interesting by any measure, including of course our sister channel, that's 7:00 a.m. eastern on nbc tomorrow. that does it for me. find me again tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern. always find me online on social media. facebook, instagram, twitter. if you have thoughts about tonight's show, what we should be doing, let us know. next up, the reid out with joy reid. good evening, everybody. we begin tonight in the middle of black history month with a reminder about history. there was a time in this country when the judicial system consisted of white christian men. when it came to putting one of their own on trial, it was a rare such jury that would hold a fellow white christian man to account, not for an assault, not for a lynching.

the judicial system itself was an insurrection against a multi cultural america. that's just what it was. especially in the jim crow south. fast forward to today. three days after the 43 republicans of that party's far right wing served on the jury in the trial of the former president, donald trump's, sedition against a multi cultural united states and our free and fair elections. just like the jim crow juries of old, they let him walk. so the job of holding the insurrectionist president responsible for the violent siege of our capitol has fallen to the courts. in a case brought by a black democrat from the deep south and one of america's oldest civil rights groups which cut its teeth during the heart of america's age of lynching. federal lawsuit filed by the naacp on behalf of mississippi congressman benny thompson accuses the impeached former president, his lawyer, rudy giuliani, and the proud boys and

oath keepers of conspiring to incite the january 6th insurrection. the suit calls it the culmination of a carefully coordinated campaign to interfere with the legal process required to confirm the tally of votes cast in the electoral college. the suit is filed on behalf of congressman thompson in his personal capacity, alleges violation of the civil rights act of 1871, known as the klu klux klan act, in preventing members of congress from carrying out their constitutional duties. it has been the basis of numerous civil rights lawsuits brought against hate groups, including action against the white supremacists tied to violence in charlottesville in 2017. in a statement, jason miller, an adviser to the disgraced former president who happens to be the former president, big fan of the

seditious candidacy. miller denied he incited any violence on january 6th. this comes as the "new york times" shows new connections between the defendants and trump's confidant, roger stone. according to the times video analysis, six people associated with the far right group oath keepers served as stone's body guards in d.c. just before laying siege to the capitol. you may remember stone, old time nixon dirty trickster met with trump in the weeks before the insurrection, but denies having any involvement either. there's hope in a 9/11 style commission will shed new light on trump's role in the siege as well as motivation of the attackers, and legislation to create that commission will be introduced as early as this week. meanwhile, today's suit is the latest legal problem for america's toxic ex who emerged with a lengthy statement attacking mitch mcconnell as a dour, sullen, unsmiling

political hack. mitch's most recent transgression was his speech on saturday saying the former president was responsible for provoking the riot, only after voting to acquit him. congressman thompson said this lawsuit is a second chance to do what old mitch and his minions in the senate failed to do. >> i'm from the south. the klu klux klan law was basically put on the books to protect southerners and other people from the klan who didn't want this great country of ours to survive, but thank goodness it did, now here we come full circle with this klan-like activities that oath keepers and proud boys and others at the direction of our president at that time, donald trump. >> i am joined by derrick

johnson, the naacp president and ceo, and angela wry, host of the on one podcast, tim wise, anti-racism educator, author of dispatches from the race war. mr. johnson, i'll start with you. we know that as part of what happened in the riots you had the confederate flag flying in the capitol the first time, didn't even happen in the civil war. associated press talks about dozens of people charged spewing extremist rhetoric. the fbi linked at least 40 defendants to extremist groups or movements, including 16 members of the proud boys, five connected to oath keepers, et cetera. is the crux of the lawsuit and linking it with the klu klux klan act, is it about racism of the people involved or about the organizational effort that somehow is connected to the way the klan used to behave in the view of the naacp and congressman thompson?

>> yes. domestic terrorism has always been rooted in white supremacy. let's be clear. actions of the '30s, '40s up to present has been the basis of people who see certain citizens as legitimate and other citizens as not legitimate. the klan act was put in place to ensure southern legislators would have the ability to exercise their sworn duty as congress persons without intimidation and fear of retaliation. what we have seen as a result of january 6th is the need for the act to be enforced and because the republicans in the senate refused to carry out their responsibility in the face of all of the facts that donald trump, giuliani, all of the groups connected to them planned this out well before january 6th and carried out in a way they were seeking to delegitimize

african-american folks. >> and we know that the naacp has actually been involved and been party to suits against the klu klux klan in the past, and one case there was a big settlement that wound up basically making the naacp the owners of the klan's former property. that happened in 1987. what is the outcome that this lawsuit is seeking to have? is it seizure of assets? what is it that congressman thompson is trying to -- what is his end game, what does he want from the suit? >> first of all, he is the first of what we hope to be many members of congress join the lawsuit because no one has been held accountable. it is our experience as african americans, if you allow this domestic terrorism to go unchecked, it will only expand its spread. we must hold people accountable. secondly, if there are any assets to be seized, we must triple their ability to carry out any of these things in the

future. thirdly, when it comes to donald trump, if we don't cut off the serpent's head, we will be guaranteed the snake will bite, and at some point he must be held accountable for all of the harm he has caused, not only to the african-american community but to our democracy. how can we go and fight abroad if we're unwilling to address domestic terrorists that live in our backyard. >> angela, i imagine that the discovery on the lawsuit might actually be its own form of a truth commission. >> yeah. you know, in the face of what we are hoping will be similar to the 9/11 commission and what they will find on capitol hill, there's still nothing like the discovery process associated with a lawsuit. i think what's really, really important here is the fact that folks really want to move forward and keep talking about

the importance in moving forward now, but they're trying to do that without uncovering all of the facts. so what we need to do is support members of congress, staff, folks that kept capitol hill safe and keep it clean, ensuring that they really have the opportunity to see everything that's happened here. derrick, i commend you and naacp for leading the effort. the congressman couldn't be a more perfect plaintiff for all he has done to advance black political power and as chairman of the homeland security committee. he knows domestic terror when he sees it. he had to sit through it after all of the things that he learned by having the security clearance, by being exposed to all of the terrorist attacks that both happened on united states soil and have been thwarted. for him to have to witness this and experience this. and it is the 50th anniversary of the congressional black caucus. it is kind of just a bridge too

far. in the face of senator kamala harris becoming vice president, kamala harris this year, and still right before us is a terrorist attack that could have cost them their lives and cost the lives of five people, this is just the beginning. i'm eager to find out what happens when you look at what's required in the code, it is conspire to prevent by force, intimidation or threat any person from accepting or holding any office, under the united states, it goes on from there. donald trump didn't do that behind closed doors, he did it on twitter, he did it at the press conference, at the rally, and all of his supporters did the same thing. this absolutely happened in broad daylight and there should be no question that in the face of a second impeachment trial where there was no justice found that the court of law can find justice for these members of congress and everybody on the hill. >> indeed. and tim, the irony, great irony

in a lot of ways of donald trump is that he has taken the old confederacy national. he has gone to the mat to keep their names on buildings, keep the statues going. did the charlottesville tango with the neo-nazis taking their sides, there is something poetic about him going up against the congressman from mississippi, the state with the most lynchings of any state, when his folks were in there flying the confederate flag in the capitol, fascinated to get your take on all this. >> trump is a confederate from queens by way of birmingham, right? historically and dispositionly. here's a guy, let's be clear, this particular law that the lawsuit is seeking justice under, although it doesn't require proof of racist intent to find someone liable under that law, certainly was the intention of those that framed the law to focus in on

racialized terror. this particular insurrection was racialized terror. how do we know that? we know that because the rhetoric that fomented it from donald trump immediately after the election focused on voting in philadelphia, voting in milwaukee, voting in detroit and atlanta. those are code words, we all know what they mean. actually what's interesting, votes in those areas didn't change much from 2016. what changed were white suburban areas outside the cities. but it doesn't play the same political capital if he says what are we doing about white folks on the main line outside of philly that were cheating, it doesn't have the same oomph. he talks about black areas to gin up racial resentment and hostility to invalidate votes of those four states, but the intent is to disenfranchise black voters. not only is he seeking to violent that civil rights law,

there's a case to say he was violating the 13th and 14th amendment, that that was his actual intent. he is committing multiple impeachable offenses, one after another, some of which weren't even adjudicated in the impeachment trial, but certainly should be adjudicated in a court of law. that's how this has to proceed. let us be clear. this was racialized terror, the rhetoric that brought it about was racialized, much the proud boys and oath keepers was racialized. and the confederate flag couldn't be clearer in terms of what that stands for. there's a legal argument and then there's also a sociological argument to it. >> indeed. they brought a noose. couldn't have made it more clear. quickly, angela, i remember talking to you that day. there was terrorism against individuals as well, including black police officers who were

telling reporters they were called the "n" word, showered with the "n" word. there were maintenance crews who then had to clean up the defecation that the people left everywhere, urine they left everywhere. would you expect individual members of the capitol police force, worked in maintenance, black staffers, people subjected to that, is this the kind of lawsuit that you would expect people might want to join in? >> i actually think this is a better question for derrick, but certainly anything that can further demonstrate the ways in which people were impacted and how much of a terrorist threat and attack and actions were taken, absolutely. but this specific lawsuit using this particular statute has to do with the interference of members of congress being able to fulfill certain duties and so i think they have to rely on that, but certainly in the discovery process, through

interrogatories and other ways to get people to elicit the environment to create the environment of what was going on on capitol hill, sure. i think what congressman thompson says in statements released by your team, derrick, today, it is clear he was certainly prevented and there was a real threat, not just of his life but his ability to perform duties to certify the electoral college results. >> derrick, would you expect, first of all, to depose capitol police officers, members of the maintenance crew, and also mike pence? he was the one the lynch mob was saying hang mike pence. do you expect to depose mike pence in this case? >> we expect the legal team to be as aggressive as possible to ensure we uncover all of the evidence. we used this particular section of the statute because members of congress have a special protection under the statute.

we are also exploring opportunities to file additional lawsuits for staffers who were there, we worked on the hill. we know what it feels like with members of congress with security detail to whisk away staffers, left there yourself. look at ways to support the custodial and other workers. really good people. these are people i grew up around. they also should be protected. some were harmed. unfortunately we have to grapple in this nation and recognize in order to have true democracy, we must extinguish white supremacy. it cannot exist with true democracy. we are at a juncture in our history here that we must decide as a nation are we going to move forward, be a true democracy or allow this to get past us and go back to a past that's dark and not inclusive of all people. >> i'm going to get in trouble. we have to wrap. quickly, tim, you do anti-racism

education. i don't know where we start from here. the lawsuit is good for truth and reconciliation, but then what? >> we can't have unity without accountability. the reason we're having this date, 150 plus years after the civil war, is after that war we did allow that notion of let's have unity, let's end reconstruction. it was a cousin's war. we need to bind up the wounds of the nation. we needed accountability then and didn't get it. we are still struggling with it. if you don't want to be dealing with this 50 years from now, deal with it today and every day, maybe our kids and grandkids won't have to. if we keep kicking the can down the road which is what we did a century and a half ago, we will be back generation after generation and fail at democracy. >> thank you all very much. as we observe black history month, we're looking back just one year for this one.

you recall central park woman caught on video, calling the police, claiming she was threatened by a blackbird watcher, despite lying to police which led to false reporting, amy cooper is completely off the hook. prosecutors are no longer pursuing the charge after she completed five racial bias education sessions. five classes will not get the job done. the response to potentially deadly racism that attempted to weaponize law enforcement was an opportunity for personal growth from this. the trump cause alive and well on the state level. where having even a shred of integrity will earn you a censure. >> we did not send him there to volt his conscience, we did not send him there to do the right thing or whatever. >> pardon?

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since last week's impeachment trial, seven republican senators that abided by the oath of the constitution and not to the leader found themselves facing backlash. calls for censure. some for daring to have integrity. so much for the anti-cancel culture stance, am i right? what may be more telling about the extremism in the republican party on the state level, is this justification from one gop leader in pennsylvania for censure of senator pat toomey. >> we did not send him there to vote his conscience. we did not send him there to do

the right thing or whatever he said he was doing. we sent him there to represent us. >> so dave, if you didn't send him there to do the right thing, what exactly did you send him there to do? richard burr the latest censured after emergency vote by the state party. he stated it is truly a sad day for north carolina republicans. my party's leadership has chosen loyalty to one man over the core principles of the republican party and founders of our great nation. joining me, founder of the republican women for biden. great to have you on. excited to try to have you on. it is a weird world we're living in now. it is true what burr said, loyalty to trump is now the only litmus test for being a proper republican. is it the state parties driving the banana ram a nature of the gop or something coming from washington to the states?

>> it is absolutely state parties, joy. i couldn't agree with burr's words more. the thing is four years ago i was cancelled. excuse me. correct me, 2016 when i was a delegate to the republican national convention, became the first delegate to speak out against trump. in doing so, suffered the wrath of my state party, d.c. gop which i was serving on the executive committee of. what happened to me being cancelled was indicative of the trend that we saw in the last four years. if you step out of line and some way aren't following these people off a cliff, you don't belong with them. that's what i think is not surprising to me any more. these people within the parties are exactly who you think they are, loyalists, do anything to get close to power and money. next person that walks in, they're golden to them if what they bring is power or money. i don't think people should be that afraid. this is obviously par for the course. but let's not be that afraid. these are people that long cow tow to anything.

>> well, that's my question. is it just to him in particular? there's a sense he is the golden calf, right, that the republican basis sort of worshipping him. and yet they're scrambling to be at his side, even ones that rebuked him were kissing up to him for four years. is it that or would it be any leader, was it the same with bush? >> i believe this is different because with trump what they saw was winning, winning at all cost. really frankly the line was crossed. and after the line was crossed, the language, stuff that typically would make evangelicals blush, the moment we crossed that line is when we saw that full conversion and the winning at all costs which i had seen over my congressional career when i was a young republican on the hill. it really came to life in 2016 when i saw that people were so scared of what trump really foreshadowed, and it was the guide who is coming in, giving

the perfect funk tree poeds conservative messages, telling them there's something rotten and that only they can fix it. so i really think it was about trump and what i saw in election 2020 was some seats going to the republicans and house of representatives. there's almost an embolden confidence in republicans that we're so close to taking the house of representatives. let's go by this play book, let's do it. it served us well. what they don't realize is that it is for the moment. this is not a long sided message in any way. this to me, one point, joy, that's really big, this is the nail in the coffin on the big tent message that the republicans have been spewing for years on end, they don't want to do it. there's no commitment to it. for the longest time it was talk without action, now it is frankly screw that message, they don't care about it. this is obvious to me. >> you talk about it is about winning. you've seen tens of thousands of republicans quit the party. this is a "new york times"

headline, in north carolina the shift was immediately noticeable, state experienced a noticeable surge. you've seen that kind of playing out around the country. the republicans under trump lost the house, paul ryan was speaker, then he wasn't, nancy pelosi was, they lost the united states senate, and they have lost pretty much young america. that's gone. whatever african americans, black folks, they sort of stayed pat with some that are conservative, but they're not winning, pat toomey was they got tax cuts. i don't understand winning what, with pat toomey, they got what they wanted on taxes. so what do they want, is it all race stuff? >> it's hard for me because we have to parse this out. it is multi layered, the problem, because as a young activist in the party why i got involved in the d.c. gop is i was a young political operative.

i thought i will asend the ranks and solidify a career. when i realized that's not how it is done, it was kind of too late for me. when i looked around, saw who was standing around me, i saw a bunch of nobodies. that sounds horrible to say in some ways, but these nobodies were pushing extreme messages, trying to say this is what will win elections. occasionally going back to topics at hand, taxes, limited government, defense, whatever it was. now there's none of that. it is trumpism. in this moment i get it. so many people made that calculation that they don't want to live with this party. i myself have not, i believe i can be a better agent of change from the inside than the outside. i have been republican longer than donald j. trump ever was. the reality is that third party conversations are nice and all, but it is time to do the work. let's figure out where the problem is. and i know exactly where it lies, it lies in the minds of a lot of these people sold a bill of goods by people like trump and they frankly just need to be

told that this was all a lie, let's find a way to message our values, get back to the values. i have a really hard time believing it is going to happen in the short term. i know that principled conservatives will disagree with me, they're looking and seeing burr and people i consider a friend, jaime herrera beutler, young, old, seeing them taken to the pasture. i think the pendulum will swing back and we have to. there's a new populism in town, joy. anyone that wants to run, be yourself. you're enough. let's ride this out. policy is for everyone. america is for everyone. democracy is for everyone. we need a healthy republican party for that. >> you don't sound like a republican. margery taylor green had a town hall tonight in which she said democrats are evil and attacked god's creation, and that's what's rising now in the party. rina shaw, good luck to you getting the party back.

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morning wondering why is texas covered in ice, sleet and snow? why was it colder in dallas than alaska? why were 5 million texans, a state that's arguably the energy hub of the world without power? all legitimate questions with complicated answers. first, the state was struck by a once in a generation storm triggered by climate change, something that governor greg abbott doesn't take seriously, given plans to sue the biden administration for trying to do something about it. then there's the state's fully independent electrical grid which apparently buckled under overwhelming demand and forced rolling blackouts. critics are saying abbott was too slow to respond, a criticism he had before given over the pandemic. he called the president asking for help, perplexing move from a state whose leaders are talking about seceding from the country.

more critical when you think of the long history of railing against the federal government, least when it is in democratic hands. remember in 2013 when senators ted cruz and jon cornyn voted to block new york and new jersey from getting help after superstorm sandy. yeah, so do i. you hear a lot of complaints from republicans droning on about blue state bailouts. the same folks from is he session curious states are happy to dial up the federal government in moments of crisis. as well they should. for more, joined by texas congress joaquin castro in san antonio, texas, joins me by phone. first of all, i will ask how san antonio is fairing now in terms of the number of people without power? >> it has been very tough, joy. there are still hundreds of thousands in san antonio without power. a lot of people without water. i have been without power for 24 hours. it was spotty before that. there are a lot of people still

in the same situation. and my family and i have been able to manage it, of course, but there are a lot of folks that are elderly, living by themselves, people that are diabetic, have other medical conditions where they need to be able to cook food or have relatives deliver it for them, and this is a city and state that's not really prepared for deep freezes. very cold weather effects texas in ways that it doesn't effect other parts of the country because other parts of the country are better prepared and are expecting those conditions. then layer on top of that a state government that's been derelict in updating and maintaining the electric grid that only operates in texas. you know, unfortunately it's led by people who are absolutely married to fossil fuels, some of whom are climate deniers, that made it tough to modernize our

system. >> talk about that for a minute. it is unique they have their own power grid, i don't know of any other state that has it that way. to your point, one of the experts said the blackouts are primarily because instruments are getting frozen in gas, coal, nuclear plants. meanwhile, texas politico on the republican side are saying it is the green power grid that's the problem. do you have a sense of that? that doesn't seem logical. >> right. right now, you still have just a fraction of the texas grid that operates off renewables and as folks made the point to me earlier in the day, what happened was even with the wind turbines that the grid is operating of, texas didn't buy the equipment and servicing necessary to operate them well in cold weather, in very cold weather. so it is like refusing to insure against an event you don't think

will happen or don't want to spend the money on. now here we are with 4 or 5 million without power. in terms of traditional energy, that's the lion's share of what operates the grid. and yeah, the problem there has been delivery of the energy. and now what you're seeing are reports of skyrocketing, spiking prices for natural gas. as i posted earlier on twitter, we need to make sure we are monitoring anybody that may be price gouging at this point because the tragedy of all this is that even though so many texans have gone without power for a day or two, people could get the highest electricity bills they've ever received because of a spike in cost over the last few days. >> there's even frustration about houston keeping the lights downtown, people getting frustrated. really quickly, is that an issue that politics can solve?

you have had people like senator ted cruz and dan crenshaw, the congressman, and attorney general dumping on california and saying ha ha, when california had wildfires, they're climate deniers, they dislike the federal government and need federal help, is this a political catastrophe that could be solved by voters changing out who runs that state. >> sure. pick people more committed to modernizing the grid and integrating in a better way, certainly you could solve that issue. but what happened over the years is that republicans are very spoiled winning statewide election after statewide election. so they haven't felt forced to deal with issues like this. but now millions of people without power and folks suffering is really hopefully a wakeup call for them. >> yeah. we shall see. let us know if you feel like filling one of the statewide roles down the road.

thank you very much. up next, david perdue is back and he's bad. but another trump enabler wants it both ways on something that makes him the absolute worst. the big reveal is coming up. the big reveal is coming up.

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reopen schools. putting safety first. if you see wires down, treat them all as if they're hot and energized. stay away from any downed wire, call 911, and call pg&e right after so we can both respond out and keep the public safe. remember david perdue? he was a republican senator from georgia until a democrat beat his ossoff. see what i did? one of the two losses that handed democrats control of the senate, the one term senator is already planning a come back, tweeting today he is considering a rerun in 2022, this time against raf aefl warnock, because to his way of thinking, senator ossoff and warnock do not represent georgia. there's just something about

these two senators perdue doesn't like, i just can't put my finger on it. if perdue does run, sets up a race of the pastor from ebenezer baptist church and devote ee of wall street. he was a multimillionaire that profited, while playing down the threat, and trading that got nowhere near the scrutiny of game stop which broke the internet. as the senate's most prolific stock trader, he and other senators that include kelly loeffler of black lives don't matter fame raised eyebrows for stock trades made early in the pandemic, dumping company stocks, investing in others like dupont, a company that makes ppe, and pfizer. the justice department looked into perdue stock trades, investigators ultimately dropped the case, and yet the stench remains. leading aian a presley to dub

him and loeffler the bonnie and clyde of corporation. it means he is the first sign of the gop's plan to take back power, orchestrated by none other than senate minority leader mitch mcconnell. remember, perdue is a trump minion, and as long as the gop is trump's party, mcconnell is beholden to the maga voter who he appeased by not convicting their dear leader. trying to appease the corporate donors who he needs to bankroll his path back to power, which is why mitch mcconnell is today's absolute worst, a man unwilling to stick his neck out for anyone but his own unquenchable thirst for power. that's next. unquenchable thirst for power. that's next. it's time for the ultimate sleep number event on the sleep number 360 smart bed. can it help with snoring?

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senate minority leader mitch mcconnell is doubling down on his fake constitutional argument to hide behind his sole ambition to win back power penning in "the wall street journal" that trump's acquittal vindicated the constitution. joining me is al franken, host of the al franken podcast and msnbc contributor jason johnson. oh, senator franken, explain mitch mcconnell to us. he literally switched on trump on a dime and now he's trying to claim that what he did somehow vindicated the constitution. please make it make sense. >> well, i served with mitch for about nine years. i didn't talk to him a lot, but

he had a very good speechwriter. and so when i would talk to him, it would be after he gave a really good speech on like a commemoration of 9/11 or at a spouse dinner or something. everyone is going up saying i really liked your speech last night. he said, well, you can't go wrong when you quote -- and i just took a chance and said, you know, i really like your speeches better that aren't in the service of evil. and he said i like the evil ones better. and i thought, gosh, he's got a good sense of humor, i didn't realize that. and no, he meant that. he's a pretty cynical guy. i mean that's who he is. and that speech, of course, i think as you indicated, that was targeted at corporate donors who after january 6th abandoned him

and also probably for the midterms to target moderate, you know, suburbanites and that kind of voters. so everything he does is calculated and everything he does is cynical and most of it is evil. >> i don't know how to even top that. jason, look, donald trump -- here's what donald trump said about it. you know this is one of those bipartisan moments because trump's description of mcconnell today, he sent out a statement calling him a dour, sullen and political hack. apparently there was going to be a statement worse to go after his chins, as if trump doesn't have two, three chins, but it seems pretty bipartisan that people think mitch ain't it, jason. >> look, the man doesn't cast a

reflection. he's sort of the epit tee of evil as al franken said. as he said, i think he could breathe on a mirror and nothing appears there. there's nothing at all. it's not surprising because mitch mcconnell has always been that kind of guy. really what's happening right now, it's about the money. donald trump is in mar-a-lago like one of those memes with stacks of 50s on his ear because he's basically like hello, hello, i'm the one who has all the cash for the republican party. it's coming through me. mitch has to come through me. gaetz has to come through me. mitch is trying to set up a stream of donors to keep this republican party alive that does not require them to go down to mar-a-lago every six weeks and kiss the ring. this is the beginning of that begging process. i just don't know if it will be very effective. >> it's a very split party. >> yeah, exactly. senator franken, look, you had perdue saying he's going to run again. he runs by saying this of the two sitting senators of georgia,

that the people of georgia represented by two of the most radically liberal individuals ever to occupy a seat on the floor of the senate, i don't know what he doesn't like about the black guy and the jewish guy, but mitch mcconnell's response to maybe putting back a guy that was called the clyde in bonnie and clyde because he was a crook when he was a senator. mcconnell said i don't care what kind of republican they are, what kind of lane they consider themselves in. what i care about is electability. if satan b. jones wants to run for the senate, mitch mcconnell says take him, he's good. >> if he can good. now perdue lost this time and he lost against ossoff. but warnock is in there for two years. you know, if perdue wants to get back in, it will probably be a tough race and maybe somebody will challenge him for an endorsement.

but there is trump's party, certainly in georgia, and this is -- there is just a split in this party and it couldn't happen to a nicer party. unfortunately, i think it's bad for democracy. we need a party that is a real party and cares about democracy. certainly the trump wing of the party doesn't, and also the mcconnell wing doesn't as we know when it comes to voter suppression. they don't -- they aren't even going to ever care again about wing the popular vote. they just want to -- nationally. they just want to just barely get by. if they lose by 6 million next time, they may win. >> yeah. >> so they are the most anti-democratic party. and i think that's very bad for our democracy. look, 88% of democrats thought he should have been convicted, trump. only 14% of republicans.

we have a tremendous split in this country. to me it stems from the different information universes that the republicans are getting and those people, those trump people are getting and the people that invaded the capitol are getting. and it's very dangerous. we live in a very dangerous time. >> no, indeed. and jason, the thing is, is where do you go when the two halves of the republican party are the half that thinks donald trump is a demigod and that on march 4th he's going to be actually inaugurated because q told them that somehow, and then the other half who says don't let people vote. if they do vote, don't count their votes, and do anything you can to win and you don't need a popular majority, you just need to trick your way in? >> joy, i don't even think that's a 50-50 split.

at this point the republican party is 60/40 between proud boys and the klan. who do you want as a neighbor? neither one. it's not surprising. mcconnell doesn't care about perdue. this is the party where a president got behind a guy in alabama who was accused several times of pursuing underage girls. and they still tried to support that guy. it took doug jones everything in his power and a third-party candidate to beat the one republicans actually wanted. so i'm not surprised. they don't care if it's a dead person or god himself, as long as that person can win that's what the republican party wants. as long as that person will be loyal to the ghost of donald trump who will hover over what's left of this terrorist-supporting party for the next decade or so. >> well, and then i wonder, senator franken, then, is there a place in which mitch mcconnell actually might be playing himself? because he tries to walk the line between saying he's

responsible, trump is, but also -- so he wants the donors but also wants the trump people. at a certain point does he just end up losing control of the party to like ron johnson? >> it's a really good question. don't underestimate him. i think he did what he felt he had to do. but it was really zigzagy, boy. at one point in the speech he said that, well, you know, incitement is a legal term but there's no doubt that he provoked this. that's the same thing, mitch. >> synonym. >> then he said, well, you know, there's criminal and civil consequences here. and he could be charged and be a flight risk, so he would be under a maximum security prison, you know. >> i hate to interrupt this

perfect impression of mitch mcconnell but i have to because we have to ending the show. former senator al franken and jason johnson, y'all are great. thank you, that's tonight's "reidout." tonight rachel will take a deep dive into the scandals left behind by the trump justice department and the lasting effect of the e. jean carroll lawsuit. rachel will take a deep dive into all of that stuff. chris hayes is up next. tonight on "all in" -- first it was covid truthers, then election truthers, and now a new right-wing conspiracy. >> the windmills failed like the silly fashion accessories they are and people in texas died. >> tonight the energy disaster in texas and why selling lies in the face of disaster is bad for the country. then, pennsylvania lieutenant governor john

feterman on e