committee. a select committee what are her numbers today? >> history refoots itself as gop lawmakers go back to an old playbook to discredit a democratic presidential candidate. that does it for me. the reidout with joy reid is up next. ♪♪ tonight, on the reidout. >> hello, north charleston. >> yeah, i'm guessing that's not how republican tim scott wanted to kick off his presidential campaign, but that was the start of announcement that played up all of the conservative talking points. plus, the trump putin love

affair heats up as russia announces a new set of sanctions targeting trump critics. and stacey abrams joins me. we begin tonight with the old bait and switch, we're one week away from a potential default on the national debt, every economic expert agrees would be catastrophic for our economy resulting in millions of americans becoming unemployed. interest rates on your homes, cars and credit cards shooting through the roof and a major punishing recession, a meeting between president biden and house speaker mccarthy at the white house is still ongoing as the clock ticks down to find some agreement to avert economic disaster. treasury secretary yellen warned again of an economic default saying it's highly unlikely the u.s. will run out of cash if the

debt ceiling isn't solved by this. lyndon johnson was a united states senator for 12 years, quote, if you can convince the lowest white man that he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. that actually has been the republican strategy since the man who succeeded him richard nixon set out to fix the republican's party's problem of not being able to become a majority party. from fdr on, democrats had a lock on both houses of congress and most states and they consistently won a majority of black and white americans. why? the new deal. working class white americans.

federal health insurance medicare and medic job aid. how republican politician hollywood actor and soon to be governor and later president ronald reagan reacted. >> this program i promise you will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every freedom. if you don't do this and if i don't do this one of these days you and i are going to spend our sun set years telling our children and our chin's children what it was once like when men were free. >> okay, so do you break the psychological bond between white working class voters and the party that gave them home buying assistance, federal jobs programs during the depression and health care, the party of nixon and reagan figured out the

trick, make them think about something else, in america, the lowest hanging fruit has always been race. here's how lee atwater explained it in 1981. >> you start in 195 he by saying [ bleep ] [ bleep ] bleep by 196 you can't say [ bleep ] that hurts you. it backfires. you get so abstract now you're talking about cutting taxes and all these things you're talking about are totally economic things. we want to cut taxes. we want to cut thing is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than [ bleep ], [ bleep ]. >> talk about cutting taxes. here's presidential candidate

ronald reagan to label welfare as theft. >> in chicago, they found a woman who holds the record. she used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, social security, veterans' benefits for four nonexistent deceased veterans' husbands as well as welfare. her tax-free income alone has been running $150,000 alone. >> that wasn't true. 12 years after dr. king was murdered while fighting for city of memphis black sanitation authority workers they were forced to rely on food stamps, president ronald reagan got to enact his ideas, deem nicing johnson's great society. reagan threw people off federal aid, taking aim at welfare and

food stamps in particular even those who get federal and state aid are nearly all workers, workers like the clerk at the dollar store or the greeter at your local walmart the local beautician, preschoolteacher, or the farm hand or the meat-packing workers whose jobs they do on their feet for eight hours or more don't provide health care or pay them enough to afford to buy it. when it comes to medicaid recipients who aren't working may be disabled or taking care of someone who's disabled or they're elderly or a student or a child. republicans want you to believe they are causing the deficit. but here's where the bait and switch comes in. while reagan was gutting the programs that helped poor black and brown, poor white people to get by he also deepened

america's first trillion-dollar national debt by slashing taxes on the super-rich, a tactic that would be repeated again and again. reagan exploded the debt, tripling it over his eight years in office. the first president bush got fired for raising taxes to pay for them. bill clinton paid off the debt entirely and gave us a surplus and an economic boom that put money in all of americans' pockets. republicans punished him with a baseless impeachment. barack obama produced another economic boom and expanded medicaid through obamacare. then donald trump came along and exploded the debt into a stratosphere for another paul ryan-crafted tax cut for the super-rich. now republicans are back at the trough again lying about their own voters.

calling hardworking, low-wage workers, so they can kick a bunch of americans off medicaid. they're going to need another big fat tax cut for super-rich. i'm joined by bruce bartlett. i should note the meeting between president biden and speaker mccarthy ended moments ago. according to mccarthy it was productive. still no deal yet. bruce, good to see you again. i want to start by asking a very fundamental question, do tax cuts pay for themselves, did the tax cuts by reagan, bush, george w. bush and trump pay for themselves? >> no, of course they did not. and in fact anybody who wants documentation go to senate budget committee page, i

testified before them just last week on this very subject. >> and so if tax cuts don't pay for themselves, do they contribute to the deficit? >> yes, absolutely. no question that all the tax cuts since 1980 have contributed very substantially to the deficit, some more than others. >> so, and my third question would be, since you were an econ guy in the george h.w. bush administration when they're spending, let's say biden did his big infrastructure bill, when do we pay for that spending, right, because we don't pay for that at the time, aren't we paying for past spending now, money already spent, is that what he debt is for? >> yes the current situation is like an analogous to your credit card. the bill has come due and

speaker mccarthy has said we don't want to pay it because we're upstanding financially responsible people which of course is utter nonsense. >> so here's the thing. first of all, nine out of the 12 u.s. recessions since 1948 occurred under republicans. if you go by the facts in the past, democrats tend to do better, tend -- americans tend to do better economically under democrats. but republicans get the reputation of being better for the economy. but the reverse has been true historically. i want to focus right now on the debt we're talking about. donald trump's record tax cut went mostly to the super-rich. the top 4, 5, 6% got most of it. if we don't pay for that and we go over the debt limit, what happens to the u.s. credit system and what would happen to

the economy if we don't pay for that tax cut now? >> i think we all know what would happen if we defaulted on our mortgage, if we tried to get another mortgage we'd have to pay a premium, a higher interest rate to compensate the lender for the risk that we might default again. that's what's going to happen if we default on our debt next week. the united states government the treasury department will pay higher interest rates forever. we turnly have experience with this in 1979, there was a technical default because the treasury computers didn't work properly. ten years later, economists calculated interest rates were still higher because of that one brief incident and if we do it again because of a policy difference between the white house and congress, i think the situation will be vastly worse.

>> yeah, the last time they brought us to the brink of this in 2011, moody's downgraded the u.s. from aaa-plus to aaa-minus and this was catastrophic, that sent wall street tumbling and it was a disaster, that was close to a default. i want to talk about that policy difference. republicans are insisting that the only way they're willing to raise the debt limit is if they get work requirements, let's start with facts, work requirements are already law, you can't get food stamps you have to be working unless you're taking care of a disabled person, you're a child. when they say they think people who are getting quote/unquote welfare aren't working that's a lie. >> yes, i think everything about the house republican budget package is a lie, the whole thing is completely ridiculous and cooked up.

it's only being done to embarrass biden, to embarrass the democrats and i think it's really kind of sad that they're playing along by agreeing to negotiate these absurd proposals that were cooked up out of thin air and suddenly thrust upon the body politics at the very last second before action had to be taken on the debt limit. i don't think you negotiate with terrorists and i think that this is the reason why. >> there's -- there has been some talk about some measures, printing a trillion-dollar coin at treasury department or using the 14th amendment option president biden has indicated he's open that. those options, or forcing a vote of a clean debt limit on the house floor, do you think any of those things are workable?

>> potentially. i don't know. the problem is the president wants to do things in the normal sort of way, whereas i think the republicans are playing a completely different game. and i think at the end of the day he's going to have to say, look, the constitution requires me to by the full faith and credit of the united states to our lenders and to uphold the debts of the united states and i think he'll tell the treasury secretary just keep doing things as usual and if we have to go to court to discuss this, then that's what we'll do. >> to go back once again to the policy difference it feels incredibly disengenerals you if you say we're going to strengthen the work requirements that are already the law, all that's going to happen and the

experience we've seen in arkansas and other states a that have tried this, people they want to ratchet it up to 55, 3.5% unemployment. all that happens is people end up leaving the program. they get kicked off. you'll save money that way, why don't republicans just admit they really can't stand and don't like the idea of having medicaid, they don't want to have medicare, they just want to cut the programs, isn't that more honest? they want to get rid of food stamps and meals on wheels. they don't like the programs. >> you have to look at this group in the house called the freedom caucus, they basically control what speaker mccarthy is able to do, he's afraid that if he crosses them that they will throw him out of his job, quite frankly, and so he's, you no,

bowing down to them and they're basically anarchist. they think all taxation is theft. i think you have to understand that where these people are coming from, they're not normal, they're not behaving in a typical, historical, political way where you have give and take and you make compromise and move on. these people can't be satisfied. >> take it from bruce bartlett, he's been in these administrations. if you all voting for these folks just understand when you think they're going to take the black people's benefits away they're going to get yours, too. they don't believe in any of the programs. they don't believe they should exist. up next on the reidout, russia's target list for sanctions. a who's who list for trump's

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what do new york attorney general james, justice department's special counsel jack smith, msnbc's rachel maddow and joe scarborough and others on this list have in common, they've all been on the receiving end of donald trump's attacks atsz his perceived

enemies. the latest batch of americans being sanctioned by russia. it's worth pointing out none of them have anything to do with foreign policy. . "the new york times" reports that the russian foreign ministry offered no explanation for why they would be included on the list. sounds like the words of someone else discuss the insurrection. >> they were there with love in their heart, that was an unbelievable and it was a beautiful day. >> joining me now is john brennan, former director of the cia. director brennan, how to explain

the kremlin sanctioning, you know, rachel maddow and joe scarborough and jack smith, et cetera. >> joy, i think this is a very brazen and public display of affection on the part of vladimir putin toward his fellow autocrat buddy donald trump. it's clear these individuals have no bears on russia policy whatsoever. but they've have been be clearly selected because they've been adversaries and very outspoken adversaries of donald trump. this is russia and putin's way to demonstrate he'll continue to support that donald trump and his efforts to reclaim the presidency because i think vladimir putin is counting on trump returning to the white house so that putin's debacle in ukraine can be brought to an end in favor of russia.

if donald trump returns to the house. >> let's put up that list up. jimmy kimmel, stephen colbert. it's a strange list, it feels like he's just simply trying to send a message to donald trump, hey, buddy, i support you. it's surprising to me that has not been hung on donald trump, that there hasn't been a louder cry of doesn't this prove that you're putin's guy? are you surprised that there hasn't been a louder uproar about the fact that he's getting such brazen open support from someone who helped him before? >> joy, what i'm surprised at over the past several years it seems as vladimir putin's stanning among americans among the maga base has risen. what he's doing now is trying to signal to that maga base there's this kindred spirit between

donald trump and vladimir putin. i do think putin is not only trying to send a message to donald trump, but also sending a signal to maga base that he vladimir put written is somebody they should continue to respect and admire. unfortunately, i find it hard to believe in the day and age, particularly after the bloody assault on ukraine that any american would look favorly upon a putin. >> it's shocking, but true. here's donald trump rather than embarrassing cnn town hall. being unable to simply say what should be obvious that ukraine ought to win this war. >> do you want ukraine to win this war? >> i don't think in terms of

winning and losing. i think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people. >> can you say if you want ukraine or russia win this war? >> i want everybody to stop dying. they're dying. russians and ukrainians. i want them to stop dying. >> my fear is, it doesn't matter, well, there are a couple of republicans that are running that don't seem as bad but the main maga ones they have signaled, desantis signaled and others that ukraine would lose support from the american white house if one of those republicans won, most of them, does that concern you? >> yes, it does. i do think putin is just trying to hold on until november 2024 because if he can hold on in this war of attrition on the battlefield and donald trump is re-elected i think it's going to send a shock wave through nato countries first of all and secondly, donald trump as president would could do a lot

to curtail support for ukraine, he can cut off intelligence support, training, and he can bring a halt to a lot of the weapon flows going into ukraine. i think vladimir putin who has his back against the wall is one hope there's going to be change of leadership to the united states and when trump at a town hall said he would bring it to a close in 24 hours i think he was signaling to putin the way he's going to bring it to a close he's going to bring a quick halt to type of the support we've been providing to president zelenskyy and the ukrainian people. >> i have to ask you this on another subject, an a.i.-generated hoax that simulated explosion at the pentagon. this scares a lot of folks about a.i. it caused a potential -- it

caused a panic on wall street, we don't our arms around this, director, brennan, right the damage that can be done by something like this, especially, you know, on twitter that's in the hands of a maga republican who's s.w.a.t. people people for fun. >> a.i. clearly can do a lot of things that will beneficial to humankind, but it's a double-edged sword. those trying to disrupt our lives can do imageable harm by utilizing a.i. in a manner that undermines our safety, our security, and our psychology, these things get into the viral stream it will have repercussions. we haven't come to grips with all of the implications of it.

how we're going to try to ensure it doesn't lead to chaos which i think a lot of individuals, whether they're foreign actors or domestic actors, can use a.i. to achieve their aims. >> i wish that we had a congress that would spend less time trying to ban tiktok and doing fake weaponization of government hearings and more work on this. this could make an impact. still ahead, concerns about 89-year-old dianne feinstein's health, highlight ongoing concerns about representation in the democratic party. stacey abrams joins me next. ab. with a majority of my patience with sensitivity, i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of

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in the entirety of american history there have been but two black women elected to the united states senate. illinois senator carloyn braun and kamala harris. there's good chance that will change in 2024. today delaware senator todd carper announced his retirement and endorsed lisa

blunt-rochester. third black u.s. senator in u.s. history. california congressman barbara lee is running against her congressional colleagues katie porter and adam schiff to succeed her. when it comes to representation in public office, this country is still mostly a white boys' club. take for example former north carolina supreme court justice sherry beasley who run four successful statewide races. when it came to her senate race she came up short. this morning, she told npr why the race was such a challenge. >> the perception is always that the u.s. senator is a white man. that is the presums, and then we work from there. >> i'm joined by someone familiar with the challenges of running competitive statewide

races in purple states, stacey abrams, 2022 georgia democratic gubernatorial candidate. i do want to first quickly ask you about this, you faced this challenge, stacey, for black women the perception is this in this role we think you're fine, when you go a statewide race there haven't been any black women governors and a handful of black women senators, why do you suppose that disconnect is there? >> well, i think it's broader than just a democratic issue, it's an american conversation we need the to have, black women are seen as useful and necessary in propping up and supporting most of the facets of american

society. but we're rarely seen as capable of actually leading. and part of our responsibility both as democrats but more broadly as americans is to wider our aperture and understand that black women can lead. as every other community got to that leadership through support and engagement the same must be true and made available to black women and that hasn't happened at the scale that we need with the speed that we need. i remind us that it's a very recent reality that we've had black women mayors of major cities. we started out so far behind that we're starting to catch up but that also means there has to be patience on the parts of voters that we're going to have to keep doing this, you're going to keep seeing names and faces because we've got to break through this notion that black women can't hold these executive jobs, can't hold these statewide

jobs. it's entirely possible and more importantly it's necessary, because the needs that we have in this nation the challenges that we face, black women are often the hear bingers of the most of the issues that we face. democrats have the lead to take, yes indeed black women are the most reliable voters for the democratic party, it's important that we make certain that this is not just a black women's issue, this is an american issue. it's about democrats, republicans, independents, any person who wants their nation to be better should look to black women and help them succeed. >> at the same time, specifically because the democratic part the i is the diverse party, the republican party is 930% white, the democrats are then the other people, right, do you kind of feel, gavin newsom promised on this show he would appoint a

black woman if an opening comes up? dianne feinstein is hanging on even though she's going to retire in january. you have adam schiff, katie porter, you have barbara lee who's beloved among african american s but is far behind. they're all competing and gave in newsome isn't in a position to make that choice, but how he make it. >> i've endorsed barbara lee, representative of the black community she's also been a stalwart for progressive issues. but i think what the governor's going to face, what voters are going to have to face we have to create the reality we want to see. i believe that if we want a

truly representative society, if we want diversity to be more more than a tag line we've got to do the work that sometimes means we don't vote for our friends, one friend over the other in order to make representation real. >> so, now, let's talk about the book, rogue justice, let me read the synopsis, a high-stakes washington legal thriller, tough as nails avery king. >> avery is a supreme court clerk who made her first appearance in while justice sleeps. she was so compelling in the first book she got another story. she's a supreme court clerk who finds herself facing a blackmail threat to the fisa court, surveillance court, most people don't know anything about it

because their opinions aren't public, but what if that court responsible for national security was under threat itself and she's got to unravel the mystery and try to save our lives with no one being the wiser as she watches the president undergo an impeachment trial. >> is there a clarence thomas who has a rich friend who purchases the house? there's so much supreme court drama. >> i will say this, my focus is the take and demystify washington but also look at questions and conversations we don't really have, the conversation about a.i. is a critical one. but we got to deal with cyberthreats that are immediate. the vulnerable power grid. i'm proud to be working with an organization that's helping to lek try fie everything and issues within our own courts. look at the fairness doctrine

and how it treats our military. this is fun book, easy read, lots of fun and avery is someone you want to take along with you on vacation. >> the reviews have been outstanding, just praise, praise, praise. i can't wait to read it. stacey abrams, congratulations, "the new york times" best-selling author. stacey, thanks very much. coming up next, launch week for also-rans the field of republican presidential candidates get a bit larger as tim "keep your money" scott throws his money into the ring and florida governor desantis' announcement later in the week. announcement later in the week helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work.

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which may worsen kidney problems. join the millions already taking ozempic®. ask your health care provider about the ozempic® tri-zone. you may pay as little as $25 for a 3-month prescription. today he made it official. are you excited? tim scott of south carolina. the lone black american in the united states senate is running for president. >> my family went from cotton to congress in his lifetime. >> i will build the wall. for those of you who wonder if america is a racist country, take a look. at how people come together. all of god's people come together. black ones and white ones. red ones and brown ones. working together because love

unconditional love binds hearts together. we're not defined by the color of our skin we're defined by the content of our character and if anyone tells you anything different, they're lying. >> oh, lordy, the lie displaying black people and quoting dr. martin luther king jr. what do you expect from the politician who back in 2017 appeared in criterion ji now deleted video deploying stereotype call talk. the lone black republican senator's line in that ad, keep your money. tim "keep your money" scott and former south carolina governor nikki haley will be rivals in the republican primary, they both hail from a state that recently held its republican convention.

according to a tweet from state reporter, mcmaster said, i look forward to the day that democrats are so rare, we have to hunt them with dogs. the governor's office has attempted to a cleanup on aisle five saying it was a joke. in a field that already feels crowded, this is one what newsmax said. >> now, i'll be honest with you, i don't think you can be president. >> and here's republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana reading the tea leaves about the dearly leader himself, pointing to his party's performance in last year's election when several of trump-endorsed candidates lost.

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id official, florida governor ron desantis is expected to one on the idea of making america florida. even as his multiple -- as multiple human rights organizations are warning that floyd might not be safe for many americans. over the weekend, the naacp issued a travel advisory for florida, saying the state has become openly hostile toward african americans, people of color, and lgbtq+ individuals, citing desantis's aggressive attempts to erase black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in schools. the move comes as the league of united latin american citizens, and the gay rights act advocacy group equality florida have also issued travel advisories for the state, referencing desantis's draconian anti immigrant and anti lgbtq laws, including don't say gay. joining me now is leon russell, chairman of the naacp board of directors. he previously served as the

president of the naac florida state conference. mr. russell, thank you so much for being here. i'm gonna read a bit from the travel advisory that says, quote, under the current governor, the state of florida has engaged in an all out attack on black americans, accurate black history, voting rights, members of the lgbtq+ community, immigrants, women's reproductive rights, and free speech, while simultaneously embracing a culture of fear, bullying, and intimidation by public officials. and it also cites this law signed by desantis is to get floridians to carry guns without a permit and criminalizing protests. so, in your view, to be blunt, is florida not a safe place for black, gay, and trans people to travel to? >> floridians understand that this is a time where people have to analyze their plans. they have to look at themselves and say, will i be safe? will i be in an atmosphere that encourages people like me to flourish?

and so, what we are saying in our advisory is yes, it's time for you to analyze your situation and determine if it's time for you to visit florida if you are safe in florida, because what we understand is this is a political move that is fostered by the bullying, by the hate, by the white supremacy that ron desantis is pushing. and so, we are saying, you have to think about this. you have to think about this state. we're not saying don't come here. but what you do need to do is determine how you can lift up the issues that threaten all of the groups that you just read about, that threaten public education, that threaten to turn our colleges and universities from one of the best systems in the country into something christian identity white supremacy based.

you have to look at this. and when you come, we are saying, be careful about what you choose. there are corporations. there are entertainment corporations that you can choose that support diversity openly, defiantly support diversity. so, there is a place for you. but there may be others who haven't spoken about this. and you need to be careful who you patronize. >> and the thing is, i think about, especially in an historic organization like the naacp, there used to be green books where african americans used to have to think about, as you are traveling down south, you know, where it's safe to go. and it definitely feels like florida is becoming a state where you might need a green book. senator ted cruz of texas, said this is bizarre and utterly dishonest. in the 1950s and 60s, they naacp did extraordinary good, helping lead the civil rights movement. today, dr. king would be ashamed, since they have lost their way. quite shaky of him to say he

knows what dr. king thinks. christian ziegler, he said this, the chairman of the naacp, talking about you, lives in tampa, florida. truly the ship is willing to do, and ask others what to do. time to step up and move. if you think our state is so bad, the florida gop will help with moving costs. i know if he's the husband of the woman who confounded the white nationalist leaning group moms for liberty. she's since left the organization. your reaction to christian ziegler, who told you that they'd pay you to move out of the state? >> first of all, this is full of bush it. second thing, you need to understand it's not about money, it's about people, it's about humanity. thirdly, quiet frankly, we haven't told anybody to leave. in fact, the naacp is encouraging folks to stay here and fight. if there was ever a reason to stand your ground, it's a black people, lgbt community, the

immigrant community, women, need to stand our ground in florida and fight, and understand that that fight is a political fight. it's time to look at policy makers, to see what they are doing, to remember what they're doing, what the city council, school board, county commission level, whether they are running for the highest office in the land. it's time for us to understand what their record is, how they've operated, and as you introduced this, as you said, he wants to make the u.s. florida. is that what america wants? i don't think so. >> i don't think so. and they don't understand black people because we have done this and fought them before, including dr. king, who they don't know anything about other than one quote. yeah, you want to fight? black folks will fight. and lgbtq folks, we're all gonna stand together, brown folks too. we will fight you. thank you leon russell. and that is tonight's the