Meet the Press NOW — November 10

If it's Friday, the White House presses Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians. And another hospital is caught in the crossfire as Israeli forces press deeper into Gaza in response to Hamas's terror attacks. Plus, the countdown is on once again to a possible government shutdown as House Speaker Mike Johnson struggles to rival his Republican conference with just seven days to go until funding runs out and the increasingly perilous path for Democrats to maintain control of the Senate and the White House in 2024 after Senator Joe Manchin's big announcement. Welcome to MEET THE press.

Now, I'm Kristen Welker in Washington as we track the latest developments in the Israel Hamas war is Israeli troops are advancing deeper into Gaza City. Strikes and explosions have been reported near hospitals in Gaza. And the US Is urging Israel for a longer humanitarian cause as the Palestinian death toll rises. In just the last few hours, an intense bout of flares and strikes could be seen over Gaza and explosions could be heard.

It comes out earlier today that hamasra and Gaza Health Ministry said strikes hit near Al Shifa Hospital and the World Health Organization said the hospital was, quote, coming under bombardment. This video, which was posted on social media and verified by NBC News, appears to show this scene this morning. A senior Israeli official tells NBC News the strike was the result of a misfired projectile by a militant group inside Gaza. Social media appears to show Israeli tanks near another hospital in Gaza.

An IDF spokesperson confirms there has been fighting near medical facilities. Listen, I can't comment specifically on things that are actually happening as we speak, obviously for operational security concerns, but indeed, we have seen gunfights around hospitals over the last couple of days. Now, the Israeli military says it does not intentionally attack hospitals or other civilian targets, but it has also warned that Hamas houses its operations underneath these types of facilities. Meanwhile, the US Is increasingly and publicly pressuring Israel to do more to minimize civilian casualties.

Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many have suffered these past weeks. And further, with regard to harm to Palestinian civilians, look, I think first, what Israel announced yesterday will help. It will help in enabling people to get out of harm's way.

It will help in enabling people to get better access to humanitarian assistance. There are other steps that we discussed with Israel that I discussed a week ago. I'm not going to detail them here. I can simply say that there is more that can and should be done to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians.

Now, the Biden administration is also pushing Israel to extend its pauses in military operations. Yesterday, more than 50,000 people fled northern Gaza along the humanitarian corridor. That's according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, Israel continues to urge civilians flee south, calling northern Gaza, quote, fierce combat zone.

In an interview, Prime Minister Netanyahu, who appeared to soften comments earlier this week that Israel could be responsible for Gaza, quote, for a, quote, indefinite period. We don't seek to occupy Gaza and we don't seek to govern Gaza. We'll have to find a, a government, a civilian government that will be there. But in the foreseeable future, we have to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

So we have to have a credible force that if necessary, will enter Gaza and kill the killers. Joining me now with Aaron McLaughlin in Jerusalem. Aaron, thank you so much for your great reporting and for joining me. Israel is saying that the strike at Aleshiva Hospital today came from a projectile launch from inside Gaza.

What more do we know about what Israel is saying and about what's happening there? Well, Chris, we just heard scathing remarks from the director general for the Palestinian Red Crescent briefing the UN Security Council on the situation unfolding in Gaza City. He said that it's changing by the minute, but he is alleging that the Israeli military is directly targeting Palestinian hospitals in order, he alleges, to drive civilians from northern Gaza out into southern Gaza, pointing to four instances or four hospitals rather, that he alleges have been attacked in the last 24 hours, including the Al Quds hospital, which the Palestinian Red Crescent scale snipers have opened fire on that hospital, killing at least one, injuring dozens more. Now, NBC News just spoke with a doctor inside Al Shifa Hospital, that is the main hospital in Gaza City where tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians have been sheltering.

This doctor telling NBC News that the hospital has been bombarded since two in the morning with gunfire that could be heard surrounding the hospital, pointing to at least four instances in which bombs have fallen on the hospital. Now the Israeli military is saying that it has counted at least one incident in which a militant projectile mistakenly fell on the hospital, pointing to that as evidence that Hamas has been using these hospitals for shields. We also heard from a spokesperson for the Israeli military in a briefing earlier today say, quote, the IDF does not attack hospitals. If we see Hamas terrorists shooting from hospitals, we do what needs to be done.

We are aware of the sen of hospitals. So we do it carefully and slowly. Kristen. Aaron, let me follow up with you because of course, we also have seen tens of thousands fleeing northern Gaza.

We saw that just yesterday. Are you getting the sense that that's because of these pauses? Have they contributed to the ability of these people to be able to leave. What certainly is the purpose of these pauses, this humanitarian corridor that the Israeli military has been opening up in Gaza from northern Gaza to southern Gaza since November 5th.

What the United States announced last just yesterday was a formalization of that process and an expansion of the process. Today we saw that window go from four hours to six hours. The Israeli military also opened up a secondary corridor along the coastline. As a result, tens of thousands of Palestinians have managed to make that journey from the north to the south.

But it has to be said that their strikes have continued within the last week in the as well. And humanitarian organizations are calling for a full ceasefire. The RS IRC rather saying that at a bare minimum what is needed here is a five day pause in the fighting to avert what it says could be a humanitarian catastrophe. But that is something that the Israeli military is ruling out, saying that there will be no cease fire unless all 239 hostages are released.

Kristen? Yeah, they have been adamant about that. Thank you for your great reporting. Please continue to stay safe.

We really appreciate it. Joining me now is senior adviser to the Israeli Prime Minister and Israel's former Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mark Regev. Ambassador Regev, thank you so much for joining. Really appreciate it.

My pleasure. So I want to ask you about something that seems to be a developing situation. Just a few hours ago we saw flares, we heard explosions around Gaza. Can you tell us about those operations?

What specifically is your understanding of what's happening there? So I can't share with you everything that I know because combat is ongoing. But I can tell you this. Gaza City is the epicenter for Hamas's military machine and we are closing in on Hamas in our effort to destroy that organization.

And they have their major command and control is actually under a hospital called the Shiva Hospital. And they have built under that hotel, under that hospital, sorry, they've built a command and control center and a network of tunnels. One of the hostages who was released, an 85 year old woman, reported that it was like a spiderweb of underground facilities, tunnels leading to bunkers, leading to arms depots, leading to missile launching sites. A subterranean terror infrastructure that we have to destroy.

What is the very latest that is happening at Al Shifa and how involved is the IDF in that operation? So obviously we don't target hospitals, obviously we don't target civilians. But Hamas has placed its military machine right under our hospital. So we are acting as surgical as is humanly possible in a difficult combat situation.

But I need to say the following over the Last few days, we've had tens of thousands of civilians from the area leave. We established a humanitarian corridor. I think yesterday, 80,000 people left. The day before, I think it was 50,000.

People are voting with their feet. They're heeding our advice, are urging to pull out of the combat area. That's good, because we don't want to see civilians caught up in the crossfire. Now, of course, we understand that not all civilians can leave.

It's clear some people in the hospital cannot leave. Of course, we're sometimes doubtful because they have the hospital as someone that Hamas appointed. Yes. But given that, we understand there's probably people there who genuinely can't leave, and we are, of course, distinguishing between civilians and the Hamas terrorists.

The former, of course, we don't want to harm. The latter is our brutal enemy, who we wish to fight and destroy. I want to get your reaction to something that Secretary Blinken said earlier today. I'm going to play it for you and then get your response on the other side.

At the same time, much more needs to be done to protect civilians and to make sure that the humanitarian system treats them. Far too many Palestinians have been killed. Far too many have suffered these past weeks. And we want to do everything possible to prevent harm to them and to maximize the assistance that gets in them.

Do you agree with Secretary Blinken's assessment that too many Palestinian civilians have been killed? And what are you prepared to do about that? We agree with Secretary Blinken. Our goals are the same.

We want to be to hit Hamas and to end its rule of terror in Gaza. Israelis should not have to live in fear of terrorists crossing the frontier in the middle of the night and butchering their children. And ultimately, getting rid of Hamas is good for the people of Gaza, too. I mean, Hamas has been in power in the Gaza Strip for 16 years, and what have they brought the people of Gaza?

Just suffering, pain, bloodshed, and impoverishment. So getting rid of Hamas, I think, is good for both sides, for the Israelis and the Palestinians. And in the framework of getting rid of Hamas, we have to make a maximum effort to keep civilians out of crossfire. We don't see innocent people getting hurt, and also to deliver humanitarian support to the civilians expeditiously.

Ambassador, big picture. How many civilians are you comfortable with losing their lives within this broader goal of rooting out Hamas? So we don't want to see a single civilian killed. And let me be frank, I'd prefer there were none.

But I'm also realistic to know that that's difficult because there's been no war in recent history where there hasn't been civilian casualties. Even when the US Led the international coalition to destroy ISIS in Syria and Iraq, there were difficult battles in places like Mosul and Fallujah, and there were civilian deaths. Our job as democratic countries is to keep those deaths to a minimum. That's our responsibility.

That's our goal. What has your reaction been to seeing some of these images of civilians suffering and losing their lives? And what's your message to their families? So we didn't want this war in the first place.

This war was started by Hamas. They launched this war by attacking our people and butchering Israeli civilians. We are responding to that violence. And you know, I think the people of Gaza understand that they're voiceless because they live in a brutal, authoritarian regime.

But I think the people of Gaza, when they see what's going on, they know who's out of this conflict. They know what it's all about. Unfortunately, however, because of the nature of the regime in Gaza, it's difficult for people to say that publicly. But that's Hamas is being weakened as their control is being shaken.

As we move in to end Hamas's rule, I think you'll see more and more Gazans saying all this death and destruction was brought upon us by this terrible Hamas regime that put its crazy, extreme theology slash ideologies. I don't know what to call it there. Hamas's crazy platform of death and destruction. They put that abundantly on the well being of the people of Gaza.

And I hope that when this is over, the people of Gaza get a government that actually worries about their well being. Can you help us to understand these four hour pauses? The White House announced yesterday? Is this actually something new that you're doing?

Had you been taking these four hour pauses and are there discussions about even longer pauses to allow for humanitarian aid? Precisely because we don't see the civilians as the target of our operation. So we're trying to deliver humanitarian. And when we deliver humanitarian aid, there's of course a humanitarian force of the aid can be delivered.

And when people want to leave areas of combat and they want to facilitate that. So we have a humanitarian corridor for a specific time period in a specific area, and we want to do more of that. Israel has said openly we've got no problem with water, food, medicine entering the Gaza Strip. We're establishing a humanitarian safe zone in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

Not bad. Not far from the Rafa crossing where the Aegis is coming in. Not far from the Mediterranean coast. So make in theatrically also coming from sea, the French are sending a hospital ship.

Maybe others will do so too. On the Egyptian side of the frontier, they've established a field hospital as well for wounded. And the idea is, I know war is difficult, war is painful. It would be better to avoid this war in the first place.

But now that war has been forced upon us, we have to make a maximum effort while we relentlessly pursue Hamas at the same time to do everything we can to support the civilian population. Ambassador, just finally, if you can help us to understand how you view how the Prime Minister views the future of Gaza. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Netanyahu suggested Israel would have a role to play for a, quote, indefinite period. Yesterday he seemed to moderate those comments.

Can you clarify? Will Israel also commit to not annexing any of the territory of Gaza? How does Israel see its role? So you have to distinguish between political control and a security input.

Political control. The Prime Minister said unequivocally, we don't want to rule the people of Gaza. We don't want to govern the Gaza Strip. We prefer that others do that.

It's probably best that the Gazans do that for themselves. Just to be very clear, are you talking about the Palestinian Authority? We haven't said that at all publicly yet, and it's probably the wrong time to talk about it because as you know, the Palestinian Authority has refused, stubbornly refuse, to condemn the terrible massacre of October 7th. And they tell us so.

They tell the international community that they're the responsible Palestinians, they're the more moderate Palestinians, they're the partner for peace. And Israelis across the political spectrum in our country, from left to right and everything between, everyone is disappointed and annoyed that the Palestinian Authority has refused to condemn the massacre. Having said that, to get back to answering the question, we don't want political control over Gaza, but we would be irresponsible to take our eye off the ball. And as far as security goes, when this is over and we've defeated Hamas and we've dismantled the military machine, we're going to have to keep a security envelope.

We have to make sure there is no residual terrorist presence, that a terrorist presence isn't built up again. As I said, if we take our off the ball, we do it at our own danger. We're not going to do that again and experience attacks like we did on October 7th ever again. I do have one more question.

President Biden, as you know, has expressed some real concern about uptick in violence in the West Bank. What specifically is Israel doing to make sure that that violence doesn't escalate further. And how concerned are you? So we are concerned.

Hamas has cells across the west bank and they have activists and they would like to, to escalate the situation there, create violence, create death and destruction like they did in southern Israel. And so we are preempting and we're acting against those Hamas cells. And so far, no violence has risen in the west bank of late. We are committed to trying to keep a little that we have no interest in some sort of wide scale escalation there.

And I think we've been successful at doing that and that allows us to focus on what needs to be done in Gaza. All right. Ambassador Markev, thank you so much for your time and your perspective. We really appreciate it.

Thanks for having me. NBC News chief foreign correspondent Andrea Mitchell joins me now on set. Andrea, thank you for being here to help me digest what we just heard. You obviously interviewed ambassador earlier today and their position is when you press them on the civilian death toll, that yes, they agree with what Secretary Lincoln is saying, that the death toll is too high, that they're trying to mitigate civilian deaths.

This is the real crux of the crisis here. It is. And I think, I think dramatically the problem for Israel right now is that they are going after hospitals and targeting hospitals is a violation of international law. But as Mark Regev said and said to me earlier that Hamas has command control under the Al Shifa hospital.

They say now I've been told by US Officials that they have no independent cooperation of that, that they know that there is Hamas activity around Al Shiva, but they can't independently corroborate with his Israeli intelligence claiming that. And Reagan was saying to me earlier that there is a CODEL in the international law that permits targeting anything where there is hostile fire coming at them. But whatever the law, I'm not an international lawyer, but what I know is that there's grave concern in the administration elsewhere among Israel's friends, including on the Hill, that these hospital hits ambulances, you know, children. One hospital that I'm focusing on and something we're reporting on is the Bentisi Hospital, the last pediatric hospital in Gaza, which had to close late last night or night this morning because of violence in the area.

The last remaining cancer patients had to had to leave by wheelchair. Some of them were in the ICU. Fifteen other cancer patients, about 12 to 15, the numbers are not precise, did get out earlier this week. The first of these cancer patients to finally get out is something that NBC was working on that I've been working on for a couple of weeks has not to reveal it because there were so many people involved in a storage threat to the children.

This was done with Israel helping. But also the United States came from the White House as well from Egypt, from Palestinian organizations and from Jordan. And some of these children did get out and are safely in several of the Cairo and Alexander hospitals. And one or two kids were taken to Aman, Jordan.

So there are a few getting out there, at least 30 more than I know of. I've seen lists and names that are still trapped in Gaza. And the problem for Redev and Israel is that they are losing a lot of support because of the visuals coming out of Gaza this weekend last in the mounting death toll. And they say these are legitimate targets.

Andrea, what you're describing is a horror to think about these children who are sick and then having to evacuate and look for your full reporting on that. In terms of these humanitarian pauses, you have this discrepancy between what the Biden administration is asking for and what we're seeing happen. It's my understanding they're now about six hours per day. But you have a number of people in the international community calling for a days long pause.

I think the president clearly said that they want these pauses to be longer. He said that yesterday. Secretary Blinken has been telegraphing that and saying that in Tokyo at the G7 and then in India follow up and he's now on his way home. So there is a real split that's developing.

While they say Israel has the right to defend itself, they think these pauses are needed to get hostages out, to get aid in and to get civilians safely removed to safe zones, if there are any safe zones, and try to get more people out of Rafah. Israel is permitting, they now say 150 truckloads of aid in a day. It was less than that yesterday. And they say 150 according to the US is the bare minimum what's needed.

Well, I know that we all continue to track and again we will look for your great reporting. Andrea, thank you so much for being here. Great to see you. Great debate.

Thank you. Thank you, Andrea. Appreciate that very much. And coming up, new reporting from the White House.

The President Biden prepares to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week amid heightened tensions and two foreign wars. What to expect in that summit and the high stakes ahead. But first, we're live on Capitol Hill with the very latest on how Speaker Johnson's fraught path forward with the potential government shutdown now, just seven days away. You're watching MEET THE Press now.

Welcome back. If it's Friday, we're just one week away from a potential government shutdown. House Republicans left Capitol Hill after canceling votes on two funding bills. And House Speaker Mike Johnson has yet to outline a viable plan to get a bill to the president's desk before funding runs out.

Frustrations are running high among House Republicans with one lawmaker telling NBC News, quote, we're still dealing with the same divisions we've always had. We're ungovernable. NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Julie Circus joins me now. Julie, thanks so much for joining.

I know it's been a busy week. So where do things stand? Do you get the sense that House Republicans are any closer to avoiding a shutdown? Kristen?

I do. They're not any closer to funding the government for a full year because of those two failed and poll votes that you mentioned at the top there. But we are hearing that potentially tomorrow Speaker Mike Johnson could release a legislative text, the plan of which we do not yet know. There are a couple of options on the table.

And in this case, some of those hard line conservative Republicans who were never short term funding measures, never CRS as they call them, are now coming around perhaps to the idea. And we know that Speaker Johnson has been meeting with different factions of Republicans all week long, from House conservatives to more moderates, all members on the full section of the scale. And so right now we're just really bracing ourselves for what this plan could look like and what it could be. Talk about the fact that Peter Johnson, obviously, when you compare him to someone like former housekeeper Kevin McCarthy, doesn't have the same level of experience in dealing with these tough moments.

How is that factoring into how this is all playing out? To me, he doesn't. Kristen, one House Republican moniker this week actually told me the honeymoon period for Speaker Johnson may be over sooner than we thought it would. And this really the two bills that bills that were pulled this week, what we're seeing right now with some Senate Republicans even telling me they're frustrated with the pace at which they've been moving, not able to come up with a CR plan any sooner.

Right now we're just literally a week out from this deadline and Johnson has still not been able to come forward with a coherent plan, I think he's starting to realize how difficult the job really is for McCarthy. The problem with the hard line conservatives, for Johnson now the problem is more of the moderate members who said they've been left behind all year and now want to make their fight known. Great points. And of course former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy lost his job after cutting deal with Democrats.

It all just raises the stakes that much more. Great to see you. Thank you so much. Coming up Next, Robert Kennedy Jr.

Cornell West, Jill Stein and Joe Manchin. We are digging into the growing number of potential third party threats facing President Biden and Democrats in 20 watching Beat the press now. Welcome back. The 2024 elections got a big shake up after West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin announced he will not seek re election.

It was already going to be a tough one for Democrats to hold the Senate seat next year and now the math and the path are even more difficult. Our friends at the Political Report are now calling Mansion seats a safe Republican seat. ABCC for Knack is at the big board with the very latest on the 2024 Senate map. So what's your take, Steve?

This was a huge announcement by Senator Manchin. It is going to make it so much tougher for Democrats to hold on to the Senate. What do you see? Yeah, absolutely.

I mean I think West Virginia is an uphill slog for any Democrat these days. If there was one who might possibly have a chance of winning Senate race there, it was Mansion. There's really no one else out there who you could see pull that out. I'll put this perspective.

The Senate right now, Democrats with that 51 to 49 advantage, three independents who caucus with the Democrats that were including them in that total. And what that means as you take a look at the 2024 map here, these are seats that are up in 2024. This is the party that currently controls them. So if you're going into it 5149 and we just look at West Virginia, there is no Democratic controlled seat that's up in 2024.

That's nearly as Republican as West Virginia. Take a Donald Trump carry by 40 plus points twice. So not especially this point to say Republicans, as the co report is saying, very likely to get this if they do that alone brings it to 50 50. And if the Republicans, if Donald Trump or whoever the Republican nominee is WINS the presidency, 5050 with the tiebreaking vote of the Vice President will give the Republicans control of the Senate.

So what Democrats need if the Democrats do retain the presidency, if Joe Biden' then 5050 would work for Democrats and they could hang on. But that would mean here's what they would need to do. Take a look at these other blue seats up they'd have to hold them. Look at Montana, this is another very Trump friendly state.

John Tester running for reelection. He's won three times before. This could be a tall task for him. It's gonna be presidential election year.

Trump's gonna do. Expect very wealthy nominee in Montana. Can Tester hold on against that? Sherrod Brown in Ohio is gonna get a challenge.

This is a state that Donald Trump has made more red in his two presidential campaigns. If he's the nominee, is that gonna be too much for Sherrod Brown to overcome the weight of Trump at the top of the ticket? There are other potential trouble spots for Democrats here. Maybe a Pennsylvania, maybe a Michigan, maybe a Wisconsin.

It's a complicated situation in Arizona as well. Sinema, she's one of the independents who now caucuses with the Democrats. Is this going to be a three way race? What's going to go on out there?

Gallego, the congressman is running. If he holds the seat, that would keep it blue even without cinema being reelected. But you could just see all sorts of opportunities here for Republicans to make gains. You look at the red seats that are up, where do Democrats have a chance of countering?

It's tough to say. The pickup opportunities are just stunning when you lay it out in that way. Of course, that's not the only reason why Democrats are incredibly concerned about this announcement by Joe Manchin. Because he's eyeing a potential run as a third party candidate.

He would join Jill Stein, rfk. I mean, how significant would that be if he does in fact get into the race? Yeah, it's going to be interesting to see if he start getting some polling specifically using Manchin's name. Because this is, this has caught my eye and I think a lot of people.

The New York Times did polls of six key battleground states this week. They did two versions, just Biden versus Trump and then they included Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Who says he's running as an independent.

Look at these numbers. You know, basically at or above 20. Now is that a reflection of the power of the Kennedy name? Is that a reflection of his messaging?

He's got that sort of vaccine skepticism, official information channel skepticism defined as a reflection of that or how much of this is just a reflection of how badly voters want an alternative to both Biden and Trump? If you're offering a Kennedy, how many of them are just Biden's, not Trump, I'll vote for him. And you wonder, would somebody like Manchin look at that and see it? Opening the open for Mansion would be no labels.

They're trying to get ballot access. You see a dozen states right now where they're on the ballot. They're trying to get ballot access with a convention in March to nominate a candidate. Maybe Mansion takes a look at Kennedy and says I should take a look at that and make a run for this.

Yeah. His numbers certainly are higher than I think a lot of people expected them to be. Probably a mix of all those different potential factors you laid out. Stephen, Happy, thank you so much.

Joining me now on set, it's a Mitchell Washington corresponds to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. Simone Sanders Towns Enforce, senior advisor to Vice President Harris and host of Simone on msnbc. And Stephen Hayes, editor and CEO of the Dispatch and NBC News political analyst. Thanks to all of you for being here.

Tia, pick up where Steve left off. This announcement by Joe Manchin that he is not running for reelection, causing Jersey in the Democratic Party about holding on to control of the Senate and, of course, the White House. Right. He's actually in Georgia today speaking at the University of Georgia about bipartisanship in the spirit of former Senator Donny Isaacson.

But he's making it clear he is leaving the door open for a potential third party run at president. He's talking about this next chapter focused on bipartisanship, governing from the center. Now, the question is, is that what voters really want? Like, at the end of the day, voters say they want alternatives, but a lot of times when it gets down to actually choosing, they stick with one of the two major parties.

But is it enough to be a spoiler? Yes. Is it enough to actually win? No label says they can, but the evidence in the history says that's not really the case.

Yeah. And Simone, I mean, Senator Manchin knows that. He knows the history and how tough a path a third party candidate would have. We've not seen a third party candidate be successful in recent history.

But give us the buzz from within the Democratic Party. How much concern is there about this announcement by Senator Manchin? I think there's a lot of concern, but the concern about Senator Manchin I think is primarily about Democrats in the Senate and less about the no labels things, because I don't while I think outwardly Joe Manchin hasn't talked about as a potential for no labels, I think realistically there may be some other people that will actually probably end up on that docket and not Senator Manch. But the Senate is a real is a real problem.

That's a real issue for Democrats. Joe Manchin, I know. I've heard folks all day long saying, well, he wasn't going to win. Re election.

If anybody could win reelection, it was Joe Manchin. I don't know another Democrat in West Virginia that can win statewide in that Senate seat. So where are the pickup opportunities? As we just discussed, potentially Colin Allred in Texas.

Maybe he's someone that Republican operatives in the state have said, I think he can make a dent. But the Senate is a real issue. And if the president is reelected without a Democratic Senate, there is no finishing the job. That's actually a very good point.

What that would look like actual divided government. Stephen, let me bring you into this. President Biden got some very mixed news this week. On the one hand, you had the Democratic wins on Tuesday Nightfield by abortion.

On the other hand, really tough poll numbers which show for President Trump beating him in five key battleground states. His age is a big concern for voters. President Biden made a joke about it at least reaction the other side honestly say, I mean this on the bottom of my heart. I've never been more optimistic about America's future than today.

And I know I only look like I'm 30, but I've been around a long time. Net net. What do you make of this week for President Biden? Another joke in the course of that event I think went over well about him somebody stumbling and it wasn't Joe Biden.

Pretty good at that stuff. On the other hand, the reason people make those jokes is because the central part of the discussion that we're having in the country and one of the reasons that his poll numbers are as low as they are is because not just Republicans are worried about Joe Biden's age. Democrats 6 and 10 Democrats and the NBC will worry about Joe Biden's age. Look, I think Simone is right when she talks about Democrats currently worrying most about Joe Manchin's exit affecting the Senate count.

I think they will come to believe that the more important development is this potential entry in the 2024 presidential campaign. Joe man been having conversations with no labels and indicated willingness to run for more than a year. This is not a sort of Johnny come lately moment. He's been talking about this and he's determined to do it.

They may not want him. He would like to do it. Yeah, but we will watch that very closely. He's not gonna make a decision, I think for another couple of months.

But to pick up on this threat. I mean, I've been talking to Democrats throughout the week in the wake of this polling that we saw which has former President Trump being President Biden five keep out of round six. Look, this is A good thing away because we're a year out. This should be a wake up call to the Biden campaign.

They need to sharpen our message on the economy and they need to start basically viewing this as a general election. Yeah. I think we heard two things from the Biden campaign this week. Number one, a lot of it was it's a year out.

Let's not freak out too much about polling this far from the campaign. But I think we also did hear from Biden campaign officials and Biden surrogates that they do feel like they have a message and they're figure out how to tailor that message in a way that resonates with their base and different types of voters. And I think even they would say there's work to do there, particularly with younger voters, voters of color. There have been divisions recently with the Israel Hamas conflict, for example, that demonstrates that it's not easy to bring everyone in there.

You know, there are complicated decisions that have to be made and they're still figuring it out, but they think they have time. Yeah. Simone, what do you think? First of all, what do you make of the poll numbers?

Are they a wake up call or are they a sign that maybe there should be someone else running? And what do you think the problem is? It is message on the economy. What do you think needs to change?

I think when it comes to the battleground state polling, I do think a year out is way too far to take battleground state polling and say this is the bible and we need to do something about this. And so they should look at the polls. Obviously polls are snapshot in time, but I do not think this is indicative of where things could Potentially be know October 2024. I do think that when it comes to maybe what is not resonating the bionomics situation is, is I don't think that they came out of the gate and they said random things instead of just telling the people what it is that they're getting.

Instead of people don't understand Biden. I think that that is part of the issue. And so what you have heard folks like Andy Bashir, governor who won re election on Tuesday do is he talked about Biden on the campaign trail and when he gave his acceptance speech, you never heard the Biden production facilities. You heard roads and bridges.

You heard the brink fence, bridge. Right. You heard the president start to do that when he announced the money for Amtrak and rail. Talked about what this would mean.

Never heard the term Biden. I think just telling the people what they are getting, what is happening what you have done, they will see more resonance there. It's so interesting because so many of Democrats echoing what you're saying that there needs to be a message. I think you just put a fine point on it.

Simone. Stephen, during debate this past Wednesday, I pressed the Republican candidates on the issue of abortion in the weight of these losses in Ohio, where abortion was literally on the ballot, where Democrats swept the state legislature, in Virginia, where abortion was in focus, it was an issue in Kentucky as well. And what was notable is that Senator Scott was really the only candidate on stage who had a clear message, which is that he supported the 15 week federal ban. How much of an issue do you think this is?

How big of a headwind is it for Republican Senate in 2020? It's an issue and it's a headwind. Yeah. I think you're finding Republicans now sort of finding a way on what language is best to use.

Nikki Haley, I thought I actually had pretty good answer in this debate that was consistent with the answer that she offered last debate, which was more of a pragmatic argument. And it's, you know, this has been an argument inside Republic Party for a long time because on the one hand, people who are pro life are pro life have conviction on a principle. And so if you believe that abortion is killing an infant, it's hard to make a pragmatic case that. But politics matter here.

And I think Republicans are wising up to that and saying we can stay true to the principle and come up with a better way to talk about it and a political pragmatic way of dealing with it. Well, and it's a good point. I'll have to see if Haley's message resonates. She talks about consensus.

Exactly what you're saying. All right. Great conversation. Thank you so much.

Happy Friday, all Tsimone and Steven. And after the break, what to watch for when President Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in the administration's latest efforts to ease tensions with Beijing. You're watching the PRESS now. Welcome back.

As the Biden administration tries to manage two hot wars, one in Israel and one in Ukraine, it's also now addressing the United States deteriorating relationship with China. The White House confirms President Biden will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week in the San Francisco Bay area while they're both there attending a summit. NBC News White House correspondent Ali Rafa joins me now. So Ally, set the stage.

What are the expectations heading to this high stakes meeting? Yeah. White House officials are saying they have big but very realistic expectations for this meeting. They don't expect any major transformational change on China's part.

They say this has been tried and tested and failed for decades now. But they do say that because they expect China to remain a global superpower in the world stage for decades to come, that it's important to lay out to the US's interests, its standards as it relates to global diplomacy and cooperation with China moving forward. And they say that we could expect these two to talk about, first and foremost maintaining open lines of communication. White House officials say that the importance of that was underscored during the Chinese spy balloon incident to be able to avoid escalating tensions, especially militarily.

That, of course, extremely important over the last few months, as we have seen escalating military tensions between China and the US that almost led to near disasters. We also expect them to talk about the fentanyl crisis. The Chinese production of fentanyl, of course, we know, has led to a catastrophic crisis here in the us. We expect them to talk about cooperation as far as trade in the technology, technological sphere, as well as the Israel Hamas war and Ukraine's continued war with Russia.

And obviously you raise the tensions. We have seen the US China relationship really become more tense and deteriorate to some extent over this past year. To what extent will that be the focus? Just trying to get on a better footing.

Officials say that's going to be a major focus and that is evident from just the groundwork and investments we've seen laid out over the last few months in anticipation of this meeting of several Biden Cabinet members making trips to Beijing to talk with their counterparts. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen even speaking today in San Francisco with Chinese foreign minister with the ch. Sorry, vice Premier, in anticipation of this meeting next week. So you can tell just by the time and efforts that are going into this how much is at stake and how much is expected coming out of this meeting.

Kristen? All right. Ally Rafa, high stakes indeed. Really appreciate your setting the stage.

Thanks so much for your great reporting. And silicon There have now been nearly 50 attacks on US and coalition forces in the Middle east in less than one month. How the Pentagon is responding, what the uptick means for the threat of a widening war. You're watching with the press now.

Stay with us. Welcome back. Since Wednesday, there have been at least five more attacks on bases housing U.S. troops and coalition forces in Iraq and Syria.

The Iranian back strikes have been coming at a near daily rate, totaling approximately 47 drone and rocket attacks on bases in the last months 56American service members have been injured. One US contractor died as a result of a heart attack while sheltering in place. NBC News Pentagon correspondent joins me with more on her reporting around these strikes. So what can you tell us Court, about the frequency of these attacks and what's the goal here?

Well, they've been just about every single day since October 17th and some days we see multiple on Sunday of last week, last weekend there were five attacks in one day. The goal here seems to be for these Iranian backed militia groups to try to push the US out of the region. That's been Iran's goal in the region for years now, Kristen. And U.S.

officials are saying they believe that Iran is ultimately behind these attacks despite the fact they're being carried out by some of their proxy groups. Now so far of Those at least 47 attacks there have been 56Americans injured, all minor. But the real concern among US officials is that if one of those attacks is successful and Americans are killed, it could only serve to expand the war in region that's really on edge right now with what's going on in Israel and Nazar, that is the concern that the administration continues to talk about the potential of a widening war. Courtney, what kind of impact are these attacks having on the service members who are stationed in those regions?

So I mean look, their day to day lives probably don't look that different given where they are. We're talking about Iraq and Syria that already have very high level of security on those bases, probably the highest level at most times. They already had some air defense systems that are in place. They can defend against things like these one way attack drones, rockets and mortars.

But the US has shored up what they have on these bases. They're not talking about specifics, but they are telling us that they're sending additional air defense systems to try to defend against these. We know publicly the US has talked about very advanced air defense systems like the Patriot and the Thads that have moved into the region. This is all because because they want to be sure that they have the best possible defenses in place, especially if these attacks do widen out.

In addition to what we keep talking about Iraq and Syria, we can't lose sight of the fact that the Houthis, the rebel group in Yemen, have fired a number of missiles and drones from Yemen with the attempt at the effort to strike in southern southern Israel. The concern here, there are a lot of American ships and service members between Yemen and Israel. The concern here is that too could be another point of potential. Kristen.

All right. Courtney, thank you so much for joining us on this Friday. We really appreciate it. Thanks.

Appreciate your reporting as always. Well, tomorrow is Veterans Day, a day to honor those who serve our country. And now we have another reason to be grateful to those veterans and their family members as thousands volunteer to serve our country in a new way as election workers. NBC News campaign Barnett I should say Emma Barnett has more from New Hampshire.

Mike Horn served four years of active duty in the Air Force and 28 more years with the New Hampshire National Guard. Now Mike serves his country in another way as a poll worker. It's part of what I need to do to contribute as a citizen. When you're a poll worker you leave your party at the door.

And veterans have been trained when they're serving in the military to do just that. Mike is just one of tens of thousands of veterans stepping up to fill gap. There was a deficit of around 120,000 poll workers across America in 2022. Ellen Gustafson helped form the nonprofit organization that the vote aimed at recruiting veterans and military families to become poll workers.

A lot of poll workers are older and people are afraid because there have been threats to poll workers all surrounding misinformation around whether or not our elections are indeed free and fair. We thought what better group than the most trusted people in America? Veterans and military family members to come b poll workers. New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan agrees.

The reason that we're targeting veterans is because they've already served the country in a very important way. They are respected in the community because of that. Scanlan and led the Vote pair up for an event showing what goes on behind the scenes at polling places and encouraging people to become poll workers. People who attended this event would get mock ballots and then go into booths behind me and pretend to vote.

Lisa Marie Clark, an Air Force veteran, came to check out the mock polling event. She held town ballots in 2022 and is planning on being a poll worker again. This is the exact process that we put the uniform on for and we are already geared to serve and you can't serve greater in this capacity than voting and supporting people overload. For the 2022 midterms that the Vote Coalition recruited more than 63000 veterans and military family members to be poll workers.

Now they're looking for 2024. We will be doing this all across the country working with secretaries of state and election officials at the county level. Our goal is that veterans should be the most knowledgeable about how elections work in their state. It's a goal Mike knows his fellow veterans can accomplish.

The good thing the veterans is they always move to show up, to work on time and to work until the mission was complete. Yet another reason to pay tribute to our veterans. Thanks to Emma Barnett for that great reporting and thank you for being with us this hour. We'll be back Monday with more MEET THE PRESS now.

And if it's Sunday, it's MEET THE PRESS on your local NBC News stations. All of interviews with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Senator Chris Murphy, and our NRN chair, Ronnie McDaniel. Don, miss it. The news continues with Tom Costello.

Win 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 podcasts.