07/17/24 07/17/24 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from the republican national convention in milwaukee, this is democracy now! >> i will dark by making one thing perfectly clear. donald trump has my strong endorsement, period. >> my fellow republicans, listen

-- let's send donald trump back to the white house. amy: nikki haley and ron desantis joined other former rivals of donald trump, including ted cruz, to fully back the trump/vance ticket on the second night of the rnc. much of the evening focused on the party's hardline anti-immigrant policies. >> never before has an election mattered so much. we are facing an invasion on our southern border. not figuratively, a literal invasion. amy: we will speak with reporter jean guerrero and howard professor clarence lusane, who says "don't believe trump when he claims he's not racist." then a jury has convicted new jersey democratic senator bob

menendez for taking bribes from egypt and qatar. >> this case has been about shocking levels of corruption. hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, were cities bends -- mercedes-benz. this was politics for profit. amy: and police coming in for the rnc shoot and kill and unhoused veteran in milwaukee about a mile from republican national convention. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. war, peace, and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, israeli forces have killed at least 42 people in air strikes on a u.n.-run school in

nuseirat and on a so-called safe area in al-mawasi near khan younis. the nuseirat attack, which killed at least 23 palestinians, is the sixth time israel bombed an unrwa school in the past 10 days. this is a survivor. >> where is the safety for the unrwa schools? there are no safe agencies, clinics, houses, no safe streets. we have been left desolate come displaced and destroyed. what have the children done to deserve this? where are the countries? where are the people? where is the world? what we do with the mothers and children? what is their sin? what have they done? amy: unrwa, the u.n. relief and works agency for palestine refugees, reports 70% of its schools in gaza have now been bombed and over 500 people who had taken shelter in them have been killed by israel since its

-- october 7. separately, unrwa projected it will take 15 years to clear the rubble from israel's destruction of gaza. the center for constitutional rights has filed a freedom of information act request to access the internal communications of the biden administration about the international criminal court's investigation into israeli war crimes in gaza. the group says it is focused on efforts by the u.s. and u.k. to block the icc from delivering arrest warrants for prime minister benjamin netanyahu and israeli defense minister yoav gallant. lebanese state media reports israeli air attacks in southern lebanon have killed at least five syrian civilians, including three children. israeli military and hezbollah have been trading near-daily fire across the border since the war began. in new york, a federal jury tuesday convicted new jersey senator bob menendez of corruption on all 16 counts he

faced. the disgraced democrat, once head of the powerful senate foreign relations committee, was found guilty of bribery, wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and acting as a foreign agent for egypt. this is prosecutor damian williams speaking after yesterday's verdict. >> this case has always been about shocking levels of corruption. hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, a mercedes-benz. this was not politics as usual, this was politics for profit. now that a jury has convicted job menendez -- bob menendez, it has come to an end. amy: two menendez associates, new jersey businessmen wael hana and fred daibes, were also found guilty on all counts faced. senator menendez's wife nadine menendez was also charged in the corruption schemes but has not yet been tried. senator menendez faces years in prison when he is sentenced in

october. eight of his convictions carry possible 20-year sentences. democrats are calling on menendez to resign, which would allow new jersey's democratic governor phil murphy to fill his vacant seat. if menendez refuses to resign, he could face expulsion by his fellow senators. here in milwaukee, activists and community members have gathered in the streets to condemn the police killing of 43-year-old milwaukee resident samuel sharpe. the officers who killed sharpe, an unhoused black veteran, are from ohio and are in wisconsin as part of group of 4500 law enforcement officials in milwaukee for the rnc. but the shooting took place a mile from the rnc's proceedings. sharpe appeared to be in the middle of an altercation with another man when the police officers charged towards him before fatally shooting him. separately, community members on tuesday rallied outside milwaukee county district

attorney john chisholm's house, demanding justice for d'vontaye mitchell, the 43-year-old black father who was killed by security guards last month when they pinned him to the ground outside the hyatt regency hotel in downtown milwaukee. we will have more on these stores later in the broadcast. in more news from milwaukee, anti-immigrant hate speech and misinformation about the u.s.-mexico border took center stage on the second day of the republican national convention . several of donald trump's former rivals took to the stage, including former ambassador nikki haley, florida governor ron desantis, texas senator ted cruz, and vivek ramaswamy. many targeted vice president kamala harris, saying she and biden have enforced open border policies that have led to a wave of what trump's campaign describes as a migrant crime epidemic. there is no data linking immigrants to rising crime. meanwhile, senator cruz falsely claimed immigrants kill u.s. citizens every damn day, he

said. evidence shows fentanyl is largely smuggled by u.s. citizens across u.s. ports of entry. we will have more on the rnc after headlines. california congressmember adam schiff warned donors democrats would lose the presidency, control of the senate, and miss out on the chance to reclaim the house unless president biden steps aside. adam schiff, who is running for california's u.s. senate seat in november, made the comments during a private fundraising dinner in new york according to new reports. despite mounting fears over biden's ability to beat trump, democrats appear to be moving ahead with plans to hold a virtual vote confirming biden as their nominee weeks before the dnc. we will have more on that at democracynow.org. in housing news, president biden has unveiled a plan to limit annual rent increases to no more than 5%.

landlords who fail to comply would lose their tax benefits. the rule would apply to corporate landlords who control at least 50 units, which amounts to roughly half the rental market, or 20 million units, nationwide. democrats would likely need to control congress in order for the proposal to pass. biden outlined the plan during a speech before the naacp on tuesday but mistakenly said he was capping rent increases at $55 instead of 5%. pres. biden: the idea that corporate owned housing is able to raise your rent $300, $400 a month. i am about to announce they cannot raise it more than $55. amy: progressive texas congressmember greg casar has challenged his republican counterparts to prove their commitment to workers by backing union-boosting legislation.

in a social media post, casar wrote -- "if republicans want to talk like they're pro-worker, then let's have a vote on the pro act next week. let's see which politicians are for unions and which ones are all talk." this comes as republican vice-presidential nominee j.d. vance attempts to court working class voters and after teamster president sean o'brien addressed the rnc monday. other union leaders, meanwhile, are warning voters not to succumb to fake worker appeals by the republican party. afl-cio president liz shuler said, "a trump-vance white house is a corporate ceo's dream and a worker's nightmare," while seiu president april verrett warned, "vance's loyalties lie with the wall street bankers and silicon valley billionaires who have bankrolled his political career." in kenya, at least one person was killed in a fresh wave of youth-led anti-government protests demanding president

william ruto resign. at least 50 people have been killed since protests broke out last month in response to a now-withdrawn tax bill. this is a protester in mombasa. >> he has waited this long and still he cannot see the impact it is creating on the country. amy: in other news from kenya, hundreds more national police officers were deployed to haiti this week as part of a u.n.-backed security mission. federal prosecutors have started to offer new plea deals and drop more serious charges against january 6 insurrectionists following last month's supreme court ruling that limited the use of felony obstruction of congress charges against a rioter. those expected to benefit include members of the extreme-right oath keepers and proud boys. over 250 january 6 defendants

could seek to vacate their obstruction convictions or charges. many of them, however, were also charged with other felonies. and in other supreme court news, president biden is reportedly preparing to endorse major changes to the nation's highest court, including establishing term limits and an enforceable code of ethics. biden is also reportedly considering a call for a constitutional amendment that would eliminate broad immunity for presidents and other officials. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. war peace and the presidency: we are breaking with convention. coming up, how donald trump and the republican party are vowing to carry out the largest deportation program in u.s. history. stay with us.

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amy: "rich man's dream" by neo boys. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. war, peace, and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from the republican national convention. on tuesday night, several of donald trump's former rivals endorse the trump-vance to get. speakers -- ticket. speakers included former ambassador nikki haley, florida governor ron desantis, texas senator ted cruz, and vivek ramaswamy. much of the evening focused on the party's hardline border and immigration policies. the 2024 republican platform backs trump's pledge to carry out the "largest deportation operation in american history" and to stop what it calls a migrant crime epidemic.

this is texas senator ted cruz speaking last night. >> never before has an election mattered so much. we are facing an invasion on our southern border. not figuratively, a literal invasion. 11.5 million people have crossed our border illegally under joe biden. every day americans are dying. murdered. assaulted. raped. by illegal immigrants that the democrats have released. teenaged girls and boys wearing colored wristbands are being sold into a life of sex slavery.

this is evil and it is wrong. and it is happening every damn day. today, as a result of joe biden's presidency, your family is less safe. your children are less safe. the country is less safe. but here's the good news. we can fix it. and when donald trump is president, we will fix it. amy: that was republican texas senator ted cruz speaking here in milwaukee at the republican national convention. there is no data linking immigrants to rising crime. for more, we are joined by jean guerrero. she is contributing opinion writer for "the new york times" and author of the book "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda."

her latest piece is headlined "how biden can win over young latinos." she is a senior fellow at the ucla latina futures 2050 lab and a former opinion columnist at "the los angeles times." she is joining us from los angeles. welcome back to democracy now! why don't you summarize your response to what ted cruz was saying in particular and overall the theme of last night was the issue of immigration and safety, as they put it. immigration and crime, jean. >> great to be here. what we saw last night was the politics of hate. the republican party is not letting up on its deceptive anti-immigrant hatemongering. rooted in the deceptive demonization of one of the most vulnerable groups in the united states, which is immigrants. and texas senator ted cruz's

speech was one of the most deceptive of the week. he listed example after example of americans being killed by immigrants, which as you noted, amy, and workers are far less likely to commit crimes than people who are born in the united states. data consistently shows this. but this is a strategy that has been used by trump and it is straight out of the playbook of stephen miller, which is to take examples, usual examples of crimes and to paint them as the norm. this is a strategy that was used by the nazis to vilify jewish people and other groups they did not like. they published lists of crimes committed by these people to create the false notion that these are monsters, that they are subhuman, that they are a threat to society. this is what we saw last night. that even in the wake of trump's assassination attempt, the

republican party letting up on his anti-immigrant hatemongering, on is very dangerous and deceptive rhetoric -- which is not surprising given that when trump was shot, he was in the middle of anti-immigrant hatemongering. if he had not turned to look at that chart showing border crossing statistics, he might be dead. as the republican party is painting trump as the victim of demonization by the left, trump and the republican party continue with its classic anti-immigrant hatemongering, which is endangering this group of people and latinos across united states who come from mixed status families. amy: and we should say as senator cruz spoke, as nikki haley spoke, as our next clip we are going to play of a mom who lost her son to fentanyl spoke, president clinton was there sitting next to j.d. vance --

rather, president trump was there and president trump had a bandage over his right ear after saturday's assassination attempt. i want to go to another speaker at the rnc last night, and that was ann fudner who said her son weston's fentanyl overdose death was because biden open "our borders." >> we did everything right. i had those conversations with him and fentanyl still found my son. and on february 27, 2022, our lives were shattered and our baby was gone. this was not an overdose, it was a poisoning. his whole future, everything we ever wanted for him, was ripped

away in an instant. and joe biden does nothing. i hold joe biden, kamala harris, the borders are, what a joke, and gavin newsom come as every democrat who supports open borders, responsible for the death of my son. amy: data shows fentanyl is largely smuggled by u.s. citizens across u.s. ports of entry. jean guerrero, this is a statistic that you talk about. the statistic is 90%? >> exactly, about 90% of fentanyl is smuggled through ports of entry not through the desert. it is smuggled by u.s. citizens, not by immigrants. so the republican party is misusing a legitimate tragedy to manipulate perceptions about what is happening at the border.

this woman's son weston should not have died. it is a tragedy that he died. however, this blame on "open borders" is misleading, to say the least. first of all, the border is not open. biden has deployed more border patrol agents than any president in u.s. history. they have had record fentanyl seizures under his administration. again, when fentanyl is smuggled across the border, it is smuggled through ports of entry, which are always open. the trumpet administration also kept the ports of entry open because you have legitimate commercial traffic that needs to be coming across the borders. that is where the fentanyl is being smuggled, not through the desert. amy: and can you respond to senator cruz saying immigrants commit murders -- i think he

said every damn day? >> that is extremely deceptive. immigrants are far less likely to commit crimes than people who are born in the united states. they have a lot more to lose, particularly undocumented immigrants. the statistics consistently show immigrants are less likely to commit crimes. and this idea that there committing crimes every day is absolutely bonkers. but it is a strategy that is very classic of stephen miller. one of the things i did under the trump administration's they created an office called the voice, for the victims of immigration crimes. it was constantly publishing lists of immigrants committing crimes, which creates the false notion that they are out there disproportionally committing crimes when in fact that is not the case.

if you wanted to demonize somebody based on a statistical fact, you might choose, for example, the fact white men are disproportionately responsible for mass shootings. but of course, don't see anyone advocating for the mass detention or deportation of white men because that would be crazy. again, this is based on a completely false notion that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes. which is just not the case. amy: kari lake, who is running for arizona's senate seat, less -- left vacant by kyrsten sinema, kicked off the rnc on tuesday night, lashing out against the media and her senate race opponent congressmember ruben gallego. >> you have spent the last eight years lying about president donald trump and his amazing patriotic supporters.

they lie about everything. they lied about joe biden's health, the economy of the laptops, the border. i could go on and on and on. but the really good news is that every day, more more people are turning off the fake news. [applause] that's right. and americans are wigging up to the truth about -- waking up to the truth about the disastrous democrat policies pushed by joe biden can his favorite congressman, my opponent, ruben gallego. these guys are full of bad ideas. just last week, ruben gallego voted to let the millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election. [boos] gallego the democrats have handed over control of my state,

arizona's border, to the drug cartels. because of them, criminals and deadly drugs are pouring in and our children are dying. our children are getting their hands on these drugs and dying. amy: kari lake falsely said her opponent, the congressmember ruben gallego, "voted to let millions of people who poured into our country illegally cast a ballot in this upcoming election." however, she did not mention that it is already banned by federal law for non-citizens to vote. lake is a former tv news anchor who lost arizona's governor's race and has since become a face for trump's 2020 election no movement. jean guerrero, comments? >> day ago as a moderate on immigration and what the republican party does is, regardless of whether you're a moderate, which is the case with biden. as i mentioned earlier, he has

increased border security to unprecedented levels. regardless of whether you take a moderate stance on immigration, they're going to say you have opened the borders, that you are in favor of people coming across the border without any sort of security measures, any enforcement. that is simply not the case. but they are heavily leaning on this because they have nothing else to offer the american people. it is a scapegoating politics, which is rooted in stoking fear and hate and creating the impression there is a dystopic reality at the border. which simply is not the case. trump promised to shut down the border and he was not able to build the wall he said he was going to build because it is physically impossible to build a 2000 mile structure along the terrain that exists at the border. president biden is doing the best that he can and democrats like gallego are in favor of

strategies that embrace certain levels of border security. the republican party simply takes that completely out of context, ignores that, and claims they are in favor of open borders, which is absolutely not the case. amy: i want to go to another clip where on the floor of the convention at night this is another arizona delegate named stacey goodman who spoke with democracy now!\ she wore a white patch of paper on her right here, similar to the bandage trump is wearing at the rnc on his right here after the assassination attempt on saturday. >> i'm here to serve my community, my country. what i have on my right ear is solidarity with president trump. he got shot on saturday. somebody attempted to take his

life, it was an attempted assassination because of the rhetoric on the left. even joe biden said it and apologized for it. he said, we need to put donald trump in the bullseye. crazy people take that as meaning, -- you know, the hypocrisy is ridiculous. the left says unity, unity, unity, but there is no unity. look what cnn did today, saying dj vance is more toxic than trump. where's the unity in that? >> it does seem like it is been reported that this young man was able to use a gun purchased by his father and the family or at least the young man was a registered republican -- >> he was not a registered republican, ok? his facebook page was wiped. he was not a registered republican. that is the narrative of the left. he was not a republican.

>> what was the? >> i am not 100% sure, but it was probably mentally ill and easily swayed by the left. >> can ask you one other question about immigration? it seems like it is a major topic tonight, is it a big one for you? >> well, yeah. i am all for people coming into this country and supporting this country, speaking english -- assimilating. i am from a border state. we have open borders. we have illegal immigrants coming in here killing, raping, and maiming our children, ok? that is not acceptable. >> you're saying that is not all of them? >> the border wall needs to be finished. joe biden, had he left that alone, we would have had a complete border wall. the blood is on joe biden's hands and his administration. >> their people have drawn

attention to reports that show u.s.-born citizens are much more likely to commit crimes than immigrants. >> that is an out and out lie. i don't know where you're getting your information from but that is a lie. >> i got it from a study that was done by northwestern. >> not buying it. i will tell you, illegal immigrants commit more crimes than anyone else because, first of all, they're coming into this country, committing a crime by coming into this country so they don't care about our laws. they don't abide by our laws. amy: in fact, it is been widely reported that thomas matthew crooks was in fact a registered republican who would have been eligible to cast his first presidential vote in november for the election. public records also show crook'' father is a registered republican and his mother a registered democrat and that as a 17-year-old crooks made a $15

donation to a democratic party cause. jean guerrero, you have been shaking your head through this comment. stacey goodman is a retired police officer. >> she mentioned blood on biden 's hands. if you want to talk about someone who has blood on their hands, the republican has spent the last seven years normalizing the white supremacist great replacement theory, which has been used by white terrorists, white extremists across the world and in this country to commit horrific acts of violence against mexican americans, latinos, black people. it is one of the most dangerous theories that exists today. it has been normalized in u.s. politics. it is the idea that immigrants are being brought to the united

states to replace white people. it confuses demographic change and demographic growth with demographic subtraction and demographic violence. it is actually deceptive and manipulative and the republican party has been doing this for seven years. it is no surprise that under the trump administration we saw the worst, most deadly attack against the mexican-american community that the united states has seen in el paso when he saw the white supremacist shooter attack a walmart because of this theory. the notion that trump is the victim, that he is being victimized or that americans are being victimized by the democratic party's border policy ignores the reality which is that president biden has deployed historic number of agents to the border. they are saying record seizures

of fentanyl. he has kept in place a majority of trump's restrictive policies at the border. again, the research consistently shows that immigrants are far less likely to admit -- commit crimes, this includes undocumented immigrants. amy: before we go, i went to ask you about your latest piece in "the new york times," "how biden can win over young latinos." you say 20% of the latino population that will be voting will be voting for the first time. what is the significance of this? >> the focus has been on the mac a latino. every time he talked about the latino vote in the national media, you hear about the maga latino who supporting trump. while this is a reality of a segment of those latino voters, those who are going to determine

the future of the latino vote our young progressive voters who are overrepresented in battleground states. so it president biden focuses on turning out this young latino electorate, it can make all the difference. these are latinos who are very progressive. they believe and a pathway to citizenship for long-term undocumented immigrants. they believe in abortion rights. they believe in stopping climate change, stopping gun violence. they are more likely to belong to groups that have been harmed by trump. more likely to identify as lgbtq. more like that have a family member or close friend who is undocumented. so it president biden once to win over young latinos, he needs to take the group of people that trump has chosen to persecute systematically and show that he has what it takes to defend them. he has already taken significant action as far as -- executive

action to provide deportation relief to the undocumented spouses of u.s. citizens. however, he needs to go farther than that. he needs to take much bolder action to show he is in fact a fighter. there is an impression among young voters, including latino voters, that he is as bad with the present communities as trump because of the horrors and gaza. there is one way that president biden can capture that narrative. it is to take these people that trump is victimizing that the republican party is victimizing, and show he has what it takes to defend them and take bold action to provide deportation relief to all undocumented people who have lived here a long time, who have u.s. citizen children here, who were central workers during the pandemic and make sure they can be safe here, can continue

paying taxes, and they can continue to save this economy from recession. amy: jean guerrero, thank you for being with us, author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." we will link to your piece in "the new york times" "how biden can win over young latinos." this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. war peace and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. as the republican national convention enters its third day, we look now at how donald trump is trying to increase his appeal with black voters. during the first presidential debate, donald trump slammed president biden for allowing migrants into the country, claiming they're taking "black jobs." pres. trump: the fact is that his big kill on the black people is the millions of people that he is allowed to come in through the border. they are taking black jobs now. it could be 18, to be 19, and even 20 many people.

they're taking black jobs and hispanic jobs. you have not seen it yet but you're going to see something that is the worst in our history. amy: we're joined now by howard university political science professor clarence lusane. his latest book is titled "twenty dollars and change: harriet tubman and the ongoing fight for racial justice and democracy." also author of "the black history of the white house." his piece in the nation is headlined "don't believe trump when he claims he's not racist." professor, thank you for joining us again on democracy now! can you talk about the point he is making -- we just had a long discussion about immigration. president trump pitting latinos, immigrants against african-americans in this country and the significance of this? >> thank you for having me. as your previous guest pointed out, it is important to know

this idea of replacement theory that whites are being threatened by these cultural invaders, is something that donald trump wing of the party has been using ever since donald trump stepped on to the national stage. the article i wrote in the nation was to point out that we don't have to memory hold when donald trump history of racism has been but more importantly also has supported donald trump. ever since he stepped onto the stage, every racist and the country, ku klux klan, neo-nazi, about fascist have backed donald trump. he has been able to get away with that kind of support because in many ways, the media has evaded questions about that. this has become the way in which

the republican party in 24, a party of extremism operates and functions. it is critical to not let this memory be lost of donald trump's policies and behavior over the last number of years and how that has permeated the republican party. amy: as you point out in a recent interview in "time magazine," trump suggested the problem was really antiwhite racism. if you look right now, there is a biased against white people and that is a problem, trump said. your response, professor? >> trump is leaning in to his face. -- his base. what the data is showing, for the last 10 years if not before then, a majority of whites,

particularly republican voters, believe racism in this country exists against white people. that black people, latinos, asians basically do not have issues with institutional and systemic racism, but it is actually whites being targeted. this isn't just rhetoric, this is manifesting itself both in the republican party platform and republican party activists. stephen miller, for example, heads of america first legal. its entire purpose is to go after what they argue are racist attacks against whites. so america first legal has filed lawsuit after lawsuit after lawsuit against private sector entities that they claim are discriminating particularly against white males. so when donald trump says

antiwhite racism is actually a thing, he is very serious that his second administration, if he comes to power, will operate on that. he has pledged, for example, that he will end every dei program that exists anywhere in the federal government. that is not just talking about specific programs about diversity, that is talking about any effort in any branch of government to recognize that there needs to be inclusive hiring, needs to be inclusive policies. so this is a very real tactic on the part of donald trump. the problem is that it conflicts with what they're trying to do and win black voters. donald trump recognizes in the swing states -- georgia, michigan, pennsylvania, wisconsin, these key

battleground states -- the black vote has been extremely decisive in helping the democrats. so they have to figure out a way to either drive down the vote of democrats or if possible, can win votes. that is difficult to do given donald trump's record and history. amy: on monday, democracy now! renée feltz was on the floor, spoke to a man wearing a large cowboy hat who was attending the rnc with members the florida delegation. >> are you here is part of the delegation? >> i am just here. >> can you say a little bit about why you're here? >> i'm here to support donald j. trump. that is only reason why i would come here. >> sounds like he was talking to you, people like -- supporters come talking about black jobs. can you talk about what that

meant you and the difference between black jobs and other jobs? i think a lot of stuff is taken out of context. what he means was median level jobs. traits. that is what he meant. a lot of illegals and migrants coming over here. a lot of our own employers are hiring those individuals. that is just the truth. amy: your response, professor clarence lusane? >> when donald trump refers to the black people and refers to black jobs, what he said is his view of where black people fit in this country, employment, cultures, otherwise, is always at the bottom step donald trump never has anything positive to say about the black community. he never talks about like doctors, for example, or black engineers or black accountants

or black people who are in many, many different professions up and down the spectrum of employment. he essentially sees through racist tinted eyes, black people at the very, very bottom. that is how he sees immigrants. to be more precise, immigrants of color. so that is the conflict he is trying to pitch. what the data shows, with the department of labor shows, is in every single area of occupation, you have black people, latinos, asians across the spectrum. donald trump feeds into this narrative among conservatives that there are categories that work for certain people, that that is how he then sees attacking immigrants and creating this conflict between the black community and the

immigrant community. amy: on tuesday night, democracy now! caught up with the pro-trump rapper who debuted his video "trump trump baby" and featuring amber rose at the rnc, day after she spoke. this is what he said. >> i've been supporting trump diehard since 2015. french montana, a lot of big-name rappers. donald trump was like the boss. he had money. he is out here dodging bullets, getting and dennis. he is a real rapper. when he came in and 2016, was about proving people wrong. nobody believed he would be president. he knocked that door down. me being young trying to chase that dream and be like trump, a positive role model to look up to.

even though one time we did not cii, i can bring you in. amber rose was against trump for years. i've a that came out -- i have a new video that just came out. a lot of people don't realize we need new voters. we are out here making, it's about donald trump and try to sell donald trump on people and they finally by five years later we're like, can do it, we need it. amy: soon after they spoke, they took the stage of the rnc. >> we voting donald trump, baby america needs saving we voting trump trump baby

november 5 we going crazy amy: rapper forgiato blow debuts "trump trump baby." professor clarence lusane, your response to the appeal that president trump is making right now and what the rapper is saying? >> what we see with forgiato bl ow and amber rose as well as the black commerce members, republican congressmembers, that they are bringing on stage is this effort to basically gaslight the black community on what really has been the donald trump record. what we see is this argument that the democrats have for decades created the circumstances under which black people are living in the worst conditions possible and that somehow donald trump will be able to overcome that.

although there is literally no record of that. tim scott, the senator from south carolina, gave a speech on monday where he argued that racism -- america is not a racist country. that racial disco nation, systemic and institutional, don't exist. tim scott should look at his own state south carolina stop south carolina is one of the poorest states in the country as are many of the states that are controlled by republican party. south carolina, the governor's republican. the two senators to congress are republicans. six out of the seven house members are republican. james clyburn being the exception. the state legislator controlled i republicans. this is a state where poverty is high, above the national average. but when you break it down, about 9% to 10% of the whites in the state fall under that

poverty line. almost 25% of lack people. how do you explain that? tim scott explains it by saying, essentially, it is those people's fault. it has nothing to do with the policies of the state, has nothing to do with systemic racism. but we are talking generations of ways in which people across these republican states have been mired in poverty, disproportionately racialized. if you look at education, access to health care -- and all of these situations, racial disparities tend to manifest. but none of this is being addressed by the tim scotts, ben carsons, amber roses and other people of color they are putting on stage at the republican national convention because those are inconvenient truths. amy: clarence lusane, thank you

for being with us, political science professor at howard university and the director of the international affairs program. his piece in the nation we will link to headlined "don't believe trump when he claims he's not racist." coming up, a jury has convicted new jersey governor bob menendez . we will get more. ♪ [music break]

amy: "bad moon rising" covered by thea gilmore. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. war peace and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. in new york, a federal jury on tuesday convicted new jersey democratic senator bob menendez of corruption on all 16 counts he faced. he was found guilty of bribery, aiding egypt and cutter, as well as wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and acting as a foreign agent. >> this case has always been about shocking levels of

corruption. hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, a mercedes-benz. this wasn't politics as usual, this was politics of profit. now that a jury has convicted bob menendez, his years of selling his office to the highest bidder have finally come to an end. amy: bob menendez faces up to 220 years in prison. democrats are calling on senator menendez to resign. joining us, walkie at the republican camp -- in milwaukee at the republican national convention is robert hennelly, who has been covering menendez for decades. bob come you been covering menendez for years. he was acquitted in a case years ago. now we have this case. >> what we see is this is really a condemnation of the political

culture of new jersey that is corrupt. this does leave an opening for the republicans here. it was facilitated -- that is why senator menendez is holding on even now, even though he has been convicted. he has no shame. you cannot have shame and be an politics in new jersey. this same lawlessness of donald trump is extended to bob menendez. amy: explained what he was convicted up. >> and influence peddling thing where he ended up with gold bullion bars. hundreds of thousands of dollars of lovely new mercedes-benz very significant other and all kinds of business dealings with two local fixers and that of global component where the u.s. government was concerned he was giving information that was sensitive to egyptian intelligence to try and promote business. amy: top about egypt and qatar. >> what he was doing was clearing the field to make it possible for an american businessman to dominate it. once again, with multinational

real capitalism practice at the highest levels internationally, it hurts consumers and unsettles just working people. he was the beneficiary. it's a two-party system that has been going on for years and it still continues. amy: he was head of the senate foreign relations committee when he was involved with these acts. >> and we know his cuban policies. he has promoted this kind of terrorism that we look the other way on. he came up -- what is ironic, he came up as a reformer, as a young turk that was going to change things. he put himself at risk to against his mentor, the mayor of union city who ended up being convicted of corruption. it is endemic. i think it has to do with capitalism controlling politics. this is a consequence. america what happens now? he was forced out of his committee chair but number of democrats, led by federman from

pennsylvania are calling on him to resign. if not, what happens? >> he is impervious. he could get expelled. there's only been seven sitting senators that have gone through this kind of situation. he is the first sitting senator to be convicted as a foreign agent. i assume others have done it but he finally got caught. that is an achievement. amy: if he was forced out, governor murphy -- >> governor murphy had hoped to have his wife front and a little bit of feudalism collapsed in a very embarrassing way. i guess she's back to doing her charity work. andy kim, young reformer democrat, people probably know him -- he was one of the congressman who took it upon himself to clean up the corruption. a very compelling ap photo where we see him helping folks clean up the capitol.

it is giving a chance to run at rudy giuliani. he was talking about we have to fight corruption at the highest level. more magical thinking. amy: i want to turn to another story you have been reporting on. on tuesday, police officers from ohio shot dead 43-year-old milwaukee resident samuel sharpe, an unhoused black veteran. the officers who killed samuel sharpe are in wisconsin as part of a group of 4500 law enforcement officials group to come to the rnc. the shooting took place a mile from the rnc's proceedings. sharpe appeared to be in the middle of an altercation with another man when the police officers charged towards him before fatally shooting him. this is alan chavoya of the milwaukee alliance against racial and political oppression. >> we spoke with the pd and expressed concerns of the people of milwaukee as to what would

happen with that thousands of police officers and law enforcement agents from around this country went to dissent on milwaukee. they did not give us a single answer. it is always, trust the process. look what the process got him? we warned the city. we warned the chief. we warned representatives. we told them, you're going to bring a whole bunch of outside agitators to our city and look at what they're going to do. and they did it today. we're not even two days into the rnc and we have a casualty. how is that possible? amy: robert hennelly, you are here to cover the rnc but you end up covering this as well. >> when you militarize your politics, we see the results. look what happened in the field in butler, pennsylvania. a troy in dollar national secured apparatus that can't protect the former president of united states from a solo actor. do you feel safe now? amy: you have the killing of an

unhoused black veteran. >> which follows on the killing of by private security guards of a black individual who walked to the one gender restroom. amy: that was devante mitchell. we will talk more about his case , killed not far from where we are broadcasting right now, by security guards. robert hennelly, thank you for

amy: from the republican national convention in milwaukee, this is democracynow. -- this is democracy now! >> if you listen to alex jones you would believe a transnational controls our country ana