gerrymandering, voting rights and the supreme court's role naul of this in just a moment. some democrats are blaming the media for not selling their policies to the american people. that's not really our job though, folks. i'm going to ask my sunday night panel about that and the breakdown in messaging over that $3.5 trillion spending bill over ten years. that's the key point in all of this. plus transportation secretary pete buttigieg has some choice words for those criticizing his paternity leave. turns out dads actually do more than babysit. who knew? i'm ayman mohyeldin, let's get started. so, a redistricting frenzy is underway across the country. we are following the developments in texas where they are inching closer to determining new maps that could determine the partisan make-up of that state for the next

decade. more on that in a moment. to truly understand the stakes of this moment, you have to go back to 2013, not too long ago. that's when the supreme court in a 5-4 division effectively gutted the voting rights act, striking down a key section of the 1965 law known as the preclearance requirement. it required certain states with a history of voter suppression to get federal approval before implementing changes to their electoral or election policies, including redistricting. now, the point was to ensure that these changes did not discriminate against protected minorities before they became laws in their states. chief justice john robert plus, who authored that majority opinion, declared the requirement was no longer needed because, quote, our country has changed. now, i don't have to tell you how wrong chief justice roberts was in all of this. what followed that decision speaks for itself. within 24 hours of that ruling, texas announced that it would implement a strict photo id law.

mississippi and alabama soon followed and began enforcing their own id laws that had previously been banned under federal pre-clearance rules. across the country voter restriction laws had been steadily increasing since that 2013 decision. but they have gone into overdrive following former president trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 election. in just this year alone, 19 states have passed laws that make it harder for people to vote, which brings us back to texas. last month governor greg abbott signed sb 1. among other measures imposes new rules and criminal penalties for people assisting voters, which may make it harder for voters who face language barriers to cast their ballots. texas is pushing ahead on a redistricting plan that could also have a disproportionate impact on voters of the color. for the very first time in six decades, they do not need to submit that plan for preapproval. though people of color drove nearly all of tex's population

gains in the last decade, the proposed map from state republicans would give white voters control of both of the two new congressional districts added in the 2020 census. now, early this morning the state senate rejected last-minute changes made by house democrats to try and change that map. instead, requesting a conference committee where members of both chambers could hash out their differences. but with the special session ending on tuesday, time is running out to reach a deal. now partisan redistricting is not exclusive to republicans. let's be clear about that. but there is a big difference. national democrats support measures to ban partisan gerrymandering. that said, on friday illinois democrats revealed a redistricting proposal that would eliminate the seat held by republican congressman adam kinzinger. this morning congressman kinzinger was asked why he did not support the john lewis voting rights act, a proposal put forward earlier this year.

watch. >> you can call a bill the voting rights act and then left wing twitter goes nuts about this by the way, and they can say you voted against voting rights without looking into the details. the details, the voting rights act in the mid '60s came out with preclearance. that went on into perpetuity. it was intended to be temporary. in 2013 the u.s. supreme court threw that provision out and said history changes. we can't keep pretending like it's 1965. >> i've got to tell you something, representative kinzinger, we might be a little closer to 1965 than you think. we have a lot to discuss tonight with my panel. a democratic strategist and former dnc senior adviser. she's going to walk us through the political fight ahead as the redistricting battle heats up. mark covers courts and the law. we're going to talk to him about the role of the supreme court in all this and if there's a pathway out. also joining us david daly. he's an expert in all things

gerrymandering and the author of "unrigged: how americans battled back to save democracy." it's great to have you with us. let's talk about texas and what's going on for a moment. these huge demographic shifts, they're not being reflected in the maps. that's just a fact. plus that state is dealing with a new restrictive voting law. how hard is it going to be for democrats there to overcome this? and is even -- is overcoming this even possible at this point? >> well, it'll be tough. i worked at the justice department during the last redistricting cycle where we had preclearance. and you might remember there, but their maps were discriminatory. what's happening now is what we saw in the last census is hispanics overwhelming -- were the overwhelming growth in the state. but yet the redistricting maps don't necessarily reflect that. what's going to happen is that the justice department will have the option of -- given that they don't have preclearance anymore -- filing a lawsuit under section two. and i think that you'll see a

number of groups challenge those maps. and they will second the courts and the supreme court is not in our favor. that is why you saw a number of texas legislators in washington, d.c. and walking out in august trying to demand the voting rights act because there's only so much they can do. democrats are in the minority there. they're looking to congress to pass something immediately because they understand they can do so much. they might be able to help around the edges, but at the end of the day, they will need democrats in congress to act. and they will need a justice department to file a lawsuit under section 2 to challenge that map. we'll see what happens but it is looking very difficult for democrats right now. >> mark, the big question about the supreme court. just said that federal courts can't stop partisan gerrymandering. but state courts still have some power here. without this preclearance provision, what backstops are there for partisan

gerrymandering on a state level? how can states prevent this from happening? >> so, you know, some state supreme courts have taken strong action against partisan gerrymandering. state high courts in north carolina and pennsylvania, for instance, struck down partisan gerrymanderers in the last few years, redrew maps to make them much fatherer. but those courts were controlled by liberals in texas. the high court is controlled entirely by republicans. there is not a single democrat on that court. so, in theory, texas's supreme court could say, look, our state constitution has strong protections for racial animus and freedom of speech, freedom of association. we're going to interpret them to prohibit this kind of gerrymandering. but we all know that's not going to happen. the republicans on the texas supreme court are going to do exactly what the republicans on the u.s. supreme court did and say this is out of our hands. this falls entirely into the

democratic process. and that means the only real backstop is the u.s. supreme court and, as was just noted, that's basically no backstop at all. >> david, there is some worry among republicans that their maps could go too far, surprisingly. republican congressman tom cole from oklahoma told "politico" that already learned lessons where gop drawn maps were invalidated mid-decade by state courts. when those new lines were drawn, they ended up netting democrats several house seats. and congressman cole said, coat, they stretched the rubber band too far. is there a concern with being too greedy? and is that something republicans are mindful as they go about this process? or is that just a one-off. >> i think congressman cole there is playing possum a little bit. i think he is underestimating just the benefits that those jer manders gave them. when the pennsylvania and north

carolina supreme courts invalidated those maps in 2018 and in 2019, those maps had stood for years, giving republicans huge advantages in these states. in pennsylvania it was a 13-5 republican map in congress. in north carolina all those years, it was a 10-3 republican map. it was those maps that allowed republicans to hold on to congress effectively after 2012, a year in which the nation re-elects barack obama, democrats gain seats in the u.s. senate, democratic u.s. house candidates win 1.4 million more votes than republican candidates. and yet republicans hold the house. they hold 234 seats that year. and they are able effectively to put an end to barack obama's agenda on the very night that he was re-elected. so, i think that those gerrymanders were extraordinarily effective. republicans know it. it's crucial to their strategy of governing the nation from the

minority. >> as i mentioned, it's not just republicans that are playing this game, democrats in new york and illinois are hard at work redrawing, districting to their advantage. i want to put this map up there to look at the map proposed by illinois democrats, which create a number of oddly shaped districts for republican incumbents. should democrats be wary of going too far, or is this just them playing by the same playbook the republicans have been playing for years. how do you get a system where both parties cut this out? >> well, it's democrats who are fighting for the john lewis voting rights act. it is democrats who are fighting in congress to ensure that we eliminate partisan gerrymandering. and i will say over the last decade, you have seen democrats really prioritize state legislative seats because what we have seen before that is republicans have really owned

the game. they have constantly invested in state legislative seats. they've attempted to flip them. and we weren't doing that for a very long time. we weren't investing in those organizations. and organizations like the dlcc who is putting lot of money into state legislative seats because we understand it is important for redistricting and it has implications moving forward. so, while i do think that both parties will tend to find opportunities to ensure that we are coming out on top in order to pass our agenda, in order to help working people, it is republicans who continue to discriminate against black and brown and aapi voters. and you don't see democrats doing that in these states. it's all republicans. so, the next election, when republicans make the case, we're for black voters, we're for latino voters, let me remind them that actually they tried to silence them in every

republican-led state. >> you teed me up perfectly for this question, david, about race in all of this. you have some republican lawmakers redrawing these lines. and i'm being serious here. they're saying they're adopting a color blind redistricting strategy aimed at combatting -- i knew you guys were all going to smile and smirk at that because it's hard to imagine it. they're saying they're doing it in a color blind way aimed at this. so, you know, democrats say this gop strategy can't work because legislators still bring their knowledge about state demographics to them even if data on the race isn't used in the redistricting software that is used. is there really such a thing as a color blind map drawing? and if so, is this it? >> there is not such a thing as color blind map drawing. republicans perhaps might turn off the racial fields in their

computer software, but they know full well what the demographics are of these states. and there's plenty of other ways of obtaining that exact same information. there are other fields that can be used as proxies. what they are trying to do here is a little bit too cute. there is effectively two standards and two sets of case law on gerrymandering. there's partisan gerrymandering and racial gerrymandering case laws. and what republicans are trying to do now that the u.s. supreme court has in the common case versus rue cho case called partisan gerrymandering a non-political issue. they are going to try to say they're not using race data. they're simply trying to hack democrats into these seats. it's not that they're trying to discriminate against black, brown and latino voters. they're just trying to pack democrats in. and that's perfectly allowable.

it's a very cute move, but i think it will be in the court. >> mark, i've got to ask you about the supreme court before i let you go. it's another big story this week. president biden's commission on the supreme court reform released preliminary findings. you wrote about that report saying in part the committee's material is deeply shot through with its anxiety about further politicizing the court, that it opted to leave the court as is. better to save the institution that may some day be called on to save democracy than to suggest it is in fact working to subvert democracy already. very powerful words. i honestly couldn't agree with you more. i think we're just so scared of touching the court, but we're actually blinded to the fact when we just talk about something like the voting rights act that it is in some ways subverting the democracy in this country. was this report just a whole lot of nothing? what can you tell us about what came out of it after six months of work? >> very little came out of this report. it reflects a strong bias toward

the status quo and seems to start from the assumption that the supreme court's legitimacy must be shielded at all costs. the report claims that it doesn't draw any conclusions, and yet it pretty openly argues against court expansion and threats, clutches its curls that adding justices might add a justice for the first time in history, as if that hasn't already happened. i think this report was a foregone conclusion. the individuals on this commission have a vested interest in not speaking out against the courts, not sticking their necks out and keeping the court largely as it is. when you're looking at it through a very abstract and academic lens, as they did, it's easy to say it's worked okay so far. leave aside shelby county v holder. how bad could it be? the answer is really bad.

and i think that the redistricting battles to come are going to illustrate that beautifully. you know, just a few years ago, the supreme court adopted this presumption of legislative good faith in redistricting lawsuits. i call it a presumption of white innocence. the conservative majority said we're just going to assume that state legislatures aren't racist even when they produce really racist maps. that is not a rule that comports with the constitutional guarantee of equal protection. that is a rule that partisans device to ensure that republican legislatures can keep diluting the voting power of minorities. texas is exhibit a right now. i would hope before commissioners release their final report they take a look at this battle and think twice about whether the supreme court is sterling and non-partisan today. >> i was going to say i couldn't agree with you more. and history is the greatest lesson in all this. our supreme court throughout the history of the country has made horrible decisions that set us

back for generations. there is no reason to think that the current composition of the court cannot make similar mistakes. thank you so much for starting us off, fascinating conversation, guys. coming up, some democrats are pointing the finger at journalists for not doing a great job of selling biden's build back better plan. today, the u.s. underestimated vaccine hesitancy, but it's an old story. trust us. keep it here to watch our latest installment of that's what they said. >> ayman, good sunday to you. breaking news, a spokesperson confirmed 17 people, 16 of them u.s. citizens, were kidnapped in port-au-prince, haiti. the state department is said to be in regular contact with senior haitian authorities. former president bill clinton was released from the hospital today after battling an infection. clinton was admitted earlier this week and remained hospitalized as he received

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democratic messaging has been in the news a lot this week as congressional leaders try to gather the votes needed to pass the build back better act and the bipartisan infrastructure bill. one stumbling block appears to be sticker shock. that is the total the price tag. seems to be making people uncomfortable. i've said it before and i continue to believe that the lawmakers who are trying to sell this bill to the american public have been making a big mistake. rather than referring to it as a

$3.5 trillion package, they should describe it in the same way they describe the military budget, as an annual $3.5 billion supplemental. but on the day it was introduced to the public in july, this is the first thing we heard. >> the budget committee has come to an agreement. if the budget resolution with instructions will be $3.5 trillion. >> so, did you hear that? did you catch that? that was the first message the senate leadership communicated about the deal. it was the total price tag. they referred to it as $3.5 trillion. speaker nancy pelosi's communications have also been doing this same thing. they regularly contain reference to the $3.5 trillion price as well. but as the bill languishes, some lawmakers are looking to point fingers. on friday senate budget committee chair bernie sanders released the statement blaming an easy target, the media. the statement read in part, quote, the main stream media has

done an exceptionally poor job in covering what actually is in the legislation. that induced this response from the "new york times" maggie hagerman who tweeted out, it's always the press's fault and never the people communicating something. that's just 101. i don't want to be defensive, but senator sanders, you say we've done an exceptionally poor job covering the bill. i refer you to this bill you did the day after the bill was announced. notice the control rolling on the screen. that's the list of the bill's provisions. here on this show alone, we have done multiple segments highlighting many of those provisions with polls showing the popularity they enjoy. in fairness, we in the media can be guilty at times of focusing too much on process at the expense of policy. but with all due respect to the democratic senator, it's not our job to sell your agenda. you and your colleagues have to do a better job of selling the

bill to the american public. for more on this, we are joined by brad woodhouse, a senior adviser to the dnc, anita kumar, senior editor at politico, and author of "black magic," what black leaders learn from trauma trial. give me a gut check. the two bills have public support. what's blocking them from passing. in my opinion, it's politics. it's not really public opinion. the public does support this by nearly 60%. should the democrats have reframed the way they announced the price tag from the very beginning. might that have changed the politics in all of this? >> well, look, i think the price tag is certainly something they could have addressed. i like the idea of talking about this as $350 billion a year. everybody can do that. they know that equals $3.5 trillion. the real issue here is, you know, there are a couple holdouts. there are a couple holdout.

and this is about their politics. this is about what they think their personal politics are, what they think they're doing. the two holdouts in the senate and maybe four holdouts in the house. the rest -- it's not an issue any longer of selling this to the public. this is an issue of selling it to two holdout senators, four hold outhouse members, and getting them to bring what they can live with, the rest can live with, and then passing it and then of course you need to sell it to the american people. but every poll shows that the policies are extremely popular. >> exactly. i totally agree with you on that. that's why i was a bit surprised by senator sanders and those accusing the immediate university of somehow not doing a good job of explaining the package. the bill has the public support. we know this is coming down -- >> overwhelmingly. >> overwhelmingly. and this is coming down to two senators that are blocking this. it's not that the public doesn't want it. is it up to us in the media to

sell the democratic agenda for the democrats or do we focus too much on process than policy? is there fair criticism in that we're not doing a good job explaining this to the american public? >> i'll just say we can do more than one thing. we can talk about what's in the bill, and we have. we talk about education and climate and drug crisis, but we can also write it and talk about how much it costs and who's for it and who's against it and what that process looks like. so, it's not either or. it's all of those things, including, of course, how it's paid for. so, we can do a little bit of all of those things. i would tell you one thing that's happening right now is as you know this bill has changed a lot from $6 trillion to $3.5 trillion, now maybe $1.5 trillion. what's in the bill? we don't know what's in the bill because we haven't heard. so, one of those problems now is we don't know what some of those policies that that's going to be in this final bill. >> jen, i want you to play referee for us.

i know you're not affiliated with either one of the two parties. but what do you make of these arguments out there in terms of the messaging and whether or not it's actually reaching voters in a way that they can understand it, what's in the actual bills and the amount. should that be made clear for voters? >> yeah, and i'm not a political commentator. but i will say there's a breakage in the information channel. i think to point the finger at the main stream media is to miss the point that we're all sort of the main stream media now. if you're not reaching people through the channels they use to find news, which are being, you know, news clips and videos and information being shared between whatsapp group, facebook walls, instagram, twitter, tiktok, whatever the case may be, you're going to miss people. people aren't taking the domestic responsibility to go and seek out the information on their own and dig deeper, then that breakage in the channel is going to remain. so, i think -- and it's to point

the finger at the main stream media is to miss the larger problem. >> honestly i couldn't agree with you more. i said that earlier at the top of the show that a lot of this depends on the citizenry. and the citizenry in this country has to be engaged enough to know what's in this bill. even if you don't want to rely on the media, go to primary sources. go to the white house page. go to capitol hill. look at congress and look at what they're putting on their websites and learn for yourself. brad, that raises the next question of the democratic messages in terms of are they communicating it in the places where they need to create the pressure on these two senators that are the holdouts? is that part of the argument? if you create the public pressure on these two senators, you can create the momentum to get them to change their minds. right now they feel that they're holding out for -- and we saw that in the response from joe manchin, saying that bernie sanders is an out of stater. he's telling west virginians what to do. and in reality 48 senators are being blocked from passing a bill that has 60% public support

and is being held out by two senators who represent 9 million constituents. doesn't seem very democratic to me. >> well, look, what i think now -- look, when you're reacting to what one senator is doing or saying, it must be having some type of impact. you know, one of the issues here is that we just don't know exactly what senator manchin and senator sinema want. they haven't completely communicated that to the public. they haven't completely, i think, probably communicated that to the white house or the democratic leadership. but that is a process that is ongoing. i think one thing the press could focus on while the democrats are making this saucy. one, that's normal. it happens. it happened with the aca. we got it done. let's talk about the republicans. how about look at the political gamble they're taking by being 100% opposed, unanimously opposed to, for example,

reducing the price of prescription drugs by giving medicare the power to negotiate. that is a policy that gets 94% support. so, why don't we spend a minute talking about republicans and the political liability they may be taking on by opposing this 100%, opposing it unanimously. and by the way, threatening to filibuster these pieces of legislation, which is forcing the democrats to do this through reconciliation, which is harder. it's more time consuming, and it's more procedurally difficult. so, the republicans deserve some blame for what's happening in washington right now, and they're not getting any of it. >> anita, is brad right there? are the democrats the worst enemies here in that they're focusing either on the media or the holdout of the two senators but not actually laying enough heat onto the republicans who have been stonewalling all of this? >> well, i think you'll see the media has covered what the

republicans are doing. but the reality is at this point, this is going through a process that is supposed to be just with the democrats. we have written about why we got to this point. but the reality is we're at this point. and we've seen democrats, you know, different wings of the party, progressives and moderates, criticize each other publicly. and we are covering that. we saw that two days ago when senator sanders wrote this op-ed in the west virginia newspaper and senators manchin criticized right back. so, we are covering all of those different aspects. but at this point, the path is just to get the democratic party and the democrats involved and on board. >> let me play for you, chad, this clip from jon stewart, former host of "the daily show" on cnn this morning. watch this. >> i think the media does a terrible job at de-escalation. >> yeah. >> and de-escalation is the

antidote to this nonsense. and i don't mean civility and i don't mean non-partisanship. i mean focusing on things that are more urgent and elemental in people's lives and really hammering away at those things. >> yeah. >> rather than purely the emotional fault lines that occur in science. >> chad, is that a fair point? what's your take on jon stewart's criticism in your vantage point about the media and first of all there is such a thing as main stream media and whether it is contributing to the polarization in this country. >> it is contributing to the polarization in this country, much by intention. i remember in 2013, about eight years ago, when the local newspaper where i'm from was bought by amazon. and that was "the washington post." i think as many outlets of journalism, as many news outlets have been over the years, that particular newspaper and many others have been absorbed by the

capitalism complex around journalism. and now everything feeds into the bottom line. even when i come in to talk here, i, my own little executive, my own mini corporation, which is my own instagram, social media feeds, whatever. i'm negotiating with myself, am i going to be honest? am i going to keep it real? or am i going to say something that i think will be good to be clicked and memed and sent around so people feed back to my own pages? i think that's really what we're dealing with right now is that escalation is what drives clicks. so, they want to keep pressing on those fault lines of differing opinions so they can keep driving people back to their own pages and keep, you know, keep pumping out billions of dollars year over year as they do. >> that's something the facebook whistleblower alleged about facebook with that. chad, stick around. i want you to always keep it real here. this is a keep it real space. that's the only way we do it around here. brad woodhouse, anita kumar. chad, i want to talk to you

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looks like we're walking, kid. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ it's no secret that the tech industry has a diversity problem. and last year market watch reported that less than 4% of google and facebook workers were black. but one of the few black ceos of a major company in silicon valley, aric kelly, is trying to change that. on friday he launched an online platform to get more black candidates paired with mentors. in his new book, sanders describes his experience as a black person in silicon valley. as a young google employee he thought he had to immolate whiteness to be successful. he changed his wardrobe and

showed up alone to parties to avoid. he said it stunted his growth professionally and personally. he found when he embraced who he was, doors began to open up for him. rejoining us is chad sanders, author of "black magic: what black leaders learn from trauma and trial." i've been waiting to have this interview with you for a long time. i'm glad we finally managed to make it happen. talk to me a little bit about that title. what do you mean by "black magic"? >> i appreciate you having me here. i mean everything that we learn through the ropes course that is surviving blackness, everything from coat switching to resourcefulness, to navigating sticky situations, just survival tactic frankly that are necessary in this country. those things can be used as tools and resources to thrive in business, many of them. and that's why i wrote the book. i was curious about how i personally could thrive in

business and what i could use that i already had. so, i did this exhaustive research on this particular way of thinking, way of moving, way of you living, and that's "black magic." >> i know you talk about this a little bit in your experience there that you drew upon in business, this thing called code switching. it's a term used to describe alternating vernaculars, depending on the social context or a setting. how did you even learn how to code switch, and how has it impacted your career? >> well, you learn by necessity. you learn by osmosis. you learn being, in my case, a 6-year-old kid who tests into the gifted and talented program, which in most cases in this country just means the class with the white kids, the class with the parents who have the resources and the books at home and are aggressive enough to make sure that their kids are in the classes with the best curriculum. that's where i found myself. and to have a voice in those classes and to have a voice on

the school bus and to have a voice in the cafeteria and with the teachers, with the principals, you have to be able to speak a language that is the white american sort of educated vernacular. and even as a six year old all the way up through college until where i am now, which is my early 30s, you learn that through the media. you learn it through the places that you spend time. you learn it at your job. you learn it, for me, in silicon valley. i saw very quickly when you don't learn that vernacular and you can't speak the language in that regard, you're silenced. and people look the other way when you talk. they don't listen to you. they push you into the other classroom and you start not being exposed to those same resources you need. >> what did you go through in that personal transformation of yours where you kind of shed that person you were trying to be or wanting to be to being your authentic true self? and what kind of switch did that

come for you and what kind of doors did it open when you were allowed to be who you want to be and you fulfilled that? >> well, i went to morehouse college in atlanta, which is an hbcu, and i was exposed to myself there. i was exposed to every different type of the great diversity within blackness. and i really learned who i was while i was down there. when i went out to silicon valley, i was jarred. i was thrust into an incredibly white world and i tried to adapt so i could get promotions at google. and every day, it was another piece of myself that i would leave at home when i would walk out the door and get on that shuttle to go down to mountainview. and it hurt. you know, i found myself talking different. i found myself pretending to like things that i didn't like. i found myself deflecting and deferring to people who were whiter than me so that i could be a part of the club. and i just -- it just hurt bad to look in the mirror every day and know that i was also not

valuing what i was and know that i was celebrating something that continued to devalue what i naturally brought to the table. and so i just gave up. and i started being myself. that's really what happened. >> what do you think -- from your vantage point, from what you've seen in research, what are the main causes of silicon valley's lack of diversity or diversity problem as you see it? >> i think corporations are -- they operate much like clubs and fraternities. the person who owns the thing, the person who's at the top, generally they are going to hire people to surround them that appreciate and look like and support who they are. and because only, i think, .8% of fortune 500 companies have ceos who are black, there's not a lot of support, appreciation and celebration of blackness inside of corporations. and much the opposite. most corporations are headed up by middle aged to sort of early

60s wealthy white man. and the culture filters down. people hire people who look like them and who talks like them and who acts like them. so, i think that's what happens in silicon valley. >> what advice do you have for people who may be watching this and others about being your authentic self in a business world? >> to know that it comes at a cost. but the value is tremendously high. the risk is that someone won't like who you are. and the value is that you'll find a place that sell battleground states you. and in many cases, that place is going to be in your own enterprise, in your own entrepreneurialism. in many ways this country supports entrepreneurialism. so, it can be a good thing. >> chad sanders, man, i'm glad we had this conversation. thank you so much for coming on the program. i look forward to many more conversations with you going forward. you always have a standing invite to join us and keep it real here. take care, my friend. >> thanks, ayman. thank you. you would think parental leave would be a goal for

everybody, but pete buttigieg's recent paternity leave got a different reaction entirely. it's his turn to talk after this. to talk after this all-electric cadillac lyriq. it's a sunny day. nah, a stormy day. classical music plays. um uh, brass band, new orleans. this. f this. t this. e this. r this. . this. this. this r this this this along the coast. make it palm springs. ♪ cadillac is going electric. if you want to be bold, you have to go off-script. experience the all-electric cadillac lyriq.

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see blood when you brush or floss can be a sign of early gum damage. parodontax active gum repair kills plaque bacteria at the gum line to help keep the gum sealed tight. parodontax active gum repair toothpaste while congress squabbles over the details of the president's social spending plan, the administration is going to bat for some of what's included in that plan. one of the key provisions of the

build back better bill is paid family leave, which would guarantee 12 weeks of parental, family and personal illness leave. the program has been forced to defend attacks from, by, let me make sure i get this right, the right? tucker carlson recently attacked pete buttigieg for taking paternity believe. >> as you might imagine, we're bottle-feeding and doing it at all hours of the day and night, and i'm not going to apologize to tucker carlson or anyone else for taking care of my premature, infant newborn twins.

i wish this was something the republicans could join democrats in. it's important it our economy. and one more thing i think maybe is underappreciated. when someone welcomes a new child into their family and goes into leave to take care of that child, it's not a vacation. it's work. it's joyful, wonderful, fulfilling work and it is time that our nation joined pretty much every nation in the world and recognized that. >> well said, secretary pete. from one dad to another, congratulations. and good on you for taking this opportunity to create such a bond with your children. research has shown that a family's physical and mental and emotional health is much better when dads are able to take time off and share in the responsibility of raising a child early on. my wife and i have been blessed with two children. i took almost 16 weeks paternity

when my son was born. not every american has that privilege, and it shouldn't just be a privilege. that's despite paid paternity being popular. polling from back in the spring found that 67% of this country feels that companies should offer paid leave to both new mothers and new fathers. president biden and every elected leader in congress, i urge you, for the good of the children of america, figure out a way to get this plan passed for this single issue. thank you for making time for us this evening. can you catch ayman. at @ayman msnbc.

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thanks for joining us. i'm in tonight. this hour trump heads to court, set to give a deposition in a legal case dating back to his