to deter future attacks. So what we saw you mentioned 105 attacks against bases with Americans, Iraq and Syria. This has been ongoing since October 17th. And look, these aren't unprecedented.

We've seen attacks against bases in the past, but it has really ticked up in the last two plus months. Not just that these attacks by the Houthis have really been relentless in recent weeks and they have been enormous, much bigger than the sorts of attacks we've ever seen from Houthi militants in recent years. The Concern again, the US and other militaries are sending Navy ships, they're sending their assets there to try to stop these attacks, but they're continuing. There's a real concern of escalation, but I will say it's been present ever since these attacks.

Really ticked off on October 17th, right? Yeah. Obviously it's been some of a T for tat, not so much. So much of an ongoing conflict.

But is there a concern that it could get to that point, that the US could be drawn into something a lot more serious if this continues? Absolutely. There's a real concern that the US Would be pulled into this, and especially because there's so many US Military assets there, carrier strike groups, aircraft, these US Navy ships that are patrolling through that region, the Red Sea and the baby and Dev. There's a real concern that the US Military gets pulled further into this.

And I have to say the reason that they are sending more assets over there is to deter from that exact thing happening. Ryan. Okay, according to. Thank you for that report, as always.

Let's turn out to Jay Gray, who is in Israel. And J. Benjamin Netanyahu was really defiant in resisting calls for a ceasefire. Yesterday is even more dug in after last week's UN Security Council resolution passed.

Yeah, right. I think there's no question about that. We've seen with the troops in the northern end of the Gaza Strip telling them that they need to continue the fight. He has told everyone on the ground here in Israel that they are going to continue at the same intensity, with the same firepower that they have had from the start of this war, which now is in day 81.

And that the only reason hundreds, more than 100 hostages have been released, he says, is because of that military might. He says the only way the 129 that are left are going to come home as a result of continued military pressure. And he's backing up those words with actions. Over the last 48 hours, the UN says we've seen some of the most violent and deadly fighting since the war began on the ground troops working in central Gaza trying to locate not only command and control headquarters, but expose and then destroy the tunnel networks there.

Airstrikes have continued as well. The idea saying that they've killed at least one senior Hamas leader, though they won't say exactly who right now. And yeah, there's no indication that Israel plans to slow down the attack at all as they move forward. You talked about it coming into all of this.

A senior advisor for the Israeli military says they still have months to go in this conflict. And there is pressure from the outside for Israel to change their course. But what about domestically, inside? What are the people of Israel saying about the way that Netanyahu and his war cabinet are prosecuting this war?

Yeah, I think it's a great point. And look, there was pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu before this war began. It has been ramped up, and primarily ramped up by the families, supporters of those still being held captive in Gaza. We saw during his speech to the Knesset last night that he was booed, heckled by family members of the hostages when he began to talk about bringing them home.

They continue to shout, now, now, now. And that's when he said it's going to take that military strength to do that. They continue to question every move that the IDF makes. So Israel's getting pressure from the outside, globally, obviously, to slow down the pace, to be more focused on their attacks.

But they're also, and we shouldn't discount the pressure they're within the country now to have a ceasefire, to have what they like to call a pause in the fighting. They don't like that word, ceasefire, to bring these hostages home. And there is some talk among some of Israel's allies to try to be a part of a solution here. Egypt has reportedly drawn up a proposal to outright end the war.

What do we know about this plan? And is either side receptive to hearing the plan and perhaps executing it? The first answer to your last question is a simple one. No.

Hamas has discounted this plan. Last night, the WARP met here in Israel. They discounted this plan as well, said they didn't even really want to discuss it. It's a threefold plan that calls for a ceasefire.

First of all, a return of the hostages, and then an independent group to come in and run the Gaza Strip until things can get back to some type of order there. Israel won't consider it. Hamas has said they're not going to talk about it. And along those lines, neither side is at the table any longer to talk about releasing the hostages, about pause in fighting.

Hamas says they won't do anything until Israel stops the attacks. Israel has said from the start, you know this well, that they're not going to stop until all the hostages come home. Okay, Jake Gray from Tel Aviv, thank you for that, Jay. Let's turn now to Aaron Gilchrist, who's at the White House.

So, Aaron, we know that one of Benjamin Netanyahu's top advisors, Ron Dermer, was meeting with administration officials today. Have we learned anything about what those conversations were about. Not just that, Ryan. We were told that the meeting was happening this afternoon.

That was what we got from an official with the National Security Council earlier today. We know that Ron Dermer, the Minister of Strategic affairs, meeting with Jake Sullivan, the National Security Advisor to President Biden, as well as Secretary of State Tony Blink, and that these, these conversations, this face to face meeting was set to be a consultation really on some. On two things, on matters about what's happening with the conflict in Gaza in terms of activities on the ground right now and the administration's desire to see the Israel Israelis pull back a bit on some of their operations. We've seen what the administration called high intensity ground operations happening in Gaza, but the administration said several times from several different places that they would like to see the Israelis start to pull back a bit to do more intel driven, precise, focused actions against Hamas, specifically against Hamas targets, specifically.

That's gonna be one part of the conversation as we understand it from the nsc. And there's also the issue obviously of hostages. That is something the Biden administration has been focused on in a significant way from the very beginning. And even after the release of dozens of hostages a couple of weeks ago, there's still this concern about hostages that are still being held.

And the administration would still like to see the Israelis and Hamas start to talk again about how they can come to some sort of agreement that would lead to the release of hostages. We're told by a person familiar with these, the meeting, that this is really a continuation of these close conversations that have been happening by three men who, frankly, Ryan, have been at the core of these conversations between the Israeli government and the US Government, really having the ears of their respective bosses. Okay, Aaron Gilchrist, live, the White House. Aaron, thank you for that.

I'm joined now by IDF spokesman Lt. Col. Jonathan Conregis to talk more about the situation between Israel and Hamas. Lieutenant Colonel, thank you for joining me.

Your Prime Minister Netanyahu doubled down yesterday on his aggressive approach to the war. At what point does Israel begin to scale back its operations in Gaza? Yeah, I don't know if you can wage a war in any other way than being what you say, aggressive. We are defending ourselves against terrorism here.

We were attacked on October 7th, and we intend to make sure that we will never, ever be attacked from Gaza again and that our civilians can go back to their homes and live safely in their homes. We will do that and we will end the war very happily once that is achieved. And surely I don't think that Israel can be Expected to go back before that is achieved, before Israeli civilians can go back to their homes and before we've been able to bring back our hostages. Until Hamas is dismantled, until their military capabilities will be taken apart, then we won't be at leisure or have the ability to go back because the mission won't be complete.

So once we're complete, then believe me, nobody will be happier to go back home than our troops are now in Gaza. The Prime Minister was heckled during a connected session by families of the hostages yesterday who obviously want to see their loved ones come home as soon as possible. How much pressure is he facing internally to do more to free those hostages and what steps are being taken to bring them home safely? Yeah, tremendous steps are being taken.

This is a top priority for the entire defense establishment that I have to tell you that I cannot even imagine what these families are going through. And we all in the IDF feel for them and we are driven in ending their suffering. It's been 82 days that their loved ones have sadly been held in Hamas captivity. We continue to press the enemy.

We continue to try to create new intelligence. We continue to create opportunities to extract our hostages alive. We have done several attempts in order to get our people out, none of them so far very successful. But that doesn't weaken our resolve.

We will continue until all of our hostages are back home. All of the 129 Israelis that are still in Hamas activity. And you mentioned before that your forces will gladly come home once the mission is complete. But at this stage, are you worried about the toll that it is taking on Israeli for.

Well, unfortunately, there's a heavy toll and we anticipated this from the beginning. Each family and I have lost friends, close friends in this war like so many other Israelis have. Each family that is, that received this very horrible news of their loved one killed or severely wounded is of course a shattered family. We all feel that we're one big family in many senses in Israel, and it is a very heavy price.

But I can tell you also from personal knowledge that Israeli soldiers are not deterred and their resolve is not weakened. They continue to fight. They continue to push through the IDs and the booby traps and the RPG rockets and the anti tank missiles and everything that the enemy is throwing at them because they know that if they don't, then Israelis won't be safe in their homes. And that is one situation that we are not going back to.

We will bring back security to our civilians and we will live defend it in our home, behind our internationally recognized borders. And if it takes time, we have the perseverance to stick through until it is done. And our troops are strong equipped and we have enough support and backing in order to get the job done. Let's talk about the humanitarian situation inside Gaza right now.

And one of your colleagues and Israeli colonel told reporters last week that there's no food shortage in Gaza. Is that an accurate statement? Are people in Gaza able to get the food that they need right now? You know, that's partially accurate.

And the missing part of the sentence is that there's a lot of food coming into Gaza. Only what we're seeing is that it's not reaching the people who need it. It's either stuck in UNRWA facilities or it is taken and stolen by Hamas. There's hundreds of trucks that come into Gaza every day with food, water, medical supplies, clothing and shelter.

But what we're seeing is a systemic effort by Hamas to steal these supplies. And there's even accounts of it, brave Palestinians that are trying to take, take back from Hamas things that Hamas are stealing and even speaking up about it, including voice recordings that we have obtained of Palestinians saying that UNRA is collaborating with Hamas and that Hamas is stealing the humanitarian supplies. Now, apart from that, of course, there's a difficult situation in Gaza that is very clear and people are suffering. We see that.

We want to end that as quickly as possible. This can all. The horrible humanitarian situation can end very quickly. If Hamas gives up their weapons, if their seniors surrender, and if they return a hostage, we see a lot of good progress.

Let me just clarify there. Are you suggesting that the United nations aid workers are collaborating with Hamas to prevent food to getting. From getting to the people that are in need of it right now? It's not actually me suggesting it.

It's a Palestinian that spoke with an Israeli officer who said so that he sees workers that are controlled by Hamas and that Hamas goes into UNRWA facilities and takes food, food that is intended, paid for by US Taxpayers dollars, amongst others, intended for humanitarian purposes, for good purposes, that Hamas takes and brings to its fighters underground in the tunnels instead of the civilians who need it. And we have asked UNRWA to respond to this and to understand what is going on. And so far we have not received a response on what's going on and why Palestinians are claiming this. But I think it's a very severe situation.

Okay. Obviously the situation continues to unfold. Lt. Col.

Jonathan Congregas, thank you for your time and we'll be sure to have you back. Over the course of the situation. We appreciate it. Thank you for having me.

And speaking of the situation in terms of getting food to people who A firsthand account of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as the UN warns of life threatening food insecurity and catastrophic conditions for Gaza's entire civilian population. I'll talk live to Chef Jose Andres who was on the ground in Gaza in recent days working to feed the hungry. Plus Biden's border emergency. Top administration officials are heading to Mexico for a high stakes trip tomorrow in the White House's latest push to get the prices under control.

You're watching MEET the Press now. Welcome back. Civilians in Gaza are facing a hunger crisis. The UN warns there's a risk of famine occurring there in the next six months if the situation on the ground doesn't change.

Half of Gaza is now facing emergency levels of food insecurity. And about a quarter of Gaza's total population, more than half a million people, have depleted their food supplies and are facing starvation. That's according to a United nations report that was released late week. The World Food Program says that only 10% of the food required has entered Gaza since the October 7 terror attack against Israel.

International aid groups like World Central Kitchen are working to provide meals and food supplies. But getting the aid into Gaza is complicated. World Central Kitchen Food Kitchen founder should say Chef Jose Andres was in South Gaza last week to help in the aid work. Chef Jose Andres, the founder of World Central Kitchen, joins me now live to talk about his work there.

First of all, Chef, I'm so glad that you're back safe after what must have been a very difficult and risky journey. You didn't get the chance to distribute thousands of meals in the past week in Gaza, millions across the Middle east in the last two months. What kind of need did you see for food and water just in the area you were in. How dire is the situation right now?

Well, World Center Kitchen has been able to do more than 12 million meals so far. But in a way, this is a drop of water in an ocean of need. I was able only to visit Rafah, which is in the southern part of the Gaza Strip. And there the situation is already real.

But the real problem is anywhere north of Rafah. What's happened in Khan Yunis, what's happening in Gaza City and what's happening anywhere north all the way to Israel. The truth is that the need Israel is not enough food getting into Gaza itself and it's not enough food and water and medicines reaching the people in the north. Hundreds of thousands that they are in real need of food.

So the situation is really as bad as everybody is listening. We need more humanitarian aid tracks reaching into Gaza. And then I think everybody will agree with me that in Gaza we need a ceasefire or hopefully an end of the hostilities, so we are able to reach everybody in need. Even if the hostilities end today, still we are weeks or months ahead of hundreds of tracks, only with food and water.

Besides everything else, they need to make sure that we will not have a real famine in many parts of the Gaza Strip. I mean, talk a little bit more about the distribution effort here and the challenges that well intentioned aid groups must face. Right. It'd be one thing if you had enough food to feed everyone, which is obviously an open question, but given the way the situation currently stands as it is now, is it possible to even get the food to the people who need it the most?

The reality is that it is very complicated. When I was there, it was complicated to go north. I know that many different organizations of the UN were trying only to reach the few hospitals that still remain active inside NASA, only to feed the people inside the hospital hospitals that are also becoming temporary kind of camps for all the displaced people from the northern parts of Gaza. So you have to imagine you are trying to deliver food in an active zone where shots are happening by planes, by missiles, by rockets, different groups, Israeli Hamas, shooting at each other.

And imagine humanitarian aid trying to reach those people. That's why we've seen that many people have lost their lives only trying to cover the basic of people. And on top of that, you have many people that are hungry, that are in need, that they have no money, that even if they have money is no banks, that they can have access to the money they may have left in the banks. Therefore, when you see humanitarian cracks trying to reach some hospitals and some temporary camps, what happens that you have those people doing block roads in the middle of a road that on paper is safe and they will take that humanitarian aid.

Why? Because they're trying to feed the children. We all need to agree that food and water is, is a human right. Therefore, if we make it complicated by many reasons to reach those people in need, we are facing a true issue of hunger, a true issue of starvation.

And where many people, even immediately in the south in Rafah, you could argue is technically still the safest place if there we had problems delivering food in Mayim, anywhere north of Rafah. Right. And maybe just quickly explain how you were even able to get in to Rafah, which you mentioned of anywhere in Gaza is perhaps the Most safe, but not safe. How difficult was that?

Did you have to work with the governments to allow access there? Did you kind of just push your way in? How were you able to accomplish that? Well, all of the buff, I mean, I've been in many situations myself and between everybody, I would say everybody, yes, I was able to join the team member, Sam Block, who is the leader of World Central Kitchen inside Gaza and then partnering with UN different agencies.

We were able, obviously to this day, every day to try to deliver food, especially to the north. So the situation is complicated. I will say that many people are blaming each other, but, you know, it takes a village to solve the problems. This is everybody can do something, to do more, to do better.

And this includes the Egyptians, this includes the Israelis. This includes the Palestinians, the Palestinians running the border. There's many reasons why the humanitarian aid is not reaching the people in it. That's why the ceasefire should be happening soon.

I think every, everyone that has been taken by Hamas should be sent back to Israel safe. I think everybody will agree that also no children in Gaza should be going to bed thinking that bombing or explosion or missile is going to hit the place they live at the end. This is trying to bring the best of humanity forward. Nobody should be killing anybody.

Everybody should be respecting everybod. The people taking hostages, they should go back to Israel. And at the same time, we could agree that nobody in Gaza, especially in hospitals and in camps, nobody should be afraid of going to bed thinking that a strike is about to happen. Food and water is a human right, a universal human right.

And every children, every woman, every elderly in Israel, in Palestine, in Gaza, in Syria, in Lebanon should go down at night thinking that maybe that's the last night they're going to be alive. Well, you mentioned a drop of water and ocean of needles. Andres, thank you for doing that little bit for all you do around the world, help those in need. We appreciate being here.

Thank you. And after the break, President Trump's Republican rivals prepare to blitz the Hawkeye state with less than three weeks to go to the Iowa caucuses. We'll have the latest on the state of the race next. You're watching MEET THE PRESS now.

Welcome back. Turning to the 2024 campaign, all was not calm and bright for the Republican front runner, Donald Trump. Over Christmas weekend, the former president made several fiery posts on his social media account claiming the 2024 election interference from President Biden in the form of the dozens of indictments he's facing, while also questioning the president's competence. Mr.

Trump even put on a post on Christmas afternoon inviting his political opponents and special counsel Jack Smith, who's investigating the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, to, quote, rotten hell. That's where the former president's mind is. Just 20 days before the Iowa Republican Caucus. Joining me now is NBC News campaign embed JIT trailer.

So, Jake, we just went through some of the former President Trump's more incendiary posts. It's your job to keep track and read them all. This is just from the holiday weekend and he's used some similar rhetoric on this film. But how are voters there who are actually going to make the decision here in a couple weeks reacting to what the former president has to say?

Ryan GOP hopeful candidates have been at home for the holidays for Christmas, and they've had the opportunity to rest up before this Iowa blitz that we're about to see. One of those candidates, former President Donald Trump, has been in Mar a Lago on Christmas posting on his social media platform, True Social, over a dozen times. At one point he said that he wasn't able to enjoy the Christmas holidays because he's being politically persecuted by President Biden. That's a common campaign line we hear from him on the trail.

He also said as he referenced that there are certain use leaders who should, quote, rot in hell. That language is very strong for the commanding current leader of the GOP primary. Now that language is also pretty on par for him the past couple of weeks. He said that immigrants are poisoned, the blood of our country and double down on that a couple weeks ago.

He also said that he would be a dictator on day one if reelected into office. And so I have been out in Iowa speaking with future caucus goers, trying to understand if any of this language is making an impact on the support for the former president. The short answer is it's not. They are saying that they wish you would pull back on some of that language, but it's not enough for them to lose their support.

They're sticking with Trump. Just take a listen. I don't like the name calling, some of the childish activity. It doesn't sway me away from him because I can personally separate between somebody's personality and their qualifications that make them a good leader in the president.

He is who he is and he's going to do what he's going to do. And that's probably his personality and probably why some people don't like it very much. But you know, I like that he stands up for truth and he's not afraid to say what he's thinking. Ryan, it's worth noting as well that Trump has been given multiple opportunities to correct or clarify these aggressive statements.

Each time he is double down saying I said what I said. His supporters clearly don't seem to mind either. Yeah, doesn't seem like much changing. Jake trailer, thank you for that report.

Enjoy that final sprint to Iowa. Let's talk more about this now. We have some political insight from Adrian Hellracks, who's a Democratic strategist and former senior Aiden Biden campaign and Pete Seat was Republican strategist and former White House spokesman under President George W. Bush.

So let's start with you. We seem to say the same things over and over again. Donald Trump's a big nationally of Republicans, also a big in Iowa. So conventional wisdom would say that maybe he should start toning down the rhetoric a little bit and start thinking about general election.

He's not doing that at all. So will that be a mistake for him when he actually needs to start courting some of these non Republican primary voters? Well, look, Donald Trump is seeking immunity in the legal sense through the courts. He already has political immunity when it comes to the Republican primary electorate.

I think the biggest miscalculation that Ron DeSantis made in running is he thought that Republican voters wanted Trump without the baggage. The truth is they want Trump with more baggage. These quotes just add up and add up. The indictment indictments just add up and add up.

And every time it seems like his polling numbers continue to go up. But you mentioned those general election polls and the November election that we assume will be Biden Trump, and right now Trump is leading. Some of that is because Biden's numbers are soft among suburban women and young people. They're not really into Biden at this moment.

We'll see what happens over time. But we've seen this movie a thousand times before. Anytime Donald Trump makes these types of comments, it really doesn't affect him. So Adrian, he does is somewhat triangulating even though it might be so right.

There are a few issues where Donald Trump is maybe reaching out to a general election on a little bit more, abortion being the most obvious one. He doesn't talk about it like Ron DeSantis does, where DeSantis has said that there are very few exceptions that he's in favor of. Do you think that Donald Trump does seem to recognize that abortion could be a big liability for him in the November election? Yeah, I think he certainly recognizes this.

And I'll tell you this, we are not going to Let Donald Trump get away with triangulating or pivoting on abortion, on disease, on abortion. He single handedly got three Supreme Court justices on the Supreme Court under his four year tenure as president that were staunchly prolonged life. So it is his fault and his fault alone as far as we're concerned in terms of where we are today, overturning Roe, all the complications that we're seeing across the country for women with their reproductive health who are trying to, you know, gain access to abortion, et cetera, that is all on Donald Trump. So he can try and it's not going to be effective.

I also want to say something in common about something that the Pete said, which is, yes, the more indictments he gets, the more, you know, in trouble he seems to get, the more entrenched his primary voters are around him. But that is not helpful when it comes to a general election independent voters. I think once this election he's done by the way, the general election has not even gotten started yet. Once he becomes the nominee, which will be very ranking very soon in this primary process and it does become a head to head with Biden Trump, I think you're going to start to see a lot of independent voters turned off by Trump's rhetoric, reminded of his previous positions, his current positions in an and it's going to be a good thing for Biden.

But we haven't even started yet. Trump is not doing anything, as far as I'm concerned, to try to get himself in a better place for those key independent voters who ultimately decide this election. All right, so if you want to play a little bit of what Lindsey Graham had to say over the weekend about Donald Trump, listen to this. He's not the first politician to claim to have been denied a fair election.

But here's what I would say. I accept the election results of 2020. I'm worried about 2024. If President Trump puts a vision out improving security and prosperity for Americans, he will win.

If he looks back, I think he will lose. Has Donald Trump ever taken that kind of advice? Is there any reason I think he's going to forget all about his claims about the 2020 election and start talking about the future. He really has never heeded the calls are undisciplined campaign.

Well, it seems like the only advice Donald Trump takes is Donald Trump's own advice. So we'll see how this plays out. I think Lindsey Graham is right. But if you listen to American people, if you look at polling right now, what matters to this country is the economy and that's really the big issue, right?

It's what people feel about the economy and whether they can afford what they need to do. Putting food on their table, buying groceries, getting gas. That is the number one issue the Biden administration and the campaign is Bidenomics. It's all about the macroeconomic data.

They want us to believe it when we see it. The way it actually works is we believe it when we feel it. I mean, American people are not feeling it in their wallets right now. The other issue that Democrats have not addressed, and I don't know if they're going to be able to address this, is the age of their nominees.

Joe Biden is gonna be 82 years old if he sworn into a second term. That is a huge problem for Democrats and one that Donald Trump is going to continue to focus on and all that Republicans have been focusing on. Donald Trump isn't that young either. Right.

Adrian, you know how you feel. No spring chicken last night last time I checked. And you know, and Joe Biden does. Joe Biden's got that.

That's a huge issue there. I mean, to Pete's point, how big is this something that Joe Biden has to deal with heading into the 20, 20, 24 election? Look, I think he's dealing with it head on, as you mentioned. And I think there are a lot of others out there who want someone with a lot of experience, with a lot of wisdom, especially when we're dealing with these complicated foreign policy challenges.

And I also want to say something about the economy. Yes, the economy is going to be evident in every single election. A very large deciding factor. But what we are seeing in a President Biden's leadership is not only a strong economy, but we are seeing consumer confidence numbers go up.

Just in the past few weeks, a new data came out that shows that consumers feeling better and better. Inflation is going down at a rapid pace. I certainly not think what Jerome Powell is going to do to bench here, but it does feel like he may start to lower interest rates even further than he already has. So economic indicators that will ultimately play out and have a huge role in this election are trending in Joe Biden's favor.

And I think again, when you take those numbers, you can compare that with Donald Trump's dangerous rhetoric, the abortion issue. It starts to really paint a favorable picture for Joe Biden. We'll have to see to each point the data has got to equate to feelings. We don't know if we're quite yet for the voters, but maybe that changes in November.

ADRIAN L. Rod, PC thank you both for being here. We appreciate it. Up next, just as top Biden officials are set to head to Mexico tomorrow to confront the issue of the surge of migrants at the southern border, a massive number of migrants are now heading toward the U.S.

you're watching be Depressed now. Welcome back. The overwhelming surge of migrants at the southern border could be poised to get even worse. A caravan bleach made up of 8,000 migrants is making its way from southern Mexico to the US Border.

According to the Associated Press, the caravan set out on Christmas Eve from Kapatula in southern Mexico and appears to be the longest of its kind in more than a year. Joining now as BC Brock was recovering the crisis and was recently at the border. So, Sam, this car van actually grew from 6,000 to 8,000 today. What do we know about this group of migrants heading toward the border?

The images, Ryan, are striking, right? You're talking about throngs and throngs of people moving, moving from Chiapas, the state of Chias in Mexico, to the border, U.S. border. And you know, we know it's families, sh, children, kids, obviously some adults and men in there as well, but just sort of the breakdown over Christmas time.

Right now you're seeing the true representation of this humanitarian crisis and it's coming at a time and the numbers reflect the depth of the tragedy, which is to say that US Border officials have never seen figures this elevated before ever. The Last couple years, 2 million plus people have been apprehended, Ryan, at the border. That would be the equivalent in Miami Dade county right now of everybody in Miami just showing up tomorrow on the US Mexico border. It is also the equivalent of about a third of Nicaragua, a third of the entire country of El Salvador moving to the border.

They're fleeing political instability and violence and governments that have proven to be incompetent, all sorts of threats and are trying their best to get to border right now time when, as you mentioned, US Mexico relations really pivot around what they can do to stem the flow of migration with everybody coming at it with sort of different priorities. But the bottom line is, as you've covered so thoroughly, Congress cannot get a bill for an aid to Israel, to Ukraine until there's some sort of agreement on immigration reform. And you are looking right now at the scale of the challenges that are facing lawmakers and facing public officials. All right, Sam Rock, thank you for that report.

We appreciate it. And this year saw a massive purge of people from the country's Medicaid rolls after Pandemic era protections expired. NBC's WA takes a look at what's happening in Texas where more people lost coverage there than anywhere else in the country. We've been seeing a lot of patients that have no idea that their Medicaid ended.

Across the country, millions of Medicaid subscribers are at risk of losing health insurance. And when one doesn't have access to insurance, those decisions are being made based on am I really as sick as I think I am? Do I really need to go? In Austin, Texas, Community Care Health Centers, a network offering free and low cost care, is scrambling not just to re enrol but also to educate the community on how to keep their coverage.

We have been constantly busy all the time. For three years during the pandemic, Congress required Medicaid programs to keep people enrolled and that our patients and the families had access to sustained benefits and had access to continuity in their Medicaid benefits. That is life changing, life altering. Now that continuous enrollment is over, we never had 90 some million people enrolled in the program and we've never tried to do this all at once.

So every state across the country is going through this process as we speak. So far, over 11 million people have lost Medicaid coverage nationwide, according to the Kaiser Foundation's analysis of federal data. In the states that have data available, about 71% of people are losing coverage not because they're ineligible, rather for procedural reasons like missing paperwork. The sudden volume now putting a strain on some states.

Just about a quarter of all the children losing Medicaid are in Texas. This is huge. We've never seen a decline like this. The HSSC telling NBC News that as of December it is taking an average of 60 days to complete an application for Medicaid.

But Texas lawmakers want more. Over the summer, Congressman Lloyd Baggett and a dozen of his Democrat colleagues urged the Biden administration to take action and have since continued to push the agency to ensure the enrollment process is timely and without federal intervention. More and more Texans, pregnant women, children, individuals with disability will be denied health care when they should not be. The Biden administration telling NBC News that they were working with Texas to fix the problem.

We have met with the state, we have reviewed and we did require Texas to reinstate over 90,000 people that were incorrectly disabled for the program. This fall, HHS announced that half a million children regained coverage after working with states on reported systems issues. In the interim, as state agencies wrap up this year's Medicaid eligibility checks, community health care clinics led Dr. Foreigners are stepping up for someone who has a chronic disease or a disability, a lapse in coverage can actually cause their existing medical condition to worsen significantly.

Zinclair Samoa, NBC News so to come, after one of the worst years of gun violence on record, a look at what to expect or not to expect in 2024. You're watching me, the Press now. Welcome back. 2023 was another year of grim statistics and deadly gun violence in the United States.

According to data compiled by the gun Violence Archive, 650 mass shings occurred in 2023, including the tragic mass shootings in Lewis and Maine in October that left at least 18 people people dead. Overall, more than 18,000 people die as a result of gun violence this year. That number includes homicides, murder, defensive gun use and unintentional shootings. More than 1600 of those deaths were children or teens.

And while gun violence isn't slowing down, gun reform efforts on Capitol Hill are effectively stalled. I'm joined now by Chris Brown as the president of the organ of the great organization which is United Against Gun Violence. So Chris, those numbers are staggering. They're hard to believe in many ways, but it is unfortunately par for the course for gun violence in the United States in recent years.

Where do you see the fight against gun violence taking us in 2024? Where we have been over the last several years, honestly, with the Biden administration really leading unprecedented efforts at the federal level and improvement and change. We passed the bipartisan Safer Communities act just about two years ago that provides record funding to states and localities across this country. Now those states and localities have come forward, the White House create the first ever office of gun violence Prevention.

They just met with state and local officials to talk about how they're going to use those funds in community based programs to really save lives. Because these statistics aren't just ones. Sadly for Brady as a survivor led organization, we know countless Americans who just celebrated the holiday season without a loved one at the table. We have an epidemic before us.

And so what has to happen is the continued momentum, frankly of the gun violence prevention movement. Working with state and local and federal lawmakers too, to continue the momentum that we've gained because we have far too many guns in America today. We have over 400 million guns in circulation. So ensuring that guns are safely stored, that they can only be legally purchased, bought and sold, sold are two of the primary things that we're focused on at Brady.

So we didn't see much movement from Congress this year as it relates to gun violence, even though there were a number of deadly machines that we talked about already. I mean, what do those stall efforts tell you about the state of gun reform in the United States right now? And does it make the 2024 election even more important? Absolutely.

What it tells me is what Sarah Brady said. If you can't change the laws, you change the lawmakers. Look, we have a situation in America. When you look at poll after poll after poll about basic protections that are necessary to save lives.

For example, expanding the Brady background check system. That bill passed Congress in 2018 when we elected a gun violence prevention majority. It passed again in 2020 in the House of Representatives when we kept that gun violence prevention majority. The thing that Americans across the country don't understand is how can 90% of us 90 across support these kinds of efforts?

And they stall. Typically, they stall in the Senate. And so what we have to do and what we see happening across the country is make this issue a top priority. And I would say to you, we see that across red and blue states because parents across this country are becoming more and more afraid of dropping their kids at school.

People are afraid to go to the mall, and they don't want to live this way anymore. So it is a top priority issue. Less than a minute, but are you concerned that maybe Americans are becoming a little too numb to the news of these mass shootings, given they happen so often and that many times, there isn't much that results from these in terms of tangible change. Look, it's heartbreaking and horrific and far too frequent.

I agree. Hearing about these shootings on tv. The reality, though, is we're not talking about them nearly enough. Because even though the mass shootings, those involving four more people do get reported, if there's scale often, and that means carnage often, what we're seeing is communities that experience everyday gun violence.

Right. Not getting reported in the same way. And what I hear from people isn't a feeling of defeat. It's a feeling of wanting to make a difference.

And all of us can because we don't want to be next. I mean, it's just that simple. I say I think this will continue to be a top priority. Okay, Chris Brown, thank you so much for being here.

We appreciate it. Happy New Year. And that does it for us this hour. But I'll be back tomorrow with more MEET the Press.

Now. Our NBC News now coverage continues with Brian Chong, who's in for Hallie Jackson right now. Hey, it's Kate Snow, NBC News anchor and host of the Drink this month. Demi Lovato is my guest.

The global superstar tells me that she is the happiest she's ever been right now. But getting there, it wasn't simple. Demi opens up about starting in Hollywood young and why she now thinks she may have started too soon. She talks about recovery, her new marriage, and the deeply personal reason behind her new cookbook.

The Drink is always about the journey to the top, and this was an honest conversation about what that takes. Hope you'll listen and follow the Drink wherever you get your podcast.