holland cook, thanks so much. that's "the ed show." i'm ed schultz. "politicsnation" with reverend al sharpton starts right now. good evening, rev. >> good evening, ed. don't worry, ed, i'm still doing three hours of radio, you can come on my show any day you want. any time you want, we love you, ed. we love you. >> i do, too. thank you, rev, appreciate that. >> thank you, thank you, and thanks to you for tuning in. tonight's lead, the gop runs right off the cliff. today, establishment republicans are celebrating the demise of the tea party at the primary victories last night. and on one level, the so-called establishment did win, but headlines like this, "gop establishment strikes back," really only tell half of the story. the gop establishment won by becoming the tea party. and the far right extremism is

as strong as ever. in the 10th georgia congressional district, republican jody hice got 33% of the vote. he'll face a runoff vote, despite saying things like this. >> a town that has a secular world view. what do you get in secularism? you get higher divorce rates, you get greater crime issues, you have problems with stds, you've got folks on drugs. you've got folks that don't -- you've got crime. you have to lock your doors at night when you go to bed. >> a secular world view increases std and crime? that radical rhetoric is still very much alive on the right. tootie smith won the primary in oregon's 5th congressional. she helped raise money for one campaign by raffling off a .9-millimeter glock handgun.

bob barr will be in a runoff in georgia's 11th district. back in the '90s, he led the charge to impeach president clinton, and now he's back at it. >> pulled out of a file in my office, the house resolution, the house resolution that i introduced on november 5th of 1997 that was the very first official inquiry of impeachment filed against bill clinton. i took that document, figuratively kind of dusted it off, added a little bit of language to it, and darned if it doesn't sound pretty good with barack obama's name in there. >> so, the big establishment win is really a win in name only. and here's where it really matters. the battle for the senate. three republicans who advanced last night, mitch mcconnell, tom

cotton, and james risch all oppose the minimum wage, all oppose background checks for gun sales, all oppose abortion and federal funding for it, and all oppose the affordable care act. these are popular policies, even majorities of republican voters are for the minimum wage and background checks. there's your establishment gop, ladies and gentlemen. so how can democrats win? how can they politically attack, and how can they save the senate to protect the obama agenda? joining me now is former democratic governor from montana and national journal's michelle coddle. thank you both for joining me. >> thanks, rev. >> good to be back, rev. >> governor, let me go to you first. what do you think, has the gop establishment sold its soul to become more and more like the tea party?

>> well, the gop establishment created the tea party. theys a tro turfed this. koch money came out and they focused on some of these people who are republicans, but to the right of the republican mainstream, and so they got all these people organized and they got them boiling tea and they got them talking about being against the government and spending and they got stronger and stronger and stronger, and now they are just a bunch of crack pots, but that is now the center of the republican party. >> you know, michelle, i mention tom cotton, a republican, right? he won the senate nomination in arkansas. now, earlier this month he said the president is anticonstitutional. listen to this. >> i want to discuss the anticonstitutional excesses of the obama administration. the prefix "anti," means opposed to or hostile to, and this term,

i think, better captures our president, the spirit of his administration, and, in fact, the spirit of modern liberalism. barack obama's anticonstitutional attitude should come as little surprise, since he denies the moral foundation of our governing charter. >> i mean, is this the establishment winning last night? >> well, look, i think anti is also the central prefix we need to deal with here in terms of who's winning these races. anti-obamaism is still driving the party, and if you talk to tea party leaders, they are pretty up front about the fact that of course they would want their chosen ideal candidates to win, but they are actually pretty happy with where they are taking the party in general. you know, they talk about how the party is now discussing the budget and the deficit much more on their terms than it was before, so they see a silver lining in this, even if they don't always get their particular candidate. >> now, governor, let me go back to about the democrats winning. focus on the democrats and what

they can politically fight. what is the strategy? there's widespread support for key parts of the progressive agenda. 69% of americans support raising the minimum wage. 65% support extending long-term unemployment benefits. 68% support a path to citizenship. 85% support stricter background checks on gun sales. can republicans really pivot back to the center after running so far right in these primary elections, governor? >> well, the vast majority of america, the middle part of america, believes in public education, believes in these safety nets for people with disabilities. they believe that we ought to have a higher minimum wage. they believe that the middle class needs to be stronger, but the republicans have had this message that democrats are not good with money and your taxes are going to go up. now, they didn't complain when

reagan blew the top out of the budget and raised taxes and george h. bush raised taxes, george w. bush blew the top of the budget and they didn't complain about any of that. now they are complaining that democrats aren't good with money and they are trying to make that stick. i think the democrats who say, look, we are for efficient government, we are going to have the size government that you need for your safety net, those are the ones that are going to be successful. do not allow the republicans to say they are good with money and we are not. >> that's how you run against republicans, because you've run against them in your state of montana. you've gotten a lot of votes. how do you run against them in 2014? >> same way. you are a democrat who's responsible, that believes in these safety nets, that believes in good government and these republicans are extremists. they are extremists on social issues, they are extremists on the safety net for the vast majority of america, and you

just have to tell that story. >> michelle, you know, the battle for the senate is the big story line. i mean, republicans only need six seats to take control of the senate. so far they've avoided nominating disastrous senate candidates like they had in 2010. i mean, people like christine o'donald in delaware who infamously had to tell everyone that she isn't a witch. listen. >> i'm not a witch. i'm nothing you've heard. i'm you. none of us are perfect. i'll go to washington and do what you'd do. >> so, i mean, we don't see any disasters like that so far in the lineup, but, i mean, with the spotlight, do you see any flubs coming, michelle? >> well, i think the party's worked really hard to weed out the people they think are most likely to have a moment like that, but you still have a lot of candidates who say a lot of

things that could get them in trouble. you know, in the georgia primary for senate, there are two guys running and jack kingston has said things like he thinks poor school children should have to sweep floors so that they learn there's no such thing as a free lunch, you know, you have very conservative candidates running, which plays extremely well with the republican base, but they are going to have to kind of watch themselves as they go forward, because you're not seeing moderates. the establishment won, but we're not talking about a moderate establishment. we're not talking about mike cassel, who christine o'donald beat out in that primary. we're talking about very conservative candidates, who in a lot of these districts, they'll be fine, but especially for senate when you're running statewide, you have to watch yourself. >> all right. i saw you nodding your head, governor. >> well, you know, the georgia primary has nine more weeks for these two cats to say some crazy things. michelle nunn is going to step back and watch this cockfight go

on. they are going to say some pretty whacky things down there, and a lot of the rest of these republican candidates, they'll say some whacky things if people ask them some questions. they try and hide what their real agenda is, but if you keep pushing them and you keep asking enough questions, they'll run out of answers and they'll start saying the stuff they really believe. >> now, you know, michelle, the governor's point i want to go back to a minute, and that is there is a progressive agenda here for the democrats to run on, including the affordable health care act and the fact that if they get these six seats, the republicans, they can, in effect, stop everything this president would want to do, confirmation from judges, to cabinet positions if they become available. if a supreme court seat becomes available, they could stop him from confirming it. couldn't the democrats, michelle, run on the progressive

agenda and on what happens if they lose the senate? >> well, you know, you've seen republicans, like mitch mcconnell in kentucky, trying to nationalize their races, saying that their opponents are just an extension of obama. but there is an argument to be made that the democrats who are trying to run away from obama are missing an opportunity here, because americans tend to like divided government a lot of the time. they are not going to like the image of a republican senate and a republican house and then, you know, the spectrum of republican in 2016 kind of controlling everything and undoing the progressive agenda, which as you point out, is extremely popular in many cases, you know, from minimum wage through the health care act. >> i'm going to have to leave it there. brian and michelle, thank you both for your time tonight. >> thanks, rev. >> thanks, rev. ahead, paul ryan recently talked about a problem with work in our inner cities.

now house republicans are trying to take food away from urban children. plus, a story you have to see to believe. you'll hear from a former person who once went undercover as a member of the ku klux klan. and talk show host pat sajak is having a lot of trouble solving the global warming puzzle. we'll take a few spins at his wheel of distortion tonight.

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now it's time for the "politicsnation" question of the day. we want to know, do you think the taxpayer is on the decline? the answers are, no, some candidates lost but others are

still strong. maybe, but it's pulled other republicans further to the right. or, yes, the tea party is weakening. or, it's too early to say. check back after 2016. well, you can vote on facebook or on twitter. so vote now. we'll have your answers later in the show. nineteen years ago, we thought, "wow, how is there no way to tell the good from the bad?" so we gave people the power of the review. and now angie's list is revolutionizing local service again. you can easily buy and schedule services from top-rated providers. conveniently stay up to date on progress. and effortlessly turn your photos into finished projects with our snapfix app. visit angieslist.com today. ♪ and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase i make a lot of purchases for my business. like 60,000 bonus points

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nearly 16 million children are food insecure, 16 million. and now house republicans are deciding which ones should eat and which ones shouldn't is because of a new bill they are pushing. it specifies that only rural areas in appalachia can benefit from a summer lunch program helping children from low-income households. urban areas are excluded. now this only affects this particular lunch program, but are we supposed to tell poor kids that a lifeline can be denied because of their zip code? kids like this. >> department of public health and human services says one in five kids across the state are hungry. >> for another year, cities like rio rancho in albuquerque are offering summer meal programs to kids, getting kids the proper nutrition they need to grow, nutrition that otherwise -- >> they might not be eating at all. >> there's a little bit of money

issues now. >> students like laura say the meals are really helpful. >> it cuts expenses on my family. >> are we supposed to tell that little girl she should go hungry simply because she lives in an urban area? that's wrong. and here's what's worse. the person whose name is on this bill is this man, alabama congressm congressman. would you believe it, his district is 65% rural and it just happens to include the appalachian counties that benefit under this new program. we reached out for an explanation, but so far his office has declined to comment. my guess is that this is pretty hard to justify, even by gop standards. joining me now is congressman chaka, democrat from pennsylvania, thank you for

coming on the show tonight. >> reverend, as always, you're doing the work of angels. now that you pointed this out, they are running in full retreat. i'm sure you're going to see them correct what they, obviously, you know, want us to believe is a slip-up, but they have been targeting so many efforts, you know, the first lady's effort in terms of trying to get nutritious foods to kids, they want schools to be able to opt out. they've been trying to cut a number of these programs, so this seems to be a situation where, you know, the shoe is kind of fitting in the sense that they haven't shown the same level of empathy for children in our cities like new york or atlanta or chicago or philadelphia as they want to show in terms of rural areas. the summer lunch program is critically important, because our young people, some will admit to you and the experts will tell you for certain, that the best food they get each day is when they are in school.

when they are out of school in the summer, these programs run by churches and faith organizations and city governments and youth camps are very important. >> now, can you imagine them trying to justify how they cut out urban areas, how they cut out certain people by zip code? i mean, how could they possibly justify this? >> well, it can't be justified, and that's why it has to be corrected, and that's the usefulness of using the public airways to make sure that we point this out so that the majority party will correct it, if not, it will be corrected in the senate. the president would not sign a bill that would cut this program for urban areas and just provide it for rural areas. we're very concerned about kids in rural appalachia, but we're also concerned about kids in our large or urban cities also. >> oh, absolutely, and we're not advocating they choose one or the other, we're saying all of the kids need to benefit.

and, you know, the right has repeatedly blasted the need for summer lunch programs. listen to this, congressman. >> these free summer lunches come with a side of controversy. critics who wonder if this come one come all invitation won't have taxpayers feeding every child, whether they are needy or not. >> the president really has transformed america from a dynamic, prosperous growth economy into a bureaucracy that redistributes wealth. women, infants, and children, the wic program, 8 million there. the milk and summer food program goes to 2 million people. >> there are videos that have been produced to show you how to healthfully dine and how to dumpster dive and survive until school kicks back up in august. can you imagine the benefit we would provide people? >> now, congressman, isn't this really part of the larger demonization of the poor? i mean, look at the ryan budget. 69% of the cuts targets from

low-income programs, yet 219 house republicans voted for it this year, congressman. >> well, it's part of a theory, right, that poor people have too much, so let's take something from them. and, you know, the wealthy have too little, so let's give them some more. it's a reverse economics that nobody can understand, but i can tell you that in a real judgment, those who would take food from starving or hungry children, there's a place that's probably reserved for them that none of us want to go. >> you know, but i think that the questions that we must all deal with is, yes, there's politics, yes, there's democrats and republicans, but there ought to be some things that go above partisan politics and taking care of children, feeding children, should be one of those things. how do you exclude children

based on their zip code? >> well, i think you're going to chalk this one up as a victory for your show, because now that the spotlight's on it, you're going to see them running for retreat to get this fixed. >> and you mentioned the first lady's program, they don't like that either, about telling people, children particularly, to eat healthy. what can be wrong with that? >> we had a major reduction in obesity among children in my hometown directly in response to this effort to get more nutritious food to our children. we know that if only candy's available, they are going to eat candy, but if you provide fresh fruit, they'll eat fresh fruit and they'll enjoy it. we need to provide more healthy choices and the federal government can be an impetus for it and the first lady has done an extraordinary job of getting the country to focus on trying to raise a healthier generation of americans. >> well, congressman, i thank you for being on tonight. i thank you for what you said

about what we're doing with the show. i grew up urban youth in the inner city and we had roaches. one thing i found out about roaches, if you turn the light on, they run, and we try to chase roach legislation here every night on "politics nation." congressman chaka fattah, thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> thank you. still ahead, the year's biggest election fight. how will the democrat try to take down senator mitch, one-term president, mcconnell? also, our live interview with the african-american police officer who went undercover as a member of the kkk. how did he do it? but first, i'd like to buy a vowel from mr. pat sajak. his ridiculous comments on twitter put him in tonight's gotya.

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>> yes, yes, it's time for wheel of distortion. and our special guest tonight is pat sajak. he's the much-loved host of "wheel of fortune," and here's a fun fact. in his free time, he's a climate change denier. who knew? yesterday he tweeted, "i now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists, knowingly misleading for their own ends." oh, no, pat, you lose a turn on this one. climate change is very real. let me help them out with this puzzle. a brand new report found, "climate change once considered an issue for a distant future has moved firmly into the present." you see, pat, climate change is

already having an impact. but maybe we should explain this in a way you're more particular with. let's play the wheel. our category tonight is phrase. i'll go ahead and take a spin. >> 800. >> is there a "t," pat? okay, okay, great. i'd like to buy a vowel. an "a," please, pat. i think -- i think, okay, i think i'm ready to solve this puzzle. pat -- >> well, go ahead. >> okay, we gotcha! pat, this one's for you. nice try, but there's no spinning this one, because we

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one of the top republicans in the country is in the political fight of his life. i'm talking about kentucky senator mitch mcconnell. the man who spent the last five years obsessed with attacking president obama. remember his top political goal? >> some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> that's all he cared about, fighting president obama, refusing to negotiate with him, filibustering his nominees, blocking his bills, and then blaming the president when they didn't pass. and last night after beating a primary challenger, mcconnell made it clear he wants his

re-election to be all about the president, too. >> my opponent is in this race because barack obama and harry reid want her to be in this race. look, barack obama's allies have one goal this year, one goal, just one, to cling to their power. a vote for my opponent is a vote for obamacare and the president who sold it to us on a mountain of lies. alison lundergan grimes is barack obama's candidate. >> mcconnell is so preoccupied with smearing president obama, he barely mentioned his opponent, but alison lundergan grimes kept the heat on last night. >> senator mcconnell, this race is between you and me. that's the name that appears on the ballot. as you said, as you said so many

years ago, it is my number one priority to make sure mitch mcconnell doesn't see another term. >> how did mcconnell's number one priority work out? president obama's in his second term and mitch mcconnell's fighting for his political life. joining me now are ryan grimm, washington bureau chief for "the huffington post" and democratic strategist tarah dibell. thank you both for being here. ryan, let me go to you first. senator mcconnell is running against president obama. is that enough of a strategy, and what can grimes do to attack that? >> you know, it might actually be enough strategy, just because everyone in kentucky is so deeply unpopular and people there are angry at everyone across the political spectrum. mitch mcconnell's approval rating is absolutely in the tank. the only thing you could possibly compare it to in

kentucky would be president obama's approval rating, so he doesn't want people to look at this kind of, you know, fresh faced new voice coming in to politics. he wants people to say, look, this is between president obama and me, so grimes' challenge is to flip that and say, no, as she said, my name is the one that's on the ballot. this is between me and mitch mcconnell and if it is, she stands a very good chance because he's so deeply disliked there. >> tarah, you're a democratic strategist, how would you take him down, he being mcconnell? >> first, keep this race local. it has to remain a local race about kentucky, because people in kentucky are suffering, so one thing she needs to do is attack into some of the angst out there about the fact, this is happening all over the country, people are making mess and they are seeing that they are not able to have what they used to be able to have, and

that's a source of angst across this country that she needs to tap into. the other thing she needs to do is realize that mitch mcconnell is a ruthless campaigner. people may not know this about him across this country, but he will attack and he will attack hard. she needs to respond quickly and effectively when he mischaracterizes her positions. when you look at a state like kentucky where kentucky connect, which is the local version of the affordable care act, that's actually pretty popular. there's a democratic governor in kentucky. the house in kentucky is actually controlled by the democrats, the senate is controlled by the republicans, so there is opportunity for democrats, but she has to focus on what people care about, and that is how their wallet is and she needs to ask mitch mcconnell, what have you done for them lately? >> ryan, the race is turning ugly and expensive. a pro mcconnell super pac just launched a $575,000 ad by

attacking grimes. the race is expected to cost $100 million, which would make it the most expensive senate race in history. the most expensive race in kentucky, i mean, what does that tell you? >> interestingly, they are fighting over a very small number of voters, because you've got your folks who are in both camps. the mcconnell campaign's thinking here is grimes has a ceiling, that somewhere around 47% she simply can't get over because there aren't enough voters out there willing to vote for a democrat. that's the theory, so that means one of two things, either grimes has to do something to up her turnout, or persuade a few voters, or mitch mcconnell has to make a big mistake. mcconnell is, whatever you want to say about him, extremely disciplined candidate, so if i'm somebody waiting on mitch mcconnell to make a mistake,

that's not a good position to be in. >> that's not a good strategy. tara, there's also going to be some money, in fairness, that goes to grimes, and she's covered her latest ad. watch this. >> it seems no matter how many elections we have, nothing gets better in washington, it only gets worse. a lot of that is because of the people at the top in both political parties. if we keep sending them back, nothing will change. i approve this message because it's time washington put the good of our people ahead of the bad that comes from acting petty and small. we've had too much of that for too long. >> is that what she needs to do, tara, make him, washington mcconnell, top of washington, run against him being ineffective in washington for the people of kentucky? >> that's one of the things she needs to do. she does need to do more than that, but she does need to attack him on that because he wants to talk about washington, he's part of washington. he's the senate minority leader and she needs to remind people, this is part of what you don't like, and he represents that and

has represented it for 30 years. and so, yes, she needs to do that, but at the same time she also has to hit back at him hard. he is going to come hard for her, because remember, he said this himself personally, he said, hit them early, hit them hard. that's his campaign. he's a pressure politics kind of guy. he's going to force her to make a mistake by attacking her nonstop. she needs to be on the offensive going right back at him. >> ryan, there was a poll out that had the race at this point razor thin with grimes at 43%, mcconnell at 42%. this is real, real close, ryan. >> sure, and you can see why, you know, grimes camp might be optimistic because the thinking would be, okay, these people have had decades to get to know mitch mcconnell, so if they are coming into this poll and they are not supporting him yet, what on earth could he possibly do between now and election day to

convince him? on the other hand, might be a lot of low information voters that said they were unsure, so, you know, the theory that she has a cap at 46%, 47% is not blown up by that poll, and being down at 42% and 43% is tough, because she has to get much closer to 50%, if not right over it. >> you know, the senator mcconnell has been just vociferous in his attacks on the president, and personal, as well. i mean, watch this from 2012. >> the president seems to have forgotten that he was elected to lead all americans, that he was elected to be president of the united states, not the occupy wall street fan club, so if i were president obama, i'd keep the champagne on ice. this is not an economy to be proud of. and after that he'll have enough, bunch of time to play golf as he wants to. >> i mean, there's a lot of talk about the senate being in

jeopardy, republicans only need to pick up six seats. give me an example, tara, of what would it mean if mitch mcconnell was the majority leader. >> well, i think if mitch mcconnell becomes the majority leader, he will be further emboldened. look how difficult he's been as the minority leader. imagine if he amasses that kind of power. he's going to continue to obstruct and he's going to continue to fight the president. he's been fighting him for six years. what should make us think that's going to change? this will only embolden him more. >> ryan grim and tara, we thank you for your time. coming up, the amazing true story of a former police officer who went undercover as a member of the ku klux klan. he's telling his unbelievable story tonight. and one of the biggest champions of voter i.d. laws forgets his own i.d. at the polls. wait until you hear what he did next. stay with us.

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now, a story about the kkk you have to see to believe. in the 1970s, colorado police sergeant ron stallworth decided to go undercover and infiltrate the group. he answered a newspaper ad by phone and was invited to join them. there was just one small problem, he was black.

sergeant ron stallworth was the first black detective in the history of the colorado springs police department, and in 1978, he risked his life to go undercover and become a card-carrying member of the ku klux klan. over the next five months, ron stallworth kept in regular contact with the kkk, even having phone conversations with grand wizard david duke. while he was primarily gathering intelligence, stallworth was also able to stop crimes. and now he's sharing his incredible story in a new book with the only title it could possibly have, "black klansman." joining me now is retired police sergeant ron stallworth. thank you for being here tonight. >> thank you, reverend. one correction, though, i was a detective, the first black

detective in the history of the colorado springs police department, but i retired as a sergeant with the utah department of public safety. >> okay, thank you for that correction. let's put up your kkk card again, and it says right there, member in good standing, and here's your kkk certificate, signed by the grand wizard himself, david duke. ron, why did you decide to do something so risky? >> well, for one thing, it was my job. i was intelligence detective, and part of my job was to stay on top of subversive groups that might arise in the city, and the kkk has a long history of being known as a domestic terrorist group. and they were emerging in the cities, so it was my job. >> what did you do when the kkk wanted to meet you in person? >> well, obviously, i couldn't meet them in person, as everyone can tell, so i had to come up

with an alternative plan, and that alternative plan was to find someone to stand in my place, so i got a white officer, a white detective, from the narcotics division to pose as me. >> that's who -- >> for face-to-face meetings. >> that's who we're seeing in this picture here. what were your conversations like with the grand wizard, david duke? >> believe it or not, i had a variety of conversations with him, some of them were just basic hi, how are you, how's the wife and kids? when he wasn't talking his klan nonsense, david duke was a very pleasant individual to have a conversation with, and suddenly when he got off talk aboing abo the klan that he became the mr. hyde to his dr. jekyll persona. the one interesting conversation we had was when he told me -- i asked him one time, aren't you ever afraid of some smart alecky

"n" word person calling you pretending to be white wanting to gain information on the klan? no, i never worry about that, i can always tell when i'm talking to one of them. >> he said that and he was talking to you then. >> yes. and i said, how can you tell? he said, by the way they pronounce certain words in the english language. he said, they don't talk like educated white people like you and i. i said, i don't understand, give me an example. he said, for instance, take the letter or the word "r." he said, educated white people pronounce english the way it was meant to be, like you and i do. he said, with the letter "r," we say it the proper way. we say "r." "r." but a -- one of them, the "n" word, they will say "ra," "ra." so from now on, when you talk to

someone on the phone that you don't know who they are, talk to them for a little bit and get them to say that particular word. it's a dead give away that they are one of them. so from that point on, i said, mr. duke, i want to thank you for that. from now on when i talk to someone on the phone and i'm not sure who they are, i'm going to make sure i ask them to say that word in some way, shape, or form, and from then on i would always find a way to incorporate that word in my conversation, so i would say, mr. duke, how are you doing, how are the wife and kids, are you coming to colorado springs, and he never once figured out he was talking to one of them. >> wow. how did you feel about having to use the kkk and deal with the offensive language when they talked about minorities? >> it didn't bother me at all. in fact, it was kind of comedic in some occasions, because i was playing the role of a white supremacist, white racist, and i

would be talking on the phone, my sergeant who was white would be sitting in his chair listening to my end of the conversation, so i'm talking the language, the buzz words of hate, to these guys on the phone. my sergeant would be listening to me and he would be cracking up with laughter, turning red in the face, sometimes practically falling out of his chair, and in some cases he would be choking up with laughter. i would be laughing at my sergeant laughing at me pretending to be a white racist. my sergeant, in some cases, would be running out of the office laughing so hard, and i would be laughing at him while trying to maintain a professional decorum and talking to these guys. it was quite funny. sometimes it would resemble a "saturday night live" skit, but they never caught on. >> what kind of information did you learn while you were undercover? >> well, they talked about bombing -- we had two gay bars

in colorado springs at that time. they talked about bombing the two gay bars, and it's interesting to note that the majority of the klansmen i was dealing with were ft. carson army base personnel, a couple had reconnaissance training, so they were familiar with explosives. they talked about bombing the gay bars. they aligned themselves with an ultra right wing survivalist group and they wanted these army personnel to steal automatic weapons from ft. carson, so that gained our interest. >> so these guys were no joke. these weren't just some guys running around in these silly kind of hood and uniforms. they were serious. >> they had the potential to cause a lot of heartache and pain for us. i also identified two members of the klan who were -- they had top security clearance and were

signed to norad and they were manning the console that monitored north american air defense systems. i had a meeting with the deputy commander of norad, who made a phone call to the pentagon after i showed him my investigation book with the names, and he talked to somebody at the pentagon. i was told he was talking to a high ranking general, and as a result of that phone call, these two personnel were removed from their top security posts. >> that's scary. well, i'm going to have to leave it there. i could talk on and on and on. this is an amazing story. ron stallworth, thank you for sharing this story. and again, the book is "black klansman," and you can order it yourself at blackklansman.com. we'll be right back. [ girl ] my mom, she makes underwater fans that are powered by the moon. ♪

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finally vote. he called the situation, "a little bit of an inconvenience but still believe the law is necessary." now i get it. this is how republicans will solve voter i.d., they'll just assign a staffer to everybody. that way if you don't have the right photo i.d., your staffer will take care of it for you. maybe this could double as the gop's jobs program, too. folks, let's get real. these voter i.d. laws are on the way out all over the country. republicans like hutchison may forget their i.d.s, but we won't forget how they've tried to suppress the vote. finally tonight, your take on the tea party movement, is it on the decline, 29% of you said, yes. 41% said, it's pulled other republicans further right. 20% said, no, and 9% aren't sure

yet. saying check back after the 2016 election. alive or dead or on life support, the tea party surely has been a big negative for our politics these last four years. thanks for watching. i'm al sharpton, "hardball" starts right now. the democrats trump it. let's play "hardball." good evening, i'm chris matthews in washington. let me start tonight with the sound of trumpets, the sound i haertd last night from kentucky. the voice of a gutsy young woman taking on the old political establishment, the voice of alison lundergan grimes telling senate republican leader mitch mcconnell that this november battle's going to be, as she put it so boldly, between you and me. with those bold words,