tv Ayman MSNBC May 28, 2022 5:00pm-6:00pm PDT
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show. just a reminder that at the end of the day, if anything will change, it will be up to all of us to participate, raise our voices, participate as mr. castro was saying there. >> absolutely, thank you, ayman. t hank yougood evening to you ande to ayman tonight. in the pocket of the nra, we are calling out republicans in congress that keeps putting gun rights ahead of saving lives. then i'll press senator sheldon whitehouse on the senate and ability to pass congratulation. and ted cruz runs away, what one interviewer said that was too much for him to take. i am ayman mohyeldin, let's get started. at least nine -- excuse me, eight 9-1-1 calls were made at classrooms at robb
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elementary school in uvalde, texas at 12:03 8 pm and 12:51 pm, when police finally stormed an and shot the shooter. during a stunning press conference this week, police admitted to a string of failures. at the heart of the matter, the incident commander on the scene said that he made the wrong decision by not breaching sooner the classrooms where the gunmen was with students and the teachers. texas congressman, joaquin castro, is not calling on the fbi to investigate the response into the shooting. we are left with a series a question, some that we will never know the answer to, how many kids could have been saved? medical experts stress the importance of evacuating -- it took days to get a clear picture, and there are still gaps and what we do know. how do we prevent the next mass
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shooting in this country because democrats have sensible answers to that question? republicans, on the other hand, all they have is insulted nonsense. >> one of the things that everyone agreed is don't have all these unlocked back doors. have one door into and out of the school. >> if the school was on lockdown, could this doors have been locked where he could not go in? >> it creates points of access that are difficult to begin with, potentially arm and prepare and train teachers. >> you talk about this information, what about a department that can look at young men looking at women and social media, but about doing that? >> why did this happen, how did this happen we have got violent music, violent rhetoric. >> we stopped teaching values and so many of our schools. now we are teaching a wokeness. we are indoctrinating our children and things like crt. >> so the gop is willing to blame everything, but the real
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issue here. so let's be clear, it is about guns. and we all know why that is the case. you need to look any further than a few hundred miles from uvalde, texas. over in houston where conservatives flock to attend the annual nra convention. most kept their speaking engagements with the radical organization. you had the likes of ted cruz, and donald trump. because it is apparently more important to have the political clouds, and the financial backing of the radical nra than it is to care about fixing a broken system. the radical nra made almost $800,000 in donations strength or 2020 election cycle, and spent an additional $29 million on ads. 19 current or recent republican senators including mitch mcconnell have taken at least $1 million each in campaign contributions from the radical nra over their career. once more, the radical nra gives republicans endorsement
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which signals to all other conservatives just how radical and absolutist on guns certain candidates are. and as we have known for a long time, elected republicans have far more radical views on guns then the majority of americans. because if you just look at the recent poll, this poll found that 65% of voters favor stricter gun control laws. and those americans, they seem fed up with republicans. look at these protests outside the radical nra's convention this weekend. so my challenge to republicans as pick a side. the voters, or the radical nra. you cannot have it both ways anymore. not when the lives of all of us and all of our children are on the line. let's bring in chris brown, president of brady, a gun violence prevention organization. and straight stevens, a senior adviser for the lincoln project any former republican strategist. it is great to have both of. you i would like to start with you, and i want you to take a
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look at this timeline. it took an hour and a half after the first 9-1-1 call for the shooter to be subdued. as many as 19 armed officers at one point were waiting outside of that classroom will bullets run out and children inside pleaded for help. is this the definitive proof that this idea of a good guy with a gun can stop a bad guy with a gun theory it is a myth, and it has no validity to it? >> thank you for that question. my heart goes out to the families grieving and in texas today because as a mom, this is a pending to watch. and understand what families are experiencing that is preventable. it is not new, it is not unique,
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and the rhetoric from the nra which is quote unquote a good guy from a gun can stop a bad guy from a gun, that was created after sandy hook, the head of the nra came up with it. why did he do that? he wanted to stop americans from focusing on the problem. he wanted them to focus on everything else. do you know what he did after sandy hook? after inventing that slogan? he went on to the mediterranean on a yacht because he was afraid of his life and dying from a gun. so the answer to your question is, it is about the gun. it is always about the gun. americans understand that it is about the gun. do we care about mental health? yes we do. do we care about video games? yes we do.
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in america, we do not have more mental illness, we do not have more access to video games than any other country. what we have access to our armed weapons, weapons of war, high capacity magazines attached to them, that have no place in civil society. and let's and that. it is very simple. 90% of americans agree with us. it is about the gun. it is about the gun. it is about the gun. and everyone wants to distract us from that, from other things that do deserve to be fixed. but here is the thing, america is not unique in having problems with mental illness, in having problems with these other things.
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america's unique with gun violence. it is about the gun. >> i am so glad you are speaking with so much clarity about this because the more we say that the more people will understand. i think the polls show that americans genuinely understand. so it begs the question why the politicians are not responsive to the will of the people. we are going to get into that later on in the program. but stored, that timeline that we laid out, there it has shifted drastically over the last few days. it began with these inconsistencies at times, contradictory statements from the police, and now it is common for some details to change in the days after an attack like this as more information comes to light, or amidst the clearing of the fog of war, so to speak. but there seems to be something more here than just initial reports. >> yes. this whole thing has the smell of a cover-up. as i understand it the fbi is doing an independent investigation.
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my dad was an fbi agent. and i hope that thought is going to happen. i think only by having outsiders look at this, i think it is difficult to grasp how the nra has become something that it didn't used to be. it really was a gun safety organization 50, 60 years ago. but it has become this deeply, deeply corrupt, and i would say evil organization. it is not much their ability to mobilize people, and to brand republicans as not being conservative, which you referred to, as the money. you can always raise more money somewhere else. but it is this terrible power that they have held. i hope it is breaking. republicans, there were a certain number of republicans including governor tom ridge who voted when he was in congress for the assault weapon ban in 94.
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you should pass that again. it worked. it is not a perfect solution, but it did work. this is part of a complete failure of the republican party to be about the business of public service. >> chris, the nra's annual convention, as i mentioned this continuing through the weekend here in houston. you have republicans like texas governor greg abbott and lieutenant governor there in person appearances following the shooting. although the governor himself at the same time he was giving a press conference in uvalde, had recorded a message to the nra so he was at least acknowledging their presence and supportive of their actions. we are also seeing massive protests outside of the convention center. do you think that the nra feels this pressure? and is the organization as effective as it once was? it is becoming an interest or gonna's a shun. its reputation has certainly been hit. but at the same, time it is
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still spending millions of dollars in propping up candidates. >> it is still spending a lot of money propping up candidates that comes from the industry. it does not come from -- we just had a poll that came out yesterday about things like broad ground checks with every spokes person who came before the convention last night saying that that is not appropriate. this is about ensuring that the 650 plus people a day who are denied background checks have a system that is working. but it could not work better. the a maracas are screaming out across this country for reasonable solutions, anyone who thinks today this it's
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conscripted for money, and industries selling as many people as they can, as many guns as possible, and they do not care the consequences care about american democracy, or americans today? they are not watching. all americans understand that it is about our democracy. it is not even about guns, i will say this. i run brady. jim and sarah passed a law that stands for the crazy proposition that people who should never have guns have background checks. all we are trying to do right now is extend that. this convention is standing against thought. you saw greg abbott, and former president trump talking about why background checks, the things about stop dangerous
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people from getting guns every day, that 90%, it report just happened yesterday, 90% of americans say that is important, they are standing against this. if anyone doesn't understand right now, it is not just about guns, it is not. it is, yes it is about that, let's not have dangerous people have guns. it is also about our democracy. and let's make that really clear. there are parents who lost their children because we have people like greg abbott and ted cruz in office who do not care and let's make that really clear to people. i hope everyone listening today understands thought. it is about us. who we vote for, what matters, and what matters is our safety. because this is about life,
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liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, and how we get that in america, and this is our issue. the issue of gun violence prevention, it matters in every way to them. >> yes. stuart, i want to ask you finally, we just mentioned that the spending power of the nra, and how much it wields, but you actually spoke about another power the organization has and it is its ability to mobilize voters. we may see that again in november. greg abbott is on the ballot. tell us a bit more about that and why perhaps that is the motivation for him to be at that conference virtually? >> yes, you know the nra has become an effective political organization. they have a database, and they endorsed candidates. and when you haven't endorsed and are a candidate running against someone who the nra is attacking, and most republican primaries, that is a great
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advantage to the nra interest candidates. there are a lot of situations in which people, candidates just try to get the nra not to endorse any candidate. i think that this has got to be broken by people standing up against the nra. you look at the numbers, and you get outside of this small primary base, and i think that you can challenge it. it is one of the issues that i think is going to seem impossible until it happens. and that is probably -- the congressman previously was referring to. it seems impossible, and then it seems inevitable. i think that you just have to keep putting pressure on republicans, or anybody who does not support basic fundamental good sense of background checks, and a ban on assault weapons. to me, it is like working around with a paperback full of water, i don't think it will
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lead, but when i think it, goes it will really go. >> hopefully so. chris brown, stuart stevens, thank you so much. thank you for starting us off this hour. next, senate judiciary committee just announced a hearing on gun violence on kids. i will ask senator sheldon whitehouse who sits on that committee what he expects to come out of those hearings, and whether americans are actually justified of the sentencing action on gun control. first, my friend and colleague is here with the headlines, hi richard. >> good evening to you. some of the stories we are watching for you this hour, the manager of the san francisco giants says he will no longer take the field for the pregame national anthem following the uvalde texas school shooting. good cop we are saying that he will not return for the anthem until he feels better about the country's direction. russian authorities are saying that they will capture the key railways city in the donbas region of eastern ukraine on saturday. if true, it is a major step for russia. this marks the second small city to fall to russian forces
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backbone? that was all president biden could ask after the massacre in uvalde, texas. hours after the massacre, senator chris murphy got on his hands and knees and begged his fellow senators for action. repeating over and over again, what are we doing? those are questions i've been asking myself this week. i am not alone. the american prospect has gone so far as to argue the senate has forfeited its right to exist as republicans are once again certain to block meaningful gun control legislation. i spoke earlier with rhode island senator sheldon whitehouse on what he and his colleagues can do to change their dismal record of action. thank you so much for joining us. a lot of americans are feeling hopeless in the wake of uvalde, in the wake of buffalo, knowing that we have been through these horrific tragedies, and that nothing changes after them. do you understand americans
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frustration to put it mildly, with congress at this moment? >> to put it mildly, yes. i think that part of what we need to do is to identify the root of the problem so that we can fix it. because frankly, the tower of the nra to cause the republican party to heal to it, so obediently, it has the same thing behind it, the power of the fossil fuel industry, to cause the republican party to heal to its climate denial. it causes the republican party to heal to the capture of the court by the federalist society, and that is behind the voter suppression effort that the republican party is promoting. we just have to get a better looking at those core conditions, which are primarily enormous, enormous amounts of special interest money that has allowed to be spent anonymously by the millions in our politics,
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and creates an environment where secret threats, and promises can drive political behavior. >> at what point do we as americans feel that our democracy is not working. have we crossed that threshold when we look at the numbers, and the majority of americans want sensible gun reform? we want universal background checks. we want a lot of the things that i am sure that you are on board with, yet somehow we are not seeing legislation reflect the majority of the american will. and it is not on the issue of gun control, it is on abortion rights, it is on a lot of things. and the democracy does not seem to be responding to the majority of the will of the american people. >> i think first, people understand that. they see at. they will say that. they also understand it has a lot to do with being special interest money into politics, and across the parties they hit big special interest money, secretly going around in
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politics. there have actually been studies that show that when you look at what congress produces, it has statistically nothing to do with what the public wants. but a very high correlation with what's being special interest, and have this enormous amount of money slashing around in politics, what they want. >> so, your colleague senator dick durbin has announced that the senate judiciary committee will hold a hearing on gun violence, and kids. you sit on the committee. what do you expect to come out of this hearing? >> i think that the republicans will have their talking points ready, they're talking points will have been delivered to them by the nra, and they will try to shift the blame for gun violence off guns, and on to everything else that they can think of. i think that it is really, really hard to get them to
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cross the nra. because it holds the whip end over their political money, and over their political futures. >> i guess, you know, the nra is still holding its conference in houston this weekend. ted cruz, donald trump, were among the speakers. your reaction to the fact that the nra in the wake of this tragedy is still going ahead with these big names, for the republican party? >> i think that the moral choice was properly made by the entertainers who said no way. we are pulling out. the nra is used to breaching, fighting public opinion. it does so with money, because it has legislators who are so dependent on its money that they will do whatever the nra says, irrespective of public opinion. the nra going ahead, there is no surprise, but it is pretty disgraceful, political figures
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are going there, and it is particularly disgraceful if they go there without going two uvalde, texas, to understand what is -- you know, that bloodbath, that gore in the schools. >> later in the hour i will speak with senator whitehouse about the republican dark money efforts to influence our courts. but up next, ted cruz walks out of an interview after he is pressed on gun control. r he i esprsed on gun control what is this nightmare? it's how some people describe... shingles. a painful, blistering rash that could interrupt your life for weeks. forget social events and weekend getaways. if you've had chickenpox, the virus that causes shingles is already inside of you. if you're 50 years or older ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingles. if you've been living with heart disease, reducing cholesterol can be hard,
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>> the proposals by democrats in the media inevitably with some violent psychopath murdered people -- >> a violent psychopath is able to get a weapon so easily, 18 year old and two ar-15s -- >> if you want to stop violent crime, the proposals that the democrats have, none of that would stop this. >> why this is only happen in your country. i think that is why many people around the world cannot fathom, why only in america? why is this american exceptionalism so awful? >> i am sorry that you think american exceptionalism is awful. -- >> this aspect of it. >> you have your political agenda, god love you -- >> senator, i just want to understand why you do not think that guns is the problem? >> why is this an american problem? >> it is just an american problem, sir. >> mr. crews, why is america the only country that faces this kind of mass shooting? >> you can't answer, can you,
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sir? you can't answer that -- >> why is it that people come from all over the world to america, because it is the previous, most prosperous, safeness -- >> it may be the furious -- >> senator cruz literally ran away from the harsh reality that we find ourselves because the mass shooting at robb elementary school that killed 19 children and two adults was the 27th school shooting at america this year. if you include mass shootings at locations other than a school, that count jumps to more than 200, believe it or not. let's focus on tenet or cruises remarks about american exceptionalism here, and what really makes this country great, because in the preamble of the united states constitution, the founders made it clear, we are imperfect. the government organized in that document was specifically designed to help create a, quote, more perfect union. because the framers knew that we were flawed.
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government was supposed to be the force that address those flaws and helped fix them. that has always been my understanding of american exceptionalism. that has what attracted millions of people to this country, the openness democratic pursue a progress. but to senator cruz, his republican allies and even some democrats, any criticism of united states or government is simply unpatriotic or american. how is it unpatriotic to criticize the government? that is how totalitarian regimes operate. it is why so many republican actions in recent years have been so troubling, banning difficult history lessons in school, punishing corporations that there to confront gop orthodoxy, attacking everyone that there is to say we still have work to do and a lot of it in this country. now, republicans have successfully weaponize the idea that we should want to strive for more. let's be clear, america is a
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great place, but it can, and it must be better. robb elementary school shows that we need to be better. the american experiment is imperfect, and it will always be that way. it is not unpatriotic to say that. after the break, we will speak to nbc news historian, michael -- for some more. n, michael -- for some more. trelegy for copd. [coughing] ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on by... ♪ if you've been playing down your copd,...
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>> if i can begin, ayman, what you said was perfect, totally agree. robert kennedy used to say in a democracy, it is not enough to allow dissent, we must demand it. the highest form of patriotism is to point out where the government is falling short. that is what i have been talking about the last couple of days. what is the basic duty of government? government is to protect our lives, even more than that, to protect our children. take a look at the atrocity in uvalde. the government did not work at the national lab full, no serious gun safety laws. it did not work at the state level, you see with governor abbott and others, what he has says in recent days, and sadly not at the local level. the police did not do what they should. if you look at societies when people like americans in a democracy feel that the government is not doing what it
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is supposed to do, that is a moment where people are ripe for revolution. if you have a tired minority allied with the nra that is keeping this country from having gun safety laws that are overwhelmingly majority of american support, according to the polls. conservatives are playing a dangerous game, because one the government does not operate, it creates the condition for a possible revolution. that has happened before in american history. >> speaking of that, michael, other countries have seen acts of mass violence, the uk, australia, new zealand -- there are spots was to immediately take action to adopt gun control measures. why have we not seen a similar response in this country? is it our politics, is it our constituents, is it our system? >> we are sadly in a system that is not working. it is working less and less by
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the day. if you love democracy, like you and i do, that is a real danger and something to worry about every single night. what could be more basic than wanting to keep our children alive. why does our system not produce laws that make that more possible? it is a dysfunction. it has happened before in american history. 1861, we grappled with slavery, we had to go to civil war to see if we could resolve it. despite civil war, we had the problem of race ever since because it was never properly addressed. 1932, millions of americans were out of work and starving. many americans said, we should throw away our system and turn to a totalitarian leader, like you long, and father cochrane. that was really serious. this has happened before in america. i would also say that in 1963, when black americans and those fighting at their side were
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demanding rights of them and other people in society not able to vote, or exercise basic rights. if it has not been the nonviolence of martin luther king and other leaders, there is a good chance that the civil rights revolution of 1960s my ad been a real revolution. the point i am making is, anyone that looks at america as a calm place where these things never happen, only happens in europe or asia, this is as american as apple pie. >> i want to go back to your first point, is the american political project fundamentally broken if a mass majority of americans have desperately called for expanding background checks for years, and the politicians are not responded? >> correct, system is broken. the founders always said that we never want to be in a situation where this is my language, not there is. where america is ruled
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politically by a tyranny of a minority. what is a better definition of tyranny of minority but a small group of people relatively in society, arm in arm with the nra, telling us, the majority, that you cannot have basic laws that will keep your kids from being killed in schools. >> it is a scary thought. i completely agree with you, michael, i worry about this democracy every day, given what i have seen the last couple of years and the trends of not being able to get anything done. we are beyond just a super simple political impasse -- >> i agree, we have to fix it, and this is a resilient society. let's hope it does. >> let's hope it does. i am with you on that. they gave so much are joining us. appreciate it, michael. >> of course. >> after the break, new york's new congressional map has drawn a lot of criticism. for one member of state assembly, she saw a rare opportunity to represent her community at the federal level,
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♪ ♪ bonnie boon i'm calling you out. everybody be cool, alright? we've got bonnie right here on a video call. we don't take kindly to video calls. oh, in that case just tap to send a message. we don't take kindly to messages neither. in that case how 'bout a ringcentral phone call. we don't take kindly to no... would you can it eugene! let's just hear her out. ha ha ha, i've been needing a new horse. we've got ourselves a deal. ♪ ♪ ♪ ringcentral ♪ this is not the stallion i was imagining. take a look at new york's newly redrawn tenth congressional district. for the first time ever, the district includes both manhattan chinatown and brooklyn's china town located in the sunset park neighborhood. the new borders of this just stick actually sparked a aha
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moment for senate member, -- she can run for congress, and if you want, she could represent members of her own community at the federal level. she joins me now. assembly member, thank you so much for joining us. talk about what it would mean to represent members of your own community in congress, and why you decided to run? would you have to offer to the constituents of this community? >> i think it is exactly what you just said, which is basically that i would be representing my community in congress. we know that huge shift was made when the maps were drawn. i was shocked when we saw the maps. i was excited to see more represents station for the asian community. a lack of representation we know really hurts communities. we also know that having representation really makes a huge difference and what needs are actually met for us.
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this district is and has a real chance to bring voices to the table and make our public policy better and more effective, because of that representation. when i was elected in 2016 to the new york state assembly, i was also the first asian american and the new york state assembly to represent china town, as well, in lower manhattan. it was really clear that the language axis that i was given to my constituents was a really big change. i think that when people do not have access to their government, and when they are not being heard, then they can't advocate for themselves. before that, a lot of folks did not have access to the government. we need to make sure that we are changing that, completely, and that policies are really reflective of who we are. >> if elected, you would be one of 400 members in the house. that is very important on a representative level to be representing your constituents on a federal level. talk to me about what would be different in representing your
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constituents on a federal level as opposed to a state level. is there something that you would see on a federal level that needs more attention that at state level, it is not providing at this moment? >> absolutely, when it comes to even public housing, when it comes to many of the folks in my district, we are given certain amount of resources. even now, on the state level, we were able to finally get asian american organizations more resources. we still know that there is a lack of resources coming from the federal government. when we talk about public housing, we know, for example, the hunt has divested from public housing for decades. this is a opportunity for us to actually be able to show that our federal government is taking responsibility for public housing. that is one example that we can do on the federal level, that could be very different. another is the level of access, making sure that we have much more language access at every
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level of government. it is so important. we have had amazing legislators that have given this perspective, but coming from new york and our communities, we would have so much more to make sure our communities are serve. especially asian americans in new york city, we live in poverty. in new york city, we are the most impoverished ethnic group. it is really important that folks understand how it is important to service and service properly our constituents. because asian americans live in poverty, you would expect that many of our asian american folks living in poverty are actually getting more social services, et cetera. we actually get the least. that is why it is so important for us to service our communities in a way that is culturally appropriate. >> yuh-line niou, thank you for joining us. we wish you the best of luck. we look forward to speaking to you in the months ahead as this
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race develops. thank you so much making time for us. >> thank you so much for having me. >> up next, more on my conversation with senator sheldon whitehouse. i will ask the senate judiciary member if he supports expanding the number of seats on the supreme court. expandin the number of seats on the supreme court. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ we believe there's an innovator in all of us. ♪ ♪
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as mayor, she saved taxpayers over $55 million. finding waste. saving money. because... yiu is for you. yiu is for you. exactly. yvonne yiu. democrat for controller. self-driving cars. our power grid. water treatment plants. hospital systems. they're all connected to the internet... and vladimir putin or a terrorist could cause them all to self-destruct... a cyber 9-11 that would destroy our country. i'm dan o'dowd and i wrote the software that keeps our air defenses secure. i approved this message because i need your vote for u.s. senate to send a message... the far-right in this country congress needs to fix this. is pursuing an audacious effort to capture american courts,
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fueled by hundreds of millions dollars by secret dark contributions that they hope do which they can enact a radical, social economic agenda that they could never achieve legislatively. in the second part of my conversation with the senator sheldon whitehouse, a member of the senate judiciary committee, we discuss the far-right turn to judiciary in america as a tool for corporate interests. >> un a scathing twitter thread, you detail how republicans are altering the courts through fringe appointments. tell us more about this issue, and how it impacts so many of the things that affects our life on a daily basis? >> if you draw the common thread behind the funding of the nra, the funding of the climate health operation, the funding of the voter suppression operation, you see that there is also an operation that have been for quite a while to capture the courts,
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specifically the supreme court, that went under high gear under trump by these donors. it produces judges that will do what they are told by special interest to show up in court, who they call friends of the court -- over and over again, what they are doing is trying to degrade the american political and economic system, so that if you are rich or powerful enough, you are immune from elections, laws and regulations. you can create an america that americans do not want, using the powers of the court to enforce their will over our will. the decision that came out sore of embodies that on this circuit of trump judges, that would disable security exchange ability to go at the people that commit fraud on others, using a series of what i
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consider to be cooked up, reversed engineered, legal theories designed specifically to disable regulation that protects you and me from polluters, chiefs, people that would take advantage of consumers. >> is there a way to reform this or stop this? this gop is happening at every level. do you support expanding the number of seats on the supreme court? should judiciary points to the supreme court not be lifetime? >> there is a whole package of reforms that needs to be evaluated, but need to be evaluated in the light of the understanding of what is actually taking place, particularly at the supreme court. this is not a conservative court. this is a captured court, in the same way that the 19th century railroads took over the railroad commissions, so that they were able to charge
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whatever prices they want. private interests behind the federalist society have controlled the last three republican appointees to the united states supreme court. they had massive influence and the selection of robert alito, that is really five. that is the majority of the court that was put in place by the special interests operation. they are now delivering for the benefit of those big interest that put them on the court. it is not a conservative court. it is a captured court. it is captured by special interests. >> you report actually mentions the disclosed act, democratic legislation that would and the influence of dark money in our political system. i had to say that, sadly, once again, there is no support from republicans on this. should democrats fight fire with fire here? is it time to abolish the
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filibuster and try to actually get something done to save our democracy on a whole host of issues, including this one? >> it is absolutely time to find procedural ways around mitch mcconnell's abuse of the filibuster rule, so that important things can get done in the senate without giving mitch pecan owe the keys to the kingdom, when he and the republicans are both in the minority and entirely li controlled by special interest on these issues. yeah, we do need to find that. we haven't been able to find the 50 votes necessary to change the rules to create pathways around that kind of rampant obstruction. the election matters. a couple more seats, and we might be able to do that. >> yeah, to kind of clothes on an optimistic note, what is your message to americans that are feeling hopeless, that issues like this might not change?
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you are saying with the elections, there is a chance for change? >> with the elections, they could change. more to the point, by demanding transparency and politics, by getting rid of the unlimited, anonymous money, the dark money flowing in politics, which we can do, which we will be voting on this year, that is a potential turning point for american democracy to put it back in the hands of the people that do the voting, pay the taxes and are the citizens, rather than an elite group of all dark's that want to run the country from behind the scenes, using massive amount of money to make the republicans do what they want. >> senator, i wish you the best of luck. before time runs out and we lose complete control of our government, senator sheldon whitehouse, thank you for your time and joining us. >> good to be with you. >> coming up this hour of ayman,
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