tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC January 19, 2023 1:00am-2:00am PST
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silicon valley as going hard on donald trump, there is a plethora of evidence showing the exact opposite. >> and there is a body count that lies in the wake of it. as was one on january 5th. in fact, the new owner, elon musk, who court filings suggest is down 40% year over year in revenue are the plays that he's running, super genius, is inviting trump back and there is no word that he's probably coming back to twitter. so this may be newly relevant. that is all in on this wednesday night. . good evening, alex. >> trump coming back to twitter. >> say it ain't so. >> seriously. thank you, my friend. thanks to you at home for joining thus hour. do you remember italygate?
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a conspiracy theory that made it to the white house after the 2020 election claimed that somehow an italian defense contractor had conspired with the cia to use military satellites to flip votes from trump to biden. congressman scott perry brought that theory to the white house. the texan former chief of staff mark meadows. why can't we just work with the italian government. perry was one of four republican members of congress that the january 6 committee referred to the house ethics committee to cooperate with the investigation. the others were california congressman kevin mccarthy, ohio congressman jim jordan, and arizona congressman andy bigs. mccarthy is the speaker of the house. and as of tonight, perry, jordan, and bigs, all three of them, are officially members of the house oversight committee.
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the committee that under the new republican leadership has devoted itself to investigating president biden. other notable members are announced tonight are arizona's paul gosar and marjorie taylor green, stripped of the committee assignments for posting death threats against democratic colleagues. also on the committee, far right conservative holdouts like lauren bobert and arizona's line luna. the chairman went on rants about how the bidens are secretly getting money from china and how he and his committee are going to uncover it all. and now he has the help of congressman italy gate and the rest of the maga dream team to help him do just that. so there's that. republicans first order of business was voted on a bill to defund the irs. as well as legislation that
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could subject certain abortion doctors to prosecution. and now we're also learning that one of the concessions speaker mccarthy gave to right-wing hard-liners is to allow a vote on a bill to repeal the entire tax code, the whole thing, and replace it with a 30% sales tax. so the wealthy can skip out on that troublesome income tax that our nation's poor are hit with regressive fair tax. this is the stuff that is at the top of the republican agenda. top priorities for the gop led 118th congress. the thing that makes these proposal more wild is not one has a chance of actually becoming law. republicans can be as loud and crazy as they want in the house of representatives for the next two years. they can vote to repeal the constitution or the tax code or robert's rules of order. but without the senate or white house, they won't actually get anything done. if you want to know where real power lies in the next two years, the stuff that can change
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the lives of americans, you have to look at the states. this was a swearing in ceremony of wes moore this afternoon. oprah winfrey was one of the speakers. wes moore will go down in history as the first ever black governor of the state of maryland. but in the more immediate future, governor moore holds another honor, there is something called a trifecta in u.s. government. those are states where democrats hold both chambers at the legislature and governor's mansion. states where democrats won't need to negotiate with people who want to abolish the irs or hunt down italian satellites. there are 17 states with trifectas. the states we're really focusing on are the four states where the democrats won the trifecta this year. they are all m states, massachusetts, michigan, minnesota, and maryland.
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republicans held at least one piece of the government trifecta into each of the states for years. but now with the swearing in of governor wes moore, all of the state legislators and governors for those states have been sworn in and those democratic trifectas are complete. and now democrats in those states can really get to work. in maryland, governor moore and the legislature have already laid out the top priorities, increasing minimum wage to $15 an hour. codifying right to an abortion and gun legislation. not a peep about italian satellites. legislators in massachusetts are planning to file at least two dozen gun safety bills as early as this week. in michigan, democratic legislators introduced bills to repeal the state's zombie abortion ban from 1931 and to expand civil rights protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity. in minnesota, democratic legislators are working on legislation to protect the right
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to abortion, to legalize marijuana, to allow undocumented immigrants to get driver's license and to require minnesota utility to move to 100% clean electricity by the year 2040. i know. we all know. things in washington are a circus right now. and for the moment, that is all there. the state level is where the real governing is really happening. democrats have two years in power. at least. so what can they get done? joining us now are democrats winnie briggs and speaker of the minnesota house. thank you, ladies, for being here tonight. it is good to have you with us. there is on one side of the aisle a lot of excitement about what is happening at the state level. and i will start with you, winnie. how should -- how should, you know, the voters of your state set their expectations in terms of what's going to get passed and how fast it's going to get
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passed? >> we're excited about at the aggressive agenda we're going to pursue. we're going to defend abortion rights in the state of michigan. and so we're ready to get to work very quickly. we have committed to the very thoughtful and very deliberate about pursuing our agenda. we have a lot to do. melissa, in terms of the speed with which you can act on this stuff, scott walker is not a fan of the fact that democrats hold this much power at the state level. but he did concede that effectively the most significant accomplishmentes come at the beginning of the legislature coming into power. i wonder whether you agree with that and whether we'll see a flurry of activity at these democratic trifectas in the coming months rather than the coming years?
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>> yeah. i think you'll see a lot of similar work across those four m states that you talked about. you know, democrats are really united in our values and priorities. what's wonderful is to have a senate also controlled by democrats. for the last four years we've been pass things like gun safety regulation and paid family medical leave. we've been a pro-choice majority. now we have one in the minnesota senate. we can finally take action and put the bills on the governor's desks. >> does it the worry you, winnie, that when states become -- let me ask you a slightly different question. the idea that states are the sort of laboratories for democracy is -- or just laboratories for democracy is something road tested by republicans that have a number of the trifectas have outnumbered the democrats in recent years. are democrats prepared to be as aggressive in terms of the
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laboratory aspect of these state legislators as republicans have been in years past? is that a political risk at all? >> i think here in michigan we're really ready to take on that challenge. we have 40 years of pent up policy ideas in the senate and the democrats are ready to take that on. we'll be thoughtful and look ing for bipartisan cooperation. i think we can get there are some folks. our constituents are tired of the chaos and corruption and conspiracy theories you have seen coming out of michigan in the news. so we're really ready to get down to the fundamentals. i think our legislature is ready to do that. i think our constituents are really hungry to see that from us. i don't think the political risk is going to be a big problem. >> let me follow up on that. how are republicans in the state houses reacting? are they -- i mean i no he that
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certain republicans have been quoted as saying it was like a bucket of cold water effectively when democrats took these trifectas. do they seem prepared to work across the aisle? do they see what is happening in washington and say, hey, that looks like a good idea pursuing conspiracy theories about italian satellites? or do they actually want to get real work done? >> i think that the republicans clearly in michigan are incredibly divided. we'll be able to find folks who are interested in doing good things for the constituents that they represent. i'm confident in that. it may be tough for them at times. i do think there are people there that we can extend a hand to and do some good policy together with them. time will tell, of course, if i'm right. but we are ready to get to work and give that a try. i've been in the minority for ten years in the legislature. i know how they feel. and i was always really working on finding things that i could do for the people in my
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district. i hope they will too. >> we're led to believe by the behavior of the republican party that there is no interest in working across the aisle. least if you look at the 118th congress. is the situation marketedly different as you see it in your state? >> things changed so much. the republicans have gone so far to the right. we really have a lot of extreme right-wing republicans. it's harder to find that common ground. you know, back in the middle 2000, you have moderates willing to work together. i think it's harder now. you know, there used to be pro-choice republicans. there are no pro-choice republicans anymore. there won't be any bipartisanship because there are no pro-choice republicans. >> do you feel -- i'll ask you both this -- do you feel like the clock is ticking?
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are you confident that the measures you will enact will be so broadly popular that your power could be cemented for years to come? you go first, winnie. >> i would just say that, you know, we have two years. here in the minnesota house, we'll be up for election in 2024. and the one thing i know about being on the ballot is there is always a surprise in the election. people never get the results that they expect from minnesota electing jesse ventura to democrats doing surprisingly well in a midterm election in 2022. we only know we have these two years. so we are going to make every minute worth it. they're really ready to go in michigan. we've been saying #lfg. the pg version is we're really ready to go. >> i think our viewers know what #sfg means and applaud the audacity of that hash tag. winnie, do you feel -- i'll ask you a slightly different
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question. does it disturb you or is it cause for person that when so much action is relegated to the state level the federal government and its ability to act in any sort of meaningful capacity, it's an indicator that federal government has the power of the federal government has atrophied. while great that democrats can enshrine the right to reproductive freedoms and gun safety legislation and host of other things, there are issues that demand national movement, that demand national legislation. do you feel like that prospect of that is as far off as it has been in a while? yeah. i think it makes the work be of the states all that more important. we need to stay focused on getting as much done as we can, as soon as we k we also need to be thoughtful and deliberate about those things so we're empowering two years, three years, eight years, ten years. and we've got an excellent caucus. we have an incredible partner in
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governor whitmer. so we're optimistic we'll be able to make a difference and really in many cases offset the negative impact of the unproductist of the congress at this time. >> can i ask you one more question, winnie. how democrats got to power, in michigan there was an independent redistricting commission. en that was in 2021. it created competitive maps. the end result is democrats have taken over. democrats have won the trifecta. what should we read into that lesson? should we let them decide the state maps and what does that say about the republican party? >> yeah. we should absolutely have more independent redistricting commissions in every state. we have diversity.
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and that was made possible in large part because of fair districts drawn this year. i highly recommend that to anybody that believes in democracy and representation and to work for that in your state. we also had fantastic candidates who are hard-working and they bring great resumes to the job. so we're really optimistic about what we can get done. >> the total population of states with democratic trifectas is now close to $140 million compared to $131 million for republicans. democrats represent more americans in this country than republicans do. winnie briggs and melissa morton. lfg, thank you for taking the time tonight. >> thank you. >> we have a lot more to come tonight including florida governor desantis' new moves to censor american history. but first, the latest on investigations into former president trump as he previews a
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new explanation for why there were so many empty folders found in his beach club. that's coming up next. in his beach club. that's coming up next. my asthma felt anything but normal. ♪ ♪ it was time for a nunormal with nucala. nucala is a once-monthly add-on treatment for severe eosinophilic asthma that can mean less oral steroids. not for sudden breathing problems. allergic reactions can occur. get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. infections that can cause shingles have occurred. don't stop steroids unless told by your doctor. tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. may cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. ask your asthma specialist about a nunormal with nucala. ah, these bills are crazy. she has no idea she's sitting on a goldmine. well she doesn't know that if she owns a life insurance policy of $100,000 or more she can sell all or part of it to coventry for cash. even a term policy. even a term policy? even a term policy! find out if you're
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documents at his home, that guy has a lot to say. today former president trump took to truth social to rail against the doj and offer his take on the type of documents that were found in his possession. remember, these were just ordinary, inexpensive folders with various words printed on them but they were a cool keepsake. as they say, one man's cool keepsake is another man's classified nuclear document. that the argument that they were ordinary, inexpensive folders with various words printed on them, that argument is in line with previous reporting that those investigating the former president believe his motive for holding on to classified documents is all about ego. a desire to hold on to white house records as trophies and mementos rather than for financial gain. cool keepsakes, again, classified documents. they asked prosecutors to stress test potential charges and meant
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no charging decision will be made until this summer at the earliest. another investigation from days past is now showing signs of life. trump's former lawyer met with prosecutors in manhattan yesterday in connection with hush money payments made to stormy daniels to keep her from talking about an affair before the 2016 election. the times says yesterday's meeting could be a sign that long dormant investigation is gathering steam. as for the fulton county investigation into trump's possible election interference in georgia, today the atlanta journal constitution reveals that a completed report from the grand jury to conduct to georgia in 2020, it could be released soon or in months. so that could be happening imminently or maybe a really long time from now. which is okay. but the biggest investigation of all, the one that poses the most legal peril for the former
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president, is also the one we have heard the least about in recent weeks. the doj investigation into trump's role in the january 6 insurrection. the latest public rumblings we got from that investigation were subpoenas sent last month to rudy giuliani, georgia secretary of state and trump allies who were involved in spreading conspiracy theories about voting machines and fund-raising ahead of january 6. so many investigations, so little time or so much time as the case may be. joining us now is michael schmitt, correspondent for "the new york times" and author of "donald trump versus the united states: inside the struggle to stop a president" which is now out in paper back. pleasure to have you on the set. >> thank you for having me. >> how you are looking at all of this? on the one hand, let's start with alvin brag calling michael cohen in to testify about stormy daniels. does it surprise that you the dust is being blown off that investigation given how many other seeming lie high priority
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targets that are on the deck as far as investigations and potential indictments? >> if you remember the history with that office, they had the full blown investigation into trump that ended with a prosecutor leaving because the prosecutor really wanted to bring the case. and angst about they weren't going to go forward after doing all this work. now here they are all this time later bringing michael cohen back in it's hard to believe they're bringing him in just to kick the tires. they have a good idea of what he knows and they're trying to use him in some sort of way to build something. he's a very high profile target. he brings attention to the investigation when he goes in. something that prosecutors usually don't want. sometimes they do want that public attention. but they brought and it brings a
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level of activity of the stormy daniels payment. >> you're suggesting, opaquely, my friend, that this is to pressure some other part of trump world into doing something. the person who serving five months on likers island is wise willburg. for a long time, people thought he would get further pressure to flip on trump. could that be this bid to get him to flip? >> i don't think so. i think he's already been sentenced. he's gone away. i don't think they would bring him back to charge him more. i think they probably charge him as much as they could. but you don't engage with michael cohen in that way if you're not doing something really serious. it kicks up all this dust. it kicks up this public --
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speculation. it says what alvin brag doing? what is he up to? and if he's bringing michael cohen in, looks like he's up to something. he doesn't want to live with letting, you know, having the new york public say what happened to this investigation? >> especially after the sort of dramatic exit stage right of the former prosecutors who are frustrated with alvin brag's position on this. remember these were just ordinary, inexpensive folders -- because expensive folders would have been another can of beans -- inexpensive folders with various words printed on them but they were a cool keepsake. should people be rethinking the potential indictment of trump as far as mar-a-lago given the position that merrick garland is now in in terms of a special counsel being assigned to investigate joe biden's retention of classified documents? >> so as we looked at the question of krin alt, i have
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come to understand that criminality is like a really, really high bar. even higher than i thought. in one of the parts of the questions of criminality is if you take that extraordinary move to charge trump, let's say if he was running, would you be able to not only explain it to a jury, but would you be able to explain it to the public? would the public understand why you're going to such great lengths to charge someone, to use, like, the most sacred power of the federal government on americans to charge them? and i think that argument becomes more difficult when you have the biden documents. i just think that for the justice department of joe biden who will be running for president and, you know, potentially against donald trump, i think it makes it more difficult. now, look, you know, the justice department will say, you know, we're going to look at the facts and all the evidence and whatever. but i do think that is a huge issue and question here.
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how will the public look at this? >> it seems like from all the sort of very unclear time line that's we sprented on january 6, whether we're talking about the fulton county investigation or looking at who is getting subpoenas in the special counsel's examination, that feels like it's down the line, right? that mar-a-lago felt for a moment like it was gaining steam in terms of potential criminal indictment. when talk about the gravity of what we're talking about seems plausible. the time line seems in the distant future. >> in fulton county, can you see something sooner than later. they have the report that has gone from the grand jury. they've been investigating for a significant amount of time. they can operate more quickly than the justice department. i don't think any institution in the country operates slower than the justice department. i that i is probably the place to look in the near term for the
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most action. >> all right. listen, before we let you go, your work is now in paper back. donald trump versus the united states. and there is new -- there is new reporting in it. i must share with our viewing public. this alarming detail about john kelly, former chief of staff, to the president, trump and his first day of the job. in the first several hours of his tenure, john kelly learned of a rumor circulating in the west wing, the beleaguered and soon to be former strategist to trump, steve bannon, had installed a listening device. unclear what he was up to and there is a sense that trump was preparing to fire him. the possibility he could be listing enin on kelly's first day is real. as he was familiarizing himself of basic ins and outs. he would step out into the small patio. it was like something out of a
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bad spy movie. i mean it's amazing that anyone went to work for this man and, yet, steve bannon, does he still remain in trump's good graces? >> yes. >> amazingly. >> yes. >> amazingly. and, you know, received a pardon from trump and part of january 6. and, you know, after only spending six months in the white house. >> and bugging the chief of staff's office. >> rumor going around that he had. and kelly who is trying to get his feet under him and soon comes to realize the biggest problem is north korea is dealing with, you know, rumors and frivolousness and fights between the first lady and ivanka and telling amarosa she can't have pool parties at the white house and trying stave off a war with north korea. >> michael schmitt, washington correspondent for "the new york times." thank you for your time and great reporting. lovely to you have here,
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michael. still to come, the white house is watching what is happening in kevin mccarthy's house. and it wants the rest of the country to know about the mess. plus, governor ron desantis has his own version of american history. he would like florida citizens to learn all about it. keep your arms and legs inside the ride. we're going to desantis world next. we're going to desantis world next flu symptoms hit harder than the common cold. so it takes the right tool for the job... to keep it together. now there's new theraflu flu relief with a max strength fever fighting formula. the right tool for long lasting flu symptom relief. hot beats flu.
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we reject this woke ideology. we won't surrender to the woke mob. florida is where woke goes to die. >> a few minutes ago we were talking about states newly controlled by democrats. and how their agendas differ starkly from states controlled by republicans. i think it's safe to say that wherever the gop states are going next florida will get there first. fresh off his big second term win, florida governor ron desantis is turbo charging his war on woke in which woke seems to mean anything ron desantis doesn't like. desantis goes after everything for being woke, college basketball, disney, math textbooks and now he is slamming professional hockey. the nhl recently announced a push for more diversity in the ranks. the workforce is 80% white and the players are over 90% white. but when they announce jobs fair in florida, desantis' office called it discrimination for the
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nhl to specifically invite applicants from underrepresented back ends. the nhl folded and removed the job fair posting. so congratulations if you had keeping hockey white on your bingo card of ron desantis second term priorities. but it is florida schools and universities that the governor is trying to refashion in anti-woke image. desantis just packed the board of florida's most progressive public college with hand picked allies. he is aiming to turn new college into a conservative christian school. these new board members include chris rufo who orchestrated the right-wing attack on critical race theory. he is straight forward about his goals. we have successfully frozen their brand, critical race theory, into the public conversation. and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. we'll turn it toxic as we put the various cultural insanities under that brand category.
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meanwhile, professors at other florida universities are cancelling courses dealing with race for fear of being fired. today the president of florida's estimate of community and state colleges put out a joint statement declaring they stand with the governor desantis and won't let evil critical race theory infect their campuses. this he could see school librarians prosecutes for having undesirable books in their high braerz. and in a final flourish, today we learn that desantis rejected a high school advanced placement course in african american studies. the course is being piloted in 60 schools across the country but in the state of florida, that curriculum is against the law. a conservative national review said that desantis administration sets ap course curriculum. that letter says the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to florida law and
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lacks educational value. and it invites the college board to, quote, come back to the table with lawful, historically accurate content. all of this is bad enough for the people of florida. but it may concern all of us outside of florida if desantis really is on his way to a presidential run. joining us now is dean of the columbia journalism school and staff writer at the new yorker. dean cobb, thank you for being with us. i think there is really no better person to put in perspective how damaging this agenda is in terms of education and higher education. can you give us your thoughts on the moves that the desantis administration is making to censor the teaching of history and race in this country? >> sure. there is a very practical point to this. they're trying to irrad indicate the history of the civil rights movement among other things. weirdly enough, the civil rights
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movement is what made it possible for those universities to be so prominent in the first place. that the quiet part of this narrative is that certainly black people in the south benefitted from civil rights movement. it was viewed as a back water by much of the country. and so in this march backward to make this heavy handed thing about what can be tout and what can't, you're pushing the institutions back into the past. so good luck with tracting world class faculty and keeping them there. this is a weird march with maybe
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the people who are in the crowds cheering. none of them will be responsible for what happens when the universities start cratering in terms of their prestige and regard in which people view them. >> it seems like the support that he receives, it's part of this obsession with turning back the clock not just in the civil rights era but sort of the interelect you'll flourishing of ideas that happen in higher institutions. and the sort of, you know, bringing a more inclusive progressive you to the ways in which we understand both the cannon and history and a number of other things. the right seems to be very preoccupied with that. they lost the culture war writ large and wage it in the halls of education. my concern is there are republicans all over the country that look at what ron desantis is doing and saying i want to do
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that in my backyard. i want to do that in my state. i want to bring that curriculum to wisconsin or other parts of the country where there is -- or virginia where you have the governor expressed support for this kind of stuff z that concern you apart from what it does to the university system? what about the general public in these states? >> sure. it has negative implications all over the place. one of the bizarre ironies is when ron desantis and denouncing the ap course, you know, he used language of saying that this was discriminatory. the theory basically holds that in a society that is as racially
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driven as this one, people will use anti-discrimination tactics in order to further the cause of actual discrimination. so in short, ron desantis is practicing critical case theory and doing exactly this. he is validating the theory in these actions. and so the implications of this are all over the place. and the last thing i that i is really important to note is that the kind of protection that's we have and the academic freedom that's we have in this country are overwhelmingly a product of what happened during the cold war in the mccarthier rachlt another point we saw heavy hand add tempts to dictate what people could and could not learn, people being prosecuted and losing jobs for teaching facts that were accurate but uncomfortable. so we're yet again having a march backward in the pages of history. >> i wonder if you look at this wholistically in terms of the supreme court taking up
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affirmative action and this movement we now see that suggest efforts to diversify bodies, school bodies, corporate war rooms, the nhl are fundamentally anti-white. and that they are reverse discrimination. does that theory now seems to be more widely accepted than any time since i've been alive. is there any way to turn back the wheel to get back to sanity as far as what, you know, what we're talking about when we're talking about diversity? >> sure. so when you cited the numbers, the nhl's workforce being 84% white, players being 90% white and then you look at the fact that whites are about 60% or 61% of the american population, you say well there is a disproportionate representation there or rather an underrepresentation of other
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groups. saying you want to uphold the discriminate that is already resulted in people being so poorly represented, that one area. there is american employment and universities and so on. they can find the same sort of statistics about. i think that is what is really at the heart here to frame the upholding of the status quo and real write validation of worst sins of the past and try to frame it as an actual civic vir sue. >> validation of the worst sins of the past. that is the thing to put through here. dean of the columbia journalism school and staff writer at the new yorker, such a pleasure. >> thank you. thank you. >> we have more to come tonight. coming up, it has been almost a week since kevin mckarnlg qui won the speaker's gavel.
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anow sit on the house oversight committee. the question now is how other members of the republican party react. people like mitch mcconnell or any of the house republican moderates or the biden white house. now we got a taste of what that might look like today when the white house issued this surprisingly combative statement regarding those republican hard-liners. it appears that house republicans may be setting the stage for divorced from reality political stunts instead of engaging in bipartisan work. joimz comber said his goal was to ensure the goal's work is credible yet republicans are handing the keys of oversight to the most extreme maga members of the republican caucus. joining us now to predict what's going to happen is brendan book, former top aide to paul ryan and john boehner and msnbc political analyst. this is not your father's white
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house in terms of a republican takeover of a lower chamber. think back, if you could, to 2010 after the she lacking that president obama received. it felt like the general attitude was far less pugnacious than this one. what does that tell you about how this is going to play out in the advantage that democrats seem to have? >> yeah. i think the white house very clearly sees an opportunity here. i don't blame them. this is what i've been -- as a republican, this is what i've been worried about this whole time is that there's going to be republican overreach. you're going to have people with a big platform who are going to make the party look crazier than it already looked and going to play to joe biden's advantage. look this is what happened -- i appreciate you saying, you know, we weren't quite the same in 2010, 2011. this is the same thing that happened with president obama. he was very unpopular. we got swept into power in the
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house. and he used it to his advantage. he played off us. same thing that bill clinton did after republicans took back the house. he contrasted with a house republican. they're motivated a lot more playing to the base than solving average people's problems. you have a bunch of members who care a lot more about owning the libs than they do about solving problems and the white house see that's. it's basic politics and they're going to use it to their advantage. >> don't you feel like the biden white house is taking more of an aggressive stance on the obama white house did in the immediate aftermath of the mid terms? i will say, i'm not -- i'm not going to parse when we talk about obama's popularity. joe biden didn't have a major -- i mean like by all accounts, the midterm losses were not what they were supposed to be if you listen to what kevin mccarthy is saying. it seems like this white house is very confident in its position right now. >> i think they're trying to define the terms of the debate
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here. that is a mistake that the obama folks made when we came into 2011. we define what we were talking about. fiscal issues. we've been on the debt limit. we controlled that narrative. and at least for a little while, we were able to learn that lesson. they learned lesson. you're the biggest megaphone. can you shape the narrative. i give them credit. that's what they're doing here. if they can make marjorie taylor green the face of the republican party, they should absolutely do it. i totally understand the play here. so it's pretty basic politics. i don't know there is a lot of opportunity or responsible republicans if you will to rain them in. i don't know that kevin mccarthy has any political capital to tell them, knock it off when you start going down crazy rabbit holes. and that's the reality that they're going be to facing for the next two years. >> what does is mitch mcconnell
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thinking now as he looks on the lower chamber? >> well, i think mitch mcconnell is also himself in a bit of a legacy mode. he is probably in the last term. it was very notable that first week of congress, he was out there with joe biden. he wants -- you know, he had a bunch of primaries in the senate where he would like to be majority leader right now. but he is not. a lot of senate republican candidates won their primaries that had no chance of winning a general election. and he doesn't want that to keep happening. so he's trying to reset the image of the party. it's really hard. it's really hard when you have people who are jumping out and trying to get in front of the cameras and dominating, you know, the conversation on the right. so i think he would like to have
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a relatively, you know, focused, boring congress. there is a lot of conflict coming. he knows. that he'll try to put a good face on it. >> in a competition for the limelight, i know where my money is at. brandon buck, former top aide to ryan and boehner, thank you. great to see you. >> thank you. we'll be right back. you >> thank you we'll be right back.
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