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tv   Yasmin Vossoughian Reports  MSNBC  April 4, 2021 1:00pm-2:00pm PDT

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welcome back, everybody. i'm yasmin vossoughian. the full-court press is on to sell the president's infrastructure bill. >> we're still working off of infrastructure choices made in the 1950s. >> secretary buttigieg making his best argument with my colleague, chuck todd. but what's the real discussion between members of congress? i'll ask that very question to congressman steve cohen. plus the penalty he would like to see if state legislatures continue to pass voter restriction laws. an alarming new investigation from "the new york times" as well. donald trump supporters who thought they were donating only once to his 2020 campaign, they were actually charged repeatedly without their knowledge. we're going to dive into how his donors got duped. plus this. mr. president, you have not condemned these actions or this
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language. senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions. this has to stop. >> i'm sure many of you remember that moment. that is republican gabriel sterling last december who became a household name after calling out the extremism of his own party. now concerns like that are a reality for one former congressman. how he is leading the charge against a conspiracy mongering coursing through his party. here's one hint, he doesn't have a lot of allies. also a record number of children crossing into the united states by themselves. the two big challenges for border patrol as they try to keep them safe. and russian hackers suspected of stealing thousands of state department emails. i'll ask the reporter who broke that story what specifically was being targeted and what the united states is trying to do to stop it. but we do want to begin this hour with president biden's $2 trillion infrastructure bill and the hurdles it could face in
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congress. we know there are many of them, especially in the republican party. joining me now democratic congressman steve cohen of tennessee. he's a member of the infrastructure committee and the judicial committee. thanks for joining us on this, congressman, really appreciate it. i bring up these hurdles, right, going forward with this $2 trillion infrastructure plan. we talked about it all last hour, these hurdles being bipartisan support and whether or not the president is going to have to do budget rec sell -- reconciliation to get this major plan passed. so what the behind-the-scenes conversations happening with your colleagues to try and make this happen? >> well, it would be nice, the american public would like to see us work together, but the republicans don't want to work with democrats on just about any issue. we have different perspectives on how the nation should operate, what should occur. yesterday i was reviewing mitch mcconnell smiling and laughing in a clip with sean hannity
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saying he's responsible for barack obama not getting through any nominees in the last 15 months of his administration, any judge nominees, district court let alone merrick garland. they didn't work with barack obama and they're not going to work with joe biden. they want to keep the taxes that were taken off of the rich by donald trump in the tax scam and that's the best way to fund this package so they won't go along with it. so it will be budget reconciliation. the democrats will do what we did with the rescue bill which the american public embraced. they know we need infrastructure and need to catch up and get 21st century infrastructure. at secretary buttigieg said, it's not just roads and bridges, it's so much more and we need to invest in things like senior living and care and we need to invest in broadband and we need to see that this is a 21st century program. so i think we couldn't even get together all of us on honoring our capitol policemen with the
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gold medal that protected us on january 6th. it was so sad that we saw the death of a capitol policeman, who is one that i knew because that was my entry to the capitol from my condo. it's so sad that he was killed and lost in that action. i put out my deepest condolences to his family and fellow capitol policemen. >> it certainly has been a devastating couple of days for many americans that watched what took place at the capitol. but from what i'm hearing from you, congressman, is that you seem to think that budget reconciliation is the only way forward despite the fact that the president has said he is open to negotiation. the only thing that we as americans have to go off of when it comes to this administration and how republicans negotiate with them is what happened with the relief funding when you had a group of republican senators come forward with a plan that was a third of this size of what the president was proposing,
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which was not even entertained. and we knew it was because of the fact that it didn't even get close to what democrats wanted. so you see no room here it seems for negotiation or compromise from the republican side? >> there's a total distance between the republicans in congress and the democrats in congress. there's not that much distance between the democrats in congress and president biden and the republican voter. the majority of republicans are in favor of the rescue bill and they will be in favor of this infrastructure bill too, despite the fact that republican leadership will try to distort it in the perspective of the american public and talk about job creators and all these kind of things and small business. the fact is small business needs infrastructure. seniors need help with care and structures. people of rural and urban areas need better broadband. we need our airports modernized,
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our ports. we used to be first in the world. we're about 17th or 18th in infrastructure. so many places we've fallen behind because nothing took place in the last four years and mcconnell stopped activity by barack obama and our house transportation committee from becoming law during barack obama's term. we're behind. we're falling behind china and so many countries in the world. it's time to catch up and joe biden will see to it with the democratic congress that we do catch up. >> are you confident you'll have the support of all democrats needed for budget reconciliation to get it passed? >> i can't speak for the senate. it's 50 votes, they need everybody. but i think they'll all come together because as i say this will be popular with republicans as well as democrats. i think the folks who are the more moderates will know that and will support it. >> i want to talk about voting rights while i have you. you've been pretty outspoken against the laws in georgia. you called for delta to take steps to move away from their hub in atlanta towards one in memphis possibly.
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i was speaking to jennifer rubin who wrote an op-ed on this and that corporations actually need to act to back up the statements that they have made. do you feel like they have the intention to do so, and what type of pressure do you think needs to be put on these corporations to act? >> well, the corporations do need to act. coca-cola, cnn, delta are atlanta corporations, they're international corporations, but they're atlanta. they can and should put on pressure. what this bill was, we can't give out food and drink and the republican legislators can take over the election apparatus is just anathema to america as we know it. we saw it in the 2020 election that was the most honest, transparent and free of conflict, free of any appearance of interference in our history and that was a bipartisan position. so yeah, i think they need to take action. they need to consider moving
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some of their headquarters or operations away from atlanta. i'd welcome delta to come back to memphis. we used to be a hub. main ard jackson airport is a horror show. it's gigantic and it's just stacked up. they need to keep the public's convenience more in mind and memphis is the perfect place. i just hope our legislature doesn't do as bad as georgia's and that's entirely possible. >> steve cohen, thank you. appreciate you talking to us this afternoon. happy easter. >> nice to be with you. and don't forget, this is the anniversary of dr. king's assassination. we should never forget dr. king appeared his good works and mission. >> thank you for that. i want to bring in my panel. carlos carbelo, daniel litman, political reporter, and juanita tolliver, democratic strategist and msnbc political analyst. welcome to you all, guys. thanks for joining us on this
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easter sunday. carlos, i want to start with you. i'm sure you're listening to the conversation that i had with the congressman speaking of the infrastructure plan and i want to get more into the nitty-gritty of this infrastructure plan. it's not just the building of bridges and roadways and tunnels, it's so much more what is laid out in this $2 trillion infrastructure plan. much of it is also about racial equity and about clean water, it's about education and jobs as well. but you heard from the congressman, he doesn't think the republicans will come onboard at all, that there's no room for negotiation. this thing is going to end with budget reconciliation. >> well, you're right, yasmin, this is a lot more than just a traditional infrastructure bill which of course does have a lot of support with both parties. there's a lot of clean energyin sent i'ves and of course a lot of investment. and what the administration is calling human infrastructure. i've spoken to a handful of house republicans, mostly centrists. they are still engaged and
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importantly they tell me that the white house is in constant communication with them. it does seem that the biden white house wants this infrastructure package to have bipartisan support. i think in part probably because they're feeling some pressure from centrist democrats in the senate, like joe manchin and others, who are looking to weigh in to influence this package significantly, but i do really think that the biden wants this to be a ipartisan victory. i also think for republicans, they look bad if they just summarily dismissed this package like some of them have started doing. it behooves them to show that they're at least willing to have a conversation and try to be included in this whole process. >> so you're giving me a glimpse into a conversation that i've been trying to have this entire hour. these are private conversations. so i need to know exactly what you mean when you say engaged.
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what does that mean when republicans say they are engaged in this negotiation? what does that even mean? all we can base our assumptions off of is what happened with the relief bill when they came forward with an $800 million proposal which was, as i mentioned, a fraction of what the biden administration wanted to get through and had no chance of being approved by democrats. >> so, yasmin, i'm talking about a handful of centrist republicans who are in dialogue with the white house right now. the white house has indicated to them that they want their support, they want their input to see how they can get their support. these republicans in good faith, the ones i've talked to are engaged, are talking to white house officials, and are expressing what their needs, what their concerns are, what they'd like to see in this bill. you know, this is not the republican leadership by any means, but there are a number of swing district republicans who
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are talking to the white house and who i know would like to find a way to support this legislation. what they're hearing from the white house is that the white house is fully committed to getting their support. they really do want this bill to be bipartisan, and i think that would be the best outcome for the american people. >> daniel, let's get into the weeds of this thing. i want to read from a politico piece. the administration's plan calls for electrifying at least a fifth of u.s. school buses out of a fleet of nearly 500,000. the plan also calls for converting the entire fleet of federal vehicles to electric, 650,000. it also contains a staggering 50 billion over eight years to create an office within the commerce department to oversee the nation's critical supply chains whose vulnerabilities have been exposed during the coronavirus pandemic. this piece was really about what folks may have missed in this infrastructure plan. we're talking a lot about the headlines out of this thing, but
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there is a lot of stuff that we haven't necessarily spoken of that could really benefit americans. >> yeah. there's a ton of things that the biden administration has put into this package to really try to make this package and the biden presidency into kind of a great society or the new deal where he has a legacy that goes far beyond just one term potentially. they know that with the first package that they did of covid relief, that's more just checks to get the economy through the next few months. this is really about trying to set america up for the future because we look at china, and they are spending trillions of dollars on improving their own country, on building up africa and the middle east and latin america. we're not even talking about american influence abroad, it's more about rebuilding american
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bridges and electrifying the country so that we can move away from an oil-based economy. >> juanita, i want to talk about this idea of racial equity inside this infrastructure bill. that's not necessarily something that you talk about when you talk about an infrastructure plan. but in fact this thing is much more than just the building of bridges, right? it is providing clean water to places like flint, michigan, which we have been covering for years now where children did not have access to clean water. i mean it is replacing pipes across this entire country. this plan involves building bridges in communities to allow access and to help with job creation for black and brown communities. >> yasmin, that's exactly right. i think one thing that this pandemic has done is revealed and perpetuated some of the conditions that black and brown and underserved and low-income communities have been facing for decades. when you talk through the clean
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water access, fortifying the electrical grids, investments in hbcus, investments in a care economy that largely employs black, latina and brown women, this is the equitable impact that biden committed to on the campaign trail that he's looking to see through. i think even the white house climate lead also said that 40% of the climate investments were going to be focused on typically marginalized or underserved communities and that includes refitting old factories, making and developing economic hubs there, redoing housing and investing in housing in a way that allows people to really upgrade and make sure that they're using clean energy and clean opportunities here. and so that's some of the ways that we're seeing from the white house. i think that's what we're going to hear from biden and cabinet secretaries who are being deployed to states to talk about this plan even further, to make the case and emphasize how it's going to help people in these communities, especially as i mentioned before in a care economy that typically is not
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included in infrastructure packages but the pandemic has proven is essential to our infrastructure and ability to function as a country. >> congressman, this is a conversation we have had over time and the government needs to invest in black and brown communities specifically in order to eradicate racial inequality in this country. it's not just about policing reforms. it needs to go so much further, to water and education and job education and access. so what is the republican argument here? we all know debt ceiling. we all know increase in deficit. that's what much of them are saying. but what is the argument to that? >> well, yasmin, i think what you're going to hear and we've already started hearing from a lot of republicans is that government investment is not the best way to bring up these communities. they're going to talk about opportunity zones, for example, where they encourage the private sector to invest in underserved
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areas. >> so is that why -- i don't mean to interrupt you, but is that why then they would be opposed to an increase in corporate taxes because as we well know the way the biden administration has laid this way out that the way they expect america to pay this thing back will be over 15 years and increasing corporate taxes from 21%, which is where it's at now, reduced to that during the trump administration, back up to 28%, which is not even where it was before? >> right. what republicans have typically argued, yasmin, when they're not in power is that the best way to pay for this kind of legislation is to reduce government spending in other areas. what republicans would call wasteful spending on excessive government spending. those are the arguments they're going to make. to be fair, i have found that the minority party in congress, the party out of power is always the party of fiscal responsibility. that's republicans right now. that's why they're making these arguments. of course a couple of years ago,
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republicans weren't as worried about connects and deficits. and before that, democrats weren't either. but yes, you're going to hear republicans talk about debt and deficits and finding other ways to pay for this package, such as reducing spending in other parts of the budget. >> is now the time, juanita, to actually get this thing passed? transportation secretary pete buttigieg has called it a once in a lifetime opportunity. is this the moment? >> this is absolutely the moment. i think the white house needs to act accordingly as well as democrats in congress act accordingly. you have even if it's the slightest majority in the senate, you have the house, you have the white house. voters are expecting you to act because this is something that democrats are going to expect to hail as a victory going into the midterms. i think i do want to respond to one thing that former representative curbelo mentioned about republicans really emphasizing the corporate tax here. look, in 2017 they said corporations are going to use these returns to invest in communities. they're going to use these returns to really put back into communities that need it.
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they didn't. they did stock buybacks, took that money, gave it to investors and kept it moving. that's why i think the gop will be hitting a wall when they come back with that rebuttal when we know that government action is needed. >> daniel, let's talk about voting rights. i was obviously speaking to steve cohen and we mentioned this, the pressure that needs to be put on places like delta airlines and corporations like delta airlines in order to make a bigger statement when it comes to the changes in voting rights in states like georgian the efforts being made in states like texas and florida as well. what type of pressure are we seeing from washington being put on some of these corporations in order to see a change? >> i think you're seeing, you know, some minority of democrats on the left who are saying we should boycott corporations if they're not going to be allies in fighting against these voting
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restrictions. and so there is -- in society now, there is so much pressure on a company like delta or coca-cola that have operation headquarters in a state like georgia to really speak out. even if they can't defeat that, those types of bills, at least they won't face as much pressure from their activist consumer base. a lot of liberals are mad at these companies that speak out after these bills are already passed because they say to themselves, you know, what's the point? this is kind of virtue signaling. you didn't even use your lobbying efforts to influence this beforehand. it's kind of too little too late. >> former congressman carlos curbelo, daniel lippman, juanita tolliver, thank you for joining me. the biden administration is attempting to get a handle on the record surge of people
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coming to the southern border. the number of kids making the trip alone reached i's a picks last month. we are live on the ground in the state of texas coming up next. e state of texas coming up next. [music: "i swear"] jaycee tried gain flings for the first time the other day... and forgot where she was. you can always spot a first time gain flings user. ♪ (vo) conventional thinking doesn't disrupt the status quo. which is why t-mobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help your business realize new possibilities. only one 5g partner offers unmatched network, support, and value-without any trade offs.
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welcome back. now to the crisis at the border. data obtained by nbc news revealing tens of thousands of kids crossed the border by themselves last month alone. that breaks all records since border patrol started keeping track back in 2010. i want to bring in my friend, nbc's cal perry at the southern border in el paso, texas. cal, great to talk to you this afternoon on this. this is always like a devastating story that we're following. just the numbers coming out of the border and all of these unaccompanied minors that are showing up. take us through exactly what you've been seeing there so far and where we stand. >> reporter: yeah, devastating and i think it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better. i want to show you first a graphic that gives you an
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indication of how bad things have gotten here. there's two historical markers. the first is when donald trump was elected president and the second was when title 42 came into effect. title 42 is a law from the 1920s. it is a health regulation. donald trump put this into effect 13 months ago. simply put, it shuts the border. it gives the border patrol officers along the border to make the immediate decision to expel people back to mexico, which is why we're here in el paso. i'm standing at the foot of the bridge that connects el paso and the city of juarez, mexico. twice a day busloads of migrants are dropped off in juarez. they're immediately turned around and sent back across. one of the causes now that we are seeing because of this is that children are crossing alone. families are making the impossible decision to separate just before they get to the border and they're sending the kids alone because then the kids have a chance of getting to a relative in the united states. take a listen to what dylan corbett had to say about this. he runs the hope border institute on both sides of the border. take a listen.
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>> unfortunately what that does is incentivize children crossing alone. the family makes the decision to sending their child and try to cross in hopes of reuniting with that child or children on their own make that decision without even telling their parents. sometimes we've seen painful, heart-breaking stories like that. >> reporter: so you have this incredibly heart-breaking situation. there was a man standing behind the camera just now giving me the thumbs up because we're talking about title 42. everybody is talking about total 42 because on the other side of the border you have thousands of migrants who are being dropped in a very dangerous city in a very dangerous situation. imagine coming thousands of miles from someplace like guatemala, crossing into texas, and you can cross as far away as the rio grande valley and you'll be put on an airplane here to el paso and dropped in juarez. the biden administration is in a tough position. this is an old law meant to protect people from a health perspective.
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it was put into effect as donald trump said because of covid. but it is viewed very negatively and is contributing to what we're seeing along the border which is many unaccompanied minors ending up in these facilities. >> two things here. first and foremost, as you and i are both parents and many people watching, you can only imagine the decision that these parents are making watching their children walk across the border by themselves. imagine what they're fleeing. imagine what is behind them, why they would separate from their children in the first place. the only reason you would make a decision like that as a parent because what is behind you is so much worse than what may be ahead of you, even though that is the unknown. but when it comes to having to return to juarez, cal, what do we know about where they're going, how they're surviving? >> yeah, a couple of things. number one, we can boil it down and i like to boil it down. in guatemala there's a hunger crisis going on. people are fleeing hunger and it can sometimes be that simple. as to what is happening to
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people in juarez, we're hearing stories about people that don't know they're going to juarez. one of the problems is unlike the mpp, the migrant protocols in place under the trump administration, people are dropped off back in mexico with no court date. no paperwork, no way of claiming asylum so the asylum process has basically broken down and it's leaving people with nowhere to go. they can't go back where they came from, they can't come to the u.s. so people will inevitably try to cross in more dangerous places where there is not customs and border patrol. >> all right, cal, thanks for being on this for us, appreciate it. good to see you, my friend. coming up, everybody, new details into a suspected hack by russians who gained access to thousands of u.s. government emails. the white house threatening to take action against the kremlin. don't go anywhere. we'll be right back. emlin. don't gony awhere. we'll be right back.
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russia after a second cyberattack on the u.s. state department in under a decade. according to a political report, congressional sources say russian hackers gained access to thousands of diplomatic emails last year, targeting the department's bureau of european and eurasian affairs. it is unclear if the theft is connected to last year's solarwind's breach which compromised nine federal agencies and a hundred private sector groups. joining me to talk about this is natasha bertrand, white house correspondent at politico and an msnbc contributor. natasha, thanks for joining us on this. you were one of the first to break the news of this breach. talk me through some of the key takeaways and the severity of this breach. >> yeah, yasmin. what we know now is that thousands of emails were stolen from the department of european and eurasian affairs and east
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indian affairs from the state department and those deal very specifically with the united states allies, nato, european partners, indo-pacific partners. clearly what the hackers were looking for was some insight into how the united states conducts its diplomatic work. that is not entirely unusual. this is the second time that the state department has been hacked in less than a decade and it raises real questions about their cybersecurity practices and defenses. the first time obviously we saw that they got into the white house via the state department, white house systems via the state department. who knows at this point, we don't have all this information yet. they're still collecting and gathering and doing the damage assessment whether they were able to use the state department again as a jumping-off point to get into other systems. what we do know is they were able to steal thousands of emails, that this likely was a separate hacking attempt from
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solarwinds which suggests another entry point that the russians had. so as the biden administration continues to weigh its options in responding to the cyberattacks and cyber espionage campaigns of the russians, they really have to consider as well how to strengthen our own defenses against these attacks. >> so the state department released a statement but didn't give much information. they didn't elaborate as to what they actually were able to access on these hacks. what do we know about what they accessed? what degree of classified documents do we know were they able to access? >> so right now it does not look like they were able to access the classified network. when you're at the state department, you have to toggle between the classified network and unclassified network. it's unlikely that people would have put unwittingly classified information on the unclassified network that the russians would be able to access. as of this point it does not appear they could access that.
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but they were able to steal emails. perhaps things that the state department employees were just chatting about on a day-to-day basis. the big concern is that the covid-19 pandemic obviously had people working remotely on less secure systems and a lot of people could not necessarily access the classified systems from home so maybe they were trying to speak in code or put potentially sensitive information into emails that because they couldn't access the classified network. there are a whole range of options here. what we know is that they did steal thousands of emails on the unclassified network of the state department. we know that potentially there were embarrassing things in those emails. the russians have been known to do leaking campaigns after they steal information that they think could potentially embarrass the u.s. and other western countries. so it remains to be seen whether they will do anything like this or just keep it in their back pocket. >> what do we know about the u.s.' ability to protect against future hacks like this one? >> they're trying to fortify it.
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right now obviously the biden administration, they elevated a cybersecurity director to the national security council who right now is responsible for really coordinating the whole of government effort to implement a national cybersecurity strategy that not only has to do with the individual agencies kind of implementing good cybersecurity practices and hygiene, but also kind of looking at the supply chain issues. as we saw with the solarwinds' hack there's one weak link in the chain that allowed hackers to get into a whole bunch of federal and private entities. it's a massive effort. coordinating this whole of government approach to protecting cyber infrastructure and then retaliating against the hackers is a big thing, because obviously as we know the united states also conducts cyber espionage. so how do you calibrate the response in an appropriate way. >> a new frontier of war. natasha bertrand, thank you so
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much. up next, everybody, one republican's lonely fight against a flood of disinformation. jeremy peters from "the new york times" is joining us on his reporting of a former congressman from virginia who is standing up against dangerous conspiracy theories embraced by members of his party. are you one of the millions of americans who experience occasional bloating, gas, or abdominal discomfort? taking align can help. align contains a quality probiotic to naturally help soothe digestive upsets 24/7. try align, the pros in digestive health.
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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ welcome back. as the republican party works through its identity crisis now that trump is out of the white
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house, we've seen some emboldened conspiracy embracers like georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor green who posted this gym video saying that this is her covid protection. i just had to take a little bit of a pause there. so on the other end of the spectrum you have former republican congressman denver riggleman who is working to fight the spread of disinformation. riggleman is a living example of the political price of falling out of lockstep with the hard right. he lost the gop primary race last june after he officiated at the wedding of a gay couple. once he started calling out qanon who believe -- he was attacked as a traitor including by members of his own family. i want to bring in the author of this piece, jeremy peters. this was a great piece. thanks for joining us on this. >> thank you. >> i want to read from this piece a little bit more because
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kind of the trajectory of riggleman is astounding to me and how quickly it actually happened. you write mr. riggleman who first ran and won in 2018 after the republican incumbent retired, and was endorsed by mr. trump, he said it gives me shivers to be called a republican. he hopes to show there is still a way to beat back the lies and false belief that have spread from the fringe to the mainstream. what was the tipping point for him, jeremy. >> i think frankly the tipping point shows how difficult it's going to be for republicans like denver riggleman to break through and that's because he lost. he was no longer going to have to face voters. once he was unburdened by that, he was able to speak the truth more forcefully. he told me in an incredibly credible source that he was in the private meetings, in the republican conference meetings where he knew that he and about
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70% of his colleagues generally believed that trump was exaggerating, that trump was hurting their party and that ultimately they had to go along with it in order to get re-elected. and once re-election was no longer something he needed to worry about, he was freed up to say that. i mean the problem is, there are really only former members of congress who are republicans and a handful of others like the ten you saw vote to impeach trump the second time in the house of representatives who are willing to say enough is enough and the party is hurting itself by shackling itself to this false belief system. >> so what is it, then? is it power? what's keeping them from speaking out? why does it take having nothing to lose when you see, as some
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would argue, democracy crumbling in front of you, lives being lost? >> i think it's self-preservation ultimately. you talk to the former guys who were there and those who are left like adam kinzinger who are fighting this lonely fight, and that's exactly what they'll say. one of the quotes in this piece from former congressman riggleman is a colleague approaching him and saying, man, denver, if i said what you say in my district, i'd lose. and it's really that simple. i don't think, as sad as it may be, that there's much more of an explanation than that. a lot of these guys don't want to lose their jobs and there's really not that many left who have decided that they'll speak up and risk losing their jobs. >> so he's trying to combat disinformation now with the network contagion research institute. what exactly is he doing? >> so a part of this is looking
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at the way that qanon is -- and similar false belief systems are really good at getting inside humans' brains. this is like the circuitry, the neurology involved here is very complicated. it activates a part of the human brain where you are incredibly emotional. you're easily put on the defensive and you go in to attack mode. human beings just don't like to admit that they have been suckered, that they have believed in a lie. and i think that's part of the problem here is you have by some accounts 70 some percent of the republican party that believes in a lie, that the election was stolen. and getting them to see that that was wrong, to admit that they bought into something that
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wasn't true, is an incredibly difficult thing to do. i think that groups like this, that denver is working with, are trying to figure out a way to gently approach people and bring them off the ledge really, because it's not going to be done. telling them -- it's not going to be done by telling them the truth, right? presenting them facts just hasn't proven effective. so how you do that is really a complicated issue. >> it's interesting, right, you talk about how so many republicans believe that this election was stolen. what's worse is now legislation is being put in place to support that claim in states like georgia, the voting rights, and florida and texas. those things are all based on lies. they're all based -- >> right. >> -- on placating these republican voters that believe in this lie that the election is stolen. you look at the polling from the insurrection, what trump supporters believe happened on january 6th.
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58% call it mostly an antifa-inspired attack that only involved a few trump supporters. that's bs, i was there. 28% call it a rally of trump supporters, some of whom attacked the capitol. 4% call it an attempted coup inspired by president trump. does he have any sense that he could actually change some minds, that he could make waves with this? >> you know, it's a very lonely fight for somebody like denver riggleman. i don't think it's a completely lost cause. there are glimmers of rationality that flash across these people's face when you talk to them and when you present them with, for example, showing them that they have been hoodwinked, right? that they were giving to trump's campaign and this woman like sidney powell or lin wood were
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lying to them. that's effective. when you feel, when you know that you've been conned, that's when you tend to start second guessing yourself. but again, it's really hard to do. >> jeremy peters, great piece. if you haven't read it, you should read it in "the new york times," everybody. thanks, jeremy. we'll be right back with a in " times," you should read it, everybody. we'll be right back. > we'll. new pronamel mineral boost helps protect teeth against everyday acids. pronamel boosts enamel's natural absorption of calcium and phosphate - helping keep teeth strong, white and protected from sensitivity. new pronamel mineral boost (vo) nobody dreams in conventional thinking. it didn't get us to the moon. it doesn't ring the bell on wall street. or disrupt the status quo. t-mobile for business uses unconventional thinking to help you realize new possibilities. like our new work from anywhere solutions, so your teams
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♪♪ [music and sound effects played in reverse] this...is our shot. the covid-19 vaccines are ready. and so is walgreens, with pharmacy experts ready to make it easy for you to get it safely, for free. because this is our shot... ...at getting back together. of course you've seen underwear because this is our shot... that fits like this... but never for bladder leaks. always discreet boutique black. i feel protected all day, in a fit so discreet, you'd never know they're for bladder leaks. always discreet boutique. welcome back, everyone. before we go, a look at stories to keep your eye on this coming week. former minneapolis police
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officer derek chauvin's murder trial will start again tomorrow. tomorrow night, baylor will face gonzaga. on tuesday, diplomats will start gathering in vienna for talks aimed at reviving the 2015 iran nuclear deal. all week, you can expect to hear a lot of back and forth between republicans and democrats on the president's infrastructure bill, that's nothing new. nbc's monica alba is at the white house with more on that. you know better than anyone about the back and forth between republicans and democrats, to say the least. with all that said, what can we expect, especially with this massive infrastructure bill ahead? >> reporter: definitely a safe bet, yasmin. as you saw last week, the president traveled to pittsburgh, pennsylvania to unveil the infrastructure plan. but there's no domestic travel on the horizon for him this week, because this white house
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already knows that infrastructure bill is popular montgomery country. where it really needs to be sold right now is in washington, here in the nation's capital, with those lawmakers. that's why the president will spend a good amount of this week having conversations both in front of the cameras and behind the scenes with democrats and republicans to see where they can potentially find common ground and hammer out some of the details about paying for this $2.25 trillion package. so he will be staying here. of course he's spending the easter weekend at camp david. so he returns to the white house tomorrow where he will then also speak on the easter holiday. he's also going to be appear virtually at a prescription drug summit. on tuesday the president will give the country an address about vaccinations. his goal of 200 million shots in arms in his first 100 days is very much on track. he wants everybody, all adults to be able to get in line for that shot in the next couple of weeks.
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and everybody should really be able to have access to it by the end of may. so those dates are quickly approaching. and then on wednesday he's going to spend most of his time talking about the american jobs plan. that infrastructure bill. perhaps updating the country on how conversations have gone with lawmakers of both parties. also cabinet secretaries have been given their homework to go out and also talk to representatives. they'll perhaps be giving an update and really selling this throughout the week, yasmin. beyond that, the white house is planning for the first in-person visit of a foreign leader, the japanese prime minister will be coming a week from friday. >> thank you, monica, we'll be watching. i'm yasmin vossoughian. i want to turn it over now to reverend al sharpton and "politicsnation" after a very quick break. quick break. [ chuckles ] don't get me wrong, i love my rv, but insuring it is such a hassle.
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same with my boat. the insurance bills are through the roof. -[ sighs ] -be cool. i wish i could group my insurance stuff. -[ coughs ] bundle. -the house, the car, the rv. like a cluster. an insurance cluster. -woosah. -[ chuckles ] -i doubt that exists. -it's a bundle! it's a bundle, and it saves you money! hi. i'm flo from progressive, and i couldn't help but overhear... super fun beach day, everybody. my name is austin james. as a musician living with diabetes, fingersticks can be a real challenge. that's why i use the freestyle libre 14 day system. with a painless, onesecond scan i can check my glucose without fingersticks. now i'm managing my diabetes better and i've lowered my a1c from 8.2 to 6.7. you can do it without fingersticks, too. ask your doctor for a prescription for the freestyle libre 14 day system. and visit freestyle libre.us to try it for free.
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good evening and welcome to "politicsnation" on this easter sunday evening. tonight's lead, a sermon. georgia and minnesota may be separated by hundreds of miles, but right now they are the epicenters of americans' race relations. in georgia, republican lawmakers have embraced their

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