This Sunday. Closing in. Israel and Hamas are closing in on a deal to release hostages in exchange for a pause in fighting. I'm doing everything in my power to get you out.
Is a deal within reach? I'll talk to deputy National Security Adviser John Feiner. Plus, blaming Biden. Our new NBC News poll finds voters are unhappy with President Biden and his handling of the Israel Hamas war.
His approval rating at a new low, and he's trailing former President Donald Trump. Acknowledge the disconnect between the numbers and how people feel about their place in the world right now. We still have work to do. Why is the president struggling even with members of his own party?
And spoiler alert, Senator Joe Manchin tells me he's considering a third party run in 2024. Are you considering running for president? I will do anything I can to help my country. Is that yes.
And you're saying does that mean you would consider. Absolutely. Every American should consider if they're in a position to help save the country. I think we're on the wrong course.
My guest this morning, Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut. Joining me for insight and analysis are NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles, New York Times Pentagon correspondent Helene Cooper, former Republican Congressman Carlos Crabello, and former Democratic Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy. Welcome to Sunday. It's Meet the PRESS from NBC News in Washington, the longest running show in television history.
This is MEET THE PRESS with Kristen Welken. Good Sunday morning. NBC News has learned that US Israeli and Hamas negotiators are closing in on a deal to release some of the nearly 240 hostages held in Gaza in exchange for a pause in fighting. But these sources caution nothing has been finalized yet.
The outline of a deal has been put together during weeks of talks in Doha, Qatar. One senior Israeli official tells NBC News as the military pressure increases, the chances of release of hostages rose because Hamas is desperate for a ceasefire. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under pressure. Families of the hostages have been on a five day march from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and they're fiercely criticizing the prime minister for not doing more to secure their release.
On Saturday, Netanyahu emphasized that no deal is done regarding the hostages. There are a lot of unfounded rumors, a lot of incorrect publications. I would like to clarify until this very moment there wasn't a deal. But I'd like to promise you that we do have something to say.
We will report on that. And in a Washington Post op ed, President Biden wrote, quote, as long as Hamas clings to its ideology of destruction, a ceasefire is not peace. But at a press conference earlier this week, the President sounded more optimistic. Look, I have been deeply involved in moving on the hostage negotiation, and I don't want to get ahead of myself here because I don't know what's happened the last four hours, but I have gotten great cooperation from Qataris.
Joining me now is Deputy National Security Advisor John Finer. John, welcome back to Meet the Press. Thanks very much for having me. So, John, let's delve into the details of this breaking news.
NBC News has confirmed, based on conversations with two sources who are familiar with the negotiations, that they are closing in on a potential deal to release some of the hostages in exchange for a pause in the fighting. How close are they to a deal? What can you tell us? Well, what I can say at this point is that some of the outstanding areas of disagreement in a very complicated, very sensitive negotiation have been narrowed.
That I believe we are closer than we have been in quite some time, maybe closer than we have been since the beginning of this process to getting this deal done. And we are following this minute by minute, hour by hour, and have been for a number of weeks, up to including the President, for whom this is a major priority, as you just heard. But at this point, we really need to adhere to the mantra that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed. You know, sensitive relations like this can fall apart at the last minute.
So we're not going to outline all the details of what is still being discussed. We believe that this needs to get done, that people are being held in unconscionable conditions inside Gaza, including a number of Americans, and they need to be allowed to come home. Until the deal is done and people actually start to move and depart, nothing's finalized. So I'm going to stay at this until we get to that point.
And in terms of the contours of the deal, can you give us some specificity? How many hostages are we talking about, John? Are we talking about 12? Are we talking about more than two dozen, dozens?
How would you characterize the number of people? I guess what I would say is, because I don't want to get into the issues that are under discussion among the parties, I'm not going to give a lot more detail other than say we're talking about considerably more than 12. But beyond that, I want to see where this goes and don't want to say anything would jeopardize actually completion of the deal, which is the most important thing, and are all of the potential Hostages who would be released, women and children. John, Again, these are issues in the talks themselves.
These are issues under active discussion among the party. So I think it would not be helpful to the completion of the deal, which is our biggest priority, to start to lay those out in public at the right time. And certainly if this deal is completed, we will have a lot more say about how it all got done. But right now that the priority is actually getting it done, I know you can't say a whole lot.
I have to keep trying. Are we talking about a prisoner exchange, John? I mean again, what you're talking about, what you're asking me about, quite understandably it's your job is a topics there at issue directly among the parties and in the talks. And so my lang goes out in public, we believe is not actually helpful getting this deal across the line.
But these are exactly the topics that are under discussion. I just want to leave it to them and give them the space and the privacy to be able to work this out and get the deal completed before we start detailing these things on television. I understand, but just big picture, would it include what frankly so many people all around the globe have been calling for, which is a ceasefire? We're talking about a ceasefire for several days.
I believe five days has been reported. So without getting into the duration, one of the things that the parties themselves have said, including publicly, is that this code and would likely include an extended period of a pause in the fighting, multiple day period of pause in fighting. We think that would be both necessary to actually be able to execute the deal, because executing the deal involved moving hostages around, was a very dangerous battlefield in Gaza. But it will also have the ancillary benefit, the important benefit of making it easier to distribute humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza, because one of the big challenges has been it's hard to move basic materials around during the course of the fighting.
It will enable us, we believe, to get more humanitarian assistance in Gaza. That's a priority under any circumstances, even if there is no hostage deal. But having a deal that causes a pause in the fight will make it easier to get more in faster. So there are other benefits that aren't necessarily directly related to the deal that we think would be caused if they can get this done.
And would there be Americans involved in this release? John, can you say that we know there are Americans held? It is very important to the President and to all of us that Americans be included in any arrangement. And beyond that, I'm not going to characterize who might or might not be coming out, but that is obviously the highest priority for the President.
He has no higher obligation, obviously, then to the safety and security of Americans, including Americans who are in a terrible situation like those being held in. In Gaza. We've obviously learned that two of the hostages devastatingly were found dead. Do you know the status of the remaining hostages?
Are they alive, John? So one of the things that's incredibly challenging about this situation is we don't have good fidelity, good information about the condition and the status of all the hostages who are being held. Obviously being held by Hamas. United States government does not speak directly to Hamas.
Hamas has indicated that there are a significant number of hostages that they're holding who are alive. Those are the hostages we are negotiating for. We cannot speak to exact numbers being held, exact numbers who are alive or who potentially tragically have been killed, like the two that you mentioned. But we know the number is significant, and we know that it is for all these reasons very important that this happened as quickly as possible.
The longer people are held in a dangerous situation, the more likely it is that something tragic beyond what's already happened to them could happen. We don't see that. John's big picture here. As you know, more than 100 countries have called for a full and immediate ceasefire.
Does the United States risk being out of step with the rest of the world on this issue? So, leaning aside what other countries are saying or doing, I want to be clear about our position, because I think it's been consistent and it's been where the President has been for quite some time, and I think where he's going to remain, which is that right now, Hamas, which perpetrated the horrific act that began this phase of the conflict on October 7, not only is not calling for a ceasefire, but they're saying they did this specifically to create a condition of perpetual war, and that if given the opportunity to do it again, they would do it again and again until Israel is eliminated. Under these circumstances, we do not believe it is responsible to ask Israel to stop fighting Hamas. We believe the threat that occurred in a horrific way on October 7th remains and will remain until it has been sufficiently diminished by these military operations.
That does not mean that we are not supportive of humanitarian pauses, including the type of pause for multiple days that could occur from a hostage yield, but also including pauses in the fighting during the course of normal combat operations to allow humanitarian assistance to be distributed. It also doesn't mean that we do not make very clear that we value every single innocent life equally. Palestinian lives, Israeli lives, and we raise our concerns Directly when there are operations that are taking place that we don't believe prioritize that well, we follow the view on that point. The Atari prime minister said today that Israel's actions at Al Shifa hospital are, quote, crime.
Does the White House stand by Israel's assessment that Hamas is headquartered underneath the hospital? And are you confident that Israel is following international law? We've been quite clear about our view of Shifa. Shifa is the largest hospital in Gaza.
It is the most advanced hospital in Gaza. There are severely ill patients there. There are also a number of civilians who have gathered there secret during the course of the conflict. And those lives need to be protected.
But we've been equally clear that our intelligence, US Intelligence information, not just Israeli intelligence information, suggests that Hamas has used Al Shifa in an unconscionable way as a command and control facility for the planning of terrorist attacks and the execution of terrorist attacks. It continues to do so. That does not, in our view, mean that Israel should conduct airstrikes on the hospital or ground assaults on the hospital. We've been equally clear about that.
But Hamas has put these people in severe jeopardy, by the way, which is conducting this war. So this is a microcosm of the real challenge associated with this entire conflict. And we've lay our position at the same position I just articulated. Are you confident Israel is following international law?
John, just yes or no there. We are confident that it is our position that it needs to. When we have seen issues that are raised based on incidents on the ground, raised them privately and directly with the government. You're saying that Israel, on this question.
Yeah. Let me just follow up quickly. You said Israel needs to follow international law. Are you confident they are following international law?
What I can say is it's not our position, certainly my position as a policymaker to play real time judge and jury on the question of any particular incident. When we see things that concern us, we raise them. We've done that during the course of this conflict. We'll continue to do that.
And again, just to restate it, it is our position that all countries, including Israel, including the United States, need to adhere to laws of armed conflict. Hamas, by the way, does not only not hold itself to that standard, it openly boasts about its willingness and its reality of violating those standards. So that is the challenge. The President said in his op ed that the United States is prepared to issue visa bans against extremist attacking civilians in the West Bank.
How soon will the US Move to enact those bans? Is that a process that's already underway. So I think you've heard the president speak about publicly, I think more so maybe than many of his, if not all of his predecessors, his concerns about violence in the west bank perpetrated by extremist settlers against innocent Palestinians. He also raised those concerns very directly with Prime Minister Netanyahu, as we all have with our Israeli counterparts.
You saw in the president's op ed that the consequences for this sort of action could include visa bans against people who are associated with violence against innocent Palestinians in the west bank especially. He has lay out more details of that approach in the coming days. But this is serious. We think it's potentially hugely destabilizing.
We think it could lead to greater instability in the west bank, which is in nobody's interest. And so we're going to try to do our part to help the Palestinian Authority and the Israeli Defense Forces keep a lid on what we believe is very troubling actions in the West Bank. John, will the administration go even further and call for freezing settlements in the West Bank? And I'm not gonna get ahead of policy statements or decisions that have not been made or articulated at this point.
We are quite clear about our concerns. Our concerns are first and foremost related to violence that is being perpetrated. A number of Palestinians in West bank who have been killed is beyond any year since the second intifada. And we're gonna try to take actions aimed at reducing that and hopefully eliminating over time.
John Finer, thank you so much for your time and your insights this morning. We really appreciate it. Thanks again for having me. As the war between Israel and Hamas rages on, it is having a transformative impact in our politics.
We have a brand new NBC News poll out this morning which shows the toll it is taking on the president. I'm joined now by national political correspondent Steve Kornacki to take us through the numbers. Steve, some real stunning highlights here in this poll. Absolutely.
I think you're right to set it up that way. What'? It really does seem to be connecting with what's happening domestically in our politics. Let's start with the bottom line here.
President Biden, what is his job approval rating? We measure it now at 40% with 57% disapproving of significance. That is the lowest President Biden has ever measured in our poll in terms of job approval. And just look at the sea change from the start of this year.
Remember earlier this year, Democrats coming off a strong 2022 midterm, he was almost even. Now he's 17 points underwater on this question. Significant dip there, Steve. It is.
And you can actually, if you take a look here by party, I think it's significant for two reasons. One, independence, obviously more than two to one disapproved. You don't want to be there as incumbent president. I think equally significant, no surprise, 7% Republicans approve of Joe Biden's job performance.
But three times as many Democrats, 21%, that's more than 1 in 5 say they disapprove. You need much more unified support in your own party if you're gonna successful reelection campaign. We mentioned the drop in approval ra connection to the Middle east, and here it is. On foreign policy, 33% approved Joe Biden's job reforms.
Just in September, we asked the same question and it was 4,153. These numbers surprised our own pollsters. Steve, with one, said he cannot remember a time when a foreign entanglement that did involve U.S. troops had the capacity to transform the electorate.
And that's not the case in this poll. No. And go even a step further on this one. I think this jumps out at you too.
Overall, this is the handling of the Israel Hamas war and it kind of measures overall up with Biden's foreign policy approval. But look at this. Among the oldest group of voters, 65 plus, there's a majority who approve how Biden's handling this. That's plus 12.
Look at the youngest group of voters. 20 approved, 70% disapprove. He is 50 points underwater with the youngest group of voters. That is a 62 point net swing between youngest and oldest on this topic of the year, Israel, Hamas.
And it's a critical group of voters that needs in order to win real election, that's for sure. Absolutely. So we're showing you Biden's problems in the question is who will the Republicans nominate to oppose him. And again, Donald Trump towering above the field here.
Two others in double digits compared this to our last poll. And again, Trump is steady. The only growth you're really seeing, the only change is right there. Nikki Haley, she grew last time, she grew a little bit more this time into double digits.
And those numbers are fueled by non Trump voters. I've been talking to sources inside Trump world who say they're not panicking because of that, but it's clear she's got some real momentum here, Steve. She does. And her challenge is just what you say.
You look at voters who call themselves conservative, very conservative, they're very pro Trump. They seem a little reluctant, a little resistant to her. She's got A breakthrough not just with moderate independence. She's got a breakthrough with core Republican voters who like Donald Trump.
She wants to make this a real game with Trump. Ok, so if we are heading towards Trump, Biden, a rematch in 2024, how does that look in our polling right now? Here it is, Donald Trump. We have a 46% Biden 44.
And this is significant because this is the first time in the history of our poll that former President Trump beats President Biden. Still within the margin of error, but still significant. 2019, 2020, when Trump was president, he trailed all of them. This year he's trailed all of our poll.
First time we're in a dozen polls, we've seen a result like this. Some of the other ingredients that go to that Biden has long had an advantage over Trump, unlikeability. Look at the start of this year, 39% of the positive view of Biden, barely 30 of Trump. We've seen consistently a gap like this.
Now the gap is going 36 positive on both. And actually Biden 1 point more negative than Trump. That's been a significant advantage for Biden. Arpel says that advantage, at least for now, may be gone.
And we talked about younger voters on foreign policy and it's true on a host of other topics. Disaffected with Joe Biden, 46% for Trump, 42% for Biden. Among the youngest voters, the youngest voters in the 2020 election were Biden plus 26. This could be a massive sea change.
And if you take a look here too, everybody sort of says, hey, I'm not too nice about the possibility of this matchup. So we said let's measure this one way. And here's how we did it. Biden against an unnamed Republican.
This is a referendum of Biden, basically. And look at this. He goes from being in a dog fight with Trump to being double digits Biden. But they flip around.
Trump against an unnamed Democrat. Trump goes from leading against Biden to being down by six points against the Democrats. Just a fascinating look at the state of the race with just a little under a year to go. Steve Kornacki, great stuff.
Thank you so much for being here. When we come back, Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie joins me now next. Welcome back. Last weekend, former Governor Chris Christie became the first Republican presidential candidate to visit Israel since the war began, meeting with government officials and victims of the October 7 terrorist attacks, as well as families of hostages being held in Gaza.
And joining now is for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a candidate for president welcome back to Meet the Press, Governor Christie. Thank you, Kristen. So let's dive right in. I want to ask you about this deal that could be closing in.
I just talked about it with John Finer. You just returned from Israel. You saw this conflict up close. I'm curious, would you support an agreement that included a several day pause in exchange for some women and children hostages being released?
Kristen, look, I spent, as you said, time in Israel last week and I met with the families of those who are being held hostage. I have to tell you that both for Israeli and American hostages that are being held, we need to get them home. The families gave me this, Kristen, this dog tag which says bring them home now. And I really believe that it's time for the Israeli government and the United States government to work out a fair deal to bring some of these hostages home.
The torture these families are going through is extraordinary and they need to get their family members home. There are some children who are hostage. There are some folks in their 70s that are being held hostage. Their health certainly must be at risk, especially for the older folks.
And we need to get those people home, Kristen. So I would support a deal that was fair and equitable and one that gets these people home now. Okay. Well, let me ask you, broadly speaking about how Israel is carrying out the war.
The UN Human rights chief has said that Israel is, quote, committing war crimes in Gaza. Based on what you learned on your trip, do you believe that Israel is following international law? Yes, I absolutely do think Israel is following international laws. And I will tell you, unlike a lot of other people who are expressing opinions about this, I was there and spoke to the leaders in Israel, spoke to the President of Israel, spoke to members of the Israeli Defense forces.
I was 600 yards from the Gaza border. I went everywhere in Israel to see what's going on. And they're doing everything they can to avoid civilian casualties. The problem is that Hamas is forcing these civilians to stay in places where Israel is mourning them out of dropping thousands of leaflets, sending hundreds of thousands of text messages to warn people away from areas before they're attacked.
It is Hamas that's doing this. And let's not forget, for those who are advocating for a ceasefire, there was a ceasefire on October 6th and there was Hamas that broke it on October 7th. And I will tell you, I saw the 43 minute video that's been put together by the Israeli government from raw footage from not only Israeli sources, but from body cams and dash cams from Hamas terrorists. What they did on October 7th was the greatest violation of international law and the greatest violation of humanity.
And the worst part, they did it with joy. We had one young man who called back to his family at Hamas and a cell phone call that was interrupted said, mom, I just killed 10 Jews with my bare hands. Your son is a hero. And his parents cheered him.
It is horrific. And as you know, there is also an outcry for the civilians that have lost their lives in the wake of that. Governor, since October 7th, more than 200 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank. France has called settler violence a, quote, policy of terror.
If you were president, what would you do about the violence in the west bank? And would you go so far as to call for a freeze in the settlements there? What I would do, Kristen, is do what friends do with friends. I would be speaking to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the other officials in the Israeli government, telling them that they have to get, you know, control over what's happening with settlers in the West Bank.
What's going on in the west bank is very different than what's going on in Gaza. Hamas is in Gaza. Hamas is doing what it has done in Gaza. Would you call for a freeze government?
Would you call for a freeze in the settlement? No, I wouldn't. No. No, I would not.
No, Kristen, I would not call for a freeze. I would not be dictating policy to the Israeli government. But I would advise, as friends do, that that type of violence in the west bank is a distraction from what needs to be done, which is to protect Israel's territorial integrity, protect the safety and security of their citizens, and to make sure that Hamas's capability to commit this type of is degraded militarily. Let me ask you about Elon Musk, who is making some waves.
He was criticized this week for endorsing a post on his own platform X where a user accused Jewish people of hating white people, which, as you know, is an anti Semitist conspiracy theory. Vivek Ramaswamy said it's crazy to call Musk antisemitic. What was your reaction to Elon Musk? Look, I think that what we're seeing in this country, Kristen, with a rot, with the incredible unmasking of anti Semitism, I want to say it's a rise.
I think it's been there and I think what we're seeing now due to what's happening in Israel at the moment, is an unmasking of that. We're seeing it all over college campuses. We're seeing on social media sites like X and TikTok and other social media sites and it is horrific. And I think the President United States needs to be much stronger than these people been in speaking out against anti Semitism in this country.
This is outrageous, outrageous type of hate that's being expressed. And we need to be speaking out against no matter who does it, whether it's Elon Musk, whether it's professors on our college campuses or students that they are misleading, or whether it's individuals who are speaking out in an anti semitic way on the streets of our cities. This is unacceptable. And the president has not been strong enough in this view, in this point, my view.
Governor, let me ask you about one of the biggest policy positions for Republicans right now, which is the issue of abortion. Your rival Governor Ron DeSantis signed a six week ban in Florida. As you know, Donald Trump said that was a quote, terrible mistake. And just this weekend, Nikki Haley said on Friday she would have signed a six week ban as the governor of South Carolina.
Where are you on this issue of a six week banner? Can you be clear for voters? Yeah, I sure can't be. I think each state should make their own decision, Kristen and I, and I think that's what Dodge was all about, was letting each state and its people make their own decision.
We've seen referendum go on in places like Kansas and Ohio and other places where voters are getting to express their view on this. I think that's what should have always been. This is not a federal constitutional issue. This is a state issue, Kristen.
And each state should make their own judgment on this. And I think the president or people running for president should not be in a position of picking a certain number of weeks. Governor, RNC Chairman Daniel told me last week on the show, quote, we can't just say it's a state's issue and be done. Voters want clarity.
So can you give them some. Where do you stand on a six week fan, Governor, would you sign it? For example, if it had come to your desk in New Jersey with my Democratic legislature, New Jersey, no ban would have come to my desk. Do you support a six week ban?
How do you feel about a six week band? You go. I have said, Kristen, I have set my position on this, which is that every state and its people should make its own judgment on this issue. I have governed as a pro life governor in New Jersey and I believe in the sanctity of human life.
But I'm not gonna get into this media game of 6 weeks, 12 weeks, 15 weeks, 20 weeks. I want the American people to decide. That's the right way to make this judgment. With all due respect to Rana, she's not running for president and she's never governed.
So she doesn't know how hard these choices are. And I have to interact with people. Look, this is an extraordinary emotional issue for the American people. And I believe that the Supreme Court has robbed the American people of their right to be heard on this.
They should be heard. And Nobody in Washington, D.C. should rob the American people of the right to be heard in each and every state. And when I'm president, I won't do that.
All right. Governor Chris Christie, thank you so much for joining us this morning. We really appreciate it. Kristen, thanks for having me.
When we come back, Democrats are divided over the Israel Hamas war. Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut joins me next. Welcome back. Tension over the Israel Hamas war is simmering inside the Democratic Party.
Only half of Democratic voters say they approve of President Biden's handling of the war. And just a quarter of Democrats say Israeli military action in Gaza is justified. More than half say Israel has gone too far and its military actions are not justified. Joining me now is Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, Connecticut.
Welcome to MEET THE press. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Wonderful to be with you.
I want to start off again by asking about this breaking news that negotiators may be closing in on a deal to release some of the hostages in exchange for potentially a pause in the fighting. What is your reaction to this and what can you tell us about this potential deal? What are you hearing? Do you think Americans might be involved?
I think Americans will be involved and must be involved. You know, I visited Israel just weeks ago and met with many of the hostage families. And it is just heartbreaking, gut wrenching. And I've kept in touch with them, met with them here, talked on the phone.
And the release of the hostages is an imperative. And Americans must be included. I think we're closer than ever. But close is still no deal.
And verification and enforcement are key sticking points that need to be overcome. And just to be clear, what gives you confidence that Americans are likely involved? I have a high degree of confidence that Americans will be involved in nine of them and a green card holder, perhaps more. But Americans involvement will be an imperative, I think, for the present, rightly so.
You just heard Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer stand by the US Intelligence and the Israeli intelligence that has said that Hamas has embedded itself in Al Shifa Hassan. As you know, there is still a fair amount of skepticism about that charge. Globally speaking, what more does the US what does Israel need to do, do you think, to prove that claim? A lot of the intelligence has been released already.
Some of the videos of one of the other hospitals, Children's Hospital, showed that there were tunnels and armed sewage facilities under that hospital. Obviously there's video of the shaft at Al Shifa Hospital. But here is the key point that I think is so important. There needs to be more transparency.
Both Israel and the United States need to release more of this intelligence time after time. Kristen, when I have attended briefings in the classified section of the United States Capitol, I say at the end, you know, our adversaries know this stuff. They know we know this stuff, we know, they know we know it. The only people who don't know it is the American public.
And there is reliable intelligence that can and should be released without compromising sources and evidence that would bolster Israel's case in the court of world opinion and would also support the United States aiding Israel as it must do. Will you take me to my next question? As you know, the president has called for Congress to provide aid to Israel, more aid to Ukraine, Taiwan as well as the border. Senator Bernie Sanders and other Democrats are calling for the US to condition aid to Israel on a, quote, end to the indiscriminate bombing and a freeze on settlement expansion.
If that is a part of a deal for Israel. Would you support that? I would oppose conditions written into statutes as a criteria for aid to Israel. I don't know how the United States Congress would, which has yet to pass a budget, can impose conditions for combat on an ally that is trying to defend itself as it has a right responsibility to do under some of the most difficult conditions of warfare in recent history.
And so I would be very loath to impose conditions that would in fact straight jacket or handcuff the IDF in this very, very excruciating political challenge. Let me take a step back and ask you about anti Semitism broadly and I want to get your reaction to Elon Musk endorsing an anti Semitic post on his platform. Ask. The Musk post was condemned by the White House.
As you know, large companies like Apple and Comcast, the parent company of NBC News, have pulled advertising from the platform. What was your reaction and what is your concern when you see a post like that? That my reaction to Elon posts Elon Musk post was absolute abhorrence. His saying that this blatantly anti Semitic comment was, quote, the actual truth is sickening and chilling.
And Elon Musk has turned X, formally known as square into a cesspool of hate speech and extremist incitement. And I encourage, in fact, I urge advertisers like IBM, which has done so, to withdraw from X and to send a message, Elon Musk, that hate has no place on this powerful megaphone. And as you know, the surge of anti semitic, anti Muslim, white supremacist, anti black sentiment on social media has been an indicator, in fact, an accelerant to more than just speech action that constitutes hate crimes. Just Finally, Senator, I want to ask you a little bit of politics now about our new polling, which shows for the very first time President Biden is getting beaten by former President Trump within the margin of error.
Part of what's dragging down his poll numbers is a lack of support among younger voters for his handling of the Israel Hamas war. How concerned are you about these numbers and what do you think the president needs to do? Do you think he's still the best candidate for 2024? I think he's the best candidate for 2024.
I have confidence that he will overcome those poll numbers. We're a year away. But remember, even more important than the polls are what voters are doing. In the most recent elections in Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, they showed that they prefer the Biden record of accomplishment over the mega extremism.
And here's the important point. In Ohio, voters said, we reject the effort to undercut women's health care and reproductive rights. I think we're going to see that issue on the ballot. President Biden has a record of accomplishment on infrastructure, prescription drug prices, a number of other issues that really matter.
And maybe most important, rather than championing this cause, women's reproductive prices. Senator Blumenthal, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it. Good to see you.
And when we come back, will Sen. Joe Manchin run for president in 2024? He's not ruling it out just yet. Welcome back.
The last time the seat was up in 2018, Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said he'd wrestled with the idea of even running for reelection. Here's how he described his conversation with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer at the time and what led him to his eventual decision. And I said, Chuck, this point sucks. If it sucks, why are you for re election?
Because I think I can make it better. I think I can contribute to bringing people together. I don't have one Republican that I can send it on, my friend. They're all my friends and I want to work with them.
Well, that was blunt. This week I spoke a Senator Manchin on the heels of his announcement to leave Congress at the end of his term, I pressed him on his 2024 plans and whether he'd consider an independent run for president. You've said you don't think he would be a spoiler. If you look at the polls, it shows that a third party candidate would take support away from President Biden.
What do you say to those who say you would be a spoiler? I've never been spoiled in my life of anything. I would never be a spoiler. Now everyone's saying this one is spoiling.
Tip the scales one way or the other. Okay. You have basically Ross Perot. Who would have predicted that Ross Perot would have elected Bill Clinton?
Tip the scales of Bill Clinton? I don't think so. Who would have predicted that Bobby Kennedy, now with his support, would tip the scales for Donald Trump or hurt Donald Trump? I'm sorry.
And tip the scales to Joe Biden since he basically left the Democratic Party. I don't, you know, no one can predict these things. As you sit here today, do you think President Biden and Vice President Harris are the strongest ticket to represent the democratic party in 2024? Not in the centrist part.
No, I don't. And they know how I feel. This is not, I do not believe that they are basically where Joe Biden has come from. And just go back to the campaign.
He's been here for long. He understands the system. And I think he's a good man. And we have good conversations.
We disagree. You're going too far left. I can't go there. And you can see my full interview with Senator Joe mansion@the press.com when we come back.
President Biden gets a new low point in his presidency according to our new NBC News poll. The panel is here with all of their reaction next. Welcome back. The panel is here, NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Brian Nobles, Helene Cooper, Pentagon correspondent for the New York Times, former Democratic Congressman Stephanie Murphy of Florida and former Republican Congressman Carlos Corbello, also of Florida.
Thanks to all of you for being here. Ryan, I want to start with you and these tough poll numbers for President Biden showing former President Trump meeting him for the very first time in our poll, you've been talking to folks inside Biden world. What are they telling you? Yeah, I think the campaign knows that this is an issue for them.
It's something that they have to deal with. But they're hoping that by this time next year, actually earlier than this time next year, that voters are saying it's a binary choice. It's either going to be Donald Trump or Joe Biden or some other Republican in that even though they may not be specifically happy with the way the president has handled the situation, that they're not going to want to hand the White House to Donald Trump. And that means, though, they've got to get a lot of work done between now and then.
And they're aware of it. They're reaching out to these constituencies and explaining to them how the president is trying to balance the issues of these innocent Palestinians along with the right for Israel to defend itself. But part of it is they've got to get something done. And we have some new reporting this morning with our college Julius Cirkin about finding aid for Israel in the Congress, which has been so difficult right now.
And what we're being told by Russian leaders is that they really believe they've got to get a package done between Thanksgiving and Christmas because if this extends into the new year and we're up against a funding deadline, gonna be that much more difficult to get all done. And that is a tight timeline. And Helene, you talk about getting something done. It would be significant if there was in fact a deal to release the hostages because part of what this poll shows is that President Biden's getting low marks for his handling of foreign policy, for his handling of this war, particularly among younger voters.
They're just abandoning him on this issue. They really are. He's in danger of not losing his own party over this, but it's he's really seen his support go down, as your polls show, among young Democrats who are very angry of his full embrace, I would say, of a right wing Israeli government, the right wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu. And I think that's where this hostage deal could actually help President Biden a little because this hostage deal is significant for the families of hostages, of course.
But it's also significant in that this would be the first de escalatory step We' seen since October 7th. This is going to be the first time that the two sides are starting to step back away from the escalation that we've had. And if it brings with it a five day humanitarian pause, people are hoping, people within the US Government are hoping, you don't know, maybe you could extend that pause, are hoping that this is this, at least for five days, be a cessation of the bombing campaigns that you're seeing and the spiraling of the civilian death toll, which is what is hurting President Biden. I think in the poll it is, it would be so Significant.
And if you look at Stephanie, this word cloud that we have from our poll, it's so fascinating. You see foreign policy mentioned at the top, poor economic status, back out of student loan bill, which is of course the Supreme Court blocked the president's actions on student loan disagree with funding for Israel and Gaza. What Ryan was just talking about. Yeah.
You know this problem, the problem for President Biden is that these are issues that are problem for him not just with Democrats but also with Republicans and independents. For example, back out of student loan when he was unable to deliver on the promise to cancel loans. He disappointed Democrats, but then he also upset people who are non college educated who felt like he was trying to take their taxpayer dollars and pay for somebody else's college education. And he has struggled with the economy across the board.
I think Biden isn't being bought by the American people. It's one of the top issues. There's no doubt about that. A lot of strategists wanted to ship his messaging there, Carlos.
But when you look at the Republican field, Haley has real momentum here. But does she have enough time to catch up about two months to Iowa. Well, Kristen, something the NBC News poll revealed is that both these front runners, Trump and Biden are very weak. They both have major liabilities.
So this race for second place in the Republican Party is important. And someone like Nikki Haley, if she had the opportunity to face off one on one with Donald Trump early in the primary season, you could see a path for her. So some Republicans are increasingly excited about Haley. And again, I think it's important not to dismiss race for second place because who knows what's going to happen to both these front runners.
Yeah, it's a really great point. I want to talk to you all about something I talked to my guests about, which is this rise in anti Semitic and frankly hate that we are seeing across the board online. In addition to the Elon Musk post that we talked about, we saw this stunning thing, this letter by Osama bin laden justifying the 911 attacks. And it's hard to even talk about the letters filled with anti Semitic hate in it.
Is this a national security threat? I don't know that it's such a good question. And that letter made me crazy. A friend of mine sent me the TikTok, the TikTok video.
It's not the letter. We've all seen the letter. The letter came out back in 2002, I think right after the 911 when Osama bin released this. And we read it in the time and all of a sudden, it resurfaces 20 years later and you have this, these TikTok users who are tweeting and going and posting this letter and saying, oh, we've now realized that everything we've learned, we thought we knew about America is wrong.
Because suddenly they're, what is this the first time they're just meeting somebody criticizing American policy? They're not used to that. Well, and I'll say social media is where we see these things. So I think we react and we want to blame social media, but this is something that exists in our society.
There's a truth crisis in our society. There's probably an education failure in our society. And young people are disenfranchised in our society, which is probably why they're acting out. And you can kind of understand them.
If you're 20, 25 years old and you're asked to make a choice between Joe Biden and Donald Trump in terms of who's going to lead you, you can understand why some of these young people are frustrated and why a lot of them may just sit out. Right. I think that's among the many concerns, concerns that are facing the Biden White House and the Biden campaign right now. It's not so much that they're worried that their supporters are going to support Donald Trump or even Nikki Haley.
They're more worried that they're just going to stay home and they can afford that. It's not a coincidence that young people who consume so much social media are also having these conversations in public. And I think the big concern here is are they debating Americans and Americans on social media or their outside influences? Joking Division of America.
Great conversation, everyone. That is all for today. Thank you for watching. Happy Thanksgiving.
We'll be back next week because if it's Sunday, it's Meet the Press. He was a young Marine. She didn't care about convention. They made a life together.
Then one night, the Marine died. And then the death investigation took a wild, unexpected and utterly bizarre turn. I'm Josh Makowitz, and this is Trace of Suspicion, an all new podcast from Dayland. Listen to all episodes of Trace of Suspicion now, wherever you get your podcasts.