07/16/24 07/16/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the republican national convention in milwaukee, this is democracy now! >> it is a great honor to move that j.d. vance be nominated by acclamation by this republican national convention as its candidate for the office of vice president of the united states

of america. amy: america's hitler. reprehensible. and a terrible candidate. that's how ohio senator j.d. vance once described donald trump. but on monday, the 39-year-old former marine and author of "hillbilly elegy" stood side by side at the republican national convention with trump as the former president made his first public appearance since surviving an assassination attempt on saturday. his ear, bandaged. we will speak to the acclaimed sociologist arlie russell hochschild and pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston. we will also look at a shocking decision by a trump-appointed judge to dismiss the classified documents case against trump. then we go to the streets of milwaukee where protesters marched on the rnc. >> we are giving a genocidal man

and a fascist man and that is a terrible choice to pick from. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we are breaking with convention. war, peace, and the presidency. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from milwaukee. donald trump has selected j.d. vance as his running mate. republican celebrated the decision while democrats warned against vance's extremist views with president biden labeling him a clone of trump. the 39-year-old former marine gained fame after writing the best-selling memoir "hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis about growing up in appalachia."

he won the senate primary in 2022 and part thanks to the billionaire tech investor peter thiel who poured a record-breaking $10 million into his campaign. j.d. vance's political positions have shifted dramatically over the years. once a trump credit come he went on to embrace the maga movement and far-right positions on abortion, climate, immigration, and other issues. donald trump appeared alongside j.d. vance monday at the republican national convention as he made his first public showing since saturday's assassination attempt. trump appeared with a bandaged ear as he sat next to republicans. we will have more on j.d. vance and the first day of the republican national convention after headlines.

meanwhile, in related news, elon musk said he is will give $45 million per month to the new pro-trump super pac, america pac. outside the fiserv forum where the rnc is taking place, activists gathered to protest the republican agenda. >> letting the republicans know we are here, we care about the climate, immigrant rights, palestine. there is a large contingent of different organizations because they want to let them know these are the issues people care about today. amy: meanwhile, cheri honkala, national spokesperson for the poor people's army, was arrested as she attempted to trying to monday deliver a citizens arrest to republican officials. just hours earlier, she spoke to democracy now! about that action and more. go to democracynow.org to see that interview.

a federal judge in florida has dismissed special counsel jack smith's criminal case against donald trump over his mishandling of classified documents after leaving the white house. on monday, the trump appointed u.s. judge aileen cannon sided with trump's lawyers who argued that attorney general merrick garland's appointment of the special counsel was unlawful because smith had not been appointed by biden or confirmed by the senate. cannon also ruled smith had been improperly funded by the treasury department. cannon's legal rationale drew from a concurring opinion by far-right justice clarence thomas in the supreme court's historic ruling trump v. united states, which grants presidents broad immunity from prosecution. a federal grand jury had indicted trump on 40 felony counts. 32 violations of the espionage act for willful retention of national defense information and another eight charges for

obstructing justice. the justice department is expected to appeal the ruling, but the legal victory has given trump another boost as he officially accepts the presidential nomination this week here at the rnc. democrats slammed the decision by judge cannon. president biden called the dismissal specious. meanwhile, florida republican congress member matt gaetz reacted to the news by calling aileen cannon a "future supreme court justice." we'll have more on this story later in the broadcast. we will speak with journalist david cay johnston. investigations continue around the suspected gunman in saturday's failed assassination attempt against donald trump at a rally in butler, pennsylvania. the fbi is analyzing 20-year-old thomas matthew crooks' cell phone, though no apparent motive has yet to emerge. crooks was a nursing home employee who had registered to

vote as a republican, though his acquaintances say he was fairly quiet with no overt political leanings. federal investigators believe he acted alone but they say they are still exploring all avenues. meanwhile, congressional republicans have called on the secret service director kimberly cheatle to testify about apparent failures ahead of, and in response to, the incident. cheatle has rejected calls to resign. video emerged monday of witnesses warning law enforcement of the gunman two minutes before he began shooting from the roof of a nearby building. a local nbc affiliate says the shooter was spotted by law enforcement nearly 30 minutes before he opened fire. in an interview with nbc's lester holt, president biden was questioned about language he has used while campaigning against trump, including telling democratic donors "it's time to , put trump in the bullseye." pres. biden: i did not say

crosshairs. i meant focus on him. focus on what he is doing. focus on his policies, focus on the number of lies he told in the debate. there's a whole range of things. look, i'm not the guy who said i want to be a dictator on day one. i'm not the guy who refused to accept the outcome of the election. i'm not the guy who said i won't accept the outcome of this election automatically. you can't only love your country when you win. amy: president biden also repeated his earlier call on sunday to cool down the political rhetoric. the head of unrwa, the u.n.'s palestinian refugee agency, said its gaza headquarters has been "flattened and turned into a battlefield" as israeli forces continue their devastating -- there scorched earth campaign in gaza city. israeli attacks are also continuing throughout the gaza strip, including in deir al-balah, where survivors searched through rubble for

their loved ones after fresh airstrikes brought entire buildings down monday. >> my mother, an elderly woman, was sitting with me upstairs. she went downstairs and after five minutes, i pulled her out from under the rubble. we also pulled out my sister from under the rubble and my sister's children. those who died were my mother, my sister, and my sister's children. children, one that was 2.5 years old. i don't know what happened to the others. may god save them. amy: turkey has condemned israel's military for destroying the turkish-palestinian friendship hospital, gaza's only specialized cancer center, after using it as a military base for months. turkish officials said it's further proof of israel's "systematic policy aimed at the annihilation of the palestinian people" and vowed to pursue israel in international courts. here in the u.s., secretary of state antony blinken told two

top israeli officials the civilian death toll in gaza is "unacceptably high" during a visit to washington, d.c. israel has killed at least 38,700 palestinians in gaza since october 7, though the true death toll is likely much higher. prime minister benjamin netanyahu is still expected to address congress on july 24 despite the reported concern about the death toll and mounting objections among democrats to netanyahu's appearance. the european union has announced sanctions against five israeli settlers and three other entities responsible for serious and systematic human rights abuses against palestinians in the occupied west bank and east jerusalem. those sanctioned includes the group tzav 9, which the eu said regularly blocks humanitarian aid trucks with food, water, and fuel headed to gaza. also on the list were ben-zion gopstein, founder and leader of

the far-right jewish group lehava, and isaschar manne. all three have also been sanction by the u.s. government. ukrainian president volodymyr zelenskyy said he plans to host an international peace summit in kyiv this fall to discuss ukraine's failure. 92 countries attended a similar summit in switzerland last month. solesky spoke after returning from last week's nato summit in d.c. >> i believe we are ready to hold the second summit sooner rather than later. i believe that representatives of russia should be present at the summit. amy: last month's summit discussed three of zelenskyy's 10-part formula for peace, covering food security, nuclear safety, and the release of prisoners of war and children. it's unclear if moscow would be willing to attend a follow-up

summit, though a russian official last week rejected the idea. a russian court convicted u.s.-russian journalist masha gessen in absentia monday, sentencing them to eight years in prison for remarks made in 2022 about the invasion of ukraine. gessen, who lives in the u.s., was found guilty of spreading false information when they spoke in an interview the massacre of hundreds of people by russian forces in the eastern ukrainian city of bucha. you can see our interviews with masha gessen about the war in ukraine, gaza, and many other topics at democracynow.org. in el salvador, children have been subjected to serious human rights violations under president nayib bukele's violent crackdown on gangs. that is according to human rights watch, which has just released a report detailing the arbitrary detention, torture, and other forms of abuse against children who've been arrested during el salvador's state of exception that has been enforced since march 2022.

the report says detained children are held in overcrowded prisons, are not provided adequate food or health care, and have been denied access to their lawyers and visits with family members. many have been convicted in unfair trials without proper due process. and in new york, a coalition of immigration and civil rights groups have filed a complaint on behalf of immigrants detained at the buffalo federal detention facility over chronic abuse there. the complaint accuses immigration and customs enforcement of engaging in a brutal retaliation campaign against detained people who participated in a peaceful hunger strike as they protested dire conditions inside the jail, being denied access to free telephone calls to their families, and ice's practice of locking immigrants in their cells for 18 hours a day. ice officials threatened the hunger strikers with physical violence and placing them in solitary confinement.

and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. coming up, we look at donald trump's running mate j.d. vance who was described trump as america's hitler. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "death and the maiden" performed by amadeus quartet. for our tv audience, you are seeing some of the marriage celebration of shar simpson and former democracy now! fellow's nemo allen. congratulations from all of us to the newlyweds. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. america's hitler. reprehensible. cultural heroin. noxious. a terrible candidate.

that's how ohio senator j.d. vance once described donald trump. but on monday, trump tapped the 39-year-old to be his running mate, capping an extraordinary rise for vance who was just elected to the senate in 2022. j.d. vance first gained fame as the author of the best-selling memoir "hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis" about growing up in appalachia. it was also made into a movie. vance is a graduate of yale law school, who served in the marines, and became a venture capitalist. he won a close republican senate primary in 2022 in part thanks to billionaire tech investor peter thiel, who spent a record breaking $10 million to support vance's campaign. after years of criticizing trump, vance shifted his views to embrace the maga movement. in a major profile, political

reporter ian ward describes this shift by writing, "vance has completed a dramatic evolution from outspoken never trumper to unwavering trump loyalist and dog a defender of the ex-president's most authoritarian assertions, from the lie the 2020 election was stolen to the legally dubious claim the president is immune from criminal prosecution." on monday, president biden criticized vance as a "clone of trump on the issues." we begin today's show hearing j.d. vance in his own words describing donald trump. in 2016, he appeared on npr's fresh air. >> i can't stomach trump. i think he is noxious and is leading the white working class a very dark place. amy: in another 2016 media appearance, j.d. vance spoke to

msnbc about sexual abuse allegations against donald trump. >> sort of a he said/she said. at the end of the day, do donald trump, who always tells the truth? just kidding. or you believe the woman on the tape? amy: to talk more about j.d. vance, we are joined now by arlie russell hochschild, sociologist and author. her forthcoming book is titled "stolen pride: loss, shame and the rise of the right." it is a follow-up to her 2016 bestseller "strangers in their own land: anger and mourning on the american right." the book was a finalist for the national book award and has been described as a rosetta stone for understanding the rise of donald trump. thank you so much for being with us. if you can start off by just responding to the news yesterday that donald trump had chosen

j.d. vance to be his vice presidential running mate. you have been on a panel in both your books were out, "hillbilly elegy" and "strangers in their own land." talk about the rise of j.d. vance and what it means and what president trump means. >> thank you, for the invitation. i am here in pikeville, a 40 minute drive to jackson, kentucky, where vance spent his summers, mainly with his mamaw who brought him up when his mother succumbed to drugs. so there is that story, personal story, that i think trump picked him to represent.

but for me, the real question is , there is a saying, "without wood, there would be no fire." once the support for vance, 40% of americans, think this is the way to go. i think what we need to do is back up and look at the larger story of red state/blue state differences. i think here in pikeville and in this area -- and this area is the whitest and second poorest congressional district in the country -- and used to be at the

center politically in the 1990's. two thirds of this area were blue dog democrats. but they voted 80% for trump in the last two elections. so what has happened to vance as a person sort of happened to this region and not just this region. it used to be on the left has gone right. what is the reason for this? i think that is what my book is about and that is what i think we who are alarmed at this trend need to look at. amy: talk about your work and what you found over these years. we last spoke in 2016.

you had spent five years with some of donald trump's biggest supporters researching your book. talk about how things have changed from leading into the first presidency of donald trump to what is happening today. and also, arlie russell hochschild, how people have responded to the horror of the assassination attempt on trump on saturday in pennsylvania. >> well, the people that i am talking to hear only consolidates their sympathy for trump and their determination to support him. and that is because they see him as a supporter of them. so to answer your question, what makes this current book kind of different from my previous book

"strangers in their own land," focusing on this issue of democracy, what people feel about it and why do they feel so strongly -- there is a regional story, and that is that cold jobs are out. they have blamed the liberal war oncoal for that loss. opiate addiction has come in big time. it is not stopped. in this region, mainly poor whites are victims of it. these are in under regulated states, i should say, kentucky and tennessee and was virginia who have let these opiates come in and done untold damage. so these are people have just

felt a sense of terrible loss, freefall loss. and now many are leaving the region. the young, most educated. so this becomes an area of loss. and i think it speaks to a lot of the red states. and they don't feel the government has offered answers with dignity to them for this loss. so in a way, i see vance's story as a regional story. i think the regional story kind of speaks to a larger story in a way we're used to thinking of countries like mexico and philippines or india as kind of sending people out to richer countries, as many jobs and kind

of rich and there are poor states that migrate to them. well, there is a domestic version of that. kentucky is an example of that. it is sending its young and is educated out, and that is tremendous loss for them. and once a person from kentucky goes to san francisco or new york, they feel labeled as a hillbilly. one guy told me even going to lexington, when they hear your accent, and you're in a store and looking at things, they begin to follow you around because they think you don't have the money to buy what you want to buy. there's a kind of a label and a shame. that is a story i would tell, it

is not just this logic of speaking on the haves and have-nots, there is emotional loss that goes along with shame and pride. here in kentucky, in appalachia, very proud people, very gifted people, but who have suffered this big loss. they shame themselves, especially after addiction. kinda of breaks that many families. does irreparable harm. and then they feel like people in blue states are just swinging effort to it's at them. they feel shame. i think donald trump comes in as the shame president. he comes in with an anti-shaming ritual that relieves some of this. i think that is a lot of steam behind the maga enthusiasts for

the republican ticket. amy: i want to go to the trailer of the netflix film "hillbilly elegy," based on j.d. vance's bestseller "hillbilly elegy: a memoir of a family and culture in crisis." >> be happy. i know i could have done better. you've got to decide if you want to be somebody. >> i've been doing real good. >> i have an interview tomorrow. >> you know me, i was laying on

my feet. you look at me. you look at me. >> you let her get away with this every time. folks i told you i would do better. >> you always say that. >> you have to think about these kids. >> what you think i've been looking at since i was 18 years old? i've never had a life where i wasn't thinking about the kids. >> you want to be dead mom? are you just too lazy to try? >> you've always got a reason. it is always someone else's fault. at some point, you to take responsibility or someone else is going to have to step in. >> who? you? >> how many times have you seen this? >> oh, about 100.

>> you are a good terminator. >> i was and always. i had to learn. >> i love you. >> i promise i'm going to do better. >> you have a right to your own life. amy: that is the trailer for the film "hillbilly elegy," based on j.d. vance*'s book. i am wondering, arlie russell hochschild, if you can talk about the significance of this book? your book came out about the same time -- it is how you can do no j.d. vance, who then became senator from ohio and is now the youngest vice president

ial candidate. talk about "hillbilly elegy." >> i think it is a brilliant film. by the way, amy adams, brilliant acting, and a very poignant story. i think it tells a real story, a real story i have heard here up close and personal. the disruption of addiction and the chaos it creates, the inside he, the sense of -- anxiety, the sense of shame you are bad and all that i think is very real. it is a good depiction of it. what this celebrates, of course, what is lifted out by the republican party is the personal

determination will lift you from the circumstances to something better. and it doesn't look at what else we have to change so that a lot of people have a chance at that. it is both poignant and it has been politically used to pluck out quite individualist-oriented theme. it says nothing about really why people get into the fix they have been in, which is what my book is about. amy: arlie russell hochschild, the fact that j.d. vance has called president trump and america's hitler, talked about in the years past back in 2016, really, his horror about what

donald trump represented saying he goes after the people he, j.d. vance loves, like immigrants, talking about muslims. what about this complete turnaround? >> and it is paradoxical that people like in kentucky and elsewhere that are in fact the migrants to economic powerhouse centers are trying to bar other immigrants from coming in because in the domestic world they have experienced the immigrant experience, you know? and so that is paradox. but i think what -- and i don't

know what little switch turned in j.d. vance's mind to turn him from anti-trump to pro-trump, you can say it is self-interest, but i do think that there is something that progressives aren't saying -- seeing. there was in a recovery center, there was a man who had -- a coal miner. he got injured. he went to the doctor. he was given oxycontin for pain management. he got addicted to oxycontin and that led to other drugs. he became an addict. he lost his family. his wife left him. he lost custody of his children. he became homeless. and that man watched donald trump come to kentucky and

donald trump was pumping his fist and saying " i'm going to bring back coal." that man said, i knew trump was lying. he wasn't going to bring back coal, but i felt he saw who i was. mckay went to play for you -- amy: i want to bring you the final speech and this was extremely significant for the president of this major union, to be speaking at the republican national convention. he spoke last night, the first night. >> never forget american workers own this nation. we are not renters. we are not tenants. the corporate elite treat us like squatters and that is a

crime. we have got to fix it. this will shock you, to paraphrase senator mullin, it is time for both sides of congress to stand their butts up. we need trade policies that put american workers first. it needs to be easier for companies to remain in america. we need legal protections that make it safer for workers to get a contract. we must stop corporations from invading ending -- abandoning local communities for their bottom line. we need meaningful bankruptcy reform. today, corporate vultures buy up companies with the intent of driving them into bankruptcy and

feasting on their remains. the courts leave workers begging for crumbs. labor law must be reform. americans vote for a union but could never get a union contract. companies fire workers who try to join unions and hide behind toothless laws that are meant to protect working people but manipulated to benefit corporations. this is economic terrorism at its best. an individual cannot withstand such an assault. a fired worker cannot afford corporate delays and these greedy's employers know it. there are no consequences for the company, only the worker. we need corporate welfare reform . under our current system, massive companies like amazon, uber, lyft, and walmart take zero responsibility for their employees. no health insurance, no

retirement benefits, no paid leave. who foots the bill? the individual taxpayer. the biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations and this is real corruption. we must put workers first. amy: that is teamsters president sean o'brien addressing not the democratic convention known as the party of labor, but the republican convention. the first time a teamsters president has addressed the rnc as he talks about economic terrorism and corporate predators. as we wrap up, arlie russell hochschild, if you can comment on this and also his wife clerked for both chief justice roberts and justice kavanaugh. >> so listening to sean

o'brien's talk, it makes you wonder why those words aren't coming out of the mouths of joe biden and why the build back better and infrastructure bill that are really helping red states more than blue art paired with a kind of powerful message to the very people that o'brien is addressing. so there is a giant kind of disconnect between what i think the left liberal side leaves, who it wants to help. and the message. so we have a lot of work to do in a short number of leaks -- weeks we have left before the selection. it has to be to straighten that

out and to reach out to those who need to know that there is an alternative to donald trump. amy: arlie russell hochschild, sociologist and writer, author of the 2016 book "strangers in their own land: anger and mourning on the american right" and her forthcoming book "stolen , pride: loss, shame and the rise of the right." speaking to us from kentucky. coming up, we will speak with the pulitzer prize winning journalist david cay johnston about the trump appointed judge aileen cannon's shocking decision to dismiss the classified documents case against donald trump. and then we will hear from protesters in the streets here in milwaukee at the republican national convention. back in 20 seconds.

amy: "cartoon people" by freddi

henchi and the soulsetters. i am a bit goodman broadcasting from milwaukee as the republican national convention open monday, donald trump scored a major legal victory when the trump appointed federal judge in florida dismissed a criminal case against the former president for illegally keeping classified national security materials and documents after his presidency ended. judge aileen cannon ruled attorney general merrick garland had no power to appoint jack smith as a special counsel. her ruling stunned many legal experts. the justice department plans to appeal the ruling. this all comes after the supreme court granted trump immunity from prosecution for official actions taken as president. donald trump reacted to the news on monday by calling for all criminal cases against him to be dismissed. we are joined now by david cay johnston, pulitzer prize-winning investigative reporter,

co-founder of dc report. the author of three books on trump, including "the big cheat: how donald trump fleeced america and enriched himself and his family." he is a professor at rochester institute of technology. speaking to us from rochester. david cay johnston, welcome back to democracy now! first, if you can respond to the scene last night here in milwaukee at the republican convention as president trump with a bandage on his right here after surviving an assassination attempt on saturday at his speech in butler, pennsylvania, sitting next to j.d. vance, youngest vice presidential candidate, former marine, author of "hillbilly elegy," just a first-time senator. if you can respond to that picture? then talk about the significance of these court decisions. >> well, donald trump has picked

just one of the many republicans who were against him on principled grounds. he is unfit, unqualified, doesn't know anything. he's a con orders, criminal, and now embrace him. because they don't have any interest here except their own careers. given that more than a million people have died for this country and the idea that america being unwilling to stand up on principle should offend every single american, whether you support donald trump or not. the ruling by judge cannon will not stand in all likelihood. it will be appealed. what judge cannon did was say under the constitution come the special prosecutor jack smith should have gone before the u.s. senate to be confirmed the way federal court judges are confirmed by the senate. the problem is, there are at least five statutes that

authorize the appointment of what is known in the constitution as an inferior officer and that covers special prosecutors. if you follow the very faulty reasoning in judge cannon's opinion, the prosecution of hunter biden would also have to stop. that was done by special prosecutor without confirmation by the senate. this was an opinion in search of a result. judge cannon, from her very first order when she said donald trump should get special treatment -- absolutely offensive thing to say for any federal judge. no one in america under the law is to get special treatment. we are all to be treated equal as chief justice roberts wrote in an opinion two years ago. this is just deeply offensive. i suspect it will be overturned. at the real result is there's no prospect that donald trump will

be tried for the november elections. if he isn't tried before then and donald trump gets back to the white house, he will stop the prosecution. amy: many people saw this case, the mishandling of the documents , bringing them to mar-a-lago -- again, this was dealing with and holding onto these documents was after he was president -- as the most clear-cut, open and shut case, david. >> it absolutely was the strongest and easiest to prove case. and other people who have taken a single page from a secure facility have been prosecuted. here we are talking about boxes and boxes. there's another point that hardly gets mentioned in the mainstream news. the special prosecutor in defending his actions has repeatedly given hypotheticals. imagine if a former president

were to have shared our secrets in return for payment? those hypotheticals were not made up out of whole cloth. we know donald trump gave away one of our most closely guarded secrets, how close are submarines could get to russian submarines without being detected. we know he held up and read from documents to a group of completely inappropriate people working on a book. the clear implication -- i wrote about this august 2022 -- is that donald trump has no doubt sold or tried to sell national security secrets. donald doesn't know anything about global diplomacy. he doesn't know anything about the world. he could not tell you the difference between a sunni and a shia. he did not know why we have a memorial at pearl harbor for the uss arizona for pearl harbor day, but he knows value. and supersecret things he learns

as president, documents he took illegally -- those have a lot of value. donald knows value. amy: matt gaetz, the florida congressmember, talked about aileen cannon as "future supreme court justice," david cay johnston. >> trump did that, we could clearly say, you're effectively offering a bribe in return for favorable treatment but trump does not need to do that. he appointed aileen cannon, who was marginally qualified -- and i'm being polite. matt gets a many of the republicans -- matt gaetz, and many other republicans said, don't believe in democracy. that is the real underlying threat. your previous guest arlie talked very clearly about how donald

trump is succeeding because he keeps saying at every rally, "we love you." donald doesn't love anyone. he doesn't even love himself. but he knows how to appeal to people who feel looked down upon. and that is the since they have. joe biden lets republicans take credit for the infrastructure project they voted against. you know the surveys show? lots of people believe this economic improvement was because of laws trump got past. they because of laws passed at the direction of joe biden. and he is not out there selling that. the democrats are not selling it. instead, they have been engaging in a circular firing squad whose only beneficiary is donald trump and j.d. vance. amy: as you talk about j.d. vance, tell us your reaction to him being the pick is donald trump's vice presidential candidate, what he represents -- this man, who himself, described

himself as a never trumper, who said "i go back and forth between thinking trump is a cynical a-hole like nixon who would not be -- or he is america's hitler." he went on to say things like, talking about the vilifying of people in this country, etc. >> margaret atwood's novel is fiction but it is moving toward reality in america. j.d. vance wants to allow the tracking of women's menstrual cycles stop he has searched the daylight savings time is reducing fertility among the american population, which is crazy. he supports project 2025, which among other things, would prohibit shipping

contraceptives, whether it is condoms or iud's or the pill but common carrier, which as you can only ship if you have your own fleet of trucks that would go from manufacturing plant to store. this is not a party promoting freedom, this is a party that wants to round up millions of people living in this country and no american citizens or green card holders -- haven't thought this through very carefully -- he wants to take away people's ability to challenge things into courts. he is anti-worker in numerous ways. that is what made the speech by the teamsters union president extraordinary. everything he talked about is what the biden administration is working to do and that donald trump opposes. donald trump and his vice

presidential candidate, they are anti-worker, and to individual liberty, in favor of controlling women right down to tracking their menstrual cycles of younger women -- which is not of the government's business. amy: david cay johnston, thank you for being with us. we have expanded to two hours, are daily broadcast. in our other hour, people will hear specifically j.d. vance's views on abortion and also the whole labor record of donald trump as we look at -- with robert kuttner come the significance of sean o'brien's first teamsters address to the rnc. david cay johnston pulitzer , prize-winning investigative reporter, co-founder of dc report. has written three books on donald trump. as we move now to the streets of milwaukee, this is breaking with

convention: war, peace, and the presidency. i am broadcasting from milwaukee, wisconsin. protesters marched outside the republican national convention monday. the march was endorsed by more than 100 activist groups, including many who also plan to march in chicago during the democratic national convention . these are some of the voices from the protest. >> we know right now the rnc, republican national convention, has descended in milwaukee, perpetuating violence against communities of color and a right-wing agenda they plan to implement in 2025. we are calling for many demands. our demands are clear. we need an end to genocide. under trump's first presidency,

we know that same hate is resulting in the type of political violence we are seeing now. not only targeting people of color, but students on campuses. >> i am here because i am not happy with republican or democratic party. i am still in high school but i think it is important world here's our voices. this is not ok. free palestine and free abortion rights and trans rights. >> you have a speaker that says -- why do these connect for you? >> it is the same struggles come just under a different name. whether it is palestinian rights, south african apartheid, it is all the same. as people, we need to realize our humanity and stand together in our times of crisis. that is why it is so important we all stand together. >> are you sisters?

>> yes. i don't believe our countries is going in the right direction. it is really sad. if i was someone who could vote, i would be appalled by the options we are given. we are given a genocidal man and a fascist man. that is a terrible decision to pick from. >> [indiscernible] >> the potential nominee is the convicted felon. >> it is a damn shame. they been imprisoned for over a decade fighting for wrongful convictions but we can have a president with 34 felonies still able to run to be our president. it is a shame for america to even allowing it.

>> i am a member representing -- an alliance of national democratic philippine organization. when trump was elected, we saw increasing u.s. military presence in the philippines. he was vying for our homelands to be used for launching pad for u.s. wars. he funded a violent regime under rodrigo duterte to the tune of $2 billion in weapons to war profiteers like boeing and lockheed martin. we see how connected the working classes to the working people philippines where billions of our taxpayer dollars are being used for weapons against our people in our homeland. at the same time, depriving our

community here a public health care, housing, education, food, and wages, right? we're here to oppose another trump presidency. >> i'm going to go over the barricade. there's a security perimeter. right now protesters are going over the barricade. we have press going over the barricade. >> i am part of the coalition against the pipelines in northern wisconsin and across the upper midwest. i work with native, non-native coalitions. we are standing next to the milwaukee river, which is closed down for the convention here. there is a robotic submersible

in our river. giant tear gas and chemical dispersal truck. i think of it more of -- i know about cop city. this is cop city on steroids. this is cop city having right now. >> and he talked about communities have been impacted by the militarization that has been brought by the rnc? we just went through three security checkpoints. how has that impacted communities here? >> it is kind of funny because they say this is good for business but businesses are suffering. we are in a right to work state. unfortunately, a lot of folks don't have access to unions. these people are being told not to come to work for week, which a lot of people cannot afford to do. people need paid time off. working-class people should be considered in this process and they were not. the city rolled out the red carpet for the rnc.

>> what we do? >> stand up, fightback! >> what is your message to teamsters president sean o'brien who is scheduled to speak at the rnc? >> if you want to be part of the union, trump is unknown known union buster. he wants to take away our collective bargaining rights. the problem is, if he takes away those, we're down to not making good wages. we're down to not having safety at our job sites. we're down to someone not caring enough about the american worker that is putting all this work into everything we put in this country. my father was in ironworker for 45 years, always voted democratically. he told me, this is what we believe in, unions. we stayed together, we are strong together. divided we will fall. amy: voices from the protesters who marched outside the

republican national convention monday, part of a coalition of 100 activist groups. a special thank to democracy producers on the streets. stay tuned for another hour of our special breaking with