Meet the Press NOW — March 8

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That's sunrisechallenge ca. If it's Friday. President Biden swings into campaign mode, heading for battleground Pennsylvania and Georgia following that fiery and combative State of the Union address. Plus all in the family.

Donald Trump's daughter in law is installed atop the Republican National Committee as the party throws its financial and political power behind a presumptive nominee who is saddled with legal fees and enormous fines. And President Biden bypasses Israel with his own humanitarian mission into Doct Gaza as he pressures Prime Minister Netanyahu to do more to address the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian civilians. Welcome to Meet the Press. Now I'm Chris and Welker in Washington, where the general election has begun with a bang.

Fresh off last night's fiery State of the Union address where he repeatedly went after the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, President Biden is now hitting the campaign trail. He just arrived in battleground Pensvia ahead of a campaign event set to begin next hour. This will kick off a two week travel blitz that will feature members of the administration crisscrossing the country and what the campaign is calling a quote, month of action to tomorrow. Both Donald Trump and President Biden will be on the ground in battleground Georgia.

The action on the trail comes after the president delivered a defiant State of the Union as he sought to push back against critics and reassure Democrats that he's up or for a grueling re election fight. Amid lagging poll numbers and concerns about his age, the president took the issue of age head on, leading into a favorite campaign refrain. Take a look. I know it may not look like a Biden.

Around a while when you get to be my age, certain things become clearer than ever. I know the American story again and again. I've seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Used the speech to slam his resumptive general election opponent, referring to former President Trump as, quote, my predecessor at least 13 times, including references to January 6 Russia and the Dobbs decision to overturn Roby Wade, my predecessor.

You here seek to bury the truth about January 6th. I will not do that. Now, my predecessor, a former Republican president, tells Putin, quote, do whatever the hell you want. My predecessor came to us determined to see Roe overturned, his reasons overturned, and he brags about it.

And if my predecessor is watching, instead of paying politics and pressure members of Congress to block the bill, join me telling the Congress to pass it now. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson blasted the speech as hyper partisan even as some members of his conference wore Trump campaign paraphernalia into the chamber. This was the speaker as he departed last night. Usually in a State of the Union, you have at least segments of it that are bipartisan, that where we can unify and agree on things.

President Biden made none of that. It was a completely hyperpartisan speech. I don't know how to describe it as a campaign speech and a pretty vitriolic one at that. And so, you know, people are saying that I made funny facial expressions.

I try to keep a poker face. It was very difficult. I disagreed so vehemently with so much of what he said. Today, NBC's own Peter Alexander spoke with Vice President Harris who sought to draw further contrast between the president and his opponent.

I'll tell you something, if you want to just look at the split screen to understand what's at stake. On the one hand you've got Joe Biden, someone who is competent, who is principled, who has accomplished more than many presidents even hoped for, be it on infrastructure, on climate, on health care. And on the other side of that split screen, you've got the former president who glorifies dictators and has said he'll be a dictator on day one, someone who has said that he will weaponize the Department of Justice against his political enemies. Meanwhile, as the president prepares for an extended road trip, Mr.

Trump is staring down the start of his first criminal trial in the New York hush money case that's set to begin March 25. Today he posted a $91 million bond in Eugene Carroll case as his attorneys appeal the 83 million dollar defamation judgment. Joining me now to break this all down, NBC's Monica Alba who's following the president in Pennsylvania. NBC's One Hilliard is at an RNC meeting in Houston.

And NBC's Blaine Alexander is in Gwinnett County, Georgia, one of the deciders counties we are watching through November. And NBC's Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill. Monica, I have to start with you. You are in Pennsylvania, one of the biggest battlegrounds where President Biden is set to speak tonight.

What has the reaction been from inside Biden World after last night's fiery State of the Union? I know you've been talking to your sources all day. Absolutely. Christina, hanging into this address.

There's a little bit of anxiety about it falling so late in the calendar. Remember, all discussion last week about could potentially be in the middle of two blooming funding deadlines for a government shutdown. What could that all mean? And I have to tell you that advisors could not be more grateful for how this fell in terms of it coming two days after Super Tuesday.

And they feel they're able to build on this momentum now that the general election is firmed up. They really feel like they couldn't have drawn it up better in terms of some of the energy that the president brought to the speech last night. And they want to directly translate that here to the trail. That is their hope and that is their goal with all of this travel that you're about to see.

And last night, of course, the president was referring to the Republican front runner as my predecessor. Not by name, but you'll see something different here, I'm told. He's going to be, of course, taking those same themes and that intensity that he likes to draw in terms of the contrast between himself and Donald Trump here in these remarks. And he's going to continue that.

And talking to voters here in the Philly suburbs, which you know well could be critical to the election in 2024, in November, they really told me that what they were watching for last night is what they ended up seeing, that they want to see Joe Biden bring that kind of brutality, that feistiness. They think actually that they don't see enough of it and they wanted more of it on issues like immigration, on issues like reproductive rights and beyond, especially also on defending democracy, which is something the president always raises when he's here in Pennsylvania, which these days is pretty often. Kristen? Yeah, you're absolutely right, Monica.

Very quickly you talk about some of those key issues. One of the issues he took head on last night was the issue of his age. What are his allies saying about how that played and how he can continue to combat some of the criticism and concern. So he protested some lines in that Seth Meyers interview a couple of weeks ago about it doesn't really matter what age you are.

It matters, he argues, how old your ideas are. And that was one of his biggest closing lines, concepts and thoughts last night that I'm told he's gonna be repeating for the next seven months, which should come as no surprise. And in Talking to the voters that I was checking in with today in terms of concerns they had about age, they felt like addressing it head on. The way he did last night is something he should continue to do.

And the campaign really feels like coming and doing these events and having some smaller stops where he's doing personal interactions with voters like he's doing right now before he gets to this event is the key to that and to slowly convincing people that he is fit for another four years in office despite being the oldest president ever to serve. What we'll have to see, Kristen, is if the polls bear that out because that's still been a top concern. That's reflective. But after this, does this help chip away at any of that anxiety?

That's what people are gonna be watching for in the coming weeks. You're absolutely right, Michael. One of the top concerns for voters. But we'll have to see if he turned it around in that reset in his State of the Union.

Thank you so much, Monica Alba. Good luck out on the trail. Juan let you now you are at that RNC event where they recognize Trump as the presumptive nominee and voted in a new Trump friendly leadership including his daughter in law. Not a surprise.

We were expecting this, but it is significant nonetheless. Write down the stakes and what this means. Right. Especially that factor is that Ronald McDaniel, the RNC chair who resigned from her post here today at the same time has been at the helm for seven years now.

We are now less than eight months until the November general election. So it's really a head turning time to change leadership. Michael Watley has been a long time ally of Donald Trump. He hails from North Carolina.

He did take the gavel as the chair of RNC and was also joined on stage by the new co chair, Laura Trump, of course Donald Trump's daughter in law who is coming in and taking on that number two position. There are serious questions about whether some of the senior staff who were a part of the RNC up until today, whether come next week they will still have their jobs or whether the Trump campaign has they effectively merge with the rnc, will all but implement their own senior staff and all but take over the RNC operation. Chris Las Vegas, the chief operating officer now of the rnc, he also has been serving for the last year and a half in the role of campaign co manager for the Trump campaign which he'll continue to also serve in. But this is really a moment for this Republican operation around not only Donald Trump but also these key Senate battlegrounds to make a concerted effort on a united front to try to make up financial ground, but also political ground for what the Democrats have been effectively been able to operationally build over the course of the better part of three years.

And that's really going to be the challenge, I think. One, let's talk about some of the raw figures here. President Biden's team is going up with a $30 million ad buy. We also know that former President Trump just posted a $91 million bond to Eugene Carroll.

Do Trump and his allies have cash on hand right now? You know, I think part of the context of this here is the fact that in 2020 folks will recall, Kristen, just how overwhelmingly Trump and his allies were out sent by Joe Biden and Democrats. So about $1.6 billion went towards Joe Biden's campaign and the affiliated super PACs compared that to just over a billion dollars for Trump in the super PACs tied to him. And so what you're seeing this go around is a similar situation.

And of course it's a concern and it's at the forefront of their minds. For Las Veda told our our colleague Gary Hake is such that funds are the biggest concern not only for Donald Trump on the legal front, which La Cevita says that they are c will not contribute funds towards any legal related expenses. But obviously to put staff in these key battleground states and to go up on the airwaves is going to take those funds. And for Donald Trump, he is not only focused on the political, but he's focused also on just being able to pay the damages that he owes E Jean Carroll, but also the damages stemming from the financial fraud civil suit now and the future of the Trump Organization, his family business.

Not only the future for him as a business leader, but also for his family. All right, Von Hill here. Thank you so much for covering all the angles from the RNC media. Really appreciate it.

Let me go to you. You're one of our deciders county. Tell us about it. And what are you hearing from voters after last night's State of the Union address?

Well, you know what's interesting one is that most of the people I spoke to today didn't even watch last night's State of the Union address. So that's certainly telling when it comes to how much of an impact it makes on crucial counties like Gwinnett County. But one thing that is very clear from talking to voters today is that nobody is excited about the choices before them in 2024. But what changes is what they plan to two people told me that they actually voted for Joe Biden back in 2020, but this time around, they're either leaning toward a third party candidate or just staying at home altogether.

Then I spoke with another woman who told me that she voted for every race in 2020 except for President. She just couldn't bring herself to vote for Trump or Biden. But she said that since then she's come to realize there's just too much at stake to not cast a ballot. So she's really dedicated herself to becoming informed and making a choice come November.

Here's a little bit of why I heard her from Voter today. Take a look. I actually did not vote for the president. I don't I, I voted for all her seats, but I just could bring myself between the 2, 2, 3 really in the same place now by Trump.

And that's why it's still very much in the air. People don't want to vote, period, because they're not confident on either candidate. These are people who voted in 2020 provide it. Yes.

And they're telling you now they and it's sad because to me it's allowing other people to hear voice. So here's what's interesting. That last one I spoke to somebody who actually worked and beat the pavement. She is somebody who knocked on door back in 2022 for Stacey Abrams and the people that she was talking about were people who were doing that right alongside her.

Now she says in 2024, because of what she calls a sense of disappointment on their behalf, she's now having to convince them to actually pass the ballot. But I want to just widen out and tell you why this actually matters so much. We're talking about, of course, Georgia, the state of Georgia, battleground state. Both candidates are going to be here this weekend.

So it just underscores the importance of the state. But when you talk about winning Georgia, you really talk about winning counties like Gwinnett County. This is a place that back in 2008, Barack Obama lost by 10 points and in 2020, Joe Biden won by 18 points. So Democrats have had their eyes on Gwinnett county for quite some time.

If I can tell you a story, I remember 2016 covering this as a local report covering the election. That was of course, I Donald Trump won. I spoke with the leader of the state Democratic Party. He told me that they are excited because they saw gains in Gwinnett county that would be the key to flipping the state and turn off four years later.

That's exactly what happened. Fascinating, Blaine. And there is no better education about what is happening right now than hearing from the voters. So thank you for bringing that to us.

We really appreciate it. Just underscores the frustration with this rematch. Always great to see, Blaine. Thank you.

Ryan Nobles, my friend, let me go to you after a late night for both of us. You are as bleary eyed as I am. We did hear a little bit from Speaker Johnson today reacting to President Biden's State of the Union address. He was incredibly critical.

What does. What's the fallout been today? Yeah, I mean, the Speaker Johnson seemed kind of disappointed that he felt that the speech was a little bit too partisan and that he is in some way trying to find ways to work with President Biden. But I don't think we should probably read too much into that.

You know, as you and I talked about last night right after the speech, I mean, that room was super partisan, both with Republicans and Democrats. There didn't seem to be too many areas where either side was looking for areas where they could work together on some of these big issues that they're facing. But I do think it sets the stage here for what is really a really important couple of deadlines. Of course, right now the Senate's working to complete the first tranche of that spending bill.

They have a second one coming up on the 22nd of this month, which could lead to a pretty significant government shutdown. And then of course, there's a broader conversation about the supplemental aid package. They cannot get any of that done unless they work together. So the idea that this speech was maybe a little bit too partisan could get that last sprint here to the finish line off to a bit of a rocky start.

But at the end of the day, I don't think anyone was too surprised about the way the speech played out. That certainly does make sense given all of the reaction that we've heard today. Ryan, let me ask you, speaking of working together, about this bipartisan effort that's going on right now that could actually end up banning TikTok. And today President Biden is saying yes, he would sign this bill if it gets to his desk.

What's the latest there? You expecting it to pass? I am expecting it to pass the House. We'll see what happens in the Senate.

The House could vote on it as soon as next week. But I have to tell you, Kristen, having covered this building for quite a while and seen a number of different creative lobbying efforts, I don't think I've ever seen a bigger self own than the one that the tick tock organization attended by putting up this prompt on TikTok accounts of young people around the country that prompted them to immediately call their members of Congress and tell them not to ban TikTok. It backfired in a major both Republicans and Democrats were so annoyed by it, many of the people who called them seemed completely uninformed about the bill itself. They got a real sense that TikTok was misinforming their users as to exactly what this bill is about.

It's not about a ban on TikTok. It's just about separating ByteDance, this Chinese owned company, separating it from TikTok itself and making it be put in the hands of an American owner. And I talked to Roger Christian Worthy, who's the ranking member of the Chinese subcommittee, and he told me that this unified both Republicans and Democrats in a way that he didn't expect because it demonstrated how TikTok can be used as a way to perpetuate misinformation. And if anything, it's important to get this bill over the finish line.

Not a whole lot of things that can bring Democrats and Republicans together right now. So it's certainly significant that this bill may be one of them. Ryan Nobles, thank you so much. Hope you get some rest this weekend, my friend.

Good to see you. Thank you. You can catch more of my colleague Dear Alexander's interview with President Kamal Harris tonight on NBC Nightly News. Do not miss it.

Coming up, seeking an alternative, I'll talk to the national co chair of the group spearheading the effort to get a third party presidential candidate on the ballot in November, a move that could tip the scales in a tight general election rematch between President Biden and Donald Trump. Plus emergency mission response. How the Israeli government is reacting to President Biden's sharp words at last night's State of the Union about its handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. You're watching the PRESS now.

Welcome back. The presidential ballot could get very crowded very quickly this November. After months of speculation, the group no Labels, not this morning to affix a label to its 2024 political plan, they're running in a virtual meeting. Earlier today, the centrist organization decided to move forward with a third party presidential ticket this November, though the group has not publicly said whom it's considering to put on the ticket.

But they hope to make an announcement as soon as they sell their candidate outreach and finalize a process for selecting a ticket. Now no Label says they have ballot access in at least 16 states, including battlegrounds Arizona and North Carolina, and are actively gathering signatures in other states. Joining me now is from North Carolina Republican Governor Pat McCrory. He is a co chair of no Labels and this is his first interview since the group's meeting this morning.

Governor, thank you for joining me. I really appreciate it. It's great to be my friend again. Thank you.

It is great to see you. So we are all sitting on the edge of our seats. You are going to run a ticket. Can you tell us who's gonna be on the ticket?

Well, let me first say Mike Rollins, the former Democratic mayor of Dallas, did a great job in running a meeting with over 800 delegates who've worked with their labels for years representing every state of the union. And there was a clear consensus that if not now, when? We have a nation divided and we have two presidential candidates in which 65 to 70% do not want to rematch, in which each candidate, even at last night's speech, talked past the people and they yelled at each other and they acted as though this is a Democratic Republican convention scenario. This is a time for governing.

This is a time for problem solving. This is a time for stability. And that's what the delegates told us today. And so next week, next Thursday, new labels will be announcing the process that we'll be using to select a presidential SL for the no Labels ticket.

Well, let me try to push you a little bit to give us a name. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that no Labels is considering former Georgia Lieutenant Governor Jeff Duncan to lead the ticket. Is that true? I think it would be very inappropriate for me to start listing names of people considered or people who are submitting their names to us or people that we've reached out to because that's been happening over the past several months.

And if I start mentioning one name, then I have to mention a lot of names. So we will look at people from government, from the military and for business. And we look forward to telling you the nation about that process and getting our delegates involved in that same decision. Listen, we have a chance to win this thing.

This will not, by the way, you mentioned battleground states. If we get into this race, this will not just be a race with seven states. This will be a nationwide race. And it's about time.

Governor, I'm going to challenge you on that notion that you think you can win. But before I do, let me just try one more time. Do you rule out Jeff Duncan as a possibility? I'm not mentioning any names, whether in or out.

You're not going to get me to do that because there are a lot of good People that I think are qualified would be great candidates. And to rule that, to rule someone in or out would be totally appropriate at this point in time. I'm an old recruitment manager from many years ago, and in recruiting you have a large pool of candidates and then select the best for that bullish candidates. And that's what we're going to attempt to do.

Let me ask you, you say you think you have a shot at winning. I have seen the polling like you have. It's yes, in the double digits in some cases. But you know as well as I do the third party candidate has won a presidential election.

So why would, in modern history, I should say modern, modern American history, why is, why would this election, Governor, be any different, especially given how divided the country is right now? Because we've never seen this division. You know, when Ross Rowe ran, about 40% of the people disagreed with Bush or Clinton at the time, 40%. And at one time, Perot was leading in the surveys at 35%.

And it's a winner take all each state. This is not a national campaign. This is a state by state campaign, winner take all, except for two states. So it's not who gets the 50%, who gets the plurality of all the candidates involved.

And right now, 65 to 70% of people do not want to rematch. We've never seen that in American history. So to look back at American history is not benchmarking the right way. Governor, let me ask you this, because we heard this from no Label CEO Nancy Jacobson over the last couple of months.

Last July, she told my colleague Von Hilliard, quote, we will not spoil for either side. The only reason to do this is to win. But then last month she told the Atlantic, this organization is not in it to win it. This organization is in it to give people a choice.

So which is it? Are you in it to win or not? I'm not sure that second quote is probably the whole story, what she said, because Nancy, who was the visionary leader of this group, decided this concept of if that the country can do better, the two parties are failing us. They haven't solved the immigration problem, they haven't solved the deficit problem.

They can't get together on Ukraine, the Middle East, Israel, you name it. They are not doing any work, they're not governing. And the people are shouting, we can do better as a country than the two people that the two parties have nominated. Despite what the majority of American people are saying, they want some common sense solutions to some very complex issues that are being picked down the road.

Nancy Jacobson is saying she does not want the candidates to be a spoiler. If you get to a point where it is September and you're looking at the polls and you realize you will be a spoiler for President Biden, for example, what would you do? Would you then advise the candidates to drop out of the race? I'm actually more worried about either Trump or Biden being a spoiler for us.

And you might want to ask them the same question, would they drop out of the race? They saw a third party candidate for their labels winning and having a choice. So I think that can apply to everyone involved at this point in time come September, October or even right before the election. All right.

Former Governor Pat McCrory, I have a million more questions for you, so you're going to have to come back. Please come back when you have some candidates to announce. We're going to stay on top of. I love your round table anytime.

Well, you're always welcome. Thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it very much. Bye bye, bye.

See you soon. Coming up next, do your part. That's President Biden's message to Israel as the humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian civilians in Gaza intensifies. 4 Israeli Prime Minister Natalie Bennett will join me next.

Stay with us. You're WATCHING THE PRESS now. Welcome back. Another major focus for President Biden last night during his State of the Union address was the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Amid rising concerns about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. As the US Ramps up its efforts to get in more aid, the president specifically called on Israeli leadership to do more, emphasizing the humanitarian aid should not be used as a bargaining. And in the sign of his growing frustration with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the president was caught on a hot mic as he was making the rounds following his speech. While huddling with Senator Michael Bennett, who had recently visited the region, the president appeared to say that he told the Israeli prime minister that they will need to have a quote, come to Jesus moment in age.

The president quickly stepped in to remind the president that the microphones in the room were still on. President Biden addressed that hot mic comment this afternoon. Why does Mr. Netanyahu need a come to Jesus meeting?

What are you hoping for? Jesus? I didn't say that in the speech. What about after this meeting, you guys, he's dropping offense.

Does that show your level of frustration with him on humanitarian aid? Does he need to be doing more? Yes, he does. Joining me now is Natalie Bennett, the former prime Minister of Israel.

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you so much for joining Me. I really appreciate it. Thank you.

I want to get your reaction. Of course. President Biden delivered a State of the Union address last night. He did address the war.

Let me have you listen to a little bit of what he said. Get your reaction on the other side. Israel must allow more aid in the gods and ensure humanitarian workers aren't caught in the crossfire. The leadership of Israel, I say this, humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip.

Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be priority. What do you make of the fact that the president chose this huge platform to seemingly call out the Israeli government? And do you agree with that statement that he just made? No, I don't.

I don't agree. The problem is not the amount of aid going into Gaza. The problem is that Hamas is hijacking that aid, robbing that aid, taking it to itself and then selling it back in the black market in Gaza at about tenfold the price and many Gazans can't afford. So again, we are not using this as a negotiation chip or anything of that sort.

The problem is that Hamas is stopping that aid from reaching the people who need that aid. And that's why we have to defeat Hamas, clean Hamas, and then form a new Gaza. Well, I guess the question is, and the Biden administration would agree with your assessment what you're saying about Hamas, but the question is, why can't the US And Israel work together on expanding humanitarian access? For example, he announced this new port to get aid into Gaza.

Shouldn't the US And Israel be working together on that? We are. Israel certainly is happy about these elements or any methodology of bringing in food into Gaza. But again, once it reaches Gaza, you have the Hamas terrorists who take over or siphon off a big portion of the food.

So some people in Gaza don't get that food. And I want to emphasize we are talking about a terror government that unfortunately was elected by the people of Gaza in democratic elections. But that's the problem here. We have a terror organization that tells us we want to repeat, we want to repeat the murderous massacres of October 7th, go in and rape Israeli women and kill Israeli children and sever heads of Israelis just like we did last time.

And that's why we have to eliminate this organization for the benefit of Israelis and the benefit of Gazans. And the best way to solve this problem is to accelerate the defeat of Hamas. Do you, though, given the scale of the humanitarian crisis that is unfolding inside Gaza, and I understand what you're saying about defeating Hamas, but does the Israeli government Bear some responsibility for that and for the death toll that is mounting. And is there not more that the Israeli government can do to prevent the death toll from rising?

We are bending over backwards to reduce as much as possible the death of civilians. However, Hamas is bending over backwards to increase the number of dead Gaza civilians by denying them food, by hiding behind civilians, sometimes shooting at its own civilians, one to run away from harm's way in areas that we afford them to do that. So you have an organization who is deliberately doing everything to ramp up the number of its own dead people. So then you'll ask me these questions and to apply pressure on Israel.

What we need is to finish off Hamas. We're very much making progress, but now we're being stopped to some degr by the international community. It's a very bad idea because Hamas is the problem, not the solution. How do you respond to President Biden, though, who has said he thinks that Israel can do more?

I think we're doing everything we can. I don't agree with that statement. President Biden is a great friend to Israel, but on this specific issue, I think the best way to make this whole thing go away and solve the problem is to give us the leeway and the backing to finish the job of cleaning up Hamas so everyone in this region can live peacefully. And it is possible.

I would like to talk to you about the discussions that are underway to try to secure the release of more hostages in exchange for a temporary ceasefire. Can you give us a status update? Because our latest reporting is that those negotiations have hit a significant roadblock. Do you think there is any expectation that a deal can be reached by Ramadan, which starts next week?

I think the chances, unfortunately, are low because Hamas is saying no. We had agreed on a program which would indeed release some of the hostages in return for a temporary ceasefire for a few weeks. America and international community endorsed this plan, and Hamas is saying no. So given that, does that mean that a ground invasion into Rafah is all but inevitable at this point next week?

And doesn't that just mean that the civilian death toll will rise even further? Well, the only reason that we need to go to Rafah is to clean up Hamas where the remainder of Hamas is. I want to emphasize we have absolutely no desire. Desire to enter Rafah or enter Gaza, for that matter.

We left Gaza about 16 years ago or more 17 years ago. We have no territorial claims on Gaza. We've got nothing we want to do with Gaza. We just want to live in peace.

It's Hamas that attacked us. From the very Gaza that we handed the Palestinians. And they say explicitly, we're gonna do it again and again and again. So essentially, we have absolutely no choice but to defeat Hamas.

I wish this were not the case, but it is a very cynical and very evil organization, terror organization, and we just really have no choice. And just to be very clear, does that mean the ground invasion into Rafah next week? Should people be bracing for that sometime next week? And I know that there's going to be an attempt to.

Just to try to get the civilians out of harm's way. How will that be possible? Where will they. Well, first of all, I cannot anticipate, you know, what the precise military actions will be.

I can say what I would do if I were prime minister, and I would proceed to let the civilians move away from Rafah to the north. The area of. North of Khayunis. There's a great amount of space there to afford for their movement.

And then once the civilians have evacuated, yes, I would enter Rafah and clean up Hamas in Rafah. So that would be. We're talking about two to three months of the process. Very quickly, because I'm getting a wrap.

But is there really any safe place for them to go? You're talking about displacing these people to the north. Can you guarantee that that's safe? Mr.

Prime Minister? Yeah, there are safe havens that we do not attack because there's no Hamas infrastructure. This is not a good thing. I don't want to present this as if this is something that we want to do, that we enjoy doing.

But if you had a terrorist state your neighborhood in your neighborhood adjacent to where you're living, and they tell you, we killed your daughters, we. We raped your. Your. Your daughters and killed your sons, we're going to do it again.

The only way to do away with it is to. To remove them. That's what we're facing. We have absolutely no choice.

So, yes, that's what I would do. All right. Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, thank you so much for your time. We really appreciate it.

Thank you for having me here. Coming up after the break, we have seen quite the response to last night's Republican response by Alabama Senator Katie Britt. The panel joins me next. You're watching me, the press now.

Mr. President, enough is enough. Innocent Americans are dying, and you only have yourself to blame. Fulfill your oath of office, reverse your policies, end this crisis and stop the suffering.

Welcome back. That was Alabama Senator Katie Britt going after President Biden's handling of issues tied to the border and immigration. It came as part of a blistering and emotion filled Republican response to President Biden's State of the Union. It was also an address that garnered as much attention for its tone as its message.

Joining me now to discuss this, my great Friday panel, Jeff Mason, White House correspondent for Reuters Simone Sanders Townsend, former chief spokesperson for Vice President Harris and now a co host of MSNBC's the Weekend. And Matt Gorman, Republican strategist and former senior communications advisor for Tim Scott's presidential campaign. Thanks to all of you for being here. A lot to break down.

Let me start with you, Jeff. What are you hearing from Republicans and frankly Democrats to the Republican response? I just kind of wonder why anybody says yes to that. You think about the multiple responses that we've all watched or covered that just haven't gone well.

You know, I think in terms of real response to the responses when she, she, she's somebody who they want to lift up. She is or at least was a rising star. And a lot of what she said are exactly the things that people in the Republican Party and former President Trump space want to hear. Maybe the delivery itself didn't go as well as people might have hoped, but that's not certainly those are the issues that needed to be lifted up.

Whether it was her, whether it was somebody else. As far as they're concerned. Macro, where are you here? It's a tough spot to be in.

No matter what this you are going from a chamber where at least how always some of it is true for the present. No matter what party saying the stadium is strong, optimistic, there's energy in the room and you have to shift within minutes to kind of docile setting. No matter where it is, it is thankless. And also tone, it has to be a little more pessimistic.

Again, it was a little bit more pessimism towards the end. Be pathetic. Contrast these things. You always are just trying to do as little harm as possible.

Now you do no harm, as little harm as possible. Yeah. Simone, what did you make of it? Obviously it's getting criticized for the tone today, but it was a preview of the message, the battle lines that are going to be drawn.

Simone has a lot of fun. I didn't see why was she in a kitchen? Why was she in the kitchen? That was the only question I had last night.

Why was she in the kitchen? And I got some kind of advance today from Senator Turboville. He said, well, she was there. The housewife Katie Bren is the junior senator of Alabama.

Prior to assuming the world of senator. She led the Alabama Business Council. She was the chief of staff in the office of the seat that she now sits in. What we saw last night was the opposite of what everyone who's ever advised a woman politician elected official, business executive, a woman in position of power should do.

The junior senator of Alabama does not belong in her kitchen in a glass of nice glass. But she doesn't belong in the kitchen. And if that is the message that like people got together said this is she's going to come from her kitchen. She a wife, a mom.

Diminishing the mom, please. In terms of content, one of the quotes that I think she released ahead of time and then said during the address was that President Biden was diminished. I don't think that that line line landed after his speech last night because the president and I think the president wanted very much to not come across this mission. He didn't.

He came across very much in charge of what he wanted to say. It's a really great point. She was expecting to deliver that line with the hopes presumably that President Biden would have delivered a different caliber of performance. Matt, I want to play a little bit of what Ron McDaniel had to say.

She had some parting words today for Republicans and she sat down for RNC chair. Of course, it comes as two Trump loyalists, including his daughter in law have been installed as the leaders. Let's look, we cannot put our head in the sands and ignore abortion and the jobs decision. Many of our candidates chose to ignore this issue and not talk about it.

And the RNC was a leading issue urging candidates to talk about this issue head on in 2022. Two candidates mattered. Candidates always matter. But the candidates who won were able to articulate a message on abortion and also attract and win swing and independent voters.

We are going to have to replicate, Kate, that if we're going to win in 2024. Matt, what do you make of what she said and of this new leadership of the rnc? Well, first of all, she's not wrong. I mean look, you talk to people who were deeply involved in Virginia legislative slave elections last year and they would go and they said, look, we went through every different way from most conservative ones to you know, talking really pro woman and nothing was working.

And they would say, you know, you talk about different numbers. And so that is something that is a challenge. And you look at polls, you know, Trump 2, 24 points are on average about. But we saw this winning 2022.

Do Democrats overperform on election day? That's that would keep me up nights if I was. To what extent is abortion going to be a centerpiece of President Biden's election campaign? He obviously talked about it last night.

The vice president's been talking about it for quite some time now. Simon, are Democrats banking on this issue to get them over to finish lines? I think they're definitely banking on this issue to be helpful. The vice president today, I believe in Phoenix, Arizona, had another stop on that tour talking about reproductive rights.

And I thought that it was a tell because for the president to put Roe so high up into this speech and to really take the fight directly to the Supreme Court justices sitting in the chamber, I mean, goodness, the cameraman deserves an Emmy for what we saw last night. So there has a move to put abortion on the ballot in a lot of places. Arizona, Florida. Right.

Coming up. And everywhere abortion has been developed previously. It has done well in one. So I think it will be helpful for them, but it won't be the only thing.

Abortion is an economic issue for so many people, and other economic issues coupled with abortion are going to be important. It was smart, too, because if writing the speech should take on the Supreme Court and not just call it the gop. Right, the gop, it'll get noticed, but now will be a takeaway. The Supreme Court to their face, sitting, what, 15ft from you, that's another TV package will be noticed after the speech a lot longer.

It was an extraordinary moment, Jeff. And again, this goes back to what you were saying, this performance aspect that resonated with a lot of Democrats, frankly, that allowed them to breathe a sigh of relief that he showed some real fight last night. The challenge is, can he keep it going? He's in battleground Penn today.

He's gonna be in Georgia this weekend. What are you gonna be watching for in that regard? Well, I think. I think we're watch.

I'll be watching for whether or not they put him out more. I mean, the thing about Joe Biden is, and we've at least I covered him during the Obama years and been following him for a long time. He loves that stuff. He loves that interaction.

He used to love interaction with the problem, and then he became president. We have a lot less interaction with him. They would dispute that because he does talk to us on his way to the helicopter. But that's a long way of saying, will they put him in more situations where he can have that kind of answer.

Because I think it shows. I think that he wants to show that he's got the mental acuity that he needs and that anyone would need for that job. Simone, do you think we're going to see that? Look, I think.

Well, the question is, I want to know, did the president do local news, local media when he was out on and about today when he was on his trip? He's going to do that in Georgia. I think he likes engaging. I think when last night the engaging worked well for him.

I mean, he was they turned the lights off on him and he was still shaking hands. But again, last night was a big stage he's going to give. He was feeling good, ride high. He had a stage.

He had a podium. I think over the next couple months they're going to ride that wave. But there are policies that the president talked about in the speech last night that I really believe are going to help move the needle for them even more than just his performance. All right, guys, thank you so much.

Great Friday conversation. Jeff, Simone and Matt really appreciate it. And still a calm. It's the economy.

We're breaking down today's new jobs report after President Biden counted his economic record in last night's address. Stay with us. You're watching Eat THE Press now. Welcome back.

As President Biden hit the campaign trail after last night's state of the Union, the Labor Department reported today that the economy added 275,000 new jobs last month exceeding economist expectations. The unemployment rate did take up a bit to 3.9%. ME News, Business and data correspondent Brian Chung joins me now. Brian, thanks so much.

Really appreciate it. Happy Friday. So tell us what this February jobs report tells us about the state of the economy right now. One person you heard yesterday as well, for President Biden, the landing is and will be soft, referring to expectations over a year ago we would have been in recession.

You don't see that in the jobs numbers which is corroborated by numbers we got this morning showing 275 jobs added in the month of February. Check this out. Economists had only expected about 200,000 for the month. So above expectations.

And yes, there are a lot of little bit of nuance. They revised down the December and January figures and the unemployment rate did tick up to 3.9%. We've remained below a 4% unemployment rate for the entirety of this chart that I'm showing you. And even beyond now, what do we see the job gains in the month?

We saw that these categories leisure and hospitality and health care. Interestingly, these are blue collar jobs. In the white collar jobs. I want highlight information and professional business services which added an aggregate only 11,000 jobs.

We've been hearing of some tech layouts in the past few months. So these are threads we have to watch in months to come. But overall, this jobs market looking very strong. Yeah, we did hear President Biden tap that in his speech last night.

Of course, the challenge for him and for everyone is making sure that people feel it. Because right now a lot of Americans saying they don't yet feel the impact of these numbers. Let me ask you, we received a report yesterday that layoffs in February reached their Highest points in 2009. How do you have a strong jobs growth with so many layouts?

How do you swear that? Yeah, and a lot of those layouts we've been hearing about as of late have been in that tech sector which makes up a relatively smaller portion of the economy than let's say for example bars and restaurants or our health care sector. So yeah, those layoffs are happening, but it's not large enough to be really impacting the overall pie. But to your point about the feel of the economy, a lot of it has to do with this figure inflation which by the administration acknowledges is an issue.

Right. The prices at the store. So wages low. In this report it's above the pace inflation on a yearly rate 4.3% compared to 3.1%.

That dynamic that only flipped as around the spring summer last year. How long does it take for Americans to start to see and experience that? That's the open question. I'm sure the administration is thinking about head and feel like there is no doubt about that.

Brian Chung, thank you so much for breaking it all down for us. We really appreciate it. Hope you of have a lot. Wonderful weekend.

Thanks. All right. And we will be back on Monday with more Meet the Press now. And if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press.

On your local NBC news station. I'll have exclusive interviews with Senator Lindsey Graham and Senator elect Adam Schiff plus Senator Raphael Warnock. Do not miss it. The news continues with Tom Costello in for Hallie Jackson right now, everyone, I'm Dylan Dryer, co host of the third hour of say and mom to three Wild Boys.

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