08/26/20 08/26/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy:y: from democracy now!, this is breaking with convention. shot my son seven times. seven times. like he did not matter. but my son matters. are continuing over the police shooting of a black man named jacob blake in

front of three of his children. blake is now paralyzed from the waist down. police shot him seven times in the back. two people have been shot dead and a third critically wounded during the third night of protests. the sheriff's warning of armed vigilantes and militias as video shows armed white men shooting under the street. we will speak to mandela barnes, wisconsin's first african american lieutenant governor. then to the republican national convention. as the u.s. death toll from covid-19 nears 180,000, one of president trump's top economic advisers suggests the crisisis i over.. > then came a once in 100 yer pandemic. it w was awful. health and economic impacts were tragic. hardship and heaeartbreak were evererywhere. but presididential leadersrshipe swiftly and effectively with an

extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the covid virus. amy: plus, we will speak to jean guerrero, author of the new book "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org. we're breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. a warning to our audience, the following stories contain graphic foototage of v violence. in kenosha, wisconsin, a a white gunman opened d fire on n a crof black lives mamatter protesters latete tuesday, killing two peoe and injuri a a thi. cook's oh, my gh.h. amy: video filmed a a bysnderer shows yoyoung n wiwithn assault flfle beg fofolled byy

a crowd p proteers.s. he fls to thgrgroundeforore shooting intththe crd as protestersttttempto didisa him. kenosha poli s said rlyy wednesdayorning armed vigilant -- theyalled and mititias -haveve bn in t t streets and they were lolooking for a man with a long gun. that is a white man with a long gun. no arrests have been made yet and thosose killed have not been identifified. the violence came on the thihird night of unrnrest in k kenosha following the police shooting on sunday of jacob blake, an unarmed 29-year-old black man. an officer shot blake seven times in the back as he was getting into his car. his three young children witnessed the shooting. blake was reportedly trying to break up a fight between two women before the shooting, but the police have not explained why they went after him. he remains hospitalized in

serious but stable condition. his lawyers said tuesday he is paralyzed from the waist down. >> he had a bullet go through some or all of his spinal cord. at least one bullet. he has holes in his stomach. he had to have nearly his entire colon and small intestines removed. he suffered damage to his kidney and liver, and was also shot in the arm. amy: members of jacob blake's family spoke publicly tuesday for the first time since the police shooting over the weekend, calling for the firing and arrest of the officers responsible. and they called for more peaceful protests. this is jacocob blake's sister letetra widman. >> this is nothing new. i am not sad. i am not sorry. i am angry. and i am tired.

time.n't cried d one i stopped crying years ago. i am numb. i have been watchingng police murder people that look like me for years. amy: after the headlines, we will get the latest from wisconsin and speak with mandela barnes, wisconsin's firsrst african n american lieutenant governoror. inin pennsylvania, dozozens of k lives matter protesters onon a march from milwaukee, wisconsin, to washington, d.c., w were shot at by a white resident m monday night as they walked through a residential neighborhood in bedford county east of pittsburgh. one protester was injured by the gunfire and treated at a local hospital. in louisville, kentucky, police arrested 68 people tuesday as they protested nonviolently to demand the arrest of the officers who killed breonna taylor -- the 26-year-old

african-american emt who was killed by police in her owown he in marchch. the trump administration is facing accusatations it has bron the law by using the powers of the fefederal government t to ad the president's re-election campaign. during the second night ofof the republican natational conventio, secretary of state mike pompeo addressed the coconvention while on a work trip in israel in an apparent violation of the hatch act, which prohibits f federal employees from participating in political activities. house democrats are now investigating. two parts of tuesday's convention were filmed inside the white house. trump pardoned a convicted bank robber who went on to start a nonprofit to help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society. trump, along with acting homeland secreted director chad wolf, held a naturalization ceremony inside the white house for five immigrants from bolivia, lebanon, india, sudan and ghana. the evening ended with a speech by firstst lady melania trump in

the white house rose garden. >> just like me, i know many of know how mean social media can be. and just like me, i'm sure many of you are looking for answers how to talk to your children about t the downside of technoly and the relationships with their peers. amy: melania trump spoke in front of a live audience in the rose garden where the vast majority of attendees, including presidenent trump and mike penc, did not wear masks. cnn reports many attendees were not tested for coronavirus prior to the event. meanwhile, republicans canceled once couple speaker on tuesday night, marianne mendoza, after she promoted an anti-semitic conspiracy theory on twitter just hours before her scheduled speech. we will have more on this later in the b broadcast. the ununited statates reported 7 coronavirus deaths on n tuesday,

with over 3737,000 new confirmed cases. many of the latest outbreaks have come in schools and college campuses as students return for fall classes. in tuscaloosa, the university of alabama reported more than 560 coronavirus cases. the university of missouri confirmed nearly 160 cases on its first day of classes. this week, the centers for disease control and prevention quietly altered its covid-19 testing recommendations, saying people without symptoms should not be tested for r coronavirus, even if they've been in close contact with an infected person. the cdc's new advice drew alarm from public health officials who say the recommendation could accelerate the spread of disease. meanwhile in boise, idaho, armed demonstrators shshed their way paststtate troopers in the s ste capitol tuesday and into the gallery overlooking e house floor to protest public health measures. four people rere arrested,d,

including far r right militia leaderer ammon bunundy, who ledn armed occupation of an oregon wiwildlife refuge e in 2016. in economic news, just two -- and in europe, france confirmed spike of nearly 4900 new coronavirus cases monday. the country's highest single day figugure since the beginning of the pandemic. several other european countries, including spain, italy, germany, have also hahad a rise in new covid cases afafter reopening. in the gulf of mexico, hurricane strengthened rapidly overnight and projected to become a knewrous category 4 stormrm the rder of tes and louisiana. over h half a million people hae been told to evacuate the reregion. the stormm brought torrential rain and flooding to haiti where the death toll rose to at leastt 21. at least three deaths reported in the dominican republican.

and it can become over three under thousand people were evacuated but no deaths were reported.. israel launcnched airsrstrikes n southern lebanonon overnight, saying the assault was retaliation n for shots fifiredy hezbollah into israe no i israeli soldierers were ind in the a alleged border incursnn by hezbollah. but residents of the lebanese border town of houla reported their homes were damaged by an intense israeli bombardmdment. close firsrst they lit up incendiary players and then n ty started with whitete p phosphors lights come in and something like cluster bombs that exploded when they hit the ground. it was unbelievable how much they struck. we almost suffocated from the smokoke. amy: israel'l's assault on southern lebanon followed 16 straight days of attacks on the gaza strip, where palestinian militants have launched incendndiary balloons into soututhern israeael. in h health nenews, africa has n declared free from wild polio as over 95% of the continent's population has been vaccinated after a decades-long immunization campaign.

a quarter century ago,o, the water-borne disease left tens of thousands of children across africa paralyzed each year. since then, billions of oral polio vaccines havave been prprovided across s the contine. wild polio is now found only in afafghanistan d d pakistan, , ad health experts say eliminating it thehere would p permanently eradicate the disease. in belarus, two opposition leaders were arrested tuesday and will reportedly remain in jail for 10 days as president alexander lukashenko continues to violently crack down on anti-government protesters. massive mobilizations have gone on for over two weeks after the longtime authoritarian leader was declared the winner of an election opponents say was rigged. on tuesday, thousands of school teachers gathered outside the country's ministry of education protesting against a threat by lukashenko to fire school teachers who do not support his government. cook's teachers must not be

afraid to teach, to bring up children. their voice must be heard, even if they have their own opinions, they can still do their job. they must not get fired for this. the teachers should stopping the sheep who obebey orders without asking. amy: and a federal judge in washington, d.c., has struck down a trump administration rule that made it harder for non-cicitizen military members o apply for u.s. citizenship. under trump's requirements, non-citizen soldiers had to serve for at least 180 days on active duty or one year in the reserves to qualify for a certificate needed to apply for naturalization. the requirements were enacted in 2017, triggering a 70% drop in applications from service members. the successful court challenge was spearheaded by eight service members with deferred action for childhood arrivals and long-time permrmanent residency. and those are some of the headlines. thisis is democracy nonow!, democracynow.o.org. we're breaking with convention. i'm amamy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan

gonzalez in new jersey. juan: welcome t to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. a warning to with our audidience. the following stories contain graphic footage of violence. a whwhite gunman opened fire tuesday night on people protesting the police e shooting of unarmed black man, jacob blake, in kenosha, wisconsin two people were killed and a third s s injud inin t guire. >> oh, my go! oh, i gosh! amy: bystander vid shows the man, a white man, fallintoto the ground and soting into the crowd as ptetesterattetempto disa h him. kenosha poli s say aed vigintes hadeen in t streets and they were okoking for a man with a lg g gun. as we brdcdcast,o ararres haveve been madyet and those kieded

ve n not been ididentified. earlier tuesday night, police in riot gear shot tear gas and rubbbber bullets at black lives matter protesters outside thee kenosha county courthouse. this marks the third night of unrest in kenosha since sunday, when police shot jacob blake, an unarmed 29-year-old black man, seven times in the back as he was getting into a car. his three children -- ages three, five, and eight -- witnessed the shooting from the car. blake was rerertedly tryrying to break up a fight b between two women before the shooting. jacob blake's family and lawyers said tuesday he is conscious, but still in critical condition, and that he is paralyzed from the waist down. blake's mother julia jackson, sister letetra widman, and father jacob blake, sr. spoke at a news conference outside the courthouse. >> they shot my son.

times. seven times. like he did not matter. but my son matters. how would you feel if your white son walked up to you as a mother and said, "mommy, why did the police shoot my daddy in the back?" you have no clue. >> i am rereally asking andd wisconsing eryonone m ment andakeke a hrts.in youou

officerers,ce clergrgy, pololiticians, d do jacoco j jtice on thisevevel and examine your hearts. >> i am my brother's keeper. and when you say the name jacob father,ake sure you say make sure you say cousin, make sure you say son, make sure you say uncle -- most important, make sure you say human. amy: and this is civil rights attorney ben crump, who is representing jacob blake. >> we don't have to give you a lot of legal treatises to let did tow that what they son was. and julia's

done with deliberate indifference. the medical diagnosis right now is that he is paralyzed. and because those bullets separate his spinal cord -- severed his spinal cord and ,htered some of his vertebrae it is going to take a miracle -- it is going to take a miracle for jacob blake, jr. to ever walk again. amy: for more, we're joined now by mandela barnes, lieutenant governor of wisconsin. the first african-american to be elected to this position. lieutenant governor, thank you for joinining us on democracy y! if you can start off by giving us the latest on what is understood -- the sheriff,

although they have not explained why the police shot jacob blake, has said that in the latest incidents of violence, which looks like white shooters, called the militia or vigilantes in the street. two are dead and one critically wounded. can n you expend what t you understand is hahappening in kenoshsha, and then w we will go back to the original police shshooting. >> think is so much. -- takake you much. two people werere dead. sheriff dadavis was able to talk i it washat happened and the police department that carried out the shooting on jacob blake. while we still don't have answswers, what we knonow is lat hate with the bands off being flamed, see militia groups decide to take up arms and try to handle a situation on their owown.

in these sorts of instances, you can look back at presidenent donald trump when he threatetend gun violence. he threatened to sick dogs on protesters outside the white house. this is from the top on how to handle people who are standing up against racial injustice in this country. the protesters are the people, like i said before, the people who are trying to bring this country together. the people who are statanding up andd demanding a an america thas truly representative and responsive to all people. and d so to see the video first thing in the morning and recently -- it is been so difficult to go to sleep. one, because of everything going on. two, because you don't t know wt you're going to wake up to see next. and to see this, it is heartbreaking to know that people who want a safer country, who what a safer world to live in for themselves, for children, have been subject to being shot

gunman.gilantes and a i don't know this person's political affiliation. i don't know what groups specifically this person came from who opened fire, but what we do know is that itappened. what we do kw w is tha activity wanonot discourageged by some of r leaders.s. juan: lieutenant governor barnes , from your understanding, what are the instructions?s? there e are now national g guard that have been mobobilize. what a are the instructions to e guard and local policice about w to deal with, one, the protesters and then with any potentntial vigilanantes? the initial reports i read were that t there were thesese armedn outside a a gas station for a while, and then the shootining happened m much are on. >> i will start from the back because as you said, the armed men were outside the gas station for a while. how many times across this

country d.c. armed gunmen protesting, walking in the state capital and everybody think that is ok? people treat that like it is a normrmal activity that people ae walking around with assaulult rifles and in many instances, these people have been led on by various conspiracy theories that have ruminated on the internet. and these people are demanding to have the country back. and to assume nothing bad is going to happen? to assume thesese people have te most fun intentions is completely ridiculous. we can't even act surprised that this happened because this is what they have been saying they are going to do. whatever armed militia group. they don't do the because i military tactical trainings for nothing. they are prepaparing for an evet and it is something like this where people are standing up and demanding racial justice in this country is a perfect opportunity for them to strike. that is what you saw in the

video. the national guard was mobilized . instructions for the national guarard were to protect critical assets and help with fires. i don't know what the police reresponse would have been. i don't know if they were expecting -- i am pretty sure they were not expecting a gunman to open fire, but i don't know why people would not expect for it to happen because if you see somebody with a gun who is living in a constant fear of whatever, you should expect them to want to use that weapon. to gogowanted to a ask you back to ththe incident that touched all l of this offff, the shootiting of f jacob blblake. cocould yoyou tell us what you understand what the police havae theherted on what touched off altercation between policece and blake? because the police have been relatively -- theyeyave not sasd

much at all. >> they have not said much at all. with them not having said much at all, you have to -- it is easy to assume what the report finds out will not be good. i don't have any additional information. i wiwish i did, but at thehe sae time i w wish i didn't have additional information. we see the video. we saw what happened. we know it should not have. the way that was carried out, the way the shooting happepened- if they wanted to prevent him from getting in the car, there were means to prevent them from gegetting in thehe car. he tackle the guy. he use a baton will stop at worst, taser him. the amount of officers that were there on site that were present, it is not jujustified. to be shot in the back as many times, you hear the

grueling a accounts of the internal damage that was done to him. and there is no way that any officer could look at that video and say that is the way policing should happen. still, as tough as things are, as dire as things are, especially in america in terms of relations with law enforcement, i'm ststill not gog to sit here and sake it is every officer. it is not. it is more than a single police, it is policing. toicing in america has got change because of policing in america allows for that seem to take place, than the problem is deeper than anybody could imagine after months of folks ststepping up, after months of pepeople protesting in every corner of the state, every corner of this country to demand justice, if an officer thought that was okk behavior or any all right response or proper response to the situation, then

they are totally out of touch, out of step with where we should be in america in terms of justice being applied equally in any way. amy: in case there's anyone who is not seen this video, just a description, now a second cellphone video has come out. the man who took the first video from across the street, he is suffering posttraumatic stress. he said it was horrifying as he was filming. but the idea that the policeman, as he was getting into his car, is holding the back of his t-shirt and shoots him at point-blank range seven times in the back as his children are in the car that he is getting intno -- 3, 5, eight years old. the second cellphone video that is come out today, you see family coming out of the property. it is the other side of the car. they a are shouting at the poli. they already know what is going to happen. i mean, they already know

because they have seen these videos so many times. you have little tiny children on the grass. yet parents stop parents telling their kids to come back. give jacob blake walking around theser and then you hear seven shots. i would ask about attorney ben crump who is representing jacob blake and has represented the as well of george floyd , breonna taylor, tweeted -- quote kenosha city council passed an ordinance in 2017 requiring all officers wear body cams. but they never bought them. they're in the budget in 2022. if it weren't for a neighboror's video, the police shooting of jacob blake would've vanished and no officers would be held accountable." that is t the tweet of ben crum. that is the e only video we're

seeing right now because there is a bodycam video. if you can talk about how this lelegislation that passed was gotten around, a and then talk t the state level, you're the lieutenant governor, , about wht is being done at the statete lel for police reform. >> like we said before, that video was brazen. the officers actions were brazen. i said before also in my own statement, what if there wasn't vivideo footage of what happene? i can't speak specifically about what happened. it was the city of kenosha's budget and why the body cams were not made a priority. obviously, thisno is something e have been talking about for years and years and years, even back when i was in the legislature, about the need to have body cams for added accountability. when you don't have the bodycam footage, it is your word versus the officers word. decide the

situations, district attorneys, specifically are going to side with law enforcement if it is the word of a police officer versus someone else. i will say at the state level, even in the wake of george floyd, we introduced or the governor introduced a legislative package. now we know a legislative package is not going to solveve ththe deep problems, but it taks a coordinated effort. we need action at e every levelf government. we need local g government to a. we need police departments, sheriff departments to acknowledge there is a real problem in the culture of policing. we need our city councils toto demand justice. and we need d also that accountability, , like you said, the bobodycam footage. without them beieing allocated, having an approprpriation in the budget but never being purchased, that is a row problem. at the state level, we need to make sure that all of our

departments, all of our lawaw enforcement department within our state are doing t the rigigt thing. steps thatasisic peoplele can take but if there s a basic step taken at every level, we can have a true response. but deeper than that, goes to the culture. it goes to reimagining what is keeping people safe looks like.. it goes to makingg sure that there is funding on front to prevent violence from happening first place was up also hahaving support for community organizations, for job training programs. whatever the case may be e comig to creatate community, to create societies where people have an opportunity to thrive were fewer police are actually needed to respond to anything in the first place. all across thee board,d, there is the larger --f course there is injustice of

unarmed -- black men being shot, but there's a deeper injustice that spreads far beyond that. it is what leads to the situations, leads to the prejudice, what prevents people from having an opportunity to grow and reach their full potential. the number of police calls in a certain community, it is easy decide, that is a bad neighborhood. but it takes more thought to say, oh, that is a community that has been starved of resources. that is a community that doesn't have what another neighborhood five miles down the road has that prevents themem from having as many y interactionsns with hw enenrcemenent. juan: lieutenant governor barnes , you mentioneded the governor s called for a special session to take a police brbrutality legislation. i want to ask youu because the jacob b blake case is bebeing investigated byy the local district a attorney. district attorneys are notoriously very close to and cozy with your local police departments. do you support an independent investigation, and d have yououd

discussionons with the governor about this? also, what is precisely some of the key reforms that you are hoping to take up in the legigislature? >> it is n not the district attorney. the state -- we do have an independenent investigation for police shoototings. i t think we passed that bill in 2014 or 2015. i was in the legislature at the time. so it is the office of criminal investigation who is leading the invevestigationn, inindependentm the district attorney. so there is the independent aspepect that is there, recognizing that local law enforcement should not investigatee t themselves. yield actualtruruly justice that people are l lookig for. but whether it is excessive use of force, whether it is mandatory reporting -- intervention for a partner when

things start to go south and they do not de-escalate the situation, mandatory de-escalation training, the violence interrupters -- which i've talked about, which is one of the most critical ones. because you have these police officers who unfortunately -- i could speak to milwaukee -- who don't live in the neighborhood that they serve. that is one of the major problems of this ththat does not get talked about enough. any police officer should live in the city that they serve. if you're going to uphold the law in a specific jurisdiction, shouldld live under the law of that jurisdiction as well. the fact t tt police o officers were ablble to move out createdn even d deeper disconnect, creata policing and community where you have very little relativity, where you don't understand necessarily how people live, how people function come to understand the language. just norms of existing in a

society within the people that you are to serve and protect. that is been a big problem. and d it says something if yoyou don't to livive i in the city tt you're supupposed to -- that yor sworn to serve and protect. it says that you want to come in as some sosort of guardidian and then leave. without thatat connection, you make decisions thahat are not always going to be in the interestst of imprproving ththe communitity. amy: i would to get your response to a local l >> affilie that says according to the white hohouse chief of s sff, locall w enforcement in wisconsinin told the white house they needed at least 750 national guard tuesday night. governor eve are sending 250 up from 150. on t tuesday, said meadows offed 500 additional national guard members to meet t the police nes . fevers decline. can you talk about what is the alreadyof the 250 have said and what about thihis possibilitity of thehe fence seg

in, like w we saw in portltland? > so those numbers that t wee reported, t those are notot acce numbers. i was going over those this morning and mark meadows, , he wanted to sendnd department ofof homeland security. we can go baback to our request- we wanted to have our covid-19 relief efforts, that is administered by the national guard, and work resoundingly rejected by the e white house. if mark k meadows wantsts to tak back, ththen let's tatalk facts. that is the real deal when it eácomes to numbers. they can't send people into provide coronavirus testing, how can we a address them appropriately -- trust them to manage a situation as volatile as this one. when it comes to the number of national guard troops thatat wee requested by kenoshsha county, that 750 number is inflated as well post of governor keepers responded to the request of local officials. amy: mandela barnes, thank you for being with us, lieutenant governor of wisconsin.

we will continue to follow what is hapappening in kenosha. , u.s. death toll from covid 19 euros 18180,000 anand we go to t two of the republican convention. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "ru listenin'?" by the justice arts collective e of chabot community college in hayward, calififornia. this is democracy now! i am amy goodman with juan i in solace as we turn to day two of ththe republican nationanal convention. for a second night in a row, speakers largely ignored the devastating public health and econonomic crisis facing the country as the u.s. death tollll from the coronavirus nears 180,000 anand tens of millions f americans s are out of w work ad struggling to pay for food and housing. one of president trump's top economic advisors, lararry kudl, spoke ababout the crisisis in te past tense, eveven though the u. recorded over 1100 deaths in a a single day. >> then, once in 100 year

pandemic. it was awful. and ececomic impacts were tragicic. hardships and heartbreak were everywhere. the presidential leadership came swiftly and effectively with an extraordinary rescue for health and safety to successfully fight the covid virus. great bipartisan rescue also saved the economy. amy: on the foreign policy front, senator rand paul claimed trump is the most anti-war president in a generation despite trump's escalation of the air war in afghanistan and other countries. >> compare president trump with the disastrous record of joe biden who consistently has called for more war. joe biden voted for the iraq war which h president trump has long called the worst geopolitical mistake of our generation. fear joe will vote for war again. joe biden continue to spill our blood and treasure. president trump will bring our

heroes home. amy: others speakers on tuesday night included nick sandmann, a catholic high school student from kentucky who was filmed smirking as he and other students surrounded a native and you can elder in washington, d.c.c., last year after the ststudents taunted and m mocked participanants in the indigenous peoples marcrch. >> a advancing thehe anti-donald trtrump n narrativeve with all t mattered. and if advanancing theirir narre ruined the r reputation and fute of the teenager from covington, kentntucky, well, so be it. that would teaeach him not to wr a mega hat. amy: former florida attorney general pam bondi acaccused joe biden of corruption, claiming he remains in politics just to enrich his family. >> as it career prosecutor and former attorney general, i fought corruption and i know what it looks like whether it is done by people wearing pinstripe suits or orange jumpsuits.

at the democrats convention, we were told to look at joe biden as the model of integrity. but when you look at his 47 year career in politics, the people who benefited are his family members. not the american people. amy: while bondi a attacked biden's nepotism, she e made noo reference to how the trump famimily has profited d over the papast four years. this comomes as the trump administration is facing accusations it has broken the law by using the powers of the federal government to aid the president's reelection campaign during the convention, part of it being held at the white house. rnc tookarts of the place inside the white house. trump pardoned a man who was convicted of bank robbery and went on to start a non-profit to help formerly incarcerated people reintegrate into society. trump also held a naturalization ceremony for five immigrants from bolivia, lebanon, india, sudan, and ghana. pres. trump: you have earned the most prized, cherished, priceless possession anywhere in the world. it is called, can citizenship.

amy: president trump's son eric also spoke on tuesday night, just a day after new york attorney general letitia james moved to force him to testify as part of probe into the trump organizations corruption and inflation of his assets in order to secure loans and other benefits. eric trump serves as executive vice president of the trump organization. >> the democrats want and america were your thoughts and opinions are censored, were thty do not align with their own. president reagan's said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. it must be fought for and protected. this is the fight that we are in right now and it is a fight that only my father can win. amy: kentucky's first african-american attorney general daniel cameron also spoke on tuesday night. he made only a passing reference to his most high profile case, the police killing of breonna taylor, the african-american 26-year-old emt who was shot dead inside her own louisville home in march. cameron has so far not charged

any of the officers involved. >> general dwight eisenhower, future republican president, who said "democracy is a system that recognizes the equality of humans before the law." whether you are the family of breonna taylor or david dohrn, these are the ideals that will heal our nation's wounds. republicans will never turn a blind eye to unjust acts, but neither will be except an all-out assault on western civilization. amy: secretary of state mike pompeo addressed the r republicn national convention from jerusalem where he was on a work trip. house democrats hahave accusedem of violati thehe hat a act which prohibits federal employees from participating in political activities. earlier this year, the state departmement issueued a memo stg -- "senate-confirmed presidential appointees may not even attend a political party convention or convention-related event."

during his remarks, pompeo praised trump's actions in the middle east. >> the amid u.s. embassy to this very city of of god, jerusalem,, the rightful capital of the jewish homeland. and just two weekeks ago, the president brokereded a historic piece toto between i israel ande united arab emirates.s. this is a deal our grandchildren will read about in their history books. amy: the second night of the republican national convention ended in the white house garden with first lady melania trump, one of the first speakers of the convention to acknowledge the soaring u.s. death toll from the coronavirus. >> i want to acknowledge the fact that since march, our lives have changed drastically. the invisible enemy covid-19 swept across our beautiful country and impacted all of us. my deepest seven they goes out to everyone who has lost a loved

one. and my prayers are with those who are in or suffering. amy melania trump spoke in front of a live audience in the rose garden where the vast majority of attendees, including president trump and vice president mike pence, did not wear masks. cnn reportrts many attendees wee not tested for coronavirus prior to the event. when the reporters asked ththe white house what is the coronavirus policy at the white house, they said you have to ask the campaign and the campaign said they are relying on coronavirus consnsultants but dd not go further than that. after the break, we'll speak with reporter jean guerrero, author of "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now! i'i'm amy y goodman. we are breaking with convention. presesident trump presided oveva highly unusual and possibly illegal naturalization ceremony at the white house during tuesday night's republican national convention. as tens of thousands of

immigrants seeking to become citizens faced massive backlogs. chief homeland security chad wolf, who trump has nominated for permanent director, read the naturalization oath. one of the night's speakers, mary ann mendoza, the mother of a man killed by a drunk driver who was an immigrant, was removed from the lineup at the last minute after she re-tweeted an anti-semitic qanon conspiracy. mendoza was part of the victims of immigration crime engagement, or voice office, established under trump i stephen miller, one of chomsky advisors, mastermind of his anti-immigraration message and policies. for more, , we are joinened by n guerrero, award-winning investigative journalist who reports on immigration and profiles miller in her new book, "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. if you can start off by talking

removede woman who was from the lineup last night. you have met her several times. talk about where a and herer connections to the white house ---- to stephen miller, steve bannon others. >> i met mendoza several times, coupuple of timeses in san dieg. one time at a border wall symposium that was organizeded y steve e manager promomote his fraudulent border wall schemee that h he was r recently arrestd for for allegedly defrauding donors. she wawas there. she was one of the speakers. she was on the advisory board for that project. for a long time she has been goining around talking about her son who died in a car crash with the person who was here illegally. stephen miller, whom i book is about, has repeatedly given her a platform during the 2016 campaign and then in the white house during round tables to spew completely fabricated

statistics about the alleged crimes of migrants. she talks about how thousands and thousands of people are killed every year by people in the country illegally when in fact people -- we look at the data, it is maybe a couple or three the p past several yearar. this --ds for amy: you met her in el paso. she g gave a speech right before the paso massacre,e, mainly latn immigrants? symposium was organized just a few days before the el paso masassacre. it w was live-streamed to tens f thousands of people who are watching this right wing, including mendoza. hatemongering about immigrants and urging citizens to take things into their owown hands to stop the "invasion" of migrants. saw a few days lalater, you

white terrororist come in n andl 23 people, imagining he was saving the country from some kind of invasion. otion ofofkining of this invasision, could you talk abobt hohow stephen miller h has buius career, really, around anti-immigigration and immigratn therictionism, particucularl role, for instance, the reclusivive billionaire philanthropist who bankrkrolled much of f e immigratation restriction nonoticed movement - strict shouldist movement? [indiscernible] codes these are you genesis who believe in that genetic superiority of whites, believe in cononcentration control for white pepeople and funun of thee

groups, as i show in my book, stepephen miller pulled policies directly from these groups. this is what shapes the imimmigration policy. yoyou mention the naturalizatitn ceremony that totook place at te rnc last night. that is really meant to create this d dichotomy, this false dichotomy between legal and illegal immigration that does not exist in the trump administration. the trumpet administration likes to say they're going after criminals and cartels, and that was what the rnc w was meant to convey. but if you look at the person who crafting immigration policies for preresident trump,t is stephen mililler. d stephen n miller primarily h s been targetiting famamilies. families from africa, families from latin america come and mostly people who have broken no laws -- asylum-seekers, refugees. restricting green card access. if you look at why and connect the dots between what he is doing in his influences, as i try to do in the book, it becomes clear for stephen

miller, this is not about national security. this is not about keeping out criminals. this is about reengineering the ethnic flows into this country to keep brown and black families out. because he was radicalized at a very young age in this believe that you nasty permeating the republican party and you see trump promoting, this believe that throughout -- like and brown people pose some kind of existential threat to america. stephen miller come at a very young age, when he e was a teenager, going through a difficult time in his life, came into contatact with multiple extrememists who introduced himo this fantasy that he had to save the country from the democratic party y partnering with muslims, mexicans, and other people of color. because he was exposed to misleading crime statistics like the onone they putut out systematicalally now that pete brown and black people is somehohow innately m more violet than white people, he was

radicalized to believe that he was somehow saving the united states. you nonow see this hatemongerin, this of public to demonization -- apocalyptic demonization permeating the rnc. stephen miller, the most powerful advisor in the e white house, top speechwriter, top senior ball -- policy advisisors the man behind all of this. juanan: one ofof the fololks whd speak at the rnc, unlike mendoza who was pulled at the last moment, was charlie kirk. when he spoke on monday, he talked about preresident trump being "the bodyguard of western civilization." and he said the american way of life is been dismantled by a group of bitter, vengeful deceitful activists. tell us about charlie kirk. >> charlie kirk ran his organization turning point usa

which runs this watchlist of liberal professors that are supppposedly somome kind of danr to society. this speaks to stephen miller's influence because stephen miller's mentor from the time he was a child, feeding him talking points for donald trump throughout his life according to private correspondence i obtain for the book, david horwitz is the person who started this idea partyty in the republican where in 2006 he published a watchlist of liberal professors who allegedly posed some kind of apocalyptic threat toto society. , he shaped stephen miller's career. he is a man who b believes the only real racism is racism against white men. he teaches young conservatives like stephen miller at a very young age how to use the language of the civil rights movement against the civil rights movement. so calling people of color and

liberals the real racists were real oppressors and painting white conservative men as the oppressed and already come asas victims s of d discrimination, s yoyou sit with h people like che kirk and throughout the rnc, this idea that republicans and white men are being canceled, that there is this horrible canceled culture t that is tryig to eliminate freedom o of speech and tear down the constitution. in reality, what is happening is the fefederal governmement is ug these very anti-democratic, anti-constitutional measures to suppress opposition in the streets. the presence of federal forces in portlanand, which again goeso stephen miller's influence, trying to cancel the voices of anantiracist protesters, snatchg them off t the streets in unmard vehicleses and arresting ananals -- arresting journalists. flexion, it ishe

psychological warfare, which i delve into in the book "hatemonger." stephen miller's mentor taught hihim that he do this at a very young age. he taught them how to launder whwhite supremacist ideas throuh the language of heritage, through the language of ececonomics, and through the language of national security in order to make it palatable to the m mainstream -- which is wht you see in the e rnc. launderiring thehese ideas -- ts idea you're protectcting americn jobs, protecting people from criminals in order to appealal o people who don't consider themselves to be racist. but very much pulling these white supupremacistst ideas andd laundering thehem. amy: jean guerrero, i want to get your response to the naturalization ceremony y that s performed in the white house. this at a time when president trump has assigned something like 400 executive orders against immigrants. the similarity y you point out n yoyour book "hatemonger," betwen

stephen miller, donald trump, their upbringing -which goes to that history that you're talklking about with his mentnt, etc. - -- and his father. >> exactly. stephen miller gets donald trump in a way that no one else in the white house does. it is routed into his childhood that i d delve into in his book stuff his father was a real byy legegaltor plagued disputes. thahat stephehen miller, because he grew upup in a family that is similar to the f familyf donaldld trump, he gets donald trump. he is s able to have an outside inflfluence because he consistently pushes him in thehe most aggressivive direction, whetether it is on t the rhetor, on thehe immigration policicy, focusingng on asylum-seekekers d refugees instead of criminals and cartels. this aggressiveness is something that innately speaks to donald trump.. throughout his life, d dald

trump is talked about the imprints of being a killer and a society, having killer instincts. stephen miller shares his instinct for violence and has his hand on the pulse of trump's most violent voting base because he has been reading whatat's his premises and white nationalist literature for very long time in promoting it thrhrough right-wig outlets such as breitbart.t. this radicalization ---- because he is this extremist advisor who always pushes him i in a more extreme and aggressisive directn , stephen miller is responsible fofor the radicacalization of dd trump in the radicalization of the republican party oftentimess trump was willing to go in a more moderate direction, protecting d dreamers, but s stn miller wouould pushh him, no, it doesn't matter these are my grandchildren, that these are families, we need to go after them. juan: could you talk about the importance of mililr that trurup sees in terms of his first election, the role that miller y your-- you discuss inin

bookok in terms of marshaling te support ofof the unions, of employs that d deal withth portr patrol? thehis speaksks to naturalization ceremony. having federal government officials like chad w wolf participatating in is very political processss in a questiononable way. stephenn miller, he basicallyly politicize the department of homeland security from day one of his time in the white house, narrowing the focus to become a political tool donald trump. as i show in the book. he did this by s securing during the campaign for trump the very crititical bororder patrol l unn endorsement.t. the border patrol has never endorsed presidential candidate before. in the m miller, as i show book, promise them a d direct le to the white house, direct role in shaping immigration policy if they endorsed donald trump. so you saw them endorse donald

trump. this is why you seeee dispropoportionatete impact on families. the border patrol at that time was very upset about the influx of families from central america. they no longer felt they had the same rule of warriors at the border, crackining down on criminals and cartels. they wanted someone who could go after keeping famililies from coming to the united states at all. this is how stephen miller made himself a key player for the trump team, by gettining him the endorsements. trump's only immigigration proposal when he first announced hihis candidacy was the border wall. immigratation restriction is who have been following this no -- they rolled her eyes at this. one made immigration policy -- derived from eugenics groups to keep out families. amy: would clearly have to do more in the so we will do part two and posted online at democracynow.org.

our guest is jean guerrero, award-winning best to get a her new book is "hatemonger: stephen miller, donald trump and the white nationalist agenda." that does it for our show. special thanks to -- democracy now! is lookin