we are just eight weeks away from the presidential election. and we've seen the clearest contrast yet between the two nominees. voters choosing between a man who mocks those who treat the coronavirus seriously. who traffics in conspiracy theories, who has doubled down on telling his supporters to break the law and vote twice and who thinks the military are losers. >> it was a fake story. i have done more for the

military than almost anybody else. >> he's sick. it is deplorable. it is so unamerican. it is so unpatriotic. >> people that are in the dark shadows, there are people that are controlling the streets. we had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend, and in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs. >> what in god's name are we doing? it's mortifying. it's embarrassing and it's dangerous. >> what you have to do is send in your early ballot and then go and make sure that ballot is tabulated or counted. and if it's not counted, vote. >> he's a fraud. >> the election comes down to who makes a better case for healing the country. with more than 6.2 million cases of covid and more than 188,000 deaths, a jobs report that shows that while more than 1.4 jobs were gained, at least 8.4% of

the country is still unemployed and congress still hasn't come to an agreement over coronavirus aid. i'm joined by jason johnson, and charlie sykes. charlie, i will come to you first. voting has begun. early voting has now begun in north carolina. they start very early. mail balloting in the presidential election began friday as north carolina sent out more than 600,000 ballots, more than 16 times the number that were sent out the same time four years ago. should donald trump be concerned? is the reason in your mind he's saying, no, no, no, vote twice is because he may be too effective to get his own supporters to distrust mail-in ballots and now they're going to use it, even though it would help him? >> it is always dangerous to get inside donald trump's mind, but i think it's fascinating that we found out this week that the department of homeland security had prepared a briefing saying that it was russian

disinformation to sew that the russian goal was to sew disinformation about the integrity of our election, which is exactly what the president is doing. the president's goal i think is pretty clear here, which is to sow confusion, chaos, doubt. and i think that there is two main goals here. number one is to make people think, this is complicated. is my vote going to be lost? is my vote going to be stolen, perhaps to suppress the vote. as you point out, he may even suppress his own vote. the second goal is to continue to lay the groundwork for challenging the legitimacy of this election. so it is interesting that the incumbent president of the united states is devoting so much of his energy to sowing doubt and confusion about the voting process. >> yeah. and as you say, charlie, it is directly out of the playbook of vladimir putin because as our intelligence services said, that's what he's doing. but, jason, it is not just trump that's doing it. it seems that william barr is

also on the putin playbook. he seems to be also doing the same and stoking the same kind of disinformation that russia wants to be stoked. here he is talking about voter fraud. >> elections that have been held with mail have found substantial fraud and coercion. for example, we indicted someone in texas, 1,700 ballots collected from people who could vote. he made them out and voted for the person he wanted to. okay? that kind of thing happens with mail-in ballots. everyone knows it. >> no, nope, nope, nope. that's a lie. that's not true. while barr claims a man collected 1,700 ballots. first of all, we can't get people to vote once in america. we have the lowest voter turnout in the entire western world. you think this guy sat down and filled out 1,700 ballots? no. federal prosecutors brought no such indictment. barr was referring to a local prosecution involving suspected mail-in voting fraud in a local

election. the district attorney in that case said, no. i mean, he just made up something that isn't possible to be true. we can't get people to vote once sometimes. go ahead, jason. >> yeah. i mean, look, everything william barr says, barr, cohen, basically the same guy for trump, it is all a lie and wants to destroy the entire voting process. because they know they cannot win in a fair and open election. but, joy, here is a thing i think is really important. we have to understand not just why they want to destroy the election but the data behind it. if you look at maine, if you look at pennsylvania, north carolina, it is not just that democrats are almost getting a 2 to 1 request for mail-in ballots, and the key for mail-in ballots is you will have a paper trail. unless you destroy them, there will be a paper trail. so trump can't hide that you can go through and count these by hand. 1 in 3 of the mail-in ballots being requested in pennsylvania right now are from people who didn't vote in 2016. these are new people. and many of those are under 35 who are deciding i'm going to get a mail-in ballot.

i skipped out 2016, but i'm voting this guy out now. so their entire motivation is to destroy this process because you have a whole new generation of gen "z" and millennials who are actually going to vote him out in 2020. >> and also potentially maybe military members who are seeing what he said about their ranks and about our war dead. i want to play quickly this woman. those of you who watch a lot of cable news will remember that her husband died serving our country. and donald trump actually did call her. this was one of the rare cases where he called someone to supposedly give the condolences. it didn't go well. here she is. >> the president said that he knew what he signed up for, but it hurts anyway. and i was -- it made me cry because i was very angry at the tone of his voice and how he said it.

he couldn't remember my husband's name. that's what hurt me the most because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risks his life for our country, why can't you remember his name? >> i mean, he couldn't remember his name when he made the phone call to the widow. so it is not like this information in "the atlantic" was shocking. it is consistent with the way he's treated john mccain and on and on and on. i wonder if the accumulation now plus messing with mail-in ballots will mess with the military vote for people who are serving overseas. it's no wonder perhaps donald trump is panicking. >> well, this is a dangerous story for donald trump because it goes at the heart of his myth that somehow he is the supporter of the military. look, the reason why this is so dangidublically. his attacks on john mccain as a p.o.w. his attacks on gold star parents. you know, his bragging about

avoiding sexually transmitted diseases as his own personal vietnam. look, here is a problem for the trump world and the anti anti-trumpers out there. those who are on the fence. if they believe this story, they have to confront the reality that the commander in chief of the united states is a small, vicious, petty, despicable man who dishonors everything he touches. and if they confront that reality, they are going to have to confront the choices they are making right now, which is why there is so much energy being invested into denial. don't believe it. look the other way. even though i have to tell you they know in their hearts that it's true. they know this is who he is. but they have been in denial for a very, very long time. we're within 60 days of this election, and we're seeing who donald trump is. and once again he's told us over and over again who he is. a lot of people have chosen to ignore it, but it's coming back again at a crucial time.

>> you know, people, jason, normally wake up from the donald trump cult of personality when it hits them personally. michael cohen is one of those guys who was the attack dog for donald trump for a long time. he was willing to get real nasty with donald trump's opponents, but then he found out donald trump had no loyalty. and he ended up going to jail after doing his bidding. this is a recent interview he actually gave to our own lester holt. this is a pretty scary thing he said, but i want to let you react to it. >> do you think he'll win another term as president? >> donald trump will do anything and everything within which to win, and i believe that includes manipulating the ballots. i believe that he would even go so far as to start a war in order to prevent himself from being removed from office. my biggest fear is that there will not be a peaceful transition of power in 2020. >> you know, jason, you know, listen, it took a lot for people

like john lewis to take blows to the head in order to vote. it feels like it's going to take a lot of personal courage and people having to stand in lines with covid out there. people have to overcome that fear. it is going to take a lot of determination. and i worry that sometimes the things that people say donald trump could do will make donald people scared. but what do you think is the balance right now of sort of voter courage versus voter fear? >> so right before this segment i was texting with friends of mine in north carolina, and said, did you guys start today? they're like, we didn't know. we have to remember that a lot of the fear mongering that trump engages in, it is not what people are experiencing day in and day out. a lot of people, their polling place is close to them, it is someplace they can go to. so between that and people asking for mail-in ballots, i

think most people don't necessarily live in that fear. i'm concerned about the count afterwards. it is sending out proud boys and neo-nazis and terrorists and all these white nationalists to polling stations to threaten the people who are supposed to be collecting the information. it is the manipulation from russia or the white house after the fact. that is where i think we should be really concerned. again, i have to point back to with charlie. there are no persuadables at this point. there is no one who just woke up to this. everybody knows donald trump is a bad guy. this election is purely about turnout. can the democrats get their people to vote and get those votes fairly counted? because there is no one who heard he didn't remember ladavid's name. man, woman, child. he's never liked the military. it is just a matter of getting out the vote because persuasion ended four years ago. >> the other thing that people know is they know what's in their pocketbook. there are a lot of people who it's not clear they're going to be able to vote because they have been evicted. so it is not clear they have an address with which to vote.

>> right. >> there is a lot of people that can't pay their bills right now. and that's their focus. let's look at these job numbers. it is a catastrophe. we are near 1930s levels. it is shocking, i think, to a lot of people. you have dealt with these people on the radio that can take this kind of pain, this kind of agony and misery and humiliation. donald trump obviously doesn't even care about them, whether they live or die. he's like, come to my rally and get covid. he doesn't care. i do wonder about whether people who are that, you know, sucked in and who are that sort of cultified, i wonder, like jason, if there is any point in looking for persuadables. if you believe in this guy at this point, there is nothing that can take you away from him. >> that's right. and the cult is not persuadable. i completely agree with that. i think there is a group of voters that is at least on the bubble and as we get closer to this election, they are going to have to say, can we take four more years of this?

you know, is america headed into the right direction? and i think it's the accumulation of everything you have been talking about. and, joy, i think you also asked a crucial question in all of this fear mongering. does it frighten people or motivate people? i think it's going to motivate people. and also in terms of voting, by raising all the questions in the doubt about the count, i think it's going to make people be much more conscientious and more careful about how they go through all of this. >> right. >> so i do think this will backfire. i also think there is a chance he might suppress his own vote. but in terms of persuadable, i think as you get closer to the election, you have a very small number of people who may be undecided and historically they break against the incumbent. right now i think those are the voters who are looking around and only in the last week have they seen how dramatic the contrast it is between donald trump and joe biden and what an amazing split screen we got in kenosha, wisconsin, this week.

and i think that contrast is going to be front and center for a lot of voters who might not have been paying that close of attention. and so i do think that there is going to be a group of voters who will go into that ballot box and make a decision much closer to the election than most of us who have lived this for the last four years who would like to think. >> and jason, there is those voters, and then there is the black church lady vote. i always say if you want to know anything about black politics, find a lady with a church hat. and if she owns more than one church hat, you want to vote like her because that's a lady that usually votes the right way. you said a long time ago when we were talking about this over on "a.m. joy" that joe biden is the perfect candidate for -- and this was before joe biden was viable. you said because, old white guy, nonthreatening. take him to the suburbs and say, look at him. and he's also hard to redefine because he's uncle joe and you can't redefine him. it looks like that is turning

out to be the case, at least what you have seen in his presentation. it seems pretty effective. >> yeah. and, joy, you know, we talked about them. the seasoned citizens, right? >> yes. >> joe biden is doing really, really well with seniors, right? he speaks to these people and gives a sense of safety. here's the thing. and this is digging down as the political scientist. the only persuasion is between voting and not voting. it is not who you are going to vote for, right? that's the key that democrats have to remember. the 55 to 70-year-old african-american woman is already voting and she got her son and her nephew and her husband. the people you are worried about the gen-xers like myself and millennials. you have to make sure they turn out to vote because they already know they're not going to vote for trump. those people only exist in the minds of democratic consultants because they have been chasing after this mythical persuadable republican in the suburbs for 25 years that doesn't exist. donald trump recognizes that,

which is why his entire republican convention was not about persuading. it was about turning out his base while at the same time destroying mailboxes so his democrats can't vote. >> it's going to be an interesting election. jason and charlie, two of my favorite people to talk about about this stuff. have a great weekend. up next, my conversation with the president's niece, mary trump. what were his thoughts before he got into politics and needed their thoughts about religious people, about christians? >> he doesn't have any. he has no connection to religion or faith that i'm aware of. you know, he's quite good at finding what, in his words, he would call suckers. >> i promise you. i did not plan to wear the same color again. there is that word again, suckers. to donald trump, religious people, soldiers, anyone who puts their faith in something bigger than the almighty dollar

is, in fact, a sucker. and one of the exonerated central park five joins me on his new book and on trump, who wanted him executed. back with more of "the reidout" after this. i'm a verizon engineer, and i'm part of the team building the most powerful 5g experience for america. it's 5g ultra wideband, and it's already available in parts of select cities. like los angeles and in new york city. and it's rolling out in cities around the country. with massive capacity, it's like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than today's 4g networks. in fact, it's the fastest 5g in the world. from the network more people rely on. this is 5g built right. only on verizon.

one of the most eye-popping sections of mary trump's best

selling book, "too much and never enough," was how her family had such disdain for military service. that her uncle, donald "bone spurs" trump, threatened to disown don junior if he ever joined the army. one of the numerous stories echoed by "the atlantic." trump calling the american war dead losers and suckers. mary trump responded to the story saying, quote, anybody who was surprised by donald's comments is once again letting him off the hook when he has time after time demonstrated himself to be nothing but an anti-american, anti-military traitor to this country. she also tweeted this photo of her father with the caption, second lieutenant freddie trump, air national guard. i spoke to mary trump recently about her book adds well as those audio clips of her aunt spilling all the uncensored dysfunctional tea about her uncle, donald trump, and his family. let's take a listen.

these recordings we're about to play are snippets of two conversations recorded sometime in late 2018 and early 2019. i should note that we were not provided with the full recordings. and in the recordings we're going to play for you, we can hear mary ann barry trump and mary trump discuss ivanka trump. >> and when then that damn ivanka puts this picture of the madonna and child on instagram, when the big news of the day was how kids are being ripped from their families, i couldn't blame -- i'd never heard of samantha bee before. i couldn't blame what she said. >> so in that recording, mary ann trump barry was referring to samantha bee, the comedian, who

had slammed ivanka calling her oblivious, among other things, after she posted this image of herself and her child at the same time that they were separating migrant children from their families. now the next clip, mary trump and her aunt talk about eric and ivanka's ambitions. >> meanwhile eric's become the moron publically. ivanka gives a [ bleep ]. she's all about her. >> yeah. she's a mini-donald. >> she's a mini-donald. yet he's besotten with her. she's always been his favorite. >> we also hear what mary ann thinks about her brother, donald. >> and then you get donald who won't do anything for anybody unless it's going to inure to his -- i mean, he won't do any -- publically, i mean, if

you -- anything he did, he says, look what i've done. aren't i wonderful. >> and it ends up being nothing. >> and he's as tight as a duck's ass, just like dad was. >> i reached out to mary ann trump barry for comment but have not heard back. i am now joined by mary trump. here is the conversation you had with your aunt about the dreamers. take a listen. >> well, what he did with the dreamers. i mean -- >> oh, god. that's -- >> i am so much in support. but he denies it. he would deny he changed his mind. >> it's just like with the kids who were in de facto concentration camps in texas. he's blaming the democrats for it. the democrats' horrible policy. so it would suggest he thinks it's a bad thing. and yet he's allowing it to continue. >> it's mind boggling.

>> i mean, de facto concentration camps stands out to me as a way to describe this. your aunt was a judge. was this recording made while she was still a judge? >> yes, but she's been inactive for a while. i don't believe at the time she was on the bench. >> and so did she ever -- if she's calling them concentration camps, that sounds like a pretty severe thing. are you surprised she didn't go public given the fact that she's got a judicial background? you know, her comments could have been really powerful at that time. did it surprise you she didn't say anything publically? just only saying it to you. >> unfortunately, no, it doesn't surprise me. she subscribes to the same notion of family loyalty that her siblings do. >> let's play another piece. this is significant because we have donald trump's biggest base is white christians.

white, evangelical christians are his base. here is a conversation with yourself and your aunt about trump and god. >> the only time donald went to church that i know of, at least when dad wasn't bringing us every sunday was -- >> when he got married. >> yes. and over the last several years, when the cameras were at the church. >> exactly. >> so to your knowledge, including your dad, they were brought to church, the family, every sunday. was this the power of positive thinking church, or was it a mainline protestant church. >> i don't know. i don't believe it was every sunday. certainly not when they were older. and as far as i recollect, my grandfather joined a norman

vincent peale church, the guy that wrote "the power of positive thinking" in the early '50s, mid-'50s. so i never got the impression that any of them except for mary ann was particularly religious or churchgoing. >> yeah. did you ever hear your uncle talk about religious people? what were his thoughts before he got into politics and needed his votes about religious people, about christians? >> he doesn't have any. he has no connection to religion or faith that i'm aware of. you know, he's quite good at finding what, in his words, he would call suckers. so as we have seen, unfortunately he's been able to, you know, co-opt people's faiths to use to his own benefit without any sincerity or authenticity. >> let's talk about the adult children.

i hate calling them children because they are adults. they're not independent of him, so they're kind of children in a sense. ivanka and jared released their earnings, unlike donald trump. they're a bit more transparent about it. $36 million that they made in outside income in 2019, while both of them are working for the white house. meaning the american people are paying them a salary. and ivanka in particular, donald trump has been really going at china. china sort of is his new mexico. but ivanka trump has got 18 trademarks in just two months, according to the associated press. she's got lots and lots of business that she does in china. do you get the sense that the adult children, and i'm not asking you to make a legal opinion or anything like that, are using the position that they have to enrich themselves further? >> well, if they weren't and if they actually cared about serving their country, all of them either would have put all

of their holdings in blind trusts or they would have divested entirely. so i think that's the simplest answer. >> lastly, on donald trump jr., his -- just his one trip, the trip to go hunting and to hunt down animals, so brave, $60,000 more than the secret service originally admitted. i mean, they've spent a lot of money according to crew. do you get the sense that he hopes to succeed his father and take over the presidency? >> i think certain parts of the republican party are grooming him for that sort of thing, which suggests how far the party has fallen. i can -- well, honestly, i can't think of anybody less fit than my cousin. it's -- the fact that we even have to be talking about my cousins is sort of tragic, honestly. you know, but they, in addition to being donald's children, they're also his employees and

some of them actually work for the united states government. and all i see is they're taking advantage of their father's position yet again to grow power. and we need to be on our guard about that kind of thing because it's very dangerous. >> absolutely, yeah. we didn't even get to eric trump and the trouble he might be in. in terms of an investigation out of new york. but mary trump, you are always so transparent. i really appreciate it. this has to be hard talking about your family. thank you so much. i really appreciate your generosity with your time. >> thank you so much, joy. and still ahead, a new book co-authored by one of the central park five sheds new light on trump's call that the suspects be executed. stay with us. ♪ oh, oh, oh, ozempic®! ♪

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there was one important piece missing from donald trump's staged visit to kenosha, wisconsin, this week -- jacob blake. not only did trump not meet with or even call the family, but he didn't even utter jacob blake's name while in his hometown. trump has almost always come

down on the side of law enforcement, even when there is evidence that the victim is not at fault. this was his m.o. well before he became president. in 1989 trump took out a full page ad in several new york newspapers calling for the death penalty for five black teenagers aged 14 years old to 16, who were falsely accused and wrongly convicted of the assault and rape of a white woman who was attacked while in central park. they spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before dna evidence exonerated them. that wasn't enough for trump. he still won't acknowledge what he got so wrong. here he is literally last year. >> you have people on both sides of that. they admitted their guilt. if you look at some of the prosecutors, they think the city never should have settled that case. so we'll leave it at that. >> one of the exonerated central park five joins me next.

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they made us lie, right? >> why are they doing us like this? >> what other way they ever do us? >> that was the much heralded and heartbreaking netflix series from ava duvernay, "when they see us," that depicts the story of the central park five. now one of them has a new book

based partly on his own experience. joining me now is one of the exonerated five and e.b., a national book award finalist, the co-authors of "punching the air." thank you both for being here. really appreciate you both being here. tell me first about this book. what was the inspiration behind it? because it's not directly your story, but it's along the lines of being your story. >> yeah. thank you for having us on your show again. >> of course. >> this book "punching the air" is really a testimony and a testament to all of the wrongs that we have experienced. we both lived in new york city. we grew up in new york city. and we heard and experienced a lot of these atrocities. you know, so this story about a mom navigating the criminal justice system is a story about black america, it's a story we're experiencing right now in current, 2020 america. >> absolutely. let me read a little bit of it. here it is.

it's written in a very beautiful sort of prose. here is a part. in the case of the people, the juror says, and i wish i had eyes in the back of my head so i could see the people behind me so they can see me. not the version of me they see in those drawings, eyes like dead spaces on my face, mouth turned down, nose like my father, cheekbones high like my grandma, not the version of me they see on tv, head down, arms pulled back, wrists cuffed, mean mugged, name in mud, but the real me, past my face, past my story and into my eyes so they know what really happened that night. that's absolutely beautiful. tell me what was behind the decision to write it in this sort of poetic form? >> well, when i ran into him a few years ago when he was selling his self-published book of poetry, and i thought it was a grave injustice to us that he was actually self-published and

he didn't have an avenue to get his story out to the wider audience, and i was already a young adult author. but i was completely floored by one of the poems in his book called "i stand accused." and he later told me that this is the poem that he recited in the courtroom after he received his wrongful conviction, and that poem served as the foundation for "punching the air." >> yeah. and did writing help you to get through the hell of, you know, nearly six years incarcerated? did that help you? >> it did. you know, writing poetry was meditative. it was a way i got an opportunity to remind myself what was at stake, what we were fighting for and what we were fighting through. i had been awakened to the american nightmare. you know, just at 15 years old, i wanted all of the things that america afforded everybody. i thought we were the people. and here i was standing in court fighting for my life. i was seen as guilty, and i had to prove myself innocent. >> yeah. and to have somebody like donald

trump who wasn't in politics at the time, you know, i used to remember because i had just moved to new york not that long before that and was a teenager myself and will never forget ever him taking out that ad calling for the five of you to be executed. talk a little bit about how that felt to have somebody that rich and powerful say that to you. and what do you make of the fact that he still won't take it back? >> you know, donald trump's ad was really the nail in the coffin. it was a signal to the rest of america that it was okay, it was open season. right now he's running on the law and order platform. he's saying he wants to make america great with the echoes behind him of state's rights. those are states rights to what? to own slaves, to own people. you know, when i think about the vitreal coming out of donald trump, not today, i'm talking about 31 years ago, i'm talking about a lengthy experience i

have with him, the vitriol was indicative of the 1950s. after he did that, people jumped in and said let's just take the eldest one and hang him from a tree in central park and let's do this by june 1st. this was the duality we were experiencing in america that they want us to believe is an anomaly. this is as american as apple pie and i represent the microcosm and macrocosm of cases just like it. >> talk to us a little bit as not just an author and a black woman but as somebody with immigrant roots as well. what do you make of this time, of this era, and what is it like to be a writer in this era? >> well, it's interesting because this time is no different than the time i had as an immigrant child growing up in new york city. the more we talk about our collaboration, the more we're realizing that i think we were traumatized as children growing up in new york city. there was some sort of racial

incident happening just about every other year. and the central park five jogger case was sort of like the epitome of 1980s new york city. so in that sense, this is the fabric of american society. i'm an immigrant, so the idea was that we were coming here for the american dream. and the more that i start to connect the historical dots, the more we realize that it can be an american nightmare for many of us, as he often says. >> do you worry that donald trump is turning america into 1980s new york city? because it sure feels like it in a lot of ways. >> i think he's turning america even further back than that. you know, when you think about everything that's happening right now, he is the head of the ship. everything rests on him. and there is civil unrest in the streets because of the oppression that the marginalized people have been experiencing. the streets are erupting, right?

the ancestors' wildest dreams have been erupting telling us that black life matters. and if all life matters, then we should matter. but we don't matter because we get seven shots in our bag. we get a bag over our head until we stop breathing. we get shot down before any questions are asked. this america is a very troubling america, but we're on the cusp of something really great. 2020 signifies perfect version. and i think as we look at this era that we're in right now, all of it, all of the bad and the good, as we move into the future, we move into the future with the knowledge of what this year in particular meant. and it will forge a path shining a light. one of the things about punching the air is punching the air. punching the air is light in the darkness. >> god bless you. thank you for surviving and really thriving and teaching. and i will be getting many copies of this book "punching the air" to give as gifts.

i think it's so important that we read your words and hear you. and you are great. you know that you are. so i don't even have to tell you how amazing you are because you are an award-winning author. thank you both so much. it was an honor. >> thank you. and nbc's cal perry meanwhile traveled across country to see how americans are coping with the issues of protests and the economic fallout of this pandemic, and he will be here to tell us what he found. stick around. (vo) businesses are always making choices.

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at the height of the global pandemic, cal perry took a 7,000-mile trip across 15 states. he witnessed firsthand how the economic devastation and repeated violence led to unprecedented unrest and a country that's grappling with both its past and its future. this sunday, cal looks back on "road to recovery" which airs at 6:30 p.m. right here on msnbc. my friend cal perry is joining me now. now i know why you are unbookable. i keep thinking, can we book cal perry? he's unavailable.

>> /* today i found out why. >> that's why i texted you at 6:00 in the morning. what, get on my show, you better come on and talk about it. >> that's right. >> tell me about this journey, where did you go and what did you find out? >> we wanted to approach this from the perspective, i have covered a lot of conflicts and countries in my career. i have been a lot of places that haven't been able to sort things out peacefully, politically. i came from london and do a lot of reporting in the u.s. when i landed in london, the coronavirus had just devastated the country and our viewers know that. the country is deeply divided, to the level -- but most surprising was how democracy is slipping. we need to work on how we talk about what we are seeing in the united states. you take days or maybe weeks where we did not know who the security forces were in portland. we were guessing, they're not wearing any patches. those are called secret police. you look at some of the charges

that some of the protesters are now being charged with as they head for court and you look at the protesters at the black hills, at mt. rushmore. he's now being charged with three felonies and facing 17 years in prison. nick hills. i think we should change how we talk about this. nick could very well end up being a political prisoner. when you look at how democracy is slipping, it is really frightening. the guests you had the last hour have laid it out, starting with michael cohen. strong men don't win elections. they just don't lose elections. donald trump is setting himself up in this election to muddle things up to the point where people lose faith in democracy. i am not talking at our audience or the fox audience. it is hard to get it back. we are starting to see that in the u.s. and it is incredibly

scary. >> i am glad you made that analogy. because we've had this conversation before. americans think of ourselves that things that are happening in poland or turkey or brazil. they can't happen here. you have been around the world. does this look a lot more than what you have seen in other countries and does that surprise you that that's where we are? >> it does. it surprises me and i covered the sean spicer presser when he argued with the media. then walk out without taking any questions. i didn't think we would get to the point where we are now where the president is spreading such mass disinformation intentionally. there are a number of people live in the u.s. who believe

this is the place where people around the world should travel to. they should fight and get to the u.s. and find freedom. it becomes a part of their identity. they'll defend it and protect it. you have a great number of other people who live in the country who point to the fact that black people are being shot at unbelievable rates by police, and who can't get out of poverty. who don't have access to health care. the central park five, accosted my a man who has now become president. you have this incredible division that's coming to the surface as we approach this election. the world is watching. >> cal perry, best in the business. we miss having you on. we ought to get you on the show. "road to recovery," it airs this sunday at 6:30 p.m. on msnbc. i will be watching it. check it out. and up next, the groups fighting to protect your right to vote this november. to vote t. ♪ sometimes you want to go

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iredefined the wordng th'school' this year. it's why, at xfinity, we're committed to helping kids keep learning through the summer. and help college students studying at home stay connected through our university program. we're providing affordable internet access to low income families through our internet essentials program.

and this summer, xfinity is creating a virtual summer camp for kids at home- all on xfinity x1. we're committed to helping all families stay connected. learn more at xfinity.com/education. before we go, i wanted to leave you a little bit of hope before heading into the labor day weekend. the past few weeks have been hard. we have seen a lot of chaos and confusion coming from the white house. we have seen a president tearing us apart. we lost too many souls from movie superheroes, to real life heroes. i want you to remember

something. there are heroes around us, every day they're trying to bring a little bit of goodness into the world. the players in the nba pushing to turn 19 arenas into polling centers for the november election. old navy, they'll pay all employees who serve as poll workers on election day. they'll be joining people like ava duvernay who have signed up to work that day. and if you start losing hope and you think this country is so divided, look at anne romney, she's joining michelle obama to help get out the vote. while many of our heroes may be gone, it is good to remember that we all have the same power to effect change. all you have to do is get out or mail in or drop off and vote. get in that good trouble. that leads me to an important reminder, this is not just one single election day. there is an election season with mail-in balloting and early voting. be sure to check out nbc

interactive's plan your vote guide. please vote in your state and vote early this year, please. that's "the reidout" tonight. we'll see you on tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. eastern. have a wonderful labor day president trump, as we alluding to, getting absolutely slammed from all sides. a shocking report by any standard revealing, according to multiple sources, direct disparagement of the military veterans that serve america, that keep him and us safe. sources tells in the atlantic the president refused to visit a military cemetery in france over fears the rain might mess up his hair and why should i go to that cemetery. it's filled with, quote, losers. then calling out marines as, quote, suckers for getting killed. the president demanded that military parade in 2018, he told his staff he didn't want to include, according to this reporting, wounded veterans because to