good afternoon, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. we are following news on a number of fronts this hour. at least eight dead at a concert stampede in texas. the president seizing on momentum hailing the passage of a bill that will send hundreds of millions of dollars to americans in all 50 states. but he's also keeping up the pressure to pass another massive

part of his economic agenda. plus, the january 6th committee threatening action after a key trump figure turns a deposition into a circus. and then you got aaron rodgers playing defense in a rambling and fact-challenged explanation about why he misled the public about his vaccine status. more on that ahead. but i do want to start with some breaking news just in to msnbc. a federal appeals court has issued a stay, freezing the president's plan to require u.s. companies with more than 100 employees to require covid vaccines or weekly testing. the mandate was set to go into effect in the beginning of january. joined now by msnbc legal analyst maya wiley for more on this. it's great to see you. this is shocking stuff that just came in just a couple minutes ago, getting these documents but the judge cites, quote, grave statutory and constitutional issues that the rule -- with that rule. that doesn't sound good,

necessarily, maya. talk me through this. your reaction so far. >> well, it's great to see you as well, yasmin, and it is not good news because what essentially the appeals court is saying is, we think there really is a good legal reason that this is unconstitutional or unlawful. now, that's kind of surprising in the context of a major pandemic like this where there is a federal statute that says that the occupational safety and health administration has the power to protect workers at least for up to six months if there is a, quote, unquote, new hazard. so, there's -- there could be a lot of legal argument about what "new hazard" means but i don't think any of us on the outside are wondering whether or not a pandemic of -- that has had the impact that covid has had, including the number of people who have died, should not be something that legitimately

might fall within the statute. but there's also the question of the constitution. it's the power of the federal government to say, look, this is so bad for commerce in order to protect commerce, it's the commerce clause of the constitution, often the supreme court has said that the federal government has power to protect commerce through something that, in this case, would be a vaccine mandate in order to stop the spread and be able to allow the economy to come back. so, i do think it is a setback. it suggests at least this court's view of the legality of the mandate but of course this is something that i would guess will go to the supreme court of the united states, and we know it is one that has been shaped by donald trump. >> okay, so, with that being said, i'm glad that you gave me kind of that transition, because i do want to talk about what the supreme court just did this week, rejecting a challenge to maine's vaccine mandates. so, taking a look at their

decision there, do you think they would, in fact, then, be supportive of a federal vaccine mandate when it comes to some of these companies? >> well, for the supreme court, these are two very different things, because there is supreme court precedent back from 1905 with smallpox, that says states have the power to require vaccines. so, there's more of a precedent there. this is more unprecedented. it's a new situation when the federal government says, we will require private employers to do this. >> got it. maya wiley, thank you for now. i know you're going to be coming back with me in just a moment on another story as well, that is the january 6th investigation, so stay close, my friend. we're going to be following this breaking news as well and looking at the medical impact it might have later on this hour. i want to turn now, of course, to that milestone passage of the bipartisan infrastructure bill. president biden calling it a

blue-collar blueprint to rebuild america in remarks just a few hours ago. want to bring in lauren egan, who's in delaware for us. lauren, good to see you this afternoon. thank you for joining us on this. what more can you tell us about the president's remarks and how this bill is going to help cities dealing with a crumbling infrastructure? >> reporter: yeah, this bill is the biggest investment in infrastructure that we have seen in decades, if not half a century, and it's going to do a lot to help cities. there's a lot packed in here. just to name a few, it's going to help with highway systems, roads, bridges, ports. it gives cities some flexibility to use the money how they wish so some parts of the country can choose to invest in things like high-speed rail systems. other parts of the country can choose to invest in that bridge project in your community that has led to two-hour traffic delays every single rush hour so there will be flexibility in how states with choose to use this. the president just a few hours

ago at the white house before he left washington to come here where i am, he gave a speech on the bill and he spoke a little bit about -- to what was in it. take a listen to what he had to say. >> it's going to make it easier for companies to get goods to market more quickly and reduce supply chains bottles and now and for decades to come. you know, according to economists, this is going to be -- ease inflationary pressures, not increase it, ease inflationary pressures by lowering costs for working families. it's going to create jobs replacing lead water pipes. so, every american, every child can drink clean water, improving their health and putting plumbers and pipe fitters to work. how long have we been talking about that? it's a gigantic issue. >> reporter: the president used that speech in part to take a bit of a victory lap. we expect him next week to hit the road. he said he's going to visit some ports in the coming days. he also plans to hold a signing

ceremony at the white house with both democrats and republicans to really tout this bipartisan win that he promised on. yasmin, what we did not hear the president say, though, was a commitment that he can get that second part of his agenda across the finish line. that's that build back better act or the social safety net bill that we have been talking about. he said that he wasn't -- while he wants congress to pass it in two weeks on november 15th, when they come back from a recess, he was unable to give a firm commitment and he also said he was unable to give a solid commitment that some of the popular provisions such as paid leave would be included in that final plan. so, while there's a lot of celebration at the white house today, we've got a difficult few weeks ahead for them, yasmin. >> yeah, we're going to be talking more about that, obviously, in my next interview. for now, lauren egan, thank you. with that, i do want to bring in representative melanie sansbry, democrat of new mexico. thank you so much for joining us on this. obviously, take a listen to our

reporting from lauren, who's on the ground where the president currently is. taking a bit of a victory lap after the passage of the infrastructure bill. talk me through your reaction so far to the passage of this infrastructure bill and the effects it can have across the country. >> thank you, yasmin. yes, this bill is huge for our country and huge for our communities. as the congresswoman from new mexico, this bill will make vital investments in infrastructure like broadband, clean drinking water. this is especially important in a state like new mexico which has many, many rural and tribal areas where our communities don't have access to broadband and drinking water infrastructure. it will invest in our roads, clean energy infrastructure, and so much more, and most importantly, it will help put new mexicans and our country back to work with good-paying jobs and help to invest in that critical infrastructure that will rehabilitate our economy and make it possible for all of

our communities to thrive. >> there was a lot of drama in washington overnight, obviously, with the passage of the infrastructure bill and especially with regards to the build back better act. much of which was coming from the progressive side essentially saying and accusing, right, the moderates, the democratic moderates of kind of moving the goal posts yet again. but at the end of the day, you voted yes in favor of the passage of the infrastructure bill. what helped you make that decision? >> well, i've always supported both of these bills, but as a member of the progressive caucus, i felt that it was crucial that both of these bills move in tandem and that they both get across the finish line, and over the last few weeks, it was really important that we wait to vote on the infrastructure package until we had more clarity about the path forward on the build back better act. i feel confident after last

night's negotiations that the president will work to deliver and that members on all sides of the ideological spectrum within the party are dedicated to getting it done. we voted on the rule for the build back better act last night and we saw that even many of the folks yesterday that were still asking questions about the price tag did vote in favor of the rule, and so i feel hopeful and confident that we will be moving forward on the bill in the next two weeks. >> let me just play for you, quickly, pramila jayapal, who was on with my colleague, alex swiet, a little bit earlier, in talking about how the negotiations went down with moderate democrats. >> this was about, can we look each other in the eye and start to re-establish trust? because that is going to be essential for everything else we need to do. i trust that they looked me in the eye and said that they were going to pass the build back better act as soon as they had had a chance to look at the fiscal information, and that will be transformative. >> is the trust there now?

>> i think so. i think that last night there was a good faith effort on all sides of our party and our caucus to move forward. the president himself asked that we move forward. the president helped to broker that discussion and our leadership agreed, and like i said, on the vote on the rule, we saw that everyone voted in favor of moving the bill forward, and so i think that that showed that everyone is excited about this package, they understand how important and transformative it is for our communities, and we're going to fight to get it done. >> all right, representative melanie stansbury, thank you so much. good to see you this afternoon. i want to get to the breaking news out of houston as well. we got a lot going on this hour. in the next hour, we expect to get more information on that stampede that left at least eight people dead at the astroworld music festival. a new tweet from travis scott, who was performing when this happened, saying, in part, this. i am absolutely devastated by what took place. joining me now, nbc's morgan

chesky. morgan, bring us up to date on all of this and the events that took place overnight and how exactly this happened. >> reporter: yeah, that's what authorities are absolutely investing right now, talking to witnesses, encouraging anyone who was at that concert to please come forward to shed some light on what precipitated that surge in the crowd around 9:15 friday evening at this highly-anticipated concert where 50,000 concertgoers were in that crowd but it was that group towards the front of the stage that experienced that just crushing surge around 9:15 and unfortunately, when the chaos cleared, eight people have been killed, and 17 others hospitalized with hundreds, scores, authorities say, injured in this event, and we still don't know exactly what led to it. i want you to hear what one concertgoer said following that chaotic scene last night.

take a listen. >> last night, he said that he was -- they were listening to travis scott and the person in front of him had passed out and once the person in front of him passed out, all these people just started pushing so he was on the bottom of a pile. he said it felt like 800 to 900 pounds was on him. he couldn't get up. he said he was blacking in and out of consciousness but by some way, somebody pulled him out. >> reporter: now, there are some key details that investigators are trying to find out and they've shed a little light into what they are potentially looking into. we heard from the police chief earlier today who shared that there were rumors going around, at least through that crowd or the people that they have spoken to, about potentially some tainted drugs being used by concert goers there. they were trying to find out more information about that. also, of the 17 people who were hospitalized, we know that 11 of them were being treated for

cardiac arrest either at the scene or on their way to nearby hospitals. as we learn more information about those key moments, it should shed a little more light on to this situation, but as you heard from witnesses, with that many people in that tight, confined area, even though they had medical tents on site, they were quickly overwhelmed, and it became a very chaotic scene here. that concert, meanwhile, was canceled shortly after that scene took place. it was supposed to happen again today. it will not be, as investigators try to learn more about this very tragic event. we'll send it back to you. >> yeah, and we are certainly hoping to learn more at the top of the hour. for now, morgan chesky, thank you, and again, we'll bring you the latest from that news conference scheduled for 4:00 p.m. eastern time. so, the january 6th committee today vowing to take action after a deposition that was anything but cooperative. you got former justice department official jeffrey clark appearing for his deposition yesterday, but

refusing to answer questions during his closed-door interview with the panel, leading to a statement from chairman bennie thompson shortly afterwards, saying, mr. clark's complete failure to cooperate today is unacceptable. back with me now to discuss is msnbc legal analyst maya wiley. you had a lot of folks shaking their heads yesterday saying, oh, i believe we do not have maya wiley. we're having technical difficulties there. hence, what happens in live television. we just lost her. we're going to try and get her back because it's certainly an important conversation to have. so for now, stand by when it comes to maya wiley and the discussion on the january 6th committee but coming up at 4:00 p.m., i'm going to talk to georgia's secretary of state, brad raffensperger. we're going to have that conversation at the top of the 4:00 p.m. hour so make sure to stay tuned for that. also justice for all, jury selection in two high-profile trials raising concerns about racial injustice in our justice system. plus sidelined. green bay packers quarterback aaron rodgers digs himself in

deeper and deeper after an unhinged defense of his vaccination status. >> the situation that i'm in should be a conversation, not a controversy.

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all right, welcome back. prosecutors in the trial of three white men charged with last year's killing of ahmaud arbery delivered their opening statements yesterday, presenting starkly different versions of the 25-year-old black jogger's fatal shooting.

>> don't assume the worst of another person's intentions until you actually know what's going on with them. don't assume the worst. look what they intend to do. but in this case, all three of these defendants did everything they did based on assumptions. >> the evidence shows overwhelmingly that travis mcmichael honestly and lawfully attempted to detain ahmaud arbery according to the law and shot and killed him in self-defense. >> so the trial begins following a contentious jury selection process, outrage erupting this week when prosecutors objected to a final panel consisting of 11 white and 1 black jury member claiming 8 potential jurors of color were struck because of their race, despite the judge concluding there appears to

be, "intentional discrimination," he stopped short of reversing any strikes and proceedings have moved ahead. joining me now is lead attorney for marcus arbery, ahmaud arbery's father, benjamin crump. ben, thanks for joining us on this. as always, we appreciate it. i want to start by reading a part of your statement with regards to jury selection, and you write this. "a jury should reflect the community. brunswick is 55% black so it's outrageous that black jurors were intentionally included in a cynical effort to help cold-blooded killers escape justice." i don't think you got to go to law school to know this part of jury selection. juries are usually made up of a selection of your peers, right? if you've got 55% of the community that is black, at least half the jury should be black. in the derek chauvin seating, half of the jury there were black. what is happening here? >> well, i think it's clear,

yasmin, that this is not a jury of ahmaud arbery's peers. and when you think about the fact that brunswick, the city that is the county seat, is 55% african-american, the largest county -- the largest city in the county, and the fact that the county itself is almost 30%, it is outrageous that all the black jurors, prospective jurors, were stricken on, we believe, pretextual reasons. you can't have intentional discrimination and then the court sit idly by and say there's nothing that we could do. that's how you get the outcomes that we have gotten historically to make black people not trust the justice system. >> ben, let me play some sound from the judge on thursday over how he feels as if, essentially,

his hands were tied when it came to jury selection. >> this court has found that there appears to be intentional discrimination in the panel. quite a few african-american jurors were excused through preemptory strikes exercised by the defense. but that doesn't mean that the court has the authority to reseat, and the court is not going to place upon the defendants a finding that they are being disingenuous to the court or otherwise are not being truthful with the court when it comes to their reasons for striking these jurors. >> what do you think of what the judge here has to say, and if seemingly his hands were tied, then what else can we expect for the duration of this trial with it beginning the way that it has? >> well, obviously, practicing all around america, i'm used to

intellectual justification for protecting the status quo and getting these discriminatory outcomes. but yasmin, when you think about the fact, they gave the defendants 24 strikes. that is unheard of. normally you get three strikes per party. so at most, they should have had nine strikes. but to get 24, and for them to be able to use those strikes systematically and strategically to exclude black people is problematic. so, the court has, in my view, whatever measure it needs to take to make sure that there is a jury that won't favor one side or the other and here we go into this thinking that the jury's stacked against justice for ahmaud arbery. and so, we are troubled by it.

i think his mother and father are deeply disappointed, but anybody who cares about liberty and justice for all in america is disturbed by this jury make-up. >> last question, ben. were you surprised? >> i was very surprised, especially after you look at what happened with george floyd. that you have such a diverse panel. or botham jean in dallas, texas, you had a diverse panel. when you get convictions for people killing our children unjustly in america, it's normally because you had a zealous prosecutor and you had a diverse jury, and so the fact that this isn't a diverse jury means that we're going to have to be very focused on this. this video is so damning. it is so clear that marcus arbery said they lynched his son. this lynch mob lynched his son and then if they get away with lynching a black man in 2020,

god help us, america. >> ben crump, thank you. good to talk to you. >> yes, ma'am. all right, so, before the break, everybody, we were talking about another legal story, former justice department jeffrey clark refusing to cooperate in a deposition with the january 6th committee. we have got msnbc legal analyst maya wiley back with us, hopefully no technical difficulties this time around. thanks for sticking with us through it all. i want to read for you a little from the 12-page letter sent by jeffrey clark's attorney on friday. "it is improper to put mr. clark in a vise between this committee and its claimed enforcement powers on the one hand and his constitutional and ethical obligations on the other, especially while there is a pending lawsuit to determine president trump's privilege obligations." what do you make of this argument made by clark's

attorney here, maya, considering what has gone down with steve bannon and of course the rejection of former president trump's claim of executive privilege? >> well, first of all, yasmin, you can't shake me loose that easily. technical difficulties won't do that. but secondly, and importantly, this is the flimsiest defense i have ever seen against a congressional subpoena where essentially, a, the president himself, ex-president, let me be clear, donald trump is no longer sitting president. the privilege is to protect the presidency, not the person. of donald trump. and the presidency, which right now is in the hands of joe biden, said, nope. everything can be turned over. donald trump did not take a position that jeffrey clark

couldn't testify. to the extent that donald trump wants to argue that there's executive privilege, the weakest privilege there is, applies against a legitimate congressional inquiry, empowered by the constitution to do these kinds of hearings, it would at minimum require that donald trump himself to say, i don't want you to talk, and he didn't. in fact, said, i'm going to let justice department officials talk. >> he did. yeah. so, just quickly, maya, tell me the difference between clark and steve bannon. we know steve bannon obviously held in criminal contempt. that process now still ongoing. clark, obviously, different, because he actually did show up. >> clark showed up, but he refused to answer questions. so, congress is within its power to also ask the u.s. attorney for d.c. to also prosecute mr. clark. the only real difference is that

mr. clark can say, well, i didn't work for the government. bannon couldn't even say that in terms of the questions he was going to be asked. he wasn't even a government employee. but that doesn't make this a valid defense. >> got i. maya wiley, as always, thank you, my friend. great to see you. i hope you come back a lot more on my program. great to see you back on the air doing what you always do. thank you. all right, truth, lies, and home remedies, everybody. nfl star aaron rodgers taking hits for misleading comments about his vaccination status. what the league knew and when. we're getting destroyed out there. we need a plan! right now, at t-mobile, customers on magenta max can get the new iphone 13 pro... and t-mobile will pay for it! upgrade to the iphone 13 pro... on us. ♪ ♪ ♪

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welcome back, everybody. so, we're continuing to monitor that breaking news the u.s. federal appeals court issuing a stay on the president's rule that employers with over 100 workers must mandate employees to be vaccinated or tested weekly. with that, joining me now is dr. natalie azar. thanks for joining us on this.

listen, you look at this ruling here, right, and some of the mandates that have been put in place across this country, healthcare workers, city mandates, state mandates, some of which have really caused an uptick in vaccines across this country. in new york city, for instance, you're looking at teacher mandates, right? 90%, i believe, of teachers now in the city are vaccinated, so are you worried now about this stay on the president's order? >> well, i am. i mean, the short answer is that i am. doctors fauci and walensky both testified in congress on thursday and very clearly stated that mandates do, in fact, work to increase the number of vaccinations, you know, within businesses and different organizations. you know, i'll leave the legal analysis to maya, but what i will say is that, you know, for those businesses that are, you know, hoping to stay afloat and

to keep their employees healthy, you know, a vaccination mandate is really the appropriate thing to do, and i do think it's important just to remind everyone and our viewers that there is an opt-out option. there is the weekly testing and masking if you are not vaccinated. which is, you know, it's certainly not probably as protective and it's no substitution for vaccination, but i would argue that that goes a very, very long way to keeping employees safe. my concern is that then you will have unvaccinated employees who are neither testing nor mask-wearing because there is no obligation to, and that concerns me because then, you know, not only are they benefitting from the vaccination status of their coworkers, but they're also putting their coworkers at risk by being able to inadvertently infect them. >> two things i want to get to before i let you go. first is this antiviral drug from pfizer, a president saying another tool in our toolbox to

protect people from the worst outcomes of covid but going further and saying, however, vaccines are even better. that being said, this possibility of an antiviral medication, how big of a game-changer is this in our fight against covid? >> well, it's absolutely huge, yasmin. i mean, this is, you know, we have spent, i would say, the vast majority of our time talking about the vaccine but as we all know, all of the tools in the toolbox are essential, and that includes therapeutics, so to have a well-tolerated, easily accessible oral antiviral that is, you know, safe and effective is imperative. we analogized it to tamiflu. i think the numbers even look more impressive than tamiflu in terms of preventing death in adults. you know, i would say that there are two concerns. one is that, will it be easily available and number two, you have to be able to get tested to be able to start the medicine within three to five days of

symptom onset, so those are -- those are only potential roadblocks that i see for this country, but listen, there's hundreds of millions of doses that should become available or hundreds of thousands of doses that should be available by the beginning of the year and millions thereafter. >> dr. azar, before i let you go, there's this saying and i think i got it right but i always get these sayings wrong. give me a finger, i'm going to take a hand. not sure if that's it. but nonetheless, 2 to 5-year-olds, we've got 5 to 11-year-olds now in the bag, vaccinations in arms. my kiddo getting a vaccine on wednesday. when will my 3-year-old be able to get a vaccine? aside from getting him a fake i.d., of course. >> yeah. so, honestly, yasmin, i think we're still many months away from that. i think we can hope, you know, optimistically that we might get data by the end of the year, but i think we're really looking at first quarter of 2022 before we really have data presented to

the fda for their eua, but i suspect that if it looks as good as the previous age groups does, that you can expect your little one to be vaccinated, i would say, certainly within the first half of 2022. >> i just want to put out there i'm entirely joking about the fake i.d. for my 3-year-old, by the way. i would never do that. dr. natalie azar, thank you as always for rolling with the punches. he can get one on his own one day if he wants. i'll just follow him along as he does. thank you. all right, nfl mvp quarterback aaron rodgers's vaccine scandal just keeps getting bigger. in his first public comments since testing positive for covid, the packers qb confirmed yesterday that he is, in fact, unvaccinated, despite telling reporters in august that he had been "immunized." apparently rodgers had been referring to a homeopathic remedy, not an approved coronavirus vaccine. joining me now, nbc's

guad venegas as well as jemele hill. it seems like aaron rodgers is completely unfazed by the criticism out there going on the rant that he did to defend his actions so far. bring us up to date on what's going on. >> reporter: right, yasmin, so important to say what you just said. he confirmed that he is not vaccinated. he also told the podcast he didn't agree with the way the league treated him because he's unvaccinated. he cleared up that he's allergic to ingredients in mrna vaccines and he had concerns about the j&j shot's side effects. this is part of the interview from when he went on the show. >> my medical team advised me that the danger i would be in to get -- of an adverse event was greater than the risk of getting covid and recovering. so, i made a decision. to my knowledge, there has been zero long-term studies around

sterility or fertility issues around the vaccines. this idea that it's a pandemic of the unvaccinated is just a total lie. if the vaccine is so great, then how come people are still getting covid and spreading covid and unfortunately dying from covid? >> reporter: let me emphasize what you said, yasmin, during the interview, he said he was, quote, he received an immunization protocol, which has not proven to provide immunity against covid but many wondered what type of treatment that meant. now, as you mentioned, according to nfl.com, instead of getting vaccinated, he received a homeopathic treatment from his doctor, then asked the nfl to count that as being vaccinated. now, he did not specifically say that on the show. he said that the treatment that he's doing is between him and his medical team. now, after contracting covid, we should say that he said that he consulted with joe rogan on how to beat it so he's taking these monoclonal antibodies and

ivermectin, a drug that with we know is used to treat livestock that the fda has advised against. that's what we know from aaron rodgers today. >> obviously, joe rogan, a medical expert there, someone to consult when you have to get treatment for having covid. sarcasm there, by the way. jemele hill, let's talk about what's going on here. just putting sarcasm out there so everybody understands where i'm going with this. so, it's one thing to choose to not get vaccinated when you're aaron rodgers. it's another thing to then lie, mislead people, and then put others at risk, right? yet aaron rodgers in front of the media, post-game, maskless. "the atlantic" writing, the packers sure appear complicit in helping their star avoid any questions by allowing him to go unmasked before the media. the team fed assumptions that rodgers was, in fact, vaccinated. oh, sorry, that's a quote from you, jemele, i'm sorry.

what do you make of that? it was so good. >> i love having my own words quoted back to me. it's all good. so, this is why that this is a really -- it's really hilarious to me that aaron rodgers tried to make it seem like he didn't lie. and i will say this. i think part of the reason that he did is because he didn't want to face a lot of the fire storm that he's facing now, and as much criticism that has been heaped on kyrie irving, the brooklyn nets star who was unvaccinated, not current loo playing with the nets or kirk countries, the quarterback of the minnesota vikings, he's not vaccinated as well, as much criticism as they may have received, at least they were honest. aaron rodgers was purposely due duplicitous by saying he's immunized and the packers, to me, covered the lie by allowing him to appear at press conferences without a mask. carson wentz, another quarterback for the indianapolis colts, he's not vaccinated, whenever he speaks with the media, he has a mask on.

more often than not, that is the signal, when you have the mask on, that you're not vaccinated because the nfl covid protocol is that unvaccinated people have to wear masks inside the team facility. so, aaron rodgers, this is not about vaccinated or unvaccinated, to some degree. you're a $134 million quarterback and you lied. and you lied to everybody because you couldn't face the heat that you weren't vaccinated. and so i just find it to be the height of narcissism that aaron rodgers is on in podcast talking about making it seem like he's so much smarter than all of the scientists who have been studying this. he gave a 500-page report to the nfl. is there a doctor in front of his title? and i know he consulted medical people, but he has concerns about the johnson & johnson vaccine but he took ivermictin. do you know the side effects? they're not good. and to take something unproven, to consult a radio podcaster, you put your faith in that as

opposed to actual science. make it make sense. >> what type of damage does this do, jemele, to folks that listen to people like aaron rodgers? >> what's the damage that's been done to our country overall? i mean, the moment that vaccines became political, it really put the u.s. far behind, and this is a part of a larger war that we've been trying to wage against the covid-19 epidemic is that, you know, we've tried to lead with education. we've tried to lead with science, but unfortunately, people have turned this into political, to something political. i mean, aaron rodgers himself, i mean, in this podcast, he hit on all the talking points that we've heard. woke culture, cancel culture, the woke mob, and then, to me, the exclamation point is quoting

dr. martin luther king jr. so this is not about being vaccinated anymore or not vaccinated or health or looking after your own community. this has become about right and wrong. people wanting to be right, people not wanting to be wrong, and this has become something that unfortunately is going to put us all behind as we try to stay healthy and safe. >> jemele hill, thank you as always and for your piece in the "atlantic" and for allowingme to quote it. guad venegas, thank you as well. still ahead, everybody, how a subject not even taught in public schools shaped virginia's governor's race and may provide a dangerous blueprint for republicans in the future. e a dangerous blueprint for republicans in the future. mm. [ clicks tongue ] i don't know. i think they look good, man. mm, smooth. uh, they are a little tight. like, too tight?

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>> as a parent, it's tough to catch everything, so when my son showed me his reading assignment, my heart sunk. it was some of the most explicit material you can imagine. i met with lawmakers. they couldn't believe what i was showing them. their faces turned bright red with embarrassment. >> so, youngkin certainly appears to have ridden to victory on that ad and the issue of critical race theory, vowing to ban it on day one, despite the fact that as we and every reputable journalist has pointed out, it's not even taught in virginia schools. msnbc blog writer writes about this in an article. by the way, ja'han is joining me now. we appreciate it, ja'han. i want to dig into one of the main points you write, which is,

who glenn youngkin was vowing for, right? the white suburban voter, the folks that went for joe biden back in 2020. he wanted to grab as many of those as he can -- as he could to get himself across the finish line. was that the most important factor in this election? >> well, thank you for having me on, yasmin. we most certainly know that among the white voters who transitioned from voting for biden last year to voting for glenn youngkin this year, education was a major issue, and in fact, critical race theory, the issue of critical race theory was a major issue to them. we also know that from exit polls that 90% of the people who feel most fervently that parents should have a role in -- a large role in determining school curriculum, 90% of those people voted for glenn youngkin and 90% of those people were white. on the other hand, only 70% of black people who felt that way

voted for glenn youngkin so it was very obvious, the people who he was targeting his message toward and i should say, too, this is not a strategy that's unique to glenn youngkin. i come from arizona. in 2009 and 2010 during the rise of the tea party, i was in high school, i was privy to all the attacks that were happening by state officials like tom horn and state senator russell pierce who directly targeted school curriculums focusing on chicano studies, african-american studies, mexican-american studies, so this is a strategy that republicans have used throughout the country, and glenn youngkin is really just capitalizing on this tried and true strategy by republicans to target black and brown educators and black and brown lesson plans that serve to show this is a multicultural nation with a sordid history that needs to be righted. >> so, it's a strategy they have used. it's likely a strategy, as you write, that they're going to use

come the midterm as well. how do democrats combat it? >> when you look at what terry mcauliffe did, he did take a -- an overt stance against what glenn youngkin was doing. he said that he was racist. he called it a dog whistle. i would argue that attacks on toni morrison are not a dog whistle because toni morrison was overtly black, explicitly black, so when terry mcauliffe kind of took a half-step approach to defending her, i think he could have been more fervent in declaring not only that critical race theory is not being taught in schools but that we need curriculums that focus on race-conscious issues to right a lot of the issues -- pardon me, a lot of the injustices that have been committed in america throughout many years. so, i think he could have taken a more full-throated approach to defending multiethnic studies than he did. >> all right, ja'han jones,

thank you as always. great piece, by the way. appreciate it. coming up, everybody, we are awaiting a news conference on that deadly stampede at a music festival in houston scheduled for the top of the hour. as soon as it starts, i'll bring it to you. as it starts, i'll brg it to you. frequent heartburn? not anymore. the prilosec otc two-week challenge is helping people love what they love again. just one pill a day. 24 hours. zero heartburn. because life starts when heartburn stops. take the challenge at prilosecotc dot com. (burke) i've seen this movie before. (woman) you have? (burke) sure, this is the part where all is lost and the hero searches for hope. then, a mysterious figure reminds her that she has the farmers home policy perk, guaranteed replacement cost. and that her home will be rebuilt, regardless of her limits or if the cost of materials has gone up. (woman) that's really something. (burke) get a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. wait, i didn't ruin the ending, did i? (woman) yeah, y-you did. ♪ we are farmers. bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum ♪ at t-mobile for business, unconventional thinking means we

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hi, everybody, i'm yasmin vossoughian. if you are still with us, thanks