and on that note, i'm evan low, and i approve this message. >> good evening everyone, i'm not ayman mohyeldin in new york. we are continuing our special coverage tonight, the 2024 democratic primary is officially underway. last hour polls in south carolina, the first democratic contest in the nation closed. president joe biden, easily secured a victory there, blowing his rivals congressman dean phillips and marianne williamson out of the water. now, all eyes are on the number of delegates. a total of 55 are up for grabs tonight. those will be avoided proportionally based on the results. a member of course, a candidate needs a total of nearly 2000 to capture the democratic nomination. just a short time ago, president biden issued a statement thanking the voters

of south carolina, saying in part, quote, in 2020, it was the voters of south carolina who proved the pundits wrong, breathed new life into our campaign, and set us on the path to winning the presidency. now, in 2024, the people of south carolina have spoken again. and i have no doubt that you have set us on the path to winning the presidency again, and making donald trump a loser, again. of course, we are also watching breaking news coming out of the middle east. after the united states and the uk launched a new series of strikes today, targeting the houthis in yemen. the attacks hit at least 36 targets in at least 36 locations across the country. a senior biden administration official told nbc news today that the strikes in yemen, and yesterday's attacks on more than 85 targets linked to iranian-backed militias in iraq and syria are not related. but let's go back to politics, first to those live primary results we are getting out of south carolina. our team of correspondents, are fanned across the states with

the very latest. msnbc correspondent for mainly, he's in north charleston, campaign, -- just south in charleston, and campaign -- greg hyatt is in greenville for us. terrain, i'll start with you. we now have a clear picture of some of those numbers as they're coming in, as we heard from steve kornacki. give us a sense of what the voters have been talking to you out throughout the course of the day. what concerns, what excitement they have about today's vote? >> ayman, i'll tell you what, it really was a tale of two electorates in some ways. some that i spoke with today at the polling places said we are mission-driven, joe biden has done a great job. but on the other side, it's folks who say, you know what, that great message hasn't landed with me. we have concerns about his age, we have concerns about what they believe are promises that weren't kept. again, part of this narrative. but even those folks who were a little less enthused, less excited about voting for joe biden, still said they would vote for joe biden because they understood the other side of

the aisle. and what's at stake in this election. and so again, this was always going to be about how excited folks are with their feet and with their ballots. our folks showing up? and today, folks made clear that they showed up. it's not even too far past 8:00, and this board of elections office is already packing up. light work for joe biden. the message that will come from this, what does this send to other states where folks are looking to gauge how black voters are engaging with the biden message? if this is any indication, even though we don't have numbers, black voters did show up, they did vote for joe biden. and so some of that skepticism, some of the narratives around excitement and whether or not they are enthused or not, i guess we'll have to see it play out. in? >> mainly, train, stay with us for a moment. greg, you've been to multiple polling stations throughout the day, any common theme that you are hearing from the folks that you've been speaking to? >> good evening, amen. some of the common things i'm hearing from voters is that they feel quite comfortable with the idea of a hypothetical

matchup between president biden and former president trump. a lot of the voters believe that president biden has unfinished business. they look at some of the things he's been able to put forward in his administration such as gun legislation, when he signed it in the aftermath of the tragedy in uvalde, texas. they looked at his handling of abortion. but one thing that i think is quite notable, is i talked to one of the county voting directors here in greenville, just for context, ayman, this is a predominantly black area, tends to be a lot of registered democrats. he told me that the tally so far for the early projections is that it's about 2%. it's a low turnout here in greenville, south carolina. and i also spoke to a local lawmaker, he had mentioned there was a concern about that low turnout, and potentially that will breathe the harboring or of what will come in november. you need that high turnout in predominantly black areas, it's key for president biden winning election in november 2024. i think that's something that's key to highlight. low turnbull here in the greenville, south carolina area. and how that could potentially

translate for success for biden in 2024 against president trump. >> sarah, let me cross over to you and get a sense of what you've been hearing. there is this point that my colleague, the rev made, was there very interesting. if there's any discontent among voters today, they could've made that point clear to the biden campaign, it doesn't seem that that discontent was materialized in the way that any votes went to marianne williamson, or dean phillips, in a substantial way. >> that's exactly right, eamonn. i actually spoke to many, many voters here in the charleston area, that were casting their vote for joe biden. not to be mean that they didn't have concerns about joe biden, those concerns we've been seeing that are reflected in polls, i spoke to people that were very concerned about joe biden's age, i spoke to people who wanted him to do more progressive policies and i even spoke to someone that said i wish that he had stepped aside and not run for another term. but yet, they were here today, at the elementary school,

casting their vote in the primary. which as we said, it's not a very hyper competitive primary for the incumbent prime zidane on a saturday. it could be in good news for the democrats in 2024, that despite these concerns, these voters might have, they still came out to vote today. and something that was really on all of their minds was the general election. most of these voters have their minds made up that donald trump will be the republican nominee. and that was really driving their enthusiasm to come out and vote, despite all their concerns about joe biden. they were very much more concerned about what could happen in a trump administration. i even overheard some voters talking about how they would be more concerned about joe biden in a general election if donald trump weren't the nominee, and, say their former governor, nikki haley was. >> interesting. all right. sarah, tremaine, greg, thank you to the three of you for starting us off this hour. let's go to the big board and bring in msnbc national political correspondent, steve kornacki. steve, polls close more than an

hour ago. joe biden the projected winner, what did numbers say? how are you reading them? >> yeah, they speak from themselves, i guess. the one notable thing here in the last hour is we've now got a quarter of the vote in in south carolina. initially, what we were getting was big batches of early vote in these counties. you're wondering, at the same day, with our be any variants? with that bring the biden number down? clearly, he really isn't. biden is running at 97% statewide, 25% in here, williams, and phillips haven't even touched 2%. i could individualize this county by county, but there really isn't any variants here or county by county. we are seeing this, we're talking about an issue of black voter enthusiasm and core democratic base for biden, he's getting 97% in heavily black counties, he's getting 97% in some of the widest counties in the whitest counties of the state. it's just across the board here, with no geographical variance. in terms of turnout and what we can say about that so far, we've got a couple counties here that aren't at 100, but

are closing in at 100 percent of the vote. it started in bandera county here. again, this is small, but it has one of the largest, at least proportionally, black populations in the state. you got more than 80% of the vote in right now, very small county, you see the results. it looks like a statewide result. i think the key here is with 81% of the vote in, they embargo looks like it's overall turnout is running at about 37% of the 2020 turnout number. biden, versus sanders, versus ward, that primary, the total number of people that turned out in 2020, high interest, year they're getting about 37% of that total. they are on pace for that in bamberg county again. black county, overwhelmingly biden. another country we've got the vote here, two thirds of, it this is the second highest concentration of black residents again. small county, williamsport county, again, two thirds of the vote is in, they are also on pace to be at 37% of the 2020 turnout level.

37%, we'll just do statewide, also, if you look statewide, you extrapolate with a quarter of the vote, what that turnout would translate into, you are probably somewhere in the 180 to 200,000 vote range, broadly, somewhere in there. it's about 37%, a little bit more than a third of the 2020 total. up in new hampshire, a week ago, or a couple weeks ago, i should say, january 23rd, i lost track of the dates. up in new hampshire, they were running about 40% of their 2020 level in the democratic primary. so again, we've been talking about this. the tough thing with turnout here, we'll get a fuller picture over the night, overnight as we get full reports from these counties, you can even look within the counties. then we will see if there is more enthusiasm or less enthusiasm, in the more specific places, but just broadly speaking, county to county here, they are running a little more than a third right now of the 2020 turnout rate. it's uniform across the board,

in terms of -- hey, maybe this would be different in some way if a bigger name to democrat had stepped forward to challenge biden. that's something that would never be known. this collection of challengers, congressman dean phillips, marianne williamson, a candidate from 2020, there's just no interest in them against south carolina democrats. that turn out, if it's in 280 200,000 -- would show you a couple of graphics here, this is the black vote, again, we've never had a primary before tonight where a democratic in pump it was challenged in a primary. these are all contested primaries here, you can see where 100 80 to 200,000 would fit in, if that is indeed where this lands. >> steve kornacki at the big board, steve, thank you. stay nearby for us, we'll touch base with you later on in the show. i want to bring in now to the conversation, michael tyler, the communications director for the biden harris 2024 campaign. michael, it's great to have you with us. thank you so much for joining us. congratulations are first in order, for this first victory. i want to start with the mood within the campaign tonight.

how you are interpreting tonight's victory in south carolina. >> thanks for having me, i appreciate it, certainly a good night for joe biden and for democrats across the country. because joe biden is once again a winner. he has kept his promises to the backbone of the democratic party. his black voters. you are talking about the data tonight, we're looking at the early vote data, earlier today, about 76% of voters were black, that's compared to 56% in 2020. folks are turning out because they understand that they have a president in joe biden, who has kept his promises. they understand, increasingly, to your point earlier, that we have cemented the choice in this election between joe biden, who's been delivering, and between donald trump, who presents a fundamental threat to american freedom and american democracy. so, we are excited about the vote ahead, and we are sort of full steam ahead for the general election right now. >> let me, if i can, drill down

on the issue of turnout right now for a moment, get a sense of how you read turnout, or how you want your campaign, in the general democratic party, to read that turn out. as my colleague, steve kornacki was pointing out, it's hard to engage. we have been in a situation like this before. previous, once there was no primaries, where an incumbent was running. he's expecting to turnout anywhere between 37%, which would be slightly less than it was in a competitive, a very competitive primary back in 2020. how do you read the vote turnout tonight between enthusiasm for the biden campaign, and his reelection, versus not? >> i'd start by comparing this to the first republican contest in iowa. we had about 110,000 folks turnout for the iowa caucuses, an incredibly competitive election with multiple candidates. here in south carolina tonight, you'll have around 100,000 people turned out for the president, because they appreciate everything that he has done over the course of his first time. they are excited about the future, and they are geared up, and they understand the sense of urgency for the general election ahead.

i think if you want to look at other metrics for enthusiasm, you can look at our grassroots fund-raiser. we had our best grassroots fundraising in the month of january, our q4 numbers are fantastic. we have $97 million, that's largely through grassroots donations. it's 97% where people who are given $200 or less, people like teachers, nurses, who are chipping in, five and ten bucks at a time, joe biden.com, because they understand, hey, what this president has done, 14 million new jobs, -- manufacturing jobs, capping the cost of insulin at 31 box, and they also understand that we have a threat in donald trump, who every single day is talking about bragging about his role in overturning roe v. wade. who's rooting for the economy to crash, who's pledging to say earth as a dictator on day one. people understand the stakes, and they understand that we have a fighter in joe biden, who's going to continue to deliver for them over the course of the next four years if he wins. >> i want to ask you about the threat that donald trump poses and that messaging going forward. let me ask you, as you also mentioned right now, and is in the campaign statement that came out about the appearance of black voters, this was

widely seen in this primary contest as a test for biden's strength among the critical voting bloc. my colleague, gabe gutierrez, spoke to a young black voter from south carolina. take a listen to this. >> do you think there's enough enthusiasm among young black voters such as yourself? >> no, sir. in all honesty. i think in 2020, it was a very emotional time, a lot of people were supporting, not supporting, but the black lives matter movement received great emphasis along with the events that happened with mr. george floyd. a lot of emphasis was pushed to vote as people, a lot of entertainment outlets, because everybody was at home. voting, voting, voting. >> do you think a lot of people your age will stay on this election? >> yes, sir. yes, sir. >> that's one vote, obviously that's one person, it's anecdotal, but i wanted to give you a chance to respond to that. how does the campaign plan to reach a voter like that, who

doesn't feel as motivated to head to the polls? >> this campaign knows we can't take any single voter for granted. particularly black voters who have been key to the biden harris coalition, and key to democratic victories for years. we are going to remind people of exactly what this administration has done on behalf of black communities across the country. again, record low black unemployment under the administration, black wealth growing by 60% since before the pandemic. seven billion dollars in the hbcus. we're going to communicate the contrast, we want to talk about donald trump, who, when he was in president, we saw the damage he caused to black america. the only things that went up under donald trump's president for black folks was the unemployment rate in the uninsured rate. his tax cut, for example, gave double the benefits to a typical white house hold in a typical black household. he fumbled the bag on the covid response, leaving black people disproportionately dead, leaving black businesses disproportionately shuttered. -- we want to contrast that against the damage that donald trump has caused when he had

power, and the damage he will cause if he's able to regain power. >> how do, we right now, and certainly after tonight, how do we look at whether the campaign is shifting its attention to the general election, or has that focus already shifted to that inevitable rematch with donald trump? >> we are absolutely focused on the general election. against donald, trump he's marching towards republican nomination, we're focused on building an apparatus that can take him on, and get to 270 electoral votes. that's absolutely what we're focused on at this stage in the race. >> what does that apparatus look like? what does that messaging look like, in order to defeat donald trump again? >> it looks like scaling up our operation in all the battleground states, making sure that we are fully funded with staffing on the ground, and it makes it our paid advertising efforts, our digital organizing efforts, a three 60-degree effort to communicate with the voters who are going to decide this election. so certainly more to come, stay tuned. >> let me ask, to finally before i let you go, you mentioned the battleground

states, obviously a lot of concern against the state of michigan, the because of the protests that were taking place there over thursday. are you at all concerned about states like michigan, and arab american voters, muslim american voters? with the win -- of the war in gaza? >> we're certainly concerned about every state. we're concerned about michigan as well, we're reminding folks, hey, that the president is approaching the conflict as the commander-in-chief, not through the lens of politics. he's going to continue to engage with the community for now, through november, and through the next four years, when he's reelected. people elected joe biden because he has the empathy, the decency, and the seriousness of purpose, to serve as commander- in-chief, service president, and we believe that stands in stark contrast to people like donald trump, who is running a campaign of revenge, of retribution, of harm, because he cares about himself, and certainly has no business stepping back into the oval office. we will be engaged with the community, we will continue to present our vision, in contrast that with our opponent in

donald trump. >> michael tyler, director of communications for the biden harris 2024 campaign. sir, thank you so much for your time. again, congratulations on the win this evening. greatly appreciate your time, sir. >> thank you for having me, i appreciate it. >> we're just getting started this hour, we have lots more analysis to get to, but when we come back, we're going live to the middle east with the very latest on today's strikes in yemen. stay with us. yemen. stay with us. ♪ i'm gonna hold you forever... ♪ ♪ i'll be there... ♪ ♪ you don't... ♪ ♪ you don't have to worry... ♪ with nurtec odt, i can treat a migraine when it strikes and prevent migraine attacks, all in one. don't take if allergic to nurtec. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using.

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>> welcome back everyone, we are of course tracking those democratic primary results coming out of south carolina, we're gonna have more on that throughout the hour. we are also following major breaking news coming out of the middle east, the united states, the united kingdom, striking 36 houthi targets in 13 locations across yemen today. amid fears of a widening war in the region, joining me now with the very latest from tel aviv, is nbc news foreign correspondent, matt bradley. matt, it's good to have you with us. you had a senior administration officials saying that today's attacks were actually unrelated

to yesterday's strikes in iraq and syria. break that down for us, because the significance of that is that the united states is now operating in two separate tracks within this conflict. what is happening in iraq and syria, what is happening in yemen, and the concerns that this war is widening now to include multiple countries, if you include what israel's doing in lebanon, what it is doing in syria, and now what america is doing in both syria, iraq, and yemen. >> there's two common thread here, in, in one's iran. this is all involving the iranian lend axis of resistance. which involves hezbollah, and lebanon, the houthis in yemen, these iran-backed, they call them -- and in syria, also, iran-backed groups. sometimes people also often will lump in the regime of -- in syria into this resistance, all of these groups, for the first time ever in history, have now been acting in concert. and not just against israeli

targets, ever since the october 7th attacks. but also against american targets, and in, the case of the houthis in yemen, against international shipping. the other common threat is that they are all reacting to events in the gaza strip, this is something that colleagues have been asking me all day, how will these strikes by the u.s. in iraq, in syria, and now in yemen, effect what's going on here in israel, and in the gaza strip, well, they probably won't. but what is more likely is that what is going on in israel, and the gaza strip, will affect what's going on in those further flown places. each of those groups, each of those axis of resistance, iran- backed groups, including hezbollah and lebanon, have made it their mission to basically distract american and israeli forces from operations in the gaza strip. now, we haven't seen america participating directly in the events in the gaza strip, but as far as these groups are concerned, and as far as the

iranian regime is concerned, israel and the united states are one in the same. the u.s. is the main backer of israel. for them, attacking an american target is tantamount to attacking israel. is tantamount to in protecting the gazans in gaza. and also, palestinians in the west bank. they see this, as preventing the israelis from expanding their operations, where is we see them as the belligerence -- or as the united states tends to see them, as the belligerence in attacking israel and united states targets. this is a very -- it just goes to show, a difference of worldview that we are seeing playing out here. the fact of the matter is, each and every one of these groups is going to continue to attack, or they've sworn they will continue to attack, as long as the casualty figures in the gaza strip continue to go up, as long as there isn't a cease- fire or a peace treaty, or any sort of negotiation that could bring an end to the hostilities that we are seeing in the gaza

strip. >> and into the world something these really prime minister for now has categorically rejected. so we'll have to wait and see what happens on that front. matt bradley, live for us in israel, matt, i appreciate you staying up late for us, my friend. thank you so much. next, we're heading back to south carolina, we're going to get some announcements with my all-star panel. stay with us. all-star panel. stay with us.

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a pain so intense, you could miss out on family time. the virus that causes shingles is likely already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older, ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles. >> welcome back everyone, we are continuing our coverage of the democratic south carolina primary, which nbc news projects president biden won, with a resounding majority. joining me now with more, nbc news campaign -- iguana from south carolina, it's good to have you with us. i know you've been talking to voters throughout the day, we've been hearing some of those from our other correspondents as well, but you are at a democratic watch party, what did you hear from folks about what the deciding factor was for the way the polls went today? >> emma, your spot on. i've been talking to voters all

day. the consistent theme i've been hearing from the voters i've talked to in places like orangeburg which has a pretty large black population, is that their support for president biden at the end of the day, boils down to the fact that in their eyes, he can defeat former president trump. i also heard one voter talk to of course biden's time with barack obama them, who people have a love for here in south carolina. and i found that the older folks i talked to tended to have a more pragmatic attached to the current state of politics, a consistent thing i heard over and over again is that it's going to take time, biden will deliver on what he can, it'll just take due time and they have to stand by in support him, here at the first of the nation celebration, things have been overwhelmingly positive. even though only 30% of the vote is in, biden has about 96% of the share, that's a resounding success to people in this room, many of whom have been on the ground for weeks now, trying to keep the campaign going, and ensure turnout was where democrats wanted it to be. what i mentioned earlier tonight was that throughout the last three weeks, democratic

party officials here organized about 150 events across 32 counties. that speaks to the dedication that they had in ensuring south carolina democrats turned out and showcased their enthusiasm. i spoke to congressman, jim clyburn, a little bit ago, about his turnout production. he's been saying he hopes to see between 100 and 150,000 people, with biden capturing about 70% of the vote, those are low expectations, and right now, it looks like biden is on pace to hit the mark set by congressman clyburn. >> nnamadi, thank you so much. i appreciate your reporting on that. i'm joined now by jonathan capehart, fernand amandi, and democratic pollster, one ameshia cross, democratic -- it's good to have all three of you with us. jonathan, i'll start with you. the optics of south carolina being first was extremely important. it's something that joe biden personally called for, as well as jim clyburn, as well as other members of the democratic leadership, including jimmy harris, and somebody that

you've been in touch with, excuse, me what does it say that this state finally went first? and the message it delivered tonight by going first? >> a lot of people think that south carolina is going first because this was a reward from president biden to the state for what it did for his campaign in 2020. and that was give him a win. give him a decisive win in a state that actually looks more like the nation than iowa or new hampshire. that is really the key to why south carolina is the first primary in the democratic primary race, because the democratic electorate looks more like the democratic party than it does in iowa and new hampshire, and the democratic electorate in south carolina looks more like the nation than it does in iowa and new hampshire. by south carolina being the first primary, it really allows for the president to come

roaring out of the gate, and showing just how much support he has. i think the thing that reverend al sharpton told you in the last hour, is that president biden and vice president harris did not take south carolina for granted, leading into this primary. they visited that state multiple times, throughout their time in the white house, and particularly in the last week, going out there, asking people for their votes, not taking those votes for granted and just thinking, you know, you're just gonna show up. no, they did what they were supposed to do. go back to those voters, and make the case for why they should come out, and if these numbers hold up, it's look like their message worked. >> i was gonna say, we heard from michael tyler, the wreck door of communications for kim campaign, reiterated that saying they're not taking any vote for granted. we saw that in south carolina

in 2020, it was a hugely significant state for joe biden. it was the one that turned it around for iowa and new hampshire, and revived his campaign. that's in part thanks to jim clyburn, congressman jim clyburn, who cemented biden's status as the favorite among black voters, and helping him win the south carolina primary. how do you think this primary when will shape how black voters in south carolina and the rest of the country view biden's campaign if at all? >> it sends a resonating message, we've heard time and time again, and seen polls, listen to podcasts, where the question is, whether or not the black vote is going to show up, particularly looking at some waning interest pointing to black men, desiring other options. and what we've seen time and again is that those polls have been proven to be false. it will prove to be false in this coming election as well. what black voters want is for their policies, the policies that they stand for, to actually be upheld. we've seen that in president biden, we've seen it in that administration.

we've seen it in housing. we've seen it in the infrastructure development plans. we've seen it in job creation, we've seen it in an economy that is built to work for all, not a privileged few. we've seen it in his push to alleviate student loan debt. we've seen it time and time again. they think that those things matter very much to black voters, and they can rise above the muck. we know what disinformation campaigns look like, we also know the threats that will be imposed by the trump administration if he's to become president again. >> fernand, we know in new hampshire's republican primary last month, we had some left leaning independent voters cast ballots for nikki haley to support her effort to defeat trump. based on what you saw today, do you think the biden campaign has success in stopping that trend? >> oh my gosh, if you're the biden campaign, you want marianne williamson and the other candidate, dean phillips, to stay in the race as long as possible. you're going to run up 97 percentile winds in democratic primary states, it's only going to speak to their effectiveness.

but look, i think tonight, one of the major political questions in america has been answered. that is, where is joe biden's presidential library going to be? it's definitely going to be in south carolina, now. it was a state that made his candidacy and presidency got -- they stood strongly tonight. ayman, i think it's going to be very telling how the trump campaigns react to this. because of course, with the big winner tonight being joe biden, i think the other big winner is tim scott. i think his elevation on the trump vp stakes has moved up a little bit tonight, because all the talk out there was that president biden was wavering with black supporters, the black support in the democratic primary was going to be a problem. the opposite of that happened. i think tim scott is going to trump saying, hey, look at, me i can maybe help you in a way that you won't have if i'm not on that ticket. >> it's going to say, one of the other surprising headlines according to steve kornacki, as the way he broke down, was the big turnout among white voters in south carolina, for joe

biden. i think that was a headline that perhaps some of us were not expecting to see so pronounced this early on in the evening. ameshia cross, i fernand amandi, and the sunday shows jonathan capehart, thank you to the three of you, i greatly appreciate it. as next, -- today's big story, a big round of airstrikes, this time in yemen. stay with us. kes, this time in yemen. stay with us.

>> the united states and the united kingdom launched a new series of strikes today, targeting the houthis in yemen, hitting at least 36 targets in at least 13 locations in that country. this comes after yesterday's retelling tories strikes by the u.s. and more than 85 targets at seven iranian-backed militant facilities inside iraq and syria. joining me now is dan de luce, nbc's national security reporter from washington d.c.. dan, it's good of you with us. tell us a bit more about why these targets were selected. if we know why, and why the administration is saying what we saw today in yemen is not related to what played out

yesterday in syria and iraq. >> let's take the second part of that question first, even, because it can be confusing. but in the end, they are all related in the bottom line. there's a thread that goes through all this, which is iran's behind all these proxy groups, whether it's militias in iraq that are held responsible for that attack that killed those u.s. troops last sunday, or the houthi forces in yemen, that have managed to disrupt global shipping and commercial shipping in the red sea and the gulf of aden. now, the u.s. says they are different or separate, the because the strikes yesterday were aimed at the militia groups that are deemed responsible for that lethal attack last sunday in jordan against the american troops. these attacks today, with the uk, in yemen, are supposed to try to stop those houthi drone and missile attacks that have been going on now for months, where they are hitting

commercial ships or coming close to hitting commercial cargo ships, to the point where major shipping companies, some of them, now, are diverting their vessels from the whole area, creating ripples in the global economy. so, that's the distinction there. in terms of the targets, what they were trying to do today, and of course courtney kube is on that uss eisenhower aircraft carrier, witnessing these f- 18s, they're trying to get at the houthis ability to hit those commercial ships. they're going after drone launch sites, right after the drone has launched, they intercept the drone, or the missile. that's what that was about. >> all right, dan de luce, thank you so much for that update. greatly appreciated. >> joining me now, lieutenant general, steph twitty. nbc's military analyst and former deputy -- ben rhodes, msnbc political contributor and former deputy national security adviser under president obama. general twitty, all join -- i'll start with you, and get your initial response to this

latest round of attacks and what kind of impact, if, any that you think this attack will have on the kinetic dynamics in the region, both among the iraqi militias, and the houthis. >> yeah, i think what we will have to do is wait on the battle damage assessments that will come hot on both of these attacks, the attacks that occurred yesterday, which were in direct response to our troops, getting killed in iraq, then these separate attacks, although a very common threat in response to the houthis interfering with international trade and also interfering with freedom and navigation. so what i think is going to happen in all this, is as we contain a moved on these letters, we cannot afford to have a direct conflict with iran. and iran cannot afford to have a direct conflict with us. so, if we continue in this

route, every day that goes by, with the gaza war occurring, between israel and hamas, we are moving one step closer to that all out conflict. and so, we must institute stability, and deterrence back in the play here. and hopefully, these attacks that we are doing, that take away capability and capacity from the houthis, from kata'ib hezbollah, from the commit forces, will help us in that matter. i'm hoping that's the case, but we shall see. >> ben, how hard is it to establish deterrence when iran is fighting the u.s. through its arab proxies, in yemen, in lebanon, in iraq, and in syria, against america? and, they are not paying a high cost, i would argue, since they are just basically losing hardware at this moment.

the militias are being attacked, but at the end of the day, iran is willing to pay that price, so long as it can keep america on its back foot in the region, so to speak. >> i don't think you can completely deter groups like the houthis that part of their ethos is that they are not deterred. we've been striking houthis, they've continued these attacks, they have weathered years of war, i mean, keep in mind, it's several years of -- coalition, bombing, attacking houthi targets, and they've been resilient through that. so, i think what the administration is trying to do, ease at least tried to push them back, degrade their capabilities, send a message that if you continue these types of attacks, with these forces, we're going to attack you. it's kind of a loop of conflict. what concerns me, ayman, is that this has been a steady exploration over the course of the last few months.

administration has been saying they didn't want this, but then they get drawn in. and we've seen attacks in iraq and syria, we've seen attacks now in yemen, clearly, they don't want to attack in iran. i think the common thread is not just that iran brooks its proxies, the common thread is that his this is all taken place since october 7th, -- and since the overwhelming israeli military operation, which is obviously caused such a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in gaza. and these groups want to be seen as a vanguard of standing up to israel in the united states. they want the global attention that comes with them hitting in this tit-for-tat. we're kind of getting drawn into something where you have these arsonists who kind of want this fight. it wasn't until we're able to de-escalate the situation in gaza, we are going to be in this very volatile tinderbox of a situation here.

and that's why i think you need some diplomacy, alongside the strikes, to try to end the fighting in gaza. >> to that point, general, ben brings up a very important point about this escalating since october 7th, it's been almost now five months. the u.s. was not militarily involved in the region directly, in president, it was always there, it was taking actions in counterterrorism measures. now, the united states is operating in yemen, iraq, syria, i think a lot of americans are learning for the first time about tower 22. israel has engaged in this cross border violence, if you will, and striking between hezbollah and israel, now it's also happening in syria. the u.s. is operating in somalia. it's hard to convince the american public that we are not going further and further into a war, when we are seeing upticks in these kinds of attacks. >> i agree with you. it is hard to convince the

american public, get if you noticed with the attacks today, we had a coalition that came along with this. there is only one arab nation, and that was bahrain, that's part of that coalition. i ask myself, where is the arab world in this? if we are talking about global trade, and being interrupted, then it is not just global trade from the western nations that is being interrupted, it's also from the arab world. and i think that diplomacy needs to lead here, and we need to get the arab world involved in putting iran in check as well, as well as the proxies in the region. >> all right, lieutenant general, steph twitty, ben rhodes, gentlemen, thank you to the both of you for your time and analysis tonight. we are back with final thoughts on tonight's primary in south carolina, that's coming up next. up next. hey david. connect with an advisor to create your personalized plan. let's find the right investments for your goals okay, great.

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statement win with 97% of the vote, i think it gives him the confidence that they are on the right path, it probably puts a lot of the democratic bed- wetters in the back burner, a little bit, that this is not falling out of control. and, allows it to relieve zero in and focus on this general election matchup, which is the matchup, donald trump, versus president biden. the economic views continue to get better, there is likely to be a very bad jury verdict against donald trump coming out of that case in new york, which will put him on the skids again. i think as long as biden stays the course, delivers those messages of accomplishment, the draws the contrast, he's gonna be in solid shape. tonight was a great night for his campaign. >> the ameshia, same question to you, where does the campaign go from here, both in the rest of the primary calendar, as well as the inevitable matchup between joe biden and donald trump? >> he messages his accomplishments. he talked about the changes that were necessary post covid-

19. he talked about the record unemployment. he talks about the economic condition of this nation. and quite frankly, he bets on black. what we've learned time and time again, is that black people are like the avengers. they will come, and they will save our democracy, over and over again, regardless of how bad that democracy has treated us. i think he hones that message, i think he reaches out to diverse groups, and he makes sure that he elevates the very people who have saved him, time and time again. that's black voters across this country. >> two for non's point, about the library, should be in south carolina, i guess are there any issues that remain a cause of concern for you, ameshia, tonight, as we look into the calendar, is there anything that the biden administration should not take for granted, and not to rest on their laurels? >> absolutely. i think when it comes to understanding then even our economic condition is strong, there's some people who are not feeling that at home. particularly those from diverse

communities, and as the israel war wages on, he has to be very certain, and understanding, of what communities of color specifically are drawing from our actions there. and watching what they are seeing, is it israel being very attack worthy when it comes to being willing to level critical infrastructure and to quite frankly what it looks like, commit more crimes against innocent palestinians. >> all right, ameshia cross, we fernand amandi, it supposed to have both of you. thank you so much for insights and analysis tonight. greatly appreciated as always. that does it for us tonight. thank you so much for being a part of the big news of breaking news. we are back tomorrow at 7:00 eastern, have a good night. goo here's to getting better with age. here's to beating these two every thursday. help fuel today with boost high protein, complete nutrition you need... ...without the stuff you don't. so, here's to now. boost. i think i changed my mind about these glasses. yeah, it happens. that's why visionworks gives you 100 days to change your mind. it's simple.

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