Skip to main content

tv   MSNBC Reports  MSNBC  July 3, 2024 9:00am-10:00am PDT

9:00 am
right now on "andrea mitchell reports," fear and frustration. democrats growing increasingly concerned that president biden could lose to donald trump in november amid reports like the one from "the new york times" today warning that his mental lapses are becoming more frequent, more pronounced. after thursday's debate, more worrisome. my conversation with the co-author of that story. i will speak to congresswoman debbie dingell about her warning to the biden campaign. justice delayed. former president trump's sentencing in the hush money case put off until mid september. that as the other three criminal cases against him face new
9:01 am
obstacles in the wake of the supreme court's immunity decision. the historic hurricane tearing through the caribbean now taking aim at jamaica with winds pushing 150 miles an hour. seven deaths have been reported with more devastation on the way. ♪♪ good day, everyone. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. the alarm bells for the president and his team are growing louder with each passing day. with democrats expressing anger privately, not just over the president's bad debate performance but the political strategy that's followed. three house democrats are now saying publicly that president biden should step aside or predicting he will lose in november. >> we have a very good man who served and devoted his life to public service in joe biden. now we must call on him to give the ultimate sacrifice of saying that he will step aside, because that's the best way to save our
9:02 am
country, our democracy from autocracy. >> that was the first. that comes after nancy pelosi for the first time expressed concern on this program yesterday that the problem could be more than just one bad night. >> i think it's a legitimate question to say, is this an episode or is this a condition? when people ask that question, it's legitimate. of both candidates. >> all this amid democrats' frustrations with the way the white house and the campaign have downplayed the debate as a single bad night brought on by a cold or as the president said last night, too much international travel. a top democratic operative told axios, strangely, we are getting to the point where it may not have been the debate that did him in but the aftermath of how they handled it. president biden has spoken to hakeem jeffries and will meet
9:03 am
with democratic governors tonight, proving that damage control is underway. not as quickly as some would have liked. joining me now, gabe gutierrez at the white house, david jolly, peter baker, "new york times" white house correspondent and msnbc political analyst. gabe, take us inside the white house. what's the latest on the strategy to deal with this? >> reporter: yeah, that's right. as you mentioned, the white house and the campaign in full damage control. there are a lot of questions about how this is being handled. within a short time, we are told the white house chief of staff will hold a call with his staff and with junior staffers to try to keep them in the loop of what's going on. we are told that the campaign will do so as well with its staff. this comes as the president is expected to meet with democratic governors, both here at the white house and virtually, later on this afternoon. earlier today, we got an email
9:04 am
from the campaign sending it internally to the staff showing they are bracing for negative polling that's expected in the near future, potentially from "the new york times," that they expect to see a swing in the race. what they point to is internal polling that they have had over the past several days that continue to show a close race in their view. there's still a lot of questions about where this moves forward. the white house and campaign are insisting president biden is staying in this race. they have announced these extra events over the next coming days. some new travel to wisconsin and pennsylvania in the coming days as well as sitting down for an interview later this week and holding a press conference next week at the nato summit here in d.c. we are waiting the governors meeting this afternoon. also, we are expecting to see president biden at the medal honor ceremony as well this afternoon.
9:05 am
>> peter, let's talk about your reporting, all of your reporting. an extraordinary story in today's "new york times," as well as new reporting that says president biden told a key ally he knows he may not be able to salvage his candidacy. the white house says, this is false. that said, what can you tell us about the conversation the president is having as well as extensive reporting in "the new york times" today, peter, about the president's lapses during his trips to france, to italy, and other meetings? >> yeah. the story from my colleague this morning on the president's conversation with his ally is an issue we have had that he is actively considering whether he might not be able to stay in the race. he still sounds determined to try to fight it out. recognizes things are not going
9:06 am
well. the next few days will be critical, particularly the interview with george stephanopoulos. he recognizes if he doesn't do well in that interview in particular it will be hard to save the campaign at that point. doesn't mean he is dropping out. the fact he is willing to broach that tells us there's a shift. the people i talked to say it feels more pessimistic today than just yesterday. the cascade of phone calls from donors who are angry and in many cases telling them they think the president should step aside. indicators are not going where the campaign or the president would like them to go. >> peter, you mentioned last night that the fund-raiser -- that the president was exhausted. he talked about traveling.
9:07 am
was he joking? he talked about almost falling asleep on stage. i guess at the debate. they are saying it was a one off. in your story today you lay out repeated instances where the president seemed confused, he froze or forgot people's names. the title of the piece says, his lapses are increasingly common and worrisome. what more can you tell us about what you have learned? >> yeah. i think that's right. the 23 days before the debate, they had him travel across the atlantic twice and to california for a fund-raiser. they gave him, knowing he was exhausted, they gave him two days in delaware to try to rest. six days at camp david to prepare for the debate. they didn't start until 11:00 in the morning each day. they made sure to carve out time for a nap for him. it's hard to say whether what we saw at the debate is from
9:08 am
exhaustion or more. a number of people say they have noticed more and more instances where he does seem to sort of confuse his train of thought. does seem to blank out maybe. some of the things we saw at the debate. maybe not as extreme as we saw at the debate. but happening with more frequency and in a way worrisome to allies and people inside the administration. >> david jolly, let's talk about this. you know the members and how worried they are. they were very confident about winning the house. not the senate, because it's a tough year mathematically for democrats. they have more seats at stake. but they really thought that small margin, they could pick up the seats and make a difference in the house. what i'm hearing, that they are beginning to worry about their own seats and about the possibilities of not only a
9:09 am
trump presidency but a trump senate -- a republican senate and house where there would be no guardrail at all. >> that's right. in a political crisis, sometimes it's hard to guard yourself against your greatest fears. the doomsday scenarios. that's what house democrats are wrestling with. it's presumed the senate flips. that's not predetermined, but the math is hard to hold the senate. if trump takes the white house, all eyes are in the house. in the political crisis looks like democrats in freefall. there's one person in this country that can stop the political spiral of joe biden. that's joe biden. it's not his team. i think what has become clear in the last week is this. you did have the bad debate night where there are many questions still left unanswered about the president's health. it wasn't just a bad debate night. it was as nancy pelosi queries, an episode or a candidate?
9:10 am
there's no information to address that. if it was the first chapter, the second is the week since. the handling of this by the campaign team has been terrible. it has been insulting. it has been arrogant. it has been demeaning. it has done more harm than probably the night itself. i think it's coming to an end. i think this next chapter is the unifying one. joe biden has an opportunity to unify democrats, to unify the biden coalition, which includes soft republicans and independents with those democrats and to unify the country. i think joe biden knows if he is not the one to unify, that he can have a hand in whatever that unifying moment is. i think there's a very bright chapter coming for democrats as they come out of this crisis. it requires that unifying rally around the flag moment, led by either joe biden or led by whomever he decides to kind of turn to and say, look, let's lead the country forward, even if i'm not going to be the candidate.
9:11 am
i will remain and let's move to the next chapter. >> congressman, one of the things that's striking is ryan nobles, my colleague who was just anchoring here on msnbc has put in a note with three sources saying that he has just talked to chuck schumer, the majority leader. i was struck when i talked to nancy pelosi that they had not talked yesterday. all these days after the debate. no one has been more supportive of him than nancy pelosi. chuck schumer is just getting a call from the president. these are the two leaders with hakeem jeffries, of course, who succeeded pelosi, who have the most touch and feel for what's happening on the hill. >> yeah. i think your conversations with speaker pelosi and james clyburn were inflection points in the storyline. this goes to the fact that joe biden himself has to be more involved. his staff's approach has been wrong. it just has not worked. i think everybody would agree on
9:12 am
that. i hasn't worked. what needs to happen -- the most powerful line came from joe biden in north carolina when he said, trust me, i give you my word as a biden, i can do this and i wouldn't ask you to support me if i couldn't. those conversations with miss pelosi, schumer, jeffries, others, with people out in the country, those types of messages, trust me, let me show you, is how he turns this around. >> also to ask them, what are they hearing? nancy pelosi knows the donor community better than anyone. she's a legendary fund-raiser. these are all longtime friends, decades of relationships. those are the people he needs to check in with. gabe gutierrez, your white house team has been extraordinary. thank you. david jolly and peter baker, thanks to all of you. coming up next, debbie dingell of michigan, a political veteran and key player in a must-win battleground state
9:13 am
when we come back in 90 seconds. stay with us. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. hellc ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or
9:14 am
visit coventrydirect.com. many house and senate democrats are shaken by the president's poor performance at the debate and by published reports that he has had trouble remembering things, has lost his train of thought recently. frailty on several occasions in recent weeks. tuesday, lloyd doggett became
9:15 am
the first sitting member to urge him to step aside in an interview with hallie jackson. joining me now is congresswoman debbie dingell. thank you for being with us. "the new york times" is reporting the president told a key ally he knows he may not be able to save his candidacy. the white house is denying that report. it's from a single anonymous source. we have not confirmed it. what are you hearing from fellow democrats about concerns, rising concerns, that he really will not be able to pull this off? >> andrea, it's good to be with you. happy almost 4th of july. first of all, i want to be clear. i have not heard anything like what's being reported in "the new york times." there are so many -- as you and i are -- we know, we witnessed it, there are a lot of things
9:16 am
right now -- [ inaudible ] he has been effective. he has gotten things done. we have gotten more policy. he put people over politics in the last four years. but they are worried about our democracy. even coming on top of scotus this week, they want to make sure that the person that we need to win in november will win. as my former colleague from florida just said, there's one person that can do this. president biden has got to go out there and on a sustained basis shows he has the stamina and can do the job. i think there were two losers on thursday night. i don't think the president had a good night. we all know that. we have talked it to death. we don't talk about -- nor is anybody calling for donald trump
9:17 am
to resign. he told more lies. that's documented by people in the media. he doubled down on things that i care about. one, being proud of overturning roe v. wade. women across the country want to be able to make their own health care decisions, period. the government doesn't have a place in a woman's right to choose. he doubled down on january 6 being okay. i could -- he wants -- if he doubled down on giving his billionaire friends a tax cut. we need to talk about that. the scotus decision on monday has people scared to death about what could happen to this country. >> with that framework, with all of the lies that every fact checker has says donald trump spoke and every answer at that debate, and the supreme court decision, and the whole issue of women's choice and everything else that's out there, doesn't that make the decision about who is the top of the ticket that
9:18 am
much more critical? if there's any concern as has been expressed by others about the president's health, frankly, in recent weeks, should there be a change? >> what i'm going to tell you is he has to show he can do the job. he has to do that on a sustained basis. i have said that from the morning after the debate. it was a performance that people were not expecting. i think it's not as simple as everybody wants it to be to change. a lot of states have voted. only one person can make that decision and can show the country how strong he can and is. all of us can debate and do commentary. there's one person. one of my colleagues said to me, you can talk about donald trump all you want, but there's only one person that they are going to hear, they are going to watch
9:19 am
and they are going to see. he doesn't have a lot of time. he has -- i have said this. he has got to show the country, the american people, he has to talk to the american people. by the way, i respect about the donor class. the donor class isn't -- i want to see him talk to the american people. the working men and women of this country. tell them why he can do the job and what he is going to deliver and that he has the stamina to do it. i got in trouble for saying one news interview isn't going to do it. it's not. >> one interview and it's not live. it's taped. could be edited. will be edited. what more does he have to do? does he have to do, as you were reporting out, more frequently, sooner? there's a news conference at the end of the nato summit. do you think the president has to show it more frequently on a
9:20 am
regular basis that he is available, taking questions and not on the teleprompter? >> he has to be out there. joe biden at his best is when he is with people. i have always said that. i love this man. i have known him -- he and jill got married when john and i got married. this man -- some of my worst moments, when -- when john died, he was there. when john almost died, he was there. i know what a strong man he is. right now, he has to show people -- he has to show the american people that he can do this job. he can't be wrapped in bubble right now. i would say to his advisors -- i will say this. he should have called -- nobody else can do these. he has to do it. right now, the people that matter the most are the american people. that's who wants to see the joe
9:21 am
biden that's delivered for them and the joe biden we know and have loved for decades. >> to that point, is it troubling that even in some small gatherings with contributors, that he is using a teleprompter? he used it yesterday when he went to the emergency management office. he is not ad libbing, he is not impromptu as much as previous presidents. >> look, he has to show the american people he is up to this job. i'm also going to tell you that we are all human. right now, that man has more cameras and photographs and everybody micro -- he is under a microscope of whatever. we all make mistakes. i do know he is having -- i'm told -- i talked to some people that were at the bill signing yesterday for parkinson's. they were in tears. they signed a bill on
9:22 am
parkinson's. jennifer was diagnosed a year ago. the human side of him that i know, the one that is so compassionate and caring and a fighter, that it was -- he was joe biden. he has to show the american people that's who he is. quite frankly, those that say the after debate was worse than the debate, i'm agreeing. right now, people need to see the joe biden i know and have known and that his stamina is there. >> you are expressing what a lot of democrats feel, honoring the legacy, honoring the compassion. >> i love this man. >> feeling sad about this moment, if this is a critical moment. that remains to be seen. one more thing. staff members and others are expressing concern that his son hunter, as much as he loves him, has been in the west wing in staff meetings this week as an
9:23 am
advisor. is that wise? >> you know, i don't know the facts on that. i don't know what the meetings are. i have lived in that -- you have to know people are watching every single move. right now, you are being watched even more. you have to be smart about every single thing that is happening. >> congresswoman debbie dingell, thank you very much, as always. >> thank you. up next, a major delay. donald trump's hush money sentencing not happening until late september. how the supreme court's immunity decision could affect the other cases pending. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc.
9:24 am
9:25 am
wait for insurance to approve
9:26 am
a test or approve a medication. we didn't have to worry about any of those things thanks to the donations. and our family is forever grateful because it's completely changed our lives. with so many choices on booking.com there are so many tina feys i could be. so i hired body doubles to help me out. splurgy tina loves a hotel near rodeo drive. oh tina! wild tina booked a farm stay to ride this horse. glenn close?! with millions of possibilities you can book whoever you want to be. that's my line! booking.com booking.yeah
9:27 am
when we're young, we're told anything is possible... ...but only a few of us go out and prove it. witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, xfinity internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity.
9:28 am
the time lines for multiple cases against donald trump are up in the air after the supreme court's presidential immunity ruling. "the washington post" is reporting that the justice department plans to keep pursuing their criminal cases against donald trump, even if he wins. quote, under the belief that the department rules against charging or prosecuting a sitting president, that would not kick in until inauguration day in january according to people familiar with those discussions. joining us is nbc's vaughn hillyard and also former federal prosecutor paul butler.
9:29 am
how could they go to any kind of indictment stage between election day and inauguration day? >> they are treating him like citizen trump, despite the court's opinion, which implies something more royal than regular citizen. under the justice department policies, a sitting president can't be charged with a crime. he won't be a sitting president until inauguration day. before that, jack smith's position is in the eyes of the law, the cases that had been filed against him can proceed. >> it would be extraordinary, obviously, unprecedented. would it be something that the justice department would do? do you think they actually would carry that out knowing he will blow the case out as soon as he becomes president? >> you know, what this immunity decision on monday did is completely alter the landscape
9:30 am
of how a president is accountable to the law and to the people he or she serves. i think that jack smith is extremely concerned about the consequences. so he is going to do everything he can until the last minute. it's true if trump wins, that these cases will be dismissed. he will either pardon himself or more likely appoint an attorney general who will say these charges need to be dismissed. >> vaughn, this comes as judge -- >> if you look at a social media post of donald trump, he calls this total exoneration, which we heard this before. we heard this after the impeachments. donald trump is prone to sidestep some of the basic facts and on -- --
9:31 am
donald trump is using this for the political purposes of being four months out from his presidential campaign that not only is there potential that the verdict in new york for lower manhattan just this last month by the jury could all be but thrown out that first week of september, but also the very real likelihood that there will be no trial for the federal election interference case or classified documents case or fulton county election interference case before january when he could potentially re-enter the white house. for him, this is effectively 3 1/2 years of being able to sidestep actions that were taken largely during the time that he was in the white house. >> vaughn, you have covered them so intensively.
9:32 am
what is their reaction? are they -- plus, what they are saying on the other side. >> if i may assert this. this is not normal for donald trump or his campaign, but they are largely silent right now. they are allowing the democratic party and the fallout from joe biden -- president biden's debate performance to play out here. there's j.d. vance, a potential vp pick who put out a post after the judge announced the delayed sentening saying that -- implying that this was a political move to wait to see whether joe biden stays in the race or not. he sent a tweet a few moments later saying, but this is still good for us. sort of that mixed messaging effort. by and large, there's acknowledgement that for donald trump and his team, they don't need to bring to the forefront people's minds the underlying charges. as donald trump did, celebrate
9:33 am
the fact that he may not even face a sentencing in short order, let alone other criminal trials before november. >> paul, drilling down on the legal aspects of this, the trump team is saying that under this ruling -- it's clear that, quote, the official acts evidence should never have been presented before this jury. that's what they are saying. how does that change this case? it would be the hope hicks testimony. does the case survive without that? >> it's a great question. most of the evidence that was presented at trial involved trump's conduct before he took office in 2017. there were tweets that he sent while he was president, including that tweet where he disparaged michael cohen. he filed a financial disclosure form in 2018 that was submitted to the jury. the defense is arguing that those are official statements that should not, after this immunity decision, have been presented to the jury.
9:34 am
that's why they are asking for the verdict to be set aside. the standard is really high. the appellate court would have to find that the jury convicted based on this official acts evidence. you remember during the trial, we kept talking about receipts and corroboration. there was overwhelming evidence. the hardest part is those meetings with hope hicks and michael cohen in the white house. thesecutors can prove that the jury likely would have convicted even if it hadn't heard that evidence, then the verdict still stands. >> couldn't the michael cohen meeting, because it involved activity not -- that was not only prior to him being elected, but also clearly extraneous to any official act, so does the venue matter, that it took place in the oval office more than the substance of the meeting? >> that's exactly what the judges -- all of the judges in the criminal trials involving trump will have to decide. what's the difference between a personal act and an official
9:35 am
act? does it matter it took place in the white house? at this point prosecutors are saying, no. the defense is saying, yes, and that the case should be thrown out. what happened monday completely altered how a president can be held accountable. now it is up to the trial judges to figure out the details. >> to think all of richard nixon's acts, which led to his impeachment, happened inside the white house. >> there would have been no need for ford to pardon him if this decision had been issued at the time. >> or for him to step down. paul butler, vaughn hillyard, thanks to both of you. coming up, a live report from jamaica. that category 4 hurricane sweeps through the caribbean heading straight toward the island. this is "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. ♪ trains that sense what isn't on the schedule. ♪ trains that use the power of dell ai and intel.
9:36 am
♪ to see hundreds of miles of tracks. ♪ [vroom] [train horn] [buzz] clearing the way, [whoosh] so you arrive exactly where you belong. we planned well for retirement, but i wish we had more cash. you think those two have any idea? that they can sell their life insurance policy for cash? so they're basically sitting on a goldmine? i don't think they have a clue. that's crazy! well, not everyone knows coventry's helped thousands of people sell their policies for cash. even term policies. i can't believe they're just sitting up there! sitting on all this cash. if you own a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more, you can sell all or part of it to coventry. even a term policy. for cash, or a combination of cash and coverage, with no future premiums. someone needs to tell them, that they're sitting on a goldmine, and you have no idea! hey, guys! you're sitting on a goldmine!
9:37 am
come on, guys! do you hear that? i don't hear anything anymore. find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.
9:38 am
9:39 am
9:40 am
as hurricane beryl is churning through the caribbean, jamaica is bracing for impact. the powerful category 4 storm is expected to hit near or over the island nation this afternoon, with 145 mile an hour winds and storm surging nine feet above tide levels. it made history when it became the earliest category 5 storm on record in hurricane season. at least seven people have been killed by the storm. joining me now is sam brock from
9:41 am
jamaica and meteorologist bill karins. sam, this is the worst storm to hit jamaica in nearly two decades. you reported no mandatory evacuations. people don't seem to be taking precautions. >> reporter: right. there's some of that, a lack of urgency. i will say i spoke with a perish disaster coordinator for kingston. they have 20 plus shelters that are open right now. taking folks in. so that's a positive development. as of early yesterday evening, there were no evacuations underway. i will tell you as you look at beryl and where it's stacking up, 140 plus mile per hour sustained winds. that's very sobering. the good news, if there's any for kingston where i am, is that beryl is 75 miles southeast where we are. as far as the projection of hurricane-force winds, it extends 45 miles.
9:42 am
even with some wiggle room, you would not expect to see that here. we may be getting torrential rain, up to maybe 12 inches. look at this video we shot earlier. that's empty streets. there's a curfew put into place by the prime minister of jamaica from 6:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. they are very serious about that. he warned people they may close down power and water. when i had conversations with folks earlier, i spoke with a mom and her niece, they were coming back from the market. they had non-perishables, some meat, some water. they wanted to make sure their loved ones were taken care of. they were planning ahead. the biggest concern is a failure of communication and power. they will not be able to communicate with loved ones. they are vulnerable. there could be hospitals or care facilities that may not have generators. that's what we are watching for. you see over my shoulder,
9:43 am
there's a lot of hillsides. if you get 6 to 12 inches of rain, that's the crucial window. it's prone for landslides. >> stay safe. thanks for all of your reporting. bill karins, what kind of damage could jamaica see? where is it headed next? could it come to the u.s. mainland? >> it's amazing watching sam. he is only 60 miles away from the northern eye wall of the category 4 hurricane. you would never know it. here is where sam is located in kingston. this is the category 4. this is the satellite. we don't have radar. see the bubbles. this is the top of the thunderstorms on the northern portion of the eye. they are approaching that area. if they go over it or not is to be decided. it looks like it will go south. that's where the destructive winds would be. we were able to colorize the wind. yellow, that's tropical storm gusts.
9:44 am
orange, that's 50 mile per hour gusts. that's when we lose tree limbs and get power outages. extreme damage is in the red. that's the hurricane force. it's just off the coast. if we take this path that we project like this, it looks like the western end of the island will get it worse than the eastern end, especially the southern portion, this nose that sticks down here. kingston, the pictures out of there, may not tell the entire story of how bad the island is, especially the western end. where do we go from here? it goes south of the cayman islands. it will weaken from here on out. it's moving quickly. tomorrow night, as it's weakening, another landfall into mexico. this should be a category 1. it shouldn't cause a lot of problems. the million dollar question is, will the storm be organized enough over the warm waters of the gulf this weekend to get
9:45 am
stronger as it approaches possibly texas? many of our computers models are split. some are going north into texas. the other half stays to the south. the key to the forecast, the stronger the storm,the more north it's going to go. as we go through the weekend, people are paying attention, if you hear beryl is a hurricane, most likely it's going to texas. if it drops to a tropical storm, most likely it will head to mexico. that will be decided in the days ahead. >> that's useful information, bill. keep a weather eye on all these reports. right? bill karins, thank you. coming up, the department of homeland security conducting the first large charter flight in years to deport chinese migrants from the u.s. i will talk to edward wong who has written a book on china and his family's extraordinary journey. you are watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc.
9:46 am
liberty mutual customized my car insurance and i saved hundreds. with all the money i saved i thought i'd buy stilts. being so tall definitely has its advantages. oh whoa. here you go, kiddo. thanks. hi honey ready to go? yup. there it is, there it is... ahhh...here we go. i guess it also has some disadvantages. yes it does. only pay for what you need. ♪liberty. liberty. liberty, liberty.♪
9:47 am
9:48 am
9:49 am
9:50 am
today the associated press reports that the u.s. has deported more than 110 chinese migrants this past weekend, in coordination with beijing, on the beijing on the first large charter flight in years, according to the homeland security department. this amidst the release of a fascinating new book about the rise of china, the communist party and what drove one chinese
9:51 am
immigrant decades ago to go to the u.s. the story is told through the eyes of his son. he joins me now, "new york times" diplomatic correspondent edward wong, the author of "at the edge of empire: a family's reckoning with china." and we've traveled together, and i never until i read your book learned your history. it is extraordinary. what a timely book also with july 4th tomorrow, you retraced your father's journey, the bureau chief in 2014, and you started retracing his journey and discovering so much about his past with him and about his whole history under mao zedong. >> that's right, andrea. part of the reason i wanted to write this book, i think as you mentioned, it's timely right now on the eve of july 4th is to tell stories of why people from these other countries might have chosen america as their homeland over their mother country.
9:52 am
and in my dad's case, he had lived through the big momentous events of mid-20th century china. he saw the japanese occupation. he saw the corruption of the nationalist government, and because of that as soon as he graduated from high school in 1950, he decided to go north to beijing and sign up for the revolution that mao had undertaken. the communists had just taken over. and then my dad decided to join the military in order to try to fight the americans on the korean peninsula during the korean war because of the heated nationalist rhetoric that mao and his compatriots were pushing. many chinese citizens felt they needed to do their part for the country. his journey, his very long and dramatic journey took him out to the northwest of china, the far northwest where uyghur muslims live. he was part of the first military occupation of that region, and eventually he becomes disillusioned with the party and with mao's policies
9:53 am
and decides to flee to hong kong and then come to america. >> and you see parallels between what your father learned about mao zedong and xi jinping. explain. >> yeah, i think a lot of what we're seeing evolving now in china under xi has its roots in the mao area, and one of the things that mao and the party really pushed is the idea that there are many subversives within china and that foreign influences were out to weaken and eventually overthrow the communist party. these influences led by america, and right now you're seeing that type of rhetoric, that type of propaganda unfolding under xi. he's pushing this idea of a national security state and that chinese citizens have to be on the watch for subversive foreign powers that are seeking to undermine china. a lot of the nationalist that we see being pushed by xi now has
9:54 am
its roots in the mao era propaganda and in mao's pushing of this anti-american imperialist framing of china and its place in the world. so i think we're seeing that play out again. china goes through these cycles of history, and we're also seeing xi trying to hold onto power past the norms that were established after the mao era. i think chinese officials after they saw what happened with mao, after they saw the turmoil that he led china into, they decided a leader cannot hold onto power for that long. but xi, as you know, andrea, has held onto power for a third term, which is unprecedented in the contemporary era, and my father when he was talking to me last year, he said this is a big problem. he said that mao had a certain optimistic vision for china efforts, but then of course he
9:55 am
led china into the great famine of the late '50s and into the cultural revolution of the 1960s and '70s, which completely devastated china and its economy, and he sees the same risks taking place with xi because he is holding onto power too long. >> do you see with the shake-up in the military and other, you know, huge changes within his structure, his administrative structure, particularly in the military, do you see any resistance at all to him, or is it absolute power? >> when i speak with some of my contacts in china, there are definitely voices in china that are uneasy with the directions xi is taking china. these are people who are intellectuals who are business people. they benefitted from the more liberal economic policies of china, and the full throated engagement with america and some other western nations during that era that was begun after
9:56 am
mao, and that was carried on by successors. of course china always sees itself as a counterbalance to a certain degree to american power, but it can go through periods of opening in which it decides to engage more fully with the west. and under xi, that era has closed or is closing, and xi has decided to take on a much more adversarial position towards america. >> well, edward wong, i mean, first of all, it is absolutely beautifully written. it's poetic, and your perspective is unique. thank you so much, and it's great to have you and to begin dipping into the book. it's really an incredible history of china told through the eyes of one family. edward wong, thank you. >> thanks, andrea. and when we come back, brand new revelations from that stormy daniels interview with my
9:57 am
colleague, rachel maddow. more coverage coming up after the break. you're watching msnbc. the break. you're watching msnbc. (♪♪) [shaking] itchy pet? (♪♪) with chewy, save 20% on your first pharmacy order so you can put an end to the itch. get flea and tick medication delivered right to your door. [panting] ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com.
9:58 am
9:59 am
10:00 am
want to save on some of the biggest names in streaming on the network made for streaming? x marks the spot. now you can add the new xfinity streamsaver™ that includes netflix, peacock, and apple tv+. that's xfinity streamsaver™ for just $15 a month. all your favorites. all in one place. only from xfinity. for more watching and less spending... x marks the spot. do it all on the network made for streaming, and bring on the good stuff.

71 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on