amy: from the republican national convention in milwaukee, this is democracynow. -- this is democracy now! >> if you listen to alex jones you would believe a transnational controls our country and a lot of them are

probably sex perverts. that is probably a lot more true than jd maddow's -- the rachel maddow's view of society. amy: those are the words of republican vice presidential nominee j.d. vance speaking in a newly uncovered speech praising conspiracy theorist alex jones. we will speak to propublica's andy kroll. then we will go to the floor of the republican national convention to speak with delegates. >> they literally tried to shoot our president. first you tried to throw him in jail, then you called him a fascist, then you literate -- then you literally tried to kill the guy. amy: we will also speak to a leading immigrant rights activist here in milwaukee and look at how at the democratic national committee is pushing for joe biden to be confirmed before next month's democratic national convention in chicago despite growing calls for him to step aside.

all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now! democracynow.org. this is war peace and the presidency: breaking with convention. i'm amy goodman. in gaza, israeli forces have killed at least 42 people in air strikes on a un-run school in nuseirat, and on a so-called "safe area" in al-mawasi near khan younis. the nuseirat attack, which killed at least 23 palestinians, is at least the eighth time israel bombed an unrwa school in the past 10 days. this is a survivor of an israeli airstrike. >> this is a house full of civilians. we were asleep with our children and our the ones. we were safe and sleeping.

at 2:20 a.m. we were shocked to feel a rocket follow the house. what is the sin we have committed for an f-16 to drop a bomb on a residential house that has been destroyed in this way? amy: unrwa, the un relief and works agency for palestine refugees, reports 70% of its schools in gaza have now been bombed, and over 500 people who had taken refuge in them have been killed by israel since its war on gaza began october 7. separately, unrwa projected it will take 15 years to clear the rubble from that destruction. yemen's houthi movement is continuing its attacks on red sea vessels. houthi fighters targeted a panama-flagged and israeli-owned ship, as well as a liberian-flagged and marshall islands-owned oil tanker on the key trade route monday. no casualties were reported. the houthi movement says it will continue and escalate its attacks so long as israel continues to attack gaza. here in milwaukee, activists and community members have gathered

in the streets to condemn the police killing of 43-year-old milwaukee resident samuel sharpe. the officers who killed sharpe, an unhoused black veteran, are from ohio, and are in wisconsin as part of group of 4,500 law enforcement officials in milwaukee for the rnc. but the shooting took place a mile from the rnc's proceedings. sharpe appeared to be in the middle of an altercation with another man when the police officers charged towards him before fatally shooting him. separately, community members on tuesday rallied outside milwaukee county district attorney john chisholm's house, demanding justice for d'vontaye mitchell, the 43-year-old black father who was killed by security guards who pinned him to the ground outside the hyatt regency hotel in downtown milwaukee last month. in more news from milwaukee, anti-immigrant hate speech and misinformation about the u.s.-mexico border took center stage on the second day of the republican national convention, where several of donald trump's

former rivals took to the stage, including former un ambassador nikki haley, florida governor ron desantis, texas senator ted cruz and vivek ramaswamy. many lashed out at vice president kamala harris, saying she and biden have enforced "open border" policies that have led to a wave of what trump's campaign describes as a "migrant crime epidemic." meanwhile senator cruz claimed immigrants kill u.s. citizens "every damn day." there is no data linking immigrants to rising crime. many remarks also scapegoated asylum seekers for the smuggling of fentanyl across the southern border. evidence shows fentanyl is largely smuggled by us citizens across us ports of entry. we'll have more on the rnc later in the broadcast. in new york, a federal jury on tuesday convicted new jersey senator bob menendez of corruption on all 16 counts he faced. the disgraced democrat, once head of the powerful senate foreign relations committee, was found guilty of bribery, wire fraud, extortion, obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and acting

as a foreign agent for israel. this is prosecutor damian williams speaking after yesterday's verdict. >> this case has always been about shocking levels of corruption. hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in the form of cash, gold bars, and mercedes-benz. this was not politics as usual, this was politics for profit. now that a jury has convicted menendez, his years of selling to the highest bidder have come to an end. amy: he was convicted as a foreign agent for egypt and the united arab emirates. two menendez associates, new jersey businessmen wael hana and fred daibes, were also found guilty on all counts. senator menendez's wife, nadine menendez, was also charged in the corruption schemes but has not yet been tried. bob menendez faces years in prison when he is sentenced in october. eight of his convictions carry possible 20-year sentences. democrats are calling on menendez to resign, which would

allow new jersey's democratic governor phil murphy to fill his vacant seat. if menendez refuses to resign, he could face expulsion by his fellow senators. as sudan's warring parties continue to fight for control, unicef reports some 50,000 people have fled and sought refuge in the eastern region of qadarif with many more expected to arrive in the coming days as they escape the violence. this is unicef program coordinator nasra islan. >> so far 400 children have been registered here and are receiving several services. amy: in bangladesh, at least six people have been killed in a wave of student protests over government quotas on public sector jobs. up to 30% of those positions are reserved for the relatives of

soldiers who fought in bangladesh's independence war against pakistan in 1971. critics say the quota unfairly benefits families who support prime minister sheikh hasina. a number of government jobs are also designated for women, ethnic minorities, and disabled job applicants. those are not included in protesters grievances. schools and universities across bangladesh have down amid the growing unrest. in france, president emmanuel macron has accepted prime minister gabriel attal's resignation as the government steps down after suffering a major defeat in snap elections early this month. attal will stay on as caretaker amid ongoing uncertainty over a new government. a leftist coalition which came together just days ahead of the july 7 parliamentary election pulled off a surprise victory in a blow to both the far-right and macron. but the alliance did not secure an outright majority, and has since not been able to agree on a candidate for prime minister. macron, meanwhile, has called on centrist parties to form a ruling coalition.

in other news from france, police continue to forcibly remove undocumented immigrants around paris ahead of the summer olympics which kick off next week. this is jocelyne, an unhoused congolese mother. >> i have two children and because we are living on the streets one fell ill with asthma. it is very difficult for me with the olympic games. we do all of our activities in paris. what will become of us now? can anyone find a solution? amy: in more olympic news, amnesty international has slammed france separates policy banning muslim athletes from wearing headscarves. the group said "banning athletes from competing with sports hijabs at the olympic and paralympic games makes a mockery of claims that paris 2024 is the first gender equal olympics and lays bare the racist gender discrimination that underpins access to sport in france."

amnesty international said. and a new u.s. senate reports finds amazon prime day results in a massive spike in warehouse worker injuries. an investigation by senator bernie sanders' health, education, labor and pensions committee found that amazon prime day in 2019 led to a whopping 45% of amazon warehouse workers sustaining injuries. bernie sanders said of the findings quote "amazon may be a $2 trillion corporation. its owner, jeff bezos, may be worth $215 billion, but that does not give them the right to put their $36 billion in annual profits ahead of the health and safety of their workers. this type of corporate greed must end," sanders said. those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now, democracynow.org. war peace and the presidency: breaking with

convention. nor video has appeared of j.d. vance praising conspiracy theorist alex jones as a truth teller. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "great waves" by dirty three. this is democracy now! democracynow.org. i am amy goodman. ohio senator j.d. vance is preparing to make his first speech tonight after being tapped by donald trump to be his running mate. vance will headline the republican national convention tonight. on tuesday propublica published a newly uncovered 2021 speech vance made a year before he was elected to the senate. the video shows vance addressing an invitation only group of young conservatives. the chair of the group is leonard leo. this is part of what j.d. vance said. >> if you listen to alex jones

every day you would believe that a transnational financial elite controls things in our country, that they hate our society and a lot of them are probably sex perverts. sorry, that is a lot more true than rachel maddow's view. the second criticism i get is he is a crazy conspiracists, he does not believe 9/11 happened or he believes 9/11 was an inside job. i understand this desire to not be called terrible names. this person believes crazy things but if you're being honest with yourself everybody in this room believe something that is little crazy. i believe the devil is real and he works terrible things in our society. that is a crazy conspiracy theory to a lot of well-educated people in this country. even though they participate in it without knowing about it but that is a separate matter.

amy: during the same 2021 speech, j.d. vance talked about the billionare tech investor peter thiel who would go on to spend over $10 million to help vance get elected to the senate in 2022. >> ladies and gentlemen, the most important truths often come from people who are crazy 60% of the time and they are right 40% of the time. i do not know elon musk well. i have had conversations with him. elon musk believes some crazy stuff. i am close friends with peter theil. he is one of the most important sources of nonconventional truth in our society. we have to get away from this weird tension when someone says this person believe something crazy so you must denounce them. amy: that was j.d. vance

speaking in 2021. he was elected to the senate in 2022. that video obtained by propublica and documented. joining us is andy kroll, the investigative reporter for pro publicly. his due piece is headlined "in private speech, j.d. vance said the devil is real and praised alex jones as a truth-teller." tell us about what you found. >> we got this video of a speech and then candidate j.d. vance that gives an unvarnished look into what j.d. vance believes in into what he says to an audience of his peers. people he sees as leaders, future elected officials, future business leaders from the conservative movement. we hear him talk about how he believes tucker carlson is possibly the leader of the conservative movement.

we hear him say alex jones is a truth teller. marjorie taylor greene is a nonconventional person who should be defended by conservatives. you get a rare look at vance, unvarnished, unfiltered. this was an invitation only event. this was all friends and like-minded conservatives. amy: i want to go to the next clip. back to more of what j.d. vance said before he was senator in this private 2021 speech. >> for a long time a lot of us have been talking about this problem. it has been a few of us who have recognized the big corporations have turned against conservatives in a big and powerful way. we see this in a number of different ways. one is recently this texas abortion law. texas tries to pass a law that protects the right of the unborn to live their lives.

set aside the legal technicalities about whether that law will survive legal challenges. i don't know. i went to a real law school so i'm not a good lawyer. the fundamental problem reveals itself because every major big corporation in this country felt the need to issue a statement in support of not be unborn babies, but in support of people who might want to abort them. a few major corporations put a lot of money behind the effort to make it easier to achieve an abortion. the one ceo i am aware of of a medium-sized tech company who spoke up on behalf of the unborn was fired three days later. if we are unwilling to make companies that are taking the side of the left and the culture wars feel real economic pain we are not serious about winning the culture war. that is challenge number one. amy: that is j.d. vance in 2021 just before he is elected to the senate for the first time in

2022. now in 2024 as a 39-year-old former marine he has been tapped to be the vice presidential running mate of president trump. talk about the significance of what he says on abortion. >> it is significant on a few levels. it is a window into his thinking that somehow the largest corporations in america have been captured by the "whoop left -- the "woke left" or political correctness. we are expected to believe walmart or any of these major corporations are agents of the democratic party or the left, which does not hold up to scrutiny. the more interesting part is what he says, that we need to make these companies feel pain if they engage in these culture wars and that gives you a glimpse into how he thinks as an electorate official and how he might -- he thinks as an elected

official and how he might think as a vice president. they will use the levers of government to make the corporations feel pain. amy: let's go back to alex jones . for people who are not familiar with who he is and the significance of the comparisons he was making between rachel maddow and alex jones, talk about his record. >> alex jones is the most notorious conspiracy theorist in america. he rose to prominence promoting conspiracy theories that 9/11 was a government cover-up or an inside job. he spread conspiracy theories about vaccines, conspiracy theories about an "new world order." he is america's conspiracists in chief. his lies have caught up with him. in recent years his claims the sandy hook school shooting was a hoax falls flat. it led to court judgments against him totaling $1.5

billion brought by the families of the victims of sandy hook. he has been made to quite literally pay, yet j.d. vance is saying this is someone who speaks truth, this is someone who we should defend even if he has nonconventional or unconventional ideas. i think that is an important piece of information to understand about his running mate. amy: i want to be very clear on sandy hook. he is contending something the parents wish was true, that this massacre was not real, that those murdered children were not murdered, that they are somewhere else and their parents are actors? >> the parents are actors. there was a larger plot at work to use this "fake tragedy" to seize people's guns or curtail their second amendment rights. none of that is true. courts in texas and connecticut ruler grants tim -- ruled

against him in a very aggressive way. alex jones may not end up with info wars media company or any of his other properties by the end of this process. this is the person j.d. vance is saying conservatives need to stand up for. amy: how did you get a hold of this tape and how has the trump/vance ticket responded? >> we obtained the tape as part of a larger reporting project on the teneo network. this is a group chaired by leonard leo, legal activist on the right that is trying to replicate what leo did for the judicial system which is loading it with conservative originalists to create that pipeline, but in every other area of america life. he wants to do what he has done to the supreme court.

leonard leo responded to the story and said j.d. vance has been and continues to be a member of the teneo network. the trump campaign did not respond to the story. we are still hoping they will. amy: us about peter theiel. >> he is a fascinating character . a techno-libertarian who has propagated a number of idiosyncratic ideas. he was a supporter of donald trump in 2016. he was a mentor to j.d. vance when vance was a tech investor, a member of the silicon valley elite. when j.d. vance ran for senate in 2022 peter thiel was a donor and a big supporter. the question now is will peter thiel come off the sidelines

now that his protege is donald trump's running mate? that is something we are looking into. amy: peter thiel took down gawker. amy: with the help of -- >> with the help of hulk hogan. amy: i want to give one more clip of the tape you uncovered of j.d. vance speaking in 2021. >> challenge two is basic truth telling. we live in a society that is terrified to tell the truth. on the left people are terrified to point out the obvious that men and women are different and want different things, at least as an average matter and there are real biological, cultural, religious, spiritual distinctions between men and women. what did transgender -- what the

transgender thing is about as fundamentally denying basic reality. amy: that was j.d. vance. talk more about the significance of what he is saying. >> the statement in a way speaks for itself. deny that transgender people anywhere exist. that that identity is not real and not legitimate. for anyone who is transgender, supports transgender rights, the ability to access health care, gender affirming care, you should probably note that j.d. vance has taken this position quite clearly. it does not put them out of step with the rest of the republican party but it does show in the most unvarnished way where he stands on this issue of trans rights. amy: also on the issue -- last night we were on the floor all night of the republican national convention. one of the people who spoke was

montana senatorial candidate and he got up and said i am tim sheehy, that is right, those are my pronouns. more often delegates are saying usa, those are my pronouns. >> it is classic culture war reactionary commentary. i heard tim sheehy or someone else end their speech with boys are boys and girls are girls, this is america, to roaring applause from the audience. this position on trans americans and trans rights is something at the forefront of this election but also in the air platform wide by republicans in 2024. amy: speaking of what is in the air, i wanted to go to the floor of the republican national convention last night. we were there talking to people.

i spoke with arizona delegate and state representative alexander kolodin. i caught up with him just after he was heckling nikki haley as she took the stage to express her unity with president trump. at first the arizona delegate was cordial. what you think of nikki haley being up there? >> it was shocking. i am glad she did what she should have done along time ago which is drop out and endorse donald trump for president. i think people like her are poison within the blood of the republican party. they want to co-opt this party to use it to line the pockets of defense contractor buddies at the risk of incinerating our children in nuclear war. they are disgusting and reprehensible and they need to go away. amy: what you think about what happened on january 6?

>> in arizona? amy: i am a reporter for democracy now! do you know democracy now!? is a newshour and radio show. >> i think you guys have lost your position to talk about january 6 after you tried to assassinate our president. amy: excuse me? >> you have lost your privilege to go on about january 6 when you would literally tried to shoot our president. first you tried to throw him in jail, then you call him a fascist, then you tried to use the deep state to kill the guy. you have lost your privileges to talk about january 6. that is all i will say? amy: what do you say about it?

>> i think it stopped trying to kill our president. if you say yard for democracy you should allow the american people to have a real choice. amy: with that alexander delegate and state representatives alexander kolod in stormed away. it turns out he was active in attempting to overturn the 2020 election and also also represented arizona congressmember paul gosar and other connected lawmakers tied to the january 6 insurrection. it was not clear if he knew we were democracy now! public television and radio. not clear exactly what he was saying. on sunday he tweeted "the cia/fbi got rid of jfk and are trying to get rid of trump. what do these men have in common? they took on the deep state and tried to restore the republic."

your response? >> i am troubled to hear a delegate and an elected official in arizona. from listening to that take he understood you were a reporter, independent media. the fact that he is pointing the blame at journalists and journalists doing their jobs, just asking questions for the attempted assassination of donald trump is quite disturbing and it is not the first time i have heard this. we just watched a video of congresswoman marjorie taylor greene very clearly talking to a reporter from the times u.k. and saying it was the media that deserves blame for this assassination attempt on former president trump. we do not know the background, the motives, anything about the actual shooter. the fact this is another elected

official at this convention who is trying to push this notion that media is to blame for this horrific incident is a deeply troubling thing to hear. the conspiracy theories, i've have written a lot about conspiracy theories. in some ways those are familiar. people like this arizona delegate are a dime a dozen, unfortunately with these kind of claims. is this most recent claim about the shooting in pennsylvania that i think is a dangerous thing to be saying. amy: i want to turn to another issue and ask you about the supreme court. president biden is reportedly preparing to endorse major changes to the nation's highest court, including establishing term limits and enforceable code of ethics. biden is also reportedly considering a call for a constitutional amendment that would eliminate broad immunity

for presidents and other officials. andy, you and other reporters at propublica have reported extensively on ethics issues involving supreme court justices. can you talk about this latest news? >> the president is trying to do what some of his democratic colleagues in the senate have been demanding for more than a year, which is some kind of ethics code for the supreme court that has teeth. as we saw last year the supreme court in response to the reporting we did and others did introduced the first ethics code in the history of the u.s. supreme court. as we pointed out immediately afterward that ethics code has no enforcement mechanisms. it is self enforcing. as we have seen from the behavior of clarence thomas, scalia, samuel alito, this self enforcing notion does not work and we should not expect it to.

president biden's reported proposal would be an ethics regime that would be enforceable and also term limits. senators have already introduced a bill that would introduce an 18 year term limit and create a rolling process for the justices to go on and off the court. this plan that we have been talking about faces long odds in congress where it would require approval with a super majority in the senate, a slim republican majority in the house. that is a tough task to take. it is on some level encouraging that the president has seen the reporting we have done and others have done and decided that some kind of reform is necessary. clearly it is from what we have reported. amy: andy kroll, i want to thank you so much for being with us. investigative reporter for propublica. his recent book is titled "a

death on w street: the murder of seth rich in the age of conspiracy." we will link to his new piece on propublica. in a private speech j.d. vance said the devil is real and praised alex jones on a truth teller. this is democracy now! democracynow.org. anti-immigrant hate speech took center stage on the second day of the republican national convention. their theme, immigration and safety. donald trump's campaign screened and add scapegoating migrants and asylum-seekers for rising crime in the united states. state with us. -- stay with us. >> this is the man responsible for your family's safety and he has failed you terribly. biden made one of the worst

mistakes of any president in history when he told illegals to come here and surge our borders. >> i would tell them to immediately surge to the border. >> and they did. 10 million. his open borders was a violent invitation for sex traffickers and it is now confirmed isis terrorists entered through the open border, putting america on high alert for an attack and your family at great risk. >> we immediately surge to the border. >> it gets worse. biden's incompetence has led to 300,000 americans now dead, not from a nuclear bomb but from fentanyl brought in through bidens border. on his watch and off illegal fennel has crossed our borders to king -- enough illegal

fentanyl has crossed our borders to kill every single america. amy: that was an ad falsely claiming bidens so-called open border policies have facilitated the smuggling of fentanyl. evidence shows fentanyl is largely smuggled by u.s. citizens across u.s. ports of entry. some of the images that were shown in the ad's of caravans of migrants, many of them families as they attempt to reach the u.s. mexico border to seek relief. for more we are joined in milwaukee by longtime immigrant rights activist christine neumann-ortiz, founding executive director of voces de la frontera and voces de la frontera action. welcome to democracynow -- welcome to democracy now! >> it is my pleasure. amy: you have over at the

convention center and add that is airing blaming rising crime and drug abuse in this country on immigrants. >> i compare it to when trump ran in 2016 and what was shocking was this gross generalization of immigrants that was a real pandora's box to what we have seen, which has been the growth of a far-right movement in the united states consolidated under the -- to the present within the gop led by trump. the self decried party of trump and whose primary platform is promoting hateful rhetoric, promoting authoritarianism, and promoting violence. it has become a white supremacist party and is a real threat to democracy. that is the real threat to

democracy is their record, their rhetoric, and their platform if they are allowed to achieve a second term. it obviously is best exemplified with their attack against immigrants, which they portray as cartels as opposed to immigrants and asylum-seekers who are coming to the united states to seek refuge or to contribute to our economy, to contribute to our communities, and that the biggest problem we have is not this false narrative on crime, which goes counter to all of the evidence just as you said in terms of the fentanyl being largely brought in by u.s. citizens at legal ports of entries or crime in general in areas where there are more undocumented people, and especially when you have policies that promote public safety where law enforcement does not play in immigration

enforcement role. on the contrary you have less crime. those are safer communities. it ignores the humanity of immigrants. he recently made a comment that we will have to deport all of these people, it will be some bad guys and i am sure there will be a good mother there and then he laughed and others laughed with him. it is that kind of dehumanization and this promotion of the cruel policies of rounding people up and tearing them apart from their families without regard to their contributions that is the greatest danger and has contributed to hate crimes. amy: they have continually attack what they call president biden and harrises open border policy -- and harris's open border policies. >> is a joke. amy: biden has been criticized

by progressives for further militarizing the border, following through on president trump in his first term. >> since biden came into office he upheld programs like title 42 which was a program by trump and stephen miller. also programs like remain in mexico, trying to put more money onto the border to prevent asylum-seekers, working with other governments to push them out, and is being sued, just as trump was being sued, because it is a violation of human rights laws. it is very contrary. the reality is these enforcement only policies we have, the only thing that has contributed to his empowering cartels because then you have created a black-market and you've also created a humanitarian crisis for people already fleeing dangerous conditions, whether domestic abuse, cartels, natural disasters are now pray to these cartels. we need a legal system for

people who have been in the united states for decades and a legal system on our border that will invest in integrating and amplifying people's full potential, especially in a tight labor market where we need to benefit from more working people. that is something the gop has also been blocking because they want this crisis to use it to demonize and run on this platform of hate. amy: we covered the protest of hundreds of people here in milwaukee right before the convention opened. that does not compare to the protests that will take place in chicago at the democratic convention. i am not talking about trump supporters stop there may be trump supporters protesting biden. i am talking about grassroots activists from around the country. last night i bumped into chicago police and i asked them what were their plans for chicago?

they said it is going to be chaos. you are here critiquing the trump administration. what would a second trump term mean following up on a first term when it comes to migrants and asylum-seekers? >> is a very serious situation. he is going to fulfill his promise to be dictator on day one because we have seen his pathway to power through the project 2025 and control of all of the federal government agencies by his ideologues. amy: go further into project 2025, purge earthly as it relates to immigration. this -- particularly as it relates to immigration which trump says he knows nothing about but now a tape has been unearthed of him praising this project helmed by the heritage foundation. >> a number of those people were trump advisors in his first

administration and have ties to white supremacist organizations. a big part of it is reflected in the gop platform. it includes the largest military style deportation of immigrants in this country and this includes not just people on the border but it includes people inside united states who have been here for decades. it also includes eliminating the family-based immigration system we have that is something many people value. his supporters as well have also benefited from those programs. that ability to petition a family member. the other piece is to eliminate a lot of the due process rights that people would have by these expedia aided large detention centers and flying people out immediately to eliminate the ability to have legal rights.

bringing back these anti-sanctuary policies that would try to take away federal funding from cities or states that have policies that have shown to be -- to promote more public safety by d-link king local law enforcement from federal -- by delinking federal law -- local law enforcement from federal. amy: can you talk about the immigrants rights movements and how it grew out of the trump administration? >> here in wisconsin one of the things we saw as was seen across the country was a real coordinated effort to implement these sanctuary policies. it was beautiful and inspiring to see so many diverse people come together to pass what are called welcoming centers. in milwaukee county or in the city or through the sheriff we were able to link efforts to

affirm our cities are welcoming communities, that we value the diversity of all people, that certain schools and areas will be safe zones so immigration cannot just come in and do raid sweeps. one of the most important ones was national as well. a large strike called the day without latinos that kind of went viral. it started in wisconsin and went viral where workers protested by going on strike to affirm their positive economic contributions. in our case it was directly related to the effort of this 287g program that was going to be implemented in milwaukee county. because of thousands of people going out on a general strike and forming coalitions we were able to drive out the former sheriff clark and also get rid of this program.

there were also mass protests against the separation of families policy. this is a program that j.d. vance as well as trump wanted to bring back. they want to fuel everything. in part the pandemic cap interrupted that process. in a second term under this new federal control of his people, he has definitely said he wants to bring back those policies and it is sickening. what does it mean? it means he celebrates tearing a child away from their parents as they did in these detention centers, deporting them regardless of what the consequences were. also fighting to remove protections for their well-being against physical abuse, sexual abuse, just having food and water, proper treatment, all of that he is fighting to remove so that immigrants cannot get that chair. it is very disconcerting if we

-- so immigrants cannot get that care. it is very disconcerting. when they talk about immigrants is only certain people from certain countries and for everybody else is these policies of cruelty and mass deportation that would have huge consequences around human rights . also around destabilizing our economy because immigrants, for example here in wisconsin 80% work in the dairy industry. the collapse of an entire industry. immigrants are not taking jobs, they are complementing jobs and have been helping bring down inflation, whether we have had opportunities such as daca have been able to fill other jobs where they are needed and that is the benefit for everyone. amy: i want to go to florida governor ron desantis joking about his efforts tricking asylum-seekers when they were being flown tomorrow there's

been yard -- when they were being flown to martha's vineyard in 2022. this is him speaking at the rnc. >> biden is just a figurehead. he is a tool for imposing a leftist agenda on the american people. they support open borders, allowing millions of illegal aliens to pour into our country and burden our community. you not send any to martha's vineyard, then they get really upset. amy: that is florida governor ron desantis. your response? >> that is the perfect example of the kind of demonization and cruelty affecting real people where you have people who are asylum-seekers fleeing violence who were tricked into these buses to be dumped off as a political act regardless of

their rights and also the opportunity to be integrated into society. there is no sympathy. what i would say is that my message is we cannot allow a second trump administration. i look at it not even as the candidates but as a political movement, a social justice movement. under which administration will be able to defend the gains we have made on all kinds of issues and under which administration are we going to be able to advance our rights? the question is not so much about the candidates, is about the social justice movements. we cannot afford an authoritarian government to come to power and we must defend what we have achieved and make sure we advance on those progress. amy: how are you organizing in the swing state of wisconsin for november? >> three ways.

our statewide voter program has been packing a punch since 2018 and we will continue to build that out. we built that out to 23,000 latino voters and youth which would involve knocking on doors and talking to people. relational program is at the heart of it. i encourage other people and other states to do that. it is who you know. you are the trusted messenger and you need to get the word out because every vote counts. amy: christine neumann-ortiz, founder and executive director of voces de la frontera and voces de la frontera action. coming up, the democratic national committee is pushing for joe biden to be nominated before next month's democratic national convention in chicago despite growing calls for him to step aside. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "we live in a dump" by they might be giants. this is democracy now!. democracynow.org. or, peace, and the presidency breaking from convention. we are live in milwaukee. we've expanded our coverage to two hours each day. check our website or your local station to get expanded coverage. california congress member adam schiff warrant donors democrats would lose the presidency, control of the senate come and miss out on the chance to reclaim the house unless president biden steps aside. adam schiff reportedly made the comments during the private fundraising dinner in new york.

this amid mounting fears of biden's ability to be trump -- to beat trump following a disastrous first debate. emme kratz appear to be moving ahead holding a virtual vote confirming biden as their nominee weeks before the democratic national convention begins in chicago on august 19. we are joined again by john nichols, the the nation's national affairs correspondent, and his new piece is headlined if democrats suck the life out of their convention they will damage party prospects in november. we had you on. we were going into the convention and you are going out. you said you were there to cover the rnc but you found yourself spending so much time dealing with the democrats. what exactly is happening? >> is a big story. in some way it might be a bigger story than what we are dealing with right here.

next month the democrats will gather in chicago and they are re-nominating a president. that is supposed to be a standard or boring procedure. except we have all of the controversy with biden. the democratic national committee and apparently the biden campaign have been educating for twice a while -- have been agitating for quite a while to move the rollcall vote which is supposed to take place during the convention up to -- initially they talk about august 7. now they are talking about moving it to perhaps as soon as next week. joe biden could be nominated for president next week, even though the convention is almost a month away. amy: if you could explain. this is a time, it is a colorful thing at the rnc and dnc, each state says they nominate. they wear cheese on their head. no offense to anyone here. each one hails their state and then nominates their candidate. we had first heard they wanted

to get away from this at the democratic convention because they were concerned about protests around gaza. this has become so bold. then they said ohio needed this approval before they could what? >> you set me up well. what you just said sounded a little bit confusing. because it is confusing. in a sense an argument can be made that some of the democratic powerbrokers have decided to create confusion, to create a circumstance where people are like this sounds messy, maybe we ought to just lock it in before the convention. get it all done. the initial argument they had was the state of ohio had an early deadline and you had the meat that headlined to get your candidate on the ballot. that is important. you do not want to not be on the ballot in ohio. i hope i'll -- ohio lily said we will give you a waiver until

september 1. everyone said that is not a problem. after that was done it should have been off. we should have said go to the convention. instead they keep agitating and they keep bringing up the ohio thing, saying we do not know if we can trust ohio or something like that. the end result is what we know, right now dnc votes as well as democratic party folks associated with the biden campaign appeared to be going ahead with an effort to get the dnc to set a so-called virtual row call date -- virtual roll call date. that would be next week. you would then have a situation where biden and harris are renominated. by the time you get to the convention the main point of the convention -- i know conventions are theater and lots of speeches. at a fundamental level the main point is the nominating process. you choose someone to run for president and vice president.

you establish a platform for them to run on. if you take all of that energy out of it a month before, two things happen. number one, you potentially silence the effort to question whether joe biden should be the nominee. that is a serious issue. polling is very concerning to many democrats. you also do somebody else. you create a format, a template for the convention where there is no dialogue, there is no debate with those 35 or more delegates uncommitted to raise the issue of gaza are not put in the position where they can raise it, where the platform is not debated. i will tell you something. i am a historian of the democratic party. i wrote a book about it. the democratic party benefits by exciting engaged conventions. it does not harm the democratic party. it will not harm joe biden if it is an in exciting convention.

what will harm the democratic party is if they so diminish this convention that when people get to chicago everything has been done but some speeches. amy: when it comes to the democratic national convention, you have president biden saying what during his nato press conference. delegates can vote their conscience. what does that mean? >> depending on whether we believe it. i am not questioning joe biden but it is a relatively formal step to release your delegates to say you can vote for who you want. some people's interpretation is that is what he was saying. i would like to see a little more backup on that before it happens. essentially, that is what nikki haley did. nikki haley said her delegates were released and they can vote for who they wanted. they can vote for donald trump. the challenge on this at the

democratic convention works like this. most of biden stoners would probably vote for him no matter what. there is great -- most of biden's donors would probably vote for him no matter what. there is great loyalty to biden. some of that might organize an effort to say we are concerned. amy: that is growing. >> if they were released you would see the prospect of a substantial vote for someone else, for an alternative. again, if you think this is unprecedented, it is not. in 1948 when harry truman was seeking his first term as president he was very unpopular. his polls were terrible. the party was divided. they have very intense convention. they put a civil rights plank in and lo and behold he won. the intensity help truman win. amy: john nichols, the nation's national affairs correspondent. we will link to his new article,

if democratic leaders suck the life out of their 2024 convention they will damage party prospects in november. that does it for our expanded to our broadcast each day from the republican convention. we are accepting applications for a director of development to