10/25/18 10/25/18 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from orange county, california, this is democracy now! >> identified a device that appears to be a live explosive device. nypd bomb squad responded, secured the device, and removed it to investigate. amy: authorities have launched a nationwide investigation after pipe bombs were sent to several prominent democrats, including

the obamas and clintons. one device delivered to cnn forced the network to evacuate its new york studios. at a wisconsin rally wednesday in, president trump did not mention the target and renewed the media.on pres. trump: the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility and constant negative and often times falls attacks and stories. have to do it. amy: we will speak with former fbi agent mike german and chapman university professor pepeter simi, who studies political violence -- who has studied political violence for decades. then we look at neo nazis in southern california a day after the fbi arrests t the leader of the rise above movement and two other californians. we will also look at midterm elections less than two weeks

away as we focus in on pivotal races in southern california that could determine who controls congress. and we will look at a california ballot initiative to expand rent control protections throughout california. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from california. federal authorities have launched an investigation aftetr packages containing pipe bomb's were sent to prominent democrats come all kenexa president trump. -- all critics of president trump. to targets were sent president obama, michelle obama, hillary clinton george soros, , former attorney general eric holder, congresswoman maxine waters, and former cia director john brennan. several of the bombs had listed democratic congresswoman debbie

wasserman schultz as t the retun address. cnn was forced to evacuate its new york studios in manhattan wednesday morning after it received what police described as a live explosive device. it came in a package addressed to brennan that also held an envelope containing white powder. police are also investigating a suspicious package found early this morning that was mailed to actor robert de niro's restaurant in new york. de niro has frequently publicly criticized president trump. no one was hurt in any of the cases. this all comes less than two weeks before the midterm elections. on wedednesday afternoon, president trump called t the attempted bombinings despicable acts. pres. trump: the full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to justice. we will sparere no resoururces r expense in this effort. and i just want to tell you t tt

in these times, we have to unify. we have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the united states of america. amy: at a campaign rally in wisconsin last night, trump did not name any of the democrats targeted. trump did call on the media to stop what he calls in less hostility and constant negativity and often times falls attacks. he did not say a bomb was sent to cnn. just last week, trump praised montana congressssmember greg gianforte for physically assaulting a reporter. trump has called the news media the enemy of the american people and often singling out cnn. he has assailed congressmember maxine waters as low-iq. he led the birther movement

questioning barack obama citizenship and what's said "second amendment people" could take matters into their own hands if hillary clinton was elected president. on wednesday, new york city mayor bill de blasio said such angry political rhetoric was inspiring violence. >> to all public officials of all partisan affiliations, don't encourage violence. don't encourage hatred. don't encourage attacks on media. you can disagree, but you have to show respect for people and your disagreements peacefully. -- and area were disagreements peacefully. this is s good driven into the hoices peoeople are maki a turnininto vioiolee. are authority's inin delawarare trackingng of suspicious package will stotop it remains uncleleaf the deviceces were operable boms or desesigned to look like bomb.

we will have the latest on this developing story after headlines. meanwhile, here in southern california, the leader of california neo-nazi gang the rise above movement was arrested tuesday in los angeles. robert rundo faces charges of -- was picked up and sent back to l.a.. he faces charges of plotting riots and inciting violence for his role in a range of attacks in 2017, including the deadly unite the right rally in charlottesville last august. three other members of the group were charged alongside rundo, though one remains at large. the men are accused of participating in violent attacks as well as using the internet to incite violence ahead of various events. the group publicly documented their attacks as a recruitment tool. earlier this month, four other members of the rise above movement were indicted on riot charges.

rundndo reportedly left the unid states from mexico, that central america, following the four indictments. in saudi arabia, crown prince mohamed bin salman spoke publicly for the first time wednesday about the murder of saudi journalist jamal khashoggi. "the washington post" columnist. he was speaking at the saudi investment conference in riyadh dubbed "davos in thehe desert." >> first of all, the crime was painful to all saudis and ugly to every human in n the world. it is a heinous crime that cannot be justified. we are carrying out all legal things to corporate with the turkish government and present the perpetrators to the courts and take their judgment. amy: saudi arabia's top prosecutor said thursday that jamal khashoggi was killed in a premeditated act. it's the latest change in the saudi narrative over khashoggi's death, reversing an earlier

saudi statement that khashoggi died in a fistfight when he went inside the consulate. the saudi roroyal family h has denied involvement, instead scapegoating a n number of saudi agents who they say are responsible for the murder. turkish authorities maintain khashoggi was tortured killed, and dismembered in a premeditated operation by saudi operatives. meanwhile, "the washington post" reports cia director gina haspel has listened to the audio tapes of khashoggi's murder during her trip t to istanbul this week. duduring senate confirmamation hearingsgs this week, the mainin controroversy over gina haspel s her decision in 2005 t to order the destruction of videotapes showing cia torture in a black site in thailand, which she oversaw. in madrid, spanish prime minister pedro sanchez resisted calls wednesday to cut off arms

sales to saudi arabia, saying sanctions would cost thousands of spanish workers their jobs. last month, the sanchez government reversed course after initially promising to cut off weapons sales over saudi-led attacks on yemen that have killed thousands of civilians. as sanchez spoke to lawmakers, protesters gathered outside the spanish parliament.t. this is amnesty international's isabel mendoza. >> they must stop exporting more armsms to saudi arabia because they are arms ththat killed. the decisions the government takes will kill hundreds of thousands of civilians in yemen. arms are being sold to a country that at the moment is violating everery human rightht and international humanitarian law. amy: in paris, french president emmanuel macron vowed that as long as he is in office, france will continue to sell weapons to the saudi kingdom. macron made the e comments as he toured a naval weapons expo in

paris on tuesday, refusing to answer reporters' questions about german chancellor angela merkel's s promise to cut off weapons sales to saudi arabia. meanwhile, iranian presisident hassan rouhani has weighed in the ongoing crisis around khashoggi's murder, saying of saudi arabia -- "i don't think that a country would dare commit such a crime without the protection of america." president rouhani went on to address the situation in yemen. could it be possible that a nation the sizize of y yemen n be under bombardment for many years and now facing collapse without the backing of america? if therere was snow amamerican backing, with the people of yemen still have faced the same brutal bombing? amy:y: in yemen, a an airstrikia vegetablpapackagg g plant in t e coastal province of hodeidah on wednesday killed at least 16 others wounding 12

according to medical workers and residents. all of the victims were workers at the plant. the killing was the latest in a string of civilian deaths amid the ongoining, u.s.-backed, saudi-led bombing in yemen. the assault and assault you -- saudi blockadee have exacerbated a cholera epepidemic that's ledo 1.2 million suspected cases, while fueling a food crisis that has pushed 14 million people to the brink of famine. the united natations called yemn the greatest manager i in crisis in the world. in the western p pacific, susupr typhoon yutu slalammed into the u.s. territories of f guam and e northern mariana islands wednesdaday as a dangerous category 5 storm with sustained winds of 180 miles per hour. yutu is the strongest storm on record this year and one of the most powerful ever to hit a u.s. territorory. this is joey san nicolas, the

mayor of tinian and d aguigan, n the nonorthern mariana islands. >> i can report to you tiniann has been devastateded by the typhoon. .any homes have been destroyed our criticalal infrastructure hs been c compromised we cucurrently have no power a d water at this timime. our portrts are inaccesessible. several otheher points within te island are inaccessible. amy: the northern marianaa islands are home to over 50,000 people. residents have b been warned thy may be forced to spend weeks or months without electricity or running water. super typhoon n yutu is making s way towards s asia and is expecd to hit the philippines and taiwiwan later thihis week. climate scientists warn global warmrming is raiaising ocean sue temperatures and driving more powerful storms.

new yoyork is suing exxon mobil for deceiving shareholders over the financial risks of climate change. the lawsuit charges that exxon misled investors over the value of its oil reserves, failing to account for future regulations on carbon dioxide emissions. the suit comes after a three-year investigation by the new york attorney general's office. in 2015, a damning report by inside climate news and the los angeles times revealed that exxon knew that fossil fuels contributed to climate change as early as the 1970's, but did not take any a action, even as it covered up the science. in environmental news, european lawmakers hahave voted t to ban single-use plastics in an effort to reduce ocean pollution. the ban includes plastic cutlery, straws, and disposable

plates and would take effect starting in 2021. this is eu lawmaker frederique ries. >> what are the objects we have most often found on the beaches? single use plastic. secondly, are there alternatives that are accessible? but that is the case, we will change. it is killing our oceans, killing animals. at the end of the day, it ends up inside our bodies. there's an impact on human health. there are alternatives. we just change things. amy: the r regulations stitill e to be approved by individual governments before becoming law. "the newew york times" is reporting presidenent trump routinely uses his unsecured iphone to talk to friends and business partners, despite warnings from intelligence officials that chinese and russian spies are listening in. china reportedly analyses trump's conversations to understand the motivations driving the escalating trade war

between the two countries. anonymous sources who spoke to "the new york times" said they do not believe trump discusses classified information on these calls, saying he "rarely digs into the details of the intelligence he is shown and is not well versed in the operational specifics of military or covert a activities" in election news, a federal judge has ordered georgia to stop rejecting absbsentee ballos because of mismatched signatures. wednesday's order came in response to two lawsuits claiming that election officials in gwinnett county rejected nearly one out of 10 mail-in ballots because of alleged mismatched signatures, incomplete forms, or missing residential addresses. more than 60% of the gwinnett county's residents are latino, black, or asian. to see our coverage of voter suppression efforts in georgia, go to democracynow.org. in media news, nbc host megyn kelly may be on her way out from

her daytime show and the network amid fallout over her comments about white people using blackface as part of halloween costumes. on tuesday, megyn kelly questioned why blackface is considered racist duduring a discussion with an all-white panel on her morning show "megyn kelly today." she publicly apologized for the comments wedednesday amid ininte backlash, including from nbc colleague al roker. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'i'm amy goodman. we a are broadcastining from ore county, califofornia. federal authorities hahave launched an intense investigation after pipe bombs were senent to at least six prominent democrats, all critics of presidentnt trump. the e targets identified include president obama and michelle obama, former secretary of state hillary clinton, george soros,

former attorney general eric holder, congresswoman maxine waters, and former cia director john brennan. the suspected bomb packages listed democratic congresswomamn debbie wasserman schchultzs s te return address. police are also investigating a suspicious package sent to former vice president joe biden in a suspiciouous packageound today y at actctor robert de n's restaurant i in new york. on wednesday, cnn was forced to evacuate its new york offices after he received what police described as a "live explosive device" along with a container of powder. it came in a package addressed to brennan. all of the targets have been vilified by president trump in the past. authorities say the bomb devices were operable bombs or designed to look like bombs.

no one has been her by the devices. this all comes less than two weeks before the midterm elections. on wednesday afternoon, president trump described the attempted bombings as "despicable acts" but later at a campaign rally in wisconsin, called on the media to stop what he called its endless hostility. pres. trump: to bridge our divide and bring people together, the media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and to stop the endless hostility y and constant negatie attack andimes false stories. amy: at the wisconsin rally, president trump did not name any of the democrats targeted. earlier this morning, trump went on twitter and wrote -- "a very big part of the anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposefully false

and inaccurate reporting of the mainstream media that i referred to as fake news. it had gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. mainstream media must clean up its a act fast." has a long record of attacking cnn and inciciting violence. last are he tweeted -- last year he even tweeted a video showing him tackling and punching a figure with a cnn logo over its face. on wednesday, cnn p president jf zucker blasted president trump saying -- "there is a total and complete lack of understanding at the white house about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media. the president, and especially the white house press secretary, should understand their words matter. thus far, they have shown no comprehension of t that." meanwhile, a number of prominent conservatives, including rush limbauaugh, ann coulter, and

michaeael flynn jr., all s suggd without anany evidence that thee bombs were a false flag opoperation. we begin today's show with two guests. in new york, mike german is a fellow at brennan center for justice at new york universisit. from 1988 to 2004, he served as an fbi agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism. and here in orange county california, peter simi, a , professor of sociology at chapman university. he has studied extremist groups and violence for the past 20 years. he's co-author of the book "american swastika: inside the white power movemement's hiddddn spaces of hate." we welcome you both to democracy nonow! let's begin with mike german in new york. we don't know who has done this. the list of people, and we hear added to the list of the obamas clinton's, waterers, former atattorney general eric of code

george soros, maxine waters maybe today joe biden, the former vice president. while we don't know who has done this, mikeke german, it looks le a trump hit list. he did not mention the names last night andnd did notot -- dd attack the media, despite the fact that cnn got one of these packages. your thoughts today? >> i do appreciate the caution in attribute in any blame at this point. there's a lot of work for fbi and other law enforcement is to do before we can do that. but honestly, just looking at the target list, this is sort of the prominent people in the recentnt culture war. howink what troubles me is our perception of the far right violence since i worked these cases and the early 1990's seems to have changed in law

enforcement. i have been troubled over the course of the last couple of years in the way law enforcement seems to have not realized the way that these groups were mobilizing. we saw that through a number of violent protests from anaheim decipherment oh to portland -- to sacramento to portland and continuing in new york city. it is troubling that law enforcement is just seeming now to understand t that this is organized criminal violence. amy: can you talk about the trump administraration, in particulular president trurump himself, political rhetoric? do you t think it is fair r to y he embolden extremists? amazing last night i iwisconsin, he does not mention who the targets are, does not say that cnn was one of the targets, but attacks the media again. >> right.

again, it is important have caution. we are very fortunate in this country that terrorism is very rare. the connection between rhetoric and violence is not really as strong as a lot of people suggest. but it is very different when it is an authority figure who seems to be sanctioning the violence. and whether that is a matter of not responding to this kind of violence as aggressively as they do other kinds of political violence order, certainly, when a position in authority like the president is saying things that seem to suggest to people that this is ok, that the government supports your violent activities , when political parties are inviting far right fight clubs to speak at events and appear at events. this is the kind of sanctioning that makes these groups much more dangerous. my concern now is we are starting to see some enforcement actions taken that these groups

have had two years to organize and recruit. and i think it can be a much more dangerous problem in our society moving f forward. , whatat aboutan these allegationons of some of e far right conservative is talklking about this being a fae flag operation? and if you could explain what that means. >> false flag operation is when somebody targets a specific entity that will automatically cause people to think it is their opponents that have engaged in the violence. i thinink it is entirely responsible to be suggesting that. again, only ramps up these culture wars and would only encourage more violence and retaliation. one of the big problems you have after an event like this is not just all of the false alarms and how easy it is to trigger a false alarm if somebody wants to cause trouble, but copycats.

arehe extent these groups getting any kind of encouragement, whether it is from the figures of the culture war, certainly if it is govevernment figureses, authoriy seeing, the chances of an increase in this kind of activity i think goes up. amy: i want to go to the conservative radio talkshow host rush limbaugh speaking yesterday. >> we have this series of bombs that were supposedly sent today, exclusively to democrats. this stuffsmell test has to pass. so far, a lot of people's noses are in the air not quite certain what to make of this. republicans just don't do this kind of thing. amy: professor peter simi, what do you think of rush limbaugh's comments? >> thank you for having me,

first of all. it is incredibly irresponsible for folks to o be toutingng thee kind of false flalag conspiraci, especially at this point when so little is actually known about what would happen. to suggest it does not pass the smell test, we're n not even sue what that meanans. but this does furtrther a much larger narrative that suggests there is some kind of deep space -- deep state conspiracy that is try and undermine president trump and trying to ultimately really disempower individual citizens. it is an idea that stems from ideas about the second amendment trying to be abolished essentially some people cannot arm defend themselves. and it really is -- thisis is realally part of thihis larger right-wingng conspiracy theories that have included things like pizzagagate. being--a gate >> the false contention that a

pizzeria and washington, d.c., involved a child sex ring t that hillary clinton was involved with and ultimately led one individual to go there to investigate an open fire. these kinds of wild accusations thatat involve these k kind of conspiracy theories. they do have an influence on people in a lot t of different ways. fortunately, not necessarily directly leading to violence most of ththe time, but on some ococcasions, there does seem toe an influence. words matter. especicially people in authority positions. ththey havave more influence.. a real lackhere is of responsibility when folks are toututing these kinds of wild series. amy: i want toto turn to a very big story here in southern california, the leader of the california neo-nazi gang, the rise above movement was arrested tuesday in los angeleses at the airport. robert rundo faces charges of

plotting riots, inciting violence for h his role in a rae of attacks in 2017, including -- includining the deadly unite t e right rally in charlottesville last august. three other members of the group were charged alongside rundo. two were apprehended at the torrance and redondo beach. a fourth suspect is still at large. the men are accused of participating in violent attacks as well as using the internet to incite violence ahead of various events. the group publicly documented their attacks as a recruitment tool. earlier this month, four other members of the rise above movement were indicted on riot charges. so at the same time we are seeing one after another suspected pipe bomb being sent , weto leading trump c critics

are hearing about this arrest here in california. talk about who robert rundo is. not from california originally. he is from new york, actually. grew up in the city. its history dodoes involve the history of violence. he spent severeral years in prin in new york forr a stabbining incident that he alleges was his form of self-defense.. it w was targeting alleged membs of ms-13 gang. but it did involve him and at least one other person attacking this individual and rundo stabbing a person seveveral tim. he made his way after getting out of prison out to the west coast and ultimately settled down in san clemente in south orange county. he and several other folks from this area formed the rise above a couple of years ago, in part as a result of their presence at rallies where they kind of

formed this identity of being a streetfighter type folks that were going to defend people's right to free speech. they are a group that really has focused on the idea of training, physical training. training.lot of mma they just completed a european tour where they met withth far right extremists across europe, including russia with a leading mma neo-nazi group calleled whie rex. they do a lot of crossfit traiaining. they promote this idea of healthy lifestyle and opposed to this kind of decadent culture and lifestyle being promoted by culturure is him. they're very xenophobia can into immigration. they have links to much older s, like supremacist group onone of the largegest skikinhed groups since the late e 1980's. they are definitely part of this longer tradition of white supremacist groups that have a long history here in orange county.

amy: speaking at the white house ---ednesday, president trump oh, i was s to turn to a video that comes from frontline. really that describes what ware talkining about. >> a new generation of white supremacists are pushing their politics into the mainstream. robert rundo seems to be part of that trend. his group's first public appearance was not at a torch march and it was in huntington beach at a pro trump rally behind a banner that read "defend america." when anti-fascists showed up, rudno and his group attacked them. you can one on the ground and pummeled him. one member of his group also attacked for interest incncome a

journalist with o orange count's alternrnative weekly paper.. > at the timeme, did you know this w was a group were who didd ththis or what was going on? >> no. i saw the were organized. i saw the bannener. when we got t back to the offic, started talking and they had me looking f for everybody thehereo was attackining peoplele. . starteted going through hastas >> thahais you. >> yes. this is s right after he just ht meme. i clicked on his nameme and it took me to his

been something that was tracked by the fbi in real time, not here a year plulus later after frontline basically put the whole thing on national television. think progress writes -- "mcginness lecture at the metropolitan republican club was about a man who himself was a member of an extremist white e wing group."

begin us was seen waving a blade like the one used to kill the man. >> again when you have people in authority promoting this kind of think that violence, i is more than just a wink to these groups. that is an actual censuring that allows them to think, ok, the government is on my side. and when you don't see a rapid, real-time police response, that then confirms it for them. and the trouble is, this has been going on for roughly two years now. so these groups have spent plenty of time recruiting and now that there are measures being taken, it is easier for them to go bacack underground ad be verery strong in their abiliy to organize mumuch more serious violence. amy: i want to thank you both

for being with us. we will continue to cover this. we are heading back to new york today. mike german a fellow at the brennan center for justice at new york university. not named for john brenennan, te former cia dirirector who had a pipe bomb addressed to him at cnn, causing cnn studios to be -- but justicece brennan from 18 and 2004, mike german served as an fbi agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism. he's the author of "thinking like a terrorist: insights of a former fbi undercover agent." and peter simi with us here in orange county, a professor of sociology at chapman university. co-author with robert futrell of the book "amererican swastika: insidede the white power movement's hidden spaces of hate." this is democracy now!, dedemocracynow.org. when we e come back, southern calilifornia where we are nonow, could detetermine the balance of

congress. we will talk about some o of the midterm elecections and lookok a particular proposition that is on the ballot here around rent control. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace reportrt. i'm amy goodman.

we are broadcasting from orange county, california, one of the key battlegrounds that could determine who controls c congres afteter the midtermsms. the southern california county between los angeles and san diego has remained staunchly republican for 80 years. oranange county producuced prest richard nixon -- who was born here in yorba linda and retired to s san clemente -- and orangne county last vovoted for a democratic president in 1936 with fdr. but dissatisfaction with donald trump and changing demographics inin the region have challenged republican dominance in anand around orange e county. now democrats are hoping that the midterm elections will turn orange county blue. democrats need to win 23 republican seats on november 6 to regegain control ofof the hoe of representatives. many of the tightest races that could determine the house are in

southern california. in the 48th district, longtimeme incumbent republican congressman dana rohrabacher is battling to keep his seat after 30 years in office. rohrabacher is an anti-immigrant climate change skeptic who is known for his close ties to russia. he is closely aligned with president trump and has voted repeatedly to repeal obamacare. he said that people should be able to refuse to sell their homes to gay people and has called california sanctuary law in invitation for criminals from all over the world to come here. he has also said "massive flow of illegal immigrants are changing our quality of life." he is running a against democrat harleyey rouda, a former republican, law professor katie porter who has been described as senator elizabeth warren's protegee is challenging two-time republican incumbent mimi walters in another tight race. in the 39th congressional districtct, republican candidate young kim,m, a south koreaean immigrgrant, is running against

gil cisneros. well, for more, we are joined here in santa ana by gustavo arellalano. he is a columnist for "the la times" and the former editor of "oc weekly." welcome to democracy now! so go through the list. a lot of focus, more so thann ever -- i mean, this was definitely red country, now is orange county turning blue? >> it is a place w where reaga's at a all of the good republicans go to die. and anything wacky and horriblbe ababout republican pololitics ie united stass came from orange county. you can draw directly between orangege county and donald t tr. of course there's goining to bea lot of attetention paid. can orange county deliver congress to the democrats? still am skeptical. born and raised here in orange county and coverining it my ente career, so to ththink we are acactually at the cusp of revolution, i'm still a skeptic. amy: talk about dana rohrabacher

versus harley rouda. >> t the main district is spsplp between two cities, laguna beach and huntingtonon beach. they are both on the coast a and historical. laguna beach is more hippie. huntington beachch is filled wih a bunch of -- i don't know i ifi can cicite it on the air, , buta bunch of racists. these are the people who have been electing dana rohrabacher for 30 years. all yes to do is go on a surfboard once a year and call himself the surfing congressman and that is it. harley rouda, mimillionaire,e, s republican n not too long agago. dana of people do not likee rohrabacher. ththe district depends o on howy people like him versus how many people h hate him. ththat said, i do o not discoune danathat people who like rohrabacher argagan a go out in drinks because they despite anythingng that the liberalilis. amy:y: can you talk about the political culture? >> it used t to be agriculture.

after the 1950's, to become suburbrbia. you have t two places where farming and developmentnt play a key role in the economy and the defense industry. of couourse you will have a a lf suburbanite racist i is coming . theyey are the people that the power structure forever. alall of that has slowly been changing. a big part of orange couounty remains that way. it is s like the d deep south et we have mexicans. the r republicans were able t to builild this pololitical dynast. the democrats rolled orange cocounty as rerecently as thehe 197070's. you democrats in congress and on the board of supervisors. the problem with thosose democrats,s, they were corrupt d went to jail. the republicans are smart enough not to put themselves in jail, but still dominating the local races and until now, the congressional raraces. amamy: talk ababout the 39th district. you have two people of color

running against each other, young kim and gil cisneros. folks it is going to be northeast orange county. fullerton,n, yorba linda, a lite ofof riverside county. some w working class them aa lot wealalthy. -- you want toto talk about the future of orangege county come evererybody to --- everybody pays attenention to denny yourur back or -- dana rohrabacher. former statutus and d the w womt in become a status of the woman again. now she is running for congress. gigil cisneros is a another onef these. now d democrat, became a mulultimillionaire because he w wanted a a powerbaa couple of years s ago. young kim is the one with the name recognition.. and how manyny people hate young or hate trump versrsus how many people like gil? i can tell you how and people really and t truly like gil

because nobody knows who he is. amy: but this s plum sister be close. -- but this promises to be close. gil did not hear about cisneros until he announced. people are desperately hoping, praying this can come t to orane county, thahat a democraratic be wave canan come to orange count. again, d do not underestimate te horrible lists of orange countny voters. until elelection day, i'm nonot trustiting anything. i tell this to dememocrats all e time.. frankly, democrats n never expected t to be here. if they had d expected, hey, one day we can challenge the republicans, they would be in a better pososition than they aree now. amy: talk about the growing vitamin's-american community. it is the largest outside of vietnam? >> yes. westmiminster am a santana. it is inteteresting how these politics, , these demomocratic polics play out.

there are a couple of democrats. only talk aboututepublican,n, we''re talking about donald trump-supppporting fleming right-wing whack job republicans. they're rununning f for city council. there's a lot of attention being put on 13 have e the sameme last nameme. hahaha. they are worthless politicians. amy: letet's turn to san diego. can you talk about republican duncanan hunter r running againt ammar campa-najjar from the mexican-palestinian-american, a very significant race? person whoer is s the i think he was the second congressmember to endorse president trump. he and his wife were indicted in august for misusing $250,000 in campaign funds on n trips to

hawaii, italy, and lake tahoeoe. other extravagant personal expenses including spending $600 to fly his family's pet rabbit across the country. hunter has responded by blaming his wife. duncan hunter was the second congreressman to endorse t trum, the first new york, as never was chris collins has also been indicted. i want to go -- was chris collins, who is also been indictcted. is workinampa-najjar to infnfiltrate congreress. using three different names too hide his family's ties to terrorism, his grandfather masterminded the munich olympic massacre. doesn't getmpa-najjar his support from the people of san diego. >> he is being supported by cair the m muslim brotherhoo >> ammar campa-najjar, a risk we cannot ignore. >> i am duncan h hunter and i

approved this message. amy: this is ammar campa-najjar responding to t this ad d on ms. >> what are we doing as a nation? c canave policies, things we talk about. this is a deeply un-a-american . i believe if jojohn mccain was with us, he would be so appalled. i think thee p party of mccain d the party of reagan even is s lg gone.. it iss heartbreaking because i have friendsds or republblican. it is un-american. i'm not a security threat. thes given cleararance by fbi. the security threat is duncan hunter who was criminally indicted for spending $250,000 and the corruption smoking gun was when he paid back k $60,000. he is guilty. it is only a matter ofof t timeo people hold him accountable. amy: that is ammar campa-najjar, gustavo arellano. >> it isis a very american avev. you u kidding me? being scscared about palestinias and mexicans?

this is like the repepublican nightmare come to life. i loveve it. and for slick, that district is babasicay like orange county, filled with a bunch ofof rabid right wing g lunatics. i think duncan hunteter is going toto win. republicans don't care if their candidates are i indicted, they are republicans. democrats just being democrats are they arere evil. if you are mexican on top of thatat, you're even momore evil. ththey can't and he iss muslim n themem anyre becausese he converted to christianity. i think is the future of the democrats. i think would be a wonderful thing if he is the future. amy: any final comment for those are watching around thee cououn, the possibility y the house coud turn based on the races here? >> the fact we're having this converersation is historic. nono one thought orange county would evenen be close e to purp. haveas a "the oc weekly," we been c calling this for a long time. this is s still in a perfect revolution. my hope is the democrats learn

what is good and instead of supporting corporatist democrats, let's do the good democrats. amy: a want to thank gustavo arellano for being with us columnist for "the la times." , he is the former editor of "oc weekly." he resigned from the publication last y year in protest againinst budget cuts. this is democracy now! when we come back, we will look at a proposition on the november ballot around rent control. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we end t today's showow lookingt how next month's election could

impact california's housing crisis. will state residents gaiain accs to a wider pooool of rent-conontrolled housing? that is one of the issues s that will be put to the vote nonovemr six bang with proposition 10, which would repeal the costa-hawkins rerental houousing act, a sweeping ststate law w tt permanently y exempts some properties from rentnt control. the ballot measure has come under attack by landlords and private equity firms, includingg the blackstone group. we're joioined b by housing rigs attornrney, elena popp. she is the executive director of the eviction defense network, one of the three organizations that put proposition 10 on the ballot. we don't have much time. lay out what proposition 10 says. >> is simplyly restotores contrl over the ability to solve thee housing crisis to lococ communities. it would allow l local communits to pass stronger rent control laws that will cover more units.

so what do the polls say? >> the polls is so we are down, however, those are polls of likely voters. and we're also making great progress in the last two weeks. we went from 38% support to 41 % support. what is happening is thiss barrage of negative and false advertising targeting homeowners, , telling g them t'e goining to lose the value of thr home when the proposition does not affect single family homeowowners. there is not a single jurisdiction that has ever imposed rent control on singngle-family homes. they're also targeting seniors, saying the proposition will make housing crisis worse because it will deterer development. there has been r rent control ln santa monica, beverly hills, san francisco cities that have rent control since the 197070's and have had rampant development. developers will develop in every single local law exempt new construction.

i think what t voters need to know, with a need to be told is to follow the money. look at who is investiting $64 million and outspending us to do one to get this passed. and why are they doing it? because $64 million is a miniscule portion of what t ther multltibillion-dollar profitstse if they're able to have uncontrolled rents. no campapaign is funded by the very people that brought u us te housing affordability c crisis. anand in l.a. city, an average % rent increase puts 2000 people on the streets. we need to get this problem under control list of prop 10 is the first of to do that. follow the money and vote yes on 10, as what i tell voters. amy: the button you're wearing, high"ent is too damn

may be think of the party in new york who ran for mayor. we will continue to follow this and do a six-hour broadcast on election night and we will let people know hohow you fafare. elena popp is a housing rights attorney. she is the exexecutive directotf the eviction defense network, one of the three groups that put proposition 10 on the ballot. that does it for our broadcast. a special ththank you u to therw here in californ. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]