tv Velshi MSNBC March 30, 2024 7:00am-8:00am PDT
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that does it for "the weekend" this saturday morning. see you back here tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. eastern. thank you to eugene daniel for being with us. maryland governor moore will join the conversation on the baltimore bridge collapsed. followed this show on social media @theweekendmsnbc. velshi starts now. >> the corinthians, that never
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stops me from laughing out loud. donald trump has given us all license to put out of bible. $49.99 or something like that. eugene, nice to see you, my friend. we don't usually get to talk is directly like this when you are on. the bus came on and said eugene daniels is on the show. and i'm glad you have on your great job today. >> i will send this to you. >> just text me and say you will be on. >> you guys have a great rest of your day and see you tomorrow morning. >> velshi starts now. >> good morning. it is saturday, march 30th. i'm ali velshi. we begin with the presumptive presidential nominee again escalating violent rhetoric. donald trump's latest dog whistle was posted on his social media platform, "truth social" which is part of the
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newly merged company that just went public this week making him come on paper, at least is substantially richer man begin our editorial discussions this morning, we were asked not to show the image from the video because it is violent and disturbing in nature. so in leiu of showing it to you, because it is shocking, let me describe it. the video clip shows a pickup truck emblazoned with a slow-go -- slogan "trump 2024" on its side. and it features an image of joe biden lying on his side with his eyes closed, hands tied behind his back and feet bound with rope. and that doctored images plastered on the tailgate of the pickup truck to make it appear as if biden were restrained on the vehicle's flatbed. the video then zooms in and lingers on the truck and the image of a bound joe biden for several seconds and the video ends with the driver giving a thumbs up out of the window. this comes less than two weeks after the former president warned of a quote, unquote bloodbath if he does not win
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the election in november. and making excuses that he was talking about the tariffs he would impose on chinese made cars and not about actual violence. trump's latest post indicated that the video was shot in long island thursday when the ex- president was in town to attend the wake of an nypd officer. biden was in town that day as well headlining a big fundraising event in manhattan with former presidents barack obama and bill clinton. but it was a different event this week, about 1000 miles away from new york, and not affiliated with either campaign, that could prove to be more effective in moving the needle in the presidential race and warning about donald trump's disturbing behavior. on wednesday, the former republican congresswoman liz cheney appeared at drake university in des moines, iowa and shared blunt analysis about the presidential race. >> we know that he tried once not to leave office. and he will have no incentive
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to guarantee a peaceful transfer of power and to leave office if he is elected again. i certainly have policy disagreements with the biden administration. i know the nation can survive bad policy. we can't survive a president who is willing to torch the constitution. [ applause ] >> here is the thing. nobody can credibly accused liz cheney of being a rino, a republican in name only. she comes from a storied conservative family and for a time, even during the trump administration, was one of the highest ranking members of house leadership. she is antiabortion, pro-gun and anti- tax. these are not liberal stances. she voted in line with trump's policies 90% of the time during his presidency but none of that has mattered since january 6th. ever since the insurrection, she has been clear about the singular danger will that the toys impeached former president poses. her warning is clear. if he is allowed to return to the white house, he will destroy democracy from the
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inside. but it is not strictly about the message that liz cheney is sharing but about the messenger herself. back in the days of the 177th congress, liz cheney and her fellow house republican adam kinsinger helped legitimize the january 6 committee in spite of the many efforts from the right to discredit its investigation. because of the precipitation on the committee, the investigation could not be dismissed as a partisan hit job. there were even people on the right who not only paid attention to the committee's public hearings but cooperated in them as well. cassidy hutchinson, a former white house aide that became a key witness in the committee investigation, directly credited with cheney for helping her find the courage to buck the republican establishment and testify about what she witnessed on january 6. quote "liz cheney has the spine of steel and also cares deeply about this country." i would like to think that without liz cheney, i still
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would have come to the moment but i know that i came to the moment because of liz cheney. republicans like liz cheney and kinsinger could play a similar role in this year's election. they could reach moderates and independents and voters that otherwise might not pay attention to democrats and biden. with polls showing that this will be a highly competitive contest, these voters may help to decide this year's race and there are plenty of other republicans whose voices could help move the needle and stop trump is on. for instance, a number of former trumpet ministers officials, aides and staffers have gone on the record to discuss what they witnessed or learned about trump as a leader and why it disturbed them. and in an unusual development, sitting republican congress members are publicly saying that they won't vote, endorse or support their party's presumptive nominee in november which includes the gop 2012 presidential nominee mitt romney who some say he has not
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gone far enough. but has to some degree put his name and reputation on the line to warn about the dangers of tropism. >> the same cannot be said about many other republicans including those in mitt romney's on family who pledged blind loyalty to the former president. those are publicans have discredited themselves in the eyes of the american public but continue to support trump's many lies, big and small including trying to rewrite the history of january six itself. but some clear eyed republicans understand how trump is leading this country into autocracy and those republicans are worth listening to. joining me now is jennifer rubin, an opinion writer for the washington post and an msnbc political analyst and author of the book "resistance" how women saved democracy from donald trump. and joe walsh, a former republican congressman from illinois and 2020 president a candidate and host of the podcast "white flag with joe walsh." thank you for being with us. you wrote about this exact topic. i want to remind people that
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you have a long history as the conservative thinker and columnist in the country. you wrote about this topic a couple weeks ago and a piece entitled "duty to warn." ex-trump advisors can alert voters to his unfitness. and you are right about people like the former chief of staff john kelly or bill barr or people who saw trump up close. they were in the room where it happened and the warnings they have already given about donald trump. you believe they can do more? >> absolutely. i think they are critical that if they join together and go around the country or cut ads or appear on news programs as a unit, i think it would make a big difference. i think one of the other is certainly helpful. i don't want to diminish that. frankly, the media's the tension gets called when there is something very unusual or distinguished or very traumatic. that is what i think it would be if they came forward.
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in particular, i think they need to testify, not only to his bad judgment or his policy insanity and moral character, but the fact that he is mentally incapable of conducting the job. many of them have said that he is incapable. for example, of putting others first. he is incapable of doing complex tasks and incapable of understanding anything more detailed than something on an index card. they need to show that to the american people so that they know he is not only unfit but incapable of taking the oath of office and conducting the job. and who better than the people who saw him day in and day out. >> while some republicans are starting to get comfortable and say they won't vote for or endorse or support trump this year, some have not taken this step, as liz cheney did in the last election, and the midterms, going to places like arizona or the general election, telling people to
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support joe biden. she has made it very clear as she did this week in iowa that she doesn't share the biden administration's views on policies but makes the point that you make all the time. people can have policy disagreements but we cannot allow donald trump to torch the constitution and democracy. >> it is meaningless for these former trump officials to say that trump is unfit to be president. it is utterly meaningless if they say that and then don't say, and vote for the only man who can keep trump out of the white house. this just infuriates me, this holy saturday for us christians. by the way, liz cheney, courageous and give her a lot of props, she has not stood on the soapbox or stood in the public square like so many of us never trumpers have and i
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believe she will by the way. clearly, vote for joe biden. chris christie hasn't said that. john bolton won't say that. most of these trump officials will not say that. it's not just inconsistent. at this moment in time, that guy is a direct threat to our democracy. if you are a republican, former republican, conservative or and never trumper and don't have the decency to say, vote for biden, i think it is meaningless. >> one of the problems is the threat environment gets worse and worse. this is real. for people like us in the public eye all the time, it might be more common but there are ways to deal with it. for the cassidy hutchinsons of the world, the threats are real. and i was really shocked last
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night by this truth social post of this image of joe biden who, by the way, might have been sleeping, unconscious or dead in the back of the pickup truck. his hands are bound behind his back. horrible violent imagery. these are the bridges. they are warning people, not just joe biden, but everybody else, that bad things will happen if donald trump is not reelected. or that is what the donald trump people are trying to get the message out about. >> absolutely. and if you or i or joe sends us a message, we would get a knock on the door from the secret service. it is a crime to threaten the president of the united states. we can argue about whether this is a crime or not but no other citizen would do this with impunity. and donald trump does because nobody tells him no. nobody tells him to stop. this is what he is doing in these trials. he recently threatened the daughter of the judge in the new york criminal prosecution
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for the falsification of business documents. the d.a. is going back to get a gag order to prevent that. but again, we have such an out of control person and the institutions seem incapable of dealing with him. we had a federal court judge go on another network. judge walton, appointed by republican, a senior judge from the district of columbia, who said, we cannot tolerate this. you cannot have donald trump threatening judges and the judge's families. this is an assault on democracy and on the rule of law. if we allow him to do it, we will have chaos. this is allowing the two tiered system of justice. at some point, the same rules that apply to all of us have to apply to donald trump. >> i want your take on this but i want to talk about another piece of information that you may or may not know. we asked for comment. we got a comment from a trump spokesperson who has always been good at getting back to us
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and said, this was just an image on the back of a pickup truck traveling down the highway. and that is always the version of the trump excuse. i didn't do it. i didn't say anything. there was no threat. i'm just showing you the picture of it tied up current president of the united states with his eyes closed lying on his side in the back of pickup truck. that is the kind of way in which you can stoke this stuff without taking responsibility for what you are doing. >> here is the point. here is the scary point. trump posted this and shared it last night. how many of my former republican colleagues have come out since then and called him out? how many? none. this is who trump is. he wants violence. if he loses, he wants the country to be engulfed in violence. it is what he wants. this is what makes me so sad. so i condemned what trump did,
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sharing that ugly and violent image. i condemned it. and i was attacked by trump supporters. my former trump supporters defending it. grow up. don't be a girl. that is what makes me sad, all of his supporters find nothing wrong with this. >> both of you are people who have faced criticism from the circles in which you have operated by taking a strong stand on these things and i appreciate that. that is how democracy will prevail. it is cheap to talk but when it actually costs you something, there is real commitment. so i honor you both for the. we have the opinion rights are for a visit to see any offer of resistance, how women saved democracy from donald trump. joe walsh of illinois is the host of the podcast, "white flag with joe walsh." coming up, the extremists currently running the republican party are allowed
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but the views are not that popular. i will talk to two democratic women that might have developed a blueprint for winning even in red states. and the story of the biden judicial nominee who might be the first muslim american judge on the court of appeals. but a republican-led smear campaign could derail his confirmation and now some democrats have fallen into the trap. and we are learning new details about the intense moments leading up to the collapse of the francis scott key bridge. we will go to baltimore for the latest and tomorrow i will talk with the transportation secretary pete buttigieg about the timeline and cost to rebuild the bridge and the battle heating up over federal funding. that is tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on velshi. we will be right back!
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arrested last march and accused of being a spy. it was reported in the russian mountains when dining in a local restaurant, when he was forcibly removed and taken to an unmarked van. at the time of his arrest, a foreign ministry spokesperson said the reporter was not the first famous westerner we have caught red handed. >> the first attention of an american journalist by russia on espionage charges since the fall of the soviet union. had been held in the moscow notorious prison since his arrest. evan gershkovich in the wall street journal strongly deny the allegations. they marked the somber occasion yesterday by giving evan gershkovich the entire front page titled "one year ago, history should be here." this week, a russian judge extended the pretrial for the fifth time for another three months. the sort of move is typical in russia. russia has not provided any
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evidence of a crime and there is still no indication of when he may stand trial. and by trial, i mean whatever you want to call judicial proceedings that lead to a criminal conviction rate of around 99%. the u.s. government is wrongfully detained. that is an official designation meaning he is essentially a hostage. as u.s. ambassador to russia said in a statement this week, the charges against evan gershkovich are fiction and the case is not about evidence, due process or rule of law but about using american citizens as pawns to achieve political ends. in february, vladimir putin publicly suggested he would be open to training evan gershkovich for an individual who is a high-ranking agent of russia's fsb and currently serving a life sentence in germany for publicly assassinating an individual. the u.s. has no jurisdiction.
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even evan gershkovich is just one of several u.s. citizens being wrongfully detained by russia. paul whelan, a former u.s. marine, has been detained since 2018 convicted of espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison. a russian, american journalist was arrested last october and charged with failing to register as a foreign agent. mark vogel, a 61-year-old schoolteacher from pittsburgh was in his tenth year teaching at a school in moscow when he was arrested in an airport for possession of a small amount of prescribed medical marijuana. he was convicted of drug smuggling and sentenced to 14 years at a hard label penal colony. the fact that evan gershkovich is a journalist also fits the pattern. is wall street journal notes, the criminal may have targeted evan as a russian speaking foreign reporter ruth because
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he counter the other was total media control. his arrest shows how much more dangerous reporting on the world now is as u.s. power declines and authoritarian governments don't fear the u.s. response. freedom of the press suffers when free nations receive and influence. this week, russian authorities detained two other independent journalists charging them both with extremism. they each had ties to the former russian opposition leader, alexei navalny which who died in an arctic prison under courier circumstances. four colleagues were also detained and it remains unclear as to why. >> thank you. th
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a nomination, he faced strong opposition from southern senators. during the hearing before the senate judiciary committee, the focus was less about his qualification and more about his identity as a black man. marshall, a brilliant civil rights attorney who argued numerous cases before the supreme court, faced questions such as, are you prejudiced against white people in the south? fortunately, better heads prevailed and he secured the nomination. his legacy on the bench includes decisions that advanced individual rights, afforded the right to abortion and champion to the first amendment. that was a little over a half- century ago. fast-forward to the present. the man on your screen is an accomplished attorney who president bite nominated to the third circuit court of appeals last november potentially making adeel mangi the first muslim judge to serve on a federal appeals court. it is a historic nomination. adeel mangi is a graduate of harvard and oxford universities and well respected in the legal community for his stellar record as a commercial litigator and his contributions to the advancement of civil rights for muslims and
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incarcerated americans. the american bar association rated him as highly qualified for the bench but the nomination of adeel mangi is in peril due to a coordinated campaign by republican senators to smear him as a terrorist and anti-semite despite his endorsements from both the antidefamation league and the american jewish committee. during a senate confirmation hearing, houthi for was faced with aggressive and insulting questions that echo post-9/11 hysteria. the republican senator john kennedy of louisiana for example, asked adeel mangi, do you celebrate 9/11? in response, adeel mangi said, "i don't think anyone can feel more strongly about what happened then someone who was there and saw it with their own eyes smoke billowing from the towers. it was my city that was attacked." adeel mangi was questioned about his stance on hamas. on wednesday, andrew bates called the attacks on adeel mangi islamophobic. adeel mangi who has lived the american dream and proven his integrity, is being targeted by a malicious and debunk smear
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campaign solely because he would make history as the first muslim to serve as the federal appellate judge." it is worth noting that this is mostly but not exclusively republican thing. a small number of democratic dinner senators have come out to say they have had problems with the affiliation of adeel mangi with the criminal justice group who is working to individual -- to defend individual charged with impersonating police officers. adeel mangi has never defended anyone accused of killing a police officer. center jackie rosen of nevada on the far right, a democrat, became the third democrat this week to announce her opposition to adeel mangi joining senators joe manchin and cortez master. this after intense lobbying from law enforcement groups. the irony here is an especially incredible when you consider that according to pbs, senator cortez musto has voted for one traditional nominee the past with the man charged with murdering a police officer.
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that was under the trump administration. and also senator ted cruz as well as other republicans. but none of them are muslim. my next guest has a unique perspective working with both adeel mangi and the late thurgood marshall. this, later he went to establish his own law firm in new york city where he recruited adeel mangi to join him and is a former chief appellate attorney for the southern district of new york. great to see you. thank you for being here. >> you know all the parts of the story. you know the history and the kerfuffle going on in the senate. what do you think of them? >> first, thank you for being here. is a pleasure to be on your show. let me tell you a little bit about a deal first. adeel mangi, i recruited him 25 years ago from harvard law school. i was the chair of the firm and he was a law student. this is a man who could have done anything in the world. he was a native of pakistan. a graduate of oxford law school. he could have gone back to
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pakistan and been a leader in his country. he could have stayed in england and then a barrister for success. he wanted to be an american. he wanted to come to this country, the land of opportunity. and he did. he had a dazzling career as you outlined in your opening remarks. and he is defending the rights of muslim americans at the same time. he is now proud american and a proud muslim. and i am proud to have him as my friend and support him as the first muslim american on the court of appeals. as you mentioned, i had the privilege of working with justice thurgood marshall. a truly great american and he faced positivist prejudiced. the hearings were a disaster for his opponents. the questioning you outlined
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suggested that the essential tenor is, can a muslim be a true american? let's pass by that. the criticism has retreated because of the fair charges of islamophobia. >> it has sort of exposed itself. >> this cannot be our position. so they moved on to the suggestion that he is somehow supportive of a tax -- attacks on law enforcement. and this is work after the alliance for families for justice. i know a lot about that case. we did one case for them. nothing more. nothing less. our firm has no connection with the alliance of families for justice. however, they sent us a case in new york state and we represented, adeel mangi represented the estate of a deceased prisoner, a man named carl taylor who was mentally ill and had been -- got into
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a fight with law enforcement. with guards at the prison. they handcuffed him and all of this was on video. they then took him down a long dark corridor where there was no video or audience. when they got to the end, he was dead. he did not die of natural causes. the lawsuit was, a wrongful death charge against the state of new york for essentially murdering the prisoner. a deal opened in that case. i saw him open. it was dazzling. the state settled as soon as they heard his opening. >> what was the settlement? >> $5 million for the estate of carl taylor. reflecting these horrific things that happened to that man. but that was not the most important part. especially given the charges no that a deal is somehow soft on
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law enforcement. the most important part of the settlement is a requirement that the state put video cameras and audio recording equipment and all the passageways of the prison. that sounds like, is that good for prisoners? of course it is. >> it is good for everybody. >> good for law enforcement too. >> it is good for law enforcement because -- >> a lot of police have had to our body cameras and they say, now at least our side of the story will be heard. >> the point is that people in america are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty and entitled to a defense. we don't eliminate entire classes of lawyers because they might be involved in some form of litigation in which law enforcement is on the other side. >> no but that wasn't even the case. >> it flabbergast me honestly that adeel mangi is being accused of being anti- law
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enforcement when this case protected the guards at the prison as much as it protected the inmates and a deal has been endorsed by so many police unions and in new jersey, his home state, three former attorneys general and two former u.s. attorneys, republicans and democrats, have endorsed him. they endorsed him because they know he will be a good judge, a fair judge, a smart judge. i asked the senator's who are thinking about this, senator cortez and senator rosen and romney, pay close attention to the facts. >> this is what we wanted to have this discussion. and while you pointed out. there are a few republican senators who sometimes look at these things and do pay attention to the facts and might be able to undo the damage that has been done. >> my hope is that one day, members of the u.s. senate will look back on their vote for the first muslim american court of appeals with the same pride that the senate looked back on the confirmation of thurgood marshall. >> thank you for being with
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us. we appreciate the insight you brought to the conversation. a democrat managed to flip an important house he in deep red alabama by running on reproductive rights. how her campaign strategy could go nationwide. tomorrow morning i will talk to the transportation secretary pete buttigieg about the collapse of the francis scott key bridge in baltimore. we will discuss the administration's plan to facilitate the rebuild, the cost of it and how the disaster has affected the local and nationwide economy. that is tomorrow it 10:00 a.m. eastern right here on velshi on msnbc. meet the traveling trio. the thrill seeker. the soul searcher. and - ahoy! it's the explorer! each helping to protect their money with chase. woah, a lost card isn't keeping this thrill seeker down. lost her card, not the vibe. the soul searcher, is finding his identity, and helping to protect it. hey! oh yeah, the explorer! she's looking to dive deeper... all while chase looks out for her. because these friends have chase.
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this week, we witnessed a major upset in alabama. you probably heard about marilyn lance, the democrat that flipped a state house seat in deep red alabama and a special election tuesday. but this story is about more than one woman, one race or one upset victory. it is about a blueprint bringing our country back from the brink. what is more important than the fact that she won is how and why she won. she pulled up this unlikely victory by running on reproductive rights specifically and framing abortion rights as a shared value between herself and her neighbors. >> i was pregnant with a baby who had a fatal condition and would not survive. because of the alabama abortion ban, we had to drive 10 hours to get the medical care i
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needed. >> i faced an identical situation but was able to get the care i needed close to home. it is shameful today that women today have fewer freedoms then i did two decades ago. we need to repeal the alabama abortion ban and protect women's freedoms. and if you elect me, that is exactly what i plan to do. >> marilyn lands focused on assured value, freedom. freedom to make one's own choices about one's own body. we have seen this approach before from the michigan state senator that rose to fame by standing up for marginalized kids in her state who are being targeted by far right republicans targeting discussions about gender, race and diversity in michigan schools. >> i want every child in the state to feel seen, heard and supported and not marginalized and targeted because they are not straight, white and christian. we cannot let hateful people
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tell you otherwise come to scapegoat and the flight from the fact that they are not doing anything to fix the real issues that impact people's lives. and i know that hate will only win if people like me stand by and let it happen. >> most american values line up with marilyn lands. most of us believe in the freedom of our fellow citizens to do what they believed to be right when it comes to their bodies and their families within the constraints of laws that are justly written to protect the common good. most of us want all kids to feel safe and seen and heard at school. the extremists running the republican party right now are allowed but their message is not broadly popular. and what is needed to push the extremists to the margins where they belong is more maryland lands and merrily make moral to share these values and action.
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what? but the good news is... xfinity mobile just got even better! now, you can automatically connect to wifi speeds up to a gig on the go. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. i gotta get this deal... that's like $20 a month per unlimited line... i don't want to miss that. that's amazing doc. mobile savings are calling. visit xfinitymobile.com to learn more. doc? joining me now is marilyn lands, alabama's newest democratic state representative and mallory mcmorrow, state senator from michigan who also serves as the body's majority. thank you for being back on the show with me. we had a great conversation the other night and i wanted to talk to you again about this.
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you are really looking like the example of what success looks like when a candidate is not intimidated by the political power around you. you live in a state where the political power is aligned on one side and people's values are not actually where the political power is. tell me about this blueprint you use and how perhaps it could be used more broadly. >> it has just been very exciting here. i think alabama has a lot of hope for the first time in a long time. but we chose to champion this issue because it resonates so deeply with everyone and i do think people are fed up. they are especially fed up in alabama. we just have gone too far over and over again. and it is time for that to end. we have to move and a new direction and put an end to this political divisiveness. people are tired of it. >> you are very familiar with the idea of preserving rights
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and standing up for people who might not be able to vocalize their fear themselves. this is where the similarity is between both of you and the people whom you are fighting for. it is very hard for an individual in a particular circumstance, whether it is a woman who needs reproductive care or a trans kid to fight for themselves against an infrastructure that looks like it is turning against them. but what is the way in which you bring these tough conversations about controversial issues back down to earth when there is all this political frenzy that clogs up the dialogue. >> the way you do that is exactly how marilyn lands did so beautifully in alabama. bringing your own shared experience about the freedom we all have to live our lives in the way that we see fit and the freedom to decide if and when to get pregnant and to know that if the pregnancy goes wrong, that it would be protected. the freedom to raise our kids the way that we think is best
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for them. and no matter who we are, that is a universal value. and it is really unusual to see people so bravely and transparently share their own stories. i think that is something people are really hungry for right now, seeing elected officials bring their whole selves into the job. every lived experience, their own personal lives. i could look at the person that represents me and say, i trust them. they have been through something similar to me or they want the same thing i do. and we desperately need that in this country right now. alabama and michigan and across the country. >> let's talk about that for a second. intellectually, we can all be on the right side of these things but you did share your own story about abortion ahead of the election. talk to us about the power of opening up and getting personal. that was obviously going to expose you to some difficulty as well but you thought it would be more useful for your community to know about you and
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your perspective and why you have arrived at your perspective. >> i believe stories are powerful. they are what changed hearts and minds. and i felt like my story, like it was the right time to tell my story after i heard alyssa patients story. and there were so many similarities among the situations. and yet, 20 years later, alyssa was not able to get the care that she needed at her home. and i just believe we have gone so far backwards and that is so wrong. and the two stories together, really paints a picture for people. >> let's talk about the elections, election after election in your state and in other states. proving that women's healthcare issues, body autonomy, basic freedoms for people, whether it is the freedom to read or for transgender kids not to be bullied by their state, these
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are really critical to voters who may not even share the same ideological position. but as mallory told me the other night, there are people in alabama who said, these bridges are many bridges too far. what does it take for people to understand that these are liberty, freedom and social justice issues and not necessarily the narrow issue somewhat have them believe it is? >> i think it is taking the step back and taking a more broad view. by and large, i think an overwhelming majority of people in all of our states are just tired of the chaos. they are tired of being told who to hate or whose fault it is or that an election was stolen and under what books you can and cannot read. people want to move on and get back to a place. i had a constituent, lifelong republican, who told me, i just want this to be boring again. i don't want to have to pay attention to what you guys are doing. i want to trust that you are trying your best. regardless of, if you are a
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member of the trans community or even if you don't know someone who is trans for example, you can relate to the fact that, as a parent, i should be trusted to make the best decision for my kid, to make sure they will be happy and healthy and thrive and targeting a minority community and taking rights away from them is going to do nothing to fix the roads or improve your healthcare costs or bring teachers back to the profession. it is just a distraction tactic and i think people are wising up to that. that is why we see these results election after election after election. >> increasingly, we are seeing more and more polarization. so while rights do seem to win, how do you approach this in a way, particularly in a deep red state like alabama, who doesn't alienate the neighbors. you are telling me that you were going door to door and people were hugging you. they identified with you and said, this cannot all be about
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partisan politics. >> i think that is changing. i think people are really fed up with the political divisiveness right now and i think people are starting to really recognize the importance of state and local elections and being the place where we can really begin to start change. and i think that my victory really helps illustrate that for people and that people are learning they need to pay more attention to what happens at the state level and to that end, my supporters have forms of the political action committee, respect alabama, to get more women elected in the state. that is something else we are pushing for. it is respect alabama 202016, respect alabama 2026 if any viewers have an interest in learning more. >> how did you find the way in
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which you can get conservatives you might say, i don't know trans kids are understand this very well. how do you get them to be involved in the conversation to say, i'm republican and i'm conservative but i'm not interested in, whether it is culture wars or curtailing people's freedoms? >> number one, you show up. to marilyn's point, we are the ones on the state level that you are likely to see in the grocery store or on your doorstep in the way you won't see your member of congress. you can have these honest conversations about, even difficult issues. and get to the shared value of, this is just chaos and i don't want chaos. i might not agree with you on every single issue but i trust you. it is about building the trust that happens on the local level. so showing up, i love what marilyn said she did. that is something i did in michigan. i opened a pact called a more perfect michigan to do exactly that and have an honest
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conversation with people about, these are my values and here's what is standing in the way. whether it is a few seats on to the state level or whether it is a ballot initiative moving. but it separates us i think from some of the national politics where you see candidates running on an issue but maybe not doing anything about it. we could actually do things on the state level and get people more involved where they can see themselves making a real impact. >> that might be the answer, doing things on the state level. is one of the things we ignore. we think all politics is national but in fact, what you two are doing is where things will be changing. thank you to both of you. congratulations. marilyn lands, newly elected state representative and alabama and mallory mcmorrow in the michigan state senate. coming up on another hour of velshi, the republican nominee for president does ending further into authoritarian behavior last night. if you thought donald trump could know longer shock you, think again. the truth about immigration in america, spoiler alert.
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