wing leader also committed to burning down his country's central bank, before -- so i think you've probably noticed i'm or aspiring off the chart -- can't stand independent institutions, and that's why any president has the right to -- with the right qualifications. . the last president must choose someone who's willing to act independently despite what politics would demand. so, the next time trump trump bragged about the economy, and he will, and he says that is his pitch to return at the white house, it's important to remember he could very well take a wrecking ball to the fed. much like other authoritarians have around the world. the american people will be the ones left holding ones left ho. that does it for me tonight. the rachel maddow show starts right now. hi, rachel. >> hey, jen. that was very -- that was stunning. thank you very much. i'm glad you are on, my friend.

good to see you. and thanks to you at home for joining us. really happy to have you here. happy monday. so in september, you might remember there was a big strike. united autoworkers went on strike. they called it a stand-up strike, which means they didn't strike every single factory, every single facility all at once. they strategically picked individual plants to strike and picket. and it was so they could basically keep up the pressure on the companies but also be nimble about it while the negotiations were going on. a strike is about what leverage you can use against the companies. this was a strategy that was about fine tuning their leverage. so they did a stand-up strike. that said, it was not a small thing. it was a huge strike. it was the first time ever that the uaw went on strike against all three major u.s. car companies all at once. but they did it. and in the end, it paid off

hugely. the strike ultimately lasted about a month and a half. it lasts 46 days. and it worked. they got record contracts for their workers. the strike was so effective the contracts they got were so good, even car companies without union workers gave their employees raises and gave their employees better conditions to try to keep up, to prevent their employees from bolting and going to somewhere where they could be in the uaw. and the public reaction to this was interesting. the public was overwhelmingly in support of the autoworkers while they were on this strike. polls showed like 75% of the public supported the autoworkers in this strike. so this is a historic thing, a big deal. but if you think back to september, right when we were at the start of it, before we knew it would work, before we knew it would be successful, before we knew how it would turn out, how much public opinion would be in support of these guys, when we were less than two weeks into that strike, do you remember what president biden did?

you might remember. president biden went to michigan and joined the autoworkers. from the white house, he had been supporting them vocally. he had been trying to help facilitate negotiations but once they indeed went on strike, he physically went to michigan to one of the plants that was being picketed and he stood with uaw workers on the picket line. that was september. september 26th. first time a sitting american president had ever done anything like that. now, as i mentioned, what the uaw workers were doing here was wildly popular with the american people. i mean, look at the headlines from the time. poll says americans overwhelmingly side with autoworkers in ongoing union strike. majority of americas support the uaw strike. voters across party lines support the uaw strikes and support is rising. a majority of americans back the uaw strike, as republican union support grows. support for this strike grows

even among republicans. polls show the proportion of americans who support the car companies over the striking autoworkers is only 9%. so huge majorities of americans side with the folks on the picket line. basically, nobody sides against them. and there's president biden, not only vocally supporting them, not only saying as president they should get what they're asking for, but again, as president, physically joining them on the picket line to make the point. making history by doing so. now, what other republicans are going to do in response? you think about it, he's heading into his re-election. if you're the republicans, what do you do the day after that? the day after the president comes across the country to do that? the day after the president does something that bold on an issue that popular to stand with people, the whole country is united and rooting for. if you're the republicans, what do you do? well, lucky for a bunch of leading republicans, the day

after joe biden did that, they were unavailable. they had to wash their hair. they were all booked at the republican party's presidential candidates debate. that was previously scheduled for that next day after biden walked the picket line. and forgive me, but because it was a fox business debate, the only question any of the candidates got asked about the strike was, would you fire them? that was literally the question that fox business asked them. would you fire thousands of striking autoworkers today? that was the one question they asked about this huge strike that was going on. 75% of americans, americans left, right, and center, even republicans rooting for the autoworkers in this huge historic strike that's front page news all over the country, and fox is like, hey, republican candidates, let's get down to specificics on this. would you punch them in the face or kick them in the stomach? senator, how about you?

i mean, read the room. that said, one of the republican candidates decided that he would take a different approach than all the others. perhaps sensing that joe biden was sort of meeting the moment here in a way that republicans and fox news weren't. you know, recognizing that biden was siding with these autoworkers and the country was with him and with them on this. one of the republican candidates did try to do something different. the day after biden ended up on the picket line in michigan, this one republican candidate decided not to go to that republican presidential candidates debate. he skipped it. and instead, he himself went to michigan. to go try to do basically what biden did. to show up and be seen with the union autoworkers. in michigan. kind of. whereupon he promptly stepped on a rake, trying to make it look like he was supporting these union autoworkers out on strike,

who the whole country was rallying on. instead, he went to a non-union auto parts facility. while his campaign tried to convince people to say he was there speaking to striking autoworkers or at least auto wurbers, the problem is real reporters went to the event and realized quickly this is a facility that doesn't have anybody in a union, then the reporters did what reporters do. they talked to the people who were physically there. this was the detroit news the next day. quote, one individual in the crowd who held a sign that said union members for trump acknowledged to a detroit news reporter that she was not a union member. another person with a sign that read autoworkers for trump when asked for an interview said that he wasn't an autoworker. neither person provided their names. this was very embarrassing. he's trying to look like he was supporting the union, but he's at a non-union facility that he

filled with people who were given signs and effectively told to pretend to be union workers or even to pretend to be autoworkers when they were no such thing. he did a fake event. i mean, the whole thing was fake. and then it was in the detroit press the next day that it was fake. this you skipped the debate for? it was so embarrassing at the time, and now, as of right now, there are receipts. literal receipts. the campaign finance filings that just came out for all the various campaigns, reporter jonathan usten dug in and found on that day in september, the trump campaign indeed paid a $20,000 rental fee to pay to rent that auto parts plant, which was not a union facility, so he could pretend it was full of union autoworkers who supported him when it was actually full of randoes holding signs that said that's who they

were even though that's not who they were. it's just an amazing thing. you think of things that ended previous presidential campaigns. howard dean was too close to a microphone when he shouted with excitement after doing pretty well in the iowa caucuses. your campaign must end. you were too close to the microphone. gerald ford got lost in the middle of a sentence about eastern europe in a debate once. poppy bush said read my lips before no new taxes which was memorable phrasing from him so people turned out to remember it which turned out to be bad for him. campaigns have been laid low by some dumb and small stuff. but here's a candidate faking a union event with fake union members and fake autoworkers who were given signed by the campaign to falsely identify themselves in the hopes that no one would check. and then they got caught, and it's like, eh, what else you got? did he ever wear a tan suit?

the uaw as i said wildly successful in that strike. with the support of the american people. and after that experience with the leading democratic and leading republican candidates for president in 2024, the uaw has since decided to give their endorsement to president joe biden, which is maybe not a surprise after that debacle with trump. and after what joe biden did for them. but it's still a big deal. it's an important endorsement. today, in another important swing state, today in nevada, in las vegas, another very big, very influential union did not go on strike. culinary workers union and the downtown grand hotel and casino on the las vegas strip came down to the wire today in trying to reach a new contract agreement before the agreement was reached, the white house put out word with president biden traveling to las vegas today. if there was a strike, if a strike was called as of today, if those culinary workers were out on the picket line today,

they might expect president joe biden would join them on the picket line, which of course would be another huge deal. no other sitting president has ever done something like this before. now, today in las vegas, at the last minute, the strike was averted and they did strike a deal. i don't know if the prospect of the president himself walking the picket line with the culinary workers had an effect on those negotiations, but it had to have been looming out there, you have to think. on economic issues of all kinds, president biden is in kind of an amazing position right now. unemployment below 4% for 24 consecutive months now. we have added jobs in the economy every month for 37 consecutive months. that's a streak not seen since the 1960s. wages are up, job market is fantastic. economic growth is super healthy. economic confidence is growing. things are so good in the biden

economy right now that our friends at the fox business channel are having a hard time taking it all in. >> we're waiting on the jobs numbers where we're expecting 180,000 jobs created in the month of january and the unemployment rate to tick higher to 3.8%. we're watching revisions of course and also looking at production. >> i got it. >> you got the numbers. >> this is something. 353,000 non-farm jobs. i had to seriously check this, guys. unemployment rate went down to 3.7%. that's the actual number. we were looking for 3.8%. let me give you -- i don't know what to say here. >> this is an incredibly resilient economy. >> mind-blowing. number expected the jobs number, 350,000 jobs. unemployment 3.7%. wages up year over year. i have been calling this a long time. this is goldilocks, as good as it good gets.

>> this is goldilocks, this is as good as it gets. 353,000 jobs, had to seriously double check this, guys. what's the actual number? i don't even know what to say here. that jobs number today was mind-blowing. this is as good as it gets. this is goldilocks. that's the biden economy as covered by the news network that more than anything wants this not to be the biden economy. but it is. while he's running for re-election. against a likely republican nominee who wants to run a so-called populist campaign while he's getting caught purchasing fake stage sets filled with fake autoworkers to make it look like they like him. how is that going to work for you come election time? we don't know. we don't know. in nevada, specifically, we really have no idea, and that's in part for logistical reasons. because the next elections are in nevada, sort of. the reason president biden was

in las vegas today is because tomorrow is nevada's presidential primary. the democratic primary and the republican primary are in nevada tomorrow. now, on the democratic side, on joe biden's side, that's going to be a fairly normal event. he's an incombt president, not going to have any serious challenge getting his party's nomination. he has token opposition opponents that got like 2% and less than 2% in the first primary this past weekend in south carolina. so president biden will compete in nevada tomorrow and he will clean up. on the republican side, though, the likely republican presidential nominee, donald trump, he will not be on the ballot in the nevada primary tomorrow. his opponent nikki haley will be, but trump will not. trump will be on the ballot later this week for a nevada republican party caucus which is going to take place on thursday. in the caucus on thursday, nikki haley will not be on the ballot. now, does this make any sense at

all to the average nevada republican voter? no, it does not. because it can't make sense to anyone because it doesn't make sense objectively. but the leadership of the nevada republican party frankly is -- you have a little empathy. they're distracted. they're under indictment. the state republican party chairman goes on trial less than a month from now along with five other leading nevada republicans for having signed their names to fraudulent electoral vote certificates and putting themselves forward as fake electors for trump, even though trump lost the state of nevada to president biden by a lot in 2020. to try to make sure that no republican candidate would have any chance of winning nevada other than trump, the same nevada republican officials, the nevada republican party chairman who is under indictment, for example, he went to mar-a-lago and met with trump and lo and behold, the nevada republican party came up with this

cockamamie plan to ignore the official primary run by the state and instead do this caucus thing instead two days later basically as a favor to trump because that's what he wanted. and with the state's republican governor and the state party super pro trump, now what appears to be the republican party strategy this week in nevada, follow along here, this appears to be their strategy, they're hoping people don't vote too much in the official state primary election tomorrow or if they do vote, they're hoping that people don't vote for nikki haley even though she's on the ballot but instead they vote for the line on the ballot that says none of these candidates. that's the strategy. and then, that's just the strategy for tuesday. there's more strategy for later in the week. they then hope people might also vote on thursday at this other thing, this caucus, but nobody knows how that will go since lots of republicans will have

voted in this thing two days before. and besides, isn't it weird to have a state party chairman and at least one county party chairman administering the supposed elections while they're under felony criminal indictment for trying to steal the last one? that's nevada, when i say how will this work out at the ballot box? well, which one. pity the nevada republican voters you might know or who are members of your family. they're going to have an awkward week. but the nevada republican party isn't even the worst of them. sure, they are about to hold two separate and incompatible elections for the same office, each with different names on the ballot, each in the same week. but on different days, and the nevada state republican party reportedly has only one paid full-time staffer right now and their state party chairman is under felony indictment and about to stand trial. pity the nevada republican party but they're better off than some of the others. at least they have a state party

chair. an indicted one, yes, but he has a job. in nearby arizona, big swing state, the republican state party chair there just resigned in a weird bribery and leaked stape scandal. in florida, big important state, the republican state party chair there was just fired against his will. in michigan, big important swing state, the republican party chair was just removed but she refuses to leave. both she and the guy who might be her replacement showed up at the republican party's annual winter meeting this weekend, both claiming to be the chair of the michigan republican party. the rnc has no idea what to do with this problem with two different people claiming to be the chair of the state party. for the purposes of the meeting, they listed the chairman job as vacant. and they decided when both of the people who claimed to be the chairman showed up, they decided they would give passes to the meeting to both of the people who claimed to be the chair of

the michigan state party, but they only gave them guest passes, not like member passes or state party chair passes. so as guests, neither of them was able to vote on anything or participate in anything official. did i mention that it's an election your and that's one of the most important swing states in the country? heading into the big republican party meeting this weekend, it seemed like the national chair of the republican party might be thrown out of her job, too. and you know, that makes sense just from a 30,000 foot perspective. even if you knew nothing about her. if you don't want to blame the party's electoral woes since donald trump first came on the scene in 2016, if you don't want to blame the party's electoral woes on him, well, she would be the obvious other person to blame, as the chair of the republican party during that time. i mean, donald trump became president in january 2017.

he named her, ronna mcdaniel, to be the chair of the republican party in 2017, in her first election thereafter in 2018, the republican party lost 40 seats and lost the house. the republicans that year lost the popular vote in those midterm elections by the largest margin since the 1980s. then in the next election, in 2020, the republicans lost the white house and the senate, as well as the house they had previously lost. trump and ronna romney-mcdaniel managed to lose both chambers of the congress and the presidency in a single term which was the first time that had happened since herbert hoover. 2022, with ronna mcdaniel still in charge at the rnc and trump still effectively leading his party from the sidelines, the republicans turned in a performance in the 2022 midterms that was the worst performance by a party not holding the white house in decades, arguably in a century. even in 2023, last year, off

year elections, democrats did unexpectedly well in elections in virginia and kentucky and ohio and every darn place that held any referendum on abortion rights after trump appointed judges overturned roe v. wade, and now it's 2024, and trump is very much still in charge. and three swing state republican parties and counting are in total meltdown, but you're not allowed to blame trump for any of that. and so heading into the republican party's meeting, big annual winter meeting this weekend, these were the headlines about the republican party chair, ronnie romney mcdaniel. quote, ronna mcdaniel hit with new wave of resignation calls. ronna mcdaniel faces mounting gop criticism. ronna mcdaniel faces ambush at rnc meeting. maga republicans raged over rnc failures. got to blame someone. let's throw her out.

ronna romney-mcdaniel did seem to survive the rnc's weekend meeting, at least it seemed that way when things wrapped up at their big meeting on saturday. but then on sunday morning, trump went back on fox and said about ronna romney-mcdaniel, i think she did okay initially in the rnc. i would say right now there will probably be changes made. so he's saying he wants her out. now, he's just done another interview with another right-wing network where he said she should be out of her job. he was asked is it time for her to step aside. he responded, well, i think she knows that. i think she understands that. trump now put out a statement this evening saying that he will make his pronouncement on her fate later this month after the republican primary in south carolina. okay, sure. but listen, maybe you don't need a party or you don't need much of one.

each of the two major political parties in our country has done okay in previous election years even when the parties themselves were organizationally kind of a mess. what is different here, what's important for all of us here in this moment is that the republican party now in the age of trump appears to be not just a mess, they appear to be sort of dissolving themselves. whatever happens to ronna romney-mcdaniel, and however her leadership at the republican national committee is going to come to an end, the thing that she will likely go down for in history is the moment in 2020 when under her leadership, the party decided there would no longer be a republican party platform. they decided that officially and explicitly, the republican party would no longer stand for any particular thing, other than generically saying that they supported trump's overall agenda. we stand for nothing except

whatever the leader wants. that was a signal moment. and it's a moment right now to have all of this chaos in state republican parties including in some of the most important states in the country, for the election. if you are a republican voter in nevada, when do you vote for your choice for a republican party presidential candidate this week? do you vote tomorrow, do you vote thursday? you can vote in both? how is that possible you can vote in both? well, apparently, that's because one is the official event run by the state, which doesn't count, and one's not an official state-run event but it's the one they're counting because that's what trump wanted. okay, does that make sense? do you know how you're spending your week? and let's hope the counting is done before the state party chairman is due in court to face his felony charges related to allegedly trying to falsify the results of the last election in that state. that's how trump wants it, so that's his guy, so that's what

nevada republicans are supposed to do this week. and no, let's not have any real republican primary debates this whole year. at least none that include the front-running candidate because that's also how he wants it so that's what we'll do. and no, let's not have general election debates this year either. because in 2020, trump got the republican party under ronna mcdaniel to say that the republican party will no longer allow its candidates to participate in events sponsored by the commission on presidential debates, which is overseen general election debates between presidential candidates for decades. he didn't want that. so he had the rnc pull out of that. so to recap, it's a political party with no party platform, no normal nominating process for its nominees, no primary debates, and no general election debates. they're just coming off the worst back-to-back electoral performance by any party since before fdr, and it's all because it's what trump wants.

and of course, why would anything else matter? because who could doubt the political instincts of a man with this kind of a track record? with this kind of an electoral track report. a man who handed out fake i'm an autoworker sign in michigan at a fake union events and filed the resotes for it publicly. who could doubt a man with politicalinstincts. why have a political party when you can just follow wherever he's leading? political parties are not the most important institutions in a democracy. but they are part of it. and right now, in our country, one of our two major political parties is dissolving itself. and just tonight, potentially preparing to oust yet another of its top leaders all in the service of just doing stuff for their great leader instead of doing normal party stuff and normal democracy stuff anymore. and i don't know how many of you

watching this tonight, you know, are mourning the illness and demise of the republican party as an institution, i understand, but if we are going to stay a democracy with a two-party system, there do need to be two-parties of some kind, or we have to develop into something else. i mean, right now, what we're very fast becoming is one party on one side and just a guy on the other. a guy who this week is going before a united states supreme court that is going to decide if maybe he might be ineligible to ever hold federal office ever again. what do you call that kind of a system? what could possibly go wrong? but we're different. (other money manager) how so? (fisher investments) we're a fiduciary, obligated to act in our client'' best interest. (fisher investments) so we don't sell any commission-based products. (other money manager) then how do you make money? (fisher investments) we have a simple management fee, structured so we do better when our clients do better.

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so if you can change your schedule around this week, your school schedule, your work schedule, or child care, whatever you need to do, if you can make time for it on thursday morning this week, you will have the opportunity to hear american history being made live and in real time. it's this thursday, 10:00 a.m. eastern, the united states supreme court is going to hear oral arguments in the case that will decide whether donald trump's efforts to overturn the results of the election in 2020 to stay in power despite losing, whether his role in the violent attack on congress on january 6th, 2021, whether those things mean that states can keep donald

trump off the ballot under the provisions of the 14th amendment to the u.s. constitution, which says effectively that insurrectionists are ineligible to hold federal office. because this is a really big case, the court is going to provide live streaming audio of the oral arguments, which means all of us can tune in and hear this history as it happens on thursday morning, including right here on msnbc, where we are going to broadcast it live. the arguments are expected to start at 10:00 a.m. eastern. they're expected to last about an hour and 20 minutes, so that's about the amount of time you need to block out of your schedule. the first 40 minutes is reserved for the trump lawyer in this case, his name is jonathan mitchell, if that name sounds at all familiar to you, he was the lawyer who came up with the bounty hunter abortion ban in texas that enlisted texas citizens basically as vigilantes to go after fellow citizens getting abortions. he will get the first 40 minutes to argue trump's side of the

case. then, the court is going to hear about 30 minutes from a lawyer named jason murray. he represents the named plaintiff in this case, a woman named norma anderson, a 91-year-old lifelong republican from colorado who sued the state to have trump's name taken off the ballt under the 14th amendment. after those 30 minutes, there will then be ten minutes for the colorado solicitor general, his name is shannon stevenson. she'll be representing the interests of colorado's secretary of state who oversees colorado elections and ballot. so that's how it's going to go. 40, 30, 10. if you have never heard an oral argument before the supreme court, you should be prepared for the fact the justices tend to interrupt a lot with their own questions. sometimes they don't let the lawyers get a word out. so the timing and the order of voices you will hear could change a bit, but you can generally follow it. we don't exactly know how it will go, but people who do know these things generally expect

the court on thursday is going to focus on a handful of questions, basically three main ones to keep in mind. they're all understandable even if you're not a lawyer. the first is, did trump engage in something that can be considered an insurrection? with what he did in trying to overturn the election and what he did on january 6th. also, when they wrote the 14th amendment with the insurrection clause, did they intend that clause to apply to the presidency? did they mean it to apply to people who wanted to hold federal office not just as, you know, a bureaucrat but as the president. and third, if the 14th amendment does apply to trump trying to become president again, how is it enforced? does it just kick in automatically? does the constitution saying this in the 14th amendment effectuate itself, or does congress have to pass some kind of law? those main questions we think the court will be focused on on thursday.

but this is a live thing and these are nine live justices, so anything can happen. the whole country is going to be listening thursday morning. luckily for us, people who are experts at these things can help us understand what we should be listening for. joining us is barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. barb also has a brand-new book that is just about to come out. it's called "attack from within, how disinformation is sabotaging america." it comes out later this month. you can preorder it right now. attack from within by barbara mcquade. barb, congratulations on the book. and thanks very much for being with us tonight. >> thanks very much for both. >> let me ask if it's right for me, particularly speaking with the non-lawyers among us, to focus on those three questions as likely what the lawyers and the justices will mostly be talking about on thursday? >> i agree with you, rachel. i think those are the big questions. if you read the brief submitted by donald trump, you can see he

is seeking to appeal to the texturalests on the court. for example, the one that says the president is not included as officers of the united states for purposes of this exclusion. i think from a common sense perspective, you would say of course the president should apply here. it was the most important office in the land. of course, the drafters of the 14th amendment would intend to include them. but look at the text of the oath that the president takes which is different from the language in the 14th amendment. preserve, protect, and defend, versus support, and the other textturalest argument, i'm cureiest to see whether the justices bite on this, the 14th amendment says this person cannot hold office. and what the trump lawyers argue is, it doesn't say i can't run or seek office. it just says i can't hold office. so until i'm elected, until i'm standing there on january 20th of 2025 about to be sworn in, this is all premature. it's a really absurd argument,

but it's designed to appeal to those who look just to the words in the constitution. >> what would the practical impact of that mean? you can run for president, you can be elected president, but you can't serve as president? how would that help his case? >> it's insane. i think the idea would be that there is a provision that says two-thirds of the members of congress can remove the disability, and so that is the argument. but the counter to that, of course, by the challengers in colorado is it would be an absurd result because it would disenfranchise voters who cast their ballot for donald trump if he turns out to be a candidate who is not eligible. so i think this is an absurd argument, but again, it is the trump lawyers trying to appeal to the tex chulests on the court. >> barb, i explained about the logistics of the day. people can tune in and hear the live stream, which is amazing. i know that like peacock had

those huge numbers when it was like the biggest internet event ever when they had a playoff game and everybody had to watch it on peacock rather than on regular news. i feel like -- rather than on regular tv. i feel like this is the legal equivalent of that. i hope they have the band width to handle streaming it to this many people at once. i don't know there's ever been a supreme court case with live arguments that had this much hanging on them and this much interest. when people tune in, they'll hear 40 minutes from the trump lawyer and the other 40 minutes is divided between two different lawyers that are both sort of on the same side. on the other side of the case. can you explain that, why there's a 30-minute, 10-minute split between the lawyer for the state of colorado and the lawyer for the person suing to keep trump off the ballot there? for yeah, so the plaintiff in the case is a voter. so the voters are the plaintiff in the case. so they have got time, but the court also wants to hear from the solicitor general who is hepting the interests of the secretary of state of colorado, who says i have a duty to

determine whether someone is eligible to appear on the ballot, so i have an interest here on behalf of the state and the people of colorado to make my decision. so they want to hear from that interest as well because colorado law is at issue here, and colorado is the last say on what colorado law means, and the colorado constitution. so they'll be h hearing that ise as well. one of the arguments the voters make is that it is the constitution says that it is the legislature of the state that gets to decide who is eligible for the ballot. so the idea that the supreme court can tell colorado who gets to be on their ballot is one of the arguments that they're making here, that colorado gets to decide who is on their ballot. interestingly enough, there is some text from justice gorsuch himself stating that very thing from when he was a justice on the tenth circuit court of appeals. >> wow, and that's like the

go-to move before the supreme court justices to flatter the justices by reminding them of something else they said that appears to be connected to the case at hand that they should find it hard to run from because it's in their own words. i'm really looking forward to this. barbara mcquade, former u.s. attorney for the eastern district of michigan. barb's brand-new book is coming out this month, called attack from within, how disinformation is sabotaging america. you can get online right now and preorder it. attack from within. barb, thank you for your time. great city you. >> thank you so much. >> we have lots to come tonight. stay with us. t. stay with us there are some this that work better together. like your workplace benefits and retirement savings. voya provides tools that help you make the right investment and benefit choices. so you can reach today's financial goals. and look forward to a more confident future. voya, well planned, well invested, well protected. (♪♪) your ancestry is so much more than names and dates. (♪♪)

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republicans in the state legislature walked out over a tax bill they didn't like. they left and they used their absence to deny the legislature a quorum, which brought the legislature to a halt for days. then a couple months later, they did it again. this time it was a climate bill they objected to. several in that case fled the state. when the governor of oregon sent state police out to bring them back, one republican senator said tat the police had better, quote, send bachelors and come heavily armed, as in, don't send anyone with a wife because the wives will be sad when we kill the police officers you're sending. there never was an armed showdown with state troopers but the republicans in oregon did

succeed in killing the climate bill by using that tactic. the next year they did it again. they walked out as a group two weeks before the end of a legislative session and never came back. it killed 20 other pending bills they decided shouldn't be voted on at all. the following year, there were two more republican walk-outs several days each. under the state constitution in oregon, you need to have a quorum to have the legislature in session. two-thirds of the lawmakers have to be present to do any business. so when the republicans have done these repeated walk-outs it has stopped the legislature from functioning for any purpose and it's happened year after year after year. so oregon voters decided they didn't want this to happen anymore. in 2022, oregon voters voted to change the state constitution to try to fix this problem. by a very wide margin, oregon voters enacted an amendment to the state constitution that says any legislaor who has more than ten unexcused absences is not

allowed to run for re-election. you don't get thrown out. you get to finish your term, but you can't run again. voters approved that as an amendment to the constitution in 2022. and then what do you think happened in 2023? not only did the republicans in the legislature walk out again, they staged the longest legislaive walkout in modern u.s. history. oregon republicans left for six weeks. they staged a boycott over democratic legislation on abortion and other issues, but they just skedaddled, they got out. if this tactic sounds familiar, it should. both parties have done this in various states at various times. wisconsin democrats famously did this to try to save union rights. texas democrats famously did it to try to stop a huge power grab by republicans in texas. other states have done it. other parties have done it. the difference here is that there are now consequences for

doing it. oregon voters overwhelmingly voted to change their state's constitution to say, okay, from here forward in our state, there will be consequences for you if you do this over and over again. you will not be allowed to run for office again. and even after voters changed the state constitution to say that, the republicans in the legislature just kept doing it. and so now, their actions inevitably have produced consequences, very predictable consequences, but they're still shocking consequences. the oregon supreme court has now ruled unanimously that sure enough, these republican senators, ten republican senators, are no longer legally allowed to run for re-election. they plainly and deliberately violated the newly amended state constitution. so they can't run again. and obviously, this is a huge deal in that state. this is almost all the republicans. this is fully a third of the state senate that has just been

ruled ineligible to run again. so it's a big deal there. but also, yes, this is kind of a microcosmic version of what we're about to see on the federal level at the supreme court thursday of this week, when the country's top court decides whether donald trump himself can be blocked from the ballot for violating the u.s. constitution. in a small and microcosmic way, a very consequential way, they're doing it first in oregon. right now. so how is that going? hold that thought. ( ♪ ♪ ) start your day with nature made.

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so as a headline, it's almost hard to believe, but it is a real thing. it is true. oregon supreme court bars republican senators who participated in walk hp out from re-election. the court's unanimous decision means one-third of the oregon senate cannot run for re-election. these are republicans who refused to show up at the state legislature for six weeks. brought the legislature to a halt. republicans repeatedly did this for years so the state's voters approved a constitutional amendment that says if you repeatedly do this, you can't run for re-election anymore. now, under that provision, a third of the state's senate, ten of the 12 republicans in the senate, are barred from running again. they have to give up their seats. joining us now is julia, deputy

editor at the oregon capital chronicle. i really appreciate you making time to be here. >> thank you. >> let me just ask if i have explained this right or if there's anything important i have missed out or gotten the wrong way around. >> no, you got it right. 13 republican senators chose to walk out or ten of them at least chose to walk out during the session last year for six weeks. they tried to challenge a constitutional amendment approved by voters last year, and they found out last week that they're barred from re-election. >> what's been the reaction to this unanimous state supreme court ruling that says they can't run again? >> there's been -- i mean, it's generally been applauded by people who supported the amendment in the first place. the republican state senators view this as a political act by the court. they noted that the court has been -- the justices who ruled on this were entirely appointed by governor cay brown who was a

democrat. >> in terms of the fight here, obviously, the state supreme court decision on a matter of state law and state constitutional authority, you would think that would be the end, but i understand there's probably at least -- there's a federal challenge that at least probably has some traction in the way republicans are going to try to advance their case. what's the status of their federal court challenge to this? >> yeah, there's a separate federal lawsuit filed under first amendment claims, essentially that these republican senators have a right to protest and their right to protest was being curtailed. a judge denied a preliminary injunction in that case in december, we're waiting to see -- waiting on a ruling from the court of appeals, the ninth circuit court of appeals on an appeal to that ahead of the march 12th filing deadline here. >> while the country is considering this disqualification issue for president trump at the supreme court, have oregon going through this exercise is really remarkable confluence of events.

julia, thanks for helping us understand. i really appreciate it. >> thank you. >> all right, we'll be right back. stay with us. you're replacing me? customize and save with liberty bibberty. he doesn't even have a mustache. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. but i'm protected with arexvy. arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower respiratory disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. rsv can be serious for those over 60, including those with asthma, diabetes, copd, and certain other conditions. but i'm protected. arexvy is proven to be over 82% effective in preventing lower respiratory disease from rsv and over 94% effective in those with these health conditions. arexvy does not protect

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