Hello from Washington, sort of. It is, it is inside the beltway, but out, but across the

river. I'm Chuck Todd and this is the Chuck Todd cast. Few updates from the pandemic as

the US death toll has now surpassed the Vietnam War death toll for the United States.

The country is bracing itself for a second way and for news about the economy. Today

the Commerce Department announced that the overall size of the economy, the gross domestic

product, shrank at a rate of nearly 5% in the first quarter of this year, January through

March, sharpest decline since the Great Recession and keep in mind that drop is essentially

three weeks in March. It's really not January and February. It is three weeks in March,

which makes that more honestly catastrophic. And speaking of last night, we got some

2020 news, Michigan Congressman Justin Amash, who was the lone house Republican to back

President Trump's impeachment before he left the party, has announced an exploratory

bid for the Libertarian nomination for President. Does this candidacy matter? And if it does,

does it hurt Biden or Trump? I'll be joined by a Michiganer to talk about this and other

topics. Ron 48, longtime journalist, he's now president of a Detroit PR firm called

Truscott Rossmann. And then there's Megan Messerley. She's a reporter at the Nevada

independent. She's been on this podcast before. She's had some great stories about how local

leaders there have responded to the COVID-19 situation. And of course, the issue of Las Vegas,

I think going forward is going to be one worth tracking for some time. And then later in the show,

I'll talk to time national political correspondent Molly Ball to discuss her new book that's out in

May. Simply titled Pelosi. I think I have an idea what it's about. But first, let's start with Ron

and Megan. Welcome to both of you. Good to virtually talk to both of you.

I want to just start with sort of where you what you guys see locally. Because I think you're both

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