and a vision of our future and a vision of our future, of our america. >> whomever the democratic nominee is, we have to stay together and elect a democrat president of the united states of america. >> this election is not about one person, one office, it is about who we are as a nation and who we must be to each other. >> we are the 99% and 99% is a hell of a bigger number than 1%. >> good morning and welcome to "a.m. joy," live from columbia, south carolina. that is just a small portion of what democrats heard last night at congressman jim clyburn's world famous fish fry. over the next several hours south carolina democrats will hear more from the candidates who are running for president as the party's state convention gets under way right here in

columbia. we're here to cover all of that for you this morning, but this is one of those weekends where there is literally more major news than we have show. just in the last 72 hours donald trump ordered and then called off air strikes against iran. a prominent advice columnist and a front page story in new york magazine and in a new book accused the president of the united states of sexually assaulting her years ago, something trump denies. which on any normal news day during any normal presidency would be a huge blockbuster story nationwide, but of course with this presidency the news constantly meets the fire hose. so on top of new horrifying details emerging about the filthy, dangerous and in some cases deadly conditions that our government is housing migrant families and children in, starting tomorrow morning i.c.e. is expected to begin conducting raids targeting up to 2,000 immigrant families across the

country on orders from the president. but back to where i am here in columbia, democrats have gathered for their state con in this crucial early primary state. they will try to make their case on why they should be president to a room full of party activists. you will hear from some of those candidates over the next two hours. the event has taken on even greater significance after joe biden's comments about working with segregationists in a state where african-americans make up six in ten democratic primary voters. voters are paying attention. >> i liked joe biden when he was vice president, but i'm not sure about him as the president. >> why do you say that? >> well, i don't know. i'm just -- i've just got to hear what he has to say as the president. there is a big difference between being a vice president and being a president. >> i think that what happened with joe biden was an unfortunate mistake insofar as people's analysis of it. i'm simply not going to focus on that, i'm going to focus on the

substance. >> let's bring in house majority whip and democrat in south carolina congressman jim clyburn. kind of our host. thank you for having us. >> thank you so much for being here. >> i want to ask you because i was hearing stories about the origins of your world famous fish fry and where that came ba and it's relationship to the convention. tell that story. >> well, we started this fish fry because it occurred to me back in 1992 when i was running for congress, i noticed that on the night before the democratic convention, this convention, we had this big fundraiser, 125 bucks a plate, and then i would go out to places around columbia and i would see all of this delegates, people who i've been talking to as i campaigned and you ask them about the dinner and lo and behold you realize they cannot afford to spend 125 bucks for a plate of cold

chicken. well, i told my staff, i said, look, this is unfair. these people need to know how much they're appreciated. so what we're going to do as an alternative to the dinner, we're going to have this fish fry and we're going to make it affordable. so one of them said, how much should we charge? what's affordable? i said affordable is free. you don't charge anybody. we buy the fish and bring them here and it started that way. the first fish fry was in the parking lot of my campaign headquarters and then over the years -- >> the one last night was a billion people. it looked like a billion people. it was so crowded. what do you think is the reason that the excitement -- i was told by people who were there, some who had been to it before, that this was the largest one by far. >> yes. >> what do you think is the reason for all of that

excitement. >> i think they are excited about this year, they are really a bit apprehensive about where the country is going so they are looking for a leader who can unite this country. a lady said to me a few years ago i will never miss one of your frisch fries. i said why? she said because it is the one place i feel i can rub shoulders with the next president of the united states and that puts me in a place i never dreamed i would be. so i will never miss another one. i suspect she was there last night, but i couldn't see her. >> she and everybody else and their mom and cousin. and the fried fish was delicious. >> thank you. >> i didn't eat the bread because i'm trying to step down on the bread a little bit. >> i understand. >> i'm sitting here with another thing that maybe growing up in south carolina you never thought you would be, you are the most powerful black man in the country, you're here in what is the candidate killer in a lot of ways, a lot of people come out

of iowa and new hampshire and their candidacies come here and end. >> right. >> so this is a very important state. >> right. >> joe biden is polling very well at least in the polls that we've seen, although i will say that some of the polls seem to undercount african-americans a little bit, they are like six and ten voters, they've been four and five in some of the polls. i have to get your comments of what joe biden said what plea dated him coming here. on the day of the reparations hearing, this is a story that broke, i will read a little bit of his comments. he said at a fundraiser after the poor people's campaign forum in which i was there with him, he goes to a fundraiser and says the following, i was in a caucus with james o. eastland, the former vice president said he never called me boy, he always called me son. he also mentioned the segregationist narts, he said one of the meanest guys i ever knew. you go down the list of all these things.

at least there were some civility. when i read those comments, congressman, what struck me is that he wasn't talking about the opposition, he was talking about democrats. this was not a talk about bipartisanship. had he talked about strom thurman who switched to become a republican in the late 1960s that would have been a comment on bipartisanship. what do you make of the vice president who was barack obama's vice president making thighs comments sort of saying i worked with segregationist democrats, what was the purpose of a comment like that? >> well, i understand the purpose, but i also understand corey. >> senator cory booker's response to it. >> yes. i'm a bit older than cory booker so i know the connotation of the word "boy." i heard my own father who is a little bit older than me be called boy. i heard my mother be disrespected and never called

mrs. clyburn, always by her first name. so these things i understand and i've had that experience and it's obvious that cory booker has had some of that and so he was reacting to that history. i also understand joe biden because when i tried to get a bill passed, i passed it in the house three times, it failed in the senate twice and then i decided to do some investigation to find out why was my bill failing in the senate and i found out that they said there was a senator whose name i won't call because he still lives stopping my bill. i had a personal relationship not a political relationship, but a personal relationship with orrin hatch. so i go to orrin and i said to him, i said, this is very important to the african-americans in the state of south carolina. i said, you've met my wife, this

is part of her culture. i need this legislation. south carolina african-americans need this legislation. it passed unanimously in 24 hours. so i understand going across party lines, reaching out to people who are of a different political persuasion, but i think that joe made a big mistake in not telling the story of his position. if he had said he never called my senator, then that would have been one thing. >> right. >> so i understand corey and i still understand joe. >> senator biden didn't seem to understand senator cory booker's response. let me play him defending himself in his remarks. this was on wednesday. take a look. >> the point i'm making is you don't have to agree, you don't have to like the people in terms of their views, but you just

simply make the case and beat them. >> are you going to apologize like cory booker has called for? cory booker has called for it. >> he knows better. there's not a racist bone in my body, i've been involved with civil rights my whole career, period. period, period. >> okay. the thing about that response that strikes me and i would love to know what you think. again, he was not talking about biepship when he is talking about the democratic party used to be a super majority in the house and senate, that's how they got civil rights bills done, they had to get past segregationist southern republicans, many who left the party and went over to the other side. he seemed to be angry that people were taken aback by the comments, but no white southern senator would have called him boy because he is not black. >> that's true. >> so it feels like he doesn't understand why the remarks were taken where people were so taken

aback by them. do you think that he understands joe biden now why those remarks hurt people. >> i think he understands now and i think he understood at that time. joe biden is from delaware. >> yeah. >> and i have talked to joe biden many times. a lot of people may not know it, but the first case brown versus the board of education was started in south carolina. it was one of five cases. one of those other four came from delaware, belton v. beb heart. joe and i have sat down and dissected those cases because belton in that case in delaware who was originally from fairfield county, south carolina. so we have had these kinds of discussions. >> yeah. >> but i know where his heart is on the issue and i would hope that he would spend a little bit more time, be a little bit more careful, but i know where his heart s joe doesn't feel that way at all and he has to understand sometimes to put

yourself in other persons place. >> you know this state probably better than anybody else. is it going to hurt him here? those remarks, that back and forth with senator booker, is that going to hurt biden in this primary? >> i think one african-american woman expressed reticence about him, the other one says i'm going on the record and joe has a record and i can tell you they will study your record. south carolinians are basical basically -- they will tell you in a minute i'm going to watch your deeds, i don't care about your words. that means a lot to south carolinians and that's why the house democrats working group because i have worked hard to make the connection between my democratic party and the faith community because i don't ever want to get crossed with them as we did in 2004. >> if you want to win in a democratic primary down here

find a woman with a church fan. >> i saw last night the names on this fan, somebody knows something about south carolina. >> somebody gives out a church fan. >> exactly. >> are all 24 of these candidates orange nicing in a significant way in south carolina? who has big organizations that you are seeing here? >> there are big organizations here. in fact, all these clyburn fellows you've been hearing about, i've been doing this for four years now, about 50 young people every year are put in this program that i raised the money for, funded and they have been hired. so i have former staffers, fellows in all these campaigns. >> and jamie harrison is a protege of yours. >> absolutely. >> but while i have you here, leader clyburn, i have to ask you about some of this news of the day. you now have nbc news and other reporting in the "new york times," et cetera, on the really dangerous filthy horrifying

conditions inside these camps that the trump administration is setting up, including for children having their clothes taken away and sleeping on dirty floors in diapers. now donald trump that is announced, the president has announced they are going to do massive raids, he said up to millions of people, we know up to 2,000 people being targeted on a sunday, on a church day. what is the congress going to do about this? >> i don't know, but i've been trying to talk to people through my own experiences. you may not know this, but i used to run the south carolina commission for farmworkers. that's where john west first found out about me and brought me into state government. i used to organize migrants. i used to oversee migrant camps and so i know what those camps are like. so i've been to one, but i don't go to those camps and what i've read or what i've heard this president needs to bring his staff together and sit down and

figure out how to humanize this process. this process is inhuman and we should humanize this process. i don't care what it is. treat these people as human beings. and congress has to do something. we're doing it on the house side. we're doing it and we're sending stuff over to the graveyard that is that the senate. mcconnell has to stop digging graves to bury our legislation in and give a fair hearing to some of the stuff we are doing. if he were to give a fair hearing to our efforts we would solve this problem if the president would sign the legislation. >> he did not throughout the obama/biden administration, he essentially is there to kill anything that comes from democrats that is a bill. i don't see that necessarily changing. i think a lot of people are looking to see is there some way that the house can stop this

administration, can stop them from doing the things that they're doing. >> there may be and i would leave it in the hands of nancy pelosi. if there is a way for the house to do it nancy will find a way to do it. right now as speaker of the house she is the third most powerful -- i would say the second most powerful person because, you know, the vice president is there, but when it comes to power it's the third position, but she is the second most powerful person in this country, she is a very knowledgeable politician, she knows her house, she knows her legislative process, she is tough as nails. she will find a way. if she comes up with a way, i'm going to help her get there. >> have you changed your mind at all or moved at all on the idea of whether or not the president should simply be impeached for the things that he's doing including threatening war with iran without authorization. >> no, i have not changed my mind about that because i feel very strongly that to back up to what i know would happen in the senate it's got to be for us to win back the presidency.

that's the backup. we can impeach, but you know what's going to happen and i don't want to give this president is tooling to run around the country and say they tried and they missed. we all know what that means. >> i am out of time. i'm getting the wrap time, but i have you here so i want to ask you a couple more questions. the closed-door hearings we're seeing in house of representatives. why close doors? why allow hope hicks and all of these trump administration people, donald trump jr., why let them testify behind closed doors? why not make them testify in public? if they are not going to answer questions why not do it -- >> i'm not a lawyer but i think i know what jared nadler is doing, he is building a record, he wants to go to the court at some point and say, here is the backdrop to this request. i think by having her there and being able to show on the record that 120 some times she refused to answer questions, that she

refused to go out into public, i think it helps him to make the case for what he wants to do going forward. >> my last question and then i will let you go, donald trump told a pretty bold-faced lie to my colleague from tul mund dough this week. he claimed that he inherited the separation policy of these children from the obama administration. i think you were around during the obama administration and he claims he brought the families back together. a pretty bold-faced lie. what is your response to the president? >> i will just say that the president is in fantasy land. we've been hearing this from him forever. it's almost every morning i wake up to some other fantasy that this president puts out there. he knows what he's doing. he knows he's misrepresenting but he also knows that people love to hear that. when he can say i am doing something to correct obama [ inaudible ]. >> you are -- you are a politician who knows how to put

things in a diplomatic way. jim clyburn, thank you very much. it's great to be in your state. >> thank you so much. >> we will take more fried fish if you have it. >> we've got some. sweet tea, don't leave that out. >> the sweet tea might be bad for my diet, that and the bread i will leave it out. still ahead, i did speak with senator cory booker at the clyburn fish fry last night. we will show you that in its entirety as "a.m. joy" continues live from the south carolina democratic convention. right after this quick break. c. right after this quick break less time searching and more time loving every room, even the ones you never thought could look good. you get great deals on the things you need and actually want. you get fast and free shipping on thousands of items and finds for every home, and every style, at every price. that's what you get when you've got wayfair. so shop now!

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become a united force, not just to beat -- not just to beat one guy and one office, but we become a united force to put the indivisible back in this one nation under god and stand up for liberty and justice for all. and so now this is a fish fry so i want to end with this, from one dad to a guy who likes dad jokes, let's not flounder, let's get out and there kick some bass. >> senator cory booker simply could not resist a patented dad joke last night. a baghdad joke, but a dad joke nonetheless. i had a chance to speak with the senator after he got off stage and he addressed some serious matters including the upcoming imminent raids by the trump administration and the firestorm surrounding joe biden's comments on working with segregationists.

here is my interview with senator booker. >> let's talk about your organization here. just in talking to folks today, you have one of the largest organizations here, south carolina obviously is critical to your strategy to get the nomination. what do you have to do to overcome the biden factor because he is polling very well here? >> well, we are so far out from this election, more than 230 days before iowa, and i will tell you the people polling this far out ahead are usually not the ones who go on to win the nomination, but the people who have the best organizations on the ground like we have in iowa, new hampshire, south carolina, nevada, those are the people that win elections. that's how i beat the machine to become the mayor of the city of newark and that's how we are going to win this election. there is a lot of time for more people to get to know who i am. biden has 100% name recognition, we are lower than that. we are looking forward to the debates, six before the end of the year. we will have our opportunity to make our case for people to get to no he me better. >> you are a brainy guy. >> yeah. >> i will ask you an existential

question. does the fact that joe biden is polling so well, particularly among african-americans, speak to a sense that with donald trump replacing barack obama, black folks are just not at that point now where they're saying, do you know what, we're going to throw that arrow for hope. right now we're thinking magnetism, we're thinking this country may not be the progressive place we thought it was in 2008 and he makes it harder for a candidate like you to come along and say we're going to go back to that hope candidacy. donald trump sobered a lot of people up by getting elected. >> i think at the end of the day our party is an aspirational party, this he want to be -- they understand that this is not just about beating donald trump, that's essential, but that's the floor not the ceiling. i think that that's where we want to go and, again, the polls right now this time barack obama was way behind in south carolina behind secretary clinton in '08 but went on to inn with. i trust black folks, i became mayor of a majority african-american city, i trust electorate.

this is a long time, people haven't made up their mind, haven't heard from a lot of candidates and may switch over time. i will continue to be who i am which is i can beat donald trump in a ring, in an arena, but at the end of the day i'm not running just to beat donald trump, i'm running because i think you are our country needs more than that. >> donald trump has promised a massive round up of undocumented immigrants to start on sunday. what are your thoughts on that? >> my thoughts are just from a human perspective that that is so contrary to our values. the kind of people that his i.c.e. agents are removing from our country are parents of american children, spouses of american spouses, the kind of things i see going on are ripping apart american families. i've seen it in new jersey, seen it around this country. this is not the way to go about what needs to be a bipartisan solution. >> is the senate going to do anything about it? >> again, you will hear a lot from me and some of my colleagues in the senate because we've seen bipartisan solutions in the past that have not been -- >> bipartisanship is something that joe biden obviously has talked about a lot. i have to bring this up because

the two of you have had a back and forth over some comments that he made about working with segregationist democrats back in the 1970s when he was first in the united states senate. you and many other fellow candidates criticized him for t but he came after you, he said you should apologize to him for your criticism of him. what do you think of that? >> well, i've said my peace on this. i was very surprised by that. he reached out, we had a conversation about it, very constructive conversation, at the end of the day i will never apologize for speaking truth to power and somebody running for president of the united states shouldn't have to have it explained to them that when somebody called you son and not boy this is what he evoked, it's because that white segregati segregationist, white supremacist sees himself in you, when you calls black men boy it's because he's trying to dehumanize and degrade them. these are the kind of things we need a leader that can help heal a lot of long standing pain and frustrations, a lot of present day manifestations of those

policies, we see them in a very, very -- the new jim crow, our criminal justice system, so i felt that was a time that i had to speak out. i will never apologize for speaking truth to power. >> is it just the case that just in terms of where the democratic party is now as opposed to then when james eastland could beat a democrat that maybe somebody of joe biden's generation is your critique that maybe his orientation toward what politics is supposed to be about working with somebody like eastland, prioritizing that kind of -- it's not bipartisanship because they were democrats, but that kind of reaching across to people who are on the other ideological spectrum, that out of step with what the democratic party is now? is that the case you will make against him. >> i go home to an inner city low income community, black, majority black community, where people are struggling. we could see physically the pains from the past policies and we need a leader of this party no matter who it is that understands when you say something like that you're

hurting people in our community. we need a leader that in this day and age understands the urgency of the work to do and doesn't say things that can be insulting, that can heal and bring our country together. we need leaders that can help us create a more beloved community and so i think that the vice president had an opportunity to be helpful and he was hurtful. i think he had an opportunity to try to heal and help advance understanding and he bungled that opportunity. he and i have had a conversation on this, i've said my peace, you know, i want to turn to issues that are really important to communities of color, like just this last two days we unveiled what i hope every presidential candidate before me steps up, but a clemency plan that we should have folks for marijuana convictions, crack cocaine disparities. we want presidents to stand up and say not only do i understand communities of color but i'm going to do everything to liberator thousands of people, to advance the cause of

communities like mine. i've watched enough presidential elections where there are many times where i have said i wish people were speaking to the issues of communities like mine. this is my chance to put the real issues forward from housing policy, criminal justice reform, the fact that access to capital for black and brown businesses is not the same in this country, especially in communities like mine as they are in others. i'm going to push these issues and i'm going to continue to call things out if i see things that are wrong and hurtful in a party that needs to unify behind a nominee. >> you talked about using your power. one of the critiques that i hear a lot from democrats is that democrats aren't using their power right now in the congress to hold donald trump accountable. they are not using the maximum extent of the power they have, particularly in the house. what do you make of that? are democrats holding back too much on thissed administration, on this president? >> look, this is a challenging environment. i don't agree with all the decisions that a lot of house members are making but i know some of that house leadership are phenomenal leaders. i think right now in this moment a president who is not allowing

the checks and balances intended by the constitution to apply to him, saying i'm not going to be subject to congressional oversight, congressional subpoena, i'm not going to let my people testify in hearings, that is -- that is eroding the very ways i can foundations of our constitution. he should be held accountable. that's why i have called for impeachment proceedings to begin. >> if democrats don't do that, if democrats don't impeach donald trump will that in your view demoralize the base of the party that wants this president held accountable not later, not in 2020, but now? >> again, i think there is a difference between impeachment proceedings and actual impeachment, but to that question i have gone all around this country, democrats from all different perspectives in our party are riled up, fired up to beat this president, to remove him from office. so i am confident that we as a party are going to have one of the best elections not just for one guy and one office, senate seats, congressional seats, state legislative seats. i think people are fired up and ready, i have never seen this energy and enthusiasm and i hope

i get the privilege of leading this party into the fight of fights where we are not just going to take back the presidency but we will begin a larger movement to get this nation back to the mountaintop. >> senator cory booker, thank you very much. i really appreciate your time. >> thank you very much. and joining me now is political consultant jimmy williams, south carolina state representative guild ga cobb hunter and msnbc political contributor jason. i'm going to come to you first jimmy. the things about joe biden that are causing him problems now are in a sense the things that made him valuable to barack obama meaning he is from a certain generation, he is from a certain political and ideological orientation that is to the right of where a lot of democrats, younger democrats are today. >> sure. >> even the sort of prickly stuff on race, the stuff that he wasn't necessarily great on like busing, it kind of helped barack obama to have a guy like that on his team to explain him to the white working class guy who might have been dubious about

him and say i'm kind of like joe biden, i thought like that before. if he likes obama i do. >> right. >> do you agree with that and can he recover from this debacle? >> let's take the first one first. barack obama may not have won had he not had joe biden on the ticket. let's just be honest about that. he had no foreign policy experience other than being on the foreign -- senate foreign relations committee. that's it. he needed gravitas, he needed and elder statesman, he got one in one fell swoop and it helped him immensely. now, let's go back -- >> i don't know if i agree with you that he wouldn't have won without him but i think he needed him. >> no doubt he needed him. he checked that box, he got it for him. great. can he recover from this? i would say it's not what you're saying it's how you're saying it and he screwed that up in a way. i think we need to take a look at history here. no one is saying this about ted kennedy, the late ted kennedy, the stalwart liberal, the liberal lion.

last time i checked ted kennedy bowed at the hands of mr. eastland, took the committee from mr. eastland, the josé diaz-balart judiciary committee. i had to work with jessie helms, i had to work with helms. i had to work with his staff. i had to deal directly with senator helms and i knew who he was but i still had to get it done for my boss, mr. durbin. i'm not excusing joe biden. joe biden needs to clean this up and i think he should clean this up, but in the end we can't hold people to a higher level than we hold all the other people out there in the democrat i can it party. i think that's a mistake but he does need to clean it up. >> i consider you the dean of south carolina politics, i always come to talk to you when we're here. there is a thing about commity in these senate and house back rooms where people work with one another and have a chumminess that may people like

inappropriate in public but it's what they do to get it done. you had joe biden eulogize strom thurman. this is the kind of thing that the chummy back room people do, right, but it used to be the case that all the chummy back room people were white and male. >> right. >> now that the back room is full of people of color and women and younger people, can that kind of what joe biden wants to go back to, that kind of comity even through people who idealogically disagree is that possible or appropriate anymore? >> i don't think it's possible. it's a matter of opinion about whether it's appropriate. it's not possible because the senate that joe biden served in is not the same senate. that to me illustrates what he seems to not have a whole appreciation of and that is that these are different times which call for different kind of campaign and quite frankly if he becomes president he will have the same problem that barack

obama did as far as getting the senate to move. when you look at mitch mcconnell, when you look at his take no prisoners attitude, you can be as chummy as you want to be, but it's not going to be effective. and the bottom line for me and i personally was not offended by vice president biden's remarks, but the point is there were a number of people who were and my position is if you are running for president of the united states, if your comments were taken in a way that was not intended then i'm having trouble understanding why it is so difficult to say, look, my comments were taken -- were perceived differently than my intent, for that i'm sorry. my issue with him not apologizing to people, not to senator booker, is causing this story to drag on, is keeping us from talking about much more important issues. >> yeah, and, you know, i've had a couple sources tell me about

this story. a, it's a story that joe biden has told before a lot. i've heard tellings of it that he used to tell it as saying he never called me senator, he always called me son. adding the boy in there was weird and pointed i think for a lot of people. you're covering this campaign, jason. it is a different democratic party now. >> yes. >> because the back rooms that even were making great deals on civil rights were all white and male. >> right. >> now they are not. >> so there's two issues that people have with this, number one, it's -- the whole biden campaign is running on this idea of let's harken back to the good old days when it was good white men fighting bad white men and the current party is like i don't want you to be a good white man and go into these elite spaces, i want you to tear down the door so other people can get in. here is the other problem, his campaign is not sweating this. i've talked to them, they think this is going to be fine.

they think this is a media situation, it is not going to affect them and i keep saying this will trickle down, this will eventually become a problem. >> let's put this poll up, this is the latest monmouth poll, biden on top, 32%, but that says that not biden has got 68%. so all these other candidates need to do is somebody has to become not biden. it strikes me talking to people at the fish fry yesterday over 50 biden, under 50 shopping. >> welcome to the democratic party. >> exactly. >> how does biden survive the shopping because people will eventually shop and find someone who is not biden who they can get passionate about, younger people. >> alley vitally just reported on this. it is biden's race to lose, john edwards race to lose. presidential after presidential everybody knew what was going to happen and we were all wrong. so this is a simple -- this is a simple battle, an inter party

battle within the democratic party. young versus old. and the people like me in the middle, 52, white male, progressive, pro business, blah, blah, blah, i'm sitting there going where the hell am i going? guess what, that's what happens. that's my white privilege, i own t it's fine, but there is going to be a battle royale that reminds me of 1976, reminds me of 1980 when the democratic party was searching for itself and got slaughtered in that election. that's what i'm afraid is going to happen this time if we are not very careful. >> for biden he better hope it's not 196 and he is hubert humphrey. kamala harris is going to come up soon. i may interrupt you. >> no problem. the other piece of that over 50 biden, the shopping around crowd is there are all age demographics in that shopping around crowd. what people here need to appreciate is south carolina has a total new crop of democratic primary voters. yes, it's majority black, yes, it's majority women, but we've

got a lot of progressives thanks to senator bernie sanders and the two, that he has done, our revolution, there are a lot of shopping around voters who are over 50. so our job has to be, a, all those bernie people need to stay here and stay engaged and commit to voting if it's not senator sanders, for the democratic nominee. we as a party we have to recognize we have to reach out beyond party people if we want to win and just appeal to as many different kinds of voters of all age groups as we can. >> going around talking with the campaigns, who is strong here? who is organized here? what have you seen on the ground? >> a couple things. a lot of people have told me they think biden's on the ground team is great. i was surprised by how many corey people were at the fish fry last night. >> a lot of corey people. >> and andrew yang. >> you don't see andrew yang

anywhere else. >> i think people recognize the importance of south carolina but every single campaign will admit none of it matters because iowa is what makes a difference. if you don't win or do well in iowa half your volunteers will quit by south carolina. >> kamala harris is taking the stage. she's taking the stage. she's first to speak. here she is. let's listen. oh, wait, she's hugging so we can talk a little bit more. she has a big organization here, jason. >> yes. >> she's starting. >> what's up, south carolina? it's good to be in the palmetto state. thank you all. oh, thank you. thank you. thank you. i just want to start by thanking you, south carolina democrats, because y'all have been holding it down. you've been doing what needs to get done. it ain't easy. you make it look easy, but i know it's not and i know that for everyone here this is

personal to you, you dedicate time from your lives where you have so many other obligations, but you keep giving and giving and giving, and i know it is because we are all under this one roof together for one reason, which is that we love our country, we love our country and we are prepared to fight for the best of who it is and who we are. and we all know this is an inflection moment. this is a moment in time that is requiring us each to look in a mirror and ask a question, that question being who are we? and i think with south carolina democrats what we all know is we are better than this. and so this is the moment in time where we will fight for the best of our country. and i want to congratulate trav on a great convention and thank

everybody. so, listen, i mean, here is the thing, we know that as democrats and as those who are leaders, who take it upon ourselves to do everything in our ability and power to lift folks up, to tap on our neighbor, neighbor, to tap on our friend who may be sitting on a pew next to up, to stapp on the shoulder of our coworkers and family members, we know that part of the strength of who we are is not only the values that we hold, the principles by which we conduct ourselves, our faith, our vision for the future, our strength is also that we know how to organize. that we know how to do the critical work that must be done every day to make sure that we get our message across and that we accomplish our goals because we also know that in order to fight for the best of who we are and to fight for our values and

see them reflected in our elected leaders we know we must elect the right people. we know elections matter. we know who holds those important -- >> all right. viewers, as fate would have it, the president of the united states donald trump is on the south lawn of the white house speaking and we are going to take a little bit of that now. >> -- doing very well because we're taking in billions and billions of dollars. -- >> -- this spoets president of united states we need not only a leader of our country but a leader of our party. as president of the united states we need to understand the need to rebuild the party, who understands the need to give the resources and support to the people who are on the ground every day doing the hard work. we can't just helicopter in here, we have to support the people who are on the ground who know the community and -- >> let's let you guys know what happened. we tried to go to donald trump, we tried to go to the president,

that feed did not work out, something went wrong with it, so let's take you back to listening to senator kamala harris speaking at the south carolina democratic convention. here she is. >> you have the fighters who have always fought for the conscience and for the more or less of our country. those great civil rights fighters. you have had fighters past and present. just last week we commemorated the four-year anniversary of the emanuel nine, recognizing those heroes and the sacrifice and the fact that still there is so much to fight for in our country. we look at the great heroes and the leaders that have come out of south carolina, the friendship nine, we look at the orangeburg protesters and we know they believed in a nation, they believed in a nation of equality where everyone counted. they were deep of faith. they understood what can be unburdened by what has been and it is upon their shoulders that we now stand charged with the duty and the responsibility of

understanding what can be and fighting to get there. that is our responsibility. and, you know, i was raised in a family of civil rights fighters. i was raised in a community where we were taught don't you hear no when they say it. know where we are and know and see the vision and be deep of faith in knowing that you can see what maybe others can't see, but you can help them get there. you can help them get there. but it will take a lot of work. it will take a lot of work. so i stand before you as a candidate for the president of the united states prepared to do our work, for helping our nation see what can be unburdened by what has been and see the vision of the future, respecting our past. i know that we have in this white house a president who says he wants to make america great again. well, what does that mean? does that mean he wants to take us back to before schools were integrated? does that mean he wants to take us back before the voting rights

act was enacted? does that mean he wants to take us back before the civil rights act was enacted? does he mean he wants to take us back before roe v. wade was enacted? because we are not going back. we are not going back. we see a future. we see a future. and i'm going to tell you not only am i child of parents who were active in civil rights sfieters and marchers, i also had a career as a prosecutor. so let me tell you a little bit about that. i know how to take on predators. i took on the big banks and won over $20 billion. i took on for-profit colleges and put them out of business. i took on oil companies who were polluting our environments. i took on transnational criminal

organizations who were preying on women and children. i know how to get that job done. and i did it for the people. for the people. so let me tell you we need somebody on our stage when it comes time for that general election who knows how to recognize a rap sheet when they see it and prosecute the case. so let's read that rap sheet, shall we? he asked black americans he said what do you have to lose? well, we know civil rights investigations are down, hate crimes are up. we had a lot to lose. let's look at that rap sheet where he told working people that he would help them but instead passed a tax bill benefitting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of this country. said he would help the farmers, but passed what i call the trump trade tax. trump trade policy by tweet and now we have farmers who have soybeans rotting in bins and auto workers who may be out of

their job by the end of the year. let's look at that rap sheet where he said he would give everyone healthcare but he's still trying to rip healthcare away from folks and turn back the clock on obamacare. let's talk about looking at that rap sheet where he has embraced dictators like kim jong-un and putin and taken their word over the word of the american intelligence community. let's prosecute the case. let's prosecute that case. and let's not turn back the clock, let's start the next chapter, shall we? let's start the next chapter. let's turn the page. and here is what i see in that next chapter, i see us fighting for our america and what i call the 3:00 a.m. agenda which means looking at writing that next chapter through the lens of what wakes us up in the middle of the night. what's on our minds. >> what do we need to deal with? so let's turn the page, south carolina, and write that next

chapter in a way that we take action. we take action on paying people equally for the work that they do, be they women, paying our teachers what they deserve in terms of paying them their thei value. let's take action on getting $500 more than a month to working families so they can get through the end of the month. let's take action and make sure that if congress doesn't have the courage, i believe in america where you only need one job to put a roof over your head and food on the table. i believe in an america where teachers are paid their value. i believe in an america where no politician tells a woman what to do with her body. i believe in america where health care is a right and not a privilege for just those who can afford it. i believe in an america where

children do not have to fear going to school for fear of a mass shooter. i believe in an america -- i believe in an america where we have a president who understands the greatest strength and the greatest power any one individual can have is not to beat people down but to lift them up. so i'm here to ask you for your support. thank you, south carolina. >> all right. all right, kamala harris, senator from california, first to speak at this democratic convention. jason johnson, i wrote, who are we? we are better than this at the top, and then i wrote down, let's prosecute the case. it feels like ea lean-in to wha some believe is best to take on trump. >> who is this? that was the best senator harris

i have ever seen. i have seen her appointed. this is the best speech she has ever given and i am not easily impressed. she called the president a predator. she said he got a rap sheet. it was brilliant. i am shocked and amazed. if this is the senator harris we see at the debate next week, biden is in trouble. >> here's the thing, kamala harris, being a prosecutor has been her defining brand in a negative way. this was it in a positive way. you can see her getting up on that stage with donald trump and prosecuting him live on television. >> i'm with jason. who dat? prosecutor with a passion. she laid it out. if she can keep that level of energy and that passion, she'll be fine. here's the bigger point. welcome to south carolina and what a great presidential

primary candidate. she did the best of all of them. she did the best and i hope she can maintain it. i hope we see her move up the polls as a result of this speech. >> kamala harris has been very steady at about 8% in the polls. she's chugging along. she's got a good shot in this primary. what do you think of what she just did? >> i'm not surprised. i watched the senate judiciary hearings and that was that on steroids, but i knew the steroids were there. anybody who knows kamala harris knows she's got it. the question is when does she use it? she talked about law and order. she took it off the table for the republicans. we now have an african-american woman who's got brains, good looking, all those things, and guess what she just did. she said, republican party, you don't get to be the party of law and order anymore, we do. she almost blatantly referred to the president as a predator, which he is a predator. let's go prosecute the predator. and that is what this election is about.

>> when i talk to republicans about who are you afraid of, tell me the truth off the record, the two people they always mention are biden and kamala harris. we have some breaking news real quickly. as we mentioned earlier, donald trump did speak about iran on the white house north lawn this morning. let's take a listen to a little bit of that. >> -- to have its best year since i guess over 50 years in the dow is on pace to have its best year in 80 years. it's been 80 years since the dow was hit. tariffs are obviously doing very well because we're taking in billions and billions of dollars from china. we would be from others, and we might be from others, but billions of dollars are coming in from china, and frankly, look at what's happening with the stock market which is pretty much what i've been saying. also an article came out this morning that the tariffs are having very little effect on

costs going up, and in some cases no effect, that the countries that the product come from, they are bearing the cost which is also what i've said. so the dow is up, it looks like it could be an 80-year high. it's on track for an 80-year high. and the stock market itself is a 50-year high, so i'm sure you're all very happy about that, right? [ inaudible question ] >> i don't know unintentional or not. it was probably intentional, as i said, but regardless, they targeted something without a person in it, without a man or woman and certainly without anybody for the united states in it. so we want to be proportionate. we're getting a lot of praise for what i did, and we have people on both sides, some like it and some probably not as much. my expression is we have plenty of time. we have plenty of time.

[ inaudible question ] >> yeah, these are people that came into the country illegally. they've been served. they've gone through a process, a process of the courts, and they have to be removed from the country. they will be removed from the country. it's having a very big effect on the border, the fact that we're taking them out. the people that came into the country illegally are going to be removed from the country. everybody knows that. it starts during the course of this next week, maybe even a little bit earlier than that, and, again, everybody that came into the country illegally will be brought out of the country very legally. now, with that being said, the border is in much better shape. mexico is doing a good job. we need congress to fix the loopholes and fix asylum, and we will have the cleanest border there is. [ inaudible question ] >> we don't know. we'll see.

we'll see. [ inaudible question ] >> some cities are going to fight it, but if you notice, they're generally high crime cities. if you look at chicago, they're fighting it, and you look at other cities, they're fighting it. many of those cities are high crime cities and they're sanctuary cities. the state of florida is now ending all sanctuary cities. he's doing a very smart thing. governor desantos, he's ending all sanctuary cities in the state of florida. and i tell you, governor desantis has been fantastic. he's right on the ball and we have others that are following. you'll be seeing a lot of that. people are tired of sanctuary cities and what it does and the crime it brings. they're very tired of it. [ inaudible question ] >> well, we'll see. >> fresh off of her speech at the south carolina democratic convention, senator kamala harris joins me here on set.

senator, well-received speech. you got to go first. i think you did a pretty good opening round. >> thank you. >> what's your goal at this convention? >> well, it's to earn the votes of the folks in this room, and to let them know a little bit about the fact that i'm prepared to fight. i'm prepared to fight for them, i'm prepared to fight for the best of who we are as a nation, i'm prepared to fight for our future future. it was all of that. >> to be honest, this is a heavily african-american state. there are two african-americans, yourself and cory booker. what is your strategy to win south carolina? >> frankly, joy, it's the strategy everywhere. i know i need to earn people's support, so that's going to take work, and rightly. you know, i have never run nationally before, so i'm not as well known as some of the other candidates who have been national figures and have run for president before, some many times. so it's about being on the ground and working hard and spending time here, meeting with community leaders, meeting with

families, and being responsive. frankly, especially at this phase of the campaign, it's very important to me that i listen as much if not more than i talk, because i tell you, i fully intend to win this electionment i fu . i fully intend to win. >> it's interesting because you are a prosecutor. that was your defining career. some people like it, some don't. it makes some people a little nervous. but today what i saw you do was take that prosecutorial stance against donald trump and litigate against him. you said, let's prosecute him. you used that line. >> because there is a lot of good evidence. any good prosecutor relies on evidence. there is plenty of good evidence to say the current man in the white house should not be there much longer because he has failed to do the job. he's failed to do his job and keep his promise to the american

people. i went through the list of issues. he said he would fight for health care, but he wants to revive himself on the affordable care act and stand in the way of medicare for all, which i support. last year the top biggest c corporations paid no taxes. meanwhile you have half of american families in our country who cannot afford to get to the end of the month without a $400 unexpected expense. literally half of american families cannot afford a $400 unexpected expense. so there is a lot of evidence to prosecute in this case, but i tell you, my speech was also focused on what i believe we all must focus on which is the future. as far as i'm concerned, i think most people in this hall would say it's a given that the president is not appropriately representing the american people. but the question becomes, what next? that's the main part of my focus. what's next?

what is our vision for the future? because we need to take -- you know, we have to be in a state of mind where we understand there is so much worth fighting for, but also the world is passing us by. part of the problem with this president is he has made us weaker and we have got to regain our strength, we've got to invest in the american people, the american worker. we have to invest in a vision of the future where we think about what is going to be our standing and increasingly changing world. those are the things i'm focused on. >> just to let you know, your mic is popping a little bit. maybe move your hair. there you go. your hair looks great, but we want to hear you. you're from the state of california, a big military bases, lots of military bases. this president is now -- he's sort of threatened war with iran, pulled it back. there has been no congressional vote on taking military action against iran. at this stage, it is appropriate to say this president might be a little bit dangerous? there is an erratic nature to his decision making that now potentially there could be war. that would heavily affect the

people in your state. >> he is someone who does not understand the power of the presidency of the united states. i truly believe that. and so he conducts foreign policy by tweet. you know, we laugh about that, but let's think about that for a moment. there is plenty of evidence to suggest he does not read briefing documents. there is plenty of evidence to suggest that he does not consult with the generals, with former ambassadors, with current or former experts who have been part of the state department. there's plenty of evidence to suggest he does not consult with our allies. there is plenty of evidence to suggest that his ego is what drives his decisions instead of national security. and that's a real problem. >> we don't have a secretary of defense at the moment. you're in the united states senate. is there someone credible who could even get appointed as acting secretary of defense? >> i don't know, joy.

part of the problem with this administration is they don't do their homework. so they don't vet their candidates. there are so many decisions made by this president that are based on woman fancy. it's a dangerous world we live in. it's a dangerous world. we have got to have a president who understands the seriousness of the decisions and also understand that we cannot afford to have decisions being made that are purely transactional in nature. the decisions the president of the united states makes as relates to our friends around the world, it's also about relationship building. and that means building relationships of trust, building relationships where america keeps her word and we are now at a point where many nations wonder if ever they can trust the united states and the president again. >> senator elizabeth warren has taken the stage. we're going to tape her remarks and then we'll play them back for the audience afterwards. i want to keep talking with you, so audience, we are going to hear elizabeth warren as well.

i love the fact all you senators are friends with each other. >> we are. >> which is great. it's not just about california. i grew up in colorado, i've lived in new york. it affects everyone no matter where you're from. the conditions we're now finding out that children, babies, toddlers are in what they call the ice box. the fact that families are being detained much longer than the law provides they should be, and now donald trump wants to round up more people, more kids, and put them in these cages. what is congress going to do about this? >> we have to act and we have to take action immediately. we have bipartisan bills that the leader, the senate leader, will not put on the floor, and i believe part of it is because this president has indicated he won't sign it. we have bills that are bipartisan efforts to deal with d.r.e.a.m.ers, to deal with what

we can do in steps to congressional reform. remember, years ago, it even passed the senate. let's understand to the point you're making, where we are right now. we have a president who has said that he's basically going to begin mass deportations. joy, i'm going to tell you, i know these families, i meet with these families, i talk with these families. they are terrified. we're talking about, again, a situation that impacts real people where babies, children, are afraid to go to school because they're afraid when they come home their parent will not be there. we have parents who are afraid to take their children to the pediatrician because if they go out of their home and if they go into a hospital or a clinic, they may be picked up and arrested. this is so contrary to who we say we are in terms of our valle values. there is a way we can address what we need to do with immigration and that is pass comprehensive bills head on. instead we have a president who

has vilified immigrants and has acted contrary to who we are in terms of our values. you don't put children in cages. you don't separate children from their parents. you don't just flick off, which is what he's done, families who are fleeing murder capitals of the world instead of understanding america with her broad arms, her strong arms, should be embracing them and giving them a place of refuge at least until we determine if we should give refuge. >> i can tell you in new york, the term is brown i mmigrants, but black immigrants understand we're next in line, right? >> not only that, look what he did with tbs, haitians, african immigrants in the continent to what he referred to them as being -- i won't say that

word -- and they are equally afraid. >> tony vargas is going to be on the show tomorrow and he tells us a lot of about intersexuality between black and brown. if you become president of the united states -- >> when. >> all right, when you become president of the united states, how do you change this? because i think one of the challenges a lot of people face is a loss of hope, a loss of this country based on hope and a loss of faith around the world in us. how would a president kamala harris restore the world's faith in us? >> so it will certainly be by words, but it's also going to be about actions. immediately it would be reentering the paris agreement. immediately it would be about renewing our relationships with our nato allies. immediately it would be about renewing our relationships with the eu. immediately it would be about

taking back a place of leadership on the issue of climate change that i actually call the climate crisis. there have to be actions that are taken, steps that are taken that make clear the values of who we are as a country. and when we are elected, i think it's going to be a very strong statement about who we are as a nation and that will be projected to our friends around the world, which is that is really who america is. >> in closing, i want to get you to talk to the voters. this is our 61st active primary. black people have gone through the art of dreaming about becoming president, dreaming about winning against president trump and that backlash has made a lot of african-american voters very reticent to trust their fellow americans and, therefore, themselves believe in the idea

of nominating a person of color, let alone a woman of color. and believing that their fellow americans would actually elect that person. a lot of that reticence is what makes joe biden such a strong enemy. i hear all the time that only a man can get elected to go against donald trump. how do you convince those people to take a chance on not just a woman of color -- i mean, not just a person of color but a woman of color? >> the main message that i have is that you, meaning each of the folks that we're talking about, can actually determine the outcome of this. and so let's not wait for other people to make the decision for us. and that relates to any voter regardless of their age or their race. but certainly on this point, remember what happened in '08. after president obama won iowa, then there was a sense, oh, this could happen. but south carolina, black

voters, every voter, if you are active, you can make a difference. and so we have to know the power we each have to actually determine the outcome of this election. truly, that's the theme of my campaign is kamala harris for the people. that means for the people, of the people, by the people. the people will determine the outcome. and this is the consolation and the optimism i have, joy. folks are woke. folks are woke. woke up after november 2016 and realized -- and this is the most important point -- realized you cannot sit back and count on other people to do the right thing for you. if we are active, we win. >> senator kamala harris, thank you very much for taking the time. you did a great speech today, and we will see you on the campaign trail. >> thank you, thank you for everything. thank you. >> really appreciate it. now let us let you hear elizabeth warren's speech in its entirety.

good morning, south carolina democrats! wow! it is good to see you this morning! so i have to tell you all, not in a million years did i think i would be standing on a stage like this. i had one dream in my life for what i wanted to do when i grew up, and that is to be a public schoolteacher. can we hear it for america's public schoolteachers? [ cheers and applause ] >> now, it was a pretty rugged path for me. my daddy ended up as a janitor. we didn't have any money for it. i finally made it off to college, then i dropped out at 19 and got married. found a commuter college that cost $50 a semester. scratched my way back, made my

four-year diploma and became a special needs teacher. i've lived my dream job. and in case you don't know this about teachers, let me just tell you, teachers understand the worth of every single human being. teachers invest in the future, and teachers never give up. i come to you today filled with optimism. optimism because i've been around south carolina for the last six months. i've been around this country for the last six months. and people across this nation understand. it is time for big structural change in america.

the time for small ideas is over. so here's how i see it. it's time for big plans, and yeah, i got some big plans. let's start with a wealth tax. two cents on the top one-tenth of 1%. the biggest fortunes of this country, we ask them to pitch in two cents and here's what we can buy for it. universal child care for every one of our babies age zero to five. universal pre-k for every three-year-old and four-year-old in this country. raise the wages of every preschool teacher and child care worker in america. provide universal tuition-free

technical school, community college and four-year college for every kid who wants to go. $15 billion investment in our historically black colleges and universities. let's level the playing field. and also for that same two cents, we can cancel student loan debt for 95% of the folks who have got it. and that last plan took a big step toward becoming a reality this past week when your congressman clyburn and i introduced that bill in the house and the senate together. you know what all those big plans are about? they're about a fundamental question, who does government work for? is government just going to work for a thinner and thinner slice at the top? well, i'm in this fight because i believe we can make government

work for everyone else. i believe when we get to the big fights with the big ideas, that's when it is that we draw in the fight for big republicans. that's when it is that we get people in the fight. that's when it is we build a future, not just those born into privilege but to build a future for everyone. and that's what my campaign is all about. i've had more than 100 town halls. i've been to 20 states and puerto rico. i've done more than 30,000 selfies. but it hasn't been about spending my time with millionaires. it hasn't been about going behind closed doors. it's been about getting out and

building a grassroots movement. because come november 2020, we need to build that grassroots movement starting now. so if you think that that is how we build a campaign to win, if you think that is how we built the country of our best dreams, then join me. go to elizabethwarren.com. donate $5, volunteer an hour, pitch in, but most of all, be part of this fight. this is our chance in 2020. our chance to dream big, to fight hard and to win! thank you! thank you! >> all right, that's senator elizabeth warren, and back with me, political consultant jimmy williams, south carolina representative, and msnbc

contributor jason johnson. the women started off the convention. the women seem to be strong, steady and moving in the polls. what did you make of senator warren? >> senator warren just made your point, joy. the women are rocking this. senator warren, as usual, has a plan, has substance that she offered. the grassroots organizing that she's talking about is critical for democrats to win in the south. i liked her message as she has been before. i have to say, though, coming after senator harris, she's got to build the energy up a bit more. you know, boost the energy a bit. message is great, work on some energy. >> it's interesting, because kamala harris -- senator harris did set the table. that was a pretty big opening speech. senator warren had a loud contingent at the fish fry yesterday. with warren and booker on the table, and biden, could she win south carolina?

>> yeah, but the problem with that is how does a white woman win south carolina? it's not a democratic primary when 67% of the electorates of that primary is african-american. when you have three people basically on the ballot come february next year, not one person is going to win every aspect of south carolina. you have to split that three ways. if you do that, you have 33, 33 and 33, right? that's her angle. that's her needle thread. but that's a hard one to thread. ly say this. kamala harris was a prosecutor, she was forceful, she was advantageous about it. what i heard then was a law professor who is angry and hopeful about the country. two very different messages, almost all the same policy. >> very true. let's go to jason on this. >> senator warren and harris are basically fishing in the same pond and they always have been. warren has been doing much better with black women, but

here's what's interesting. warren has always given great speeches. it always seems less impressive when you follow someone amazing like kamala. it's like we don't give donald trump any credit, that's because he's amazing all the time. >> it does strike me, coming back to you, gilda, in the post-trump era, it feels like women are the constituent that's the most angry, the most hungry, the most determined to change the country. women of color, but all women. >> yeah. >> despite what the polls look like, do these two women actually have a hidden advantage? >> i think so, and let me just very quickly two things. not all women, because when we look back at the stats and we see that 55% of white women voted for donald trump, 53, we can't eliminate that fact. but the bottom line is women are the majority voters in the primary. women are the ones who are going to take husband, son, uncle, all

of them to the polls. >> mayor pete buttigieg is now here. i would note he was not at the fish fry yesterday. jason is going to explain that a little bit later after we listen to him speak. here he is, south bend mayor pete buttigieg. he's the current mayor. here he is. >> thank you! what a treat. all right. thank you! thank you so much for inviting me. thank you for what you do! to chairman robertson and the entire party, it is so good to be in a state that is home to institutions like whip clyburn, new arrivals like congressman cunni cunningham, my fellow mayor steve benjamin, so many people at the level of activism who know even though there are a lot of 2020 types coming over these days who know that it is time we

stop treating the presidency like it's the only office that matters and organize to win at every level of the ticket. i'm thankful to be with you. i'm with you after a challenging week back home. i've been off the campaign trail helping my community move through a tragic shooting of a resident of our community by a police officer. it is as if one member of our family died at the hands of another. and even as an outside process works to determine what happened, we already know why such deep wounds are surfacing, why our whole community hurts. but i also want to tell you that my community is full of people who believe in safety and justice. we will heal and we will come

stronger in the broken places. when a city is challenged just as a nation is challenged, the most important thing you can fall back on are your values. i'm here to talk about the values that make us democrats. because i'm sick of the word "values" being talked about like it only belongs on one side of the aisle. values like freedom and security and democracy are not conservative values, they are american values. and this is the year we break the republican monopoly. i'm talking about freedom. we're the ones who know that freedom is at stake if there is a veil of mistrust between community members and officers sworn to keep them safe. we know that you're not free if you don't have health care and you're afraid to start a small business. we know that freedom can only

come by way of education, which is why we need a president who will appoint a secretary of education who actually believes in public education. and we know that you're not free when your reproductive health is being dictated by male politicians. freedom doesn't belong to the republican party, and by the way, neither does patriotism. you know, whenever i come here, i'm filled with memories of the first time i spent a little visit in columbia, which was not quite as comfortable as this one because i was at fort jackson learning -- even though i was a sailor learning how to do army stuff, because this is where they teach you how to do that stuff. i'm pretty sure that the flag on

my shoulder was not a republican flag, it was an american flag. symbolizing a country in which you can speak your mind, including criticizing your president and no one will question your loyalty to the republic for which it stands. so if we want to talk about security, let's talk about security. let's talk about cybersecurity and election security. let's recognize that climate disruption is a national security threat. and if we want to talk about national security, let us name and confront the rising tide of violent white nationalism that has claimed lives from charleston to san diego. that's national security.

it means economic security, and economic security felt equally, which is why i believe we need to invest in the future of black america with a douglas plan that is as ambitious as the marshall plan that rebuilt europe. we have to make these investments. and to get any of it done, we have to insist on democracy and recognize that our democratic republic is not democratic enough. we need fair districts, we need to get money out of politics, and yes, we need to elect our president in a way where your vote and my vote counts by adding up all of the votes into a national popular vote and choosing our president that way. i stand before you as an admittedly non-traditional candidate. but i think it just might do some good to send a mayor to washington when we need washington to look more like our best run cities and towns

instead of the other way around. and i would argue we need a new generation of leadership to step up at the highest levels in our country. we are not going to win by going on the president's show. i know it's massively entertaining. i don't know what kind of show to call it. is it a game show? is it a reality show? it's a horror show! so we're not going to go on his show. because if you're on the show, you're already losing. what are we going to do? we're going to change the channel! running for office is an active

hope we can make a difference. do you hope you can make a difference? are you ready to run with me and change the channel? then we will turn states blue from indiana to south carolina at the white house and beyond, and i will be with you every step of the way. thank you, south carolina! thank you! thank you! >> all right, that was mayor pete buttigieg, mayor of south bend, indiana speaking. i want to get the panel's reaction. i want to go to jason on this first, because you've been digging into the story of mayor pete buttigieg. explain why he was not at the fish fry yesterday. >> there was a shooting of an armed man in indiana. mayor pete decided he's pretty much going to cancel his campaign for seven days. there have been mixed reactions to it. the family is still not happy. he did engage in a vigil, he did

have an accountability speech to the police department -- >> he had an encounter with protesters. >> yeah, he had an encounter with protesters as well, and they said, look, we're not happy with you. he said, i'm not trying to get your vote. that didn't go over particularly well. he's trying to clean up from the mistakes he made this week. it's going to take some time. this is his second or third major police issue. if he can't handle this rhetorically and policywise, i don't see how he can be successful in this state. >> and gilda, he's not someone who polls well in south carolina. he's going up and down. there was a newspaper that had him a little lower. how is he doing here? >> he needs to do better. there is much work to do as far as the black community is concerned. mainly it has not so much to do with the fact that he's openly gay as much as he's just not done the work to get his name out and his message out.

i give him credit for the efforts he has made. they have been in small rural pockets of south carolina, which will be tough, but i like his speech. it's the right message for south carolina with the majority of democratic voting, and it also showed he is consistent in his message. he has talked about race and african-americans. he has done well here. >> you talked about the potential of white candidates to get through because of a split. the media obviously -- buttigieg has got the attention of the media. they're very enamored with him. he's gotten popular on the talk shows. does that sort of celebrity help him here? >> sure, but it won't get him what he needs, which is votes. it will get him some white

folks, but here's the deal. if you don't ask, they're not going to vote for you. the second rule of politics is if someone can relate to you in a personal way, he's got their vote. i'm going to give some unsolicited advice on tv. if you want black votes, he needs to take his happy butt into every black church in south carolina he can possibly get into, talk about his faith, his christianity, talk about how he feels the world is working for him, working for others, not working for him, not working for others. he will get votes. >> pete buttigieg does put forth his christianity as a huge selling point in his campaign and a sort of midwestern type christianity. i grew up with episcopalian. very similar, very similar. in this state that church orientation would be very helpful in a way. >> we talk as southern baptists down here. you're talking organs. again, functionally, his

inability -- i keep going back to this. his inability to handle the situation he's got right now with these shootings and police and issues like that, and also, he doesn't talk organically to people. if you look at the video when he's talking to the protesters, do you know what he sounds like? he sounds like the stuffy old being from the '80s, you need to sit down. he sounds like an old person. >> he's very young but he sounds like an older politician. >> he sounds like your father. not mine, but yeah. >> not mine, either. >> i'd like to talk real quickly about the religion and how that might play in the south. the reverse side of that is the homophobia that most southern baptists have, so you have to be careful as far as the religion angle. >> but it doesn't hurt him to go in.

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this is julian castro addressing the democratic convention. let's listen in. >> if we're going to be the fairest nation on earth we need to reimagine and reform our justice system so that everybody is innocent until proven guilty. sentencing reform, cash bail reform, investing in public defende defenders, and, as i've often said, recently i was in charleston a couple blocks away from the mother emanuel church, and it reminded me four years ago dylan roof went into the church and murdered nine people while they were worshipping. then a few hours later he was apprehended by police without incident, as he should be, and then taken to trial and punished. but it made me think then, what about eric garner and laquan mcdonald and stefan clark and

what about sandra bland? and what about pamela turner? what about walter scott here in south carolina? they deserve justice, too. no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, no matter the color of your skin, you ought to be treated the same under our justice system and we can help bring that about. i'm the only candidate that has put forward a plan on police reform. we won't have any second-class citizens with our president of the united states. if we're going to be the most prosperous nation on earth, it means prosperity for everybody. we need to raise the minimum wage. we need to ensure we build up our labor unions because labor unions have been a ticket to the middle class. we also need to do things we should have done a long time ago like pass the equal rights amendment, and also invest in

affordable housing because the rent is going through the roof in too many communities, not only in the big cities but even in the smaller towns. and, you know, a few weeks ago somebody asked me, what's the first thing that you would do if you're elected president? and i told them the first thing that i would do when i'm in office is that i would sign an executive order recommitting the united states to the paris climate accord so that we lead again on sustainability and then follow that up with investment to get to net zero and create more jobs in the new energy economy. but i also told them that, you know, my favorite moment of that day boo actually come a little bit earlier, the moment when it's traditional on the white house lawn for the incoming president to usher out the outgoing president. i can just imagine being there with my wife erica and our

daughter guyina and my son christian getting ready to usher out donald trump and melania trump. they'll be getting ready to go to new york or to mar-a-lago or somewhere. the helicopter will be out in the distance. and just before he walks away, just as he's about to go, i'm going to tell him, adios. thank you all very much! thank you, south carolina! let's go make change in 2020. we're counting on you! gracias. thank you. >> that was julian! julian castro, presidential candidate speaking at the south carolina democratic convention. it strikes me that anywhere in the world julian castro might

have the best biography in terms of making a political story. his mother was a chicano political activist in texas. she co-founded a group. his dad was a math teacher. they never married, but his grandfather resituated in texas in the '20s. he was hud secretary, he was mayor of a major, major, huge city, speaking of mayors. in this race he is not getting traction. is it the number of candidates? he's a twin. we haven't had a president who is an identical twin, right, that we know of. he's got a great biography. what's going on? >> he's got a fantastic biography. he's being drowned out in a field of large personalities. in this field, oddly enough, after hillary clinton, the focus is on the woman, and while women

are out there, activists are saying, why aren't we giving women the same kind of press we're giving biden and bernie and others? i think what's happening is it's being split up and then you have a second row of contenders. he's got to break out of it. i don't know how he does that. on paper he's perfect for the future of america, but that doesn't translate. i had a friend growing up. she was really, really, really, really smart. she was also the most boring person i knew and i loved her to death. straight a's, i wanted to be just like her, except for the boring part. >> we're going to talk about his fans on social media. we got his fans. >> when it comes to social justice, when it comes to certain issues, he came out with reparations from the very beginning. he would have made a fantastic vp pick in 2016. >> he was considered. >> and he should have been, and

it probably would have been a dim difference maker for hillary clinton. similar to harris, this is the first time i've heard him sound this interesting. he doesn't sound this engaging on a regular basis. we sat down and interviewed him, i've heard him give speeches. some can't light people up with a flamethrower, but today they seem to be lighting them up. >> they made a very big statement i'm talking to heart, that you can't beat showbiz without showbiz. donald trump thinks he's showbiz. that's all he is. well, showbiz and kids in cages. but his personality is all showbiz. the democrat who can be the next obama has to be the next obama. they have to bring some charisma to the game. >> not just showbiz, joy, but showbiz with a little steel in your spine. and we just can't -- we're just

too nice. you know, we don't want to hurt anybody's feelings, all that kind of crap. trump has made it real clear it's all about showbiz, and that doesn't mean you don't have to have substance -- >> substance, too, yeah. >> but you can't implement substance unless you get the job. to get the job you have to have some showbiz, it's got to be consistent. the good part about south carolina being the first in the south primary is we're training ground. all of them are upping their game. this is a chance for them to run their message. >> absolutely. south carolina is where you better do it. >> you better. >> the candidates come here -- amy klobuchar, she is the next up to speak. she's taking the stage now. let's take a listen. >> it is so great to be back here, and i have a good feeling about this state because the last time that i spoke at your dinner, something really big happened. it was the year we elected

barack obama as president of the united states. so many of you may have seen my announcement in a very non-south carolina blizzard. you know what happened after that announcement. the president actually sent out a tweet. he made fun of me for talking about climate change in the middle of a blizzard, and he called me snow woman. so i wrote back, hey, donald trump, science is on my side and i'd like to see how your hair would fare in a blizzard. so i announced in that blizzard, i didn't take it inside because i wanted to make the point that i don't come from money and i have grit. and i got into politics for a good reason. it's when our daughter was born, she couldn't swallow. she was in for tests, she was in for intensive care, and back then the insurance companies had a rule and they pushed me out of the hospital after only 24 hours.

well, as a mom with no elected office, i went to the legislature and i passed one of the first laws in the country guaranteeing new moms and their babies a 48-hour hospital stay. that's how i do my work. my background is a little different than donald trump. my grandpa worked 1500 feet underground in the mines. he never graduated from high school, but he saved money in a coffee kancan to send my dad to college. my dad got a two-year community college degree. my mom, she came from milwaukee. she was a teacher. she taught second grade until she was 70 years old. and south carolina democrats, she was a proud union member. and i stand before you today as a granddaughter of an r and r minor, a daughter of a newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the united states senate in the state of minnesota and a candidate of the president

of the united states. that is what this country is all about, that no matter where you came from, no matter who you know, no matter what you look like, no matter where you pray, no matter who you love that you can make it in the united states of america. why? because we live in a country of shared dreams. and we have a president that tries to fracture those dreams every single day. he wakes up every morning sending out tweets. >> that's amy klobuchar. she's speaking now. we hope to have her join us after this really quick break. more from south carolina next. more from south carolina next. maria ramirez! mom! maria! maria ramirez... mcdonald's is committing 150 million dollars

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julian castro joins me now. he just finished speaking at the convention here in south carolina. senator castro, thank you for being here. great to see you. >> good being here. >> we were just talking about "the x factor," and i said to my panel, you have maybe the best biography in the race, honestly. your mom being a political activist, your dad being a mathematician, your grandmother coming from mexico going back to

129 1920 as a texan. is biography the secret to getting into the election, or is it something else? the other candidates that are popping, it's not biography, it's something else. what is it? >> it's a lot of things. it's your life experience, also your professional experience, right, what track record do you have of actually putting action to your words. it's the moment and what people are looking for. i do think biography is important. in fact, if you think about the folks who have been elected in the modern era of politics, especially on the democratic side, whether it was barack obama or bill clinton or jimmy carter, a lot of that, a good significant amount of their appeal was biography. so, you know, i've tried to make sure that people know about my life experience but also everything else. my track record of getting things done and my vision for the future of the country. >> you're one of the most progressive candidates in terms of being on the reparations issue. you were one of the early

supporters of it. there was a hearing this week on the reparations question. do you think it's realistic to folk on us that or do you think it's polarizing white-voting democrats? >> no, i think it's been a long time coming and i've said many times it's a long overdue conversation. and what has been in place, this is not the first year that hr-40 has been proposed. and you know what's on the table is a commission to make reparations and then make a condition. i see this analogous to the truth and rec onciliation actio. that's why i talk about moving forward as one nation with one destiny. i don't think we can ever truly move forward until we address the original sin of slavery.

i watched mitch mcconnell the other day say that, you know, because we had elected an african-american president -- >> president obama is reparations. >> anybody listening to that knows that that does not reflect the kind of healing that we need to go through or the way we need to address that past. >> yeah. and i asked you about your biography because we're at a moment right now where the current president is demonizing latinos, demonizing migrants. it's mostly black and brown. there is a demonization of migrants from central america. i think donald trump thinks they're all from mexico, maybe, that's really unprecedented. we're hearing about conditions of little kids, babies, infants in diapers being treated, without their clothes lying on the floor, eating spoiled food or not getting to eat, not getting to go to the bathroom. as an american it's horrifying. we've had the word concentration camps thrown around about where these families are being held,

women, children. >> what other time and what other way would we as human beings, you know, would we accept that these little children have been separated from their mothers and aren't even being given a toothbrush or soap to bathe themselves? how does that make anybody in this country, regardless of your conservative, liberal or democrat, feel about this president? this president has been a complete failure on immigration because of the cruelty his administration has demonstrated. even if you don't care about that, a lot of us, of course, do care, but if you don't, more people are coming to the southern border now than when he became president. he knew that we had a flow of people coming from honduras and el salvador, and instead of on january 2017 getting right to

work to work with those countries to stem that flow, all he's done is created a circus instead of a solution. we need to have a solution and one that treats people with basic respect and common sense and compassion instead of cruelty. >> julian castro, you're one of four, i think, candidates who either are a mayor or were a mayor. >> i was a mayor of san antonio. >> very big city. what skills does that give you in your mind that you could translate to becoming president or the president of hud housing? >> being in charge of something, getting things done, accountable of something. you're very close to the people when you're mayor. it's about job opportunities in the community, it's about the quality of life in their neighborhoods, so you're used to accountability and actually getting things done, working with people who may not agree with you to try and accomplish things. i think the people are tired of the log jams, they're tired of the infighting, and they want

someone who has that experience of actually getting things done. >> is that possible to translate that into a washington where you have mitch mcconnell in the senate? >> i think at 12:01 p.m. on january 20, 2020, we'll have a democratic president and we'll be able to break the filibuster when we need to. >> i'm out of time, senator castro. appreciate your time. i also want to thank my panel. thank you all for watching. more "am joy" after the break. . only from fidelity. woman: (on phone) discover. hi. do you have a travel card? yep. our miles card. earn unlimited 1.5 miles and we'll match it at the end of your first year. nice! i'm thinking about a scuba diving trip. woman: ooh! (gasp) or not. you okay? yeah, no, i'm good. earn miles. we'll match 'em at the end of your first year.

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i love being a correspondent for your show. senator klobuchar, thank you very much