well, that's what elections are for. that does it for us tonight. i will be back tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. eastern. as always, you can find me on line, @arimelber on instagram, on twitter. we talked about solitary confinement and those poems tonight. you can reach out to me if you want to talk more about those issues or who else you'd like to see on "the beat" on any social media platform. "the reidout" starts now. good evening, everyone, we begin "the reidout" tonight with who's in and who's out and what does it mean to be a republican in 2021? apparently it has little to do with building a wall or overturning obamacare or passing still more tax cuts for the rich. what we've learned in the nearly six months since donald trump stopped being president is that to be a republican today means parroting the big lie, even if you know it isn't true. to be a republican in 2021, you have to cast aside your common sense and your dignity and declare that donald trump did

win the election, that he clearly lost last november. and yes, that means you must accept the false premise that led a violent mob to seize the u.s. capitol on january 6th. because if you don't support the big lie, you get stabbed in the back. that's what happened to the third highest ranking republican in the house today, congresswoman liz cheney, who was double crossed by house minority leader kevin mccarthy just hours ago. in remarks that were captured on a hot mic and leaked to axios, mccarthy appeared to back a new attempt to oust cheney from gop leadership, telling fox news personality steve ducey that what he really thinks of her. here's that audio, which was later obtained by mediaite. >> i think she's got real problems. i've had it with -- i've had it with her. you know, i've lost confidence. well, someone just has to bring a motion, but i assume that will probably take place. >> nbc news sought comment from

mccarthy on that audio. however, despite the fact that he's had all day to noodle on the story, we haven't heard a peep. and while it was already clear that mccarthy was plotting behind cheney's back, his willingness to throw one of his top deputies under the bus to steve ducey of all people, shows how beholden he is to the florida retiree who is apparently also still his boss and who hasn't gotten over being voted out of office. meanwhile, mccarthy has engaged in an apology tour of sorts for the president perhaps due to the fact that he once dared to hold trump responsible for the mob that he unleashed on the capitol on january 6th. >> the president bears responsibility for wednesday's attack on congress by mob rioters. he should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. these facts require immediate action by president trump.

>> well, now that they've kissed and made up, mccarthy has switched to defending trump's behavior that day. and while he and most in his party have become more beholden to the palm beach nor that desmond, cheney has been the rare republican who has stood up to his intimidation tactics. as a spokesman said today, this is about whether the republican party is going to perpetuate lies about the 2020 election and attempt to whitewash what happened on january 6th. liz will not do that. she told an audience, we can't embrace the notion that the election is stolen. it's a poison in the bloodstream of our democracy. it's also clear that the effort to oust cheney isn't about being insufficiently conservative or even about matters of policy. in fact, cheney voted with the more president more often than many of president trump's loyal and vocal defenders, more than trump's little buddy, matt gaetz.

because what it is about is power. mccarthy and other beltway republicans have essentially sold their souls to donald trump in the hope that his fanatical followers will return the dilettante d.c. republicans to power and since they don't believe in anything, they don't care how much they have to humiliate themselves in the short-term in order to get it. and they see accepting the big lie in an act of undying, unbridled obsequious loyalty to trump, even if that means a violent attack on the capitol in which they serve. charlie sykes and michael eric dyson, distinguished university professor of african-american studies at vanderbilt university and the author of "tears we cannot stop," out in paperback today and i'm going to start with you, dr. dyson, and congratulations on the new -- on the paperback of your book

coming out. but it seems to me that, you know, in the bible, it says that the love of money is the root of all evil, not money itself, but the love of money. but it seems to me that the love of power is also a root of evil, because it does seem to me that people like kevin mccarthy are willing to sborn evil, support a siege on our capitol and also humiliate themselves because he thinks -- mccarthy thinks this is going to make me speaker. >> well, yeah. it may not be the bible, but lord akton said power tends to corrupt, but absolute power corrupts absolutely and even though they don't wield absolute power, they absolutely want the power so we've got a shade of meaning there. look, the obsequious deference to a neofascist president has nearly ruined democracy. you would think that they would be able to stand up and to articulate boldly and clearly their principles as conservatives. quote hayek or milton friedman.

talk about ronald reagan. speak about the nostalgia for a time when a trickledown economy was their bible and weighting. and that was deeply problematic enough. but in this era, to forsake the commitment to fundamental principles of democracy in the name of party, every bad thing they've said about the other side, everything they've said about democrats, everything they've said about losers and unpatriotic people who do not adhere to principles broader than their party, they are the very embodiment of. i hate to say it, it's a peewee herman thing. everything you say bounces off me and sticks to you, i'm rubber, you're glue. this is the kind of adolescent churlishness that has besieged the republican party and liz cheney, with whom i share little in common ideologically and look how stunning it was that she voted for the most part with trump against the others in terms of their records. having said that, she stands up tall as a person of loyalty to

the nation above her own party, and for that, we should congratulate her. >> you know, and charlie, and you know, this is why we invite a public intellectual on because he will definitely correct my references and he did that very smoothly. we love that. you know, you're absolutely right, but charlie, the thing is that it strikes me that we are in a post-policy period for the republican party, right? they're up against a president who's got some really popular policies. he's sending checks to people. that's the most popular thing you can do in politics. and they don't have an answer to that. and so, what they're essentially doing is we'll tell these voters, mainly white working class voters, we'll just guarantee that you just get power back. we'll go along with whatever wild thing you want to believe. if you think donald trump is a hologram and he's the real president, fine. because we just want power. is there something more complicated going on here than that? >> well, what's really interesting is, i mean, kevin mccarthy is both venal and politically stupid here because he's claiming that liz cheney's

big sin is that we should be talking about policy rather than personal attacks. are you kidding me? because clearly, they are not talking about policy. this is all about personal attacks. the former guy down in mar-a-lago on a daily basis issues personal attacks, but her major sin, i think, has been that she's embarrassed these guys. her courage highlights their cowardice. her insistence on the truth highlights their corruption. and what's really stupid about all of this is that -- as you pointed out, by ousting liz cheney, they make the belief in the big lie the litmus test, the defining moment. they could have moved on from donald trump. look, they could be talking about the excess spending, the size of the government, this should be the wheelhouse for republicans if they actually cared about those things anymore. instead, this not only ties them to donald trump and his failed record, it ties him to

everything about trump, including the lies, the paranoia, the conspiracy theories, the insurrection, and so this is what mccarthy has done. rather than having his caucus be able to talk about debts and deficits and things that they pretended to care about, it's, from now on, this will be the defining issue, their willingness to be loyal, not just to trump but to his behavior and to his lies about the election. >> well, i mean, they never cared about spending. i think that's one of the big lies. but that's another big lie. but michelle, look at the people that are lining up, potentially, to replace, because i think that does make charlie's point. elise stefanik who's their version of what they think is oac, ann wagner, they are like, we have to pick a woman to replace a woman. so we have to be -- we have to get the demography right and they have to be somebody who's a woman but who will sound more like marjorie taylor greene and less like liz cheney. >> right, and what's so striking

about stefanik's record, at least until recently, was much more moderate than liz cheney's. you had her voting record up there, but just her record in terms of score cards by conservative organizations. but none of that matters. none of their positions on deficits, on foreign policy, as you said, on any policy issue matters for a party whose only principle is fealty to donald trump. liz cheney said somewhere, we can't become the party of qanon. but they already have. >> they are. >> that is the party. and you know, so you see, there's no -- there's no move inside this party to expel marjorie taylor greene. there's no big movement to get rid of matt gaetz. the person that this -- that this party cannot tolerate is liz cheney, just as the person who you're seeing so much blowback to in the senate is mitt romney, because you know, i'm not -- the one thing i would -- i'm not sure i agree

with charlie about, i'm not sure if this is politically stupid, because voters don't care about deficits. voters don't care about small government. the one thing that seems to get their voters riled up is telling them that, you know, white kids are being made to feel guilty about their race in school, and people have stolen this election from donald trump and democrats are witches and pedophiles, right? that's what moves people. and in a system in which they needed to get a majority of the votes, maybe they would reconsider after having lost the popular vote for presidency four times in a row. but in a system like ours, where the majority -- where majority rule is increasingly endangered and where the minority kind of increasingly exercise power without winning most of the votes, the way to get more power is to exercise your base and pass restrictions on the franchise of the people that you hate, and so it's a cynical strategy, it's an ugly strategy,

but i'm not sure it's a losing strategy. >> very quickly, charlie, since you were called on here, it is like a freak parade, but i mean, i think to michelle's point, the people going on tour, marjorie taylor greene and matt gaetz, who's being accused of having sex with a 17-year-old, they're like, we love matt gaetz. the state party chair is alan west, kelly ward, who asked republicans if they're willing to die for trump, south carolina lin wood. can we play allen west real quick? maybe we don't have time to play it all. this was him back in 2009. >> you're here to stand up, to get your musket, to fix your bayonet and to charge into the ranks. you are my brother and sister in this fight. you need to leave here understanding one simple word. that word is bayonets.

>> bayonets. it's going to be freaks versus checks in 2022, and tim miller wrote for the bulwark, where you also are, that it's going to be a question of do people care more about checks? which wins? >> that's exactly right. so i'm not sure what the answer to that is. my point was that, you know, that going this way means the republican party is going to be held hostage or make itself hostage again to donald trump, and you know, he's been toxic. i mean, they lost the presidency. they lost the senate. they lost the house of representatives. but politics has changed, and it really is this question. do the american people care about all of this? but you know, i think there's a very real chance that kevin mccarthy will still be the -- will win in the midterm elections, you know, out of power parties do. he could be the next speaker. but long-term, is this freak show really the winning formula for the republican party? because they are doubling down

on the freak and the crazy. >> yeah. michael eric dyson, if they are successful, it will be more because of redistricting than ideas. you write in your book about the sort of long conversation that we're having on race in the country, isn't this kind of almost inevitable given the way we saw people completely lose it over a black president getting elected. that you were eventually going to get to a part of the other side that says, we're losing this country, we'll do anything to keep it, including go for the freak show. >> well, absolutely. let me appeal to the bible. let me be very clear, joy reid. i was your second reader. you know that in the black church. i was your second reader. i wasn't correcting you on the bible, i was just adding on lord acton. i just want to be clear on that. ain't no correction. it was just a nexting of a phrase. but here's the point. there is no question that, you know, according to bible, if you kick out a demon and you don't put anything in its place, seven worse than the demon you kicked

out are going to come in. what we're seeing is the storming of the house by the lunatic fringe, if we can use a classic phrase from politics. we are seeing the despottic will of the uninformed, the belligerently ignorant, the proudly unenlightened. they beat up obama for a tan suit and tan skin and they beat him up because of his harvard elite pedigree. you tell black people they're stupid and dumb, you tell women they're uninterested in politics, then when they go get education, they're overdoing it. they're defecting from the larger circle of american privilege which means you're not a regular season, you're just loyal because now you're a pointy-head intellectual. no matter what you do, as a woman, as a person of color, you can't win. so the reality is, yes, this president, when is barack obama, created such insanity in the larger circle of american privilege among white brothers and sisters, they done -- to

quote dmx, you're going to make me lose my mind up in here >> up in here, up in here. congrats on the book. y'all check it out. still ahead, president biden's ambitious new goal for vaccinations as states prepare to fully reopen this summer. michigan governor gretchen whitmer joins me on how her state has weathered the recent surge there. and former congressman beto o'rourke will be here to talk about what's going on in the lone star state from reuniting migrant families to republicans' ongoing push to restrict voting rights. plus, conservatives have found some new cultural issues to be outraged about because that's what you do when you have no actual policies to put forward. we'll cover that and more in tonight's absolute worst. "the reidout" continues after this. "the reidout" continues aft this (computer beeps) (shaq) magenta? i hate cartridges. not magenta, not magenta. i'm not going back to the store.

magenta! cartridges are so... (buzzer) (vo) the epson ecotank. no more cartridges! it comes with an incredible amount of ink that can save you a lot of frustration. ♪♪ the epson ecotank. just fill and chill. before we talk about tax-smart investing, what's new? -well, audrey's expecting... -twins! grandparents! we want to put money aside for them, so...change in plans. alright, let's see what we can adjust. ♪♪ we'd be closer to the twins. change in plans. okay. mom, are you painting again? you could sell these. lemme guess, change in plans? at fidelity, a change in plans is always part of the plan. tonight i'll be eating a calzone from doughballs in aurora. (doorbell) rock on. tonight i'll be eating lobster thermidor au gratin.

really? sh-yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt. make it two calzones! ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ i think the sketchy website i bought this turtle from stole all of my info. ooh, have you looked on the bright side? discover never holds you responsible for unauthorized purchases on your card. (giggling) that's my turtle. fraud protection. discover. something brighter. [sizzling] i may not be able to tell time, but i know what time it is.

[whispering] it's grilled cheese o'clock. - [announcer] meet the ninja foodi air fry oven. make family-sized meals fast. and because it's a ninja foodi, it can do things no other oven can, like flip away. the ninja foodi air fry oven, the oven that crisps and flips away.

so you're a small business, or a big one. you were thriving, but then... oh. ah. okay. plan, pivot. how do you bounce back? you don't, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. powered by the largest gig speed network in america. but is it secure? sure it's secure. and even if the power goes down, your connection doesn't. so how do i do this? you don't do this. we do this, together. bounce forward, with comcast business. i want to be absolutely clear. you do need to get vaccinated.

getting vaccinated not only protects you, it also reduces the risk that you give the virus to somebody else. it could save your life or the lives of people you love. this is your choice. it's life and death. we need you. we need you to bring it home. get vaccinated. in two months, let's celebrate our independence as a nation and our independence from this virus. we can do this. we will do this. >> president biden made an emotional plea today for americans to get vaccinated, and he set a goal for 70% of adults to receive their first dose by july 4th. currently 56% have gotten their first shot. he also set a goal of 160 fully vaccinated americans by july 4th and that number right now is 106 million. the rate of vaccinations has been slowing in recent days. biden also announced new efforts to reach americans who are

hesitant to get vaccinated or who struggle to get appointments. they include a website and a number. a push to send doses to thousands of rural health clinics, requiring all pharmacies to offer walk-in appointments and moving quickly on vaccinating children once the fda approves the pfizer dose. gretchen whitmer, i feel like you faced maybe the most difficult situation in the country in terms of trying to get your arms around this vaccine. the fight against you from the very beginning has been vicious, so i want to find out how things are going. i know cases are going down. there was a spike earlier in the year. how are things going right now in the state? >> the trajectory is good and joy, we are so pleased to see that we're rolling on vaccines. 50.6% of our population has gotten at least one shot. almost 40% is fully vaccinated. we're ahead of the national curve on that. we do see things slowing.

we are modeling always projected that would be the case, and that's why i'm thrilled to see the white house and the president continue to underpromise and overdeliver, getting past the 100 million shots, 200 million shots in the first 100 days and now to set this goal for fourth of july to get 70% of our nation vaccinated is a lot like what we've been shooting for here in michigan, and we're grateful to see the whole nation focusing on the same goal. >> i'm wondering, if i can ask you, sorry about -- kind of the pressures that you have faced. i know other states have faced it too. there are restaurant associations, industries that want to get back open that i'm sure put lots of pressure on governors, saying we want to open. and it looked pretty violent and honestly terrifying in your state at times with people with guns demanding reopening. right now, as you said, 50.6% of michiganders are vaccinated. you set a goal that at 55% plus two weeks, you can have in-person work. another two weeks, indoor capacity at stadiums and it rolls on from there, banquet

halls, gyms, restaurants at 65% indoor capacity limits would be lifted, gatherings and face mask orders would be lifted at 70%. to get to that, though, you have to get past a lot of anti-vaxxers and people who have made it into politics to be against vaccines and masking. how much pressure did you feel from industries inside of your state to do this reopening plan and to get more fully opened? and how worried are you that you're going to have anti-vaxxers undercut your efforts? >> well, i think everyone's worried about that, frankly. there is a segment of our population that has questions, and we want to answer those questions and make sure they've got confidence. there's another segment that, for political reasons or other, they're not interested in getting vaccinated. i think that's why it's so important to have these goals and have these metrics so that we're all focused on reaching them so we can get what we call back to normal. i know it's a little corny, but we want -- that's what we all crave, right? we want to be able to celebrate and get together with our families. maybe even get to a football

game this fall. and so, setting these goals -- i know we've taken a unique approach and i'm glad that people like dr. jha have weighed in and said, this makes a lot of sense. we think so too. because we've all got to be in this. it's got to be business and government. it's got to be democrats and republicans. if we're going to get to that 70% number where we are safe, it's going to take all of us to make that effort and to educate the public and encourage them to get vaccinated. >> and i think everyone kind of remembers, unfortunately, something you probably don't want to remember, these men who were accused of plotting to actually kidnap you, to harm you. they have had now increasing charges added, weapons of mass destruction charge added. they've tested bombs. it was really scary. so, i wonder, number one, if you have a comment on the additional charges, and also, do you -- how do you message to the people who are politically -- you're a woman governor. you're, you know, a democrat, and so for a lot of people, they say, i don't want to hear anything that gretchen whitmer

has to say. but you still got to get 70% of your people vaccinated. how do you even do that messaging? >> that's right. well, you know, we're going to continue to focus on the facts and the data and enlist as many allies as we can. we've seen people step up. you know, the business community is really encouraging their workforce to get vaccinated. some are -- have incentive programs. i mean, this has to be all hands on deck, and i know we're not going to reach everyone. i get that. but i'm not going to stop trying, because this really is about our economy. this really is about our individual health. it's about our families, it's about the strength of our state. you know, i love the state of michigan. i love the people of michigan. and that's what drives every action that we've taken to keep people safe and to get us back to normal, and that will continue to be the case. there's going to be ugliness. it's unfortunate. it's a part of the moment that we're all living in. i hope that it decreasingly becomes a regular part of

conversation and society that we live in, because these are our -- it's not appropriate. it's dangerous. it undermines our republic, and we saw that on january 6th. we saw it earlier in michigan. and i'm going to stay focused on my job and doing as much outreach as i can, because there are a lot of good people that are curious, a lot of good people who have questions and i want to make sure they get the answer so they can be safe and get the vaccine. >> governor gretchen whitmer from the great state of michigan, i love michigan, love, love detroit. god bless flint. and you do have a great state. so, i wish you all the luck in the world. thank you very much for being here. and still ahead, beto o'rourke on the strides being made by the biden administration as it tries to undo the damage done by trump's immigration policies. and the growing ongoing push by republicans to make it harder for texans to vote. all that and more next on the reidout. at and more next on the reidout. severe plaque psoriasis. now, there's skyrizi.

♪ things are getting clearer. ♪ ♪ i feel free to bare my skin yeah, that's all me. ♪ ♪ nothing and me go hand in hand nothing on my skin, ♪ ♪ that's my new plan. ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90% clearer skin at 4 months. of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. and skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. ♪ i see nothing in a different way it's my moment ♪ ♪ so i just gotta say... ♪ ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. ♪ nothing is everything. ♪ now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. ♪ ♪ there's more to a yard ♪than freshly cut grass. ♪

(sounds of mower cutting grass) there's real life. full of twists and turns, and some shenanigans too. which is exactly why we built these mowers, to clear the way for stuff like this, right here. run with us, because the best yards are planted with real memories. nothing runs like a deere. search john deere mowers for more.

the biden administration has begun undoing the single most evil policy enacted by the previous administration. this week, the administration will reunite four migrant families separated under the previous administration's child separation policy. at least one child was just three years old when separated from their parent. according to the white house, there are still more than 1,000 families that remain separated. more than 5,500 children were separated from their families under the previous administration's zero tolerance immigration policy. jacob soboroff recently spoke to one young migrant who's expected to be reunited with his mother this week after more than three years. brian is now 18 years old. >> it's just a really cruel experience that i just hope no one has to go through. they're doing a good job of protecting the kids, but i think they're, like, putting too much

attention on protecting them physically but what about emotionally and everything that they're feeling and that they go through by separating from their parents? yes, you're protecting them from whatever they're escaping from, their countries or whatever they had to go through, but you're putting them into even more pain by separating them from their families. >> the border remains a faux talking point for republicans. you may remember in march when a group of gop senators put their border demagoguery stage craft into full effect in texas with ted "crocodile" cruz leading the way complete with patrol boats and machine guns. they spread lies about migrants pouring into our country. it's the same kind of baseless claims about communities of color that texas republicans are now using as they race to enact draconian voter suppression laws in the lone star state. i'm joined by beto o'rourke and i guess i'll start from where we started in the beginning of that set-up, on reuniting children at

the border. i know that you're in touch with lots of community groups that are part of this sort of activism. can you give us a sense from your point of view of how that is going and how complicated it's going to be to reunite these families, some of whom came through the texas border. >> well, this is a good start. you mentioned more families will be reunited. there are at least a thousand more. we think. we don't know, because the trump administration did such a poor job of keeping records and tracking these families once they were separated. but just as important as reuniting these families is making sure that they have health and support going forward. i mean, imagine a 5-year-old boy, an 8-year-old girl who has not seen their parents for years, has been living with strangers. the ability to reconnect with that family member whom they associate with so much pain that they just suffered, that's going to take a lot of work to get through, and we should be there to make sure the united states is doing it since this country, under our previous president, caused it.

so, i'm glad to see the president starting this process. i hope they dedicate the resources and focus to it to make sure that every single one of those families is reunited, and once reunited, are helped to restore that family after some serious damage. >> you know, you've seen and we talked about ted cruz a little bit in the start of this. the segment. demagoguing the issue of the border still. and i wonder if the kind of demagoguery, the fact that they're being used, these families, and these children, in a lot of cases, who are alone in this country somewhere, or their parents are somewhere back in honduras or guatemala or wherever, if the demagoguery is making it harder for people to come forward and making people fearful. are you worried that the demagoguing will make it harder to reunite the families? >> let's take them at their word. if they're truly concerned about these children and the plight of these asylum seekers and refugees at our border, then let's work, democrats and republicans, together to ensure that these families can come to the united states and meet their

children here and get the support that they need. we should also acknowledge that ted cruz and many others were blaming president biden for overcrowding border patrol facilities over the last month. you've seen an 80% drop in children detained at border patrol facilities going from something like 5,800 kids to 790, and that's after donald trump had dismantled much of the infrastructure at the border to help these families, so it's a lot in a very short period of time. a lot more work to do, including, of course, getting at the underlying conditions that would cause these families to flee. and i know that the vice president, kamala harris, is doing extraordinary work right now with regional leaders to address that. but that has to remain a priority of the united states if we're not going to have this same challenge a year, five years, ten years from now. >> we can't talk texas without talking voting because the other thing that people of color are being used to demagogue is the issue of voting and the other

side, the republican party, uses this specter of people who are undocumented suddenly rushing the polls and voting which is not something we've seen a phenomenon of but they pretend it is and so they're enacting this just sweeping series of laws that texas republicans are looking at passing. there's one called sb-7 that's in committee. there's an hb-6. there's all of these laws that will make it very difficult. criminalize sending in mail-in applications, protecting partisan poll watchers, which could use for intimidation, creating new rules for people who are assisting voters. some voters need assistance with language. limiting polling places in large urban counties, restricting early voting, et cetera, et cetera. and even allowing poll watchers to film people. can't wait to get in there and they're not going to film people who look like you, with all due respect, they are going to film people who look like me or are latino. what can be done about that? what are organizations doing about it? are you worried that free and fair elections could become a thing of the past in a state

like texas? >> we just learned within the last hour that the texas house is going to vote on a bill similar to the one passed by the texas senate this thursday. if that passes and they can work out the differences in committee, it will go to governor abbott for his signature and all these voter suppression tactics that you just described will become law in a state that is already the hardest in the country to vote in. no online voter registration, 750 polling place closures over the last 8 years, racial jerry mander, voter i.d., you name it, we got it in texas. it's about to get even worse. but there is still time. it has not yet passed, it's not been voted on. if those from texas watching this right now can call their state reps before the thursday vote, i hope that they can compel them to do the right thing. republican, democrat, or otherwise, every eligible voter should be able to participate. that's going to be a lot harder if these bills pass. >> i have to say, and i'm sure you get sick of being asked this, but there are very few

texas democrats who have the stature statewide to be able to be viable statewide. have you thought about whether or not you would want to try to run against greg abbott? would you want to run for governor? is that something that you have considered? >> i'm going to think about where i can do the most good, and right now, i'm finishing a semester teaching at texas state and the university of texas. we're also running an organization called powered by people that's registering voters across the state of texas in the face of this voter suppression, so i'm going to continue to do this work and continue to think about where i can be most effective. >> well, i'm sure you probably wouldn't flee for mexico during an ice storm, so maybe a rematch with ted cruz might be something in the offing. i'm sure he would not enjoy that. beto o'rourke, former congressman beto o'rourke, appreciate you being here this evening. okay, up next, tales told by idiots full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. that about sums up

conservatives' latest culture wars, which brings us to tonight's absolute worst, and is that is next. don't go anywhere. s absolute wos that is next don't go anywhere. im even bette, we listen. like jack. he wanted a streamlined version he could access anywhere, no download necessary. and kim. she wanted to execute a pre-set trade strategy in seconds. so we gave 'em thinkorswim web. because platforms this innovative, aren't just made for traders—they're made by them. thinkorswim trading. from td ameritrade. this is our block. thinkorswim trading. our place. our people. watch the curb. not having a ride to get the vaccine. can't be the reason you don't get it.

you wanna help? donate a ride today. [sfx: psst psst] allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good

at jackson hewitt, we offer safe and easy ways to file with a skilled tax pro. securely drop off your documents, have them picked up, or upload them, and work with a tax pro online from home. safe and easy ways to file that work around you. we look up to our heroes. idolizing them. mimicking their every move. and if she counts on the advanced hydration of pedialyte when it matters most... ...so do we. hydrate like our heroes. [tv announcer] come on down to our appliance superstore where we've got the best deals on refrigerators, microwaves, gas ranges and grills. and if you're looking for...

california phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones, - (phone ringing) - big button,got the best deals and volume-enhanced phones.s, get details on this state program. call or visit now california phones offers free devices and accessories for your mobile phone. like this device to increase volume on your cell phone. - ( phone ringing ) - get details on this state program call or visit

the republican party looks a lot different than it did just 12 years ago, but one distinct feature remains, that seething, foaming at the mouth conservative rage led by a nasht tea party movement enraged over healthcare and by healthcare and by healthcare, i mean, a black president. fast forward to now, obamacare remains but the tea party got what it wanted, a far right galvanized by the fear of a black president. and that conservative outrage machine, you see it churning every day on the house floor or in commentaries by tuck umz and his friends at fox news because keeping their base angry is far more important than actually

governing, even if the boogeyman is literally a child. enter their latest fixation, trans youth who are threatening to take over fourth grade volleyball with a vengeance and by that, i mean they're not. it's a make-believe crisis. but instead of red meat or plastic potatoes, this war has real consequences. transgender girls who already feel unsafe in schools are now facing an onslaught of state legislation targeting them from participating in sports. and the justification for kicking these kids off the team? caitlyn jenner sums it up. >> this is a question of fairness. that's why i oppose biological boys who are trans competing in girls sports in school. it just isn't fair. and we have to protect girls sports in our country.

>> but if someone transitions and now identifies as a girl, isn't it delegitimizing their identity? >> have a good day. >> well, have a good day. of course, caitlyn jenner, the republican candidate for california governor who wants to lead that state, does not speak for the trans community. but she is a long-time republican who's also a vehement trump supporter and we know the republican m.o. all too well. we know that they don't actually care about fairness in girls sports, just like they don't actually care about unborn fetuses because if they did care, they would also care about kids locked in cages and that america's babies need affordable healthcare too. the war against abortion, just like their war against marriage equality, it's what we're seeing in this war against trans kids. it's about forcing the other to exist in their shadow so that they can continue living in a country where their status is protected against all else. and that is why the gop selling rage over actual policy is the absolute worst. and up next, the conservative fixation on a whitewashed

candy-coated version of american history. and the new curriculum at the heart of that fight? the creator of the 1619 project joins me next. the 1619 project joins me next. st psst] allergies don't have to be scary. spraying flonase daily stops your body from overreacting to allergens all season long. psst! psst! all good in the romo household we take things to the max oh yeah! honey, you still in bed? yep! bye! that's why we love skechers max cushioning footwear. they've maxed out the cushion for extreme comfort. it's like walking on clouds! big, comfy ones! oh yeah! what happens to your body language when your underarms are cared for? ♪ ♪ it shows! our new dove advanced care formula

is effective... and kind to skin, leaving underarms cared for and you... more confident and carefree. at fidelity, you get personalized wealth planning and unmatched overall value. together with a dedicated advisor, you'll make a plan that can adjust as your life changes, with access to tax-smart investing strategies that help you keep more of what you earn. and with brokerage accounts, you see what you'll pay before you trade. personalized advice. unmatched value. at fidelity, you can have both. ♪ more than this ♪ rene is not an influencer. she's more of a groundbreaker. just look at the way she's reshaping and reimagining her four-acre. slice of heaven. it's not hard to tell she's the real deal. renee runs with us on a john deere 1series tractor because out here, you can't fake a job well done. nothing runs like a deere.

get a 1sseries tractor starting at $99 per month. ♪♪ ♪ ♪ starting at $99 per month. look, if your wireless carrier was a guy you'd leave him tomorrow. not very flexible. not great at saving. you deserve better... xfinity mobile. now they have unlimited for just $30 a month... $30. and they're number one in customer satisfaction. his number... delete it. i'm deleting it. so, break free from the big three. xfinity internet customers, take the savings challenge at xfinitymobile.com/mysavings. or visit and xfinity store to learn how our switch squad makes it easy to switch and save hundreds.

thanks to the norkz times seminal 1619 project which traces the consequences of slavery from its inception centuries ago, we've seen a growing movement to reframe how american history is taught in public schools. well, some parents are opposed to critical race theory as new curriculum aren't too pleased. >> just because i do not want critical race theory taught to my children in school does not mean that i'm a racist, damn it. >> it actually does. it's just another example of republicans turning kids into a wedge issue, just like their politically motivated attacks on transgender youth who just want

to play sports. joining me now is creator of the 1619 project, nikole hannah-jones and charlotte climber, two of my favorite follows on twitter brought to life. nicole, i have to go to you first because you have been following up. i'm going to allow you to respond to mitch mcconnell, snot minority leader, who said 1619 is not an important date in history. dates like 1776, the declaration of independence, the constitution, civil war, that's the sort of things that are important, not that. he's also said that he's attacking president biden's anti-racism focus, and he's said it's divisive and he's joining in the protests against teaching racism saying it would give students a slanted story. your thoughts. >> well, one, i don't know how you teach about 1865 without

acknowledging that 1619 was an important year being that 1865 occurs began we began slavery in 1619. but also clearly slavery -- 1619 was an important date for mitch mcconnell's own family because his own family left virginia, came to alabama to start cotton forced labor plantations, owned dozens of other human beings and his own wealth and status was acquired because of the legacy of slavery. one, we know that when he's saying that, no one can argue that 1619 was not a foundational date in american history. it nearly led to the demise of our entire nation in 1865, but also it was personally important for mitch mcconnell himself. so when you hear people like him saying that teaching the actual facts of american history are divisive, maybe that's because we have a divisive history in this country. so he's not arguing that we shouldn't teach the truth. he's just saying that the truth is too difficult for apparently

our nation to bear and that we're far too fragile to be able to withstand the scrutiny of the truth. >> thank you first because now we understand why he doesn't want it taught because i don't want you to learn about me. tom cotton had the same issue. it strikes me, charlotte, nicole was tweeting earlier today that deboyes wrote -- and i think this is so brilliant, that people should read more deboyes. that the facts of american history have been in the last half century been false fieded because the nation was ashamed but history has one of two purposes, either to inform you and make you understand the past or two assuage your need to feel heroic. american history has, up until now, really been taught as a bomb to make americans feel patriotic and feel good about the country, not as a way to inform people. most americans don't know very much about american history. it strikes me that the trans kids attacks sort of almost cut against this need for americans to feel heroic. trans kids might be the biggest

sort of ease to victimize children. there's not a lot of trans kids. they're easy to victimize. one would think that what we would want for our stories to feel heroic toward them -- they're children. why do you think the opposite is happening and trans kids have become sort of the sexy wedge issue for republican politicians? >> i think you and nicole said it perfectly. by the way, nicole, i love the 1619 project. i learned so much reading it. i would encourage everyone to read it. you know, the republican party has run out of ideas. they have nothing left. they weren't able to offer solutions to health care for people's economic woes, for our national security. under, you know, donald trump's watch, 500,000 people died in nine months last year. they have no idea. so what are they going to do? they're going to resort to pandering to people's fear and striking fear in the hearts of people who don't know a lot about marginalized communities. and trans children are so easy

for them to attack because most americans don't know a lot about trans people and trans health care. so they're just -- they're bullying young trans kids. and by the way, when they go to attack trans kids online, they're not showing pictures of white trans kids. they're showing pictures of young black trans women in high school next to young white girls, sis white girls, and we know the message they're trying to send there. they're trying to send the message that this is who your young white daughter is competing against, this person. their safety is threatened and their future is threatened by having to compete against them. we know what they're trying to do here. >> and there is that argument because the thing is the easiest sort of tick to go to is fear of black bodies. we do all these stories about policing and you made another good point that the media needs to absorb. this isn't like a political story. it's a story about what we're going to call ourselves as a country, and you really can't extricate enslavement from any

of it, including policing. talk to us a little bit about how can we talk about this in a more holistic way because even the policing story is so rooted in enslavement that you cannot separate the two. and what charlotte just said is the black body is the easy go-to even when the real issue you want to play around with is trans kids in sports. >> absolutely. i mean the entire argument of the 1619 project is that slavery pre-dates almost every other american institution. that means that it is foundational and embedded in our culture. we don't even have to know how we've learned to think about black people as more criminal, as more scary, or in the case of trans kids as more muscular and so automatically be frightening to these little white girls. we don't even have to know how we learned that. it is embedded in our culture. i think what is so important is understanding that intersectionality, the term coined by criticism berly

crenshaw, which shows what black people have always known. marginalized people have to fight for the rights of all marginalized people because it never stops at marginalizing one group. all of us suffer when we allow other people to be marginalized. so of course our fates are intertwined. you don't see republicans being so concerned about protecting girls sports, offering for girls funds to be funded at the same rate. they only care about these issues if they can use them as a wedge. they're not actually fighting for equality. >> absolutely. and you're right. the intersectional argument is why we people of color are all just as mad at rick santorum as people who are indigenous are about what he said about indigenous people. i hate to have to make you answer this question, charlotte. caitlyn jenner is a strange figure because she was for donald trump, and he was, you know, a directly anti-trans president. and now she is running for

governor and has now decided she too is against trans girls playing sports. i don't understand it. within the community, what are people saying and thinking about this? >> listen, every marginalized community has members that work against the equality of that community. it's -- you know, every community has that. for trans folks, caitlyn jenner is the -- athlete of the trans community. she has always worked against lgbtq equality. she has always worked against our interests. so when we saw her throw trans children under the bus and directly attack trans children in that interview, we were not surprised. she's a hypocrite. just last year she told trans journalist on her podcast that she had problem with trans kids playing on teams that align with their gender identity. caitlyn jenner has played in women's golf tournaments for god's sake. this is someone who panders. she is a hypocrite, and she is a hateful person who has no

problem attacking trans people to build her brand. >> i -- very well said. nikole hannah-jones, whose 1619 project i just sent out to all of my students that you actually spoke to at howard university. thank you so much for speaking to my class. they all got copies because people need to learn it. charlotte climber, thank you to have you on. welcome to readout family. there's news tonight regarding derek chauvin. today chauvin's lawyer filed a motion asking the court to throw out last month's guilty verdicts in the murder of george floyd and to schedule a new trial. the motion cites jury misconduct and jury intimidation as well as a failure to provide a change of venue for the trial among its reasons. of course this appeal is no surprise, and it's been expected since chauvin was found guilty on all three counts. he's still expected to face sentencing next month. that is tonight's reidout. be sure to tune in tomorrow. i will be joined by senator elizabeth warren on president biden's bold agenda and her new book, which is called "persist."

you don't want to miss it. "all in" with chris hayes starts right now, and may the force be with you. tonight on "all in." >> president trump claimed for months that the election was stolen and then apparently set about to do everything he could to steal it himself. >> a political purge for telling the truth about lies. >> i have heard from members concerned about her ability to carry out the job as conference chair, to carry out the message. >> tonight former rnc chair michael steele on why liz cheney is no longer welcome and why it's a massive problem for the country. then the anti-anti-racism movement now defending the three-fifths compromise to own the libs. >> they did it for the purpose of ending slavery well before abraham lincoln. plus, as the mar-a-lago emcee gets his own blog, is facebook about to ban trump for life tomorrow? and should we be okay with that as the cre