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the ballot box. >> it is enough for us to show who they are. we got to show them who we are, what do we stand for? >> good morning. we are now just 16 days away from the crucial mid-term elections with control of congress at stake. not to mention the question of whether voters will impose a question on donald trump and whether the republican party -- and the republican party. and frankly, whether republican voter suppression will work or not. now, if you worked in politics or even just follow politics closely, you know the deadliest thing in the closing days of an election is overconfidence. this morning there are new signs the democrats should not fall prey to over confidence heading into election day. democrats have a small edge over republicans in voter enthusiasm among likely voters. well, the democrats do maintain a nine-point lead in the generic

congressional preference among likely voters. the poll also shows donald trump's approval rating ticking up to 47% among registered voters and 45% among likely voters. underwater but still more helpful to republicans than his old numbers. joining me now is politics editor at theroot.com and republican strategist. thank you all for being here. let's talk about the question of this blue wave. that's what the meme has been. but i'll start with you on this, jason. you can never be too confidence in anything. we don't know anything until people actually vote. >> yes. >> where do you see democrats standing right now? >> so i'm looking at numbers and early voting county numbers. the biggest problem you have, republican or democrat, is you don't want your early voting to cannibalize your on day voting.

that's the thing. it's a problem. we have seen over performances right now in clark and washington county but also an increase in voter registration. the same thing in georgia. i don't think democrats are going to be overconfidence because you have too much voter suppression going on. it is not just a matter of people voting early. you are going to have more people on election day. this will be a good day for democrats. republicans will admit privately the house is done. they know it's done. they have been pulling back money from the house. the issue will be how some of these governor's races work. >> so who is most interested in voting: seniors as always, 73% expressed high level interest in the midterms. democrats are next at 72%. latino voters 71%. and white voters with a college degree 69%. black voters 68% and republicans tied at 68% and then women.

so you have the traditional mid-term electorate, which is older and whiter. check. that's normal. the question is whether democrat ks change the fact that low interest voters tend to be younger and people of color. is there evidence that democrats can change that formula? >> i think there is and you see the candidates running also. you see a lot of women and a lot of people of color running and younger people that were dis disenchanted with politics before. i think we are making a mistake as democrats on focussing on the higher ticket candidates when it is really the down ballot races that need every single vote. beto, for example, very compelling on the national stage but he makes to make sure he is able to turn out every single democrat and latino voters who typically underperform. the enthusiasm could trickle down to attorney general races,

secretary of state races. these will make the change in the electoral map for the future. there is an effort in florida to take back the state senate. that will determine how redirect happening. all the gerrymandering complaints will be down ballots. democrats cannot make the mistake of only focussing on these higher ticket brand name candidates. >> your party has been very good in making sure they cover the field. they go all the way down to school boards. a couple of different headlines. washington post saying that the wave election sort of idea may be not as big of a wave as democrats might have hoped for because you do have donald trump somewhat rebounding in terms of his approval rating. he is still underwater, but not as underwater. and 70% to 75% chance for democrats to win the house. one more headline in "the new york times," democrats struggling in key battleground

states. republicans are worried that their candidates are in trouble in michigan, pennsylvania, minnesota and other states that the party prizes and that that could spill over into house races for the gop. what are you looking at as a republican strategist? how likely sit that your party loses the house? >> well, it's historically likely, but as republicans and as an operative, you look at the organization, the machine the republicans have built. and that started years ago but really accelerated are george bush and his eight years in the white house of putting an infrastructure in the local state parties and the republican national committee to not do the sexy work but to do the hard work. we learned that with victories during the obama administration. one thing that i will fault the obama team was they did their own political party and left their democrat national committee and state parties out there to fend for themselves. there is a huge difference in

the organizational set-ups when it comes to that. that's because they understood what redirecting meant to the republican party and what a local house member and local senate members mean to the republican party. so in the overall scope of things, certainly the president's numbers are helping us. they're not hurting us now like they were 30 days ago or 45 days ago. this goes down to 25 seats in the house that hillary clinton won that were republican seats. they have got to win about all of these and run the debt to keep the house. that's possible. i think the senate races i think are going to increase the numbers in the senate and that's courtesy of the brett kavanaugh hearings and we're not going to have this blood bath landslide that everybody is predicting and also to address, joy, what i would call lazy voters. they're lazy voters for a reason. they don't vote unless there is a general election with the president in it.

we have spent money to get those people on our side. there is the millennial vote. it is a very, very hard vote to get out. very hard, especially when you have a 60% drop from the two hundred million registered voters in a presidential year and then you got 40% that will vote then. so it's really, really hard to bring your numbers up with lazy voters. >> and let me come to you. he's my friend. that's what he meant. i'm going to bring you in here, jennifer. democrats do have a challenge every other election, right? democratic voters are very focussed on the white house. they're white house oriented voters. republican voters tend to be more consistent in every election. so i wonder if, among, you know, friends among people you are talking with that are usually voting republican if there is a shift in those very consistent voters, people who do vote, but who may be changing their mind about how they're voting.

>> absolutely. i think there are two groups of people that the democrats are going to rely on to increase their wave, to lengthen and deepen their pick-ups. one is the occasional voters. the reason it is different is that in the democratic party you have these dynamic candidates of color who are appealing directly to those voters. >> right. >> they are running on issues that are fundamental, voting acts and medicaid expansion. there is actually people like these occasional voters for someone to vote for, so that makes a big difference. second group of people are people like me. women in the suburbs, college educated women, white women, these people are fleeing the republican party. for all the talk of brett kavanaugh, what we have seen is all that has really done is pump up enthusiasm from women who are furious. and i think this is still an underreported story, in part because unfortunately most

pundits are male. most political consultants are male. and they underestimate the extreme anger that women are feeling. and you see now for the very first time some coverage of women, volunteering of women, women donors. those people will not be dissuaded. >> yeah. >> unfortunately, in our politics, fear and anger is a great motivator. >> i want to go back to kate for a second because i do wonder if republicans are -- we talk about overconfidence, but i wonder if republicans are overconfident in what brett kavanaugh means. for a lot of women, what that means is a man saying, i'm entitled to power even if i have been potentially abusive toward women, and that this is my entitlement. i see it among people i know that are republicans that are saying this guy is an entitled

man who is up there crying and screaming because he wants more power, but look at what he did to this woman. i wonder if republicans are underestimating what jennifer called the fury of women about that and whether they are also underestimating the fury of black and brown and native american and asian american people about this aggressive voter suppression that members of your party engaged in. >> we can argue about the voter suppression, and we have in the past. i can tell you what it did was it motivated the republican party from the brett kavanaugh hearings. and i will tell you that, whether they liked it or not, the american public, especially the people who watch our shows, has changed. their tolerance level has changed. and that's courtesy of donald trump that it's changed. they take hard rhetoric. and that's just the facts. i'm not giving an opinion. i think everybody will agree with that. so what they saw in the brett

kavanaugh hearings was what i see in some polling in rural america as something that wasn't fair. and so at the end of the day, it has reminded republican voters that they voted for donald trump. they wanted a tax policy. it reminded them to go vote. the question is 16 days is a lifetime in politics to keep the heat up to get people to go vote, and there is not early voting in every state. it's not there. so that would be my answer and my summary to the brett kavanaugh hearings. >> brett kavanaugh -- listen, the polling shows overwhelmingly he is the least popular supreme court justice. he's in the negative. if you look at every poll, one in four people think he was telling the complete truth. so i think it is a rallying cry for people who are returning to the party anyway as the election draws near. people come home to their party. and you can expect in texas

people are going to vote republican. i don't think it has anything to do with brett kavanaugh at all. >> lots of people saw this as unfair. they saw it unfair this guy was living out an '80s movie throughout his whole life and didn't have any consequences. this is what i do think about brett kavanaugh. . at the end of the day, brett kavanaugh -- most voters are not thinking brett kavanaugh has anything to do with my health care, anything to do with my roads, anything to do with my schools. it helped them for senate races, but it hasn't moved these governor's races. those are the places where it really, really matters. at the end of the day, as bad as voter suppression s for once, for the feirst time in decades, the democrats are ready for it and they have a plan to bring people out. >> lastly on voter suppression, i'll ask you to answer it. the idea of having your vote potentially suppressed and

stolen is a motivator for a lot of people, right? >> this goes to the anger that's happening in the base right now. it's the same anger that motivated a lot of trump supporters. at least we have it now on the democratic side. they want to be heard and represented to the point where there are initiatives to give back felons their vote because people are understanding how fundamental a right it is. >> yeah. two motivated parties coming to the polls. we'll see what happens. 16 more days to go. thank you, guys. get some rest. have some brunch. up next, your moment of maxine. stay with us. bu. i forgot. chevy also won a j.d. power dependability award for its light-duty truck the chevy silverado. oh, and since the chevy equinox and traverse also won chevy is the only brand to earn the j.d. power dependability award across cars, trucks and suvs-three years in a row.

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you unsealed an indictment against a russian national trying to influence the election. >> it had nothing to do with my campaign. all of the hackers and everybody you see doesn't have to do with my campaign. if the hackers, a lot of them probably like hillary clinton better than me. >> donald trump is still trying to shrug off russian election interference, even after a russian national was charged with trying to meddle in the upcoming midterm elections which, again, are just 16 days away. joining me now is california congresswoman maxine waters. always a pleasure to see you. >> thank you. delighted to be with you this

morning. >> this was the one writing the checks. the thing that was so shocking about this indictment is that her activities were not 2016 limited. we're talking about the upcoming election. >> that's right. >> how concerned are you with the security of the election that's in 16 days? >> joy, i'm very concerned. we have been told over and over again that they were not going to stop with 16, that they were going to be involved in this election. and honestly, the congress of the united states has not done enough to ensure that there is safety and security in these elections. so they're in. they have already started to undermine some of our campaigns and, you know, we're being told that, you know, they have not been able to influence the actual electrical systems. but that's not what it's all about. it's about, you know, creating division. it's about, you know, creating

all of these falsehoods and these lies in order to, you know, scare people. >> yeah. >> so, yeah, they're in. >> we just saw donald trump claiming that these people prefer hillary clinton. it makes no sense what he said. >> yes. >> but we know that some of the targets of this campaign include members of congress, including you. this is from the indictment. on or about december 10th, 2017, a member of the conspiracy used a twitter account. again, they are using trump memes. coffefe. quote, tell us who you want to defeat. and it lists various candidates, and includes you. >> it does. it talks about me and elizabeth warren and i don't know who else. maybe hillary is in there. i think they put a dollar amount. >> $5. >> asking people to contribute if you want to target your funds

toward one of us. i'm worth $5. >> there was also robert mueller. mueller himself is targeted in this campaign. also reading from the indictment titled the eight dirtiest scandals of robert mueller no one is talking about. the article was messaged in the following way: special prosecutor mueller is a puppet of the establishment and lists scandals that took place when he was in the fbi. this is also targeting the investigation. >> absolutely. he has been a target for some time. not only do you have the russians involved in this, but the president made it clear he wanted this investigation stopped. and he's done everything that he could possibly do except quite step over that red line to get mueller. so it is not surprising. i think that this election is a crucial and critical election

for this country. and i think that the republicans are very scared that somehow there is going to be a blue wave. and i think there is collusion. you know, i have said this for a long time. i believe there is collusion in order to undermine the democrats so that the republicans can remain in power. >> and remain in power in part to stave off what republicans have been talking about, potential investigations. if democrats get control of the house of representatives, what kinds of investigations might there be? >> well, let me just say this. first of all, we have got to recognize that democrats have been without the ability to push our initiatives forward for a long time. so we have got to concentrate on our housing. we have got to concentrate on infrastructure. we have got to really be in a fight because do you know that they are intent on cutting social security and medicare and

medic medical? so we are going to have this at the top of our agenda. but there will be some opportunities to follow through with what some of us started. don't forget, i started taking a look at deutsche bank. i requested information from the treasurer. i believe there is money laundering going on there. and so, yes, we are going to follow up on some of those things. >> and you would be chairman of the house banking committee. >> if i am fortunate enough to be chair, of course i'm going to handle the financial services committee in a very responsible way dealing with, making sure that we support the consumer financial protection bureau that is being undermined. in addition to that, of course i am going to look at those areas that we had already started looking at but could not advance because the republicans were in control. so i'm going to do responsible work. not everything that i'm going to do is going to be about

investigations. >> sure. >> that's what some would like to have people believe. >> right. >> that i'm only going to use the power of that seat in order to try and get at trump, try and get at the treasury, et cetera. i will be even handed. >> i think democrats don't remind people of this enough. people love you. people love a lot of democrats. adam schiff very popular. people understand that you popular democrats would have gavels. you would have subpoena power and authority, and that's the thing that we need to remember, that voting really does matter. >> it does matter. i'm hopeful that we're able to take the house back. we're about to do that. i think that we're doing very well. california is going to be very key in that. when you take a look at the orange county type districts, we have a number of candidates there that are running good campaigns. if we do, i think that we will take up these issues that have

been neglected. and social security, medicare and medical are very important. mcconnell is already talking about cutting these very, very important programs that are so important for so many people, and i am going to be fighting him tooth and nail. >> congresswoman maxine waters, thank you so much. it is always great to see you in person here in l.a. have a great day. >> thank you. >> coming up, the latest on the killing of jamal khashoggi and donald trump's odd response. thank you. > coming up, the latee killing of jamal khashoggi and donald trump's odd response. thank you. when my hot water heater failed, she was pregnant, in-laws were coming, a little bit of water, it really- it rocked our world. i had no idea the amount of damage that water could do.

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the president of guatemala says some t2,000 migrants attempting to reach the united states have returned to honduras following an intense standoff with officers. they remain on the guatemala/mexico border hoping to reach the u.s. our msnbc correspondent is live from mexico joining me now. what is going on there? >> reporter: joy, i'm actually between the border between guatemala and mexico. i'm standing on a bridge so you can see this caravan which is on the move behind me over my right shoulder. we're talking about a movement of people that is still between

3,000 and 7,000 strong. it is unlike anything i have seen. as you said, some 2,000 or so turned back to guatemala, but this caravan is on the move, and it is undeterred. their goal today is to make it from the border between g guatemala where they forcefully made their way into this country on friday after violent clashes. what is on their way? they're about 100 or more federalis half a mile in front of me. it is likely there might be confrontations later today. the mexican soldiers will try to impede this. it is the biggest city here in the southern tip of mexico, joy, and it is a place where you have local government agencies and local un agencies. so caravan organizers tell me

that will be the place where they reorganize for three, four days before continuing their journey north. and many of them, joy, many of the mothers, the children in this caravan, the men, you ask them what is your ultimate goal and most of them will tell you it is to get to the united states because we want to give our children a better life. joy? >> i want to ask you about that. because two questions. one, when you talk with caravan organizers, are they aware of the family separation policy that you have been doing such great reporting on in the united states, of the aggressive anti-migrant policy of the trump administration? and is that deterring people at all? >> so first of all, it is a little hard to hear because there are actually federali planes flying overhead right now. but the folks here i have spoken to, including caravan organizers, they are so desperate because of the conditions in central america.

most of them are from honduras this time around. they say that the lack of opportunity, the violence, is just killing their children. so they are willing to take their chances. most of them know about the family separation policy, know about this president's anti-immigrant rhetoric. when i ask them what is your message to donald trump? what are you hoping to achieve, they keep saying we have faith that trump has our hearts and that he is going to see we are not criminals. we are just desperate people that need help for us and our families. joy? >> and of course trump is saying the opposite and is saying that they are criminals. i want to ask one other question because we know that there is a new administration taking power in mexico. i'm wondering what is happening there? because there is a big push on the trump side of the ledger for people to stay in mexico or be processed in mexico or for mexico to deal with these migrants. does mexico have a policy for what to do with the people coming over their border?

>> great questions, joy. right now you have a lot of tensions here because you have the administration under a lot of pressure to deliver for the trump administration. i mean, this is the president that's tweeting about, you know, their newly signed nafta deal. he doesn't want any of that to be jeopardized. at the same time you have a new administration taking over december 1st. and this is a man that in the past has been a little more combative toward the united states. so it remains to be seen whether mexico's foreign policy's stands toward the u.s. regarding migration as well is going to change. but right now the pena administration is basically saying they want these people to come into mexico, but in an organized way. they will detain those who forcefully make their way into mexico. they just want them to have the right paperwork to be able to

move within mexico. that is incredibly hard. seeking asylum here can take a long time. if you seek asylum in mexico, that may impede you from seeking asylum in the united states. so many of those folks don't want to do that. at least the ones i have spoken to, they want to safely move through mexico and make their way to the u.s. southern border. >> yeah. and last question for you. when you are talking to people in that caravan, do they have family members in the united states? are they going toward, you know, individual people who are waiting to receive them? >> some are. and this is -- you know, their family reunification that they are striving towards. but some are also incredibly young. there are babies in this march of thousands, joy. there are very young parents. girls who aren't even 20 years old and already carrying a baby in their arms. when they talk about the violence they are fleeing from

gangs, from this newly elected government in honduras that many say is repressive, nobody goes through this unless they absolutely have to. so you sense the decembsperatio procur a better life for their children. >> we can see those pictures mind you. you are so valuable. thank you very much for bringing us this information. truly appreciate it. thank you. more a.m. joy after the break. (music throughout)

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we are going to find out what happened with respect to the terrible situation in turkey having to do with saudi arabia and the reporter. >> the king firmly denied any knowledge of it. he didn't really know. these could have been rogue killers. who knows? >> saudi arabia has been a great ally. but what happened is unacceptable. >> the evolution of trump's response to the killing of jamal khashoggi has been abnormal for an american president in pretty much every day. not the least of which in that it tracked almost to the letter

with the evolving denials and claims by the saudi government. but more than two weeks into the controversy, something seems to be changing with trump now expressing the slightest doubt about the saudi story. trump told the washington post last night, quote, there has been deception and there has been lies. but in that same interview, trump returned to form, defending the saudis, calling them an incredible ally and also defending saudi crown prince whose denial of any knowledge of khashoggi's killing is believed by almost no one connected to trump. nobody has told me he's responsible. nobody has told me he's not responsible. we haven't reached that point. i would love if he wasn't responsible. joining me now are two journalists. i want to go to you on this first. donald trump has really gone out of his way to believe mohamed

bin solomon's evolving stories and also to review the saudi line on the killing of khashoggi. and now his newest line, and this is from one of my producers, he is describing the leader of saudi arabia this way and also talking about his son-in-law. he says they're two young guys, meaning mbs and jared kushner. jared doesn't know him well or anything. they're just two young people. they're the same age. they like each other, i believe. this sort of infcharacterizatio what do you think of it? >> god gives the wrong people money and power. mbs is the crown prince of saudi arabia who, by the way, said he has jared kushner in his, quote, back pocket. donald trump also said, no, the

latest story has deception and lies. but mbs is very strong. he's in control. and he keeps things, quote, in check. and i think that's very key here, joy, is that this crystallizes the u.s.-saudi relationship, right? we don't mind brutal dictators as long as they are putting our interests above everything else. right now trump has three interests. number one, that the money keeps flowing. there is $110 billion arms sale which donald trump said would add 40,000 jobs. number two, people are forgetting iran. they want to contain iran. there was a plan on november 5th to do massive sanctions against iran and punish anybody that engaged with iran. so they still want to contain iran. and number three, he believes saudi arabia protects israel. so you have our interests which trump the death, murder, torture

of jamal, khashoggi, a u.s. resident and washington post columnist. right now donald trump is playing lawyer to the most incompetent crown prince of saudi arabia. they had two weeks to come up with a story and last night they came up with their fourth iteration that said that jamal died in a choke hold. >> yeah. he was live. he had a fistfight with 15 guys and a bone saw. >> that was the last story. >> it keeps evolving. the one thing that's consistent about donald trump is his admiration for dictators and strong men. what he seems to admire about them is their absolute power over their populations and their freedom of action and their action to do whatever they want to their enemies. he seems to think that is an admirable thing. he has made some untoward comments about the u.s. press being the enemy of the people. that's one of the reasons i want to talk to you. he can't do the things you do,

but he admires it. >> he doesn't just admire the things they are able to do. he is actually -- he lies in the same way that they do, and i think that part of his discomfort with being pushed to distrust the denials issued by the saudi arabian government is that that implies that you can actually just believe a dictator, right? that you can cast doubt on what they say, that they don't have absolute power over reality. >> yeah. and, you know, each time that one of these dictators or somebody that he admires said they didn't do anything, that's good enough for him. you know, i'm sure the central park five are thinking, that's interesting because even dna proof isn't good enough for trump. but if a dictator says it,

that's good enough for him. the question is, both of you are journalists, how does one feel safe then if a washington post columnist, who is a resident of the united states, can simply walk into a consulate and not come out and the president of the united states says the following. this is him talking about whether there is a body. again, this is the leader of the united states of america who has access to all of the top intelligence. he can have any piece of intelligence he wants at his fingertips at any moment. and this is what he says about the body of mr. khashoggi. >> no, we don't. nobody seems to know. somebody knows, but nobody of the various investigation groups at this moment know. but we'll find out. >> are you concerned they haven't identified that? >> it is a concern. we'd like to find out where it is and what happened, and i think we're inching our way

there. >> it is the way in which donald trump almost represents himself as if he's just -- he just knows about as much as you or i. he's just a consumer of information as a regular guy, not the president of the united states. >> yeah. not the commander in chief who has his own intelligence agencies, doesn't have access to nato ally that shows let's play a game of clue. 15 saudis did it in the saudi consulate of turkey with a bone saw at the behest of mbs. there's been four stories of mbs. mbs is in charge of the investigation and also in charge of the intelligence reform. that's like saying let's put o.j. simpson in charge of the nicole simpson investigation. donald trump seems to be completely impotent around authoritarian leaders especially putin and now mbs. hey, guys, i talked to him, he says it's rogue killers. what do you want me to do? hey, there's an arms deals and we need the jobs which has gone

from 40,000 to 1 million. this sets a dangerous precedent for a lot of our colleagues and journalist, hey, it's go time to attack journalists because donald trump and the united states of america, which at least claims on a world stage to protect free speech, to protect journalism, guess what, we're not going to do anything. you can kill one of our residents, you can torture and dismember him and we're going to give you a free pass. so game on. >> you know, masha, when i've talked to friends who are from outside the united states, just the people who are from, you know, the middle east, they say that one of the things that donald trump has done is he's sort of pulled the veil off of what a lot of people had cynically believed was always sort of an american self-concept of being above it all, an american self-concept of being more moral, right? of being sort of the moral arbiter of the world whereas donald trump just makes it clear. listen, we're not trying to be that at all. the cynicism that people had

about american values, he confirms it so people can say, well, good, at least we're not playing games anymore. he's being open about the fact that he wants our oil. he's being open about the fact that he doesn't care about human rights, he's sort of ripped that veil off. in a sense where does that leave the world? if the united states doesn't even have that veil of sort of believing in these values because the president of the united states says, you know what, after all i really don't care? >> the world begins to look more like how trump and putin and men like them see it, which is as rotten, right? profoundly rotten driven only by profits. and i think that that's the fundamental world view that trump holds and that's why he thinks that it's really enough to sort of issue these formal denials, because apparently that's all that's needed from him, right? i think he fully doesn't realize that there are still people who look to the president of the united states to provide some kind of moral leadership, to

talk about values like they mean it. he is profoundly uninterested. it's not that he says he's powerless, can't get information from the intelligence agencies. he's saying, look, this is a nuisance nuisance. we're in the business of making deals. i'll say something because you want me to respond to this, but i'm not going to feign interest in it. >> yeah. and then there's the next step in what happens because we knew there was going to be a fall guy. we knew that the saudis were going to say, well, they did it but it had nothing to do with the crown prince. yesterday on our program, malcolm nance, our frequent guest, made the following prediction about what happens next. i wanted to get your response. >> what's going to happen is this because i've worked there my entire career.

one, the youngest of that team is going to be singled out and he is either going to be executed or he is going to be disappeared in some way and his tribe and his family will be owed a favor by the king of saudi arabia. the rest of them will all be banished to mecca, mbs will get out of this scott clear and you will hear a letter of intent on weapons sales to the united states that donald trump can walk around the campaign trail. >> is it really that cynical? is that what we're looking forward to? >> that's exactly what's going to happen. 18 people were arrested. apparently the 15 saudis who went there, a driver, two staffers from the consulate, the right-hand of mbs was also let go. so everyone else is taking the fall for this. mbs, again, is in charge of the investigation and of the reform of the intelligence agencies. nothing's going to happen to him. king salman has not removed him. he's put all his faith in mbs who is the de facto ruler.

you're going to get an arms sale. people will rally the base. jobs were created, money flowed into america. let's not forget, saudi arabia subsidizes the careers of many people here in d.c., joy. so we're going to see a lot of whitewashing of saudi arabia's crimes and a lot of defense of mbs. a lot of mbs lawyers will pop up. there will be the smearing of jamal khashoggi. >> that's already begun. we've seen him represented as muslim brotherhood. >> absolutely. >> speaking of the money, the company that pulled out of the saudi conference, meaning they were in it include uber, viacom, ford, jpmorgan chase, finally the u.s. steve mnuchin has finally pulled out of that conference. so there is a lot of money to be followed. before we leave i want to make a quick turn because the other thing and masha, the reason i like talking to you, there is a thing that autocrats like to do is redefine reality of whatever

they want to do. there was a story you were good enough to alert us to, that the trump administration, this sounds to us, i can't believe it, is considering redefining gender. i'll read a little bit of it. the trump administration is considering narrowly defining gender determined by genitalia at birth. it's a government wide effort to roll back protections for transgender people under federal civil rights laws. a reminder that there are things that the executives in america can do on their own even without public consent or congressional consent. >> you know, this is not just about transgender people, although it's big enough about transgender people. what trump is doing essentially is redefining people. he's redefining the nation and in that sense what he is doing with immigration, what he is doing with reversing the gains on lbgt rights but specifically transgender rights, is redefining community.

who gets to be fully human. who gets to have the full rights of citizenship and all transgender people, not immigrants, not many others. >> yeah. and it's frightening. and the american people have it in their hands to turn it back if they want to, 16 days to the election. thank you so much. it's really been great to talk to you both. thank you. thank you very much. all right. more "am joy" after the break.

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so democrats produce mobs.

republicans produce jobs. that's become hashtag. that's called hashtag. that's a new hashtag. that's a hot one. this november vote for jobs, not mobs. >> welcome back to "am joy" live from los angeles. donald trump and his party want you to believe that democrats are an uncivil mob because of several viral confrontations between politicians and the public. the latest, mitch mcconnell who was out to dinner on friday night in louisville, kentucky, when he was confronted by a man yelling why don't you get out of here. why don't you leave the entire country alone. the man explained to other patrons they're going to cut your social security. meanwhile, this was the crowd that confronted nancy pelosi, the house minority leader at a campaign event in florida on

wednesday. >> biggest piece of [ bleep ] right here. look at this piece of [ bleep ] pelosi right here. >> you don't belong here you [ bleep ]. get the [ bleep ] out of here. [ bleep ]. >> the protest was organized by the republican party of miami-dade county. the party chairman, nelson diaz, was there and could be seen pounding on the door and screaming after pelosi went inside. also with the protests, members of the white nationalist group known as the proud voice. >> open up. it's the proud boys in here. >> now you may remember the proud boys from the charlottesville, quote, you night the right rally. and a violent brawl last week in new york, diaz, the miami republican party leader told the miami herald he did not invite the proud boys and said, quote, i am not a member of the proud

boys group nor do i support their group or their mission. he apologized for higgs actis at the movement. joining us is mark kaputo from politico. mark, clarify what happened at that event. the proud boys were there but were they an official sort of formal part of that protest? >> good question. i was inside so when i approached i didn't see any of the proud boys guys and this stuff was alerted to us by democrats, folks with the shalala campaign. best we could see, there were two proud boys there, one with a flag and one with a hat. the one with the hat is enrique torio who was spewing the expletives that you bleeped out earlier. he was the one holding the camera from what we're able to understand. he's identified as afro cuban which is one of the odd wrinkles in calling it a white supremacist group. we're kind of still feeling out whether there's a proud boys presence in miami.

in fact, when i spoke to nelson diaz about it on friday, i believe, when the video came out of atario or whoever it was yelling at pelosi, f'ing communist, i don't know who they are. when i told him to take a look, call me back. he said, oh, my god. it's been a learning curve figuring out who are these proud boys guys? what are they doing here? how many of them are there? >> yeah. well, they claim that they are a group that defends western civilization. you're right, they have some members who are not white so they are an interesting melange. >> right. >> we'll use a nice word. so what was the event that nancy pelosi was at and why was she being yelled at and called a communist? can you just explain what the event itself was? >> right. the backdrop of this was nancy pelosi was going to come to

donna shalala's campaign event. donna shalala is running to replace iliana and along with pelosi is barbara lee. barbara lee had expressed measures of sympathy for fidel castro, said we should mourn his death after he died in 2016. she had also opposed putting sanctions on venezuela. in miami those are pretty extremist comments for a broad swath of the population and folks are very angry that she was going to show up so the protest that was called was to protest really not pelosi who's obviously accustomed to protests but barbara lee. lee decided not to show up, perhaps wisely so, but the protestors still showed up and were rather inbe sensed. i do have to say in my time of covering miami politics i have seen crowds become this kind of abusive. in fact, in this crowd there

were two people shouting at me, one is a crazy man named herb silver in the ft. lauderdale area. he was yelling at me calling me a jew hater and cop hater. i don't know why. there are some very -- there are a few unglued individual who show up to these events, including him. i'm not saying enrique tario is. i don't know him. i hadn't seen him. >> thank you for clearing that up. this has been a pretty viral video. we wanted to get some clarity on what was going on. >> we're still trying to find clarity. >> i think we are. we are definitely trying to find clarity. thank you, my friend. appreciate it. >> thank you. >> have a great day. joining me is david brock, founder of media matters. fernand amati and republican strategist kaeden dawson. i'm going to defer to the floridians here. fernand, it was a mix of different things. you did have the brash lee piece

of it. >> sure. >> you had the nancy pelosi piece of it, proud boys which we've explained what that's about. not typical miami politics. ileana is considered on the moderate side. this is not her world, this far right world. >> it's really unique. what makes it more disturbing, i think, joy, is this was presented originally as kind of an organic spontaneous crowd reaction to this appearance by congresswoman lee when in reality when we've learned, especially through the reporting and investigative journalist grant stern, this was a methodical organized effort by the republican party of miami-dade county as you saw the chairman, and in addition every day as they're now doing the crowd scans of who was there, you see staffers for current congressman carlos corbello, staffers who worked on the rick scott campaign. when you see this degree -- >> in the crowd? >> in the crowd organizing the

beating of the fists and you hear some of the expletives, you add to that little dangerous cocktail the proud boys and you have what looks on the surface to be a republican party sanctioned event of a mob crowd menacing and intimidating a peaceful campaign activity on the very week that donald trump projection classic or wellian double speak style calls the democratic mobs. even more sinister, this is against the backdrop of the death of jamal khashoggi. it just speaks to a republican party that is out of control. luckily no one was injured there. >> right. >> what happens, joy, if we have another charlottesville type moment like we saw here on display in south florida. >> 1 in 17 floridians are armed with conceal carry. this is not a state where public confrontations are not -- it's scary. >> sure. >> here's the thing, what fernad just described is what sounds like the brooks brothers riot in

2000 when republican staffers took off their ties, showed up at a vote count and attempted to intimidate the people counting the vote because this was an attempt to win the election. they weren't going to allow that vote count to go forward. >> right. >> this pretend organic protest but it was republican staff. >> carlos corbello is not an extremist but if they're willing to do that, what is that to say about the party? >> you have to look at it through two lenses. you have to look at the civil activism, agnostic of any suppression is part and parcel to who we are as americans. the ability to confront your legislators, your elected officials. the other lane is this notion, since the ascent of donald trump, where they've given permission to these voices, whether they be the alt right,

they give him permission for them to join the coalition of voters, if you will, among republicans but they've also given parenting to their ideas. they have acknowledged and suggested that somehow these ideas, these elements are -- meet with the same intellectual merit that some of the traditional convictions of republicans do. i take a rather irreverent view, i think it's okay. on both sides of the aisle provided you're not inflicting insecurity or confronting the safety of the elected officials. i think this is exactly some of the fundamental notions upon which the country was founded. if it interrupts the legislators, so be it. >> as long as it's -- >> as long as it's safe. of course. >> i mean, you know, kaeden, most people would say that you should not yell at elected officials in public is an anti-free speech full stop. i think if you believe in free

speech it's fine as long as it doesn't get violent. it's different, i think, cursing at a woman. take away the fact that she's the, you know, house minority leader and the power that nancy pelosi has. just the image, we played it a couple of times yesterday because it was pretty shocking to see people screaming and cursing at a woman, a woman of a certain age, just that in and of it self does it make you uncomfortable. >> it not only makes me uncomfortable, it should not be tolerated. it's the toxic nature of what's happening now on both sides and everybody's sort of culpable. i agree with the congressman that everybody has their right to protest. you have your right to organize. you also have your right and responsibility to keep it within the realms of the law. i mean, there was battery towards speaker pelosi right there and obviously this other new found zbroup group is tryint

some press which we've given them this morning, which is unfortunate. but at the end of the day this is where we are in the political nature of an event, of the passions and the ability for these groups to get on television and the ability for these people to advertise themselves and then, again, the language certainly didn't help anybody create any type of political message except for the uncalled for and unfortunate thing organized by the republicans down there. then i take the republican county chairman's apology at his word for it. >> the problem with characterizing it as a both sides thing, kaeden, on this side we're talking about staffers to members of the united states congress participating in this, number one, and then the second thing is, you know, there isn't an equivalent of, you know, we don't have to advertise them. they are showing up at conservative events called unite the right. they're showing up at republican

events and feeling comfortable there. the so-called alt right which is basically white nationalists have succeeded in just blending right in and being welcomed. somebody who called himself the home of the alt right was in the administration. there are people inside the trump administration with these sympathies. that is very different from what's going on on the democratic side where a lady shows up with a baby on her hip and says women should not be assaulted. those are not the same. >> well, i've seen both sides and i can't tell you who's invited to the rally and who's not invited. >> but if they're not the same -- wait. not to interrupt you, but it is not the same to have members of these ultra nationalist and in some cases white nationalist groups blend into your party. they're blending in and they're feeling comfortable there. does -- that's a problem.

>> i'm not sure that the comfortableness of that, certainly i'm not comfortable with it, but i'm not sure you're saying they're blending in, they're comfortable. certainly they may be attending but i've not seen anybody attending people of that nature who don't want to protest. >> they were right there with the chairman of the party so they were together. this is the question. media matters is what you founded. how much of this is about media that has fused what used to be conservatism and the right with this other thing, which they actually posted an entire, you know, manifesto on what this is. this is merging. >> yes, it is. so basically what's happened here with conservative alternative media, you start with talk radio, then you came to the advent of the fox news channel and the alt right sites

and it moves progressively to the french. with breitbart and far beyond that, alex jones, you look at these right wing facebook groups, it's festering and it's full meanting down there. but the reality is, trump -- the fish is rotting from the head. trump at a rally overnight complemented that you assaulted a reporter. yes, both sides can get out of control and things can escalate. this is a difference of degree -- kind, not degree. >> yeah. >> in what we saw in florida versus what we saw with mitch mcconnell. remember, the origin of this mob meet was trump accusing sexual assault survivors of being the angry mob. this is, as you said, projection, it's beyond projection. >> the women -- some of the women who have been protesting brought a baby with them. it's not the same voice. >> really quickly.

what i would say about this, when i came out for marriage equali equality, i had republicans come after me. a colleague said, just remember, you signed up for this. i am not sympathetic to them. >> mark put out a statement saying you're not helping the cause of anti-communism if you behave like the repudiation. you should have protested pelosi without -- >> he went left wing on us. >> to david rock's point. donald trump has so corrupted the republican party that even for moderates it's difficult to protest it as communism. these are the tactics that the castro and maduro regimes used. >> thank you, david brock, fernand, david, kaeden, thank you all. coming up next, we will take a look at how the current president stands up against our

past presidents. the great historian michael beschlos joins us next. quick, the quicker picker upper! bounty picks up messes quicker and is 2x more absorbent. bounty, the quicker picker upper.

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russia has violated the agreement. we're not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons and we're not allowed to so we're going to terminate the agreement. we're going to pull out. well, file this under yet another presidential norm broken. yesterday donald trump announced that the united states will be pulling out of a landmark arms

treaty with russia signed in 1987 by president ronald regan. the intermediate range nuclear forces or inf treaty ee lwas to protect people from the threat of nuclear war. with war making powers increasingly in the hands of the president and not congress, what does it mean to have this kind of president in charge? michael besloss is here. my current reading. michael, it's always great to talk to you. >> thank you so much for having me, joy. >> one of the things you talk about in this book is something that does gall a lot of people in america. the fact that congress has shifted the right to declare war into the hands of the president. and you go all the way talking about jefferson, i think you talk about the war of 1812. people don't talk about the war of 1812. >> always needs more. >> even needs more.

all the way through to vietnam. the fact that presidents have a great weight in determining war and peace. should that scare the average american? >> joy, it should scare the average american. what keeps me literally awake at night is the prospect of donald trump is going to push us towards an unnecessary major war for his own political reasons, and what i do in the book, just as you've said, i tell the stories of biographies of all these major war presidents from james madison all the way to the president. a lot of them have emotional breakdowns. they all get more religious. they have strong marriages, thank god, that center them, and they all have empathy. a lot of those qualities you don't see in donald trump and trump has tweeted in the past, 2011, 2012 he tweeted that -- predicted that barack obama will get us involved in a war to get himself re-elected. not a great idea to be planted in the head of a president at a time where, as you rightly said,

presidents can get us into wars almost single handedly, almost overnight. it is scary. >> with richard nixon, in his desperation, as he's drinking, breaking down, impeachment is bearing down on him, he might start a nuclear war. we've had this fear before. whatever you think about richard nixon, he did have the bearing of a president, a states man and a care about the country. >> right. >> now we're in a really different place. >> that's exactly right, and donald trump has the single control of nuclear weapons. if a russian missile comes over the north pole or if there is a terrorist incident. there have been fabricated incidents, james pope did. we went to war against the spain, it wasn't the pan spanish. lyndon onson got us involved in a war in vietnam that lasted 10

years, killed 60,000 americans along with richard nixon based on an incident called the gulf of tonkin. that never happened. we all depend on the character of the president of the united states and that should make us extremely nervous. >> what's the origin of the congress seating this power. what's the origin of them essentially giving it away? >> well, originally the founders were terrified that presidents of the united states would turn into dictators. they would abuse power and, therefore, they gave the power to declare war not to a president but to congress. and, joy, i look over the last 200 years when presidents have become authoritarian, they usually do it during the war. >> yeah. >> presidents can declare martial law. did you get a presidential alert announcement on your iphone from president trump a few weeks ago? >> yes. yes. >> that was pretty benign. it may not be so benign. he may start sending political messages that you do not want to

receive. >> when i thought of that, that was precisely my thought. >> in this book you take to task, i think we don't talk about this enough, franklin delano roosevelt, even the presidents that get to the top of the top ten list of great presidents abused the power during war time in detaining japanese-americans, hundreds and thousands of american citizens. so the abuse is not just with those we think are nefarious. >> even with the japanese and woodrow wilson passed something calledhe is espionage act. donald trump is using that very act right now. >> has there been a -- i mean, we keep on calling donald trump unprecedented, but is he? has there been another equivalent to him? is it andrew jackson? i tend to think. is there another president like this? >> superficial similarities but i think this is a president who

is in a category of his own. first president in history with no military experience, no experience in government. in 2016 the nation gave the sacred control of our nuclear weapons and the questions of war and peace, the prospect of a war that could kill upwards of 16 million people and incinerate the northern hemisphere, that is the kind of power that is in the hands of a president of the united states. we and our children are totally dependent on his character. >> michael beschloss, the book is "presidents of war." i'm going use host privilege and ask you to please sign it next time i see it in person. >> i would be honored. >> thank you. thank you very much. coming up, more "am joy."

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people like devin nunez, he should get -- if this all the turns out like everyone thinks it will, devin nunez should get the medal of honor. what he's gone through and his bravery, he should get a very important medal. maybe we'll call it the medal of freedom because we actually give

them high awards for civilians. he's done amazing. >> devin nunez should get the medal of freedom? when it comes to the russia investigation, there is one man who donald trump -- who's donald trump's ever ready protector in congress. the chairman of the house intelligence committee, unofficial chair of the committee to protect the president, one devin nunez which brings us to the next race in "am joy's 10 to watch. nun nez is up 10 points against andrew janz who's given nunez his first challenge in years. we'll give you more on that coming up. not today. this is definitely a race to watch. coming up, sorry, medal of freedom. can congressional republicans rush to defend, what else? donald trump on saudi arabia. but when you book at hilton.com, you get the price match guarantee. so if you find your room at a lower rate, hilton is like... we're gonna match that rate and give you an extra 25% off. what would travel sites do if you found a better price?

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right now the president is in a very delicate diplomatic spot, the same as president obama was. i think for this we need a certain time-out when it comes to making shots. let's deal with it on the merits. what saudi a airbus did was savage, was evil. that's to be condemned. let's take action. let's not be questioning the motives of our president right now. when the dust settles, then people can make the allegations they want. >> some republicans are trying to defend donald trump's handling of the killing of washington post columnist jamal khashoggi. trump has flip flopped whether he believes the current saudi

explanation that he was killed after, get this, he got into a fist fight with more than a dozen men in and a bone saw. trump initially told reporters on friday that he found that explanation to be credible. but in an interview with the washington post last night he said, quote, obviously there's been deception and there's been lies. joining me now, jennifer reuben, opinion writer for the washington post. rob ryan ner who einer and tiff. let me play one more republican talking about the saudis. this is senator bob corker who -- let's listen to bob corker talking about how the saudis should be punished for the khashoggi killing. >> everybody can say what they wish, but it's just not a credible story for somebody to walk in, 15 other people, and get into a fist fight and lose their life. sanctions are a blunt

instrument, okay? they're good but they're not great. we need to think of other ways to deal with this kind of behavior. what we don't want is a ruler that's going to be around for 40 or 50 years going around the world continuing to conduct operations like this. >> okay. so the republicans are sort of saying the things that you should say, right, about what happened? but do we -- is it credible for them to be now saying the saudis should be punished? do we find that credible? >> no. the problem is this continuing disconnect, which is donald trump one day says, oh, yes, i believe the saudis. the republicans are silent. the next moment he says, maybe they were lying. they don't even recognize the shifts. by the way, bob corker has kind of an important job. he could do something. he could think of things to do with the saudis, like ending the arms sales, pulling out. the three of us could come up with ten things in the course of 30 seconds. >> there's a thing called a magnitsky act, it's already on the books. they could certainly sanction them with that.

i'm getting pretty tired of seeing republicans, particularly republicans in positions of power like bob corker, say stuff. do something. >> sad tweets susan collins saying, this is terrible. okay. >> right. >> as soon as donald trump says we love the saudis they say, we agree. yes, sir. whatever you say, sir. >> right. >> so is there sort of ha-- thed wringing believable? >> their leader was applauding body slamming a reporter. now they're killing a journalist. there is nobody saying we have to protect journalists. so i don't buy the rhetoric coming from the party. they consistently fall in line on everything they did on kavanaugh when they did that investigation. it's scary talking about bob corker talking about sanctions

being a blunt instrument. so isn't a bone saw. a man lost his life and this president has sent mike pompeo to embrace this leader and literally said, we can't get into the facts right now. >> you know what's really disturbing, you have mbs basically saying i don't know -- what did i do? what's the big deal? >> right. >> i mean, he's pals with kushner and he's running around saying, well, i didn't realize there was going to be such an outcry over this. >> yeah. >> come on. >> even now you don't have the president of the united states expressing any outrage. >> right. >> any moral -- if you remember when pearl made, he made an empassioned defense of the press. when journalists were killed under obama, came out and a determination to defend the press, to defend americans. none of this. >> that is part of the role, right, the american president plays? >> right. >> whether or not people believe it, that sort of advancing the principle that you're to protect

journalists used to be a thing presidents did. >> yes. a guest earlier said he's not expressing ignorance, he's expressing indifference. steve mnuchin defended his decision, which i think they've maybe now reskinned to attend the saudi conference, the conference in which they're trying to raise a bunch of money. he said, we have an important relationship with saudi, focused on combatting terrorism. i'm going to go there and meet with my counterparts and continue to focus on what's in the treasury's domain. he's not going to speak at it. they're still saying that our interests matter more than this man's life. >> exactly. this is such stupid bargaining, stupid negotiations. the saudis need us so much more than we need them. they have their own interests. they're going to combat iran because that's in their national interests as well. we don't have to bribe them to do that. everything else is gravy for them.

so the sense that we're at their mercy is completely backwards. >> yeah. it's basically you've got mnuchin piggybacking on what king said. >> yeah. >> basically saying, well, trump is in an uncomfortable position. yeah, he is. because it's bottled wine. all we care about is his lining his pockets and the deals he can make with the saudis. this has nothing to do with strategic relations with the saudis. this has to do with money going into kushner's pocket, money going into trump's pocket. >> to jennifer's point, the rhetoric coming from "the art of the deal." he touts this $110 billion deal. the only part produced is 14 billion. that's another thing that gets lost. this isn't the most trustworthy relationship and i think the parallels between secretary of everything, jared kushner, and mbs, which is, you know, producing a lot of bs out of the saudi government, that they're both these princes.

>> yeah. >> right. exactly. >> they're just young men. two young 30 something-year-old adult men. they're just kids. children. let's move and talk about beto. beto o'rourke, something more uplifting. just to clarify the conference that mnuchin is going to is not the same one as the corporations are going to. >> this is financing of tariffs. he's going to that. he's not going to the other one. let's talk about beto o'rourke. he talked about a migrant crisis. these horrific pictures we've seen of people streaming into mexico, escaping in guatemala just horrific violence even though they know that the trump administration could restart the family separation policy at any time. they're still so desperate they're still trying to come here. here's what beto o'rourke said what the u.s. should do about it. >> if things are so desperate in guatema guatemala, honduras, el salvador that someone can risk their

lives to come here? what can we do to improve conditions there? we've invested trillions of dollars in wars in the middle east. can we invest some fraction to provide stability in central america to make sure people have a reason to stay and raise their families where they were born. >> i'm sort of not used to hearing rhetoric from a politician that is could he heerpt and makes sentencstencese politician that is could he heerpt and makes sentencstencen >> he is a star. i hope he can beat ted cruz, but if he doesn't, i think he's somebody that we all should look to. >> do you think he could still run if he lost? >> i do. >> what would the margin be? if he lost by a little bit do you think he could run? >> i do. i do. he is a born leader. >> he is. what you saw there, what you saw when he took on the issue of kneeling and what you saw when he talks about race issues is it is just a complete genuine passion. so many politicians are so scripted, are so afraid, are so

stiff and he just talks from his diaphragm. >> yeah. >> you feel the passion that he has and, listen, he's running his hand. you're not going to agree with me. he's much left of texas, let's be honest about that. he's projecting something that we've been missing, values, inspiration, hope, a sense of community. i think people are way past little ideological issues. some of these issues are important, but the issue of democracy is much more important. he is able to articulate that in a way that no one frankly since obama has been able to do. >> he's authentic. that's something you don't see from ted cruz. it baffles me that ted cruz enjoys the support from the latino community. >> one of the most disliked figures -- >> he doesn't have an ally or single friend to come out except for donald trump who of course called his wife a dog and accused his father of being part of the kennedy assassination. >> if you called his wife a dog and he's still with him.

all right. let's take one more turn and let's talk about the puerto rican vote. getting out the vote is the prime objective. they haven't done the best job of making it happen. rob, you are part of a campaign that is working to turn that around. i'm going to play a little bit of that back and let you explain what this is. >> my first thoughts when hurricane maria hit was my family. i thought about them and i thought about all the rest of the people there. the response from the trump administration, it confirmed that old stigma that we were second class citizens. fellow puerto rico cans, we will tell president trump on november 6th exactly who we are. share this video and mark your calendar. november 6th, we vote. >> that of course is the great rosie perez. you have rita moreno involved.

tell me about it. >> here we have a community that traditionally doesn't vote. there's a number of factions in our electorate that don't vote, but they're empowered now. they're empowered. because of the response to maria and a lot of them have been displaced to florida, pennsylvania, new york, california, this is a community that we're trying to energize to get out there and in certain districts with a couple of,000 votes here and there we can make a difference and flip a lot of these districts. that's the idea here is to basically tell the rest of america and the puerto rican community, you are americans. you're entitled to vote. get out there and zbloet vote. >> once they come onto the mainland they can recommendingster to vote. >> thank you all very much. >> thank you guys. coming up at the top of the hour, a closer look at one of the key mid term contests, senate race in montana. up next on "am joy" how

hollywood, in addition to what we just saw, is helping to get out the vote, but this time in georgia. packaging for restaurants. and we've grown substantially. so i switched to the spark cash card from capital one. i earn unlimited 2% cash back on everything i buy. and last year, i earned $36,000 in cash back. that's right, $36,000. which i used to offer health insurance to my employees. my unlimited 2% cash back is more than just a perk, it's our healthcare. can i say it? what's in your wallet?

so the challenge is the two-fold. one is that we know this is a flawed system that has a

disproportionate affect on people of color. but it also has the ability to erode trust in our system. >> that's a smoke screen, trying to hide her radical views. those folks that are on the pending list, all they have to do is go to the polls, show their photo i.d., and they can vote again. this is just a distraction. >> wow, with just 16 days until georgia elects a new governor, multiple efforts to thwart brian kemp's voter suppression tactics and get out the vote are underway. and our next guest will be part of the support team for democratic candidate, stacy abrams, throwing her a mega-fund-raiser that promises to bring the star power. joining me now is film producer will packer. will, great to talk to you. >> what's up, joy? how you doing? >> i'm doing pretty well. i'm a little sleepy. i'm on west coast time and i haven't quite adjusted to it. >> come on! wake up, joy! we're throwing a big party in

georgia and i want you to swing by. >> well, witell us about that part. who's going to be there? and in the final stretch, what's the goal? >> you know, one of the ways you fight voter suppression is you flip it on its head and you get voters energized. you use these kinds of methods to galvanize your base and let them know, listen, even though the other side is trying to do everything they can to keep you at home, you do everything that you can to go out and not just you go out, bring 10 people with you, bring 20 people with you. see, you can try to suppress a particular segment of a demographic, but if that demographic is so strong and energized, there's nothing the other side can do. so what i did, i believe in stacy, stacy reached out to me very, very early in her campaign, prior to her winning the democratic nomination. and i believed in her. and she asked for my support. so i called some of my hollywood friend and some of my entertainment friends. ludacris was my first call. i said, let's do something cool. because we represent the georgia

vote. and georgia has really become a big hub for the entertainment community, because we've got a tax credit in the state and so much production happens in the state, so this is a state that's very integral and viable to our production process in hollywood. >> yeah, absolutely. and so the hollywood, you know, the phones are ringing and people are picking up for stacy abrams. let's talk a little bit about georgia and get a little granular. georgia is 36% black. stacy is actually crossing over, as well. you know, are people down there that you're talking to, do they believe that this is a pipe dream or a dream that can really, genuinely come true, even in a state where voter suppression is as bad as i think any of us have ever seen it? >> yeah, no, it's tough down here. i mean, look, joy, i'll be honest with you. at the beginning, you had a lot of people, myself included, going, come on, georgia as a blue state, a democratic governor, how is that going to

happen. but as we have gotten closer and as we have hit the ground running, and as you realize that stacy is somebody who's been at the front lines of grassroots movements to try to register as many voters as possible, you realize that this is all about a turnout. that's it. we're standing on the brink of history and history will happen if people come out and show up, bring people with them, go to the polls, and let their voices be heard. one of the good things about 2016 is that people woke up and said, you know what, voting actually matters. voting matters. you look at atlanta in georgia and the mayoral race was one by hundreds. not thousands, hundreds of votes. and so, when you have people like myself and some of the other folks that are part of this fund-raiser that have loud voices, just echoing that, just underscoring and underlying that message of your vote matters and your vote counts, that's how you make history. you make history by those people who have not been listened to, who have not been heard, coming

out and saying, you know what? i am going to do what i need to do to make sure i'm counted. you can't suppress that. >> and we saw this with president obama, when he ran in 2008, and that, you know, he attracted celebrities because he attracted that kind of hopefulness and that kind of excitement that get younger voters involved. so i've got to get you to name a few names. who's going to be at this fund-raiser? >> oh, my gosh, listen, we got -- we got kevin hart, tiffany haddish, ludacris, tyrese, kelly roland. we've got a really good turnout. chris rock is on our host committee. he's trying to come in. grant hill. it's a good -- queen la the 'tite -- latifah, jada pinkett smith, but for the folks that are coming out there, we've got a really nice turnout. they'll get to hobnob with some of these fancy folks like you, joy. we'll do it at my house, have some good food, good music, and be all about supporting stacy and trying to flip this apathy on its head and saying, we don't

care what they try to suppress. >> i think my invitation got lost in the mail. i know it's around here, somewhere. >> it's not too late. >> you know, i would have been there! >> jump on a jet, joy. we got you. >> it's all good. you guys have a wonderful time. go out there and party for stacy. keep hope going! we love it. thank you, will packer. really appreciate your time this morning. >> thank you, joy. thank you for giving us a voice. appreciate that. >> thank you very much. more "a.m. joy" after the break. okay. [ buttons clicking ] [ camera shutter clicks ] so, now that you have a house, you can use homequote explorer. quiet. i'm blasting my quads. janice, look. i'm in a meeting. -janice, look. -[ chuckles ] -look, look. -i'm looking. it's easy. you just answer some simple questions online, and you get coverage options to choose from. you're ruining my workout. cycling is my passion. ♪ like a big pizza pie,

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that is our show for today. thanks so much for watching. "a.m. joy" will be back next saturday, 10:00 a.m. eastern. up next, my friend, alex witt, will have the latest. so when i come to hollywood, all the hollywood people go to georgia. but rob ryder stayed. >> i know, i saw that. but just because that whole will packer thing didn't work out for you, everywhere you are, joy reid, is a party. that's what i want to say. and i miss having your team leading up to me here in the studio. so get back here already, all right? >> you know, it's so much quieter in there without us in there giggling, i know, it is. >> well, there's that. >> love you, girl! have a great show. >> okay, thank you so much, joy. good day to all of you. i'm alex witt here in new york at msnbc headquarters. here's what's happening right now. unprecedented enthusiasm. the results of a new nbc poll about what's on voters' minds with 16 days to go before the midterms. the president on the road