tv The Bottom Line Al Jazeera January 9, 2022 4:00am-4:30am AST
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kenya to the antarctic in search of answers to why we run al jazeera correspondent. ah, this is al jazeera, i'm danny abigail with a check on your world headlines. authorities in kazakhstan, have confirmed the arrest of former security services chief carry master mav. he's been charged with high treason for his alleged role, an anti government protests this week. robin forest year walker reports on the growing evidence of a high level struggle for control of the oil rich country, long queues for fuel and the food. as the public comes to terms with reality, after the abreast, a picture is emerging of a power struggle within cassock,
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stones, political elite. in protests this week, anger was directed at independence, has its dance 1st president 81 year old, nor so 10 as a buy of old man get out. they taunted with those protests turned violent in our mattie. those above was removed from the powerful position he still occupied chair of the security council. now, his loyal associate kerry must seem off fired from his role as chief of national security has been charged with high treason. harris's mother by hand picked cassie jermarta took. i have as his successor in 2019 but did not relinquish power. both men played a leadership role, attending international meetings together. as recently as last month we're that has
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now changed. we know entry the took i era like it this guy is gonna be in charge because he's not going to put his shown man in charge of his own government in charge. so he got to read over all the people were hanging over for the cry regime. the swift deployments of c s t o security forces. $3600.00 russian lead troops is a clear sign to kaya has moscow's backing. they are now helping to strengthen his position in north. so turn the capital renamed often as at by of state media no longer mentioned his name. internet blackouts have made it difficult to gauge public reaction. i finally reached a political activist by a telegram. he didn't want to be named information on campus,
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but i know last because we have a lot of people but there's always shaped all the stories and theories are based on lack of information. rumors, an official propaganda. those room is only adding to the uncertainty that dominates life. catholics done robin 1st, the walker out here. the us thing department has condemned an air strike. and if you appears northern t gray region, at least 56 people were killed and not attack aid worker said had a camphor internally displaced people in the village and did a bit near the eritrea and border. the if you open government hasn't responded to the report, the number of code 19 infections in india. is it a new 7 months high with the latest daily tool, more than $140000.00? it's capital new delhi is among the worst hit region and is under curfew. travelers
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arriving into the country, we'll need to corn jean at home for a week. the number of people being admitted to hospice on the u. s. a proven 1. 900 is raising driven by the army. kron variant health regulators or warning more children under the age of 5 who are naughty at eligible to be vaccinated are now being admitted to hospitals. bodies of 9 of the 22 victims of the snow storm and pockets on have been brought to islamic bad temperatures fell to minus a degrees celsius overnight on friday, at least 7 people had been killed in lake furnace in brazil, when a slab of rock broke away from a cliff, the fire department says more than 30 people were injured. there's the headlines. the bottom line is up next. lou. hi, i'm steve clements and i have
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a question. a year after the riots at congress, just how fragile is democracy and the peaceful transition of power in the united states. let's get to the bottom line. ah, one year ago, hundreds of followers of former president donald trump attack the united states capital with the singular mission. it was to overturn the results of the 2020 election. how they thought the best way was to prevent members of congress from assembling on january 6th, 2021. to formalize jo biden's victory. the mob had been egged on by trump earlier in the day to quote save america because the election had been stolen. this idea still has a grip on many folks with recent poll showing that one 3rd. that's one 3rd of americans still believe that the last election was a fraud. congress tried to launch a bipartisan investigation into the riots, but it was really quashed by senate republicans and now a watered down version continues in the house of representatives. and that's
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a tell tale sign of how divided american still are about the riots. they can't even agree on a name for the events of january 6th. was it an insurrection or just to stop the steel party? so today, one year later, the biggest question in american politics is, is the peaceful transition of power after more than 200 years of elections and transitions. we've been doing this for a while. is this something folks can't take for granted anymore? why are republicans and democrats still deeply divided over what happened that day? and can both sides agree that democracy means a fair and transparent process? even if your candidate loses today's show, we visits with the exact same folks we spoke to on that fateful day last year. in the 2nd part of the show, we're going to talk to republican strategist john fury. but 1st, we're talking with democratic congressman walking cast, who represents the district of san antonio, texas. and was there on that fateful day, january 6th, 2021. when he barricaded himself, barricaded himself in
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a building on capitol hill while trump van stormed the united states capital cox and castro. it's really great to be with you. i'm last year we spoke on that tension filled morning right after the certification of electoral college votes. that certified that joe biden was president, it was very, very late in the night. you came on this show and you told us what had transpired. and at that time, you said that that was a coup attempt. and i'm just interested in, in the last year. do you feel that that was what that was and what are the big lessons you've learned or seen since that fateful day? well, the biggest lesson that i learned that i hope that the countries learned is that we can't take our democracy for granted. that we have to do everything possible to protect free and fair elections in the united states. and also because disinformation in american society really around the world is that an all time high and that has led more and more americans to believe in donald trump's big lie. that
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he in fact, may have won the 2020 presidential election. so it's imperative for the congress to pass h r one in h r 4, and make sure that we protect americans right to vote. and also i still believe that it was an attempted crew. i know that over the past year, most often people had called it an insurrection, and it was an insurrection. but it was also more than that. it was an attempt by supporters of the president eg dawn and encouraged by the president to stop the united states government from certifying the winner of the 2020 presidential election. and thankfully, they failed. you mentioned h r one and h r for which are elements of voting rights legislation. and from that, from it least, the democrat or most of the democrats use sort of the way to preserve institutions around the rules of the game. and, and part of the complexity of american democracy that i want our viewers to understand is we have
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a federal system that some things are handled by states. some things are handled by the federal government. and traditionally, i think one of the push backs on each one has been that states typically control the scaffolding and the foundation, the rules and norms of elections. but isn't h r one a federal is ation of that process taking it out of states and putting on the national, you know, the national state something that had been traditionally, you know, in states rights. yeah, i mean, 1st this legislation would fully restore the voting rights act. there are some states across the country that have been routinely decade after decade after redistricting. have been found to intentionally discriminate against different groups of people. and so part of this voting rights legislation would make sure that the voting rights act is fully in place to protect against that. but the other parts of the voting rights legislation are actually things that are very popular with americans across political stripes. for example, ending partisan gerrymandering so that you don't have these space ship shape
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districts and chicken finger shaped districts all over the country. and the politicians are not picking their people. people get to pick their politicians, also taking dark money out of politics. right now, a billionaires can go and contribute millions of dollars to different causes without ever having to put their name and let the public know who's behind that money. but also more practical things that fit the moment like or in credit, the credibly practical important things like protecting against voter intimidation . protect you against the intimidation of elections officials, which we've seen a lot of in the last few years. i don't know if you've seen it, congressman, but there's an interesting pull out, a set of findings of the university of maryland and washington post. and one of them shows some numbers regarding the, the pride in democracy among democrats. republicans independence, you know, it's pretty much consist, you're saying that basically 60 percent of democrats,
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58 percent of republicans and 51 percent of independents are proud of their democracy. so this is a, you know, but i, but it raises the question of what is democracy depending on what which bucket you're in. is there a consistent understanding in this country, from your perspective, when you go out and talk to your republican constituents? i know you have some, you've got democratic constituents who vote for you, but how do they see that term in word today? well, i mean, i think we're battling now an american society is just a lot of hyper partisanship but also disinformation. and quite honestly, i think the republican party is in a trance over this idea that donald trump spread, which was which equated democrats winning the presidential election or even winning other big elections like senatorial elections with voter fraud. they literally tried to equate democrats, winning elections with fraud. and whenever you start out at that point, it's very hard to have a sincere,
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earnest conversation about what free and fair elections mean. i think historically we've, we've shared this idea that free and fair elections should include everybody who has the right to vote. they are over 18 and so forth. but you know, over the last few years, really, since donald trump took the national stage, that idea that sheer idea of democracy has been under attack. you know, last year when you spoke, you said that you hoped that america's recovery from january 6 that, that healing that pulling things back together. that putting a spotlight on what happened on january 6, would be the north star for this nation that we would again restore our democracy, that america would become the north star for other nations that we're looking at. as i'm just interested in where you think things stand now regarding that north star metaphor which i was very taken with at the time. but i just, you know, i just wonder if we are anywhere near that today. well, i think the world still looks to the united states as a north star for many things,
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but repairing our democracy is a work in progress. and that's why i think that the work that the attorney general has done, and the justice department of holding people accountable who try to interrupt the democratic process of certifying a newly elected president is incredibly important. the work that the select committee and congress is doing around january 6 and holding people accountable, including any members of congress who may have participated or coordinated with the mob that righted and attacked the congress. i think that work is incredibly important to show americans and to show the world that when you mess with our democracy, you're going to be held accountable and that we will, we will be able to bounce back and have fully free and fair elections. congressman, when we spoke a year ago, i could feel the stress of that moment from you. you told us what it was like to be in the capital that afternoon with what happened with, with writers storming,
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we had deaths happened capital police. we had a protest her who was shot in the capital. did you worry that you or your colleagues would potentially be killed or, or, or other things happen to you? and do you worry about that now as we look forward, are we past that moment? do you think or do you think we still see the bastion of american democracy in the u. s. capital is still a place under threat. you know, i looking back, i didn't understand that day the severity of or the really the gravity of the situation. i didn't understand the severity of the violence of the mob attack the capital police were the ones that obviously took the brunt of that. i remember thinking that day because i knew that there were people that had come from all over the country for that rally. i was in my house office in rayburn with several staff
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members and we didn't know that they were going to come invade the health office buildings and there were people there from texas. so i didn't know if they were texas, they were going to come looking for me just like i'm sure other members of progress from their own states were wondering the same thing, you know, and so, yeah, i mean there's still, the capital is not been the same since then, and part of that is because of cove it, but part of that is because of what happened on january 6 and our democracy is not the same since january 6 of last year. and i'm hoping that in the coming months in the coming years, we can do everything possible as americans to get back to a place where we trust each other more. and that means accepting that there hasn't been this widespread voter fraud. there, there is a, this big lie that was created by donald trump. i think that we can get there, but we're still very tense, tense time. well, actually walking castro, democrat from texas, we really appreciate you revisiting us,
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revisiting that tense time a year ago. thanks. so much for sharing your thoughts with us today. thank you. now we turned a long time republican strategist, john ferry, who's worked for decades with the congressional republican leadership. john, it's terrific to be with you. and i know you've heard my con my conversation with the congressman. look, i think both political parties as part of what makes them parties as they have litmus tests per thing. you know, if you're a democrat right now, whether it's voting rights, are your views on the filibuster? you know they're going to be sort, or how you feel about donald trump is going to be a litmus test on whether you're a true democrat. where does january 6th and what happened one year ago, which you and i spoke about fit as a litmus test in the republican party today. ah steak stephen, thanks for having me on. i think the january 6th for most, for republicans, is a distant memory. i think they're far more worried about getting their kids back into school, getting rid of those codes restrictions,
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getting the economy on getting a job. and i think there is some still some lingering loyalty to donald trump. i think that when trump said, ironically when he said, get a booster shot and get your vaccination with a lot of the republican based that really hurt him. but you know, truth still has a big hole over the party, despite what he said and did on january 6, january 6, herself, for most republicans is not anything that they're all that concerned about. you just said something so important and interesting is that when donald trump told americans working members his supporters to go get a coven booster shot to take those shots, take that, don't deny any more. he sounded more like joe biden. you said he lost a bit of popularity in the republican party. and this comes to a question about how each party sees gravity. how's it sees? what reality is? is there any chance when you talk last year about the republican party had become
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the party of the working class? and one of the challenges is had to be not just the white working class, but the working class abroad. and that the parties are actually composed that the democratic party is corporate and an elitist in new york finance. it was very answering insight, but i'm just wondering what can bring, do we need those 2 groups to see gravity to the same believe in the rules of the, of the game? or can they remain as divided as they are in american democracy survive? well, you know h l, meghan said, you know, the american people want democracy and they're going to get it good and hard and they're going to get a good hard this coming election. and then, you know, i think reality will have the bad it out. bad about the 2 sides, and i think that's always been the case in american history and there's always been waving the bloody shirt for having these, you know, a view of communism versus capitalism having kind of a sense of the red scares of the past reality. you know,
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is something that is battled out and litigated. i think the, the biggest problem we have with our democracy right now is an effort by some to silence voices and silence freedom of expression. i think that if you look, look at what happened post january 6, the closing down of the capitol, where people could not come in and, you know, have meetings with their members of congress. if you see what's happened with twitter were, you know, actually is pretty smart voices on the whole thing of co with are being silenced. you know, we don't have as vibrant a, a nationalist discussion as we need to have a to your point steve. you know, there are a lot of reality is out there that people are, embrace summer conspiracy theories on the right. some are conspiracy theories on the left. you know, i think that ultimately we need to have a full some discussions. and i think one of the biggest problems we have is that
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people don't really trust the media anymore. i don't, i think that's probably true on both the left and the right. and you have the kind of a advocacy media, either around the m s and b c, or a o n on the, on the right. and you know, people are flocking to that because they want to hear what a confirmation of their own biases and no one's really kind of embracing the whole idea of free speech. and that is, you know, i think one of the biggest problems we have right now, you know, one of the things it's unfolding is that there is a january 6 commission list cheney is on and there are some republicans on it. but they're not republicans that are necessarily aligned with the base today. and the question about accountability and response. he for january 6 sort of still lurks out there. do you know, put your head on the rug and say, well, it doesn't really matter or, you know, if you, can, you kind of look at the differences. you've got a, a university marilyn washington post poll out there that finds that 60 percent of americans say donald trump, bears either a great deal or
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a good amount of responsibility for, for the insurrection, but 72 percent of republicans at 83 percent of trump, voter stacy bears just a little or even no responsibility at all. do you think that, that litigating that is ever gonna, is ever going to end and, and where to you as a republican strategist who doesn't stick his head in the sand? think that that where, where that process needs to go? well, 1st of all, let's start with what you called the insurrection. this was a, a riot. it was a bunch of people that overwhelmed the police and they were angry. i think that down from deserves some credit for making them angry. although he did say during the, during the riot that try to peacefully protest, i think that trump, what trump did was stupid, i think i sent it. i thought at the time i wrote it at the time, i thought it was,
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he put in the c set himself up. and i think that there was just the lack of security at the capital was, you know, unforgivable on a variety of different fronts. i will say that nancy pelosi when she said that, jim jordan and jim banks and other members could not be on the 9 or the january 6th commission because they were to implicated i think she and she basically picked her own committee that kind of destroy the whole purpose of the committee, which was get to the get to the bottom of the, of the facts, trying to find out what actually happened to me. liz cheney, how i always liked, you know, she's, she's way out there and she's not really representing the republican party anymore, adding things here, as in the same same token. so it would've been much more helpful. had she pelosi done, how has always been done, where the republicans get to choose their, their,
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their, their squad members, and the democrats get to pick their squad members and they look, you know, fight it out and have a legitimate committee. this is not a legitimate inquiry, and that's too bad because i think we do need that. i think we need to know, you know, on all sides. what the heck happened, and make sure it didn't happen. and i also believe that we should also investigate what happened with all those riots that happened during 2020 and why the people forget that the white house was almost breached and from had to go in the bunker because people were worried that he was going to be in big trouble. those are legitimate inquiries that need to be kind of follow up on. and we need to have both sides kind of have the ability to do real investigations. and, you know, i, i looking at what happened post january 6. you know, you have to ask yourself, has there been any effort to try to bring the country together by any of our leaders on either the right or the left and, you know, there really hasn't. i mean,
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i think if you look at what nancy pelosi is done, she's tried to take advantage of this because she, she calls it like, well, you know, it's like the old red, bloody shirt. rice like the insurrection. and you know, i just don't think that's legitimate. i think we need to have some people who are leaders saying, listen, what actually happened and why were there was this allowed to move forward and why did we have the proper security? let's ask these questions. ronnie davis, who is a very legitimate and smart member of congress, he's asking those questions and he wants to get to the bottom of it. and i hope that the weekend has, he has a chance to be the chairman and can follow up on cassandra davis is a very impressive person. we've interviewed him here before, and i hope i hope you're right on that. but i want to ask you something else that you've written lately, john, and i think you've said a number of times is that you really didn't see donald trump actually running in 2024. and we can debate whether that will happen or not. but you said that the ghost of trump will continue to linger and be out there and just sort of interest
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that as we look forward, you know, to, to what degree does that pattern of what donald trump brought in? and the pattern, as you said, of a deficit politics, where democrats and republicans, you know, maybe with the exception of a jo mansion or something or not really investing heavily and trying to get back in that middle space. i'm just sort of interested as you kind of look at that and you see 2024 growing. who might be some of those that you would think or merge out of this. you know, toxic pit on the g o p side. either looking like donald trump clones, or standing and profile, you know, kind of boyles of donald trump. well, let me tell you this night, i know that you will take offense to this, but you are very good friend of joe mansion. and i think, i think if he changed parties in ran for ran for president, he would do very well. you know, my mother is a big jar magic fan. let's just put it that way. you know, you just need to have some leadership. some of the lead,
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who will bring the country together? that being said, i think a lot of republicans are, are looking through 2 lenses. one is, how did you handle coven? and i think that that really does disqualify president trump, and i think it disqualifies my parents. i like both those guys. i supported both of them. but the, the, the mishandling of cove, it is a real blot on both the presidencies of president trump. and i've jo, bye, and so i think if you look at something like that, iran, the santa is really kind of stands out and says, listen, healed it exactly in the right way. he, he, he did all the things that a republican would want to be handled with, with a lot of intelligence looking past the data, not giving everything to anthony valgy. now, from an outsider's perspective, you know, you know, you really, it's a really, really good question. i, i struggle to find, you know, ted cruz is someone who has the people love him of the political base. you look
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back at another senator, a, someone like a tom cotton has that kind of national security thing. but what republicans have become, they become a party of working class voters who are not just white. if you look at the different numbers with right suspect voters, also african american voters, another another potential candidate that is represents that working classes. someone like tim scott. now the right doesn't really trust him as much, but he's a really smart leader who, you know, represents kind of the, the new vision of the republican party. so these are really good questions. thank. from my perspective. as you're not going to get someone who's going in the night, everybody was who has, who can kind of take the temperature down just a little bit. so can keep this country to go. or republican strategist, john ferry, i always learn something. when i talk with him, thank you so much for joining us today or at least so what's the bottom line? democracy folks is not an exercise in columbia. it's more like
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a contact sport. sort of like australian rugby political players. well, they struck they bluster, they organized and strategize, and they often fabricate little fibbs or even big lies. they are performers prying to look legit in the eyes of their fans. usually those fans have high hopes for a better world. but sometimes they have grievances that make them angry. donald trump was, and he still is an absolutely extraordinary performer, and he's become one of the world's leading mice, grows of an orchestra of anger and fury. the currency of today's american politics and social media is this right? is it as it should be? absolutely not, but that's not the point. the point is that the frustrations of many americans have to be understood if americans democracy is going to survive. january 6 was an earthquake that happens when a demagogue rises because of anguish. to pick up the pieces there have to be cos on those who attack congress. otherwise it will happen all over again. that should not
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be a partisan view. nobody wins if nobody can agree on the rules of the game. and that's the bottom line ah, joined the debates, non exempt, the wolves refugees have come from a common impacted country. the climate emergency is putting more pressure on services across the world and amplify your voice. it's not really the future 8. now, this is not our exclusively, if people log concrete is, is probably get back. we cannot lose hope. we know what to do, and we have the tools and to get back. the last bill was paid for the stream on al jazeera, i selfless act of human bravery and $10000.00 precious pieces of literature rescued from being burnt to ashes in a besieged,
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sorry ah, al jazeera world meets the bozeman women, and men who risked everything to save their written heritage ah beloved looks on al jazeera. ah, this is al jazeera. i'm daddy navigator with a check on your world headlines. authorities in kazakhstan have confirmed the arrest. the former security services chief carry mess him off. he has been charged with high treason for his alleged roll and anti government protest this week. the restless feeling speculation of a power struggle in the ruling party. robin for astir walker has more for.
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