of msnbc live. i'm alex witt. stay right where you are, it's time for "a.m. joy" with my good friend joy reid. >> dear friend. i wish i could meet you and help you to follow your dreams because that is something no one can ever take away from you. the pain you feel today is the strength you will need to carry on and keep going. it may feel hard, but you can do it. i know you can. >> this is a letter to all the children in the detention centers. do not think of america as a cruel place where people hate you and put you in jail. there are people, good people who help you find your families again. good morning, from a anchorage, alaska, to right outside the trump golf club in bedminster, new jersey, 750 protest took place under the banner only families belong together to protest the trump administration's zero tolerance immigration policy under which people seeking asylum in the

u.s. have faced prosecution and family separation at the border. across that southern border today is a huge day for mexicans who will hit the polls to elect a new congress and its next president for a single six-year ter term. the man expected to win is a leftist, nationalist populist who is not a fan of donald trump. last week, the guardian reported low pose obrador denounced trump for his racist and inhumane treatment of children. given trump's penchant for rebuking our neighbors and allies, mexico's likely new president may pose a challenge for trump and his plans for nafta, trade and his big beautiful boarder wall. is it going as people predicted

that lopez obrador will be the next president of mexico and what do people think that will mean? >> he presents a very unusual sort of definition of what he is presenting as a candidate here and that is even though he's very much an insider, he's presented himself as an outsider, somebody who is challenging the establishment, somebody who is going to say things that perhaps other candidates have not said. many people have likened his bravado to that of the donald trump campaign. 89 million people are going to the polls today but what he's projected is that problem with the border and one of the thing this country is going face is the possibility of so many of those who crossed through mexico and were unable to make it into the united states asking for refugee status in this country. they grant it.

it's not granted that often. you can imagine about 450,000 making their way over the border from central america. only about 14,000 have requested and received political asylum in the most recent statistics so it's a possibility many of those who can't penetrate across many into the united states or are fearful because of children and parents being separated may wind up becoming residents of mexico and from those that i spoke to who are in a no-man's-land, refugees, a family i met coming out of honduras, they feel stuck. they don't want to stay in mexico. they goal is they say to live the american dream. s. >> thank you very much. joining me now is maria hinojosa of npr's latino usa. congresswoman jayapal and mariana atencio. i want to start with the election in mexico because you

have the stereotypical view of amlo that here comes a new hugo chavez. he is a socialist nationalist populist bent. he's anti-trump. do you see from your report iin what would be the difference between nieto's presidency and amlo is running as an anti-trump populist and that's not what's happening. it's i'm a mexican and i'm interested what's happening in mexico and the united states, you're over there.

you have more than half of the citizens voting then mexico becomes the reigning symbol of democracy. the united states becomes increasingly isolated. mexico is having relationships all around the world. when mexico says our economy is growing, we welcome you back if you want to come back but if donald trump wants to pick a fight and basically if that happens it's in donald trump's court i think mexico will respond. >> you're seeing all across europe this reaction against immigrants. it's syrian refugees throughout europe being rejected. minority groups like the roma,

very anti-non-white immigrant and that vibe taking place. when you see the united states putting in place a new plan -- there's a new department of justice plan pushed by jefferson sessions that would stop most central americans from getting through mexico to the united states. it would make anyone convicted of entering the u.s. illegally ineligible for asylum, it would make victim of domestic violence and gang violence all banned which means these central american migrants would be ban dead facto. central americans would be penalized for not seeking asylum in mexico before asking here and tightening the entire asylum process if that pushes more migrants to seek asylum in mexico, how does that change the politics for amlo? >> it's complicated. mexico has had to understand it's a country receiving

immigrants. and it's not new. there have been archian, asian, immigrants in mexico for a long time but mexico has to do this okay, now we're a country of immigrants. i think people bagging up lunches and sandwiches and throwing them to people on the train as they were coming, knowing these are hungry people seeking refuge. so i think of the people having that response. i'm afraid, i have to tell you, that when you go to mexico what you see in terms of their immigration structure, it mirrors the united states. so is amlo going to change that ch. so i don't think amlo is going to pick an immigration fight with donald trump, i think

donald trump will pick an immigration fight with amlo and then there will be a response. >> absolutely. congresswoman jayapal, let's talk about how this plays out. you have at the same time donald trump threatening to cancel nafta which would cancel our relationships with mexico and canada, our biggest trade partners. you have mexico reaching out to trade partners without us and at the same time he's creating a refugee crisis. his policies mean you can't get through ports of entry so you have a crisis that will bottleneck into mexico. how do you see from the points of governance this election changing with the way the u.s. deals with our closest trading partner and neighbor mexico? >> i think the saddest thing is that the united states has given up global leadership role, including our relationships with our northern and southern closest partners so i think

donald trump does not understand that the united states cannot exist in isolation. he's taking us back to a time when we think this is possible. we know this has to do with a number of things including the cartels and a number of other pieces, the irony, joy is that donald trump is taking money away from smuggling, from all of the things that we should be looking at along the border and refusing to pass comprehensive immigration reform which would allow us to have an understandable and logical process for who comes in across the southern border. so i think he will continue to pick fights because that's what he does. he does not understand that the united states has always set the

bar high for issues around immigration, refugees. not that we haven't had our problems, we have, but the united states has been a leader on human rights issues and the right to seek refuge and asylum and i think mexico as a country and other countries are looking at the united states. so i think it has ripple effects across many, many countries around the world in terms of how we treat not just refugees but how we treat the new world as it is. where globalization has meant that goods and services are flowing. now, of course, that's changing a little bit. but we've never been able to deal with the consequences of how people move in an age of globalization.

also, what is happening in honduras, nicaragua, what is causing them flee? we heard stories that were horrific and the united states has a role in some of what causes people to flee around the world. >> and i'm going go to mariana atencio on that point because you've been talking with these fleeing families that are seeking asylum in the united states. what does it mean in your view just from you having spoke within a lot of these families if they are being pushed out of their countries by extreme violence and fear, pushed back by the united states, this extreme policy. the daily beast has a piece that's likened it to early stage mussolini, the sense that you have to justify repressive force because of creating fear and terror that oh, my goodness, all of these illegal immigrants are flooding across the border. now a new administration in mexico, we don't know what their

policy will be on whether they can seek asylum there. >> these are displaced people. we could be looking at a lost generation like i saw in the syrian border with my own eyes i spoke with a woman 21 years old with a two-year-old baby girl and she said gangs in central america were threatening her to become their sex slave and she said i couldn't deal with that so i had to leave. she doesn't nowhere to go. so the way these central american immigrants are treated in mexico, their rights have been violated. that's why you had this migrant caravan that i was embedded with. the people needed the safety of numbers to go through mexico for their children not to be taken away. i was speaking to a source on the ground there, organizations in the south of mexico.

they separate children inside facilities from their parents. these are people who are vulnerable and have nowhere to go. are we addressing the causes of the problem in central america and these other countries because clearly the solution isn't for everybody to come here. but when you siemens, the homeland security secretary in central america, pence's message was you have to stop this exodus, that's what he told the three presidents of these nations. well, what is the united states doing in terms of investment in, well, what we hear from the trump administration is threatening to cut aid from

honduras. and from my personal standpoint, being from venezuela, i'm still a legal immigrant from venezuela, i'm not a u.s. citizen, i had to plea my own country because of a humanitarian crisis there. i took my sister out last year. we met here with our local congresswoman to see about seeking asylum for her. it's a complicated process to navigate and when the u.s. doesn't exercise its role as a regional leader, the sense of isolation in these countries -- i lived it in my own country -- is engulfed -- it engulfs you. and that makes it easy for countries like russia, china, iran, to fill in that power vacuum with values that may not be democratic. >> and thank you for that personal revelation mariana. that's what we're missing is how much of a magnet the idea of freedom, of refugees and asylum

seekers having refuge in the united states is such a powerful noti notion. the way they look at the united states, it's sobering to think about as somebody who is the daughter of two immigrants. maria and congresswoman jayapal will be back later. thank you mariana atencio. up next, the best shot democrats have for fighting donald trump's bid to reshape the supreme court for the next generation, for 20 or 30 years. what might seem like a small cough to you... can be a big bad problem that you could spread to family members, including your grandchildren babies too young to be vaccinated against whooping cough are the most at risk for severe illness. but you can help prevent this. talk to your doctor today about getting vaccinated

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>> are you going to play hard ball and say we won't let you rush this through in a few months before election day? >> based on every conversation, everybody is prepared to hard ball. >> whether democrats will play hard ball remains to be seen. it looks like the strategy demidemis will center on will revolve around policy. the "new york times" reports they would drop their demands that republicans not appoint a replacement for mr. kennedy until after the midterm elections. the senators decided that they would highlight the threat to abortion rights and health care to try to mobilize opposition to trump's appointment. is that enough?

joining me now is a political science professor at the university of miami. jennifer rubin, "washington post" opinion writer and msnbc political analyst and jason johnson, political editor of theroot.c theroot.com. i want to start with you dr. koger because you wrote an interesting article that got people buzzing on social media and what you wrote about was a potential sort of parliamentary procedure that democrats could use to shut down the senate, denying republicans a quorum if all 49 democrats refuse to show up. could that work? >> the short sans no. just to explain. i wrote that blog post june 20 which is 33 news cycles ago.

and my main point is that the senate should be a deliberative body that debates the main policy questions of our day and that senate democrats could stand up for themselves and break a quorum in an effort to get the republicans to vote on the major things we want them to vote on like family separation at the border. so what they could do is refuse to participate in votes and quorum calls. a quorum in the senate is a majority. so that's 51 senators so if the democrats force a roll call vote and don't participate, the senate comes to a screeching halt because there aren't enough people there to make any binding decisions.

what it's not good for that technique, it's not good for blocking the the supreme court nomination because there are things the majority party can do in response. they can instruct the sergeant at arms to force absent senators to come to the senate chamber and once they are there they probably have to use some procedural shenanigans but they can count people in the chamber towards a quorum if they are willing to break the press dense of the senate. >> but professor, they don't have to do that. senate rules are clear, you presume a quorum. and what happens -- i checked with the leadership of the democratic party and some people who are parliamentary gurus. it's presumed to have a quorum. the only way too break the presumption is having one democrat there and if you have a democrat there you have a quorum so none of this works at all. you can come up with rationale.

>> and we see on a state level democratic members of a state senate trying to block the gutting of unions leave the state and the maneuvers that the republicans use to drag them back, they have to come back and vote but here's the thing that frustrates democrats republicans back in november of 2016, a week before the election, republican senators, some of them on the floor of the senate and vowed not just to block any supreme court nomination made by a then presumed president hillary clinton, not for a month, not for six months, not for a season but for four years if possible. republicans vowed to keep the supreme court at eight members for four years to ensure hillary

clinton would never be able to make a supreme court nomination so when democrat voters hear that and they hear democrats say we might talk about policy and we might talk about this person is bad for the country but we're not going to try any of these hail mary tactics, then democrats say the republicans would block a nomination for four years. this this a stylistic difference? >> the democrats are not about this life. they're not about resistance. the leadership is terrible and hopefully they get voted out. as the other political scientist on this panel i read this article with great interest, i've been talking to the legislation people i can speak of and there aren't a lot of structural ways that democrats can prevent this from happening. you remember in 200351 democrats hung out in a holiday in and the cops had to go after them?

chuck schumer will hang out for six months in order to keep that from happening. but at the end of the day the democrats have to demonstrate they're willing to go to a wall to stop that from happening and the fact that this idea even if it not work long term from the mouth of a democrat is indicative of the weakness and fecklessness of the leadership. they have to come up with something other than a bad guy because that didn't work stopping trump in 2016. >> mitch mcconnell is ruthless, let's be blunt. he is probably the moat ruthless politician in america. there is nothing he wouldn't do. there is no turn about. if he's on the other side of the issue today versus tomorrow, he doesn't care. he really doesn't. so now you have coming out of not democrats but of people -- people like our political sides throwing out ideas that the democrats are like no, never.

larry tribe, harvard professor larry tribe, law professor, said this, a president under active criminal investigation of whether he won legitimately but whether he has obstructed that very investigation should not be permitted by a mere senate majority to designate the justice whose votes could prove pivotal. meaning he could ensure supreme court that could say yes you could pardon yourself. >> i wrote an open letter to jeff flake suggesting exactly that, that he take the principled position since he's about truth and democracy that exactly as larry said that you cannot select a justice who is then going to turn around and exonerate you and even if there was no such quid pro quo it would be the appearance of a horrible conflict of interest so the american people would never have faith in whatever outcome comes out of the supreme court because there would be the assumption since trump asked for a loyalty pledge from everyone do we think he would ask one from the supreme court justice.

so you have to force him to recuse on anything having to do with the president's ongoing investigation now. he won't do it and that becomes grounds for objecting to his confirmation and secondly you throw up, i think, in front of ms. collins and ms. murkowski, the two women republicans that they will be held responsible. they are doing the dance. they are pretending that because the nominee says this is all about precedent that they can vote for him. the message to those two women by democrats, by pro-choice women in those two states, by the entire states of maine and alaska has to be simple. you vote to this, ms. collins, miss murkowski, this is on you. we won't accept these nonsense

excuses because he said he was in favor of precedent, this won't count, no, it has to be all out on the ground in those states, those women have to be put under a glaring light so that they finally have to make a choice that goes against their par party unless they were phony pro-choice women all along which is distinctly possible. coming up, amid the backlash over the trump administration's cruel immigration policies, the movement to abolish i.c.e. is picking up steam. oh, you brought butch. yeah! (butch growls at man) he's looking at me right now, isn't he? yup.

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. >> donald trump, we are sick and tired of you. we have no fear, you will not intimidate us, we're coming right at you and we're saying to you that the constitution of the united states of america gives us the right to protest and protest we will. after a week in which she was deluged with violent threats

after donald trump tweeted she should "be careful" following her calls for civil disobedience against the trump administration, congresswoman maxine waters did what she always does -- she showed up and spoke truth to power. the congresswoman joins me live in our next hour for your moment of maxine. stay with us. there is much more "a.m. joy" after the break. security alert. security alert. oh! we'll alert you if we find your social security number on any one of thousands of risky sites, so you'll be in the know. ewww! being in the know is very good. don't shake! ahhh! sign up online for free. discover social security alerts.

>> i hope they keep thinking about it because they're going to get beaten so badly.

you know, i.c.e., these are the guys that go in and take ms-13 and they take them out because they're much tougher than ms-13. like by a factor of 10 and these are the ones -- you get rid of i.c.e., you're going to have a country that you'll be afraid to walk out of your house. i love that issue if they're going do that. the abolish i.c.e. movement is picking up steam after rising political star alexandria ocasio-cortez won the democratic primary against long time new york congressman joe crowley with abolishing i.c.e. as a key part of her platform. now other top democratic leaders are supporting the idea. >> there's no question that we have to critically reexamine i.c.e. and its role and the way it's being administered and the work it's doing and we need to think about starting from scratch. i don't think that the government should be in the position of separating families and that is clearly what is part of what's has been at i.c.e. and

dhs. joining me now is tiffany cross, co-founder and managing editor at thebeatdc. tiffany, i'm going to come to you first. in addition to ckamala harris being very critical of i.c.e., those democrats that have come out to abolish the agency are the aforementioned alexandria ocasio-cortez, kirsten gillibrand, senator from new york, new york mayor bill de blasio, representative mark pocan and elizabeth warren. there aren't a lot of democrats calling for it. >> there may be be a lot of democrats calling for abolishment but they are calling for more accountable. kamala harris were joined by two others who say they've been reckless with their policy. in philadelphia which ranks number 16 in the country of

undocumented immigrant population i.c.e. has been number one in arresting undocumented immigrants with no prior criminal history so the congressional hispanic caucus share has been out front on that issue and called for oversight there. so there's been a long history of democrats trying to fight this but they're in a republican-controlled congress so they don't have leverage. i.c.e. was birthed out of 9/11 so there was a lot of fear at that time and at that time there was overwhelming support for the patriot act so you had people willing to give up their rights, searching their e-mails with no court order, law enforcement could go into your house and not let occupants know so here we are stuck with it what the patriot act authorized was the indefinite detention of immigrants. so here were more than a decade later grappling with those

issues so democrats have a tough hill to climb to abolish the agency. you could also make the argument that immigration is an economic issue. so when the department of homeland security came about and i.c.e. came about that it was put in the national security sector, that goes to show how easily people in this country can be slated to believe that people who don't look and live like you are the enemy. >> and i think that is one of the issues is that donald trump talks about i.c.e. as if it was born with the country, as if george washington created it rather than it being created in 2003, it was a response to 9/11. it's only been around for 15 years. it has a long record of abusing detainees through both the bush administration and obama administration and now it seems alarmingly unfettered. the aclu, if you go to their web site has a warning about i.c.e. saying in recent years u.s. immigration and customs enforcement i.c.e. has detained people from the united states. many of their tactics take away

the right to a fair hearing in court as the government rushes to judgment and tries to ram peach through a rubber stamp hearing. so it's not exactly a sacrosanct agency. >> i've been reporting about this for a long time, the problem that i.c.e. has but i have to tell you, i have the radio on in my house and today i ended up on a popular culture black radio like urban soul and you know what they were talking about, they said we are 15 million listeners in the new york area. they were talking about i.c.e. they were talking about incarceration. they were making that connection and i actually thought well you know something interesting, we have people now saying abolish i.c.e. and we also have thanks to jeff sessions and donald trump, what was a secret, detention camps in your community, they've made that public now so with all of this

horror they have taken the veil off of these places and people are seeing with their own eyes. the question is what happens after this moment. children and parents have been ripped apart. it's not a separation. it's a destruction of a family and that's been happening for a long time. the protests are relatively new. and there are many, many, many children besides these 2000 that are looking to be reunited. we're talking about tens of thousands of children missing their parents. >> and meanwhile, jason, you're seeing trump talk about i.c.e. in ways that communities of color are accustomed to hearing him and other people in his ideological group talk about law enforcement versus the people they police. this is donald trump wednesday in south carolina talking about what he is interpreting to his audience that the danger i.c.e. is keeping them from.

>> the democrats want open borders, anybody they want, including ms-13 pouring into the country. and the democrats don't like i.c.e. they want to protect illegals coming into the country much more so than they want to protect you and that's not where we're coming from. >> just a note, ms-13 came in from los angeles. they'd be pouring in from the country to the country. jason? >> this is the ugly path we're on and we need to understand where the republicans and where this white nationalist administration is going from. last fall in october i.c.e. asked the doj can we start eliminating our own records? now i.c.e. has the ability to destroy their own documentation of abuse and violence. that was approved. we can't go back and see what this agency is doing. you have an administration that has bolstered i.c.e. and made it

one of the largest agencies in the government. you also have an administration that says the next goal -- jeff sessions said this -- is to go after naturalized citizens who may have filled out their applications wrong and kicked them out of the country. i don't trust an administration led by a man who lied to us for eight years saying he thinks barack obama is from another country. if you don't think i.c.e. can start getting sick on american citizens, you're not paying attention to what's been happening. this is a dangerous agency and it needs to be stopped? >> especially since they're talking something called denaturalization, meaning people being denaturalized being reinvestigated as to whether it was fraudulent. i want to play the acting director of i.c.e. he went on, of course, fox on friday to defense the agency. >> i'm leaving in the middle of a fight, i'm insulted at the democratic senators and

congressman that want to vilify the men and women that put their lives on the line everyday and they want to abolish i.c.e. for things they're not doing. they'll they'll abolish i.c.e. for enforcing the laws they enacted. >> your response? >> my response is that i agree with maria where she said we have been trying to bring these issues out for a long time. i was on the outside until i was elected in 2016 and in 2008 we did a report on human rights abuses within the tacoma detention center south of my distric district. the silver lining is it is an opportunity to pull that veil back and show people what is happening. i said several weeks ago united states has to go. it isn't about enforcement functions, it's about the agency that has gone rogue and this agency has gone rogue. we spent hundreds of millions of federal taxpayer dollars on an

agency that contracts out to private for-profit prisons in order to hold immigrants who are being detained and it's this combination of the rise in criminalization at the same time we've seen a growing move to decriminalize, in the criminal justice system, at least, which has taken many steps back since sessions came in as attorney general but before that we were seeing that. at the same time we've a rise in the criminalization of immigrants specifically for two things. one, what's called illegal and and the other illegal reentry. we had a hearing on the need for more federal judges. the reason we need more federal judges is because over half of what federal judges now do is listen to prosecutions on those two simple things. people who haven't committed any crimes now with the addition of prosecutions for people seeking asylum, this is an agency that

is rogue. no accountability to congress. no ability. we have some standards in place, not nearly enough. and so last year i introduced a bill that would that is called dignity for detained immigrants and it completely reforms the detention system and this is part and parcel of what we have to do as we get rid of i.c.e. and we think about how do we decriminalize immigrants and make sure federal dollars are going to what we need? i can tell you, a lot of my colleagues on the democratic side had no idea really of everything that was happening and now as they're going these facilities contracted out by united states and cbp, they're seeing what is happening with our federal dollars. one more thing i have to say, it isn't just democrats calling for this. 19 i.c.e. enforcement agents wrote a letter recently -- i

posted it on my twitter account -- that said they are deeply concerned about this zero tolerance policy because it's taking necessary resources away from things they should be doing and so as we recraft these enforcement functions, we need to think about the most serious threats and immigration has always been fact against myth, it's been used as a political football. that's what donald trump is trying to do is scare people into thinking immigrants are the cause of all the crimes, all of the unemployment, none of those things are true. so let's focus on what it is we want i.c.e. to do as we enforce our immigration laws but lid's also look at comprehensive reform because if we did that we couldn't have to enforce these laws. >> when we were down if tornillo, journalists toured that facility where 223 young

people, kids, we asked them how many had been found to have any gang affiliation and the answer was zero thank you. tiffany cross and jason johnson will join us in our next hour. up next, donald trump has a big meeting on his schedule. a summit with one of his favorite leaders, favorite people. vladimir putin. stay with us. ♪ but mania, such as unusual changes in your mood, activity or energy levels, can leave you on shaky ground. help take control by talking to your doctor. ask about vraylar. vraylar is approved for the acute treatment of manic or mixed episodes of bipolar i disorder in adults. clinical studies showed that vraylar reduced overall manic symptoms. vraylar should not be used in elderly patients with dementia due to increased risk of death or stroke. call your doctor about fever, stiff muscles, or confusion, which may mean a life-threatening reaction, or uncontrollable muscle movements, which may be permanent.

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i'm really excited to be here today. i think the movement is growing. makes you feel like you're not alone. i just want to be a part of it. we are building community in response to this attack on our values. and it's important that our movement makes it clear that we are a society where no one's above the law. and if someone's going to break the law, they're going to be held to account, even if they're the president of the united states.

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on rush russia potentially. we'll see what russia does. we're going to talk to russia about a lot of things. do you think the u.s. will recognize crimea as part of russia. we'll have to see. attacks america's friends and foes alike. but never the russians. not only has he refuse today criticize the russia's 2014 annexation of crimea. on thursday, aboard air force one refused to rule out rec -- we also learned that during a meeting with french president emanuel macron, trump called for france to leave the european union. a move that o would please vladimir putin. he's continued to criticize nato out of pautin's playbook. why does it look like it

best serves russia and not the united states. joining me now is author of the new book, the plot to destroy democracy. malco malcolm, thank you for being here. congratulations on the new book. a good update on the plot to hack america. that's when we started talking. the atlantic quoted a former u.s. ambassador to poland why europe is particularly concerned about this summit. europeans in general are apprehensive not because they fear an american president dealing with russia in general, but they fear this particular president dealing with russia when they don't know his strategic framework. have you been able to discern in doing this book, what is donald trump's strategic framework s why does he want to mooet meet with putin? >> i'll be very honest. it was a framework created by the russians for donald trump and was presented to him at a meeting in moscow in november 2013 when he had a two-hour sit down at a restaurant with the 12 richest oligarchs of russia.

when trump game out of that meeting, that's when he started reviewing very seriously his presidential run. by january 2014, we would have russian -- would know before the people in the united states. more importantly, russia has an information warfare technique in which they use people of influence to create a perception bubble around you so that you are given their perception of the world and no matter what you do, go right, go left, make whatever decision, you are making decisions within their framework. donald trump adopted their framework very early on. came out that of meeting spouting about nato is obsolete, the european union should be broken up. the transatlantic alliance that we fought world war ii for should be realigned and taken out of play and technically, an axis created between moscow, washington and europe. that's why he says these things

and they seem confusing to us, but if you put it in the perspective of moscow, he is clearly their asset. he is a nuenunciating their poif view. does donald trump know that he's spouting putin's line and is he doing it deliberately or being duped into doing it? >> no. he believes it. trump is very interesting character. because one thing that we've learned about donald trump is that when he gets around people he's comfortable with, he immediately picks up their verbiage, their terminology. it happened with kim jong-un. one day we're doing exercises in south korea, the next day, we're doing provocative war games. i mean, he picks these things up. so this is the only thing that explains why trump, since 2015, when he came on to the campaign, was using the exact same terms and beliefs really of the russian federation.

this man is clearly in debt to moscow in some way. i'll leave it up to robert mueller to figure out the terms and circumstances of that debt is. he is not working in the interest of the united states. no president of the united states would ever say that nato was obsolete. no president of the united states would ever say that we should consider nato as something that should be dismantled since we created it. >> or that france should leave the european union. he'd give inducements to do that. >> very quickly before we lose time with you, the north korea deal had gone south it looked like. we now also know that brexit was more influenced by russia than we thought and might have created a back -- do you address those things in the book as well? >> i address the brexit. what i'm trying to lay out in this book, i'm showing you the strategic plan that moscow had to reengineer european

democracies and to destroy all of the structures which were keeping europe together and european conservatives. which they've completely coe opted. the united states is now in partner in the destruction of western democracy and the atlantic alliance. north korea, well, we could all predict north korea would cheat on this deal. they know how to talk to trump. just smother him with hugs and kisses. >> flatter him. >> they would get their nuclear weapons. >> this is the book. the plot to destroy america. malcolm nance has been with us. is it two years now we've been doing this? >> july 25th. thank you, malcolm. more "am joy" after the break. including your moment of maxine.

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maxine, she's a beauty. i mean, she practically was telling people the other day to assault. can you imagine if i said the things she said? can you imagine seriously if i said that or somebody else said that? >> welcome back to "am joy." congressman maxine waters made it clear she's not advocating physical harm and urging people to physically confront people in the trump administration in act of civil disobedience. we'll hear more from her later in the show. as for donald trump, it's easy

to imagine him promoting physical violence. he did it at speeches and rallies. sarah huckabee sanders -- civility in politics. true story. we've seen how civil this president can be. >> so we have a single protester. he's going home to his mom. say hello to mommy. >> sleepy eyes, chuck todd. he's a sleeping son of a -- get that son of a blp off the field. he's fired. he's fired. >> the guards are gentle with him. big high fives. smiling, laughing. like to punch him in the face. i'll tell you. >> the poor guy. you ought to see this guy. i don't know what i said. i don't remember. >> he's a warrior because he was captured. i like people that weren't captured, okay? >> i said please don't be too nice. like when you put somebody in

the car and you're protecting their head, the way you put your hand. like don't hit their head and they've just killed somebody. don't hit their head. i said you can take the hand away, okay. >> joining me now, tiffany cross founder of the beat d.c. jennifer ruin in, opinion writer for the post. i'm going to start with eric. sara sanders had lectures for us on civility. here is one. >> healthy debate on ideas and political philosophy is important. america is a great country and our ability to find solutions despite the disagreements is what makes us unique. that is exactly what president trump has done for all americans. >> is that what donald trump has done for all americans? >> he's unleashed this kind of hate speech we haven't really seen. he's taken the breitbart comment sections from the obama years and turned it into mainstream politics. you played the clip.

he's been doing this for years. the problem is, a lot of the press picked up this civility debate. barack obama hadn't even sworn in his cabinet when the tea party hate rallies began. that was populism. when the right wing dogg does it, it's voter engagement. when people dropped the f word, it's bar the door. this is a radical minority trying to rule a majority. right? we have a president who lost the popular vote and is going to try to ram through a supreme court nomination so the republican party can outlaw choice in the kin tri. these are not civil times. i think there's a frustration, certain amount of elite institutions saying calm down, it's not time to be calm. >> for a moment, it seems that the trump side understands the media in an organic way.

they will air toward the moderates and that they will be very quick to lash out and criticize michelle wolf for the skit that she did at the correspondent's dinner. it comes down to when we saw donald trump embracing ideas that a lot of people are being bluntly, the -- they're being called pop list national lists. >> you still can't call them that. they do know how the game is played. they've been bullying the press for so long, they refuse to recognize what's going on. i mean, we have a federal government essentially kidnapping kids at the border and holding them hostage, telling their parents, you can have them back, maybe, if you drop your asylum case and leave the country. and this is insanity. right? again, it's not time for civility and the press plays into this. right wing hate is popular. >> even when the attack is on the press. i want to play just for those who maybe forgotten, donald

trump calling the press the enemy of the people. take a listen. >> a few days ago, i called the fake news the enemy of the people. and they are. they are the enemy of the people. >> i figured. fake news. cnn, the worst. you can tell that to your fake friends at cnn. >> one of the opposing networks, the enemy. the enemy of the people, i call them. >> of course, after five people were shot and killed in a maryland newspaper in the maryland capital gazette, he had more moderate words saying the attack shocked the conscience of our nation, journalists like all nations should be free to do their jobs. it doesn't negate the earlier. it's hard not to hear it. >> i pay no attention to his words. i don't think they have weight. if someone articulates a talking point for him. they don't -- i have to tell you, what was more dis -- it took democrats 2.5 seconds to go

from the #trust black women to shushing maxine waters. that's disappointing. when nancy pelosi and chuck schumer came out with their statements. i shuddered. you clearly did not consult any senior black woman on your staff about this statement and how disappointing is that. also, i think when you look at the rhetoric coming from the right and to your point about how the media is all too happy to fall into this trap of making this false equivalency, where was this outrage when you had joe wilson yell, you lie at president obama. i think when you look at some of the reaction from the democrats and it's kind of weak, i think the democrats have to be comfortable in making people uncomfortable. when you're fighting for justice and ee kwalt, these are people who serve the public. you're going to hear from the public. just like we were talking about in the immigration debate last hour, you can have a white kid pepper schools with bullets every other week and policy doesn't move.

but persons of ethnic descent to move policy -- they have the courts, the they have the house, they have the senate. all the american people have is their voice achbd their vote. they need to use both all the time. the reason why they're falling for the false equivalencies, they don't want these people at voting booths and another alternative to their alternative fact, when they're clearing wrong in championing this kind of rhetoric and racism and system of supremacy. here we are again with trump supporters and the make america great -- your hypocrisy is showing again. >> jason, it's interesting that you do have -- i mean, i do think the trump side understand that the media's default is for everyone to calm down. a lot of people being hysterical about what the supreme court change could mean. and people are using words like white supremacy and fascism and being told by the institutional world that they're being too

over the top. >> right. here's the problem. this civility debate is ridiculous to me, joy. it's like drake said, nice for what? why do democrats have to be nice to republicans? women who want abortions should be punished and african-americans need to be beaten up and what the cops do is always fine and families can be separated. this is an attempt to tone police, people who are being attacked in the press. i'm old enough to remember something called political correctness. that was civility back in the '90s. it was like, maybe you shouldn't call women chicks and maybe you shouldn't call asian people just chinese. you don't want to find out where they're from. the same democrats right now and same media people are saying i can't stand political correctness. but the fact of the matter is, they're afraid of justified change and how people feel that they should be spoken to. no one should be nice to this administration. speak the truth even if it makes you uncomfortable. >> there was a great piece this

week where they talked about republicans having all the power, all the governmental power. the only thing that liberals have is social power. that is being told, well, that's too much. you ought not do that. if you're mean to them, you're going to drive them to the neo owe it's your fault if they go there. >> i haven't spent my whole life in the democratic party. in fact, i was in another party my whole life until recently when i don't have a party. but i am amazed at the ability of democrats to screw up a one car parade. why in the world would they come out and attack their own immediately. the conversation has to be this is the most uncivil, racist, misogynistic president who seeks to divide us and calling mexicans immigrants, rapists and murderers. don't play defense. play offense.

frankly, the next time that sarah huckabee sanders or the president starts in with fake news or enemy of the people, i would suggest the entire press core walk out of the briefing room. why should they put on air a coded word to every nut case in america to come after them. so get up and leave. or in unison, holler back. they sit there, they take it. they record it. we have to be there. we have to let them say their peace. no. you don't. your lives are all in danger. your lives are on the line. these people whip up a crowd and it's not just gunmen. when my colleagues go to a rally and he turns the crowd against them so they are screaming in their faces and he selects out one or two reporters as he did with katy tur, what do you think that is? that's incitement to violence, too. i think the press has to defend them. i think democrats have to defend

them. i think this argument about using the outside salad fork first or whatever it is they concern themselves with is silly. i do think there's one point that they miss, however. that is, you have to do what is most effective. i don't think what's most effective is throwing sarah huckabee sanders out of a restaurant. i wouldn't serve her either, frankly. what's most successful is getting a million people on the street to protest. let's redirect all of that pent up energy to something that makes a difference. let's get a million people to go to maine or a million to alaska and start putting pressure on the senators. it's perfectly civil to do that. no one is telling them to be violent protesters. we're not going to let them go through life unscathed. sarah huckabee has no right to live a life of no fuss, no news after inciting against the press

and lying to the press. they should be made uncomfortable and i think that's a life sentence, frankly. >> i'll give you the last word, eric. on the press part, the republicans know that the press won't do that. they won't resist at all. >> to their credit, the toronto star last week documented 103 lies trump told in one week. >> does that make a difference? doesn't care. >> "the new york times" specifically will not call him a liar. so this game is rigged. he knows the game is rigged. the republican party knows the game is rigged. too many in the press have taken down the guardrails. do whatever you want. we're not going to hold you accountable in a serious kind of way. >> why do you suppose that is? >> it's decades of bullying. and the bullying campaign works because the press won't acknowledge they're being bullied. that's the perfect mission accomplished. i think too many in the institutions in d.c. still see this as a game. they're still keeping score, who is up, who is down. so far past watergate in terms of the damage being done to the

country in terms of the institutions and liberties and things like that. this is not a game. we don't need score cards. we just don't. >> it's a difficult conversation. thank you very much all of you. stay right there. coming up next, maxine waters will be here. ordinary eggs? not in this house. 'cause that's no ordinary family. that's your family. which is why you didn't grab just any cheese.

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if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. and you push back on them. and you tell them they're not welcome anymore anywhere. >> after that moment of maxine, congressman waters was attacked by donald trump and her own colleague. she even received death threats. #civility. on saturday at a california protest, the congresswoman had a message for her critics. >> i know that there are those who are talking about senn sez g me and hanging me and getting me out of congress. all i have to say is this. if you shoot me, you better shoot straight. there's nothing like a wounded animal. >> joining me now is california congressman maxine waters.

congresswoman, thank you for being here. i want to first start by asking you to just assure our viewers, as you know, you're a favorite of the show. have you been safe? tell us a little bit about that aspect of things. >> you want to know about -- >> have you been safe? i know there were death threats this week. >> sure. absolutely. as you know, i've had several death threats. one such person will be in court in july, was arrested. was charged some time ago. but since the president's speech and so-called response to my words that i said early on about what was going on with those in his cabinet who were booed and who were asked out of a restaurant, et cetera, i've received more death threats and one talked about lynching me.

the other one, i believe, talked about shooting me. so basically, i believe in peaceful protests. but when they say they're going to kill me, i do report it. yes. >> absolutely. you had the unusual and extraordinary, has to be frightening experience of being attacked by name by the president of the united states who tweeted earlier this week attacking your intelligence, saying you and nancy pelosi becoming the face of the democratic party. claiming you called for harm to his supporters, which you did not. be careful what you wish for, max. an ominous ending to that tweet. i'm going to play what donald trump said on wednesday and this was during one of his rallies. take a listen. >> maxine, she's a beauty. i mean, she practically was telling people the other day to assault. could you imagine if i said the things she said? could you imagine seriously if i said that or somebody else said

that? >> i mean, with the caveat that some of the things he says at rallies do call for people to get assaulted. for the average citizen not experienced in having the president go after them personally like that, what is that like as a citizen of this country, let alone a member of congress? >> well, you know, i was blessed with courage. and i was blessed with the kind of strength that does not allow me to be intimidated by the likes of donald trump. as a matter of fact, early on in your program today, you played several clips showing how violent he is and how he supports violence and why he calls other people names. and all of this extraordinary, outrageous activity of the president of the united states. the likes of which we've never seen before. so i am prepared for him. again, i'm not intimidated by him. i think he does not deserve to be the president of the united states.

and i simply stand up to him. and so he'll keep doing that as he has done throughout his limited career of his. and i'm going to get on with talking about what we, as democrats, are doing to deal with the most important issues of our times, important issues that we need to be focused on. and providing the kind of public policy that will help create housing in this country. we have a housing crisis. that we'll try and protect obamacare. the aca they're trying to tear down every day. that will deal with infrastructure to create jobs. we can walk and chew gum at the same time. i can defend against him and i can promote good public policy. i will intend to do that. let him call me whatever he wants to call me. let him say whatever he wants to say. he will not stop me. he cannot cause me to shut down. that's what they would like to do. they want me to runaway. they want me to stop talking.

they want me to be quiet. he can't do that to me. i won't stand for it. >> not only did you have that right -- the right came after you, but you had the leadership of the democratic party, nancy pelosi issuing a statement criticizing you and this is chuck schumer. >> i strongly disagree with those who advocate harassing folks if they don't agree with you. if you disagree with a politici politician, vote them out of office. no one should call for the harassment of political opponents. that's not right, that's not american. >> were you surprised to have the leadership of your own party come out and call you un-american? >> you know, i was surprised at chuck schumer reached into the other house to do that. i've not quite seen that done before. but one of the things i recognize, being an elected official is in the final analysis, you know, leadership

like chuck schumer's will do anything that they think is necessary to protect their leadership. and so what i have to do is not focus on them. i've got to keep the focus on the children and the fact that this administration is endangering children in the worst kind of way. we have children that spread all across this country in detention centers, basically in cages, jails, separated from their parents. we have parents who may have been deported and their children are here in the united states somewhere. then they talk about how these detention centers have volunteers that are doing what? are they taking these children away? are they allowing people to have access to these children in the most unusual way without vetting them, without knowing who they are? we want these children reconnected. i'm not going to let them get me off of that path of talking about that. i'm going to continue as many others in the congress are

doing, going to jail for. we've got to stand up for the children and as i've said and i said yesterday, if we can't protect the children, we can't protect anybody. >> hillary clinton was on the same page when she talked about responding to the civility. what's more uncivil and cruel than taking children away. that should be met with resolve and strength. children's lives are at stake. that's a ridiculous concept of both sides. i want to ask you, one of the challenges, are democrats able to get the information that as members of congress one would think you'd be entitled to on behalf of your constituents and what the administration is doing to comply with the federal judge's order to give them back to their parents. >> we don't have the information, we don't know where they are. this administration tried too trick people, the president of the united states said he was coming out and reversing his position and was going to connect the children. he has not done that. the only children that was connected were those already at

the border who had not been dispensed out into the country. and so no, we don't know where they are, we don't know where the parents are. we don't know anything. it is outrageous that america, led by this unworthy president, could be in a position where we're endangering the lives of all of these children and we can't account for them. they can't account for them. i don't know if they ever will be able to do it. >> we've seen many, many hearings from benghazi to hillary clinton's e-mails. as a member of the house, on the calendar, are there plans for hearings about the disposition of the migrant children taken from their parents? >> i don't know that there is. as a matter of fact, it has gone on too long without these hearings. as a matter of fact, if democrats were in the leadership, we would not allow this kind of thing to take place without having hearings, without doing more. democrats have been going to the borders, democrats have been trying to find out how this

administration has operated, you know, in this immigration policy. so no, the republicans are not doing it. they're not doing the hearings. they're not visiting the borders. they're not doing anything but lying to us about where these children are because i don't think they even know. >> you know, a lot of what folks are hearing when you hear from democratic voters, congresswoman, is that there's not a lot of confidence, particularly among young democrats that if the democratic leadership won't stand up to the trump administration and won't stand up for someone like you who is calling for peaceful civil disobedience it gives people a lot of doubt. if they were to change hands, the democrats would be much stronger than what they've seen to date. should people feel confident that the democratic party would strongly oppose this president if they were to regain leadership in the house and senate? >> well, let me just tell you this. first of all, the people of this

country, no matter republican or democrat, do not like the idea that children have been separated. republicans are making a mistake thinking they can hold on to that constituency, that so-called belongs to donald trump. on this issue, republicans and democrats, independents alike are opposed to what is going on. and yes, people want to see us being stronger and more forceful and to confront them on these policies. and i'm hopeful that even democrats having seen the kind of out pouring of protests over 700 indens of protest -- incidences of protests this weekend, seeing that they will be more forceful, more confrontational and more prepared to push back on this administration. i think that the people are showing them, this this is what they would have us do. >> before i let you go, congresswoman, hopefully you can see this on the monitor. this is a tweet showing maxine waters with chadwick bozeman.

i believe he was there on saturday. you can see what the person who tweeted that said two heroes. you and the king. that was another moment of maxine that happened on saturday. i want to thank you congresswoman. thank you for being here. >> thank you very much. still ahead, the texas woman hoping to flip a deep red district with the help of one of the most viral campaign ads of the year. she joins me live, next. dear future us, we have a mission: to help hand everyone a better world. that's why we, at the coca-cola company, make shore breaks with actual coconuts. tea, organically. treats for celebrations. water with added minerals for taste. dear future us, that's why we're striving to do good. and help our communities get the education they deserve.

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are you going to ask your nominees beforehand how they might vote on roe vs. wade? >> that's a big one. probably not. they were all saying don't do that. you shouldn't do that. but i'm putting conservative people on. but i don't think i'm going to be so specific in the questions i'll be answering. i'm actually told that i shouldn't be. >> justice anthony kennedy's retirement has set off a battle over his replacement and what it means for the future of the court. at the center of the fight is the pick, what effect on roe v. wade. back with me tiffany cross. jennifer ruin in, "washington post" opinion writer and jason -- >> everybody knows you guys. the whole issue of course of roe. i want to go jennifer. the idea that they can be moved if enough pressure is applied. here is susan collins with me on state of the union talking about

whether she would vote to affirm a supreme court candidate against roe. >> i would not support a nominee who demonstrated hostility to roe v. wade because that would be, to me, that their judicial philosophy did not include a respect for established decisions. established law. >> jennifer rubin, it would be surprising to me if any nominee demonstrated hostility to roe. >> exactly. everybody has to be crystal clear about, everyone on that list, in order to get on the list, in order to be vetted by the federalist society, which put it together, has to be committed to overturning roe. they wouldn't be on the list if they didn't. that's the name of the game. susan collins can say, well, as long as person upholds precedent, didn't say he was hostile. no, no, no. any of the people on that list,

voting for them is a vote to overturn roe v. wade. it's very interesting how the right and the pro-life movement is saying, oh, no, no, we're not necessarily finding someone to overturn roe. oh, no, no, no we're just talking about a conservative minded justice. they are scared because they realize the issue is front and center for the american people. do you want to criminalize abortion? because that's what about half the states are going to do if roe goes away. >> yeah. >> do you want to criminalize abortion? do you want to punish women and doctors or don't you? it's a very simple question. >> yeah. let's prove this math to show you. where abortion rights would be at risk. yellow is the low risk states. red is the high risk states, tiffany, where there are already laws poised if roe were to fall that it would be illegal or very hard to obtain. there's been a -- two options.

either republicans really want, becau their base wants to overturn roe. they want it too. or they just want the issue and that they don't want roe to fall. then you'd have 50 civil wars in each of these individual states. >> right. we've seen the republican party care so much about fetuses but not that much about babies. they don't mind putting babies in cages, but they don't want women have the right to choose their own bodies. i know you're further ahead from me. i'm in season one of the handmaid's tale. when they show the flashbacks, how they got there, it is like watching present-day news. it's very scary. this is a very scary time. democrats really don't have any leverage. the previous segment's guest talked about it. on the list of 25 people, there were two people of color. not that it mattered, they leaned extremely conservative. i think you have around 25 states. the issue will inevitably land

in the supreme court. it will eventually get overturned. as we have this conversation, i don't want people to take their eyes off district court judges who have been appointed. it's trying to catch confetti. there's so much that happened. the train has left the station. if there's anything that democrats can do, which i don't think there is to hold this vote until after november. mcconnell tried to walk it back and change his mcconnell rule. it's not a presidential election year. that's what i meant. if there's anything -- i've looked at the issue, i can't see a way that democrats have any leverage here. i think this is a foregone conclusion. i was joking with jason earlier. i wanted to disagree with him a little bit. he tweeted that the judge, because kennedy was a conservative. whoever donald trump appoints is going to be to the right of kennedy. i do think that we're going to see changes on the court. >> kennedy was the swing vote that was keeping roe legal. >> right. >> let's not be unclear.

trump praised him because his son was in the bank that length trump money. he every so often did something that wasn't so far, far, far right wing. i want to play the democratic senator explaining the democratic strategy. >> he was pretty -- i want to let you react to this. take a listen. >> the plan here is to speak out about the change in balance in the court. you are not just voting as was with gorsuch for one more name. you know that justice kennedy was a swing vote, a libertarian. sometimes he sided with the conservative justices, sometimes he upheld important issues of marriage equality, of issues on the environment. >> why are democrats always just have he can wa nimt. when justice scalia passed away,

he nominate -- he didn't nominate one to radically shift to the left. we're not going to throw our bodies in front of the nomination. we're going to talk about philosophy. >> i don't care. you have to make this a dire situation. joy, this is -- any democrat who wants a strategy on this, it's really basic. like i said, i've worked for both parties, i'll give free advice. you say unless you want to have to sneak from state to state to get an abortion, you got to go out and fight. you got to vote. the supreme court, they're not just going to overturn roe vs. wade immediately. that does work for handmaid's tale. what they're going to do is keep chipping away at it like the affordable care act. they'll say there's no federal mandate, there's no this or that. state by state, it will become harder and harder for women to make choices. not only that, it will get into prenatal care and contraception

access. it's not just about abortion. that's what democrats need to scream about. if you have to take 25 minutes how millions of people's lives should be affected, you shouldn't be in office. you should be writing papers. >> as someone in the republican party, can you just make it clear, it is true that republicans want the supreme court to overturn roe v. wade. the washington examiner's editorial said so. >> for 40 years this has been their goal. all you have to do is look at people like ted cruz who doesn't think that women should be allowed to have an abortion in cases of rape and incest. they had said this over and over again. now, no. not us. not us. this has been the goal, this has been the pledge for the party. this has been in the republican platform. come on guys. you know, democrats may have their wool pulled over the eyes now and then. but even they don't believe this. >> yeah.

>> it just shows you how afraid they are of that confrontation because across the country, 67% of voters do not want to reverse roe. >> absolutely. let's not pretend that it's just about roe v wade. affirmative action and you could eventually be looking at a 7-2 courts. the next two oldest are the liberals. if they were to retire, very quickly, the other option that was presented to democrats that republicans are talking about more than democrats are, the democrats have dismissed as a strategic option. here's lindsey graham on "meet the press" saying the donald trump supreme court pick should not have to automatically recuse themselves on issues related to the russia investigation even though it gives him the vote to pardon himself basically. let's listen. >> the idea that you can't judge somebody who picks you is probably not a ground for recusal. you got to show there's a connection between the case at hand and the activity of the

judge. makes perfect sense to me that jeff sessions can't oversee an investigation of the campaign he was part of. but i wouldn't have a broad rule that you can't review anything against president trump because he chose you. >> donald trump asked for loyalty pledges to everyone he a appoints to everything. >> there is definitely a reasonable course of action where donald trump could potentially win in front of the supreme court. this is all a part of his strategy to discredit the investigation. if that doesn't work, apply the courts with -- supply the courts with judges that defend him at no cost. this is a challenge. to jennifer's point and your point, democrats have to do better. if you can't stand with the people, then step aside. >> absolutely. i'm going to give you the last word jason. you've been critical of the strategy back to garland. >> they don't have a strategy. this goes back to two things. i said this before. barack obama tried to get ruth

bader ginsburg to retire. when he failed to put merrick garland on the court, i said it was one of the most ridiculous decisions that any president has made. had the president done something at the time, even if that person left office, we would be looking at a different situation in the court. it's not all his fault. we have to think about that. people have to play this game more seriously. >> democrats have to be tougher. people argue that had he put someone up as a nominee, people would have gone into the streets. a different world if he says here's share lynn eiffel. not that mayor garland isn't a good choice. don't come for me. >> they're coming for you, jason. >> i'm used to it zie. >> thank you guys for being here. up next, the former clerk discusses the looming fight over the next supreme court nominee. s or a new snowboard. matt: whoo! whoo! jen: but that all changed when we bought a house.

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so i sued the pentagon. but not just about that job, but the ban on women serving in all ground combat jobs. and i went to d.c. to lobby congress, but door after door was slammed in my face. >> m.j. hager's campaign ad is a viral sensation. it's been seen 2.5 million times, triple the population of a congressional district she's seeking to represent just north of abcustin, texas. trying to unseat congressman john carter. and she joins me now. m.j., thanks for joining me. >> thank you. >> tell us about this ad? it's gone viral, it's this great ad that goes on where it looks like one continuous shot. whose concept was it? >> we partnered with a great team. i've been lucky in the decisions that i've made from my campaign manager to my finance team, they

were committed to sharing the story, you know, as broadly as possible and make sure that the people in my district understand that i'm one of them. >> you're a veteran, a pilot. you talked about your fight for women to get equal opportunities in combat through the military. what made you want to run for office? >> there's a wave of veterans running for office who are used to answering the call of their country and when they're needed, and we have a record low veteran representation right now and a record level of toxic partisanship. my district has more veterans than 97% of the rest stof the country. we need our elected officials to be more representative of the population. >> what is the number one thing that voters want from washington, from their representative? >> people who can work together and get things done. they want to get money out of

politics and stop the bickering. they don't want to talk about r versus d. they want to talk about getting food on the table for their family, affording health care. my district is filled with patriots that are proud of their country, and we want to press forward and move the needle and work on real problem solving solutions for americans. >> is this a donald trump favoring district? when people talk to you, do they want you to work with donald trump or be a check on donald trump? >> people want a legislative branch that is a check on the judicial and the executive. i think there are people who want to provide a check on donald trump. there's people who want to support donald trump with a check on the executive branch that he's owed that. so really most people don't talk about specific names or parties, they talk about issues and raising their kids. >> john carter, the incumbent has won that district handily by 20 points or more. how are you going to beat him? >> i'm going to put up a real

campaign against him. he's never faced anyone who has spent more than $200,000 against him. we're going to have the resources in place to speak to the voters. only 35% of the district reports wanting him back, but they won't vote for someone on the ballot just because there's a d by their name. >> were you surprised your ad went so viral? >> i was surprised. of course, i'm happy that my story is being shared, but i'm so sad it's resonating with people, the fact that people don't feel like they're being heard unless they're donors. that's kind of heartbreaking. but i'm going to do what i can to fix it. >> that was one of the surprising things. good luck with your campaign. cheers. use trouble with recall. - learning from him is great... when i can keep up! - anncr: thankfully, prevagen helps your brain and improves memory. - dad's got all the answers. - anncr: prevagen is now the number-one-selling

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that is our show for today. thanks for watching. my good friend, alex witt has the latest. i want to wish congratulations to our good friend, tiffany, happy birthday. >> that is huge. oh, my gosh. a fourth of the july birthday. you handed it to me, so have a good fourth to. all of you a very good day. i'm alex witt here in msnbc world headquarters. it is high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. on the west. the president gearing up to interview supreme