iour bargain detergent couldn't keep up. turns out it's mostly water. so, we switched back to tide. one wash, stains are gone. daughter: slurping don't pay for water. pay for clean. it's got to be tide. hi there, everyone. 4:00 in the east. proof that the big lie of a stolen election is the animating principle of today's republican party is everywhere today. not just on capitol hill where republicans are trying to oust liz cheney from the leadership post for telling the truth about the 2020 election, but in states across the country now. in arizona where a shadowy company is auditing millions of votes democratic secretary of state hobbs is sounding the alarm about how those ballots are being handled. from "the washington post" reporting on this, ballots left

unatentded on counting tables, computers sit abandoned at times open, unlocked and unmonitored. procedures are shifting. with untrained workers using different rules to count ballots. arizona secretary of state hobbs on wednesday sent a letter outlining a string of problems that she said observers from her office have witnessed at republican led -- at the republican-led recount of the 2020 presidential election results in arizona's largest county and now the justice department is stoeping in warning the republican-led state senate that the audit of the ballots could be breaking federal laws because the ballots were turned over to a private company when they're supposed to stay in the hands of election officials and that plans by the company to directly contact voters could amount to voter intimidation. but there's perhaps no greater sign of just how deranged the arizona autoit is than this. an auditor telling cbs news -- wait for it -- they're looking for tracing of bamboo in the

ballots because of a baseless conspiracy fraud that ballots were shipped in from asia. >> well, there's accusations that 40,000 ballots were flown in -- >> to arizona? >> to arizona and stuffed into the box. okay? it came from the southeast part of the world, asia. okay? and what they're doing is to find out if there's bamboo in the paper. that camera right there that they take a picture of the ballot. >> it's crazy that we have to say this, that we have to cover this story, but there is no evidence that bamboo laced ballots were smuggled in from asia. okay? and while the arizona row count is an obsession and the central focus of the disgraced ex-president and the election fraud fantasies the fellow travelers in the big lie across the country are busy. they're using this fraud and these baseless concerns of fraud

as the entire basis for passing a whole bunch of new voting restrictions. republicans in texas are on the verge of passing a bill that's sparking protests in the state house there today. the law to curb early voting hours and drive-in voting and give power to partisan poll watchers but the state's republican attorney general spent 22,000 hours looking for voter fraud and came up with just 16 cases of false addresses. on registration forms. down in florida republican governor ron desantis turned voter suppression into a photo-op signing a bill to add hurdles to voting at an event live on fox news and fox news only. reporters were barred from entering over covering the event. the gop all in on the big lie and service of subverting democracy where we begin this hour with some of the faifrtd reporters and friends. yam irche alsindor is here.

and lucky for us a msnbc contributor and joining us is david plouffe, now a msnbc political analyst and ryan rabbdazo. we're so happy to have you back. i'm going to get to arizona in a second. i want to start with this national picture of a purge in the house republican caucus of liz cheney from the leadership post and this sort of -- the proof points that the conduct and the repeating of the big lie, the walking back the truth that mccarthy has done, the outrageous performances today by the woman who would like to replace liz cheney talking about the big lie as enthusiastically as donald trump did and acting like the insurrection never happened ian supporters didn't mutilate police officers and law enforcement officials at the capitol and using it to push through voter suppression laws,

using it for this off the walls faux audit in arizona. is anyone concerned about where this is heading? >> i think everyone is concerned and the republican secretaries of state saying over and over again in the 2020 election that the votes were not fraudulent and not close and that joe biden won by millions of votes. but what you see in the republican party is a republican party that is in some ways wrestling with itself because you have a former president in president trump who simply kapt let this go and who has the power in the party in a way that is really making all the other republicans who want to continue to have a lot of political power stand in line and think of marjorie taylor greene ousted from the committee with the fund raising and signals to

republicans around her she is the way forward in this party. she is the way forward talking to these republican base voters. in talking to people especially people that worked in the 1960s who were voting rights activists they tell me that this is voter nullification and what you see here is not just suppression to see people tar getting and harder to vote but what's happening in arizona possibly is an auditing of the vote to look at people who they don't like how they voted and take that out ian just very, very scary talking to activist that bled and only died for rights in this country. it's a party that is dealing with and leaning toward voter nullification. >> ryan, when you look at who they're recruiting to carry out the faux audit's not both sides of the ideological spectrum. your reporting is the scareiest of the day.

the effort -- you write this. the effort to recruit people to count ballots for the audit of mare copa county's presidential election results appears targeted in part aft traditionally conservative groups. one is a retired police officer who worked as an investigator for a right wing group to warn of the marxist movement in america. another person in recruitment used the brief stent as the chairman to try to get trump back in office by protesting the resultings of one of the prior audits so it is not just voter nullification but a very ideologically driven effort there. i wonder if you can update us since your last appearance about how it's going and going on in that room other than the hunt for bamboo. >> there's still some very slow counting going on. but not fast enough because as

you noted they are going to be kicked out of that building next week for high school graduations. and the fairgrounds say they're not welcome to extend that lease so i expect some sort of a fight there whether or not to store the ballots somewhere and resume counting after the graduation ceremonies but we have press there. we have press access now in agreement with the senate republicans so there are different journalists from television, newspapers, radio with eyes on the floor every day and every day there's a new revelation about who they recruited and what they are looking for and how they are doing it. >> does anyone think that what they're doing above board in that does anyone think there's unanswered questions from the previous three recounts? >> well, the people on the floor recruited to do this clearly

believe in the cause. you mentioned they recruited extremists to participate in this and that's because those are the people that had questions about this. it makes sense. most of the moderate republicans in the state don't think there's a need for this. i have heard from hundreds of people in the past week after reports who was on the floor doing the counting that they don't think it was necessary and now concerned that some people with questionable backgrounds are on the floor handling machines, ballots and what is the point of all that? you have people who believe in their hearts that there was fraud and they're the ones doing the counting and some reporting noted that they talk amongst themselves and supposed to count and agree on a number counting 100 ballots at a time but mingling and chatting between here and doesn't seem like it's extremely strict protocols aimed

to just count ballots and some ways it is a social affair. my short time on the floor before i was kicked out i witnessed people waiting 15, 20 minutes to do anything. before ballots would be brought to them so again you know not happening fast enough and not a lot of conferred what they are doing is going to come out with an accurate result. >> i just want to press you on this -- what you just said there. people that believe there's fraud. a belief i'm sure but not a fact, a fact that undergirds anything that room so that's post fact, anti-fact. is there growing concern that this fact immune exercise being carried out by fact immune people is going to lead to distrust of republican govern knorr, trump certify the vote after three recounts?

why is this still going on? >> there is distrust. there is no evidence there was any problem with the election. there's no evidence in the hand recounts of statistically numbers of ballots afterwards yet the people still believe without evidence that there is a problem and so the people that believe most there's a problem are the ones now looking for something. it just seems very likely that they're going to come up with something, whether it's there or not, and we don't know what they're doing even with all of the equipment because we want access for the press to be there and for observers to be there and we don't know what data they took out of the voting equipment, for example. and more importantly we don't know where this is going later. they have discussed trying to certify voters so if they know that a person cast a ballot would they send someone to the

house and knock on the door? you know? that is what the department of justice is concerned with voter intimidation because who's going to come to the door? the cyber ninjas? what are they wearing and how does it make people feel about the ability to vote freely? >> david plouffe, ryan took us there. enter the department of justice who today asserted publicly there are concerns of the illegality of this, going out six months after an election and making contact as part of the faux audit and the possession by sort of out in the open conspiracy theorists of fraud that doesn't exist. so say the republican officials in the state who engaged in three recounts to dispel distrust. what is the sort of urgency in your view for the justice

department to be aggressive here? >> it couldn't be more -- and i think it's terrific you continue to spend considerable time on this because a def-con 1 moment for america. this is a threat from within. democracy is hanging by the thinnest thread in our country's history. and what's happening in phoenix, arizona, should be happening in new mexico. it's just crazy town. by the way there's no question that the end of this ridiculous theeatriacality will say that trump should have won but this is deadly serious. the justice department needs to be all over this, not just in arizona but all the efforts around the country. what's puzzling to me is you have the republican elected officials who in office because they chose to participate in the

theater of democracy and i'm not sure we have seen people in america hate democracy this much because basically they want to enshrine themselves in power and they're doing it because they're fearful of this ridiculous shameful historically incompetent cult leader in mar-a-lago who they pledge allegiance to and none got into politics to be weak kneed and bending the ring to a cult leader but that's where they found themselves. the issues are secondary. they're on careers secondary in many respects to this fact and everybody concern about this country and the enterprise is at risk here. this is an existential threat and great to see doj involved and organizations are filing lawsuits but what needs to happen here and won't solve this but congress must act.

they must pass voting rights legislation and if they don't because democratic senators decide that protecting the filibuster has its roots in slavery and racism you will basically protect that so that our democracy and our country can be handed over to a party that increasingly is comfortable with white nationalism at its core and this is -- you know, moronic is not a strong enough word. it would be tragic. >> let me press you on this, david. we start with this every day because i see it as you described it. this is not a story about rogue republicans. this is at the highest levels of the republican party. i pray to god this stays safe and peaceful the recounting but every time you green light an action in response to a lie you're culpable of those actions become heated or become violent

and the culpability to mitch mcconnell and mccarthy. mccarthy probably more than anybody else. i guess my question for you is, if the democracy is on the line should this be a front burner issue for everyone that believes in democracy, republicans and democrats? >> absolutely. obviously continuing to get the vaccination rates up, doing everything we can to strengthen the economy and this is at the very top because if this gets unraveled then none of the rest really matters so absolutely. i think for all the democrats out there working so hard to elect joe biden, to get us a democrat senator have to press on everybody. you can do all the right things on economy and covid and if you don't take every step you can to protect this democracy you failed. because you're right. we see the actions that are now happening in arizona, georgia,

texas, florida after the big -- and the embrace by basically every elected official with a few exceptions in washington republicans. what's going to happen in 2022. listen. there's political lifetimes between now and then but say we have a bunch of close races. there will be objections to that, republicans if they lose the races won't concede saying that it was stolen, could be violence. this has unleashed something that could not be more dangerous in the democracy and society. so yes i think from joe biden on down the very most important thing to do, otherwise just pack the experiment in, is to make sure we safeguard the democracy and the other side will fight with every fiber of their being. this animates them. change who's in charge of elections.

>> i agree with everything that you've just said and let me add for the republicans it is existential as well. they do not survive unless they change the rules. they do not exist even as a corrupt and dark force in american life. they will perish if they do not pass voter restriction laws in every state. and if they thought they were above board, ron desantis would have done it open press bill signing and not exclusively for the viewers of fox news which is what happened today. >> that's right. critics of the republican party say they think it's easier to cheat and to cut people out of the election and of the e length ral process that they don't think will vote for them on the front end than to expand the base and move past what critics say is the xenophobia of former president trump and the real misogyny critics say of former

president trump so instead of adjusting the message, i remember getting pulled into meetings in 2012 by sean spicer and others who would explain to me how they try to get black and brown voters and latino voters into the republican party and now the party is looking at the election of 2016 saying we want to lean into that, lean into how president trump got elected then. they're ignoring the 2018 election and the 2020 election that proofed that president trump's message had a limit and that americans looked and said we'll give the democrats control of the house and then the control of the house, the senate and the presidency. this is an exstent rnl crisis and talking to migrants, they say we came to america because democracies are fragile and we fled our countries because america's democracy is supposed to be sound and here we have a democracy that really is in this really tough spot and we have to

as americans openly talk about this and understand what's going on which is really could be the real falling away of our democracy and not just one big lie but big lies if we continue to let this go on. >> and the more that governors like desantis sign laws exclusively on fox news and don't let anyone else in the more evidence we have just from the republicans and their right wing media allies themselves that they're in on the joke and know what they're doing, on purpose and repeating the lie is something designed only for their audience who doesn't call it a lie. david, ryan, thank you so much for starting us off this hour. when we come back, how this country has turned the corner on coronavirus. swinging into full blown reopenings. despite the nightly onslaught of lies and disinformation still pouring out on the right. president biden today promising progress and change

and compromise but says he's sick and tired of corporate america not paying the fair share. elizabeth warren will join us. we'll also ask her about the latest threat to the democracy, today's gop has we have been discussing. all those stories and more. t. oohh yeah, that's nice. can i use apple carplay to put some music on? sure, it's wireless. pick something we all like. ok. hold on. what's your buick's wi-fi password? “buickenvision2021.” oh, you should pick something stronger. that's really predictable. that's a really tight spot. don't worry. i used to hate parallel parking. [all together] me too. - hey. - you really outdid yourself. yes, we did. the all-new buick envision. an suv built around you... all of you. dad, it's a video call. hold the phone in front of you. how's that? get...get mom. [ding] power e*trade gives you an award-winning app with 24/7 support when you need it the most.

don't get mad. get e*trade and start trading today. this is our block. our place. our people. our block, it's just like yours. full of the people who shaped you. they all deserve care and access to the vaccine. no matter their address, income, or skin color. 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. keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo ♪ ♪ 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, switch to xfinity mobile and get unlimited with 5g included for $30 on the nations fastest, most reliable network.

after more than a year of hardships and sacrifice and loss, there are multiple signs of hope that we're at a point in the covid pandemic where things are really turning around.

the cdc optimistically announced yesterday that if most americans get vaccinated and are careful with the day-to-day lives covid-19 may be under control and normal life can resume this summer. with cases falling in michigan and several states with zero deaths for the first time steady it seems we may be really turning the corner in the fight against the pandemic but public health officials remain cautious. surges are still expected in the coming months but they're not expected to reach previous levels. all the while disinformation from the right about the virus still rages on. joining our conversation, dr. shaw, dean of brown university school of public health and yamiche is still with us. doctor, what is the sort of prospect of letting the results speak to the sort of folks on the receiving end of the disinformation? it seems like when this was all

an experiment maybe people were more susceptible. do you think they'll look and maybe not be as susceptible to the disinformation? >> yes. first of all, thank you for having me on. when i -- >> thank you. >> look at this whole pandemic, the bottom line has been misinformation and disinformation has been a source that harmed us. i believe americans are looking at people vaccinated, people have been on the fence and seeing that people are vaccinated are safe, that they can go about the daily business and do so saferly and i think poo helps people jump off the fence and i don't think the misinformation is as effective as it was early in the pandemic. >> i ask because the disinformation is getting really so much more over the top. and if you're on the fence then you don't have the other proof points in society it's just -- it's hard to understand where

the incentive structure comes from but tucker carlson seemed to tie deaths of people vaccinated. i'm not going to show it. it is largely older americans and i wonder if you -- what do you do about that? how do you fight that? >> yeah. so i think you fight it by sharing good information. of course. i think most people realize if you're vaccinated that doesn't prevent you from getting into a car accident. doesn't prevent you from having a stroke or heart attack you would have had otherwise and they're still at the same risk for everything else but not at risk for covid in the same way and i think people are smart enough to know that he's trying to manipulate and we ignore that and focus on the evidence and science that the vaccines are exceedingly safe and great for getting life back the normal. >> i want to turn to the white

house's roll in this and i'm sure you know this better than i do but when i reach out to anyone about anything the first thing they say is, look, i'll look into that but all i think about is needles into arms. more than a message and it's more than a policy. it is a mantra, it is their sort of melding of mission and purpose. and i wonder what their sort of mindset is about the summer. white knuckled? cautiously optimistic? do they think we're ready to fling the doors open like the crowded cities that were hardest hit? >> my sense in talking to white house officials is that they are hopeful but really determined in some ways to help the country understand just how important it is to get vaccinated. i hear the same echos that you hear when i call white house officials even about immigration or education or other things it

comes back to covid because the central topic and thing the president wants everyone to be focused on is getting the country really healthy and through this pandemic. what i will also tell you is i came back from a trip from st. louis and it struck me in talking to people just how much fear there still is about these vaccines. i talked to so many people saying i don't know what that will be like and kill me. this j&j thing makes me nervous about the fact of a pause. there's still work to be done and the biden administration realizes that there's a lot of work to be done in talking to americans about just how serious getting a vaccine is and just how important it is to getting to a normal summer if people can be convinced and be -- get to an understanding that this vaccine almost can't be voluntary and seen as life and death even if people around you don't get as sick as they were at the height of this.

>> doctor, how much of that is handled sort of outside of government and outside of -- how much of that is handled if someone works at a factory and won't let anyone back on the line until they're vaccinated or a kid to go back on campus and be at university, they cannot live on campus unless they're vaccinated, how much of that is going to be sort of an incentive structure? >> i think it is going to be a partnership. how do we kept more people to get ready to be vaccinated. the germans talk about vaccine reediness. i think government agencies have to be working with nonprofits, with kind of community leaders, religious leaders. and then the other part is private businesses, university. my universities and others require this for students. i think that's a really important force. we sort of have an all hands on

deck because the bottom line is we want to put the pandemic behind us and we need americans vaccinated. i think it is possible but it is all of us working on this. >> another one of the president's goals that they are claiming to have hit or that they have hit is getting as many students, younger kids back in school. the ap said a survey in march by the education department found 54% of public schools below high school levels offering full-time classroom learning to any student that wanted it. marking steady progress since january when that number was 46%. how do they see the sort of vaccines for younger kids coming online in the coming months as part of a back to school push? do they plan to really push -- even in some places, where i live in new york city, where public school is in person, not

everyone is sending the schools and disparities there so what is the thinking about selling school as safe in the fall? >> the first is that the president and the white house officials and officials that i have been talking to talk about selling school as not just safe but really critical to not having this real gap when you look at equity and the black and brown students and students who maybe don't have access to the same broadband as other many students in more affluent areas and selling it two pronged and the other thing is the president said to focus on groups like kids to be vaccinated and focusing on adults who maybe aren't hesitant but haven't gotten around to the vaccine and the third is trying to get to the vaccine hesitancy. children are on the list and part of being healthy is trying to get them vaccinated and also saying we can do this in a way to make kids safe and cuts

through so that children aren't left behind and aren't looking at now two years of having their schooling disrupted. >> doctor, is there any information to share about the process for testing these vaccines on kids that might reassure people because the right wing disinformation already kicked up and going in this direction? >> yeah. the vaccine trials in kids are going exactly the way we do science which is we start with adults because obviously they were the higher risk. now we are testing it in kids through randomized trial and the data on 12 to 15-year-olds for pfizer looks terrific and very, very safe in old ore kids. and on younger kids those studies are just getting going so we have to figure out the right dose. we do this. we have done this for lots of vaccines, lots of medicines and going through the same scientific process that's modern

american medicine. >> sharing information about the vaccination. we do this all the time. thank you both so much for spending time with us and having this conversation. up next for us, president biden pitching his bold state in louisiana today appealing to all americans, even the ones that didn't vote for him. will it be enough to get past mitch mcconnell pledging to put the energy on stopping president biden? elizabeth warren joins us on that topic next. are you managing your diabetes... ...using fingersticks? with the new freestyle libre 2 system, a continuous glucose monitor, you can check your glucose with a painless, one-second scan. and now with optional alarms, you can choose to be notified if you go too high or too low. and for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. ask your doctor for a prescription. you can do it without fingersticks.

learn more at freestyle libre 2 dot u.s. ♪♪ finding new routes to reach your customers, and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting.

california phones offers free specialized phones... like cordless phones, - (phone ringing) - big button,hole new world and volume-enhanced phones. 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

this is all about making a choice, a choice between tax breaks to super wealthy and corporations and investing in working families. i look at this as what i'm talking about is giving essentially tax breaks to hard working middle class and working people who built this country. in my view it's an easy choice. invest in workers wearing hard hats. >> today president biden taking his bold agenda to louisiana in lake charles there standing alongside that city's republican mayor. the president pitching for the first time in a red state the $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, challenging gop lawmakers fighting the proposed tax increases on corporations and the mega rich to pay for it and something that most democratic lawmakers support

including the next guest elizabeth warren. in her new book "persist" drawing from personal experience of turning struggles into opportunities for change she writes for the first time in more than a decade democrats will have control of the house, the senate and the white house. when republicans held similar position in 2017, they delivered on one big promise, a $2 trillion tax cut that mostly benefited rich people. democrats now stand at that same flesh hold and we too can keep a promise, except instead of delivering more wealth and power to the already wealthy and already powerful we can build on an america that works better for everyone else. joining us now is senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts, a member of the armed services and finance committees and author of "persist." thank you so much for visiting us to talk about the new book and everything else happening.

>> well, thank you for having me. i'm delighted to be here. >> when i look at the public support for really all of the big legislative pushes from this president, i constantly wonder if your specific plans and your vigorous defenses of them play into this support where the president's agenda has pretty obvious intersections with things you championed. does that ever cross your mind? >> you know, what crosses my mind is i put out 81 glorious, juicy detailed plans that were all about making america work. not just for a handful at the top but opportunity for everyone, and we are starting to put some of those in place. i am really excited about it. this is a moment in our history when we can do this.

so much has changed over the past year. and when there's this kind of turmoil, a pandemic, a racial reckoning, an armed insurrection, a new president who won by more than 7 million votes, talking about a strong government response to big problems, that means it's time. it is time for us to step up. persist is very personal but it's also very public and very much about what we do in the next 100 days. >> how do you think this president has done in the first 100 days and how often do you talk to him? >> i think that this president has met the moment. he came in at a time when things were in chaos from drmpb. and he made a bold promise and

now that he's done it you forget how bold it was. he said he would deliver 100 million doses of vaccine, 100 million people were going to be vaccinated in the first 100 days and i thought that was important not only from a public health point of view obviously but also for saying he would assess how big is the problem and he was going to come up with a solution big enough to meet it. he was glad to do it on a bipartisan basis and invite the republicans in but if mitch mcconnell was going to put the stick in the ground and not move then president biden was not going to be deterred. he rolled right ahead. and he helped democrats, republicans and independents. everybody who wanted a vaccine he's out there for them. >> you know, andrew yang has a

great quote in a piece of reporting that ashley parker did in "the washington post" about the first 100 days and it goes something like president biden's magical power is once president biden is for something it becomes the new reasonable. and i'm surprised this sort of a former republican that there isn't a policy contrast being made and i wonder sort of how much of that is that the country is on its knees and it's desperate fur help and willing to reimagine the role of government in their lives, how much is that sort of superpower that andrew yang talks about that once president biden is for it it becomes reasonable and how much is years of work softening the debates and taking the arrows around things you have championed for a very long time. >> it's probably all of the above. but i think it's clear. >> yeah. >> the american people want a

government on their side. they want a government that can seriously and soberly assess what's broken and then talk about solutions. look. when i talk about america i'm not just talking about what democrats want. minimum wage passed in florida last year. paid leave in colorado. new education, taxing rich people to putt more money into education. passed in arizona. the things that we're out there advocating for, americans want. a progressive agenda. child care. cancel student loan dead. a wealth tax. those are things america's ready for. those are things that i like to think most democrats are ready to get in there and fight for. it is the republicans in washington who are just out of step and when mitch mcconnell says he thinks as a public servant that he was elected to

go to washington to do nothing and to block anything that comes up, no matter how big the problem is, no matter how good the solution that joe biden and the democrats put forward is what he is saying is he's the one who's unreasonable, out of step and he is not and does not want to be part of the whole governing process. >> you just articulated what is perhaps one of the most undernoted accomplishments in my view of the first 100 days. the white house is redefined by partisanship in america with support in america and republicans aren't part of the conversation and i wonder if you think in your view do you think they want to be part of the conversation? when you look at the poll, if we look at the polls in support of the tax increases to help pay

for the agenda, there's bipartisan support for the tax increases when you ask how will you pay for it? taxing corporations and the super rich. i wonder if they don't have a hand to play and why they're trotting down to mar-a-lago and championing the big lie. do you think it's policy bankruptcy or do you think it's they don't have a hand? >> yeah. i think you've said this exactly right. i think president biden was exactly right when he basically redefined bipartisanship by saying if democrats, republicans and inspecteds across the country want it that's bipartisan and i'm going forward with it. i think what's going on right now is that 40 years of trickle down economics, 40 years in which the answer to every question you asked a republican was, cut taxes and cut regulations or let me translate

that. help the rimp and the powerful get richer and more powerful. that that string has run out. and that enough americans in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of what's been a k hf shaped recovery, in the middle of seeing the children at home of mamas that can't go back to work, of people who say where is our government, what the republicans have to offer is just not what america wants. and i don't mean by little bit. i mean not what america wants by a big chunk. >> as someone that made some arguments, i have to ask you if you're surprised that republicans are deprived over arguments that the economy will suffer. the economy is not suffering and president biden has really pursued a very bold and a very expensive agenda. >> that's right.

that doesn't stop the republican just the answer to everything drn. >> right. >> cut taxes. the answer to everything. deregulate. and don't bother them with data about what's actually happening. you know, i think that what's so important here is to understand that if we -- for example, put a wealth tax in place. i'm going to take an even bolder step here. a wealth tax. that is a wealth on fortunes bigger than $50 million. two-cent tax. a little bit more if you have a billion. that would produce over ten years about $3 trillion. we could add to that a tax on real corporate profits. that is the book profits of corporations. that would give us roughly about another trillion and a half. that's the kind of money that would let us provide universal child care, universal pre-k, put

real investments, quadruple the funding in the title i schools and put real money into k-12. it would let us put money in for universal tuition free technical school, two-year college, four-year college, cancel big chunk of student loan debt and still have money left over to invest in this economy. but that's why it is a real economic theory of how the world works. one that's born out with data. you make those investments in people, in opportunity, and it pays off in more produck tiffty, higher standard of living, more families that do better. a quick story of how starting in the 1970s, women, mamas started going back to work and productivity started to go up.

by about 2000, they just quit doing it. it was too hard, too hard to get child care, too hard to manage it all so it flattens out and what happens? productivity flattens out. we make investments in each other each other, and it's also about investing in our economy overall. democrats are the ones who have the ideas about how to build a strong country going forward, not just for a handful of rich people but to build a strong country for everyone. >> senator warren, i'm going to ask you to stick around through a break. i want to ask you, as someone who ran to be the president of this country, if you're concerned about the state of our democracy, given the state of the republican party. stay with us. f the republican ptyar stay with us

how great is it that we get to tell everybody how liberty mutual customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? i mean it... uh-oh, sorry... oh... what? i'm an emu! no, buddy! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty, liberty, liberty, liberty. ♪ i'm searching for info on options trading, and look, it feels like i'm just wasting time. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a smarter investor with a personalized education from td ameritrade. visit tdameritrade.com/learn

♪ before nexium 24hr, anna could only imagine a comfortable night's sleep without frequent heartburn waking her up. now, that dream... . ...is her reality. nexium 24hr stops acid before it starts, for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn?

[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... we're back with senator elizabeth warren. senator, the last time we spoke, we spoke at length, you were so

kind to join our covid memorial show, and we talked a lot about your brother, and so i read those parts of the book first and i want to read one of them. in late january 2020, i called my brother from somewhere in iowa. over the next week or so, he started feeling pretty sick, pneumonia, the doctor said, and they put him in the hospital in norman. after a few days on antibiotics, don reed spent part of a phone call arguing with me. i smiled. he was getting better. i have -- i think if anyone has family members who sort of have those politics, this story really resonates, because obviously, when someone you love is sick, you don't care who they support, but i wonder what your worries are about the direction that the republican party has taken since trump lost and cost them control of the senate. >> yeah, it -- thank you. this book is very personal story.

it's a story about what i bring to the policy fights, and it's about being a mother and a teacher and a planner, a fighter, a learner, a woman. i talk about how policy touches us so directly, including donald trump's failure to have any policy response on covid. i am so deeply concerned about where donald trump is dragging the republicans. look what happened in florida today. instead of saying, as a state, let's do what we can to make sure that every citizen gets a chance to vote, instead, it looked like some kind of political rally where the governor, on fox news, with no one else around, signs into law a bill that he practically holds

up a sign, saying, i think this is going to help more republicans get elected. and that just feeds more into the -- we don't have to worry about truth. donald trump wants republicans to bend a knee to the big lie. we don't have to worry about democracy. donald trump, the governor of florida, and so many others are saying, let's reshape voting in america so that republicans will have a better chance to win. we don't have to care, they're saying, about the future of our nation, because what they care about, what mitch mcconnell cares about, what donald trump cares about is power. power for themselves, not strength and power for our nation.

>> yeah, or the democracy, it would seem. senator elizabeth warren, it's a pleasure to get to talk to you. congratulations on the book. it is must-read for our times. thank you so much for spending some time with us to talk about it. elizabeth warren's new book, "persist," is out now. the next hour of "deadline white house" starts after a quick break. don't go anywhere. tarts after a quick eabrk. don't go anywhere. ont desk. yes, hello... i'm so... please hold. ♪♪ i got you. ♪ all by yourself. ♪ go with us and get millions of flexible booking options. expedia. it matters who you travel with.

we've got 'em on the ropes. the billionaires buying elections. the corporate special interests poisoning campaigns with dark money, frantic to preserve big-money politics as usual. because the for the people act is on the verge of becoming law. reining in corporate lobbyists, finally banning dark money, and protecting our freedom to vote. billionaires and special interests, your day is nearly done. because it's time for the people to win. tonight, i'll be eating a pork banh mi with extra jalapeños. [doorbell rings] thanks, baby. yeah, we 'bout to get spicy for this virtual date. spicy like them pajama pants. hey, the camera is staying up here. this is not the second date.

♪♪ once i was, you know, able to kind of steady myself, get my bearings, i was just surrounded in this sea of people, rioters, and they just started attacking me from all directions. you know, i experienced a group of individuals that were trying to kill me to accomplish, you know, their goal. how we managed to make it out of

that day without more significant loss of life is a miracle. >> hi again, everyone. it's 5:00 in the east. a haunting and terrifying account there from metropolitan police officer michael fanone of the deadly insurrection that took place four months ago today. for fanone and the other officers at the capitol on january 6th, the emotional wounds and trauma are still very raw. yesterday, he penned a letter to all elected members of the u.s. government that reads, in part, "the fighting here was nothing short of brutal. as the physical injuries gradually subsided, in crept the psychological trauma. i struggle daily with the emotional anxiety of having survived such a traumatic event, but i also struggle with the anxiety of hearing those who continue to downplay the events of that day and those who would ignore them altogether with their lack of acknowledgment. the indifference shown to my

colleagues and i is disgraceful. the time to fully recognize these officers' actions is now. his anger and frustration no doubt exacerbated by the gop's latest war against one of their own, liz cheney, for doing what fanone is asking for, for acknowledging the horror and seeking to hold those responsible to account. while cheney has spelled out in black and white who incited the rioters, the ex-president, the continued threat of the big lie and the extremism it inspires, others in the gop have downplayed what happened. like when senator ron johnson called the insurrection festive and when trump said they posed zero threat. we even saw a dozen house republicans vote against a resolution to honor the police who protected their lives that day with congressional gold medals. acknowledgment of the danger of the big lie is at the heart of the gop's campaign against cheney. in her powerful op-ed in the "washington post" today, she makes a plea to fully investigate the events of january 6th and expose the lies.

"we must support a parallel bipartisan review by a commission with subpoena power to seek and find facts. it will describe for all americans what happened. this is critical to defeat the misinformation and nonsense circulating in the press and on social media. no currently serving member of congress with an eye to the upcoming election cycle should participate. we should appoint former officials, members of the judiciary, and other prominent americans who can be objective, just as we did after the attacks of september 11, 2001. the commission should be focused on the january 6th attacks. the black lives matter and antifa violence of last summer was illegal and reprehensible but it is a different problem with a different solution." cheney's words there striking for their urgency and for the daylight they represent between cheney and the entire rest of her caucus on the importance of the investigation and its scope. kevin mccarthy and other republicans have advocated for the commission to, of course, include a look at black lives

matter protesters and antifa, even though everyone knows, even them, that they were not behind the january 6th riot. but there might be more to mccarthy's pushback on a 1/6 commission. as politico points out today, the reality is that any bipartisan commission on january 6th would almost certainly include a subpoena of mccarthy, whose call with trump will become a central focus of any investigation. that would put mccarthy in a tough spot, forced to recount, on record, things trump may not want out there. the gop continuing to push the big lie while failing to take seriously the threat it emboldens is where we start this hour with some of our favorite reporters and friends. ben rhodes is here, former deputy national security advisor to president obama and an msnbc contributor. also joining us, tim o'brien, senior columnist at bloomberg opinion and tim miller is back, writer at large at the bulwark and former communications director for jeb bush's campaign. ben rhodes, i want to read a little more of liz cheney's op-ed in today's "washington

post." she writes this, i've worked overseas in nations where changes in leadership come only with violence, where democracy takes hold only in the next violent upheaval, america is exceptional because our constitutional system guards against that. at the heart of our republic is a commitment to the peaceful transfer of power among political rivals in accordance with law. president ronald reagan described this as our american miracle. clearly, trump rendered that miracle not the case anymore. and i think what's stunning to someone like liz cheney is that with this opportunity to turn the page, he's deplatformed, he lost and then he went and lost those two senate seats, the republicans had every opportunity, and tim miller is so smart to make these points, they're making affirmative choices now to continue down the path of the big lie, the insurrection, and all the danl it exposes the country to. why? >> well, what's so extraordinary, looking at this, nicole, is what do they disagree

with that liz cheney's saying? these are not, like, she's not disavowing the republican party's philosophy on governing, on immigration, on taxation. she's simply saying a violent insurrection that led to the deaths of people should be investigated and that party officials should no longer continue to lie and say that donald trump somehow won the election or that there are all these fraudulently cast ballots. that's someone saying that the party should live on planet earth and acknowledge the sky is blue and 2+2 is four, and oh, by the way, as elected representatives of a democracy, we should oppose people who seek to violently overthrow that democracy. the fact that not only can her colleagues not join her in that but the simple act of saying and doing that could get her evicted from her leadership position, could potentially cost her support in her own primary is

absolutely extraordinary. i mean, it situates this party as a truly radical kind of far-right movement, not a kind of center right party that happens to have disagreements with the democrats, and it puts us in danger. it puts us in danger because the more politicians are winking at the big lie, the more some people are going to take that seriously, and they're going to be future january 6s, whether on a small scale or big scale like that and also makes us look absolutely ridiculous at a time when joe biden says there's a competition between democracy and authoritarianism. can you imagine if boris johnson, who i don't agree with about many things, if he tried to overthrow the results of an election leading to a violent insurrection at the house of commons? does anybody doubt the british conservative party wouldn't disavow that? of course they would. we are in uncharted territory here as a democracy. >> and tim o'brien, the letter from officer fanone and his speaking out, you know, i guess i would say i'm old enough to

remember when the republican party would recoil at a critique like that. i think republicans like to think of themselves as appealing to law enforcement households and law enforcement families. but their disdain for the law enforcement officials who protected them that day is now part of the brand. it's now who they are. >> right. the party of law and order has turned its back on law and order. and the common thread between what liz cheney is saying and officer fanone is that they are asking republicans to look at reality and look at the fact pattern and make decisions and put their principles in front of those sort of things, rather than a cult of personality. but you know, we were warned of this -- about this for a very long time at the republican convention a year ago, they had no platform. they merely created an event

that was designed to foster a cult of personality around donald trump at the expense of developing an agenda of public policy decisions to make the country better. the republicans rallied around trump's big lie about the election being overthrown and they have now tried to create this barrier of propaganda and myth around the events of january 6th to do the same thing, and the reason for that is they have learned from donald trump that propagandaizing, lying, abusing the rule of law, and cynically misleading your other supporters is an effective path to power, and that's why i think we're in such a dangerous moment right now, as ben just flagged. i think we are in a very unusual place when we see a major party with deep historical roots deciding that the best way to position itself publicly is to

gaslight working americans into believing that they're going to come up with policies that not only address white supremacy and domestic terrorism but practical matters too, like, infrastructure, national security, healthcare and child care for working women. there is -- there are crickets from the republicans on every one of these issues. and their affluent supporters are happy to be behind that because they can move forward. but working members of the republican party are getting snookered here. >> you know, tim, we had this sort of narrative that set in in covering trump's footsie and coordination on messages on everything from the russian efforts in afghanistan to just about every time russia came up, the analysis was offered that even putin is probably surprised

by how well his meddling paid off. i wonder if the same is true about donald trump. i wonder sometimes if even donald trump is dismayed that the entire republican party, from the top to the bottom in congress, with the exception of liz cheney, from the top to the bottom in every state republican party, from the top to the bottom in every legislature controlled by republicans is now rolling over and being almost more subservient to him in disgraced defeat than they were while he was president. >> i doubt he's dismayed but i bet he's even surprised. he's the wedding singer emcee of mar-a-lago right now. he's got no power at all, and all these people are still doing whatever he damn well pleases, you know? and so, look, i just posted something on the bulwark but there was this great quote -- great, i say, in air quotes, that on november 9th right after the election from this top republican official in the

background in the "washington post" and he or she said, what's the downside for humoring him for a little while longer? as their justification for going along with the big lie. you know, two months later, we saw the downside. we just heard from officer fanone, who's still dealing with the very serious physical and emotional and psychological consequences of the downside. and yet, three months after that, that is what they're all saying again. like, that is the -- all what this whole fight between liz cheney and elise stefanik is about. elise stefanik is willing to go on steve bannon's podcast this morning and say, that audit of the arizona vote, there might be something there. we should keep our eye on that, steve. that's what elise was saying this morning on the podcast of one of the drivers of the insurrection. and all liz cheney is trying to say is, i don't think we should humor him any longer. that is what this is about. they all have seen what happened

and they're still willing to humor him and i agree, nicole, the dog that caught the car on this a little bit, surprised himself that these people who were supposedly important leaders in the country are willing to just go along with this charade. >> so, i wasn't going to do this, but i'm going to do this because you raised this. i have this tape of elise stefanik and for anyone who doesn't know who she is, the nicest thing i can say about her is she's not stupid. so, keep that in mind when you listen to the things she's about to say. she's also not as conservative as liz cheney, so there's no ideology behind why steve scalise and kevin mccarthy are sticking knives in liz cheney's back and picking elise stefanik but when you listen to this interview of her with steve bannon who, i think, didn't he get one of the last pardons after he was charged with some felonies, this is her talking to him about the big lie. >> key battles of the

revolutionary war were fought in any district and the president has been our strongest supporter of any president when it comes to standing up to the constitution. when you talk to any voter across this country, certainly at any republican event, they are focused on election security and election integrity. it is important to stand up for these constitutional issues and these are questions that are going to have to be answered before we head into the 2022 midterms so that the american people have faith in our election system. >> so, tim, i played that because -- and it's important to know that elise stefanik is not stupid in the context of this sentence. when you talk to any voters across this country, certainly at any republican event, they are focused on election security and election integrity. the reason they're focused on election security and integrity is because they've been lied to. for six months now, by people like elise stefanik who know there was no voter fraud. and i wonder, tim -- and keep it

real here. is there any chance of breaking the fever when the corruption is so solid? >> no, i mean, if it would be anybody, you think it would be elise stefanik, right? you're saying that she's not stupid. i just want to add to that. she worked with me at the rnc on that famed autopsy that talked about how we need to expand our reach in the party. she wrote for the weekly standard, which was the magazine that got shut down for being too anti-trump and kind of reevolved into the bulwark. she, in 2016, wouldn't even say trump's name on the campaign trail and recruited other anti-trump candidates to run in 2018. she knows exactly what she's doing, and that clip that you played, as gross and disgusting as it was, acting like she's not sure about election integrity, didn't even play the most ridiculous part which is when she goes on to talk about arizona and this audit where they're claiming that they're checking the ballots, to see if there's bamboo from china on them. like, that is how stupid this

audit is in arizona, and she was on there with steve bannon saying, this is really something we need to look into. so, no, i mean, if someone like -- this is not louis gohmert, you know? this is not marjorie taylor greene. if somebody like elise stefanik is going to pass this stuff, how does the fever break? >> i think that's the truth. i want to sort of pull this back to the real danger that the big lie and elise stefanik repeating the big lie represents. nbc's reporting that the fbi is still after the worst of the worst in the capitol riot as new arrests still come at a steady pace. four months after the january 6th riot at the u.s. capitol, fbi agents maintained a steady pace of arresting people accused of taking part as one of the largest criminal investigations in american history keeps growing. we're not done rounding up the worst of the worst, said one law enforcement official. we're not slowing down. more than 440 people have been charged with taking part in the capitol siege coming from all but five states.

i wonder, ben rhodes, how the fbi sort of plays whack-a-mole when the thing that inspired the violence is almost at a higher pitch now than it was before the violence. >> yeah. i mean, they're arresting the foot soldiers but not the people who did the radicalizing, not the people who made the whole thing possible, obviously, and when i hear that clip, what's so chilling about that, and you're right to make the point that this is a smart person. imagine the people listening to this. as was said, like kind of the working people who just are fed, every time they turn on their talk radio dial, every time they click on fox news, every time they open their facebook feed, they get what the algorithm mainlines into their news feed or whether they turn on steve bannon's podcast, they're told that the election was stolen. they're told there are these

concerns. and when you have, as someone who had to look at radicalization from the standpoint of dealing with katie ledecky isis, when you have people who are credible in communities. what is more credible than tan elected official vested with the power of the united states government, telling you, winking at you, the conspiracy theory is real. what is that doing to those people? and some of those people, as we've already seen, are can be so radicalized that they will put their lives at risk charging the u.s. capitol and they will kill people. that has happened. we saw that with our own eyes, all of us saw that, and yet these people are still doing that. it is so beyond irresponsible. it is dangerous. it is going to get people killed and also going to put this democracy at risk because the thing that i keep thinking about, as a democrat, you know, when you add up redistricting with the voting laws that are passed with just how things tend to go in midterm elections, more likely than not that kevin mccarthy, a man who has earned

nothing, a man who has disgraced himself, a man who has shown himself to have no principle that he will put over the pursuit of power, is probably the most likely person to be the next speaker of the house of the united states house of representatives. like, this is -- this is not over. i'm glad you keep coming back to this issue, nicole, because this is not over. this did not end on january 20th. there is a very real threat to american democracy and american national security that is happening all around us right now. and until there are more liz cheneys, someone who i probably agree with about nothing for the last decade or two, until there are more of those people who are willing to stand up, this problem is not going to go away and it is likely to get worse. >> on that note, ben rhodes and tim miller, thank you for starting us off this hour. it is unbelievable. thank you for both of your insights. tim o'brien is sticking around. after the break for us, florida governor ron desantis getting real cozy today with fox news and what that suggests about the

political motivations behind his new voting restrictions. plus, rudy giuliani's money troubles and why recent history suggests donald trump should take them as a warning sign. and why vaccine companies might not be too pleased with the president today. but why the president is digging in anyway. all those stories and more when "deadline white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. ontinues after a quick break. don'got anywhere. this is our block. 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. 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. i have an idea for a trade. for the freestyle libre 14 day system. why don't you call td ameritrade for a strategy gut check? what's that? you run it by an expert, you talk about the risk and potential profit and loss. could've used that before i hired my interior decorator. get a strategy gut check from our trade desk. ♪♪ i'm so glad you're ok, sgt. houston. this is sam with usaa. do you see the tow truck? yes, thank you, that was fast. sgt. houston never expected this to happen. or that her grandpa's dog tags would be left behind. but that one call got her a tow and rental... ...paid her claim... ...and we even pulled a few strings. making it easy to make things right: that's what we're made for. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. get a quote today.

oh when june-- usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. hit that guy! yes! wait i don't remember that! it's in season 4 - don't tell me you haven't seen it! i watched season 3. you won't stay caught up for long unless you keep watching the best shows from hulu, peacock, starz, showtime, and hbo max, all year long. just say "watchathon" into your voice remote to add a channel or streaming service and stay caught up.

why did you only allow fox news to capture the moment you signed the controversial election bill? >> so, we did a wonderful bill-signing for this great elections bill, and it was live

on national television on "fox & friends," and we were happy to give them the exclusive on that, and i think it went really, really well. we got a lot of great feedback on it, and we're proud that we were able to do it on national television. >> that was florida governor ron desantis in all of his glory after signing into law this morning exclusively on fox news and only in front of their viewers, his state's version of voting restrictions that further peddle the big lie that there was fraud in 2020. florida's bill is similar to the other bills that have been discussed in state legislatures all around the country. it definitely makes it harder to vote. this way, make it harder to vote by mail, restricting the use of drop boxes, and all of this happened, was signed into law on

fox news by ron desantis, despite ron desantis saying his last election was the protest transparent and efficient in the country. he said more than 4.8 million floridians cast mail ballots, many of them republicans. the bill is already facing swift backlash with two lawsuits already filed against it. and one state senator from florida didn't mince words today when discussing the new restrictions, saying, quote, this blatant voter suppression is jim crow 2.0 and will make it harder for voters from low income rural white communities to the elderly to communities of color to have their voices heard. joining our conversation is professor michael eric dyson, distinguished professor at vanderbilt university and the author of the book, "tears we cannot stop." and joyce vance is here, professor at the university of alabama school of law and an msnbc contributor. professor, i want to start with you, and i want to ask you why

the conversation on the left and frankly on the side of anyone who believes in increasing access to voting isn't about more than whack-a-mole, isn't about, you know, why isn't the counterproposal, let's make it easier for everyone to vote? if you can buy a car and a house on your phone, maybe you should be able to vote there too. >> well, that would make too much -- sound too much like sense, and good sense. unrestricted voting. let's maximize the potential of american democracy and its citizens to embrace it. let's open the door wide so that people are able to walk through the voting polls and pull that lever and register their opinion about american democracy. it is, you know, it used to be confusing that those on the right side, instead of trying to facilitate a transition to a

voting populace that has the maximum capacity to say what they feel in this country, they are now on the side of those who would want to restrict it. we know historically, voter restriction, voter suppression has been the calling card for the right wing, and they can dress it up as being concerned about safe voting and fair voting, but we all know if you're trying to outlaw the ability of people in the hot florida sun to receive a bottle of water or a plate of food from somebody who's helping them, your intent is not to support voting. your intent is to suppress voting and let's be honest about it in an ugly way. it is geared toward people of color so that the representative who said this is jim crow 2.0, this is jim jane crow, this is sally and every other crow that we can imagine in that family flying low to deprive people of the right to vote. it's pretty shameful and a sad

day in american democracy. >> and i guess, joyce, my sort of understanding of this is that i understand that republicans are doing this because it is an existential threat to them if as many people who voted in '18 and '20 vote in '22 and '24. they know they can't win elections, so this is ball game for them. this is the whole thing. and they all know that there was no voter fraud, because if there was, bill barr was very happy to pursue it and find it and prosecute it, and we know that because he said it. he said it on tv. so, my question, i guess, is the same one to you. why isn't the response from a bipartisan coalition who believes that the right to vote is inherent and that because there was no voter fraud, voter suppression laws aren't what's needed. voter access laws are what's needed. why isn't the kind of counteroffensive not to fight

these laws in republican legislatures but to get the business community, not just to boycott the bad laws but to support bills that would expand access to the right to vote? >> i guess the problem is that you're not running strategy on this issue, because that's absolutely the right way for it to be handled. right? but i would say this. the democrat strategy has been to have a national response to what's going on in the states, and that's really the only possible response that they can craft in this legal system. the problem is that after the supreme court's decision in shelby county vs. holder, which gutted the voting rights act, d.o.j.'s ability to challenge state changes to voting practices that have racial discriminatory impact or intent was really, really minimized. the ability of private parties like the legal defense fund or the lawyers committee for civil rights that have a history of going against these

discriminatory practices was also minimalized and so what we now have is this effort in congress to pass the john lewis act, to restore the voting rights act, to make it easier for people to vote and that, of course, all hinges on the outcome of that bill in the senate. in the meantime, these states are racing to make it more difficult for people to vote. i think it's important just to cap the conversation by saying the brennan center, which tracks this sort of exercise in state legislatures, estimates that 47 states have now introduced 361 measures that would make it more difficult to vote, and the states where those measures are the most predominant are the states that are becoming majority minority states, more quickly than expected. arizona, texas, georgia. so the republican strategy here is clearly one of voter suppression. i think sometimes we move past that too quickly and it's not a partisan issue.

it's not democrats who should be saying this. it's all of us who should be noting that voting is a right, not a privilege in this country. we can all disagree about who we should vote for, but we need to restore this foundational american belief that everybody gets to vote, and it should be easy to do so. >> so, that number is updated, and i'm glad you brought that brennan study to our attention. it used to be 48 states looking at 108 different laws, but joyce is right, professor, there are close to 400 laws and you have to say it every single time. nearly 400 laws designed to solve a problem that doesn't exist. there is no systematic voter fraud in this country. there wasn't any in 2000. there isn't any. and i remember when james baker and jimmy carter -- president jimmy carter looked at it, they didn't find any. former republican campaign lawyer ben ginsburg said there wasn't any until donald trump asked his voters in north

carolina to vote twice. if they'd done that, it would have been a felony, and i want to pick up on what joyce said. is it time to push for the legislation to be passed at the federal level because of that, because 47 states are looking at close to 400 laws? i mean, is it time to really push the conversation about the filibuster? >> well, absolutely. two things. you know, listen to black people who have been leading on this forever. black people who have been saying this. you know, election cycle in, election cycle out, they have been repeating. this women have been repeating this. progressives have been saying that. but especially when it becomes a black versus white issue, it loses some of its steam, even on the left, and an era where we've seen an attack on, quote, woke politics and conscientious responses, so that even corporations which have taken up their role of publicly inveighing against these vicious

and horrible laws, they've been dismissed by mitch mcconnell and others as, you know, woke policemen and they ought to stay out of politics. strange mcconnell now wants them to stay out of politics when he lauded the supreme court for saying that they were basically human with flesh and that these corporations ought to have a right. you know, it's also a criticism of the left and the democrats, especially. the democrats used to say, the feds led, the locals were yokels, right? so we got rid of them. let's not deal with the local stuff. let's deal with the federal stuff. but what we see now, the ingenuity, as cruel and crass as it is, of the republicans is the local is where we are focal, our focal point, because we're going to change it because the federal government has limited abilities, even if the john lewis law passes, which i hope and pray it does, the ability to apply federal mandates against local strictures is counter to many of these states' belief

that they sit on their own tub, on their own bottom, in their own silo, and how dare the federal government try to impose its arbitrary will upon them. so, yes, we need both/and, not either/or. a strong federal response, corporate citizens and the rest of us should be involved, but progressives must step up to the plate. democrats must step up to the plate and say, enough is enough. this is not about black versus white. this is right versus wrong, and either you're going to be on the right side or the wrong side. >> michael eric dyson, it's always a pleasure. thank you for spending some time with us today. joyce vance is sticking around. coming up for us, did you know rudy giuliani used to travel all around new york city with an entourage of five people? well, not so much anymore now that donald trump has left him high and dry with mounting legal bills. why the former president might want to think twice about that. next. want to think twice about t next tonight...

i'll be eating roasted cauliflower tacos with spicy chipotle sauce. [doorbell chimes] thank you. [puck scores] oooow yeah!! i wasn't ready! you want cheese to go with that whine?? [sfx: kids laughing] [sfx: bikes passing] [sfx: fire truck siren] onstar, we see them. okay. mother and child in vehicle. mother is unable to exit the vehicle. injuries are unknown. thank you, onstar. ♪ my son, is he okay? your son's fine. thank you. there was something in the road... it's okay. you're safe now. did you know you can go to libertymutual.com it's okay. to customizes your car insurance so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ finding new routes to reach your customers,

and new ways for them to reach you... is what business is all about. it's what the united states postal service has always been about. so as your business changes, we're changing with it. with e-commerce that runs at the speed of now. next day and two-day shipping nationwide. same day shipping across town. returns right from the doorstep, and deliveries seven days a week. it's a whole new world out there. let's not keep it waiting. we started with computers.

we didn't stop at computers. we didn't stop at storage or cloud. we kept going. working with our customers to enable the kind of technology that can guide an astronaut back to safety. and help make a hospital come to you, instead of you going to it. so when it comes to your business, you know we'll stop at nothing.

he turned around and he told people, you know, if that person starts screaming in the crowd, i give you permission to beat them up and don't worry, i'll pay your legal fees. well, fortunately for a lot of people that they didn't do that, because donald trump would never pay your legal fees, and you can take that to the bank, because i'm right now in litigation with him on the exact same topic. >> to borrow one of donald trump's old lines, rudy, if

you're listening. signs today that rudy giuliani is facing a real cash crunch as his legal troubles pile up. politico is reporting that giuliani has cut down on his personal entourage over the last few weeks, seeking to, quote, cut costs. this on the heels of the "new york times" reporting that giuliani's advisors believe trump should pay his pricey legal bills, a fruitless request if you ask michael cohen. the "times" reporting this. quote, mr. giuliani led the effort to subvert the results of the 2020 race in a series of battleground states but he was not paid for the work, according to people close to giuliani and trump. his supporters now want the trump campaign to tap into the $250 million it raised in the weeks after the election to pay giuliani and absorb costs he has incurred in the defamation suits. that's not to mention the federal investigation he's facing over his conduct in ukraine and as the pressure ramps up on rudy, george conway warns in a new op-ed today that could mean legal exposure for the former president. quote, if giuliani has anything

to offer prosecutors to save himself, it would have to be trump, the only bigger fish left. and it was arguably criminal for the then-president to have used his official powers to try to coerce foreign officials into aiding his re-election campaign. in fact, giuliani's admission that he wasn't conducting foreign policy but merely helping trump personally is exactly what would make the scheme prosecutable. the former guy just might want to rethink stiffing giuliani on those bills. we're back with tim o'brien and joyce vance. joyce, this feels muddled, frankly. i mean, if trump starts just injecting cash into rudy's bank account, right when rudy is faced with a decision about whether or not to cooperate in an investigation that could lead to donald trump, does that expose trump to obstruction or bribery charges potentially? >> the whole situation is really fraught on both sides. certainly if trump did that, there would be that suspicion

based on how all of this is evolving with rudy giuliani's supporters saying that they've spoken with the president's legal team, demanding these sort of payments. it could just be characterized as a payment on a debt that was owing, but trump has maintained all along that he would pay giuliani only for expenses and not for legal fees associated with his post-election work. so, it would give off that sort of an odor, and it would certainly be interesting in the context that we're seeing now where giuliani has previously said that he's got some insurance, that if he were ever to be indicted, that he has material that he could turn over. i think george conway nails it when he suggests that the former president would be the most likely person that giuliani could convince federal prosecutors he should be permitted to cooperate against, and so trump proceeds at his peril no matter what he does here, seemingly. >> i want to read some more of

the conway op-ed that joyce referenced, tim. george says, federal prosecutors in manhattan tried to get permission last fall for a giuliani raid but were rebuffed by senior officials serving under trump. last june, for reasons still opaque, then attorney general barr ousted the u.s. attorney there and tried to hand pick a successor. if any of that was intended to protect giuliani or trump himself, it might end up backfiring spectacularly. if a warrant had been executed before january 20th, it's hard to imagine that trump wouldn't have pardoned giuliani out of spite, self-interest, or both. and frankly, there was some reporting that it was on the table that he might have pardoned himself. why do you think he didn't? >> well, i still think that's the million dollar question. you know, donald trump is motivated most of the time by his emotions and animus. it's not -- he is not a strategic thinker, and i doubt any time this came before him

about how to treat giuliani he was trying to watch this unspool into the future and wonder about how it might come back to haunt him. you know, after all, his relationship with rudy goes back decades. it was a mystery to those of us covering rudy and trump in new york in the 1980s when rudy was the u.s. attorney for the southern district why he wasn't taking a closer look back then at allegations of possible money laundering and trump's proximity to members of organized crime in new york. it sort of skated under the radar. it was attributed back then to the fact that rudy had his eyes on city hall and he knew that trump would be an important ally if he wanted to do that one day. and since then, rudy has essentially been a bagman and a sort of dirty ops operator for trump, so he knows a lot, and it

was -- it is in trump's interest to keep rudy on his side. but the issue of legal fees is interesting because donald trump doesn't even pay his own legal fees, so the idea that he would open up his wallet to pay someone else's is beyond the pale, and i think if he does it now, i don't think anyone should be under the impression that this is paying a legal fee. it is paying hush money, and that's what it amounts to, and i think if that becomes witness tampering or if law enforcement officials see it as witness tampering, that's going to be problematic for trump. >> and paying hush money is literally the crime that named him the nickname, individual one, in michael cohen's sentencing. >> that's right. >> filings. tim o'brien and joyce vance, we will stay on it with your help. thank you for being part of this conversation today. up next for us, why president biden's latest vaccine announcement could drive a bit

of a wedge around some issues with vaccine makers. that's next. ers. that n'sext. this is how you become the best! [music: “you're the best” by joe esposito] [music: “you're the best” by joe esposito] [triumphantly yells] [ding] don't get mad.

get e*trade and take charge of your finances today. if your dry eye symptoms keep coming back, inflammation in your eye might be to blame. looks like a great day for achy, burning eyes! over-the-counter eye drops typically work by lubricating your eyes and may provide temporary relief. ha! these drops probably won't touch me. xiidra works differently, targeting inflammation that can cause dry eye disease. what is that? xiidra, noooo! it can provide lasting relief. xiidra is the only fda-approved non-steroid treatment specifically for the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease. one drop in each eye, twice a day. don't use if you're allergic to xiidra. common side effects include eye irritation, discomfort or blurred vision when applied to the eye, and unusual taste sensation. don't touch container tip to your eye or any surface. after using xiidra, wait 15 minutes before reinserting contacts. got any room in your eye? talk to an eye doctor about twice-daily xiidra. i prefer you didn't!

xiidra. not today, dry eye. 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. ♪♪ [ crowd cheering ] [ engine revving ] [ race light countdown ] ♪♪ ♪♪ when you save money with allstate you feel like you're winning. safe drivers save 40% saving is easy when you're in good hands.

allstate. click or call for a quote today. this is our block. saving is easy when you're in good hands. 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. the biden administration making a new announcement that it supports waiving covid-19 vaccine patent protections. it's a move that could benefit global vaccine production. that's after sustained pressure from more than 100 low and middle income countries along with some democratic lawmakers,

but on the other side, there's some concerns surrounding the move. from the "washington post" reporting on the story, quote, the drug industry said that the move would backfire, that the pharmaceutical research and manufacturers of america predicting that allowing more manufacturers to make shots would spark any competition for limited ingredients, slow down existing production, and even lead to counterfeit vaccines. let's bring into our conversation msnbc medical contributor, dr. vin gupta, pulmonologist and global health policy expert. can you explain this decision that the biden administration has made and really what the two choices they were facing really meant? >> of course, nicole. good afternoon. so, essentially, there's a clause, this intellectual property, that governs the development of vaccines in this case or even drugs like insulin where the maker is protected and has property rights over the development of, you name it, the

covid vaccine or any type of drug, and so that prevents a third party manufacturer from looking at a list of ingredients and making their own version of it. and the problem here is that that's limiting supply, and the big issue here, nicole, is, let's take pfizer, for instance. pfizer claiming that this is going to tamp down innovation. their trade organizations are saying the same thing. but it is confusing to understand that when you look at the facts. pfizer got billions of dollars in prepurchase agreements from the united states when we didn't know if you would have had a workable vaccine. that's number one. early in 2020 they got those contracts. and then germany gave biontech over 500 million euros in r&d funding. do you know how much, nicole, pfizer made in q1?

$300 billion of profit. how much do they want to profit from the american taxpayer in this case? it doesn't square with reality. the argument that in a once in a century pandemic, let's remove intellectual property that that's somehow going to tamp down innovation, well, this was funded by the american taxpayer. it's the world's vaccine in this case because it got multinational support. >> what happens next? does the president have the power to make them do this? and will other countries start making the vaccines now? >> well, not necessarily. so this is now up to the world trade organization to ultimately levy a decision as to whether this will be waived, the patent protections potentially for all of them. and the eu where biontech has

based has not committed to following through with a similar promise. it is very much an open question whether or not this will change anything in the short term, but it is a right first step. >> dr. gupta, thank you for making sense of this for us today. it is always nice to see you. when we return, as we do every single day, we will remember lives well-lived. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ hey google, turn up the heat. ♪ ♪ ♪

people everywhere living with type 2 diabetes are waking up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ you are my sunshine ♪ ♪ my only sunshine... ♪ rybelsus® works differently than any other diabetes pill to lower blood sugar in all 3 of these ways... increases insulin... decreases sugar... and slows food. the majority of people taking rybelsus® lowered their blood sugar and reached an a1c of less than 7. people taking rybelsus® lost up to 8 pounds. rybelsus® isn't for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, severe stomach pain, or an allergic reaction. serious side effects may include pancreatitis.

tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration which may worsen kidney problems. wake up to what's possible with rybelsus®. ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ you may pay as little as $10 per prescription. ask your healthcare provider about rybelsus® today. advil dual action fights pain 2 ways. it's the first and only fda approved combination of advil plus acetaminophen. advil targets pain. acetaminophen blocks it. advil dual action. fast pain relief that lasts 8 hours. some say this is my greatest challenge. governments in record debt; inflation rising, currencies falling. but i've seen centuries of this. with one companion that hedges the risks you choose and those that choose you.

the physical seam of a digital world, traded with a touch. my strongest and closest asset. the gold standard, so to speak ;) people call my future uncertain. but there's one thing i am sure of... i'll be observing your safe-driving abilities. play your cards right, and you could be in for a tasty discount. [ clicks pen] let's roll. hey, check it out. one time i tripped on the sidewalk over here. [ heavy-metal music playing ] -[ snoring ] -and a high of 89 degrees. [ electronic music playing ] ooh! ooh! who just gives away wood? the snapshot app from progressive rewards you for driving safe and driving less. there's an app? -[ chuckles ] beth. -save money with progressive. [ tires screech ] well, that came out of nowhere. today we honor the life of kara bluth, beloved by students

and faculty alike. one of her friends told nbc 10 in philadelphia that one of kara's passion was reading. she'd occasionally dress up in costume acting out different characters just to make the children's day a little more magical. she made every room brighter just by entering it. from her soul, she exuded joy, laughter and love. tragic, kara passed after a fight with covid-19 in february. we are thinking of her, her husband, her family, her friends and her students during what must be an extraordinarily difficult and painful time. we will be right back. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage.

that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪ new projects means new project managers. we're made for. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy. great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. ♪ the light. ♪ it comes from within. it drives you. and it guides you. to shine your brightest. ♪

as you charge ahead. illuminating the way forward. a light maker. recognizing that the impact you make comes from the energy you create. introducing the all-electric lyriq. lighting the way. ♪ lighting the way. tonight, i'll be eating a veggie cheeseburger on ciabatta, no tomatoes.. [hard a] tonight... i'll be eating four cheese tortellini with extra tomatoes. [full emphasis on the soft a] so its come to this? [doorbell chimes] thank you. [doorbell chimes] bravo. careful, hamill. daddy's not here to save you. oh i am my daddy. wait, what? what are you talking about?

thank you so much for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. "the beat" with ari melber starts right now. >> hi, nicole. thank you so much. boy do we have a big show tonight. congressman matt gaetz, a lot going on with him and we're going to be all over that story tonight. we have more than that, a big story on rudy giuliani coming up. we also have -- i'm looking at my notes because that's all i'm working off here. we have mitch mcconnell and covid hypocrisy. let me start with rudy giuliani and what we're seeing here. we're seeing the man who used to run the southern district of new york now have second thoughts

about how this works.