08/28/20 08/28/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from democracy now!, this is breaking with convention. pres. trump: my fellow americanans, tonight was a a het full of gratatitude and boundnds optimism, i profoundly accept this nomination for president of the united states. amy: speaking on the south lawn of the white house, president trump officially becomes the republican presidential nominee. in a speech filled with lies and falsehoods, trump repeatedly attackcked his r rival joe biden

the democratic party. pres. trump: if the democratic party wants to stand with writers,s, agitators, looters, flag burners, that is up to them. but i as your president will not be a part of it. remainublicanan party will the voice of the patriotic heroes who keep america safafe d salute the american flight. amy: trump spoke before a crowd of about 1000. sked.of them, unma the same number of people who die of coronavirus, roughly, every day. we will aiair excerpts of trum's speech and speak to the historian rick perlstein. the first, we go to kenosha, wisconsin, where the aclu is calling for the immediate resignation of the kenosha police chief and sheriff following the police shooting of jajacob blakake. and we go to the gulf coast, where hurricane laura slammed ashore wednesday as a category 4

hurricane. we will speak to goldman environmental l prize winner hiltonon kelly, , who evacacuatm his home in n port artrthur, te. oil to the largest refinery in the western hemisphere. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org. we're breaking g with convevent. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump formally accecepted the republican n pa's nomination thursrsday night befe a crowd of about 1500 on the south lawn of the white house. in defiance of sociaial distancg rules, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few people wearing masks. trump spoke as the u.s. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000, by far the highest total in the world. during his speech, trump repeatedly defended his administration's handling of the pandemic. pres. trump: we're delivering life-saving therapies and we will produce a vaccine before the end of the year, or maybe even sooner.

[applause] pres. trump: we will defeat the strongerand emerged than ever before. amy: during his acceptance speech, trump repeatededly attackeded his rival joe biden, claiming he was a threat to the american dream. cnn reported trump's speech included at least 20 lies and misleading statements. we wilill have more on tmpmp's speechch later in the program. the united states reported more than 1100 new coronavirus d deas thurursday as the cdc warned the u.s. is on track to report its by september. the tributthe true u.s. capitol probably past that grim milestone weeks ago. in arizona, two sisters from the navajo nation, cheryl and corrina thinn, died of covid-19 weeks apart, aged 40 and 44.

both sisters worked as frontline healthcare workers. they're among nearly 500 navajo nation members to die from coronavirus. the university of alabama ordered faculty members to remain silent about students who test positive for the virus, arguing alerting their classmates would violate privacy rules. they werel, admonished "do not tell the rest worde class" with the "notot" underlrlined. in louisiana, at least six peoplele were killed a after hurricane laura came ashore thursday as one of the strongest recorded storms ever to hit thte uniteded states. the categogory 4 hurricane faild to produce the massive storm surge feared by forecasters, but brought fierce winds of up to 150 miles per hour that overturned vehicles, ripped the roofs off houses, and shattered the glass windndows of a 22-stoy office tower. the storm triggered a massivee fire a at a chemical plant n ner lakeke charles that sent plumesf black smoke and poisononous chloririne gas billowing across interstate 10.

lolocal residents who hahadn't already evacuauated were ordered to shelter in place with their windows and doors closed. the hurricane also toppled a century-old monument to a confederate soldier on the lawn of a courthouse in lake charles. just two weeks ago, local officials voted to keep the statue in place amid nationwide protests demanding the removal of monuments to slavery and racism. in wisconsin, the father of jacob blake said thursday his son is being handcuffed to a hospital bed in milwaukee, where he remains paralyzed from the waist down after he was shot seven times in the back on sunday by a white kenosha police officer. sr. said it remains unclear what charges, if any, his son faces. jacob blake is african american. the white officer who shot him, rusten sheskey, has been placed on administrative leave and has not been fired or charged with a crime. protesters marched through kenosha for a fifth straight night thursday to demand

sheskey's arrest as wisconsin governor tony evers said alabama, arizona, and mimichigan were sending more national guard troops to patrol the streets. meanwhile, kenosha county prosecutors thursday brought six charges against kyle rittenhouse, the 17-year-old white militia member who was filmed killing two people and injuring a third with an ar-15 assault rifle during protests in kenosha on tuesday. if convicted of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, rittenhouse faces up to life in prison. this comes as the amererican cil liberties union is demanding the immediate resignation of kenosha police chief daniel miskinis, who on wednesday blamed curfew violators and not militia members for tuesday's deadly violence. the aclu is also demanding kenosha county sheriff david beth step down, as video resurfaced of racist remarks he made in 2018. during a news conference that year, beth described black people accused of shoplifting and crashing a stolen car as "garbage people that fill our

communities that are a cancer to our society." >> let's put them in jail. truly -- athem from least some of these males going out and getting 10 other women pregnant and having small children. let's put them away for the rest of their life so the rest of us can be better. amy: kenosha county sheriff david beth. in a statement, the aclu said the actions of the sheriff and police chief "uphold and defend white supremacy, while demonizing people who were murdered for exercising their first amendment rights and speaking out against police violence." after headlines, we'll speak withth the head of the aclu wisconsin. in north carolina, ronnie long, an african american who spent 44 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, walked out of the correctional institute, the prison thursday, a free man. in 1976, long was convicted of

rape by an all-white jury and sentenced to 80 years in prison. in 2015, his lawyers learned investigators had withheld exculpatory evidence proving his innocence, while witnesses for the state committed perjury at his trial. it would take several more years and a ruling by the fourth u.s. circuit court of appeals for long to win his freedom. in sports news, professional athletes continued w work stoppages thursday to prprotest police violence and racial injustice. at the start of a mets-marlins game in new york, both teams walked onto the field and stood silently for 42 secoconds in hor of the first africanan american player in the major leagues, jackie robinson. then they walked off the field refusing to play, leaving a black lives matter t-shirt draped over home plate. in total, seven major league baseball games were postponed thursday. the nba, wnba, and the national hohockey league also postponed games and nine nfl teams canceled practices amid player protests.

in washingngton, d.c., tens of thousands of protesters from across the country are expected to march to the lincoln memorial today, joining ongoing demands for criminal justice reform and outcry against police brutality and racial injustice. participants will include the reverend al sharpton and the families of george floyd, trayvon martin, eric garner, ahmaud arbery, jacob blake, and breonna taylor. today marks s 57 years sinince martin luther kingng, jr. gave s 1963i have a dreream" speech in front of t the lincoln m memori, as well as the anniversary of the murder of 14-year-old emmett till, who was lynched by a white mob on august 28, 1955. meanwhile, the movement for black lives is hosting a black national convention tonight, a virtual event showcasing the power and resistance of the black lives matter movement. the labor department reports anheher onmilllliou.s. workers filed initl l unemoymement clai o over e lalasteek ----he 23rd straight week in a row at jobless claims s shatted their

pre-ndememicecord. meanile, the&p 500 sck maet indexlosed atn altime recd high on and forbes reports that amazon ceo jeff bezos has b become the first person ever to amass a $200 billion forortune. in japan, shinzo abebe said frfy he is resigning as prime minister due to poor health. over nearly eight years in office, he remained pro-nuclear, despite the 2011 fukushihima nuclear meltdown following an earthquake and tsunami. throughout his career, abe tried unsusuccessfully to do awawiwith article 9 of japan's constitution, which renounces war and babars japan frorom usi, or threatening to use, militaryy forcrce. in coolidge, arizona, , membersf several indigenous c communities including tohono o'odham nation on wednesday temporarily blocked access to a site where 30-foot steel barriers are assembled for use in the construruction of trump's border wall. ll!no border, no wa

amy: the tribal members were nonviolently protesting the ongoing desecration of sacred sites on ancestral indigenous land by construction crews building the wall along the u.s.-mexico o border. in related news, "the new york times" reports top officials with the departmtment of homelad security in 2018 suggested deploying to t the u.s.-mexico border a so-o-called heat raray designed by y the militaryry toe people''s skin f feel as if it's burning g when they arare within rarange of the weapon's ininvise beams. the disturbing suggestion reportedly came two weeks before the 2018 midterm election as president trump pushed for extreme action to stop a caravan of thousands of refugees, mostly from central america, from coming to the united states. inin more immigration news, refugee rights groups have filed a complaint with the department of homeland security's office of civil rights, demananding the agencycy investigate violent a d discriminatory practices against black refugees imprisoned at the pinene prairie ice p processing center in louianana.

48 cameroonianan refugees held t the jail have launcd d anotr huer s stre prototting the indenite detention, inhumane conditions during the pandicic, and d racist trerement by prison staff. they've been reportedly retaliated against with h solity confinement afteter demanding tt their asylum claimims be heard. this i is deo o testimony ofof e cameroroonian hunger s strikers published online i in june. [inindiscernible] we are pleading thth the people outside amy: in texa t the by of a missing soldier ationed at the fortood armyase wawafound tuesy night haing from trtreeome e 30iles frothe base. 23-year-old elder fernandes went missing last week. he had recently reported being sexually abused at the base and was working with an

investigative unit. last month the remains of 20-year-old fort hood soldier vanessa guillen were also discovered near the base after she was bludgeoned to death and disappeared in april by a soldier guillen had accused of sexually harassing her. fernandes is the 13th fort hood soldier to have disappeared or been killed this year. and a u.s. district court judge in washington, d.c., has halted today's planned execution of keith dwayne nelson, ruling the federal government failed to get a legally required prescription for the lethal injection drug pentobarbital. the ruling came just one day after the only native american on federal death row, 38-year-old lezmond mitchell, was put to death using the same drug over the objections of the navajo nation. and those are some of the headlines.s. this is democracy now!w!, democracynow.org. we're breaking with convention. i'm m amy goodman. we begin t today's show in wisconsin, where the father of jacob blake said thursday his son is being handcuffed to a hospital bed in milwaukee, where he remains paralyzed from the

waist down after he was shot seven times at point blank range in the back on sunday by a kenosha police officer. said it remains unclear what charges, if any, his son faces. jacob blake is african american. the white officer who shot him, rusten sheskey, has been placed on administrative leave and has not been fired or charged with a crime. protesters marched through kenosha for a fifth straight night thursday to demand sheskey's arrest as wisconsin governor tony evers said alabama, arizona, and michigan were sending more national guard troops to patrol the streets. this all comes as kenosha county prosecutors have brought six charges against kyle rittenhouse, the 17-year-old militia member who was filmed killllg two peopople and injurig a third with an ar-15 assault rifle during protests in kenosha tuesday. if convicted on charges of first-degree intentional homicide and first-degree reckless homicide, rittenhouse faces up to life in prison. calls are growing for the kenosha police chief and county sheriff to resign after police

allowed rittenhouse to leave the scene after gunning down protesters. video has surfaced of kenosha police offering militia members water earlier in the night. and expressing their support for them. the american civil liberties union also condemned police chief daniel miskinis comments blaming protesters for the deadly assault at a news conference on wednesday. involvedrsons not been in violation of that, perhaps a situation that unfolded would not have happened. amy: meanwhile, a damning video of kenosha county sheriff david beth making racist comments has surfaced from a 2018 news conference. beth described five people of color accused of shoplifting and crashing a stolen car as "garbage people that fill our commununities that are a cancero our society." >> let's put them in jail. truly - -- atm from least some of these males, going out and getting 10 other women

pregnant and having small children. let's put them away. at some point, we have to stopping politically correct -- i don't t care what racace, i dt care h how oldld they are. if there's a threshold that they crcross, these people hahave toe warehoused. no r recreational time. in this country, inin this community, i in this state, we have to get to the point that we no longer will put up with the garbagage p people that fill our communities, that are a cancerr to our society. amy: for more, w we go too milwaukee where we're joined by chris ott, executive director of aclu wisisconsin. he is calling for kenosha sheriff david beth and police chief daniel miskinis to resign. we welcome you to democracy now! can you lay out the latest, w wt your demands are and whahat? >> thank you, amy. we have seen t this terrible pattern o of extensive and deady police force against black men,

women, and other people of color in particular, and then a really heavy-handed response to the understandable reaction and concern from the community. and when n police and law enforcement go into communities in this militarized way, t this heavy-handed way, it just inflames tensions and makes things worse and creates dangerous new situations. unfortunately, that is what we have seen playing out in kenosha all week and that is why the aclu has called for the resignation of the county sheriff and the police chief for their leading role in what has happened. amy: what is astounding come at these news conferences we have seen on wednesday and then again on thursday, they always lead with the protest and the protesters. you have the comment about the protesters being r rponsible f r the murders on tuesday night? -- it is extremely

significant, to say the least. rarely talkingng about the polie shooting of jacob blake. not to mention the murders. clubs right. it is troubling to hear. after seeing the terrible events that unfolded all week, starting with the shooting of mr. blake and then the killings s on tuesy night, tuesday law enforcement officials effectively blaming people for their own deaths is just outrageous and is making the situation even worse than it is. amy: so what is happening with jacob blake right now, lang paralyzed in hospital bed in milwaukee but handcuffeded? >> that is what i have heard. i have the same records that you have. if that is true, that is just adding a terrible insult to the terrible injuries that mr. blake sustained after being shot seven times in front of his children on sunday. the whitehe officer,,

police officer who shot jacob blake seven times point-blank in the back? strongerwe need a much response than we have seen so far. we need justice. in this case and 70 others. one of the things troubling going back to the fatal shshootings on tuesday nigight s that it is a stark contrast between the way mr. blake was treateted on sunday, effectively given no benefit of the doubt, and yet on the streets of kenosha on tuesday night, we saw share beth's deputies not only fraternizing with white supremacist counterprotesters, but apparentltly, even though people were shouting that kyle rittenhouse -- they had seen kyle rittenhouse shoot two people, they let him go. the contrast is really stark and that just shows the problem that we have all across the country. amy: the aclu is calling for the

reresignations of t the sheriffd the police chief. what has been the response? >> i don't know that we have seen a response from them so far, but we did this following the lead of organizers on the ground. people inworking with the community on this in consultatition with people in te community. we need to see this kind o of responsese that we seen in kenoa needs to end and we need to see these resignations as a part of making that happen. amy: chris ott, that you for being with us, executive director of aclu wisconsin. we're going to find out now why the police department is not investigating i itself. jacob blake is not the first victim of a c controversial pole shooooting in kenosha. go b back seven years, on novemr 9, 2004, before police body cameras were in use in the united states, kenosha police

killed a white 21-year-old michael bell in front of his mother and sister. in their driveway. the incident began when kenosha police stopped micichael bell in his car in front of his parent's home. bell dashed up the driveway and was grabbed d from behind by two kenosha officers who pinned him against a parked car. while a third officer kept his mother and sister several yards away, a fourth kenosha police officer ran up, pulled his weapon, placed it against bell's head and pulled the trigger, killing him. the kenosha police department conducted its own review of the incident, and within two days completely exonerated the officers. bell's father, michael bell, sr., commimissioned an independt inquiry that found the police account of the incident to be "forensically impossible," suggesting a cover-up. the city settled a civil rights lawsuit with the bells for $1.75 million, most of which was then spent on a campaign to change

wisconsin's law governing how police-involved shootings are investigated. after a decade, i in 2014, , thr campaign s succeeded, and thenen-governor scott wawalker signed the b bill into law makig wisconsin the first state to require that outside investigatators conduct ininvestigations into police shootings. that's where the jacob blake investigation is now, under the supervision of the wisconsin department of justice with involvement of the fbi, wisconsin state patrol, and kenosha county sheriff's office. for more, we go to kenosha where we're joined by michael bell's father, michael bell, sr. whwho led the campaign to change the law. welcome to democracy now! this must be horrifyingly familiar to you. while you have jacob blake laying handcuffed in a hospital bed as a result of being shot by white police officers seven times at point-blank range in the back, you must have gone through a lot of deja vu in the

last days withth your familily. tell us s the story of your so michael. >> first, thank you for hahaving me on n your show. i want everybody to know i am a retired military officer. i was a pilot. i'm coming at it from that perspective. i flew combat m missions in t te different conflicts fofor our country so when my son n first t killed, it was really hard for me to believe that a uniformed person would do that. becausee e everybodydy i was associated with wowould never he done something like e that. it was really sad that i did not even believe my own daughter's version of it. it took me about 10 weeks or so befo i i understood the truth hardeneduse i wasas so as a pro uniformed type of person. my son had come home from a night out with friends and pulled upp into our home. you can w wch the dasashcam vido online. an officer who had a run in just weeks befofore pulled up -- my n

was not a peperfect angel. he dd have a pending dui. he was a college student and he was employed. so essentially, this officer approached him and it wasn't even in a nice manner. it was essenentially, "get backn the car, quebebec in the c car." son worked with thehe officer. he started moving back to the car. the officer saw somebody in the front seat and he pulled my son off camera. very q quickly, the officers mae some a accusatioions which turnd out to be false. he accused my son of speeding and rurunning a stop sigign. you u can see the e dashcam vido and also the civil-rights triall we negegated t that -- all of te claims. eventually, my son refused a breathalyzer. an officer went to arrest him. they tased him. you can hear him scream. he ran to the back of the home. his mother and sister heard the

commotion and ran downstairs. a number of other people tururnd on theheir porchch lights to wah whwhat was going on. my son was -- my son was essentially bent over a car a ad handcuffed, then officers screamed "he h has my gun" " ann officecer laced his gun dirirecy to my son's temple. he tried to fire it because the slide e was disengaged, the gun would not fire so he put it back to my son's temple a second time and fired a deadly shot. amy: the officer in charge gave him a direct command? >> yes, "shoot." i have to tetell you, i've investigators on my team that are retired police officers we laterr uncovered the officer who said "he has my gun,n," had made an h honest mistatake. he hadad backedd himself i intoa mirrrror. ththe car that was in questition here was a nissan and had a very thin driver side mirror. it fit pererfectly betweenen wht wawas called the jacket gap.

in wisconsnsin, the winters are cool so the holsters arere set p in a w way that your gun can remain on the outside of your jacket. onkind of looks like a hook top of a cane. when the officer backed ininto e smeaear, as he twtwiste he felt the tugggging on his g gun. he n neatly called out "he has y gun." that is when the problem occurred. i understand as a military officer that types of things like this occur in combat situations that are highly volatile. of thehe problem that i had was this. the kenosha police department covered up the true facts of the case and in addition to that, those facts are ongoing today. in this investigation is not over with. we are looking to find the truth about mymy son's case and that s why we are still pushing it. amy: so you have the police officer who you believes his holster was pulled -- she was up against the driver side outside

mirror. then you have the police officer who had michael in a bear hug. his mother and sister were right there being held back by a fourth officer. and third officer you believe came in between michael being held in a bear hug over the hood of the car, in this officer who things michael has his gun but in fact it is the mirror that has his gun. and this officer comes in between them and puts the gununo his head because he is s shot in the e right side,e, the right temple, and pulls the trigger. >> that is absolutely correct. and we knew that from early on. it tooook us sevalal yearsrs to finally catch them. in 2007, u under video depositions, my attorney patrick donkey, he allowed allll of the officers to tell their lives - - lives. he handeded him a copy of the forensnsics examiner's report tt showed my y son wasas shot in te

right set t of the h head and te bullet exited the left sidede of hihis head. then they were caught. they turn arouound and try to re-create a a different versionn where the e officers placed in itnt of the car and that twtwist my son's head around. i want your listeners to ununderstand that the popolice n kenosha had changnged her testimony 19 times. eyewitness testitimony neverer chananged once. ththe officer who killed my son changed his testimomony six tim. that is the problem that is going on rigight now here in kenosha is that t even though we fought for an n independent investigation,n, all that investigigation is going to go backo a districtct attorney who has beenen ignorant of all of te facts of the michael bell case. and so i am very worried aboutut whether jujustice is going to be serveded in the jacob blake cas. amy: i'm going to talk about that in a second, where this jacob blake case is right now, who is doing the investigation.

but take us a step further. 2 2004.is skilled in -- is killed in n 2004. you have your own indepenendent investigation done, completely completes with the police investigation that exonerated all of thehe officers. then in 2010, talk about the officer who o took his own life. >> we settled a civil rights lawsuit on michael's birthday in 2010. that'sur b belief that when i settle the civil rights lalawsuit, it was a a record lat at thehe time. i refuse to a accept nondisclose confnfidentiality agreement. it wasas importatant to me to me sure that michael's storory was told and these facts continued to come into the publilic. well, ththe city w was such -- r suchch pressure at the time t to settle, they excxcepted under those e conditions. later in the e summer, i started taking up billboards along interstates in wisconsin, and thus billboards said "when

police kills you, investigate themselves." forgot to the officer that the case was still open. in october 30, 201010, the offir who mistatakenly said that t mil had his gun took his own life. thatat is the sad rt about i it. amy: say thahat again. >> that is the sad part about it is that the officer that hooked his gun on a car mirror, took his own life on october 30,, 2010. i what your listeners toto undersrstand that the strategy - that there is tragedy on both sides. that the families of officers are grieving. that the officers to children are growing up without a father. our falyly i is devastated byy this. and that is whwhy i amm ununrelentingly c challenging t currentt sitituation. we accomplished the first part of that in 2014 by passing a law that says police cannot

investigate themselves after a deadly shooting. this week we are getting ready to introduce new legislation which is a second part of our journey forward. i want e everybodydy to remememr ththat i am m a militatary pilo. scenarioss and combat isis very dangerous. the way we stay alive is by investigating previous missteps thororoughly, , understatandingt true b because, if limiting safy recommmmendations to make sure that doesn't happen again. i wrote an article and your listeners can look for it called "the insanity of f finding fault versus fixing cause." i took an n airplane crash and i also took a police shooting and cocompare them s side-by-side ai showowed how one changed aviatin forever for the better and d the law enforcrcement side nothihing changed.d. that is why y we are in this continuing cycle.

want tochael bell, i ask, the law you got passed in 2014, and this beaears directlyn jacob blake's case, the law you passed took an investigation of an officer-involved shooting out of kenosha and the attorney gegeneral of wisconsin is now in charge of it. but when i watched the news conference on wednesday, it was then explained that once they do the investigation, maybe it then go toys, they -- they send tt information back to the da and he does a thumbs-up or thumbs down. is there enough evidence here to convict. he decides that, the kenenosha . >> that is right. the kenosha da has been a thohon in this frfrom the beginning. you have all this changing testimony, h have forensically impossible facts on my son''s

case, and t the kenosha d da tua blind eye to it.t. i'm very w worried that ee kenosha da is goining to do that same thingith jacocob's case. i have been telliling everyone that we should bee doing like nw york and n new jersey.y. the governor of new york did an executive order that said all police shootings have to be prosecuted by outside prosecutorors. so this case does not need to come back toto ada that has a long-term relationship with both the sheriff's department and d e policece departmtment. i am going to be releasing a video very soon that shows that heremichael gravely colluded to block i investigatin into dennis miss guinness -- dennis miss guinness -- we cannot havee local policee shootings invevestigated by the local prosecutor his political base is the e families andnd relativess of the law enforcemet officers that he provides cover

for. at: as jacob blake was shot point-blank range seven times in the back with his little kids, 3, 5, and eight, watching in part in the car, when he learned of this, michael bell,l, your thoughts? and dodo you know jacob's famil? >> i do nonot know w jacob's s . i learned about a sunday night. we have a facebook page google plea for a change" and peoplee were sending m me video after video. the first thing i did was i open up a and watch the video andnd s very appalled by what i've seen. and not rerendering judgment unl the investigation is complplete. one of the things my hours d drn to wasas the woman standingg outside thehe door of ththe car jumping up and down n because i know h how emotionalally traumac ththis is to a f family member t has to see it. i assure you even my -- even though my sense cacase was 16 years s ago, michael's mother ad

sister andnd the e eyewitnessest saw that case, are still traumatized by the events of that night. amy: michael bell, i wanant to thank you for being with us, father of michael bell, jr., 21-year-old young man killed by the kenosha police in 2004. it is his father's efforts that leadad to the change in the law that took the invevestigation of an officer in involved shooting out of the hands of the kenosha polilice. when we cocome back, president trump accepts thehe republilican presidential nomination in a speech filleled withh lies and falsehoods. we will air excerpts can speak with the hisistorian ricick perlstein. ♪ [music break]

amy: the mekons' "hello cruell world"d" performed by jim mchug.

this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. i'm amy goodman. president donald trump formally accepted the republican party's nomination thursday night bebefe a crowd of about 1500 on the south lawn of the white house. in defiance of social distancing rules,s, attendees sat shoulder-to-shoulder with few wewearing masks. trump spoke as the u.s. death toll from the coronavirus neared 180,000 -- by far the highest total in the world. about the same number of people sat in front of him as s die evy day in the u united stateses of coronanavirus. during his speech, trump repeatedly defended his administration's handling of the pandemic. pres. trump: united states has among the lowest case fatality rates of any country anywhere in the world. european union case fatality rate is nearly three times higher than ours but you don't hear that. they don't write about that. they don't want to write about that. they don't want you to know those thingsgs. amy: in n fact, the u.u.s. has e highest total death toll in the world with a little over 4% of

the worlds population come the u.s. has about 25% of the e wors cororonavirudeataths. 120 nations have a lower case fatality rate than the united states. cnn reports this was one of more than 20 false or m misleading statements in trump's acceptance speech. earlier in the day, democratic vice presidential nominee kamala harris delivered a prebuttal to trump's speech and attacked hiss handling of the coronavirus outbreak. >> donald has s failed as the mt ofic and important job prpresident of the united state. he failed to protect the american people, plain n and simple. trump showed that we need the legal profession would calala reckless disregard for the well-being of the american people. . reckless disisregard amy: during g his acceptance speech, presesident trump made o

reference to the pololice shootg of jacob blake in kenosha, wisconsin, or the killing of two protesters in kenosha by a 17-year-old white militia trump supporter. pres. trump: there is police misconduct, the justice system must hold wrongdoers fully and completely accountable, and it will. but when we can never have a situation where things are going on, as they are today, we must never allow mob rule. we can never allow mob rule. strong as possible terms, the republican party condemns the rioting, looting, arson, and seen in we have democrat-run cities all like , kenosha, minneapolis, portland, chicago in new york and many others. there is violence and danger in

the streets ofof many democrat n cities t throughout t america. amy: during g her prprebuttal, kamala harris s directly addresd the e police shooting of jacacob blake and other incidents of police violence. >> as vice president b biden put itit, the shshots fired d at mre pierced the soul of our nation. it is sickenening to watch. itit is alall too familiar. people are rightfully angry and exhausted. and after the murders of breonna and george and 70 others, it is no wonder people have taken t to the streets. and i support them. we must alwayss defend peaceful protest and peaceful protesters. we should not confuse them with ththose looting and cocommitting acts of violence. amy: during his acceptance

speech, trump also repeatedly mentioned joe biden''s name abot 41 claiming he w was a trojan hohorse for socialism and a thrt to the american dream. >> biden is a trojan horse for socialism. but he does not have the strength to stand up to wild eye marxists like bernie sanders and his fellow radicals -- and their are many. many, many. we see them all the time. incredible, actually. then how is he ever going to stand up for you? he's not. that no mistake, if you give power to joe biden, the radical left will defund police departments all across america. they will pass federal legislation to reduce law enforcement nationwide. they will make every city look like democrat-run portland, oregon. no one will be safe in biden's america.a. mymy administration will always stand with the men and women of law enforcement.

amy: to talklk more about presidenent trumump's acceptance speech and the 2020 race, we are joined b by historian rick perlstein. over the l lt 20 yearsrs, perlrlstein has written a four volulume series on the risise oe modern conservative movement. the final volume hasas just been published. it's titled "reaganland: america's right turn, 1976-80." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. can you talk about the trope come the language that president trump used last night? go beyond his speech lalast nigt and talk about what you see happening to the republican party right now. would you say last night was just a celebration of white supremacy?y? that is a think that very hard conclusion to avoid. adolf hitler's chief propagandist used to say it is easier to get the public to

believe a big lie than a small one. what he meant was, if you create such an all-encompassing completely dominating picture of ththe world that t bears nono resemblancnce to r reality, peoe mimight think that it is inconceivable e that could be false, right? that is exactly what we have seen this week in the republican convention. that this is happening while basically a young man who amounts to a terrorist, a person can committing political acts of violence believed to be inspired by the acts and wishes of a leader, has happened is something that you cannot separate from what we saw on our screens. impassionedan is an police supporter.

he goes to trump rallies. he goes online and presents beeo, believing himself to an armed vigilante, protecting the nation against these dark and frightening hordes. he comes to kenosha and everyry terrorisist believes s or claimo belilieve that they are protectg someone, their protecting order. this young gentleman goes around policee support of the who had him water from their that she e isshoots fling. people are trying to disarm him most of his first instinct is to shoot another person in the head acting basically in line with not the things that a what's writer oft nazi

pamphlet says, but the things that the president of the united states does. the picture that we are looking at of course bears careful and thoughtful resemblance to the world of the republican party made over the last four years, but to understand we need to go back to the history of strong men. go back to a hitler. amy: johns hopkins professor wrote on twitter last night -- having studied history for years, poring over endless hours dissecting how it works and looking for when it works well, the rnc convention the past three days has been some of the best produced and most effective propaganda i have seen." rick perlstein? >> i think it is effective in the sense it is goioing to realy motivate people who are within this kind of funny worldviview, the one in which the coronavirus

is referred to in the past tense and america's economy is the most awesome dynamo the world has ever seen. it of course in order to win, he needs to reach beyond that and when the majority of electoral votes. but by the same token, i made absolute commitment not to talk about the election of donald trump and his attempt to retain power only by talking about voters and electoral votes. because he is appealing so adamantly to the kind of people who will take arms -- take up arms in the streets if he loses. one thing we need to understand when it comes to the history of authoritarian strongmen is they enablers ares and so lawless that they know if they lose, they may well be called to account for the breaking of the laws. and that makes it an absolute desperate imperative that they not lose.

and that is when you see the most frightening developments. the idea that you cannot allow elections to stand. that is what we saw in chile 1970. they lost an election and that is when they bombed the presidential palace. in 1973. but that is when they seized -- the geneneral seized power by force of arms because they knew where they to lose, there would be held responsibible for the crimes that they had committed. amy correct, i would go back to the democratic national convention last week centering on the voices of anti-trump republicans but sidelining progressive democrats. i mean like eoc, for example, yes, she spoke for 60 seconds will stuff you took 90 seconds but she was not invited by the dnc, as invited by bernie sanders to nominate him. >> yeah, i want to g give it a mimixed review. they letolutely truee

the former governonor of ohio jn someone whoblican, did things like silos to allow guns in bars and was very butant pro-life activist, -- they let him beat the left-wing of the party, which was s an absolute certainty. in the same time, they went all matter.lack lives they had unbelievably galvanizing segments about the imperative to let dreamers stayy in the united statetes. ththat a great segment about femininism. so it t was this attempt to cree this big tent. but t at the same timeme, d doee highlighting of these republicans caused such a contradidiction t that the amicn people say to themselves, well, what does this party really believe?

it is absolutely scandalous that the younger generation of democrats who are, after all, organizingng quite effectively o incomeide very long-termrm it covers and were slighted. amy: in this last minute, and we will talk more about reaganland later, take us back. given chronically the rise of the conservative and republican party for decades now, wrote four books on it. take us to regulate the similarities you see reaeagan, trump, and how trumpmp has taken it further. >> i've been trying to figure out ways to discuss the subtle differences and similaririties. one thining i will say right now is ronald reagan would definitely say two plus two equals five. no question about it. but when you w would say things lilike that, it wowould be off-the-cuff stuff, not the stuff that speechwriters have written.n. whereaeas when donald trump taks thee podium and he is reading te speech, that is when he lies the most adadamantly. it shows thehe kind of line

deception propaganda authoritarianism is qualitativively more systematic than under ronald reagan. at the same time that it would not have been possible without ronald reagan and the movement around him kind of priming republican electorate and republican elected officials for and kind of lawlessnessss viciousness. amy: andnd you say that reagan s onone of the most dadangerous president t in u.s. historyry. >> there is no question. whether a guy cuts 80% out of the e public housingng budget in eight years as ronald reagan did with a smile or a scowl, the effect is the same.. the mosost dangerous ththings that ronald reagan didid as president was something we saw all over in this republican convenention, which isis the ida that people who criticize america arare not quite america. thatat is the reagan legacy, not only to america, but to the end his days. that is s something that is completely unquestioned in the reblblican pararty. amy: rick k perlstein, author of

a four line series on the rise of the modern series, the latest just published "reagananland: america's s right turn, 1976-80" when we come back, we go to the gulf coast. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org. i'm amy goodman. as we go to the gulf coast, where hurricane laura slammed ashore wednesday as an extremely dangerous category 4 storm, the strongest a louisiana and over a century before it was downgraded to a tropical storm than tropical depression. laura made landfall south of the city of lake charles near the border of louisiana and texas, where at least six people were killed. the gulf coast is home to more than half of the refining capacity. as they shut down ahead of the strum, and analysis showed just nine of the refineries would produce some 4 million pounds of excess hazardous chemicals. hurricane marie arrive 15 years after hurricane katrina struck louisiana and sets a record pace as the seventh named storm to make landfall in the united states so o far this year. for more, we are joined by hilton kelley, who lives in port

arthur, texas, about an hour from where thehe eye of the stom passed, home to the largest oil refinery in the western hemisphere, the motiva refinery. you are facing five crises all at once. like it out for us.. >> thank you for having me on the show. number one, we're dealing with a major, major issue here in the gulf cst, particicularly w with covid-19 and pre-existing conditions that many citizens are dealing g with here. of course with all the refinenees and chehemical plants in our area, there's a a large amount of various toxins that are released into the enviroronment, which we live inn the e port off their, orange, beaumont, cameron, louisiaiana, area. amy: talk about the difficulty of the evacuation. u2 finally evacuated after noah

called you and that you come your wife called you and i do. they were talking about 20 foot storm surges. if you could talk about the difficulty in a time of covid, i mean, setting up shelters, how people could be protected, even going in buses.. >> one of the e biggest concerns we had come and alalso the mayor ofof port arthur, was the factt that we're dealing with a disproportionate number of people suffering in the city of port arthur with the covid-19 virus. i know about three people personally that have sucuccumbed to thehe coronavirus and it is running rampant throughout nonot ononly this country, but also in smalall towns like port arthur, texas, beaumont, and jefferson county. but yet here we are faced with these major storms as we look down the barrel of hurricane laura, andnd they talked about e surges. everyone was sort of you willard on how we deal with this, but about dealing thing you could do

was get buses lined up and yet people sit in every other seat, which basically took away from those people that were dealing with transportation n barriers. yet at the same time, that if you something. so they lined up quite a few buses. my wife worked for the port arthur transit. she worked diligently over time, under time, and to get people lined up, give people the information they needed. they had to work well into about 3:00 a a.m., 4:0:00 a.m. i in te morning answeringng phones to gt all thee peoeople at neededd ris situtuated. and they still fell short becacause it wasn't enough transportation because of the situation wherere they had to separate people. amy: and you're largely talking about these areas that are overwhelmingly unities of color. can you talk about the oil industry, the largest refinery in the world there? when you had this can of hurricane, the combination of the hurricane come the climate crisis, and the extreme heat and

now w a fire? >> when you add it all u up and add insult to injury, whenever in have a huge storm coming an additional community like portrt arthur, texas, whwhat you find is s many of these industrs go into shutdown mode. whwhenever they going into shutdodown mode, that means they can prococess the oil a amid ale products t they were nearly mak. much of their product left in the pipeline has to be sent to the flares and actually burned, along with a lot of the gases that build up. what you see coming off the smokestackcks for the derricks s this h huge plumes of blblack se and soot. much of it is contaminated with benzene anand sulfur and otheher toxins that are not being processed. also vololatile are gegetting compounds. people arere ingesting these dangerous toxins. at the same time, dealing with covid-19 and extreme heat.t. theeally exacerbates

respiratory system and also the immune system, making us more pronee t to be affected by covid-d-19. amy: can you talk about the connection between the climatete crisis and environment racism, hilton kelelly? >> well, when you look at the fact that we know w climate chae is real. nowhere e is it more prevalent that on the south coast. what we're seeing i is sealevel rise.. what we are seeieing is extreme heat. what we are s seeing is a dispsproportionanate number of people dyiying from cance, dealing with respiratotory issu, and also succumbing to respiratory problemsms like asththma, bronchitis, and copd. offrt arthur, t texas, one out five h households s has a childr someone behind the doors that has to use a nebulizerer to breathe or tatake breathing treatmtments. it is timeme that we doo more to assist the world witithin an clclimate e change. it is time fororhe unitedd stats to get back into ththe paris

agreement. and i think trump, insnstead of rolling back some of these clean air act laws and reregulations,e should be lookingg at ways in which we can place more regulations to ensure the e safy of our citizens, not only on the gulf coast, but across thihis country. it is time we stand together and time that all citizens realize that it is up to us to make sure our environment safe and clean for all citizens. amy: hilton kelly, thank you for being with us. winner of the goldman environmental prize. executive director of the community in power and development association. thank you so much. democracy now! is s looking for feedback from m people who appreciate the closesed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new yorkrk 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

>> this is al l jazeera. ♪ you are watching the newshour, live from london. coming up, >> no justice. >> no peace. of thousands march on washington, demanding racial justice. 57 years after martin luther king gave his i have a dream speech. theers for jacob blake, black man paralyzed after being shot by police, say he is no longer handcuffed to his hospital bed. our top story.