tv Alex Wagner Tonight MSNBC April 20, 2023 1:00am-2:00am PDT
1:00 am
jennifer sherr, thanks for monitoring your expertise with us >> you, know the state senator they're making a pretty good point, about whether we want 14, 15, 16-year-olds working i taverns, people are drinking all day. i remember when i was, 14 an my first job in the bronx, kne i had to apply for working papers, you can just do it automatically. that seems like a pretty goo check. the restrictions on the labor can, do -- we're gonna continue to monitor, jennifer sherr, thanks for monitoring your expertise with us >> that is all in for this wednesday night. good evening alex. thank you so much for sharing your expertise with us that is in all in on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight starts right now. good evening, alex >> you know, chris -- >> child labor >> the regulatory around child
1:01 am
labor loosey-goosey but women making decisions about their own body roll down the gates side note, i did not know you worked at the bronx zoo. >> i was cashier and was pretty good if i do say so myself >> thank you, my friend. and thanks to all of you at home for joining us this hour yesterday when the news broke fox had reached a last minute settlement with dominion there was surprise and disappointment. >> damn it, i want my trial. i want it. >> i guess it's satisfying for dominion they had to fork over a pile of crash. what we need is fox news personalities who will look into the camera and admit they lied
1:02 am
over and over again for the 2020 election >> america did not get to watch rupert murdoch raise his right hand and swear to thel the truth and nothing but the truth. they did not get any mea culpaas under oath what the country did get to see is a $787.5 million concession from fox, a nearly $788 million pay out that suggest fox was scared what awaited the company at trial, a price tag big enough it verges on something that a lot of people have been searching for a long time, accountability and it wasn't just the money there were also the texts and the e-mails and the depositions. yesterday we learned that dominion waited until the very last minute to settle despite early offers from fox because dominion wanted to make public as much evidence as possible about fox's false election
1:03 am
claims >> well, for us the first thing was we wanted to make sure that we had a -- we had time for all the truth to come out. we were not willing to settle until the reams of information that we were able to gain through the discovery process had an opportunity to see the day of light that was a very, very important thing for us >> it may not be tucker carlson looking straight into the camera and admitting he lied over and over again about the 2020 election as stephen colbert would like it, but it feels -- it feels an awful lot like accountability season may be starting look at what's happening down in washington, d.c. according to the justice department as of april 6th as of 1,000 defendants in the u.s. capitol attack have been arrested including this man here, dominic pezzola, a member of the proud boys who today blamed the police
1:04 am
for starting up the crowd. or this man armed with a concealed firearm when he charged at police at the capitol. today mr. alberts was found guilty on all nine counts. sure looks like accountability and then there were the central players in that same plot, the architects of the big lie. yesterday in georgia district attorney fani willis who was investigating trump's attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in her state, she filed a motion to disqualify the lawyer representing ten of the states republican electors some of the information suggests that some of those fake electors may just be looking at cooperating with the d.a., which could spell trouble for the georgia republican party and trouble for donald trump in particular and then today we learned that boris epshteyn is scheduled to
1:05 am
beinterviewed tomorrow in the special counsel's office it's unclear if he's being interviewed on the subject of january 6th or mar-a-lago or both of those things, but given his role in the trump universe this is a significant development in a significant set of investigations. so the big wheels on the accountability road show, they do indeed seem to be turning but that does not mean that some people won't do everything within their power to grind this movement to a halt, some people like congressman jim jordan who's now the chair of the house judiciary committee and head of the apparently ironically named subcommittee of the weaponization of the federal government chairman jordan is doing something illusional maybe unconstitutional to put a stop to all this accountability he's directly interfering in the only criminal indictment against donald trump in an attempt to inject a healthy dose of very congressional oversight into mr.
1:06 am
bragg's investigation chairman jordan is trying to force attorney mark pomeranz to testify before congress. if you remember pomeranz was a manhattan prosecutor who once led the investigation into fraud of the trump organization under the previous manhattan d.a., cy vance. he resigned early last year when the new d.a. alvin bragg decided not to seek an indictment against trump for fraud at that time and after mr. pomeranz resigned he wrote a book about that experience, which mr. bragg did not appreciate chairman jordan now wants mark pomeranz to testify on the record, and he wants to know two things one, what were the ifternal deliberations not to indict trump back when mr. pomeranz was running the show, because that information could presumably be very useful to a group of people who don't want trump to be indicted in a broader fraud case and two, he wants to find out what the d.a.'s office did have on donald trump and his
1:07 am
potential fraudulent business dealings, because again that information could presumably be useful to a group of people who might want to mount a defense if mr. trump is indicted in a broader fraud case so the accountability road show continues, and stow does the unaccountability road show, apparently now mr. bragg's office sued mr. jordan to block him. today the district judge denied the request for preliminary injunction quote, the subpoena was issued in valid legislative purpose in connection with the broad indispensable congressional power to conduct investigation mr. pomeranz must appear, no one is above the law d.a. bragg's office has filed notice he is appealing that decision and it's worth noting all of this is taking place on the very
1:08 am
same day that allen weisselberg, the former chief officer at the trump organization was released. he is the kind of witness that if flipped for the prosecution could secure once and for all accountability for donald trump, and that is accountability with a capital "a." joining us now a catherine christian, a former special assistant d.a. in the manhattan d.a. office. thanks for being here. first let's talk about what's happening with the testimony of the subpoena of mark pomeranz. >> well, chairman jordan had a big victory today. it's being appealed. the judge wrote a very biting 25-page decision >> yes >> denying d.a. bragg's motion to quash the subpoena. in fact, she said this was a lawsuit dressed up really --
1:09 am
it's really a motion to quash a subpoena, and it's not a lawsuit. she also critiqued mr. bragg's lawyers for not following court procedure. she took out 18 excerpts from mark pomeranz's book, excerpts that shows he critiqued the hush money investigation -- >> the one that mr. bragg -- >> the one that's now been indicted in fact, he even quotes according to mr. pomeranz, mr. bragg saying he can't see a world where he'd ever use michael cohen as a testifier, for testimony. >> michael cohen is a star witness. >> the judge put those excerpts in this decision and also said the first 35 pages of the complaint was a public relations tirade against former president trump. so she put a lot into the decision, the judge, that was very critical of d.a. bragg and the decision to try to prevent mr. pomeranz from testifying
1:10 am
in fact, she even said there's a book and the d.a.'s office did write a letter to his publisher and asked them not to do it, but they never sued, they never took any other action and the judge was cretical of that you had an opportunity to prevent the book from being published, which actually would have been probably lost because that would be restraint. >> it sounds like the fact mr. pomeranz wept public via the book of so much of his experience in the d.a.'s office really complicates all this effort, right? >> correct >> why don't you think d.a. bragg didn't mount a stronger offense in term of at least being on the record saying this book is not authorized, we do not want it published? >> he wrote a letter to the publishers, he had an ethics opinion issued stating this was
1:11 am
improper so he did vocally say this book was done without his permission. and mark pomeranz would say i didn't need your permission. this back has caused a lot of problems and now it has. >> now it's being effectively weaponized, right? >> exactly >> from your point of view how valuable is pomeranz's testimony both in terms of the offense in prosecuting trump and the defense republicans would like to presumably mount for donald trump. >> well, value quite frankly is many people did not read this book i read the book. many people didn't, so now there will be public hearings and he will spout what he put in the book, so that will become public so people who didn't read the book will now hear it, and also the jury panel who will be selected will now hear, you
1:12 am
know, his opinions about the strength of the case or lack thereof of the case that's now been indicted. so that's the value, and that's probably one of the reasons why, you know, this committee wants him to testify so he can say what he wrote publicly >> but the committee wants a lot. they want all documents basically that contain the world donald trump i'm paraphrasing, but they have a drag net basically of information they'd like from the d.a.'s office. and i wonder if they're concerned about that broader fraud case that was started under cy vance that d.a. bragg suggests continues in his office do they want the bread crumbs basically that mark pomeranz might be able to give them to basically develop a strategy if and when d.a. bragg or anyone else goes further with a broader fraud indictment >> it already can be made that's what they're doing they did not request mr. pomeranz produce documents, but they did send a letter to d.a. bragg and request he come
1:13 am
testify and produce documents. they also sent a letter to a member of the trial team and ask that he come testify and produce documents. and d.a. bragg has said this investigation is still continuing, and that's actually the investigation that the attorney general for new york state has brought a lawsuit against mr. trump and his family so that could be a criminal indictment it's now a civil fraud case, but that could be a criminal indictment >> which would carry big implications not just enterms of accountability but crimes, right? that is where it is a weightier investigation. >> they could present to a grand jury >> what if mr. weisselberg newly released from rikers, he has counsel at least what we're hearing being reported is this counsel is potentially more of a hard line counsel enterms of not playing ball with prosecutors. this counsel is paid for by the
1:14 am
trump organization as his previous counsel was how do you read the tea leaves on where allen weisselberg may be in his utility as a future witness. >> he's clearly if he chose a valuable witness against donald trump, and he's now testified at the trial of the trump organization and he was beneficial to the prosecution but also beneficial to the defense. so if he has a lawyer who was saying my client is not speaking to the d.a.'s office, then he's not going to cooperate >> but the d.a.'s office would very much like him to cooperate. >> exactly and we don't know whether or not they have other charges they may have over his head, so we're not clear about that and if they do, that could be a reason to have him consider he might want to cooperate. >> and not spend the rest of his years in jail. >> yeah, he's 75 years old and it's not fun to be incarcerated. >> that's an understatement.
1:15 am
we know the hush money case d.a. bragg presented certainly implicates alvin bragg, so if you're looking for extra things to hangover his head i'm just saying maybe it's that great to see you we have a lot more to get to this evening the shadow primary between donald trump and ron desantis cranks into high gear as the florida governor's legislative accomplishments is undercut by his inability to secure actual legislative endorsements pharma issues a cry for help my asthma felt anything but normal.
1:16 am
a blood test helped show my asthma is driven by eosinophils, which nucala helps reduce. nucala is a once-monthly add-on injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. nucala is 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. there is a better way to manage diabetes. the dexcom g7 continuous glucose monitoring system back pain, and fatigue. eliminates painful finger sticks, helps lower a1c, and it's covered by medicare. before using the dexcom g7, i was really frustrated. all of that finger pricking and all that pain, my a1c was still stuck. before dexcom g7, i couldn't enjoy a single meal. i was always trying to outguess my glucose, and it was awful. before dexcom g7, my diabetes was out of control because i was tired,
1:17 am
not having the energy to do the things that i wanted to do. (female announcer) dexcom g7 is a small, easy-to-use wearable that sends your glucose numbers to your phone or dexcom receiver without painful finger sticks. the arrow shows the direction your glucose is heading-- up, down, or steady-- and because dexcom g7 is the most accurate cgm, you can make better decisions about food, medication, and activity in the moment. it can even alert you before you go too low or when you're high. oh, the fun is absolutely back. after dexcom g7, i can on the spot figure out what i'm gonna eat and how it's going to affect my glucose! when a friend calls and says, "hey, let's go to breakfast," i can get excited again. (earl) after using the dexcom g7, my diabetes, it doesn't slow me down at all. i lead line dancing three times a week, i exercise, and i'm just living a great life now. it's so easy to use. it has given me confidence and control, everything i need is right there on my phone. (earl) the dexcom g7 is so small, so easy to use, and it's very discreet.
1:18 am
(dr. aaron king) if you have diabetes, getting on dexcom is the single most important thing you can do. (david) within months, my a1c went down, that's 6.9. (donna) at my last checkup, my a1c was 5.9. (female announcer) dexcom is the number one recommended cgm brand and offers 24/7 tech support, so call now to get started. you'll talk to a real person. don't wait, this one short call could change your life. (bright music) aany questions?dy -yeah, i got one. how about the best network imaginable? let's invent that. that's what we do here. quick survey. who wants the internet to work, pretty much everywhere. and it needs to smooth, like super, super, super, super smooth. hey, should you be drinking that? -it's decaf.
1:19 am
1:20 am
when it issued its dobbs ruling, the one that dismantled roe v. wade, the supreme court basically said it was done with the business of adjudicating portion. the justices said they were kicking it down to the states, thank you very much, please do not come knocking on our door again. ten months later it is clear that, well, the supreme court was kidding itself it is very much in the business of adjudicating abortion there is the ruling from a federal judge in texas that basically undid the fda approval of mifepristone, the first of
1:21 am
two pels used in a medication abortion if the supreme court agrees to allow that texas ruling to go into effect it'll be like we're back in the year 1999 before americans had access to a drug that has a strong safety record and been used by millions of people in this country over the last 23 years. if the supreme court does do that, they'll have to deal with a competing ruling that came down almost immediately after that texas ruling, this one from a federal judge in washington state who ordered the fda not to restrict access to mifepristone, so what does the court do about that and then there is the ruling from the fifth circuit court of appeals, the one that tries to strike this sort of middle ground that one wants to send america back to the year 2015 before the fda tweaked its rules about mifepristone that ruling from the fifth circuit allows mifepristone to stay on the market but with strict limits like banning its use after seven weeks of pregnancy, barring mifepristone
1:22 am
from being sent in the mail and reversing the fda's approval of a generic version of mifepristone as it turns out that too is a complicated path because today there's a new lawsuit. the company that makes it is now suing the fda to keep the agency from complying with the court orders generic mifepristone off of pharmacy shelves. so with all this legal chaos facing a court that thought it was out of the business of abortion law is it any wonder that a few hours ago justice alito bought himself some time to think about everything. alito had put a temporary pause and that was supposed to expire tonight at midnight, but today justice alito gave himself a few more days to give the court some time to figure out what to do. joining us now former weinstein and federal and state prosecutor in new york. great to see you
1:23 am
this seems like a colossal mess. what do you make of alito's self-imposed midnight deadline that alito then extended to another self-imposed deadline two days later >> so there's no rule that says the court has to give a deadline when it issues a temporary stay. that's a practice that alito has so he made a deadline and ex10ed it it's not meaningful it comes from him he just happens to be the justice who deals with the fifth circuit. it doesn't really give us insith into what he's thinking. i think what it tells us is that someone at the supreme court is writing something about the ultimate decision they're making about whether to keep the stay in place, so to keep that texas district court opinion from going into effect while the entire thing is briefed and the merits make their way up to the
1:24 am
supreme court. >> he's someone that the court is rating something. that is what we call in this industry a deep tease. could that something be -- what is that something because all these paths short of throwing this out on standing are pretty complicated if they want to play ball with the aept choice conservatives who are very much the base of the republican party. the conservative on the courts have nothing to do with the key to appease >> if i have to guess with more specificity i think the court is going to keep this stay in place while this case is developed and until they make a final decision and i'll go even farther into making predictions i think that ultimately the fda is going to win and the plaintiffs who brought this lawsuit are going to lose. and the reason why is that the fifth circuit's standing decision is it's not just
1:25 am
intention with fears of the supreme court doctrine with standing of who gets to bring a lawsuit in federal court but completely the opposite of everything the court has said. those rules are really important, so the standing decision here says it's just based on statistics. it says statistically probable likely they use this kind of language some of these er doctors are going to deal with a botched abortion at some point and they're going to get traumatized by it and reinjured and they can bring this lawsuit. it's frustrating in its ability to educate people about the pills and so they can bring this lawsuit. but that is actually the opposite of a doctrine that has been developed, so people just can't go into federal court to get policy made by judges rather than by legislators. and i just don't see a majority
1:26 am
of this court -- this is not a left-right issue i don't see a majority of this court blessing this because it would just change what happens in federal court ipsuch a profound way that goes way beyond anything having to do with abortion. >> there's also previous kind of the justice's own records on this, right? jus jus justice cavanaugh if he wants an off-ramp in all this when he was a judge on the d.c. circuit court his opinions were pretty clear. at one point i think we have an analysis of this but at one point kavanaugh urged judges to defer to the fda and other agencies larmly on the ground courts could not compete with the agency's expertise kavanaugh also cited with the fda in a case whether the agency should be forced to provide access to an unapproved drug while the inverse of that is be
1:27 am
forced to take away access to an approved drug, right and you would think he would follow suit. it seems like the writing is on the wall for this and yet i don't know i just wonder if the courts are going to be taking it off the table as a mechanism to enforce abortion restrictions. >> so i don't think completely, but i think in this case because we talked about standing that's a gateway issue. but even if you were to get past that then as you said, alex, getting into the business of the fda's decision making and the decision making of other agencies in this invasive way is just so hard to absorb for the pharmaceutical industry to absorb that. that's a second reason why i think that ultimately the fda is actually going to win this one >> do you see what's happening here, setting the actual issue of abortion aside for a minute the idea you have this judge, this trump appointed judge who's known as an activist
1:28 am
conservative radical if you will in some corners they judge shopped to get the suit in front of him at the same time a judge in washington state is kind of casting an eye to what's happening in texas and passing his own ruling to kind of preemptively create chaos here or a oadblock, if you will, so this has to go up the chain of the courts is this the way that we're going to -- is this the future for america, right, you have effectively different circuits, different judges, blue state judges and red state judges competing with each other and this is how we fight our political battles now through different judge rulings? >> as a lawyer and as an american i sure hope not because this is the intersection of two really troubling things. one is the shopping for the judge. we've always had some form of shopping but now it's possible to actually target a specific
1:29 am
judge and not just a district where you choose to bring your case, coupled with the rise in nationwide injunctions, which, again both left and right have criticized the idea that one judge even if you were chosen at random, she were chosen at random make a decision that would affect the whole country when you put those two things together you wind up with the situation where we are in here we're now up to three different district courts that are weighing in on this one lawsuit, really this one issue about the approval years and years ago, decades ago of the abortion pill >> we have to say the numbers 19 when miff pres stone was being regulated. it's always good to see you. thanks for your time we have even more this evening we'll take another trip down to desantis world as governor desantis continues to use his
1:30 am
state as a lab for riz presidential ambitions and the shooting of a 16-year-old black child by an aelderly white man in missouri who was apparently standing his ground and a knotted twist in a long line that goes back 150 years. the shadow cast by racism, slavery, and the second amendment is coming up next. your projects done right . with angi, you can connect with and see ratings and reviews. and when you book and pay throug you're covered by our happiness check out angi.com today. angi... and done. 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
1:31 am
sitting on a goldmine. call coventry direct today at the number on your screen, or visit coventrydirect.com. ♪♪ allergies don't have to be scary. (screaming) defeat allergy headaches fast with new flonase headache and allergy relief! two pills relieve allergy headache pain? and the congestion that causes it! flonase headache and allergy relief. psst! psst! all good!
1:33 am
1:34 am
1:35 am
and american jurisprudence it is difficult to convict a white man for harming a plaque child. it should not be so and i'm hoping this case turns the tide. >> 84-year-old andrew lester was arraigned today in clay county, missouri, for shooting 16-year-old ralph yarl last week after yarl rang his doorbell lester pleaded not guilty to charges of first degree assault and armed criminal action. his next court date is scheduled for june 1st and remember the reason why mr. lester was arraigned just today which was a week after she shot ralph yarl was because police lest andrew lester go. the night of the shooing lester told police he acted in self-defense, that he was scared to death of yarl's size. according to the family of ralph yarl, the teen is 5'8" and weighs 140 pounds. also remember missouri is a stand your ground state where
1:36 am
you do not have a duty to retreat if you reasonably fear death or bodily harm you don't have to retreat, you can just shoot so andrew lester stood his ground and police let him go that is why hundreds of protesters gathered this weekend in kansas city's northland, which is north of the missouri river and where the shooting happened they wanted yarl's shooter arrested and wanted him charged and wanted the community to grapple with its history of racism when black residents in that area first heard of yarl's shooting they echoed the missouri naacp president's ruling that it brought back the sentiment that african americans, black people just don't belong there now, what is notable about northland aside from the fact that 60% of its residents are white it sits within clay county, which is a staunchly republican area. clay county voted overwhelming for donald trump both times just like the state itself. missouri voted for trump in both elections. missouri also one of about 30
1:37 am
states with stand your ground laws on the books. it was also one of the states that enslaved black people before the end of the civil war. and if you're wondering what those two maps have to do with each other, it turns out they have a lot to do with each other. the right to armed self-defense like stand your ground stems from the second amendment, which says a well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed that amendment has been the nra's rallying cry for years the six amendment was ratified when southern states enslaved black people and that amendment did not apply to enslaved people instead historians argue it was created because of them. the militia's reference in the second amendment were primarily there to aid slave patrols and shutdown slavers revolts they were worried about up risings. in 2021 historian carol anderson described the event in 1791 that was behind that fear
1:38 am
it was the haitian revolution. now this country has a long history of gun policy that buttresses the power of white americans at the expense of black people historians argue that that history is still alive today both in the application of our gun laws and in american culture itself it was seemingly alive in november 2021 when kyle rittenhouse, the teenager who fatally shot two men and wounded another during a black lives matter protest, when kyle rittenhouse was acquitted, when he stood trial his lawyers argued ritphouse was just exercising his second amendment right to stand his ground, to be part of a well regulated militia, to defend himself with a gun. and after the courts acquitted him, gun culture celebrated. donald trump welcomed him to mar-a-lago rittenhouse became a sort of gun celebrity. in fact, this weekend kyle rittenhouse was the headliner of a republican gun fund-raising event in idaho which was
1:39 am
promoted as trigger time with kyle rittenhouse kyle rittenhouse received a standing ovation the same weekend that ralph yarl's family was waiting to see if their son would recover from his stand your ground shooting that is where american gun culture is as for andrew lester in missouri we are waiting to see if this case turns the tide on that very culture. coming up later this hour there are two states in america where it is still a crime for an unmarried couple to live together democrats in one of those states want to fix that, but some republicans are not onboard. i will give you one guess why. and then there is florida governor ron desantis trying to out-trump trump on the culture war front. but is it working? that is not a rhetorical question, and it is next there is a better way to manage diabetes.
1:40 am
the dexcom g7 continuous glucose monitoring system eliminates painful fingersticks, helps lower a1c, and is covered by medicare. before using the dexcom g7, i was really frustrated. all of that finger-pricking and all that pain, my a1c was still stuck. before dexcom g7, i couldn't enjoy a single meal. i was always trying to outguess my glucose, and it was awful. before dexcom g7, my diabetes was out of control because i was tired. not having the energy to do the things that i wanted to do. (female announcer) dexcom g7 is a small, easy-to-use wearable that sends your glucose numbers to your phone or dexcom receiver without painful fingersticks. the arrow shows the direction your glucose is heading-- up, down, or steady. and because dexcom g7 is the most accurate cgm, you can make better decisions about food, medication, and activity in the moment. it can even alert you before you go too low or when you're high. oh, the fun is absolutely back. after dexcom g7,
1:41 am
i can on the spot figure out what i'm gonna eat and how it's gonna affect my glucose. when a friend calls and says, "hey, let's go to breakfast," -i can get excited again. -after using the dexcom g7, my diabetes, it doesn't slow me down at all. i lead line dancing three times a week, i exercise, and i'm just living a great life now. it's so easy to use. it has given me confidence and control that everything i need is right there on my phone. (earl) the dexcom g7 is so small, it's so easy to use, and it's very discreet. (dr. king) if you have diabetes, getting on dexcom is the single most important thing you can do. (david) within months, my a1c went down to 6.9. (donna) at my last checkup, my a1c was 5.9. (female announcer) now, millions more are covered by medicare. take advantage of the expanded coverage by calling today. (upbeat music) ♪ ♪ ♪ away suitcases come in many colors.
1:44 am
gender ideology has no place in our k-12 school system, and we've made that very, very clear. it is wrong for a teacher to tell a student that they may have been born in the wrong body or that their gender is a choice we don't let that happen in florida, and if disney objects to that, well then so be it, we're going to do what's right >> that was florida governor ron desantis celebrating his don't say gay law. that law banned teachers from talking about sexual identity in the classroom.
1:45 am
but despite the backlash desantis continues not only to tout the law, he is actually expanding the law. the current law prohibits any discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in classrooms from kindergarten to third grade, but today at the behest of governor desantis florida's education board extended that rule prohibiting lgbtq discussions all the way through a florida student's senior year of high school now all of this is supposed to be a part of desantis' master plan to outconservative donald trump in the republican presidential primary the polls show donald trump continues to widen his early lead over ron desantis and then there's this little data point this week governor desantis traveled to washington to make a big show of trying to get endorsements from republican members of congress, but by the time that meeting arrived on tuesday, several members of congress from the state of florida had already announced their support for donald trump
1:46 am
as of this afternoon trump has racked up endorsements for more than half of the florida republican congressional delegation joining us now is former missouri senator and current msnbc political analyst, claire mccaskill. claire, what do these endorsements tell you about the desantis campaign? >> well, if you look at what desantis is trying to do, desantis is trying to be a less chaotic donald trump he has taken up the culture wars with a lot of gusto and gone after this and by the way we should point out, alex, that the law was passed was a typical culture war trying to address a problem that didn't exist they were not teachers in k-3 talking to their students talking to their students about sexual orientation that wasn't occurring. it was just one of those false flags that republicans put up
1:47 am
around culture wars to try to get the base all revved up so the thing that has happened to desantis is he was going to be the less chaotic harvard educated donald trump. turns out -- and supposedly smarter than trump turns out not so much. he's made so many blunders in the last three months, and we can go through them. there's a number of them, but i think at the top of the list is the fight with disney. i mean here's a beloved entity in the united states of america uniquely american. mickey mouse and star wars and toy story and all the things that my grandchildren love, he goes after them. and what is his goal here? what is he trying to do? what is victory for him? drying out the state, drying up
1:48 am
the most important jobs in florida and not to mention the economic activity generated at the properties in disney there is no victory here for him against disney and what's happening is a lot of the big donors desantis needs are going wait a minute we didn't sign up for a guy who was going to decide to use the heavy hand of government to try to control business in his state. it really is backfiring on him >> yeah, it's totally antthetical to what most republican donors want to see from their governor. i think rolling stone has some texts from donors who are big republican donors saying on a group chat of wealthy desantis donors participate wants exploded with alarm. what the "f" is wrong with rd. trump is piling on as well trump on truth social, desanctus is
1:49 am
being absolutely destroyed by disney this is also unnecessary, a political stunt. i mean i guess, claire, i mean i mind say there's a real world effect to some of the don't say gay stuff beyond the culture war he's obviously stoked to not have seniors in high school be able to learn about gender identity, sexual education more broadly all of this legislation has had a profoundly chilling effect on teachers and students, people are unsure what they can actually talk about, and it's not good for k-3, and it's very problematic for k-12 this stuff, none of it's good for the state of florida, and it increasingly looks like it's bad for the campaign of ron desantis do you think he's surrounded by bad advisers as someone who's run campaigns yourself do you think this is coming from desantis, or do you think this is terrible political strategy >> i think it's a little bit of both i think he got really full of
1:50 am
himself when he had such a big victory last fall and in florida. and i'm not really sure exactly why his victory was so big, but after that he began behaving like he was bulletproof. i mean talk about political malpractice, he goes to washington to supposedly arrive to the throwns of elected members of congress saying you're our republican candidate, we want you and turns out he had no endorsements whatsoever lined up in washington, and trump did. so he goes to washington and just looks dumb. as republicans are leading with him, republicans from his own state immediately endorse trump. it couldn't have gone worse for him. >> you know how endorsements work, right? like the idea that a candidate would go to the hill, you know, trumpeting his prospects and
1:51 am
then literally it's like a face palm, the idea these guys come out of the meeting and go for trump, that doesn't happen in american politics, right these things are pretty orchestrated >> they're very orchestrated and the fact it wasn't shows these guys aren't ready for prime time desantis isn't, and neither is his team the other thing you've got to realize is he med a huge blunder on ukraine that we have to figure into the equation a lot of foreign policy people around the country very loyal republican donors are going, wait a minute, what is he doing? then on top of that he signs a six-week ban on abortion and tries to do it quietly, so that doesn't really help him with the really crazy right wingers on these issues, and it certainly hurts him with a whole lot of independent voters in his state. and in the middle of all the gun violence, he's passing more legislation and signing more legislation to make it even easier to carry a gun no matter who you are, no matter what your
1:52 am
qualifications or background >> yeah, the list is long because we didn't even get to the other topic which is the social safety net that trump is just eviscerating desantis on. and this is donald trump eviscerating ron desantis with what i think is one of the most cutting political ads of the decade control room do we have time to play the pudding fingers ad? let's play it for our audience for those who have not seen this, this is a new ad >> ron desantis loves sticking his fingers where they don't belong and we're not just talking about pudding. desantis has his dirty fingers all over senior entitlements like cutter medicare, slashing social security, even raising our retirement edge. tell ron desantis to keep his pudding fingers off our money. >> for those who do not know that arises from a daily beast reporting that ron desantis once in a meeting was unable to
1:53 am
procure a spoon and ate pudding with his fingers we cannot attest to the voracity of that. it is a disgusting ad, but, claire, setting aside the grossness of it, it's something you can see joe biden running against ron desantis and it's coming from one of the republican party's own that's a trump endorsed ad or a trump super-pack ad that i think is rather effective in participating desantis as a greedy individual. >> this is a moment where i want to get popcorn and a diet coke and i want to watch trump and desantis go after each other for the next year because that's what's going to happen i will tell you this between trump, desantis, and mickey mouse my money is on mickey mouse. >> you know it, claire mccaskill. as a mom with a 4 and 5-year-old disney is inescapable. i cannot underscore that enough. the great claire mccaskill, thank you for your time tonight, claire it's great to see you.
1:54 am
>> you bet, thanks, alex we have one more story for you about how democrats in michigan are trying to undo an outdated law that criminalizes unmarried couples who live together yeah, you heard that correctly some of their republican colleagues are not onboard that's next. ma isn't pretty. it's the moment when you realize that a good day... is about to become a bad one. but then, i remembered that the world is so much bigger than that, with trelegy. because one dose a day helps keep my asthma symptoms under control. and with 3 medicines in 1 inhaler, trelegy helps improve lung function so i can breathe easier for a full 24 hours. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy contains a medicine that increases risk of hospitalizations and death from asthma problems when used alone. when this medicine is used with an inhaled corticosteroid, like in trelegy, there is not a significant increased risk of these events. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase risk of thrush and infections. get emergency care for serious allergic reactions.
1:55 am
1:56 am
1:57 am
isn't the outdoors great? it is great. because you made it that way. get the job done right with craftsman. we build pride. and this is ready to go online. any questions? -yeah, i got one. how about the best network imaginable? can someone invent that? that's what we do here. quick, informal survey. who wants the internet to work, pretty much everywhere. thought so. i am not spending 8 hours at school to come home and deal with latency issues. you feel me? i feel you. -facts. because we're busy women. we don't have time for lag or buffering. understood, ma'am. and it needs to run smooth, like super, super, super, super smooth. hey, should you be drinking? -it's decaf. basically, everyone in the house getting that sweet internet nectar all at once. -mhmm. even outside too. -bingo. i mean, who doesn't want internet that helps a.i. do your homework even faster. come again. -sorry, what was that? keep up the good work here, megan. it's mom. -fair enough.
1:58 am
1:59 am
to $1,000. the crime, lewd and lascivious cohabitation, aka, people living together out of wedlock, gasp. that law from 1931 is still on the books in it state of michigan today this legislative session is the first time in 40 years democrats in michigan have been in control of the statehouse and the state senate and the governor emphasis mansion, and they're using their newfound power to do a little legislative spring cleaning shall we say they're getting rid of old zombie laws that don't make sense anymore here in this 21st century of ours, and you would think this would be unanimous. it is not. today again in the year of 2023 nine republicans in the michigan state senate voted against repealing this law two republicans even gave floor speeches about why laws like these are necessary to promote what one of them called, quote, good morals. while he didn't support the criminal penalties of the old
2:00 am
law he didn't like repealing it unmarried people would be able to claim the same benefits as married people on their taxes. he said he would easily be a bill of yes on the law if it would contain the same structure encouraging marriage it is also kind of nice to hear the quiet part out loud. this is generally how a big chunk of the modern republican party actually thinks, whether it's abortion rights or drag shows or banning books a whole section of the gop wants the government to tell you how to think and how to dress and apparently who you can live with out of wedlock in the year 2023. ladies and gentlemen, the grand old party. that is our show for tonight i'll see you again tomorrow. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is coming up next what gives a supreme court justice or a member of congress the righ
116 Views
IN COLLECTIONS
MSNBC WestUploaded by TV Archive on
![](http://athena.archive.org/0.gif?kind=track_js&track_js_case=control&cache_bust=457085636)