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tv   Andrea Mitchell Reports  MSNBC  October 10, 2022 9:00am-10:00am PDT

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right now on "andrea mitchell reports," ukraine's president zelenskyy saying putin's forces are trying to wipe his country off the face of the earth after more than 80 new rocket strikes on targets including kyiv. putin is claiming the attacks are a retaliation in response to
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an explosion on a critical bridge linking russia to the annexed crimean peninsula, crippling a key supply route for russia. here at home, republican leaders doubling down on their support for embattled senate candidate, herschel walker, with two top gop senators heading there to campaign with the former football star tomorrow. and fresh reaction to remarks from tommy tuberville. >> they want crime because they want to take over what you got. they want to control what you have. they want reparation because they think the people that do the crime are owed that. >> good day. as russia unleashes a barrage of deadly strikes across ukraine
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including kyiv, lviv and other cities. the explosions injurying civilians and infrastructure. people forced to take shelter in a key subway station. this for retaliation for damaging the only bridge connecting to crimea. a bridge to important to putin, he personally drove across it when it opened. on russian state tv today, putin saying he had launched a massive strike against ukraine's energy facilities as revenge for what he calls kyiv's terrorist actions. cal perry is in kyiv. you've had a terrible night. everyone in kyiv and across ukraine. what can you tell us about the russian strikes, how the city is now and how the aircraft defenses worked. >> reporter: they worked very well. they shot about oo 50% out of
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the sky. 84 rockets were fired from russian positions at one time on to cities across ukraine as well as 24 drones and you can imagine how air defense would be overwhelmed. that seems to have been part of the strategy by russian forces to try to overwhelm the air defenses here and in some ways, they did so. you're seeing the aftermath of the strikes. at least 11 people are confirmed dead across the country. dozens wounded. these are going to be low numbers. there were 45 buildings alone here in the capital that have been damaged. just to give you an idea of the extensive strikes and they range from the east of the country from kharkiv, they witnessed five separate explosions and to the west in lviv where infrastructure targets were hit. the power is out in that city and it is going to get cold and that is a concern here. here in the capital as you
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mentioned, people are huddling in bomb shelters. they have made their way to the subway. the mayor here has warned he expects there to be a further wave of attacks. this coming on the heels of the explosion of the bridge in crimea. it will be interesting to see how this city dealing with this in the next 24 hours. this was a city that was coming back. people were returning to work. this morning was a busy rush hour interrupted by the explosions that continues for four to five hours. >> thank you so much. stay safe. joining us from moscow, keir simons. you've been talking to people, obviously from what putin said today, this isn't over yet and this is a critical point in the war. >> reporter: and people are very worried on the streets of moscow. when you talk to them and ask them what they think of putin, they won't answer mostly and they're probably right not to, but they do admit to being very
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concerned. there is something of a split screen here in russia between those folks on the streets and there are still many, many who support president putin. and then the people inside the kremlin and inside vladimir putin's inner circle, he is increasingly surrounded by hard liners. the moderate voices are silenced, quite frankly. he appointed a new general over the weekend who has a record that goes back to 1991 when he was jailed for killing protestors during the coe coup. we are seeing a change in strategy by the kremlin and a horrifying one if you are in ukraine where cal perry is. >> and putin is under pressure internally. for the first time in 20 years, i think we've seen this kind of public comment, bloggers and the
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like, but mostly it's from the had liners that think he's not fighting hard enough. >> i think that's right to say he's under the most pressure he's been in his 20-year leadership and the criticism and there has been vocal criticism. over the weekend, that bridge that was damaged in the explosion, that was shown again and again on russian television. i've not seen that since february, that kind of coverage. so there has been criticism that's gone like this. we're very loyal to president putin. these allies have said, but we don't like the way the ministry of defense is running the campaign. we think they should be stronger, tougher. those same hard liners now celebrating these raids this morning and question i guess you could ask is if this strategy does not work, president putin's latest stretch you could call it, how will those hard liners then react? so much focus on ukraine. i think the focus, too, in the
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months and weeks ahead, will be here on moscow. >> keir simons, thank you so much for you know, all the news from moscow. let's bring in the former supreme allied commander of nato. peter baker, chief white house correspondent for the "new york times." his new book, the divider, trump from the white house 2017-2021. now on the best sellers list. a great review in sunday's times. congratulations to you for that, peter. first to you, admiral, though. this is a critical point in the war as keir was pointing out. president putin under pressure from his own leadership but also public pressure from masses of people. where does putin go from here? >> i think you begin by saying that putin feels as though his efforts are failing and in so many ways, they are and in particular, the ground war is
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going badly against him at this point. so he is reaching for other military options and i think he's taking a card out of the deck he used in syria, which is kind of, you know, if i can't take it, i'll break it. he's going to go after the critical infrastructure. he's going to do as much he can to kind of create aleppo, a city he destroyed on the denper. the general who he just put in charge not only has his own war criminal background, but is the head of the russian air force. so you see putin turning from his failing ground generals to a general who has committed war crimes using air forces. this new move i think signals a change in putin's strategy and it's one that the west is going to have to react to. i would say this is the moment, andrea, to revisit the idea of providing the ukrainians
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tactical war fighting jets. mig 29s. f-16s. let's let the ukrainians control their skies. that's the best way to stop this. >> now, what about a no fly zone? you tweeted it's time for nato to impose a no fly zone, but admiral, couldn't that potentially put nato right in the middle of all this which is exactly what president biden has vowed not to do? >> yes. and that's why i do not advocate a no fly zone instituted by nato because the first thing you have to do is take out russian air defenses, which are in russia itself. and therefore, that would put us on a supreme collision course. however, if we give the ukrainians those fighters, the training, the intelligence, i think they can truly contest the air space over ukraine without bringing our forces in direct
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conflict with russia. send them fighters. >> and you think they could train them quickly enough? >> i do. and the mig 29s, for example, are on offer from poland and that's a jet, a russian made jet that the ukrainian air force already flies and the f-16 is well within the capability of training them very, very quickly. i think that needs to be part of the solution along with better air defenses in our continuing pressure that we're all applying to putin diplomatically and economically. peter, you were a long time putin watcher. tell us, what is the exit ramp for vladimir putin? >> i don't think there is an exit ramp here. not an easy one. he's not willing to simply walk away and say, okay, i made a mistake. he would like to change the facts on the ground. that's why he's applied this annexation strategy with four provinces in the east. but that's not going to convince
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zelenskyy and the ukrainian government. they have had such good momentum going forward what the political pressure of zelenskyy is against a solution that would give up part of their territory. you can understand why the ukrainians have felt like they've had such success. not only that strike on that bridge is a signal from the ukrainians that they're not only going to try to defend and take part of the country they've lost since february, they're thinking about crimea, which they lost in 2014. there's not an obvious off ramp here. >> there are a couple of things that come to mind because it seems as though attribution, they've been tweeting about this explosion on the bridge, seemed very clear who did it. how do you read the fact that ukraine seems to be escalating and taking out, attacking a symbolic putin key facility at
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the very time when president biden has been warning very dramatically that putin is at is risk of escalating and saying we're coming close to nuclear armageddon since the cuban missile crisis. >> ukrainians are sending a message here. presuming they're the ones responsible for this attack on the bridge is we don't accept that crimea is part of russia. this bridge was built in the last six years as a way of saying crimea is part of annexation in 2014 and what zelenskyy's government seems to be saying, assuming once again they're responsible for it, is we don't accept that. not only do we not accept they've taken territory from us this year, we don't accept any territory they've taken from us in the past and you're right that's going to be concerning in the white house. the number one priority for biden is avoiding the escalation you've been talking about. leading to his view, an armageddon. his word. and i think that that's you
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know, that's where they have been trying to caution the ukrainians have been careful about how far they're willing to go. to take the battle to the russians on their territory, but not to go further. which is why they avoided giving them some of the weaponry including the migs the admiral's talking about here. >> seemed unusual that the president would make that comment at a political fund-raiser and just wondering with all the things in play, he didn't do it on camera, but at the same time, anything he says is going to make news. that made news. any second guessing of that? was that a deterrent to putin or a political comment? you know, stick with me because the times are perilous and you need someone with a firm hand. i don't know quite how to read that. >> yeah. i think sometimes we look for strategic meaning in a president's somewhat offhand comments, right. i think what we discovered over the years in covering presidents
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when they give these evening fund-raiser talks, they don't have a script, a telepromter, aides shaping their message. they tend to talk off the top of their head more and it's sometimes very revealing about what they're thinking. what's going on in their mind at that point. so i think what this is, the importance of it is it shows how worried president biden is about this. it shows what's on his mind. shows what he's thinking about. i don't know that it's necessarily a strategic effort to send this signal or that signal. you saw the white house trying to walk it back a bit saying look, we don't have anything new intelligence to tell you that would indicate something is eminent, but it tells you how worried the president is at this moment. >> yeah, i was going to ask you if this was biden being biden. the kind of thing he might say to his national security adviser in the morning before reading. adam, we have the first images put out by their media. who knows, whatever we get from in, of kim jong-un and some of
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those missile launches. this is the greatest frequency of missile launches we've seen even in 2017. this rapid pace. the volatility and now russia and china are firmly on kim's side. we can't turn to either of them, china in particular, to pull him back. where is this headed? >> not in a good direction. if you think of kim jong-un, he's like a shark that's been swimming beneath the surface while we've been very focused on ukraine, russia, china, taiwan, iran. are we going to get a nuclear deal or not. but coming along relentlessly under the water is a very dangerous, large predator and that would be kim jong-un. look, he's searching for attention in all the wrong ways. and in addition to these updraft in the number of ballistic missiles, andrea, a lot of
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reporting that he may conduct a nuclear test sometime this fall. all of that augers for he wants more attention and oh, by the way to conclude, he's also building that relationship with putin. so trouble ahead with north korea. >> nothing good to report on the foreign policy side today. we have the best analysts and experts here. peter baeker, admiral, thank you both so much. and family values. despite a growing list of controversies, republicans are rallying around the republican senate nominee in georgia. that's ahead. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. g "andrea mitl reports" on msnbc.
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the determination of republican party leaders to win at all costs was apparent with their complete embrace of georgia's senate candidate,
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herschel walker this weekend. despite his issues over abortion. aside from georgia's governor and lieutenant governor, top republicans are all in to elect the former football star to six-year term. to a six-year term in order to retake the senate. here to discuss that and other midterm news are nbc's senior political editor, mark murray, "usa today" washington bureau chief, susan page and robert gibbs. mark, let's start with you. today, you're pointing out the overwhelming support from republican leaders. let's take aside governor and lieutenant governor. that's georgia and they have their own relationship with president trump. but how do you explain the evangelicals, the family values people? all of the cultural values spelled out in the republican platform for generations. >> we've heard their justification is that they want
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to win and winning is the most important thing in politics. particularly for them. it is jarring to me as somebody who's covered american politics for the past 20 years that abortion, which is a fundamental republican issue, not only in your own personal lives, but what others should do in their personal lives, and to have this allegation come out from walker and for them to say well, even if it did happen, we're still supporting herschel walker. to me, just leaves my jaw on the floor, andrea. and it has a lot of democrats asking well if that choice was good for herschel walker, why isn't that choice good for millions of americans regardless of what kind of states? now, you did talk about governor brian kemp and i do think it is significant the distance he's put himself versus national republicans where he hasn't actually come and embraced walker. to me, that's very telling. but the national republicans who
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have embraced walker, we're going to see rick scott, the chairman of national senatorial campaign as well as tom cotton. we'll see what other republicans decide to stump with him in the next four weeks. >> and susan, i was really struck by peggy noonan's column. she writes about it's children born and the father says to the mother, you can raise it by yourself or abort it, but i won't help you raise it and act as a father. that is the story. that walker is accused of abandoning his little kids. voters would forgive abortion or bad break ups are less likely to give a pass on that. on four children left alone by their father. the rich, handsome football
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star, candidate. i heard similar comments from james carville over the weekend. >> no better republican than peggy noonan, in her column saturday, she was raising questions about the kind of character and nature of the republican party and where the gop is going and she makes a point that if you get what you want, get herschel walker over the finish line and he becomes the governor of georgia, you're going to be living with him for six years in the u.s. senate. so definitely some questions. of course republicans, they want to hold that. they've got no other candidate. it's too late under georgia law to replace him on the ballot. it's going to be herschel walker or nobody if you're focused on trying to get a republican to regain that seat in georgia. >> and robert gibbs, i've yet to see a single interview with walker on any subject, even before this all came bubbling up to the surface, that indicates he's qualified to be a senator
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for six years. on any subject. >> yeah, andrea, that's a whole other state of affairs, really, for this senate race. look, i think it will be interesting. friday night is likely their only debate in savannah. i think herschel walker is going to have to look like a candidate who can be that senator for six years. he's likely going to have to answer questions about the news that has come out over the past week. he's denied even knowing this person even though i believe nbc reported, was the first to report that his current wife was texting with his woman. so it's pretty clear herschel walker know who is this person is and i'm going to be fascinated to watch quite frankly both of these candidates, but how does herschel walker respond to these charges? how does he respond to the issue of abortion? and for senator warnock, how does he respond to charges on inflation and the state of the economy and things like that. to me, the debate's going to be
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interesting to see which of these candidates is able to pivot knowing their opponent wants to go in certain places. how are they going to answer that? how does look effective and really reassure voters in georgia on their selection in a very, very important race. >> and mark, let's look also at the big picture for democrats because gas prices are inching up because of what the saudis did. that is also a blot on president biden's copy book for those who say it's because he didn't get enough or a real commitment after going to that controversial summit. you've got inflation sticking and stock market tanking on friday because they now know the fed is going to keep tightening at a pretty rapid face to conquer inflation and nothing is going to be accomplished on the economic side between now and the midterms. >> the political wind started to
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change in the summer, not only because the decision on abortion, but also because gas prices started to go down. i wonder if those political winds might shift again when gas prices start to inch up again. other people end up hitting on inflation, but when you still look at the totality of the republican edge right now, it's less on inflation than on crime. so i think even republicans are seeing crime is their more potent issue in places like the wisconsin is that the race, in pennsylvania senate versus inflation. but we've got to actually see, we have four weeks to go and whether or not the stories about people paying more at the pump, paying more for goods in general, start putting democrats on the defensive and trying to turn this back into a referendum on president biden. >> the republicans are now taking money and pouring it into those six, five or six senate races. i don't know why democrats are
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not putting money into north carolina. i have yet to understand why they're choking off what could be a flip. >> but andrea, it's important to note that candidate spending still is the gold currency when it comes to ads. these outside groups, they're often funded by billionaires that these superpacs get less of a bang for their buck when it comes to advertising rates than candidates do. in north carolina, sheriff beasley has a lot of money. john fedder man has a lot of money. the democrats have a lot of money and ads in spots, but you are right. when it comes to these republican superpacs, they've made a dent. >> susan, i want to switch gears and talk about allilisa slotkins about the current leadership. because you literally wrote the
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book about nancy pelosi and she was asking about joe biden in 2024 and the leadership in the house. let's watch. >> i have been very vocal including with my own leadership in the house that we need a new generation, new blood. period. across the party. the house, the senate and the white house. i think the country has been saying that. >> congresswoman slotkin said she would support president biden if he seeks a second term. >> well, there is enormous interest among in the democratic caucus to move to a new generation of leadership. there are three leaders now, all in their 80s. there's huge respect, of course, for nancy pelosi and all she's done as speaker of the house, but there's also a sense that it's time for new leaders. not everyone's speaking out quite as publicly as the congresswoman just did. you know, nancy pelosi said in 2018 that she would serve no more than two more times as leader of the democrats and i think she is likely to fulfill
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that commitment once this midterm election is over. >> susan page, mark murray and robert gibbs, great to see you all. thank you. and a major recognition today for the man who helped carry the nation through the 2008 financial crisis. former federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, has been awarded this year's nobel prize in economics along with fellow u.s. economists, douglas diamond. he said the failure of institutions can cause collapse when he pushed a veil off the largest banks in 2008. many criticized that move but also credit it with staving out of a worse economic crisis. former princeton professor was first appointed to head bill clinton's white house and rose to lead the federal reserve. he is one of the first economic policymakers in many years to win the nobel recognition. and women on the march. weekend protests pouring on to college campuses in cities across around.
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women leading the movement. our team is on the movement in tehran. some of the only western journalists in the country. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. watching "anl reports" on msnbc. thought my td was beyond help... ...but then i asked my doctor about tepezza. (vo) tepezza is the only medicine that treats t.e.d. at the source not just the symptoms. in a clinical study, more than 8 out of 10 patients taking tepezza had less eye bulging. tepezza is an infusion. patients taking tepezza may have infusion reactions. tell your doctor right away if you experience high blood pressure, fast heartbeat, shortness of breath or muscle pain. before getting tepezza, tell your doctor if you have diabetes, ibd, or are pregnant, or planning to become pregnant. tepezza may raise blood sugar even if you don't have diabetes. and may worsen ibd such as crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis. (bridget) now, i'm ready to be seen again. (vo) visit mytepezza.com to find a t.e.d. eye specialist
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now to iran where a wave of protests is entering its fourth week. protestors mostly women erupting into chants of anti government slogans. sunday at a university in tehran, students painting their hands red in a show of solidarity for students that had been arrested or injured since the unrest began. sunday, a broadcaster was apparently hacked. the unrest sparked by the death of 22-year-old masha amini. ali, i've never seen anything like this. many of these protests are being led by young iranian women. they seem determined. >> reporter: that's right, andrea. the body, a anatomy of these protests is made up by young iranian.
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women, even schoolgirls. mostly gen-z. not only appear determined, but fearless. you see countless episodes where young women face off with armed police in full riot gear, getting beating, but standing their ground. we've seen the images of women across iran burning their hijab in utter defiance or charging through the streets chanting woman, life, freedom. the rally cry of these protests. this takes a particular kind of courage in a country like this and for many of them, the price has been very high. they want a government that's going to respect them. that's going to create a prosperous future for them, to help them reach their aspirations. what's important to point out is that these folks make up the bulk of the population. over 60% of iranian are under the age of 30 and the majority of university students in this country are women. andrea? >> and reminds me in a strange
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way of 1979 when it was students who were the most aggressive in overturning the shah. having covered this for so many years as you have. how is the government reacting to these protests? >> reporter: as we've seen that the crack down has been harsh, unforgiving. almost every branch of the security apparatus has been dispatched and deployed. there are riot police, regular police, besieged militia, plain clothesed agents waiting to distinguish any flare up. thousands of arrests have been made. rounds are fired, tear gas is fired. people are beaten with clubs and running battles ensue on the streets. but usually this time, protestors have also been fighting back. state media say that at least 20 members of the security forces have been killed since the unrest started. but authorities want to put an
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end to this as soon as possible. iran's deputy interior minister has warned that from now on, those people who arrested in the riots will stay in jail until their trial. then they'll be rapidly prosecuted and their sentences will be decisive as to act as a deterrent. they're being tough. they want this to stop. it's causing a major problem for them that they haven't seen in 43 years. young people pouring out, determined to reach their rights, hopes, aspirations. it's also playing havoc with the economy. the internet is mostly off and businesses are not doing well. so they are determined to wrap this up. unfortunately it seems like by force. >> it is tragedy all around in many ways for all of those who have been injured and children involved in these protests.
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swept up in it. thank you very much. coming up, crime and punishment. silence from republicans at a republican senator's racist remarks at a trump rally in nevada. you're watching "andrea mitchell reports." this is msnbc. watching "andreal reports. this is msnbc. if you have high blood pressure, a cold is not just a cold. coricidin is the #1 doctor recommended cold and flu brand. specially designed for people with high blood pressure. be there for life's best moments. trust coricidin. my active psoriatic arthritis can slow me down. now, skyrizi helps me get going by treating my skin and joints. along with significantly clearer skin, skyrizi helps me move with less joint pain, stiffness, swelling, and fatigue. and skyrizi is just 4 doses a year after two starter doses. skyrizi attaches to and reduces a source of excess inflammation that can lead to skin and joint symptoms. with skyrizi, 90% clearer skin
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it's the subway series menu. 12 irresistible subs. the most epic sandwich roster ever created. ♪♪ it's subway's biggest refresh yet! alabama's republican senator, tommy tubberville, prompting outrage over the weekend with his latest racest comment. appearing at a nevada rally with president trump, he linked the crime rate to reparations for descendants of slaves, pushing a racist narrative about african americans and crime. >> the democratic party, they have majority. they could stop this crime today. some people say well they're soft on crime. no, they're not soft on crime. they're pro crime. they want crime. they want crime because they want to take over what you've
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got. they want to control what you have. they want reparation because they think the people that do the crime with owed that. [ bleep ] they are not owed that. >> joining me now is civil rights attorney david henderson and "washington post" columnist, eugene robinson. a statement was released quote, the senator's comments are racist, ignorant and utterly sickening. his words promote a centuries old lie about black people. he's an obama birther who made islamaphobic comments as well. what's your reaction, david? >> andrea, the more you discuss this, the more you look at it, the deeper the problem becomes.
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not the least of which the talent this was set in is a former sun down town that i think still has a fire station blaring a siren to warn members to head home. here's the reason it really shocks me. as a former prosecutor, i'm used to discussions involving crime statistics. i'm also used to how the data gets manipulated and books are written about it. to claim it was a discussion of context is ridiculous but what shocks me more is not only did he say it, people clapped after he said it and there's been virtually no response because it actually gains political capital from him. >> no response from president trump, the republican leaders there, the republican candidate there for whom they were campaigning. eugene robinson on "meet the press" to pick up on something david just alluded to, which was don bacon.
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the republican congressman. kristen welker was pressing him on tubberville's comments and this is what he had to say. >> do you feel as though those comments cross a racial line? >> i'm not going to say he's being racist, but i won't use that language. the fact is we can't ignore, we have a 40 to 50% violent crime increase. >> which ignores the reality of the crime statistics. both the top lines and who participates in them and who the crime is against. eugene, help me here. >> you see this before, andrea. so have i. this is back to george law's maddux and o'connor. this is not dog whistle politics. this is bull horn racist politics going back to the days of the civil rights movement. it is incredible.
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that we have essentially jim crow era rhetoric being used in the year 2022 in the united states of america. what has happened to this country and the republican party. republican party that played such a crucial role in passing that important civil rights legislation of the 1960s, can't even stir itself to mildly condemn this kind of just blatantly bull horn racist comments from tubberville. it is absolutely outrageous. >> they're coming for what you've got is echoing what the ku klux klan said about african americans. what the nazis said about the jews. it's the same kinds of tropes. >> that's absolutely true, andrea.
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here's the thing. we've got a lot of cases in the news now that follow along similar themes, but the oath keepers being on trial, white nationalism is on trial. this fall, the supreme court's going to take up racial gerrymandering and affirmative action so we're watching all these issues hoping we have some semblance of hope coming out of this, but when this happens in a sun down town that still blares a horn, trying to bridge the past and presence forces us to realize they're more closely held together than we'd like to think. what we're seeing in states like texas where they're fighting the weaponization of critical race theory in the context of what he said, candidates are saying we're happy with the controversy. we want to have a fight and we don't want to back down what we're saying. forces me to quote james boldwin. it's not permissible for the authors of destruction and devastation to be regarded as innocent and to the extent they're claiming they're innocent because they're ignorant but trying to force us into a crime, then that
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ignorance becomes a crime itself and for a party of law and order, they should be doing something to hold themselves accountable. >> thank you for quoting. eugene, trump and tuberville were campaigning for a candidate who was trying to unseat a candidate, senator cortez. >> yeah, it is, look, this is is most important midterm election i think that we're going to see in our lifetimes. i really do. there's so much on stake, at stake in november. but the fundamental thing that's at stake is the trajectory of our american democracy. which has been toward inclusion. which has been toward making the stirring words of the institution apply to more and more people. that's the way we've been heading. it hasn't been easy getting here, but that's been the
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direction. and the republican party now is trying to reverse that. it really is. i have really never seen anything like this and i think it just says to everybody, if you care about this you need to vote in november. >> david henderson, eugene robinson, an important conversation. thank you for being here. heading home. florida residents are just starting the long process of rebuilding their lives after hurricane ian. more from hard-hit ft. myers as residents are just getting back to see the destruction. that's next. you're watching andrea mitchell reports on msnbc. l reports on msnbc announcer: type 2 diabetes? discover the power of 3 in the ozempic® tri-zone. in my ozempic® tri-zone, i lowered my a1c, cv risk, and lost some weight. announcer: ozempic® provides powerful a1c reduction. in studies, the majority of people reached an a1c under 7 and maintained it.
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♪ ♪ it's what sanctuary could look like... feel like... sound like... even smell like. more on that soon. ♪ ♪ the best part? the prequel is pretty sweet too. ♪ ♪ residents of hard-hit ft. myers beach, florida, started to return to their islands over the weekend nearly two weeks after hurricane ian came ashore. they are just starting to assess the billions of dollars in damage. the heartbreak as they come back. 50 people died in lee county alone where ft. myers is located. more than 1,100 people have been rescued.
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guad va ney gas. i thought he was misreading that. you have been speaking to some residents. what are they telling you? >> reporter: andrea, we have been here every day. we have seen the numbers come back. they were asked to evacuate days ago. now they have been returning. moving forward, it will be a reconstruction of an area where we don't know how much damage there is. the neighbors are arriving to their homes. moving forward, contractors are going to be at the forefront of that rebuilding. just across the street, the property medics, local contractors everyone knew. i spoke to them and they said we lost all our trucks. we lost everything. but we have some workers, and we're waiting for more vehicles so we can get back on the reconstruction. the neighbors here cannot wait to go back in there to start cleaning up and rebuilding. it's going to be a lengthy and difficult task, andrea. but it's very interesting.
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because as i have had these conversations, i went to a neighborhood down the road, immigrant community. i spoke to a woman who said we lost everything. but my husband is working. all the men are working, all immigrants. they have been working sunrise to sundown, 14 hours a day. so i spoke with a contractor. and i said other than the vehicles, what is going to be essential? he said, we are going need labor. weeks ago i was reporting the governor had sent an airplane of migrants to martha's vineyard. now they are being brought in to help with the reconstruction. here's the conversation i had. how important is that immigrant community going to be to fulfill the labor needs of the whole region? >> it's very important, very important. i know there's a lot of immigrants in this area. and great, great source of labor, great source of help. unfortunately, i don't speak
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spanish. i have a couple of my employees that do. that's another avenue we looked at tackling, trying to get into the spanish-speaking community, immigrant community. >> reporter: so, as we move forward, part of the reconstruction of the affected area. andrea. >> guad venegas. thank you very much. chris jansing picks it up right after these brief messages. t after these brief messages hone. yeah. i respect that. but that cough looks pretty bad. try this robitussin honey. the real honey you love, plus the powerful cough relief you need. mind if i root through your trash? robitussin. the only brand with real honeyand elderberry. ♪ what will you do? will you make something better? create something new? our dell technologies advisors can provide you with the tools and expertise you need to bring out the innovator in you. it's the subway series menu. 12 irresistible subs.
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good day. i'm chris jansing live at msnbc headquarters in new york city. dramatic and deadly developments inside ukraine. a wave of russian missile attacks that president zelenskyy said are an attempt to wipe the ukrainian people off the face of the earth. the missiles blowing up apartment buildings, cultural institutions, even a children's playground.