Meet the Press – October 2, 2022

CHUCK TODD:

This Sunday:

MAN:

Woah!

CHUCK TODD:

Disaster zone.

GOV. RON DeSANTIS:

Some of the damage was, you know, almost indescribable.

CHUCK TODD:

Hurricane Ian’s punishing path across Florida leaves a staggering scale of destruction. Entire neighborhoods, wiped out.

PRES. JOE BIDEN:

It’s not just a crisis for Florida, this is an American crisis.

CHUCK TODD:

Now the race to recover begins. But how should homeowners rebuild in the face of more extreme weather? And who should foot the bill? I’ll talk to Florida’s Republican Senator Rick Scott and North Carolina’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Plus, Putin’s land grab.

CHUCK TODD:

Russian President Vladimir Putin announces the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, escalating the conflict and drawing widespread condemnation from around the world.

PRES. JOE BIDEN:

America is fully prepare — prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory.

CHUCK TODD:

Ukraine responds by asking to join NATO. So, how real is the nuclear threat from Russia?

I’ll talk to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. And: split issues. The two parties are divided when it comes to the major issues to focus on before Election Day.

SEN. MITCH McCONNELL:

Inflation, crime and open borders.

CHUCK TODD:

While Democrats take a different path, centering on abortion.

REP. ELISSA SLOTKIN:

A cold, heartless, violent approach to women’s health.

CHUCK TODD:

Plus: new numbers from the NBC News/Telemundo poll. How decisive will Latinos be in deciding which party controls Congress? Joining me for insight and analysis are: Telemundo news anchor Julio Vaqueiro, USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page, Symone Sanders-Townsend, former chief spokeswoman for Vice President Kamala Harris, and Stephen Hayes, editor of The Dispatch. Welcome to Sunday. It’s Meet the Press.

ANNOUNCER:

From NBC News in Washington, the longest-running show in television history. This is Meet the Press with Chuck Todd.

CHUCK TODD:

Good Sunday morning. For many, it’s been a tough week. With 37 days until the midterm elections, it is a tale of two campaigns right now. For Republicans, the midterm campaign that they are trying to run is about inflation, immigration and crime. For Democrats, the campaign they are trying to run is about access to abortion and the growing extremism of the Republican Party represented by a singular figure in Donald Trump. But with both parties so sure what they want the midterms to be about, it’s worth keeping in mind Tom Brokaw’s favorite reminder to many of us during campaign seasons’ past: “Watch for UFOs.” In this case it’s, “the unforeseen will occur. It’s a guarantee,” he says. Well, this week the unforeseen was represented by two major events. In Russia, Vladimir Putin announced the illegal annexation of 15% of Ukraine after a series of Russian setbacks on the battlefield. Putin’s war is already threatening to drive Europe into recession with soaring energy costs. And this week a massive explosion created four separate leaks in that critical natural gas pipelines between Russia and Germany. President Biden accused Russia of “a deliberate act of sabotage.” Then there’s Hurricane Ian. This is one of the five worst hurricanes in America’s recorded history. Ian is also one of the costliest storms ever to hit the United States. Early estimates suggest it could cost up to $47 billion dollars just in insured losses alone. And as more extreme weather events hit the United States, there are some big questions about who should pay to rebuild and, more importantly, where we should be rebuilding. NBC’s Blayne Alexander is in hard-hit Fort Myers for us this morning, and, Blayne, I know the destruction is awful. The question is, are we going to find more people safe and alive?

BLAYNE ALEXANDER:

Unfortunately, that is the case. They are still searching this morning,Chuck, and you know it’s scenes like these that really tell the story of Ian’s wrath. This entire area where I am standing was once a marina. It was full of boats and shops. Now all of that is gone. And when you widen out and you take a bigger look at this entire area, unfortunately you just see more of the same. Now where I am standing right now is truly one of the hardest hit areas. But Chuck, what’s even more devastating is the human toll. At least 77 people have lost their lives due to Ian. And unfortunately that number is only expected to rise. Right now, crews are still sifting through the rumble. They are trying to see if there are any lives that can still be saved, and they are uncovering those who unfortunately did not make it. This morning, there are a number of people who are still unaccounted for and, Chuck, making things more complicated there are at least two islands that are completely cut off from the mainland. The road was destroyed in the storm, so they are using boats to bring people back and forth. You know, I talked with countless people and they tell me the reason they stayed is that they simply underestimated the power of this storm, Chuck. And finally, we’ve learned that President Biden is going to come here to Florida to tour the devastation on Wednesday. Chuck?

CHUCK TODD:

Alright, Blayne Alexander in Fort Myers for us. Blayne, thank you. And joining me now from Naples is Republican Senator Rick Scott of Florida. He’s also a former governor. Senator Scott, welcome back to Meet the Press.

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Hi Chuck. Boy, it’s a tough day for Florida. Been a tough week for Florida.

CHUCK TODD:

Sure has. Let me start with this. Look, in the first 72 hours, the people on the ground never feel like the recovery is coming fast enough. So I understand that, but tell me what you’re seeing. I know you’re in Naples. You’ve probably taken a look firsthand at Fort Myers. How’s the recovery going from your perspective in the first 48 hours?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Yeah, I’ve toured, been in Collier County in Naples. I’ve been up in Fort Myers, Lee County, and I did an aerial tour of all the areas and talked to first responders. I’ve been up to Sarasota, Charlotte. Charlotte, where we got a lot of damage, people don’t realize that. And actually, I was in Kissimmee yesterday, where there was actually quite a bit of flooding. So here’s what’s happening. We’re still working on rescuing people. I mean, this is just horrible that people have lost their lives. It’s horrible that people are still possibly stuck in rubble. But I’ve been talking to the sheriffs and first responders and they’re trying to get to these people as quickly as they can. They’ve been working to evacuate people that stayed on in places like Sanibel and Pine Island and Fort Myers Beach.There are areas up in Charlotte County where people are stranded. So they’ve been trying to rescue everybody. But there’s still work to do. So people are working hard. They’re trying to get the power back on, make sure your phones work. But the biggest thing right now is just continuing to make sure we find everybody, and anybody that needs help, they get to the hospital, get whatever care they need. We still have a lot of water outages, so there’s a lot of work left to do, so it’s really – my heart goes out to everybody though.

CHUCK TODD:

You brought up Charlotte County. I’m glad you did. That’s a county who has a population, I think, a majority of the population’s over the age of 65. They were having trouble just getting bottled water into Charlotte County yesterday. Has that improved?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

Everything keeps getting better. I think one thing that surprised everybody yesterday was the 75 being closed, with the flooding on 75, and actually 41, and I think State Highway 70. They all flooded, which impacts your ability to get things in. But, you know, I’ve been talking to the sheriff and doing everything I can to – you know, when I hear of things where there’s something, I pass it onto the right person and make sure they get resources there. I’ve been talking to FEMA. I know they’re absolutely committed to get all the resources here that they can, at every level. But our sheriffs, our first responders, you really have to thank them for what they’re doing. Our utility workers are working hard to get power back on and get people back to a normal life.

CHUCK TODD:

Hurricane Ian is the 17th hurricane that has first made landfall in Florida since 1992. And we have a graphic on our map. Some people in Pensacola are going to say, “Hey, you’re missing some hurricanes.” These are ones that hit Florida first, not Alabama first and then impacted Florida. And it’s been a total cost, recovery cost of $213 billion in losses. So the question is, as we rebuild, things like mobile manufactured housing, should that even be legal in the state of Florida anymore?

SEN. RICK SCOTT:

I think, I think what we have to do is take every experience. And Chuck, if you go to Charlotte County in particular, when I did the flyover there, there are a lot of mobile home parks that got unbelievable amounts of damage. So you’re right. We have to go back and say every time, “Okay, so how do we make sure that we don’t – the biggest thing is we don’t lose a life? That’s number one. What do we have to do? What laws do we have to change? What building codes do we have to do?” We did it after Andrew. We did it while I was governor. We’ve got to look at every time. What do you do to make sure this doesn’t happen again? You don’t ever want these things to happen again. So I think every county’s going to have to look at that and say, does that make sense for their county. I know I’m in Collier County. I’m not sure that they, we do any new manufactured housing here, but every county’s going to have to look at that. At the same time, you know people that they want to live in Florida. They want to live in the Sunshine State. And, you know, the more expensive housing you have, it makes it difficult for people to live there. So I guess it’s a balance.

CHUCK TODD:

Well, I guess, I hear you but – you know, at…