Meet The Press Full Broadcast — Nov. 27

this Sunday morning in the United States Two mass shootings two days apart at a Walmart in Virginia and a nightclub in Colorado is a disturbing ritual of mourning for the victims both political parties disagree on how to solve the problem of gun violence I'm going to try to get rid of a subway President Biden says he will push for a ban on assault weapons. All Republicans point out that mental health, not guns, is the problem. Much of this is really a moment to reflect on the mood of America and Virginia. this mental health crisis that we know we're in the middle of I'm going to talk to Democratic Governor Jared Polis of Colorado and powerful Republicans are returning to power in the House by threatening to impeach the Secretary of Homeland Security.

He has lied to the American public. This investigation could Kevin McCarthy's path to becoming the next House speaker faces

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ure from his own members who want him to target the president and his Cabinet officials. I will speak with Republican Congressman James Comer of Kentucky, who is expected to be the next president. from the House Oversight Committee who says he wants to investigate President Biden's son and resigned every day for all those years. I have given everything I have and I have never left anything on the field. Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Joe Biden's chief medical adviser and the country's top infectious disease expert for decades, is here to talk about the pandemic and his legacy as he leaves office next month and will join me for a briefing. and analysis.

Susan, USA Today Washington bureau chief, pays Maria Theresa Kumar, Republican Latino vote chair political consultant Matt Gorman and Reed Wilson founder and editor-in-chief of pluribus news welcome to Sunday's Meet the Press from NBC News on Washington the longest running show in television history is Meet the Press with Chuck Todd good Sunday morning Americans found themselves in a familiar place this Thanksgiving week crying for the lives lost in multiple mass shootings in Colorado Springs five people were killed at lgbtq nightclub alleged shooter faces possible hate crime charges in addition to five counts of first-degree murder two days later in Chesapeake Virginia six people were killed at a Walmart by a disgruntled employee who then shot himself itself while the victims are not new they are new the questions these massacres raise are not new and if there is a single issue that represents this The stark red-blue divide in this country is evident in the way each side responds to these massacres .

Democrats emphasize the urgency of action and called for stricter gun laws. The idea that we still allow the purchase of semi-automatic weapons is sick, this is sick, there is no no. zero social redeeming value none now the only rationale for it except profit for the gun manufacturer can you do something about gun laws during the lame ducks? I'm going to try, what are you going to try to do? I'm going to try to get rid of it. Republicans condemn violence but blame mental health issue, not guns, which we see again in the Commonwealth, Colorado and Idaho, these simple reminders of senseless violent crime and much of it are truly a moment to reflect about the state. of Mind Of America and Virginia and this mental health crisis that we know we're in the middle of the fact is that we have a mental health crisis in this country, of the over 40,000 deaths from gun violence this year, more than the Half of them were due to suicide, but that doesn't mean we don't also have a gun problem in this country.

We are the only country in the world with significantly more guns than people and a culture that fiercely resists any perceived restrictions from the right. bear arms, something that is enshrined in our Constitution and perhaps the main factor contributing to the now common lack of response from Washington is the fact that voters do not demand a response. Only 11 percent of voters choose gun policy as the issue that matters most to them. when casting their ballots in this month's midterm elections, and in fact, in seven of our nine major Senate battleground states, that percentage was even lower of voters choosing guns as their top issue, whether they are traumatized cynics or simply have other problems that affect their daily lives.

The reality is that politicians respond to the public and until voters make this issue a priority it is unlikely that Washington will join me now is Jared Polis, he is the Democratic governor of Colorado, it is a state that has seen its share of armed violence in all aspects. of daily life, just consider this list of Colorado's deadliest mass shootings, reminding Americans that no place is safe, whether it's the school at Columbine, whether it's at the movie theater in Aurora, whether it's just shopping groceries in Boulder or relaxing at a nightclub in Colorado Springs. cops welcome back to Meet the Press good morning Chuck um, how do you avoid a repeat wash and rinse cycle?

Here we've done this, you and I have had this conversation before we've done a version of this show before, how is that enough, yes, unfortunately you've had to do too many versions of this show, Chuck, and first of all, our hearts are with the five lives that were lost in the Q club shooting. I've spent much of the last week talking to the victims the survivors uh thanking the heroes who acted bravely the losses could have been worse I think what you really need to do if you really want to reduce these types of gun violence events and mass violence events is to try to take the best ideas from all sides at work, of course, it's about mental health, of course, it's about gun policy , of course, it's about anti-Lgbtq rhetoric, it's about all these things we need as a society, while political leaders walk and chew gum at the same time.

Look at all the evidence and facts and try to make decisions that will lead to a safer country. Uh, one of the answers you gave after I want to do my events right. I believe it was after the rock shooting that the state of Colorado implemented a red flag law. I think what I would believe here if they understood better how the red flag law worked, maybe this shooter would be prevented from having a gun at the time he wants to do the massacre of him. It seems like this would have been a good example for the use of Colorado's new red flag law, which has been used several hundred times, but could have been used even more to prevent these types of tragic events or, more often, to prevent self-harm or suicide.

This is Chuck, several states have him. It is a legal way to temporarily remove someone's access to weapons while they are experiencing a mental health crisis and that can usually be reported by a parent, loved one, or by the sheriff's department or law enforcement. law enforcement and we need to make sure that that is more available and easier when someone is an immediate threat and there were signs in this troubled person's past that they would have been a threat, could have instigated our red flag law to remove him from custody of his weapons while his experience in that mental health crisis, so those types of tools are data-driven, they work, and they can reduce suicide and, from time to time, they can even reduce the likelihood of this type of horrible events your ass makes, I guess the question I have with red flag laws: is this the best law you can come up with given the current circumstances we live in politically?

Is this a good idea regardless of the current state of our politics? And I say this because you're really asking. that people do something that is not comfortable for them, that is, inserting themselves into another person's life, no, it is never comfortable and that is why you want to analyze the ability of law enforcement to expand that to district attorneys so they can do this too, but it's certainly better than the alternative and doing nothing or having no tools and watching someone at risk sadly take their own life or the lives of others, so yes, it's called a risk protection order extreme, it works here, this is what Chuck is, you know when someone is having a mental health crisis and they are an immediate danger to themselves or others, they can be temporarily detained, you know, 24 hour holds or 72 hours, but by the time they are released, they are in no immediate danger to themselves or others. they could still be a danger to themselves or others, but not that immediate danger to themselves or others, this triggers another way of making sure that they don't have access to something that could turn that feeling they have into self-destruction or a mental problem. health problem in a tragedy, where would you like to go?

With the next round of laws? Do you think this has to come from the federal level? Is there anything else the state of Colorado can do on your mind? Well, we certainly will. to take a closer look at why the red flag law was not used in this case in the super shooter king case what can be used to advertise better make available uh add different parts to make sure it is used when it should be used, but Of course , the answer should be National and we also have universal background checks in Colorado, some of our neighboring states don't even have background checks so someone is a convicted felon in Colorado who can't legally purchase a gun and can drive an hour to buy one. buy five guns at an outdoor gun show and return to our state, so yes, it should be looked at at the federal level, but that doesn't mean excluding mental health issues when looking at the rhetoric being used in the political arena and how they can instigate these acts of violence, these are all very valid issues that we really need to examine ourselves as a society to try to remedy.

I was just going to say that when you look at the Q club shooting you can't help but say why, how much of this mental health issue with this person was sparked by hateful rhetoric online and how much of this is easy access to a gun. , while also being in a mentally unstable place, yes. and I just encourage policy makers to look at all of the above, in the details of this case they will emerge and we will find what that balance was, but in a different case the balance might be different, right? I mean, we know that when people say incendiary things, someone who is not well balanced can hear those things and think that what they are doing is heroic when in reality it is a horrible crime that kills innocent people, so we really need to be aware of rhetoric, trying to heal people, bringing people together.

Never pit one group of Americans against another, would you pursue what President Biden wants to pursue, which is an assault weapons ban essentially that would put the AR-15 on? I guess outside of individual circulation. Well, look, in this case, I think he had two guns. I believe it has been reported that one of the weapons was a ghost gun. A serial number may not even have been legally purchased in Colorado. We have a magazine limit of 15, 15 rounds, no more than 50 bolts in a magazine, so effectively it reduces. the ability of high-powered weapons to do harm, so look, I think all of these things, including the red flag law and expanding its use, should really be looked at, but again, it's not just about the policy of weapons, yes, that should be on the table. discuss in a thoughtful and rational way, but we also need to talk about mental health and we need to talk about the divisive rhetoric that even some people who aspire to leadership positions in our country unfortunately use almost every day. support If you were still in Congress, would you vote for assault weapons?

In general, I support national efforts to close weapons to a loophole to have a conversation about what kind of weapons you know, since you know that

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y automatic weapons are already effectively banned. I shouldn't say prohibition, there is a way to get a federal license to operate one, but if you're talking about a similar process where you need an additional license or a background check for some of the more powerful weapons, I support that as a Member of the Congress, that's the kind of thing we should be looking at on a national level, but not to the exclusion of all these other things we're talking about, which may also be important, which is why you think there should be classifications of certain types of weapons.

Governor Jared Polis Democrat of Colorado I really appreciate you coming to share your perspective with us. Thank you, it's always a pleasure. Chuck, joining me now is Congressman James Comer of Kentucky. He is currently the ranking member on House Oversight and hopes to become the next chairman of the Oversight Committee in the House.Next Congress Congressman Comer has represented Kentucky's 1st District, home to Paducah, for those of you wondering since 2016 and this is his first time joining the program. Congressman Comer, welcome to be the

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, sir, good morning, Chuck, uh, look, I wanted to talk. I told him what his schedule will be in a couple of months, but I want to ask him about guns.

I know what his personal position is. Are there any gun laws that you would like to see stricter when it comes to gun purchases, I mean we already have mini gun laws on the books, if passing a bill would just end gun violence and I think that you would have overwhelming support in Congress for that, that's like saying Congress could pass a bill to reduce inflation than not reduce inflation so you know that passing bills doesn't solve the problems we have, as the Governor Juncken, a mental health crisis in America and I think there is overwhelming bipartisan support for funding better mental health programs and trying to increase communication between law enforcement and social media.

Service groups to try to better identify these troubled people before they commit crimes. How would you suggest we stop mentally unstable people from buying guns if we don't have a waiting period or we don't have certain ratings for certain guns, is there a way to do this right? That's something Congress is sure to discuss, it's been discussed for the entire six years. I've been in Congress, it's very difficult, you know, the number one priority on crime in America for Republicans will be the fentanyl crisis, which we talk about, terrible gun crimes in America, but we've had more than one hundred thousand. deaths due to fentanyl flowing across our border, which is unsecured at this time, that will be the top priority for Republicans in January.

I understand it, but no one wants to see these massacres. I mean, it feels like we're talking about the individual freedom of someone who can uh uh have the right to bear arms people want to have the individual freedom to shop at Walmart without fear of being shot, so I guess there's somewhere, some room I know where his position is, any room. to allow that if we had had a waiting period with the Walmart shooter, three days may have calmed down or we would have found something concerning in his past and he didn't get the gun overseas.

You talk a lot about this. on Meet the Press, but when you look at the cities that have the strictest gun laws, like Washington DC, Chicago, these are the cities with the highest rate of gun crimes, so you know just passing more bills will not solve the problem. I think we need to get serious about law enforcement, we need to invest in more law enforcement and again we need to invest in mental health and try to improve communication between our social agencies and our law enforcement. I have heard this topic of conversation. about gun laws in cities, but I don't know if you realize this: the states with the most gun laws have the fewest gun crimes per capita, in the states with the fewest laws on weapons seem to be the ones that show it the most. here on the screen, I don't know if you can see it here, so there is a correlation, if you have more gun laws on the books as a state, you have less gun crimes, uh, gun related deaths, that's been shown statistically in some places.

Like rural America where almost every other household exercises their Second Amendment rights, there isn't much crime in these areas and I think one reason is because potential criminals know that these people are exercising their Second Amendment right. , so this is something that is uh The a doctrine in our constitution is something that Republicans hold close and we're going to continue to protect our Second Amendment rights, but at the same time we want to take seriously the crime in America, the crisis of fentanyl too. Because of the looting that is happening in the cities, we believe that we need more law enforcement and we must respect law enforcement.

We need to have prosecutors who are serious about prosecution and not letting people get away with things in the name of criminal justice, so these are problems. that they're going to be debated from the beginning in a new Republican majority, okay, let me talk about the Republican majority, uh, if Kevin McCarthy can't get 218 votes to be president, who can and I know you're a supporter of Kevin McCarthy? Tell your colleagues that they are denying you their support right now. Well, I think we have plenty of time between now and January 3rd. I am of the opinion that on January 3 we will

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as a conference and choose.

Kevin McCarthy will be speaker of the house. I think this is something that is ongoing and there are certainly between five and eight members who have said they are leaning toward voting no against Kevin McCarthy. They know that they have the right to support whoever they want. I want them to have their opinions, they have their goals in the conference, many of them are on my committee, uh, I'm apart of them, but I'm hopeful that at the end of the day we will come together as a conference and elect Kevin. I had a choice between Kevin McCarthy and my friend Andy Biggs and Kevin McCarthy won by almost 200 votes, so that's it.

There is overwhelming support for Kevin McCarthy at our conference. He was just going to say, what do you say to those people? I mean, what's what? It's the most incredible criticism of Kevin McCarthy that you think is fair on his part, that they're doing it right. There have certainly been cases in the past where certain Republican voices were not heard at the conference, but at the end of the day we have to Give Kevin a chance, you know, I think a lot of these members are frustrated by the things that Paul Ryan did or the things John Boehner did.

Kevin McCarthy never had the opportunity to be a speaker, we had an election, we had a lot of debate at the conference. and in the end Kevin McCarthy was the overwhelming winner and I am hopeful that our conference will happen and I think we will do it on January 3rd and we will make Kevin McCarthy the next Republican speaker of the House, assuming you are the chairman of the committee supervision. you have one investigation you can focus on, if there is only one, I know you have many you want to do, what is it? Well, we are going to investigate between 40 and 50 different things, we have the capacity.

We have 25 members on the committee and we're going to have a staff close to 70. So we have the ability to investigate a lot of things and, let's face it, Chuck, for the last two years, the Democrats on the House oversight committee They have not investigated anything in this Administration. They have investigated the Washington Commanders football team. We have had several hearings on social issues. The oversight committee has absolutely nothing to do with issues like abortion. We believe there have been hundreds of billions, if not trillions. of dollars wasted over the last three years, spanning two administrations in the name of covid, we want to have hearings on which we want to try to determine what happened to the fraudulent unemployment insurance funds, the fraudulent PPP loan funds, part of this money that is being spent for state and local governments on covid stimulus money, so these are things that will be priorities for us as a committee, wasting fraud to use it for mismanagement, that will be the committee's goal monitoring camera, before you leave it.

You go as a member of the Republican Party Donald Trump is in many cases seen as the leader of the party he was having dinner with, a known white supremacist and certainly someone who traffics in anti-Semitic rhetoric referring to Yi, formerly known as Kanye West. and this person from Nick Fuentes. I'm just curious. Do you think it was a mistake for the former president to do that? Well, you certainly need better judgment about who you dine with. I know he issued a statement and said he didn't know. who those people were, but in any case, you know that my focus will be on investigating the current administration as the next chairman of the House Oversight Committee and trying to control the enormous amounts of wage fraud, entitlements and abuses in our government federal. and I think that's where the American people want us to be and that's where Republicans are mostly going to focus.

I understand that you think you should have better judgment. I assume you condemn this as if you didn't. I wouldn't accept a

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ing with this. person that I wouldn't meet with that person, although I wouldn't meet with Kanye West either, but that's my opinion. James Comer, R-Ky., on the House Oversight Committee next year and I imagine we'll do it. I have a lot more to talk about on those investigations as time goes on. Thank you for coming and sharing your perspective, sir. Thanks for inviting me when we come back. His leadership in the coronavirus pandemic made him a hero and a villain. just heard the investigations that will begin in the next coven Dr.

Fauci is here to reflect on his legacy, as he is about to leave his position as the country's top infectious diseases doctor after 54 years . Dr. Anthony Fauci will leave office. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases next month has over the years guided the country's response to the AIDS crisis, Ebola and, of course, Covid-19, where it became a fixture in the American homes and even on this show he appeared almost 20 times during the pandemic. jokey was our co-host, his work encouraging vaccination likely saved countless lives, but he was also villainized by many on the right who opposed lockdowns and mandates meant to slow the spread of the virus and used Dr.

Fauci as a symbol of their attacks and I'm joined now by Dr. Anthony Fauci Dr. Fauci, it's good to see you in person. Thank you so much. I think it's the first time we've been in person since the beginning, yeah, exactly of this pandemic and I don't think any of us knew where we were. were going on I want to start by seeing what you have on what's happening in China, let me put the headlines for the audience here, uh, you're seeing some protest riots over the coveted lockdowns as the New York Times headline Fear of the camps Quarantine Shutting Down Beijing Greed Protests in China Grow After Apartment Blaze Killed 10 People.

I mean, you're looking at things that we saw in this country and when people didn't like how Covet responds to what's happening in China and why do they seem to be in a worse place than anyone else in the world? Well, their approach has been very, very harsh and quite draconian in kind of closures with no apparent purpose. I mean, if you're having a situation, if you remember. You know, almost three years ago, when our hospitals were overrun. You remember the situation in New York City. You had to do something immediately to close that flow. Remember we were talking about flattening the curve and the social distancing, the restrictions and the lockdown that was never really completed was done for a temporary period for the purpose of regrouping getting more personal protective equipment getting people vaccinated it seems like in China it was just a very, very strict extraordinary lockdown where people are locked in the house, but with no apparent end game if the end goal was to vaccinate everyone, including and particularly the vulnerable, then one could see how a temporary lockdown like that one, but they went into a prolonged lockdown with no apparent or final purpose, which they really aren't.

It makes no sense for public health. You understand the vaccination strategy. You know this in many ways. Chuck, it baffles me. I mean, can they refuse outside vaccines? of several of the vaccines that were available but interestingly, they didn't for reasons that I don't

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y understand protect the elderly by making sure they get vaccinated, so if you look at the prevalence of vaccines among the elderly, it was almost counterproductive, the people you really needed to protect weren't being protected almost like it was a strategy, well I hate to put it in those terms, but a whole authoritarian regime like that almost seemed like a strategy, not a mistake, well no I don't know what it was , but certainly from a public health point of view it didn't make much sense.

Now there would be a theory as to why the Chinese government is acting so peculiar and strange and they still haven't clarified what they can say. about the beginning of this pandemic, yes, yes, that is true and it is true in some aspects and I do not say that in a pejorative way but in everything that we have had to do for decades, whether it was the h5n1 h7n9 bird flu or the original SARS in 2002, even when there is nothing to hide, they act in a suspicious and non-transparent manner, probably because they do not want to appear to be at fault when the reality is that if something develops in their country it is not their fault, but let's find out what happened to that we can be transparent about it and prevent it from happening again.What can we do to find out once and for all if the lab leak is a viable theory?

Well, the only thing that can be done. what has been done is to have an open and transparent interaction with your scientists and our scientists go in there, look at the epidemiology, look at what happened there, look at what happened before, maybe a month before, which has not been transparent enough like so we can Get comfortable where are you on this now? I mean, everyone is always curious about where it is. I have a completely open mind about it even though people say no. I have a totally open mind about this, but if you look at the preponderance of evidence that has been accumulated by an international group of highly respected evolutionary virologists, they believe they have written peer-reviewed articles about it, although the evidence points strongly because it is a natural occurrence of the jump of a virus from a bat to an animal species and to the human species.

It hasn't been definitively proven, but the evidence for it is pretty strong. That being said, we all still have to keep an open mind as to what the origin is. Is this country ready for another pandemic and we're still in the one we haven't yet? What we've been talking about, well, we're certainly still in this. I think you just have to look at the numbers that we still have between three and four hundred deaths a day, so I think the idea of ​​forgetting about it, this is over. If we are entering winter right now, we have the means to mitigate another surge, it is up to us to make sure that does not happen and that is what is very frustrating for Chuck among Public Health officials, including myself, we have an update . vaccine booster we want to do, but the acceptance is that, you know, it's less than 15 percent, it's between 11 and 15 percent.

We have to do better than that. I asked Vice President Mike Pence, with whom he works very closely during the beginning of this covert pandemic, how he came to be so vilified on the right. Here was his answer to me, but the problem. I think Dr. Fauci ultimately aligned himself with many Democratic governors who took what were temporary policies and turned them into long-term policies in his state and the American people love freedom. That's his answer. Well, I respect the former vice president, we get along well. very good in the white house but I do not agree with him I do not align with anyone Chuck I am a doctor I am a scientist I am a public health person it does not matter if you are a Democrat or a Republican I am guided by the principles of public health, those are the recommendations that I made then during the Trump Administration and the recommendations I make now during the Biden Administration based on good Public Health principles, so I would have to respectfully disagree with the former vice president, people. who don't know your legacy, you know that during the AIDS crisis you were vilified by many at the time and over time people understood what your role was and what it wasn't, what do you think your legacy will be? you feel like the story is going to treat your time well, just very briefly, the so-called smear with the AIDS activist was entirely apples and oranges and I know it's like you were the target, yeah, because I've found myself in the middle of some public health crises that had a huge impact on the American and global public, so I think if people really look at history and what we did with activists, back then, how we went from adversaries to collaborators and people who made things happened in a very positive way.

I hope to be remembered for what I have tried to do: bring science, medicine and public health principles to very serious crises that we have had. had and as I said before, I have given everything I have to do, from 40 years ago with HIV to the current situation with covid, Ebola and Zika and everything else in between, uh, look at the reason why the one we still have. Is that you? You speak English, you don't speak science, which I always think is very helpful to have a clear way of communicating. Do you think our politics are so divisive that someone in your position simply can't? succeed.

I'm very concerned about that Chuck because through all the crises I've been through I've never seen the intensity of the division now and if you look at the principles of Public Health it just doesn't make any sense how could you there is a division where the principles Ideology or ideological inclinations cause people to make decisions that impact their lives and the lives of their families. How could you have the red states under vaccinated and the blue states well vaccinated and the deaths between Republicans versus Democrats are dramatic if you look at the curve, it's tragic, you know, as I said before as a public health official, I don't want to see no one suffer and die from covid.

I don't care if you're a far-right Republican or a far-right Republican. -Left Democrat, everyone deserves to have the security of good public health and that is not happening well. I'm glad we have the tools. Dr. Fauci, thank you for your public service. Thank you very much, chuck. It's good to have you as the next panelist here, so if Kevin McCarthy doesn't have the votes to be the next speaker, who the hell welcomes panelists here. Susan Page watching USA Today's head brewer. Reid Wilson, the founder and editor-in-chief of pluribus news focusing on the state legislatures that seem to matter most. more these days the Republican political consultant Matt Gorman and Maria Theresa Kumar, president of Vote Latino.

I want to start with my conversation with James Comer Susan. I think what's interesting is that he was, you know, when I asked him the question, if not McCarthy, who and that's him. It seems like that's the question he's been trying to ask all of his friends who are in that non-Kevin McCarthy group. She made it clear that McCarthy now does not have the votes to become president. She said five to eight votes potentially against him. He said he was hopeful. that McCarthy would win that's not a prediction it's not a flat and sure prediction that he will win the fact is that Kevin McCarthy now doesn't have the votes to be elected president that doesn't mean he won't get them but he will get them If he gets them he will get them by doing concessions that you will have to live with for the next two years.

Let me show you who Marie is. This was Kevin McCarthy in October on the impeachment issue. Let me put it on screen. Here, if the country does not at all like impeachment used for political purposes, this was big news in October 2022. Now let me show you a quote from last week, if Secretary Mayorkas does not resign, House Republicans They will investigate every order every action and every failure will determine if we can begin the impeachment inquiry it seems like he needs votes for president the freedom caucus right now doesn't have a specific problem with Kevin McCarthy all the concessions they are seeking are about future fights and So what they are trying to extract is essentially the rope that would then be used to hang themselves if the speaker doesn't bend to their whims and I think this is part of it. uh, this is kind of a political nightmare that McCarthy has: he's within reach of the goal he's pursued his entire career, and yet he could be so short-lived if he's not serving the freedom caucus or in an election if the House Republicans become Joe Biden's bad boy, they know this could be a short-lived majority and Macarena put up a list of the people he worked with at the nrcc and who he has worked with to see the places that they have to do it.

They typically re-elect people in swing districts. Let me show you the 17 new Republican members of Congress representing districts that voted for Joe Biden. By the way, each of these people resides in a state that Joe Biden won, except Don Bacon, who resides in a congressional district that Joe Bidenexa got one electoral vote in, the point is, these are 17 votes, these are potentially as important as any cost of freedom to voters, right, yes, and even Don Bacon came out, I think there might have been another one. person saying I'm just going to vote for Kevin McCarthy so get your act together guys because there's no other option yeah don't look and I think they've overseen it too and they've started laying the groundwork and they're saying wait a minute .

I'm going to DC to do other things, not just research full time. I think that also provides a control. I will also say one thing. Comer never mentioned the word Hunter Biden. Yes, I asked him what his priorities are. You know, and I look at this. It was one of those cases where he wanted to see what he would say because I think it was important what he was going to say to an audience that's not a partisan audience, it's more of a bipartisan audience and, lo and behold, there's no honor button. I think one issue when it comes to oversight that will draw people to the freedom caucus, but also these people in Biden states, will be the origins of covid and not making it personal, but looking at how we can prevent another pandemic global and, to your point. about China, what are they covering up?

You will never be ready to have the same conversations. I think you're not wrong that it's a more unifying place to start than anywhere else, so I think one of the biggest challenges with Kevin. McCarthy's is that his initial reaction to the Insurrection was wrong, the fact that impeachment shouldn't be done is wrong, and then he basically comes back and says, but how do I get power? And the interesting thing about Kevin McCarthy is that he is a politician first. I'm not a political guy and people here are politicians first, so I think this is all basically doing a good job of trying to figure out who is, what can I, what are the concessions that we can get by trading whatever you want for your presidency? .

At the end of the day, what we're going to say at the end of the Republic out of Republican control of Congress is largely yes, these investigations, but they're all machinations behind the curtain, things that people in the American public don't understand and everything. it's about how we control the ways and means, how we actually control the mechanics of legislation, and that has long-term effects that we will feel later. Susan, the other thing and I could feel that kind of discomfort when I asked the congressman. Comer about this Nick Fuentes this white supremacist the anti-semi uh Kanye West who goes and dines with Donald Trump the freedom caucus and James Comer's electors are you know they're Trump people um but it's an uncomfortable place to be and I think the last thing he would want is for his investigations to get wrapped up in Trump, yeah, his comment was interesting because he said he should have shown better judgment, you know, in Trump's world, that's a pretty fierce criticism for someone who it's aligned, aligned with it, that's considered, wow yeah! but you know what I think, I think what you see with Republican voters in the midterm elections and with more and more Republican officials is a desire for Trumpism, but less desire for Trump, a desire, I mean, he's the one we make up the Republican Party they go to. follow in his footsteps regardless of who the next nominee is, but Trump himself has become less electable, more controversial and more looking backward than forward, where is he?

I thought he would see a more proactive sentencing. This was an opportunity for some Republicans to kick him while he was down and it didn't go well for them and I mean, to Susan's point, I think the party has remade itself so much in the image of Donald Trump that we're seeing Trump 2.0 everywhere we go. We see it in Florida. with Ron DeSantis we're seeing it in Texas with Governor Greg Abbott uh to a certain extent in Arizona none of them hang out with white supremacists or Kanye West, right, this is, I mean, this is part 2.0, this is the part that that is the improvement if I can, if I can use that word, but it is one, these are these are the candidates that are being perfected for the 2024 elections, yes, no, when I think about it, the opposite of hate is not love, it Opposite to love it is. indifference, this helps make I think many members of the party are indifferent to Trump now and the difference is actually the worst for them, yes, that is exactly the best way to torture him, I don't care, before we go to break, I want to share with you the Get to Know a Minute press release that we are seeing because it is about the debate over gun control.

It's a debate we're going to have here in a few minutes, but it shows you how this gun control debate has changed a little bit over time, at least when As for how each party has approached the issue, here's what they said. Pennsylvania's Republican governor, Raymond Schaefer, when asked about it on this show 54 years ago, was a professional, it was still less than two weeks before Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, but what we're trying to do is have strong gun control legislation, we want to have it at both the federal and state level and one of the ways we can do that has already been described about having a waiting period to vet people who want guns to make sure that they are the right people to have them, we don't wantrestrict the use of weapons by law abiding citizens, but as Mr.

Spivak has already pointed out, we register cars and I see nothing wrong with registering weapons, welcome back, data download time, it has been over two weeks since voters cast their balance in the midterm elections, so how high was turnout? States are finishing their counting and we are getting a clear picture of the full results and are trying to determine whether we will actually come out up or down on the vote. record turnout in the 2018 midterms, the answer, as is often the case in politics, is that it depends on the fact that overall turnout was lower than in 2018.

Remember that 2018 was the highest midterm turnout in almost a hundred years. 2022 almost matched it, but it was still a bit low. and it was a little low in some interesting places. Look, some of this isn't surprising. The big drops in these states have to do with the lack of competitive state races. In fact, Mississippi, New Jersey, West Virginia all had competitive Senate races in 2018. None of them had Senate races on the ballot, which explains why North Dakota and Tennessee had statewide victories. Now the other place where we saw a drop was in the big four states, three of the four didn't really have very competitive state level races and Even New York only became competitive at the end, turnout dropped in those four places and in fact , 25 percent of the decline in turnout from 2018 to 2022 came from nearly 2 million fewer voters in the big four states.

Now participation is up from 2018 in many places that were extraordinarily competitive. Look at the tallest one. Here in the top five. Four of the five are essentially in our 2020 2024 battleground states for the presidency. The money was spent on very competitive races and very high participation. Now you would assume that would have meant that turnout increased across the board in these states, but look at this here in Michigan, Pennsylvania. Higher participation in 2018 in general, but in urban areas. Wayne County is the county of Detroit and Philadelphia. In Philadelphia turnout was down, so while it helped Democrats overall, they have a bit of a yellow flag when it comes to urban turnout and we're back with our panel, guns wash, rinse, repeat, lines While the divisive issues are the same, my thesis is that in reality, isn't it voters who pressure politicians to do more if they did it more fairly?

I think there is a feeling among most Americans that they want reasonable laws. about weapons, but there is a group of individuals who are extremists and who constantly participate in voting. I mean, I was in the White House when the president signed that legislation. the first modernized gun legislation in 35 years was the saddest control ceremony because they were celebrating with them because they had lost their loved ones, but if you go to the United States, you actually see areas where there are chances that California is the biggest example of What Governor Newsom has been able to do is actually modernize a lot of this type of gun reform and as a result, it has an impact.

As a result, California has one of the lowest gun rates in the entire country, so it's like the will is there at the end. of the day is so divided let me post a poll from the exit, an exit poll result, if gun laws were stricter, less strict, most want to see them stricter, but when you look at it, the breakdown by game. right, the ones who wanted stricter, 76 of them voted Democrat, the ones who didn't want more, 88 of them voted Republican, I mean, Matt Gorman, can you identify the Republican who lost because they didn't have a controlling position? of weapons?

Do you know what we are talking about? voters who demanded it. I would say it was a different feeling over the summer and I think that's what might have driven coming out with the first gun reform bill, where you have Mitch McConnell and Chris Murphy in an election year voting for this bill. of law that says something says something, yes exactly, and I think you know that from a political point of view. I think it calmed the issue regarding your point on the midterms. I think there isn't as much appetite among Republicans now, leaving aside the fact that there is a Republican.

I think the fact that there was a lot of momentum and I think Republicans will want to see how the red flag laws play out in the states and give it a little more time. Look, you focus a lot on the states. with your new post and is driving much of this conversation, our state is having a more nuanced debate than our own national legislature, no, they are having the same debates, but because the states are so divided now and most of the states are controlled by one party we're seeing action so you'll see the blue version of the action or a red version of the right action but you'll see action in Democratic states we're seeing action on ghost guns high bans capability magazines, uh, about red flag laws like the ones Matt just mentioned, uh, and by the way, they're becoming priorities of states that are moving toward Democratic trifectas next year Michigan Minnesota New York, you're going to start to see well, New York has been, but Michigan Minnesota uh Massachusetts Maryland you're going to see more gun laws as Democratic governors and legislators take over.

On the other hand, gun control advocates feel they are taking one step forward and two steps back after the Supreme Court's decision in Brune. Earlier this summer, many of these high-capacity magazine and ghost gun laws began to be challenged in federal courts in very blue states like New York and Delaware, which will take up the agenda in the coming years and progress. that these blue states have made the courts are starting to reverse them, many judges have already subpoenaed the Supreme Court Susan, you and I have covered this city for a long time and when and I did the meeting that we showed to Raymond Schaefer there, I mean.

Nothing has really changed in this debate, we are having the same debate, the weapons are different, yes, but the debate is more or less the same. You know, I think there's a long-term risk for the Republican Party with respect to their position on guns, because it's one more issue where they were at odds with the majority of the American public, like abortion, it's one more issue that makes them seem extremist, it's one more issue that puts suburban voters at risk who are always the voters these days who determine who is going to win elections look, we did a whole special on the change in the culture of the guns and I know I'm running out of time so I'm not going to play a clip, but there's a very convincing woman in there who is basically the guns.

They're already everywhere, they're everywhere, you know, so don't infringe on my right to protect myself because guess what, there's a lot of guns on the street, I mean, the ship has sailed, it's pretty good and I think that's it. The challenge is that during the pandemic, unfortunately, you saw an increase in communities of color actually getting guns and having had them before and that was the challenge, but if you look at a state like Texas and what really surprised us is when We were trying to figure out how to get around South Texas. Guns were the number one and number two issue for these voters and it was partly because El Paso and so there is an opportunity to have these conversations because that is a state that I don't want to make changes at the top, but The states that were looking at Texas are also on the verge of change, so maybe it's this Federation of Gun Laws that will be a patchwork quilt, but will actually keep Americans safer.

The thing is that a middle ground is not popular and yet the middle ground is what everyone is looking for and I don't know if it can be found well and the voters don't know that they showed the poll before, the voters don't. I don't pay much attention to gun issues as a top priority and even when it's on the ballot it's not as popular as voters say. Consider that in Oregon there is a ballot measure, the first measure to pass in 20 years, but it passed. 26,000 votes now. I ran out of time. I want to tell you about that recent episode that is in our magazine.

He showed me the press reports. Examined gun culture in America. Check it out wherever you get drunk and get content from NBC News. You can find it on YouTube. That's all we have, see you next week because if it's Sunday it's Meet the Press. Thank you for celebrating 75 years of Meet the Press, the longest-running show on television. Thank you for watching our YouTube channel. Follow today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News App