rely on the experts at 1800petmeds for the same medications as the vet, but for less with fast free shipping. visit petmeds.com today. don lemon tonight starts right now with d. lemon. >> what you got for me? >> i got you a different suit, a different tie. help you out. make you not look like you're selling something. >> what are you talking about? >> you look like an ice cream salesman. >> really? i want to booth in the window,

not the back, mater d. >> i wish i had my keys i would throw them at you. come on, sir. are you lecturing me on fashion. >> yeah, because my style isn't an issue. >> the president gave a speech about truth, voting rights. >> did more than that. he set a bar for himself that is the highest since he took office. look, he came in, had to show he could be confident about the pandemic and get out the vaccine. i think he did that well. i think he's going to have a problem with crime that i think he's going to have to figure out. i think that's a democrat problem. now he just said this is the test of our time. can he get the democrats in the senate and the house to come together to stop the voting rights restrictions that are

fanning out all over this country? >> why do you think that's a democrat -- or democratic, as it should be said, problem? >> i think crime is going to be made politically into a democratic problem because of reforms that went too far, because of rhetoric that went too far, and because they are too slow to the punch. and theli right will say it eve if it's without basis because crime matters to people. and then they'll be late once again. even though it was on trump's watch and democrats obama and clinton before had good crime policies and the soft on crime thing has never been the right wrap -- now they have the right wrap. including in new york, where my brother is the governor. bail reform is important. people rot in jails wrongly. but did the reforms go too far? are judges hands' tied and are elising prison from way that are making things worse when it comes to shooting? >> welsh that's a discussion, especially the thing about bail

reform. i know it's been said a lot. bill braaten has been on the show. even during the pandemic, we had a town hall with police chiefs from major cities all across this country talking about those issues. so far, though -- so far -- and they could be right. i haven't seen any empirical evidence, but if someone commits a violence offense they should not be let out. >> new york, chicago, and san francisco are all test cases of reforms that -- >> much has been anecdotal. i want to see the real results. >> covid's part of it too. it's not going to be one thing. but you had a lot of people in prison in new york, and you have a lot less now, and you have a lot of people who get arrested for crimes where they're losing a loaded weapon and wind out being back up on the street. >> that's not good. and that should not happy. >> no, it shouldn't. as i have been saying all

along -- i had been on this for a long time talking about how silly i think the whole defund the police slogan was -- >> that's something different, but i agree. >> people get upset. cancel don. take his black card away. i think it was dumb. i don't think it was a smart idea to do that. i've always been talking about -- >> wasn't even a whole lot of black people saying that. it was a lot more left wing democrats and many of them white who were saying defund the police. >> i bet there are still people who want to take away my black card. you know how that goes. >> new o, i don't. >> the whole thing about defunding the police and the whole crime issue happening across the country, i had been saying for months, even before they had had all the democrats stacked up, as goes new york goes the rest of the country. it's going to be a litmus test.

i have been trying to get the candidates on. some of it, there wasn't time because the rest of the country just was not interested, wasn't close enough, but i knew this would be, as i said, a litmus test for the rest of the country, and i think that this really exposed where democrats -- you say this is a democrat problem -- where democrats actually are on crime, where they are as a party. i think it exposed so much about the left and the rhetoric on the right. this one race in new york city, i believe, did that. >> you wind up having eric adams, former cop, brooklyn borough president. had controversies during the campaign, but he was fundamentally anti-democrat platform when it came to a lot of woke talk. look, i know there's going to be eye rolling and i know you guys are going to come after me. that's okay. that's why we have these conversations. wokeness is a problem for you guys. i'll tell you why. it plays into an attack

narrative where they're going to use crime as proof of what happens when you make everything okay in a society, and if anybody fights for the traditional values and what's supposed to happen in law and order and you say, no, no, no, you're not woke enough, this is what you get, these crime numbers. i know it's not sophisticated. i know it's not a fair reckoning, but when was the last time in politics everything had to be right dot for dot, point for point? >> i'm not sure i see the correlation between wokeness and crime. >> wokeness leads to bail reform -- >> that's a policy issue. wokeness is about, you know, who's -- where do you stand on what should be taught in school and -- >> that's an aspect of it. if i were campaigning i would say it's all after it. it's a culture phenomenon of per missiveness, of standards. of everybody can do anything you want. >> no, no, no, i think you're

wrong about that. that's not what wokeness is. if you want to talk about people and crime, i just don't think the two -- there's a complete correlation. >> every moment that you're arguing about what wokeness is and trying to tell me i'm wrong, i'm winning. with voters, i'm winning. >> you're trying to tell two things that are not necessarily comparable. >> with voters it will be one in the same for everybody except people on the left fringe. >> i don't necessarily agree with that. >> we'll see. >> and i don't think that crime is necessarily a democratic crime in this country. i think it's an american crime. it happens in cities all over, and not just cities run by democrats but it is a narrative the right will try to spin -- >> biden's rating on crime -- and most likely will work in their favor. >> what's biden's rating on crime? 38%. >> well, yes. >> it's a problem. >> when did it happen? >> why is it 38%? >> what was trump's?

>> he's gone. >> is it real? >> we'll see. >> crime is at a historic low. >> not shootings in major cities. >> it's creeping back up, but it's at an all-time low. depends on the category -- shootings no new york city -- >> are up from 2019 and 2020, but not historic highs of '80s. >> how do people feel when you walk on the street? >> that's true, but that's how you feel. >> i killed you in this campaign. >> no, no, no, you're talking about perception. i'm talking to you about actual numbers. >> remind me what wins an election. >> will you listen to me? crime is down historically. it is up from 2019 and 2020, and i do agree with you -- one is the actual fact and the other is that perception, yes, is reality, but it does not mean that crime is at an all-time high. >> doesn't have to be at an all-time high. it has to be surging and you

have to be a problem. >> you're not listening. >> i am listening. it's just not that great a point. >> i'm trying to tell you what the facts are. what are the facts? >> crime is down historically. >> it's up. >> but it's up from 2019 and 2020. >> that's all that matters. it's not a history lesson. we're running right now. we're on your watch and you lose. >> you're not listening to you. >> i am listening to exactly -- >> you're not making sense. you're telling me about perception and i'm telling you about reality. >> we're talking about two different things. i'm not saying. listen, crime is down historically, but from 2019 and 2020, the numbers are up. that is not a historic high. >> i never said it was a historic high. >> yes, you did. >> no, i did not. i said they're up in homicides and shootings are up in major cities and it has people nervous. >> not just in major cities. >> good, it's another good fact for me and bad for you. what i'm saying is --

>> i got to go. we're like ten minutes over. >> you got a little something here from this one. >> no, you got messed up. facts. facts. facts matter. >> d. lemon i'll tell you what matters, i love you. >> i know. i love you. this is "don lemon tonight". the question is, what's the end game? what happens now? it's kind of what chris and i were just talking about. where do we go from here? you heard president joe biden today. it was a hell of a speech, an angry passionate speech calling out the nationwide assault on the right to vote, calling out the big lie. >> the big lie is just that -- a big lie. will you deny the will of the people? will you ignore their voices? we have to ask, are you on the side of truth or lies, fact or fiction, justice or injustice?

democracy or autocracy? that's what it's coming down to. >> so calling out all the lies spreading across this country, across misinformation from covid to race to the vote, right? the president demanding to know whether republicans are on the side of truth or on the side of lies. calling out merchants of fear and peddlers of lies. >> make no mistake -- bullies and merchants of fear, peddlers of lies are threatening the very foundation of our country. gives me no pleasure to say this. i never thought in my entire career i'd ever have to say it. but i swore an oath to you, to god, to preserve protect, and defend the constitution, and that's an oath that creates a sacred trust to confederate against all threats foreign and domestic.

>> threats foreign and notice the emphasis on domestic. like the threat from trump supporting rioters, fueled by the big lie. attacking the seat of our democracy, hunting lawmakers, beating police, parading around with a confederate battle flag, putting up a gallows outside. and we've got new video tonight from that terrible day. the day that those peddlers of lies are still trying to cover up. welsh this is how it really happened. we're not bleeping anything for you. we're showing you the truth. you're going to see the trump flags, the maga hats. you'll hear them chanting treason. some rioters carrying stolen police shields . [ chanting "treason" ]

>> so, the peddlers of lies president biden talked about, they call those people tourists. they say that they were peaceful, and the peddlers of the big lie are still at it today, like the crack lawyers trying to throw out michigan's electoral votes, like the fraudit in another threatened in pennsylvania. the president calling republicans stand up for democracy, demanding, have you no shame? >> i'll be asking my republican friends in congress and states and cities and counties to stand up for god's sake and help prevent this concerted effort to undermine our election and the sacred right to vote. have you no shame? >> well, that's an easy answer. the thing is that they don't. they have no shame. you can't shame the shameless. you can't shame the peddlers of

lies. mitch mcconnell, who buried the bipartisan january 6th commission that was supposed to get to the truth. kevin mccarthy who said the then-president bore responsibility for the attack and then turned around and scurried the mar-a-lago to kiss the ring. all republican lawmakers who saw a riot and claimed they were peaceful tourists and patriots. this country is drowning in misinformation. perception is reality? actually, reality is reality. misinformation like the lies from the anti-vaxxers over at the fox propaganda network. you can't shame the shameless. they're not going to be moved by a strong speech from the president. so, where do we go from here? the president calling for congress to pass "for the people" act and the john lewis voting rights act as the assault on the vote spreads. texas legislators who fled to

washington to block republicans from passing the latest restrictive law saying this -- >> we can't hold this tide back forever. we're buying some time. we need congress and all of our federal leaders to use that time wisely. >> and then there's joe manchin, telling reporters tonight he'll likely meet with those texas legislators on thursday. but he says he won't back off on his support for the filibuster. asked what would get him to change his mind, the answer, one word -- nothing. where do we go from here? the president didn't mention the word filibuster in his speech, noting that the "for the people" act, not the john lewis act, nothing is going to pass in the senate. that is essentially a bastian of minority rule, not in republicans don't want to it to. and republicans across the country will keep going full

steam ahead with the vault. the truth about the filibuster is it has a long disgraceful history of being abused to block civil rights and voting rights bills. former president barack obama speaking at john lewis' funeral called it jim crow rhetoric and said it should be eliminated. >> if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another jim crow relic, then that's what we should do. >> that was president barack obama. listen to what dr. martin luther king jr. said about the filibuster in 1963. >> i think the tragedy is that we have a congress with a senate that has a minority of misguided senators who will use the filibuster to keep the majority of people from even voting.

they won't let the majority senators vote, and certainly they wouldn't want to majority of people to vote, because they know they do not represent the majority of the american people. >> the question is, what are democrats willing to do about it now? what's the end game? where do we go from here, and how do we protect our most sacred right, and that's the right to vote? everyone. everywhere. where everyone is included. where everyone has access to information, education, opportunity. ♪ ♪ ♪ when everyone and everything is connected. that's really beautiful. anything is possible. good morning. cisco. the bridge to possible.

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president biden saying americans should be aalarmed at the attack on voting rights, call it the greatest threat to democracy since the civil war saying peddlers of lies are threatening the foundation of the country and calling out bogus claims of election fraud, saying the big lie is just that, a big lie. let's discuss now, matthew dowd, former chief strategist for george w. bush joins us. good evening. this can for joining. let's talk about this speech that president biden gave. it was impassioned. he was clear. he says we're facing the most significant test for democracy since the civil war. what we didn't hear is any mention of changing the filibuster. if democracy is on the line, how can the president avoid that?

>> well, don, thanks for having me. as you know, you and i have had this conversation for well over a month where i talked about it being a most perilous point since the civil war, and i'm glad to see the president has come to that position, the real reality position of where we are. this is the way i see the president right now, and much of the administration and probably most of the senate democrats is they have been going through the stages of grief of what the republican party fundamental is. it took them a while. they were in denial. they thought donald trump was the bad part, he'll be removed, they'll go back to normal. they didn't. then you go through bargaining. we can bargain. we can figure it out. then i think they went into sadness. like, oh, my gosh, this is not the part we thought it was. they've finally gotten to anger. the president's finally gotten to the point of anger, and i think the next thing, which i believe if the president's words

are authentic, which i think they are, and the anger is authentic, they'll get to acceptance. this is the republican party. it's not what joe biden worked with over the last 40 years and they will get to that point, i think. because in the end, they have to say -- you know you went over the history of the filibuster before i came on, that it's always been used in a way to keep people from voting. it's always been used to keep people from civil rights and it's again being used to do that. would i have preferred this to happen a month or six weeks ago? yes, but i think the president is finally getting to the point of acceptance to who the republicans really are. >> do you think it's too late? for democrats? you have been saying as well, we're not sure if democrats understand what's on the line or maybe they do understand what's on the line, or just what they're up against. because when you have a party that doesn't care about reality

or the truth or anything but winning or minority rule, then, you know, if you can't understand that, then what do you do? you know what i'm saying? if you don't know what you're up against. >> that's what i think took a while for, i think, somebody like joe biden who's worked in the united states senate to work with republicans. it took him a while to finally come to the place of what he's fundamentally dealing with, and it's not the republicans he could cut deals with on things. it's not republicans he could trust and support the constitution. it's not republicans he could trust for interest in the preserving our democracy. i think he's getting there. as i said, i wish we would have been there six weeks ago or the president would have been there six weeks ago. i think he's getting there. i think all of us -- i think tonight or today's speech was a four alarm fire speech by the way he gave it and what he says. you never heard a president talk about the situation the united states was in like that except

in 1861. go back through all the president's speeches, all of the presidents, what they faced. the last time a president gave a speech like joe biden did today was abraham lincoln in 1861. so my hope is we're now on the path to getting this resolved. i think the they should easily carve out an exception on voting rights for the filibuster, so maybe not get rid of out totally but carve out an exception for the voting rights. i think that's where we'll end up. i hope it's in the next month or two. we'll see. but all of us have to keep raising the idea there's a four alarm fire in the country and it's the most important issue every single person faces. us in texas. you there. everywhere we face this issue with an attack on our democracy. >> do you think republicans actually -- do you think they heard or listened to the president's speech, and if they did, did they do it with open ears? he denounced republican efforts to restrict voting rights,

asked, have you no shame? similar question to before, but we know what the answer to that is -- how do you shame the shameless? >> you can't shame them. do i think the sound waves went into their ears? yeah. do i think their brain picked it up as anything they would respond to? no. they'll say biden is being dramatic. biden is overreacting. this is not the -- they'll go into their whole spin cycle of all of this stuff they say. their ears received it, their brains didn't. that's the problem we're in today. i was thinking as you were talking to chris, who i think is great, and that whole issue of crime. that's another whole issue that's being spun in a way that's nonfactual, and i think chris has a responsibility to say not what they're going to do politically but what's going on. every major city in ohio has a higher violent crime rate than new york city.

amarillo and lubbock have a higher crime rate than austin because they said they were going to defund the police. the facts on violent crime is not what the republicans are presenting like everything else. they're not a fact-isbased part anymore. >> i understand the point he was making when he said perception is reality, but actually reality is reality, and i think it's up to us to tell the truth about the number. ♪ historically, climb is down. there are surges. should we be concerned about it? absolutely. the point i was trying to make against new york city is you don't bet against new york city. the real estate market will come back. the economy will come back. but you can't bring back a life. so the crime issue is really important. is it the way republicans are fr framing it? no. should we accept that framing? no.

we should tell the truth, and it's just a democratic problem, or as the right would say a democrat mproblem, which is not correct and bad grammar used as a pejorative. we should -- >> i couldn't agree with you more. part of the reason the last five years we got into this problem is not enough of us clearly and fiercely sang out the truth, and not treated politics just like a game. like, oh, there's "a" and there's "b." with toef clearly and fiercely say the truth and say one political party is an autocratic party, the republicans and one political party is the last party we have to protect or republic. that's a fact, and i say that as a former republican. >> we criticize democrats and republicans in this. but there's something i want to talk about to you next which i don't have time to do because

i'm going to do this whole thing on critical race theory. and that's that i think we missed in the media about where the democratic party is. when trump was running the first time, we need to understand who the trump voter is. during trump, we need to understand the trump voter. now biden is in the white house. we need to understand republicans and the trump voter. where is all that understanding the democratic voter and where democrats are now? and i think what exposed that was eric adams and other moderate democrats across the country being elected and it exposed a weak bs in the media that we weren't reporting on where democrats actually were. >> i would love to have that conversation. one point on that is the center of the democratic party is closer to the center of the country than the republican party is. >> there you go. we'll save it for the next time. thank you, matthew. appreciate it. i'm sure you're hearing about it. critical race theory becoming a political rallying cry for the gop with passions running high.

shouting matches breaking out at school board meetings. but what are the facts? what's the truth? the most in-depth look to date at what this battle is all about. you do not want to miss it. that's next.

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get the remote, hit the record button or text a friend and tell them to tune in or if you're in the car tune up sirius radio, because this is something you need to hear, see, watch for future reference and share. i'm sure you're hearing things in our community about how we should teach race in schools and the term that's taking over the critical race theory. conservative politicians and the right wing see it as an issue that riles up their base, and they're right. school board meetings turning into screaming matches. parents rn raising concerns there. still, most people don't necessarily know what it is and what it isn't. so here it is, cnn's sarah sidner. >> just because i do not want critical race theory taught to my children in school does not mean that i'm a racist, damn it! >> reporter: if you have seen and heard -- >> this is an unlawful arrest.

>> reporter: the impassioned arguments over critical race theory but don't quite know what it is, you're not alone. what is critical race theory to you? >> it's important to describe what it's not. >>er this five ten tets of it. i don't know all of them. >> reporter: do you think people understand what critical race theory actually is? >> that's a good question. >> reporter: it's become a political rallying cry. >> critical race theory is bigoted, a lie, and every bit as racist as klansmen in white sheets. >> reporter: crt is not a new idea. the theory's origins date back to the 1970s. >> the real evil was racism, the determination of white america to remain dominant over black america, and that could take all kinds of forms. >> reporter: harvard's first

black law professor derek bell is considered one of the originators of the theory. >> both history, hi experience, current evidents all point to one conclusion about race in this society, and that is that it is an essential. it is not an aberration. >> reporter: at least the incyclopedia dwrefines it as -- and the law and legal institutions are inherently racist because they function to maintain social political inequalities between whites and nonwhites. now, the academic theory once predominantly taught in law schools has become a lightning rod. >> excuse me! >> reporter: so, how did we get here. >> conservatives need to wake up that this is an existential threat to the united states. >> reporter: he's credited with

injecting critical race theory into america's consciousness after researching. >> i call on the president to immediately issue this executive order and stamp out this destructive, divisive, pseudo scientific ideology. >> reporter: just a few days later, then president trump denounced critical race theory. three weeks after his fox news segment, trump signed an executive order banning critical race theory trainings in the government. >> critical race theory is being force into the our children's schools, being impose into the workplace trainings, and it's being deployed to rip apart friends, neighbors, and families. >> reporter: and thus a political talking point was born. according to media matters, a liberal group which tracked its mentions, this year so far it was debated more than 1,980 times on fox news, but rufo's

critics accuse him of purposely distorting the critical race theory. >> you tweeted that it is, you are going to create something toxic when it comes to the way people think about critical race theory. that's what you yourself tweeted. >> that's wrong, that's inaccurate. critical race theory is intrinsically toxic. i'm merely revealing it, and i'm merely exposing it and i'm merely creating a frame work for people to understand it. it's not that i've turned critical race theory toxic. >> reporter: but that is not what he tweet in the march. his tweet, we have successfully frozen their brand, critical race theory into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perception. we will eventually turn it toxic. as we put all the various cultural insanities under that brand category. judging from what is happening in some school districts across the country, the debate has turned toxic. but the school districts

suddenly being targeted say they're not teaching critical race theory. >> there's no evidence of critical race theory in this resource. >> is race theory a problem in this country? >> of course it is. we should be talking about race, the history of racial injustice, but you can do all that, surprise, surprise, without critical race theory. >> reporter: he and other parents insist crt is being taught without calling it by name. the movement against it is in full swing. conservative groups are putting out ominous videos, this one from the heritage foundation. >> like a cult, critical race theory enslaves the minds of those who adopt it. >> reporter: in many part, black lives matter marchers are juxtapose d with what appear to be an authoritarian regime's army. a few state legislatures have already banned it. this is all happening in the wake of huge protests demanding

a racial reckoning in america. after the police murder of george floyd -- >> black lives matter! >> reporter: school districts nationwide began looking at ways to have conversations with children about race in america. >> what could be the reason for going against diversity sbin collusion? >> reporter: that's where it enters a third grade class was asked to determine their social identity, race, jegender and ag and which parts hold power they benefit from. the class was stopped after parents complained. in pennsylvania's lower marion school district, teachers would use this book to teach racism about fourth and fifth graders unless parents opted out. on page 58 it says whiteness is a bad deal, it always was. the next page, a devil like figure apierce holding a contract saying, contract

binding to you whiteness. you get stolen land, stolen riches, special favors. the author says it was about justice and love, not hate and division. ultimately the school says the book was not chosen for the curriculum. gary peller sympathized with parents who worry their children are going to be demonized for being white. >> telling any individual they are part of the oppression or victim class because of their skin color is not critical race theory. >> reporter: the panic over these teachings inspired teacher groups to do teaching of their own. just a few miles away from where george floyd protests erupted last year, we attended this seminar against critical race theory. >> it is a revolution to change the society culturally and socially. >> reporter: she is on a 17-stop anti-crt training tour with the conservative center for the american experiment organization. >> we're not saying that slavery

and racism and discrimination and all the evils of our past and the evils that do continue on in society today shouldn't be taught. >> reporter: the audience took photographs of slides and diligent notes. when protesters shouted out during and after the event -- >> i have a dream! >> reporter: they were confronted with chants. when you do read a cabal of students want to learn about their american heritage, that's pretty tough language, and you can see someone being upset about that. what about the role of you all in this as well, making that more vitriolic? >> i would say, what would be a better way to frame that that gets the point across all serious this all is? >> reporter: raj attended the meeting and thought itself was racist. >> critical race theory is how

it was formalized by our racial practices. why are we not questioning that? >> reporter: most attendees thought it was spot on. >> it really breeds hate more than unity, and at a time when our country needs to work on unity. >> the racists in our country do wrong things but our country is not racist. >> this crt stuff is doing the wrong direction. >> reporter: the phrase critical race theory was coined in 1989 by kimberly crenshaw. the legal scholar says what you're seeing is not about critical race theory, it's anxiety. >> this is a classic situation where people have an itch to scratch. the itch is this concern about people of color demanding too much. the concern is about the consequences of the reckoning that happened last year after george floyd. so this is a reaction, a backlash to the growing conversation about racial inequality. >> this is a cynical,

manipulative effort to take words that they've pull tested as being scary, critical race theory, and use it to exploit the anxiety of many white parents. >> reporter: it's not just white conservatives, though, now raising red flags. harry jackson was so determined to keep critical race theory out of his virginia's school district he campaigned and became the first black president-elect of the parent teachers association. >> advocates are arguing that merit is racist, math is racist. >> reporter: what is it you are worried about? >> i'm worried about the dumbing down of curriculum, about forced equality. >> reporter: some people same or similar circumstance why shouldn't equality be forced? this country, its hole tenant is that we are equal, born equal. >> well, i believe in equality, equality of opportunity. forced equality, i think we're going into marxism. >> reporter: the fight has

become so vitriolic in the state of virginia, one turned into a riot. this college professor was there and disturbed by the anti--crt crowd. she's convinced it's no mistake it got out of hand. >> we're arguing about this because there are political forces that want us to be arguing about it. >> and sarah sidner joins me now. sarah, just looking at the meetings in your report, we can see how parents all across this country are up in arms over critical race theory, even though they have been provided complete misinformation about it. this has really turned into a political weapon. >> it has, in a word, it has. i want to give you an example, just to let you know how this is playing out now. we talked about groups going around and teaching people about crt and telling them they need to be against it, and there's actually talking points. this pamphlet, it has talking

points, like, they say this and is you respond this way, it tells you how to respond if somebody says there's systemic racism in this country. i do think we need to recognize, and folks need to look at how parents are feeling. because some of the language that has been used to try and teach children, some of the new things that are being tried, has really rattled people, not just white parents, not just conservative parents, but parents across the board, and one of the things we talked about is that book, which is not critical race theory, but a book for fourth and fifth graders that said, whiteness is a bad deal. imagine if that was flipped around and said, blackness is a bad deal. so you can see how parents would be very concerned. and the biggest concern, don, it really is fear. it's fear that their children, particularly white children, are going to be demonized just for being white, and most people we talked to said they don't want to see anything like that, but this reminds them of

something -- it reminds them of the fight in the '60s and '70s over sex education. >> milhmm. interesting. listen, i have to say calling anything remotely intertwined with the nation's race issues, calling it critical race theory, it's not helpful. is my podcast about -- is that critical race theory? don't the people you spoke with realize how important sit is to learn about racial divides in this country and the true history of the country? >> yes, and they do argue, many of them, that look, we do have to look at racism in this country, and it still does exist. we heard that from christopher rufo himself, who brought this into the american consciousness and heard that from one of the people that were training other parents and grandparents how to get rid of crt from their schools. but there is a conversation that's very difficult in this country -- how to teach

children, and how to teach pare parents how to talk about racism in our current history, in the now, and that's where a lot of this consternation is. >> sarah sidner, great reporting. thank you so much. >> sure. republicans not letting up on their assault against critical race theory. why is it resonating with so many people? we'll discuss nerks. there's an america we build and one we explore. one that's been paved

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the manufactured outrage over critical race theory has become a real concern among some parents. what do we do now? let's discuss with cnn political analyst kirsten powers as well as political analyst herndon. the gop appears to be winning this messaging. they're twisting the facts,

though. why is this resonating so much? >> well, i think it's really important to be clear that it's a political strategy, first and foremost. the republicans don't have anything to run on. what would they run on? they haven't done anything. so what they have to do is they have to gin up their base with some manufactured controversy which is what they specialize in, and they've decide to do make it critical race theory and they have misrepresented what critical race theory is. which is what they do in these controversies, they find something with a little grain of truth and then they build up on it. whether it's fast and furious or tr transgender bathrooms, or undocumented immigrants that have diseases or gangs are coming for you. this is what they do to get you amped up so you have something to vote about. >> you forgot antifa.

>> yeah. and the democrats are socialist and now they're marxist and they take words that have meeanings and they apply them in a way that has no connection to the actual meaning of that word. >> asted, the former presidential advisor steve ban no bannon said the critical race theory is the tea party. is he right? what do you know about the movement of this fight? >> i think what bannon is saying is critical race theory is the same fight that's been happening over and over again in our fight with politics. it's a fight over control, it's a fight over who is the defining one in culture and politics. they are playing on republicans with this controversy is the fear among a lot of their base that they are losing political and cultural power. it's the same thing that's happening in other segments of society also.

i think what we're seeing is a political strategy that tries to play on the fears of the grassroots of the voters and whether it will be successful remains to be seen, but we've seen this work for republicans specifically in the past. >> a ststed, kirsten, thank you very much. i appreciate it. we should all be aware of geopolitical attacks on one of our most sacred rights. kraft. for the win win.

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