tv Hardball With Chris Matthews MSNBC September 18, 2019 4:00pm-5:00pm PDT
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which involves the politics, the activism and of course the music you can check it outright here. msnbc.com/mavericks. you can see the entire digital interview right there right now. and while your laptop is open for that, keep your tv on and keep it locked because chris matthews is up next. declaration of war. let's play hardball. good evening. i'm chris matthews in washington with breaking news. amid the crisis between the united states and the leaders of iran and with the president still unclear about how to respond to iran's recent attack on saudi arabia, president trump is now under siege and taking fire from the rear. from his recently fired third national security advisor john bolton. bolton ripped the president's foreign policy at noon today on
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practically every front. the news was first reported by politico. an attendee confirmed the account to nbc news. bolton who was attending a luncheon break and conservative think tank with high profile republican figures criticized the president's willingness to negotiate with the taliban at camp david and said it sent a terrible signal. he also added it was disrespectful to the victims of niefb because the taliban harbored al-qaeda. additionally bolton said any negotiations with either north korea or iran were doomed to failu failure there was no signs either country was serious about giving up its nuclear program. nbc news reached out to bolton for comment but haven't heard back. just moments ago president trump was asked about bolton's attack. >> that's better than somebody that goes around saying we want to use the libyan model. he said the libyan model. that set us back very badly when he said that, so i think john
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really should take a look at how badly they've done in the past and maybe a new method would be very good. now, with all of that being said, maybe a very powerful attack. guys like bolton and others wanted to go into iraq and that didn't work out too well. all right, that did not work out too well. it was -- and i put him in anyway, and frankly everybody knows if you move wrong he wants to -- you know, he doesn't realize that you get stuck, you get stuck. and they got stuck, and i'm unsticking it. >> wow, that's pretty profound. bolton's attack came on the midst of an international crisis of course where president trump is trying to cobble together a cohesive response of the repeat attacks. the critical comments came on the same day president trump announced bolton's replacement. trump selected robert o'brien currently serving as the state department's chief hostage security negotiator.
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i'm joined by jeremy bash, formal chief of staff at the cia and the department of defense, and charlie sykes. there he is taking a shot just a few moments ago at the guy he made his national security advisor saying that guy is stuck there, he doesn't want to get stuck, he doesn't want to follow the advice of the neo konz like bolton but fighting person to person at the time we've got to deal with what are we doing in iran. >> given the way he's ripped some of his critics in the past that was pretty restrained for donald trump. but, you know, john bolton obviously is not going to go quietly. and i think it's very interesting where he delivered the remarks and what he said. he was introduced to that luncheon by rebecca mercer who was one of the most important donors on the right and
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conservative republican causes. a very high powered group. so there's no question about it, john bolton still has a constituency for his approach to foreign policy. and again the problem here is not whether or not donald trump is going to be too hawkish or too dovish. it's whether he's going to be too erratic, blunder into this and send mixed signals. >> if you want to make noise, if you want to get word out you do it at lunch in new york and he did it. he wants the president to hear this, john bolton. he wants this war. >> 100%. and kplaeexactly what charlie s it's not what he said because we've known and a number of other issue, he felt the north korea talks were probably doomed from the start, but it's the crowd he was speaking to. you go out there and you try to basically create a schism within the republican party as to the
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foreign policy view, the president obviously taking a more conciliatory approach with things like russia, with iran he was saying he was willing to talk to them. and just being we've had three summits with the north koreans. this is a number of traditional republicans a very unsettling thing. so john bolton trying to reach out to some of those folks and saying, listen, this is what we're working with and you make the decision. >> here's the president of the united states, our commander in chief. what's he going to do now? he dumped this guy john bolton and hires a new guy today. at the same time he's got to make a big decision, how do we whack back at iran without starting a war which he doesn't want? >> i don't think he's going to respond militarily to the attack on saudi arabia. he didn't respond in june to the shot iran took downing an american aircraft, which was the first time an american aircraft was downed by an adversary nation in international airspace
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since the korean war. this is an attack on another country. and pompeo and others can give them rhetorical support. it was an act of war against them, not us. >> why did pompeo say it was an act of war? he meant an act of war against saudi? >> this was serious, unprecedented and definitively iran which also is in accurate -- >> it was one of those inflection points and are ewe going to go back to what w did and cheney and liz cheney still wants to do, looking for wars starting in the middle east, or are we going to try another approach to getting unstuck. i don't think the american people want to get stuck again. it's easier to go in than it is to come out. your thoughts. >> well, this is also where it's very important for the president of the united states to have
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credibility and i reliable allies, neither of which this president has done a very good job cultivating here. you know, this is the kind of -- this is the moment where if you want to avoid war you need to have maximum pressure on this regime, and you need to have a credible diplomatic offensive against the iranians who are going to keep testing him until there's some sort of response. but the problem is, you know, has trump assembled that kind of coalition. >> charlie, you just answered the question. he's got netanyahu, he may be gone in a week. i don't know who his friends are, this president. i hope we have long lasting friends but we've been butchering those relationships. your thoughts, how do you do it at this point? how do we go after -- >> well, again, this is the problem that he has. he needs to be believable. he needs to be credible. when he makes a threat, he needs
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to follow through on it. i think a lot of the world is looking at donald trump and thinking we got this guy, we understand how he bluffs, and therefore we can keep testing him. the one thing donald trump -- the real danger is that donald trump does not want to appear to be weak. he does not want to appear to be backing down, which could lead to the kind of miscalculation that leads to war. >> well, pompeo's tough message on iran was enacted on capitol hill today by senator lindsey graham. let's listen to him and his unusual break with president trump. >> this attack on an oil refinery by any reasonable definition is an act of war. it is attacking the world economy. it's a stability of the oil markets throughout the world. >> well, on the opposite end of the spectrum liz cheney went even further in the right wing direction telling a reporter the united states should consider a
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proportional military response. utah senator mitt romney oerpd while agreeing iran was responsible doesn't see the united states has to somebodyre all. here's mitt romney. >> this is up to saudi arabia. we've been selling them weapons over the years so that they're able to defend themselves but we're not the policeman of the world. and if iran attacks saudi arabia, saudi arabia should be the nation who decides exactly how they're going to respond. >> jeremy, sometimes that guy talks like a president and i like it. restraint, intelligence, a smart use of our power. not proportional response, somebody who shoots a spitball, we don't shoot it back. >> ryan o'brien, the new national security advisor actually advised mitt romney. and i think o'brien really comes from that more traditional republican mold. yes, hawkish on some issues but certainly they would not abide
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by cozying up to vladimir putin, inviting the taliban on the week of 9/11, and of course, you know, playing a very weak hand in the gulf. >> okay, vivian, he's the new kid on the block, this new guy o'brien. okay, what's his story with him and the africaners, learned fluently affkens, i'm not saying he's evil but it's a strange propensity. what's this about? >> i don't know why the back story why he ended up at that school but you just heard mitt romney speaking and he is much more of a traditional republican as far as the establishment goes. he's served mitt romney twice in 2008 and 2012 and also served on the george w. bush administration. >> but this is pat buchanan stuff, the sort of love affair with the african whites.
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do you know his interest in africaner culture and language? what's that about? >> chris, i know absolutely nothing about that. all i really know is what we've been, you know, hearing about that he was a romney guy. he obviously has curried favor with the president. he understands what the formula is. you praise the president, you are as sycophantic as possible. but i guess my take on this it could have been a lot worse. considering who the president sometimes bring ins it, it could have been a lot worse. >> lindsey graham seemingly looking to goad the president into a more aggressive response to iran. tweeted the measured response by president trump regarding the shooting down of an american drone was clearly seen by the iranian regime as a sign of weakness. the problems with iran, it only gets worse over time. so it is imperative we take decisive action. earlier today president trump was asked about graham's criticism of him. let's take a look.
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>> i actually think it's a sign of strength. we have the strongest military in the world now. and i think it's a great sign of strengthen. it's very easy to attack, but if you ask lindsey, ask him how'd it go into the middle east, how did that work out, and how did going into iraq work out? so we have a disagreement on that. >> i love trump in one way and it's only a very, very narrow way. he always knows the other guy's weakness. he's going after lindsey for the right wing's real problem. they took us into iraq, into a war. nobody looks back and says smart move getting stuck in there. he took the same move that he took at bolton, his buddy. >> that's right. and the bolton statements today in new york shows the trump administration in these aspects are really at war with itself because this is major schism. trump is not cut from the same foreign policy mold as certainly
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boe bolton but also not some of the traditionalists like lindsey graham. they are not prepared to deploy by the tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands -- >> does anybody at this table and charlie sykes land think it's plausible that we would get into a real war with iran? vivian, a real war. >> i don't think we would insigate it. the question is whether we get pulled in because saudi arabia can't defend itself. i think that's a possibility. >> you mean they attack? >> if they decide to instigate any kind of aggression, if they decide to go into a full-scale attack -- >> dick cheney by saying the kuwaiti elite, the royal family are staying in your hotels in
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riyadh, what hotels are you going to stay in -- would they reasonably ever attack iran, charlie? >> yes, they might do it. but, again, they're going to be calculating on exactly what we've just been talking about that if it becomes a larger conflict will the united states come in and this again is the miscalculation. and remind everybody that the trump administration apparently did not have a plan once they threw out the iran nuclear deal whether that was the right thing or the wrong thing, did they have a plan to be able to respond to the way events have played out because in a lot of ways this was predictable. if you follow the iranians, this is the kind of way they're going to respond. you know, did he establish, you know, the alliances. did he establish a game plan? does everyone involved in this, do all of the players understand who will do what under what circumstances? so that is danger.
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nobody wants a war, nobody's planning for a war, but can you be drawn into one if you don't have a plan? >> same as he did with medicare -- i'm sorry with obamacare, the president voted to destroy obamacare. he had no replacement at all. anyway, thank you vivian salaama, jeremy bash, charlie sykes. coming up, trump versus the blue states. catch this anyone who got their taxes raised know how trump's playing this game. he's in california, high tax state, taking on the homeless problem as if he cares because he says it hurts real estate prestige. he's also removing the state's right to set its own emission standards. why's he doing that? it's a state he can't win next year so he's not concerned about ruffling feathers out there. plus the president blaming beto o'rourke for the lack of movement on gun legislation. and by the way as a chilling new video is released on gun safety and violence. this is scary ad. take a look. >> this new sneaker is just what i needed for the new year.
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>> this jacket is a real must-have. >> we've got more to show you on that. this is one scary thing. it gets much scarier for these kids. it's about when sandy hook happened. stay with us. it's about when sandy hook happened stay with us mm, uh, what do you do for fun? -not this. ♪ -oh, what am i into? mostly progressive's name your price tool. helps people find coverage options based on their budget. flo has it, i want it, it's a whole thing, and she's right there. -yeah, she's my ride. this date's lame. he has pics of you on his phone. -they're very tasteful.
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welcome back to "hardball." president trump has made clear he views himself as a pro-red state president. continuing to disown, disregard even punish those states that offer him no electoral college votes. his target today, california whose 55 electoral college votes he has no chance at all of winning in 2020 and he knows it. and yet that's where the president was today. in fact, that's why he was there today completing a two-day swing attending top dollar fund raisers expected to add $15 million for his re-election
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coughers. axiose reports trump is at war with california over homelessness and every topic he touches. on his way to the golden state president trump aligned the homeless problem in some cities. he says, quote, we can't let los angeles, san francisco and numerous other cities destroy themselves by allowing what's happening. he went onto lament the problem for residents saying in many cases they came from other countries. he cares about immigrants now. and they moved to san francisco because of the prestige of the city and all of a sudden they have tents. trump had more to say just moments ago. let's watch. >> in the case of san diego the mayor is doing the right thing, he's doing a good job. in the case of los angeles it's a disaster. if you look at san francisco, it's a total disaster what's happening. they're going to ruin those cities, and we're going to get involved very soon on a federal basis if they don't cleanup their act. >> in a lot of ways that's stay
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classy san diego, republican mayor there. revoking the state's power to set tough emission standards than the federal government does, a right california has had since 1967. but he also stopped by the u.s. border with mexico near san diego for a show and tell of border wall completed under his watch that replaced a section of shorter wall. he argued that terz still a national emergency regarding border security. for more i'm joined by susan page, cornell belcher, democratic pollster. you're laughing but let's go back to the pure partisan conversation. it seems to me from the beginning of his presidency he said screw you to states that voted against him. states like new york, massachusetts, maryland we're all going to get screwed. and then he does all kinds of things. he goes after cities with terrible tough neighborhoods
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like baltimore. a lot of cities have tough neighborhoods, but he goes after a state he can't possibly win. he doesn't touch philly or milwaukee or detroit because he needs those three states. it's very interesting how he does this. >> i was in focus group talking about -- a focus group is where we try to gather information from a likely group of voters. >> 12 people? >> 12, 13 people and try to listen to them. we ask them questions about what's going on, their issues and their preferencesch and one of the things that kept coming up over and over is the division. and i remember one woman said i wish he would spend half as much time trying to bring the country together as he does dividing it. when you look at 9 million voters and the way democrats did so well in the suburbs with college educated white women it's because donald trump and this division. it's because of this ugliness that they viscerally do not
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like. >> let's talk about we trashes cities, especially, trashes baltimore. he makes it sound like it's a sinkhole. we all know what cities look like. and, you know, it's a city that obviously has challenges, but, you know, he goes after them and now going after san francisco but not san diego. he's very discriminatory in who he attacks. >> because he attacks democratic cities and cities like which is represented by the way by nancy pelosi his biggest counterpart. and he's taking on issues that alarm california like these tougher emission standards, but they could help him in states like pennsylvania, ohio -- >> okay, so fracking, of course. he'll come out for fracking. but why does he come out against emission. kamala harris, i think eshe said something really nice about government and what it can accomplish. the sky was like martian, it was
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yellow and weird and so much crap in the air and now you see blue skies out there. and she says we can do this. why does he want to go back on that with emission standards? >> another reason is because that was something barack obama did. and we've seen the president over and over again try to repeal everything -- >> but who likes dirty air? no, really, who likes dirty air in the focus group? >> none of them. but also the aspect to your last story didn't rolling back these emissions mean half a million more barrels are consumed, it means americans are spending more on gas. who does that benefit? remember that last story we just had about saudi arabia? the oil industry benefits from that. so i think he's crazy like a fox. >> that's pretty conspiratorial. >> does the oil industry benefit from these roll backs? >> he's denying california the power to set these tougher emission standards to help saudi arabia, that's pretty conspiratorial. >> i'm going to stick with it. >> because we're very proud of the fact americans, we're
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basically much more fuel independent than we ever were. california governor gavin newsome slammed president trump for revoking the emissions standard today. let's watch. >> i don't know what the hell's happened to the republican party. by the way, where is the republican party right now? why aren't they pushing back? they believe in federalism, state rights, at least they assert that and they're nowhere to be found. >> the republicans like to believe in federalism. they talk of a federalist society, state rights and here's the president going nice try, california, you're not going to be cleaner than us. >> this is not ronald reagan's republican party. on a lot of ishes he wouldn't be comfortable. on federalism he wouldn't be comfortable. >> nixon created the epa. >> it's donald trump --
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>> it's donald trump's republican party and why you see a lot of moderate republicans really uncomfortable with -- >> who wants dirty air? meanwhile if you want an indication where the president's mind -- well, that's a delusion -- mind was this morning in california there's always twitter. he wrote on twitter 4:08 a.m., that's when he tweeted california time. as corey lewandowski stated very clearly president trump didn't do anything wrong or illegal, but they all know that. that was just one of several early morping tweets about his former campaign manager doing a run of more than 20 tweets or re-tweets over the course of the ceremony. who's an expert? you are whch what's trump doing at 4:00 in the morning tweeting about lewandowski sph. >> well, a friendship is a beautiful thing. and lewandowski had an audience of one yesterday. >> where he admitted he lied to the media and the public. >> and he was talking to donald trump and trump was talking back to him on twitter.
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it's a conversation between two men who obviously get along very well. >> trump's kind of guy, an openly admitted liar. >> right. and to serve this country you now have to sort of bow down to the president. it's like we don't take an oath to the constitution anymore. you've got to take an oath to donald trump. i think that's fundamentally danger and fundamentally un-american. >> even lippedy graham has stopped his tail from wagging an hour or two today which is impressive. you're looking at me in surprise. you know it's true. up next, president trump is now blameliing beto o'rourke fo holding up preg progress on gun reform. i knew he was going to do this. o'rourke is not taking that lying down, however, saying trump's cowardice is the real problem. you're watching "hardball." l problem. you're watching "hardball. okay, paint a picture for me. uh, well, this will be the kitchen. and we'd like to put a fire pit out there, and a dock with a boat, maybe.
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welcome back to "hardball." as president trump continues to dither on gun legislation children across the country have begun a new school year, of course. it's september. and today while the gun advocacy group actually released a frightening new public service announcement that's struck a cord with a lot of people especially parents. wait until you see this. a warning some may find this disturbing and even hard to watch.
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>> this year my mom got me the perfect bag for back taschool. >> these colorful binders help me stay organized. >> heez headphones are just what i need for studying. >> these new sneakers are just what i need frd the new year. >> this jacket is a real must have. >> my parents got me the skateboard i wanted. it's pretty cool. >> these scissors really come in handy in class. >> these colored pencils, too. >> these new socks, they can be a real lifesaver. >> and i got my own phone to stay in touch with my mom.
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>> one of the sandy hook parents responsible for that psa will be joining us next. you're watching "hardball." g us. you're watching "hardball. what you're doing? [sighs defeatedly] (grover) do not worry, sir. i also fix cars! (burke) seen it. covered it. at farmers insurance, we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two. ♪ we are farmers. ♪ bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum
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welcome back to "hardball." president trump speaking out today about the ongoing gun debate, but instead of finally putting it on the table what he's willing to support he's blaming a democratic presidential candidate for why a deal has been made. the president tweeted, dummy beto made it much harder to make a deal. convinced many of the democrats just want to take your guns away. will continue forward, whatever that means. let's be clear the president has been skeptical of making any deal well before o'rourke had his viral moment during last week's democratic debate calling for the mandatory buy back of assault weapons. meanwhile senate majority leader mitch mcconnell says he will continue to do, catch this word,
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nothing until president trump makes the first move. >> i want to know what the president supports. it's not unimportant to my members. and what i would like to know is, you know, what he thinks would make some progress and he would sign. and until we get that kind of guidance, we're going to holding pattern so to speak. >> her 6-year-old son dylan was killed in the sandy hook shooting in 2012. also joining us in a moment congressman ted lou of california. tell us about the ad we just saw. it's horrific, it's powerful. what would you like it to accomplish. >> i want this ad to really engage parents across the country in the new reality that our kids are facing every day in school. and only by engaging in this
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issue and focusing on prevention, you know, strategic prevention rather than tactical reactionary measures, that's the only way that we're really going to stop gun violence in our schools and keep them safe. >> whidon't you talk right now because you've got the opportunity to talk to congress, people who vote, democrats and republicans, senators and members of congress. after they watch this psa, this ad, what do you want specifically from them in terms of a bill the president will sign? what do you want the president to sign? that's another way of putting it. >> you know, there are so many members of congress and the president who are also parents. so pay attention to this ad. these are kids talking. this is what kids are experiencing, and it's within their power to do something about this at a legislative level. it's not about doing nothing. it's about doing what america wants. and america wants safety. they want their kids to be safe in school. they want safe communities. there's a lot we can do at a community level, but we need legislation at a state and federal level to help support
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that. >> will background checks be good for you? would that be a start this year? >> it would be an amazing start. yes, i have bip working on it for seven years and i'd love to see it cross the finish line. >> tonight white house advisor kellyanne conway would not give a timetable and proceeded to grossly mischaracterize the gun legislation passed by the house earlier this year. let's watch kellyanne. >> senator mcconnell, leader mcconnell said something super smart that the democrats and the congress seem to not understand which is let's put something on the floor the president will sign, let's do something that can actually become the law. and the democrats say well just go ahead and pass what we passed in the winter or the spring. that's not reality because their bills are gun confiscation. >> that wasn't true, congressman. your bill is not a consfisication bill. >> it is not.
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it's before the u.s. senate. all mitch mcconnell has to do is put up for a vote and it will get to the president's desk. >> why do you think as a political figure the president won't support something that has 97% support, background checks? >> i think he's being a chicken and beholden to the nra. it's been effective in preventing felons and people who committed violent crimes from getting these guns. and we know in the last mass shooting they would have prevented that person from getting a gun. >> they're now saying on the right, the evangelical right -- i'm going to get to this later in the show -- that owning a gun and not having to have a background check, in other words gun safety runs against gods will. they say they have a sacred right to own whatever guns they want, they say that's a sacred right, that god, jesus i guess gave them. i don't want to be sacrilegious,
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but they're saying this. >> it turns out the word gun is not actually in the bible. they're just making that up. what we have here is a president who's been completely ineffective in getting any legislation through congress that helps the american people. he's blamed o'rourke for his inability to get legislation passed. all he has to do is say i will sign that legislation and it becomes law. >> the growing epidemic of gun violence in america according to this report in 2017 for the first time more people were killed by guns in this country than by car accidents. nearly 400,000 people were killed by guns. approximately 2,500 of them were kids in school. the report also found compared to other high income countries our country's firearm related fatality rate is nearly 50 times higher for teens and young adults. nicole, back to you. and i guess the question is what do you want to say to the president of the united states if he's watching?
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>> president trump, you're a father. please take action. our kids need to be kept safe. this is what the americans across the country want. allow the vote to happen, and then allow it to pass and move into law. >> you know, your leadership is not always brilliant, notbut th this. because they put to the president this week, chuck schumer in the senate and nancy pelosi, the speaker of the house, said to the president if you sign background check legislation, not all this other stuff, just background legislation, we'll be there for the signing to celebrate that event. and trump has been mumbling ever since. i think you guys have finally caught this guy so off base i don't think trump knows what to do. >> that's correct. and let me just thank nicole for her amazing leadership with sandy hook promise. if the president is watching i compel him to watch this ad and the statistics are sobering.
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we know from the centers of disease control that over 39,000 people die annually from gun violence. that's over four people per hour. so by the time your show is over, chris, another four people would have died from gun violence in america. >> what is it about america when you look at these stats, are we an angry people, a violent people? what is it? is it access to guns pure and simple? what is it about the shooting that goes on in this country? >> in my opinion, it's a mixture of a lot of things. definitely easy access to guns is significant problem and needs to be addressed. but also i think just being aware that these acts continue and they're preventable, there's a lot we can do in terms of helping people before they ever reach that point. we're not a country that has more violent video games or more mental illness than anywhere else, but we do have a lot of problems that need addressing
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and one of those is the unfettered access to guns and there are measures we can do to help improve that. >> i think you're doing what any mother can do. up next a freshman congresswoman opens up on the house floor to share or own actually painful memories of her partner's suicide. she's hoping to raise awareness and also reduce the stigma attached to even asking for help if you've got a mental illness problem. we're back after this. a mental s problem. we're back after this. performance comes in lots of flavors. there's the amped-up, over-tuned, feeding-frenzy-of sheet-metal-kind. and then there's performance that just leaves you feeling better as a result. that's the kind lincoln's about. ♪
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welcome back to "hardball." in a speech on the house floor in june this summer democratic congresswoman susan wilde of pennsylvania shared the very personal story of her life's partner suicide earlier this year. let's watch her on the floor of the house. >> as some are aware today marks the one month anniversary of the death of my beloved life partner. what most people don't know is that carrie's death was a suicide. why am i sharing this very personal story? because we all need to recognize that mental health issues know no boundaries. i do not want anyone else to suffer as he suffered nor for any family to suffer as mine has
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over the past month. this is a national emergency. every community in our country has been touched in some way by major mental health challenges. removing the stigma cannot just be a slogan. we need to make it real through our actions. >> as "the washington post" noted in an interview with congresswoman wild, quote, the video went viral and prompted an outpouring of people thanking her for sharing her story. well, congresswoman susan wild joins me right now during national suicide prevention month which we're in right now to discuss the legislation she's planning to introduce on friday to raise awareness about suicide and reduce the stigma around mental health. thank you so much. so i guess the big question what took you to the house floor to talk about such a personal loss? >> it was a month after it happened. it was the hardest thing i've ever gone through in my life, heart breaking and still is. i just felt as though something
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constructive had to come out of it and we had to elevate suicide. sometimes it's chronic pain as it was in his case. sometimes it is a quick something that happens in somebody's life. >> yes, that's what we hear. >> yes, and somebody's spouse asks for a divorce, and i've spoken to people who were in exactly that kind of situation. but for me it was just really important that i use my public platform to try to bring -- shed some light on this. >> well, let's talk about this because is there something that can be done by government to help people who are in distress, who are feeling serious chronic depression and are ready to do something like your partner did? >> i believe there's something that can be done by government. and i also believe there's something that can be done by all of us. as far as the government's role in it, it is to support and give the resources necessary for communities and families and
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people to -- to fight this illness and this epidemic. and, you know, we can do things as simple as a bill that's currently pending that i've cosponsored, a three digit number for a suicide hot line as opposed to -- >> there isn't one now. >> no three digit number. there's a long ten digit number that i can't even remember as i sit here now. so i think that's a really simple fix. >> what happens when you have a person like alcoholic anonymous has a program where you're about to go drink and you shouldn't because it's going to take you back to where you shouldn't be, you call up somebody. what would it be the appropriate situation for someone feeling really serious chronic depression? >> well, you know, the problem is we don't talk about chronic depression. alcoholics anonymous has done a terrific job over the years in dealing with alcoholism. we don't have anything similar for people who are suffering from terrible depression, which is brought on by all different kinds of things.
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the truth of the matter is that we try to depress the subject. one of the things that i always say to people is imagine if you were seriously depressed, and would you go to your employer to tell him or her that you were seriously depressed and needed treatment? probably not. if you were diagnosed with cancer and you needed treatment and needed time off from work to go to your chemo treatments or whatever, you would absolutely go to talk to your employer. >> how do we change that? how does that deal with that difference? >> yewe talk about it, elevate, make people realize there are people all over the country dealing with this. we know 40,000 people committed suicide in 2017. we know this is surprising that the highest -- the highest rate of suicide recently has been white men over 60 which includes my beloved partner. and, you know, so this is a problem that has no boundaries.
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we have to be much more open about it. we've accomplished a lot in the world of mental health, but not on this issue. >> tell me what kind of reaction you got when you went on the floor of the house this summer? >> i really did it as a way of -- my colleagues were so wonderful and there for me right after, but more importantly afterwards i started hearing from people all over the country including a former nfl player who's going to appear on friday at a round table that we're hosting on this very subject. i hear from people all over the country about their own experience, family members. i heard from an official in my district whose mother committed suicide when he was very young and he had never told anybody about it. people have been coming out of the wood work. i talked to at least three people a day who have been affected by this. >> the guy who had had it made took his life, richard cory --
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>> we've got to stop this. >> by the way, we've got to have you on, a brighter subject, how pennsylvania is going to go next year because you are on the swing district. >> can we end on a positive note? >> sure. >> my dog zoey was voted the cutest dog on capitol hill just this evening before i came over here. >> my heart is full. >> there you go. >> a more happy note. anyway, thank you so much. if you are having suicidal thoughts, back to the serious, or if you are worried anybody you think does there is help available. the national suicide prevention lifeline. this is long number but it's a 1-800, you can remember that. and you can go to 273-talk. pretty easy to remember. 800 that. "hardball" back after this. rem. 800 that "hardball" back after this but allstate actually helps you drive safely... with drivewise. it lets you know when you go too fast... ...and brake too hard.
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try our new warm grain hey. today. you must be steven's phone. now you can know who's on your network and control who shouldn't be, only with xfinity xfi. simple. easy. awesome. christianity let's admit has been used for some terrible causes over the centuries. in the fourth century emperor consten tine congered his enemies under the sign of the cross. the inquisition began in the name of the christianity. joan of ark was burned for here say, the charge been that she'd worn mens clothing. and women were put to death in massachusetts as witches again
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in the name of christianity. whites in south africa used a christian bible to treat blacks as unworthy of human rights. well, this week still here in the 21st century arrived a new claim on behalf of christianity, guns. specifically opposition to background checks for those who want to buy a gun. donald trump now speaks of what he calls our sacred right to keep and bear arms. sacred? apparently this new sensation is spreading. a texas state senator accused or actually opposed gun safety in the name of christianity. sarah sanders did the same. ted cruz did the same tying it to a scripture reference and exodus to the right of self-defense against a nighttime robbery. i would guess that while christianity like other religions has been used to support the worst of human horror it can also and has been
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used to promote good as did during the civil rights movement. it can certainly be used to be support our best human efforts to end the mass shootings at churches, synagogues and schools. the sermon on the mount was not a case for assault rifles, multi-round magazines and silencers. it was about love, not lock and load. that's "hardball" for now. "all in with chris hayes" starts right now. tonight on "all in." >> the hotel opened about two weeks ago and it's been amazing. >> brand new revelations about military spending at donald trump's luxury resort. >> i think today we can finally say we made turnberry great again. >> plus the director of national intelligence is now openly denying congress over an urgent whistle-blower complaint that may involve the president. then -- >> i don't want you to listen to me. i want you to listen to the
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