rain." the drum solo were a highlight. ♪♪ so we close tonight with this shoutout to sheila e. "the reidout" with joy reid, starts now. ♪♪ tonight on "the reidout" -- >> the hunter biden laptop -- >> hunter biden laptop. >> the hunter laptop. >> the fbi censorship. >> protected free speech. >> nor well yan ministry of truth. >> sounds like a shakedown, doesn't it, director? >> before the republican judiciary committee goes off the rails with unhinged bombardment of all the fester and conspiracy theories. also tonight, iowa republicans pass a draconian abortion ban, not even allowing

a clear-cut exemption for raped children. plus, the u.s. military is the latest target of the right wing culture wars with senator tommy tubervillle blocking military promotions and now a school district is banning the military memoir "jarhead," author anthony swafford joins me tonight. but we begin tonight with the on going efforts by donald trump's maga minions in congress to go to bat for their dear leader, acting not as representatives of the american people but as an extension of the defense team for the twice-impeached, twice-indicted former president. you may remember that one of trump's most loyal followers in the house, jim jordan, made it very clear last summer that defending trump was going to be their top priority. with just one goal in mind if they took the house in the midterms -- >> all those things need to be investigated just so you have the truth. plus, that will help frame up the 2024 race when i hope and i think president trump is going to run again. we need to make sure that he

wins. >> and there it is. we need to make sure that he wins. and keeping to his word, house republicans have made every attempt to do just that. in the past six months, we have seen house republicans hold hearings attacking the prosecutors investigating donald trump, including manhattan district attorney alvin bragg. formed the shame weaponization of the federal government to go after the so-called deep state. almost no interview with any of these house members would be complete without unhinged attack on biden and his family yet they're shouting from the rooftops that it's the democrats who are weaponizing the government. that brings us to today. where jim jordan, wore his hat as the ring leader of the house judiciary committee circus, masquerading as a congressional hearing with fbi director christopher wray. a registered republican, who was nominated to the job by donald trump in 2017. at which time trump called him a man of impeccable credentials. republican theatrics at these

house hearings tend to be so hilariously dumb they become viral tiktok hits. but there's nothing funny about the hearing today. in fact, quite the opposite. republican members not only went on the attack against the fbi and wray, but they openly aired bizarre right wing conspiracy theories, like that january 6th was possibly an fbi setup. and that the pipe bomb found outside dnc headquarters on january 6th, might have been a false flag. thankfully wray was prepared. >> the american people fully understand that there is a two tiered justice system that's been weaponized to persecute people base on their political beliefs and that you have personally been -- you have personally worked to weaponize the fbi against conservatives. >> well, first off, i would disagree with your characterization of the fbi and certainly your description of my own approach. the idea that i'm biased against conservatives seems somewhat insane to me given my own personal background. >> your job is to review what

they do. your job is to protect the american people from tyrannical fbi storming the home of an american family. >> i could not disagree with more with your description of the fbi's tyrannical. >> you seem deeply incurious about it, don't you? almost suspiciously uncurious. are you protecting the bidens? >> absolutely not. the fbi does not and has no interest in protecting anyone politically. >> joining me now is michael steele, former rnc chair, msnbc political analyst and host of the michael steele podcast. where to begin. peter, when christopher wray says my own personal backgrounds. he means he's a conservative republican who was nominated by donald trump, who only has the job because donald trump gave it to him and praised him when he gave it to him. i just wonder what you, as a former fbi official, made of watching this spectacle in which republicans berated another republican because he's not maga

enough. >> yeah. it was really good to see. i think a little hard edge coming from director wray. the fact of the matter is, you know, when these crazy conspiracy theories are thrown out there, it is important for people in leadership positions at doj and certainly at the fbi to speak out. what we saw today from director wray in those clips that you just showed, frankly i would have liked to see a good four, five years ago when these things were thrown out there, but that is absolutely the sort of direct rebuttal from somebody at the lead of the organization needs to be saying. it's important to push back on members of congress. it's important for the american people to hear from him that this is nonsense and it's so important for the men and women of the fbi to hear their leader up there taking up the standard and defending the work that they're doing. it's been a long time coming and frankly i was very glad to see it. >> i mean, obviously christopher wray was prepared for this, michael steele. there's so irony here, right? there was aim the fbi actually was kind of politicized.

during hoover, they told dr. king to kill himself. the civil rights movement were all communists. they went after and surveilled not only dr. king but fred hampton who they essentially got killed not even essentially, orchestrated the raid that got him murdered. falsely convicted black panther prattof murder. i could go on. planted a story that seabird was pregnant by a black panthers leading her to kill herself which is what they wanted her to do. black people suspicious of the fbi and for real legitimize people. it was weaponized against the civil rights movement. just one second. what you have when you look at the polls, michael, now republicans don't trust the fbi. the favorability among democratics is 79%. i don't have a broken down by race but that is ironic stuff, michael steele. >> no, it is ironic and the kind of stuff that just really makes

you want to reach for a nice gin and tonic and sit back and muse on it. which i'm going to do right after this segment. but, you would need an answer now. the answer is not a complicated one. you're absolutely right. the fbi did have notorious behavior in the past. it was born out of mccarthyite period in our history going even further back to when hoover took over and using it as his own sort of form of weaponization against members of congress, et cetera. but they reformed themselves. and the country, when they found out was appalled. and the fbi now for over a generation has cleaned up its act, recognized this role in important service to the country. what is ironic is that the very republicans who would argue for that fbi are the ones who have

turned against it. and has looked at the steps that the fbi has made. and in the particular way, i don't know how the men and women who serve in the agency look at the hill anymore and think these individuals have their back because they don't. and they're against them. they're against them. why? because donald trump told them to be. that's how lame they are. that's how lame jim jordan is. he can't put the sentence together on his own. it's got to be placed in his mouth by donald trump because the facts belie the very sentence that comes out of his mouth about the fbi protecting the bidens, the fbi, you know, in some conspiracy. when you're talking about noted conservatives who hold the position of director, you know, now suddenly using the

institution -- you go back to even -- to the election, and you have them talking about how the fbi helped hillary clinton. i'm like, were y'all in the same room when those facts were -- >> i don't think hillary thought she got helped. >> it is wild, peter. you served -- after '73, after the information came out, that is when overall standing of the fbi plummeted. and building back the fbi's standing was sort of generational project of later fbi directors. james comey also a republican, right? these are republicans. and it is interesting that, you know, it's a tenured term because they want it to be less politicized. most have been republicans and conservatives. >> all of them. >> they're the police. they want to defund the police. now they're the ones saying defund the federal police. i want to ask you about this because you were investigator there. what the right is basically angry about is that they have

all these conspiracy theories that trump made up. trump will truth social something. the only one who uses truth social. i have never quoted something else as truth social post. he screams something and some conspiracy and what jim jordan and them are mad about your former colleagues won't go and then investigate it, no matter how looney it is. is that how you read it, they want their conspiracy theories validated by a real agency? >> they want anybody to look at anyone other than trump. this is entirely trying to get the investigations surrounding trump shut down. there is nothing about the organization other than the fact that they are looking at trump. i was struck listening to some campaign audio of donald trump in 2016 praising jim comey and the fbi and the work they were doing that was going to lead to hillary clinton's indictment. and if she was indicted, she should step down because there's no way as a candidate under indictment she should be running. the fbi were heroes in the fall of 2016. the only thing that's changed,

the only thing that's changed is that donald trump's repeated criminality has come under investigation by the fbi and by other law enforcement entities. that is what has -- made this sudden pivot. you know, this radical upside down. the organization i spent more than 20 years there. it is a deeply conservative organization. michael is absolutely right and you are. the amount of things that have changed, post hoover, have been remarkable. but it is still a very conservative organization. so this is entirely upside down. it's entirely to protect trump. >> let me cue ted lu he made that point. here he is at the hearing. >> what these facts show is we don't have a two tiered system of justice. we have one department of justice that goes after criminals regardless of party ideology. all of these folks were convicted under the administrations of three separate republican attorneys general. it is not the fault of the fbi

that donald trump surrounded himself with criminals. donald trump brought that upon himself. >> and michael, what he did before that is he went through roger stone, elliott brady, michael cohen, paul manafort, rick gates and george papadopoulos all convicted and investigated by republican prosecutors. the end. it's not the fbi's fault that donald trump surrounded himself with people who wound up in prison. >> and that's the part that causes the jim jordan's to choke. because at the end of the day, that truth is what is stuck in their throats. that these individuals worked for a president who were picked by that president. that individuals like jordan and others in leadership, you know, approved of, applauded, said nothing about. and then when the house of crime is exposed, right? they're left sitting there going, what happened?

how did that -- now we got to go out and try to explain this. and that's where peter is exactly right. that's where it runs up against the reforms that the fbi have made, the reforms we have seen of the justice department. look at the attorney general, you know, you got barr and others out there who are all gung ho we're ready to do -- and then all of a sudden when the criminality started, wait a minute, check please. >> and by the way, if there had been criminality in the biden family, if anyone was going to be willing to jail a biden, it was barr and he didn't do it. he wound up really jailing cohen because cohen did something for trump and some went to jail because they did stuff for trump, stuff he wanted them to do. that's not anybody's fault but donald trump and not the fbi's fault. sorry. peter, michael. michael, go get your gin and tonic. sorry to keep you from it for so long. thank you very much. coming up next, on "the reidout" -- a 6-week abortion

ban backed by christian fundamentalist is headed to the iowa governor kim reynolds says she will sign it despite its overwhelming unpopularity. "the reidout" continues after this. ming unpopularity. "the reidout" continues after this trelegy for copd. ♪ birds flyin' high, you know how i feel. ♪ ♪ breeze driftin' on... ♪ [coughing] ♪ ...by, you know how i feel. ♪ if you're tired of staring down your copd,... ♪ it's a new dawn, ♪ ♪ it's a new day... ♪ ...stop settling. ♪ ...and i'm feelin' good. ♪ start a new day with trelegy. no once-daily copd medicine has the power

to treat copd in as many ways as trelegy. with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy makes breathing easier for a full 24 hours, improves lung function, and helps prevent future flare-ups. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. take a stand, and start a new day with trelegy. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy, and save at trelegy.com ♪♪ with fastsigns, create striking custom visuals that inspire pride district-wide. ♪♪ fastsigns. make your statement.

♪i'm hearing different ways for me to screen for colon cancer.♪ ♪it's time to use my voice,♪ ♪i've got a choice, more than one answer.♪ ♪i sat down with my doc.♪ we had a talk. ♪knew just what to say.♪ ♪i asked for cologuard and did it my way.♪ cologuard is a one-of-a kind way to screen for colon cancer that's effective and non-invasive. it's for people 45 plus at average risk, not high risk.

false positive and negative results may occur. ask your provider for cologuard. ♪i did it my way!♪

stop murdering babies. stop murdering babies! >> vote them out! vote them out! vote them out!

vote them out! >> iowa is now ground zero in america's abortion debate as hundreds gathered at the state capitol on tuesday over a bill that would ban abortion after six weeks. after a marathon special session late last night when republicans thought you were sleeping, the iowa legislature approved the bill. joining georgia as a state that bans abortion before most people even know that they are pregnant. republican governor kim reynolds is expected to sign the bill on friday. here is a snip pet of what happened during the 14-hour debate. >> everyone is free not to have sex. if they're not prepared to have a baby, they shouldn't have sex. >> for the love of pete, that's child abuse. we're standing here debating a bill to save babies but yet we would put a 12-year-old, an 11-year-old, a 10-year-old through this? give me a break. >> making abortions illegal is

simply a sanctimonious, self righteous form of violence against women. >> the language is very confusing in the legislation. how close to death does a woman have to be for me to intervene? i do not want a woman to die on my watch. >> but it was gloves off for des moines's president -- des moines resident felecia hilton minced no words when dragging iowa republicans for filth. >> this is absolutely an offense to women. this is an offense to everybody. it's offensive that you're going to go celebrate the oppression of women at a church. church is not there -- >> it's been over three minutes. >> it doesn't matter. this is a lie. you guys are lying to yourselves and you're offending everyone, including god. >> i will let you have your say. >> you're offending god. i do not care. this state is ridiculous. >> joining me now is the woman you just heard a pro choice supporter from des moines, iowa,

along with dr. emily, obgyn also thk you both for being here. ms. felecia hilton, i'll let you talk more. we saw a little more of your remarks. part of your issue, too this supposedly pro life state the governor signed a bill making it harder for everybody to get food, people to get snap benefits. ain't that pro life. i'll let you talk. go ahead and finish your thoughts that you had that they didn't want to let you finish. >> well, i mean, i think there's a lot of things since i've moved here that, you know, it's almost like if you move anywhere, you want to make sure that where you're moving and relocating your family is a decent place. when we first came in 2012, barack obama was the president. iowa had moved forward in the caucuses supporting him. he won in 2012. he won the state i think by five points. percentage points. we didn't think anything of it.

it's not -- it doesn't matter to us. we just thought that it would be an okay place to relocate for work. and ever since we've been here and they've had the trifecta i think in 2017, it's just been every year it's worse and worse and worse. and you know what was really troubling to me is that snap bill, that eligibility bill where they're going along with these outside groups that people need to have work requirements and prove all these things and be investigated over and over and over. and then taking away people's ability to be eligible for snap, which doesn't even come out of the state budget. and so, it was that and then it was the fact that they didn't sign this child labor bill that they passed at the church. that bill allows for 16 and

17-year-old children to serve alcohol in bars because it serves food. i mean, oh really? it's that type of hypocrisy and it's just, you know, someone who loves jesus but right now i'm not into his fan club, it's that. it's because you guys are showing through your actions that you don't believe the red letter text as my grandma would say. >> amen. the red letter supposed to take care of the poor, the elderly, the sick, those in need. they are doing the opposite. jesus would have flipped the tables in that chamber. doctor, i want to ask you how this will impact your -- what -- your service to humanity, what you do is so important as an obgyn. can you imagine how you're going to practice medicine in a state that says a 10-year-old has to

get on the gurney and give birth to her rapist, let's say that's her father, her uncle's child, that she has to go through nine months of that, how is a 10-year-old supposed to report this incest? are they going to drive themselves to the police station? i don't think that's going to happen. just talk about how this will impact your work. >> absolutely. so, one of my colleagues said, you know, i don't know any 10-year-olds who have read this bill. and they're not going to know that they have a 45-day limit on reporting a member of their family who is committing incest. they won't know that they have a 45 day limit on reporting a rape. rape is already a traumatic event. there's a litany of research that shows that the reporting process and the investigative process makes it more traumatic. so this is just further penalization of women who are engaging in sex as that

legislature liked to say. now my patients are the ones who bear the burden of having unprotected intercourse or of a contraceptive failure. but men and women will never face the same consequences for those acts. my patients are paying the price. so, you know, the care that i provide to women, i am -- i am trained as an obstetrician online kolgist expert in women's health. i provide full spectrum care to woman and i have the medical expertise to take care of my patients and counsel them on the medical options that are available to them in early pregnancy. when i meet a woman who is early pregnant, they know what they want. they know in that early pregnancy the decision that's right for their situation, whether it be economic considerations, relationship considerations, their current family or their future aspirations. so, my job is to take the best care of my patients that i can

and with holding abortion care is a deviation from the medical standard of care that is practiced in the united states and worldwide. the united states already lag maternalmore bitty and iowa unfortunately is already 50th out of 50 states for obgyn's per capita. unfortunately this legislation is going to create a more difficult and hostile practice environment for the women's health providers here. and our patients will pay the price. >> yeah. and you know, ms. hilton, you said you moved there. is this a place, number one, that you want to stay after this? or have your children stay? second thingly note is that, you know, georgia has exactly this same kind of abortion ban. and the politicians there paid no price for it, even though the numbers show there's been a disproportionate impact, particularly on women of color. do you believe that people in

iowa that you now know will actually vote them out as people were chanting there? or if not, do you think people will start to leave? >> i hope so. i hope people vote them out because "the des moines register" did a poll. 61% of iowans did not agree to taking away the right of abortion access. and i think that you know my -- the words that i said, i think that since i've moved here and i know the people of iowa, they really are salt of the earth people. i mean, they just work everyday. people with money. they have combines and land. it's not like you see maseratis. there's no sports team. no tourism types of beaches and things like that. so people here are really salt of the earth people. but i think seeing the 61% have absolutely said they believe that this access should be

allowed, i'm hoping that, you know, more people feel the passion that i felt for the people that haven't been engaged politically become engaged politically. what i can tell you is i'm not afraid of these people. >> okay. >> i think that they won't stop until we make them stop. and that's what we have to do. we have to make them stop. they're not going to stop until we make them. >> amen. and the only way to make them stop, the only thing politicians understand is vote them out. that governor has to get re-elected at some point and so do all those state representatives and senators. that's the power you have. you can get rid of them and make them unemployed. felecia hilton, dr. emily, thank you both. god bless and good luck with what you're having to fight in the state of iowa. coming up next, the hits just keep oncoming. more new questionable reporting on ethics behavior from fancy trips aficionado clarence thomas. what is fair market for a favorable supreme court ruling these days?

we'll be right back. e court rulg these days we'll be right back. thomas. thomas

♪♪ another day, another supreme court drama. the guardian is reporting that lawyers who had business before the supreme court paid money to a top aide to justice clarence thomas. the newspaper discovered the public venmo account of one of

thomas' aides. the aide's account seemed to show that he received seven payments in november and december of 2019 from lawyers who previously served as thomas' legal clerks. upon further digging the guardian noted that it seemed the purpose of each payment is listed as either christmas party, thomas christmas party, ct christmas party or ct xmas party in an apparent reference to the justice's initials. who are these folks enjoying these christmas par snis reportedly they're people who had successful business before the court. including someone who argued the affirmative action case, a former white house deputy counsel in the trump administration, and the former solicitor general of west virginia who had a key role in the case before the court that limited the epa's ability to regulate greenhouse gases. one ethical expert did note that it was possible that the former clerks were paying their own party expenses and not expenses for thomas. all of this comes on the heels of yet another explosive report by "the new york times" about

how clarence thomas gave unusual access to the her ratio association. group of ultra wealthy individuals who doll out scholarship. one thing that might help this deluge, a code of conduct the supreme court doesn't have. the senate judiciary committee is looking to do something about that. they're set to mark up and vote on senator sheldon white house supreme court ethics recusal and transparency act. adopt a code of conduct among other things. joining me is shelden white house of rhode island, a member of the senate judiciary committee. he delivered a speech on the senate floor about conservative activist leonard leo and his influence on the supreme court. justice samuel alito specifically. and senator white house, it's always great to see you. i just want to ask you to give us a condensed version of the speech that you just gave, if you would. >> well, the speech basically points out that we are in a very

peculiar environment at the supreme court with multiple right wing billionaires, by my count, we're up to six right wing billionaires, who are in various ways seeing to the care and feeding of so far two united states supreme court justices. i think this is the tip of an iceberg. a lot more investigation is required. but we're going to start work this coming week on getting a law passed to try to make this all more transparent and make clear where it's absolutely wrong and shouldn't be done at all. even if you have to disclose it later. >> the thing about it -- even the venmo thing, we don't know what they were venmoing for or what they were paying for with these christmas parties. it's the perception that increasingly a lot of us have. i admit i have. the supreme court, the conservative six, what they are is a little club with them and their billionaire friends and

their former clerks who worked for some of these billionaire organizations that are coming in and they're all key keying together and just happen to get their way like 90% of the time in these court rulings. they're all working together. it's the lawyer that's arguing the case is on the board of the heritage foundation and leonard leo's friend and all vacation together. it is like an oligarchy. like this little oligarchy of a few dozen people are making the rules for the rest of us and we have to live with them and it's not clear those rules are based on the constitution. it might be based on this small group of rich people's preferences. is there a law that you all could pass that would fix that? that's the perception a lot of people have. >> i think the thing that will fix that is proper investigation. and of course that's the last thing these billionaires want. we've heard from the one billionaire's lawyer that he won't answer our questions because it would violate separation of powers for us to ask this billionaire questions.

it doesn't take much constitutional scholarship to know that separation of powers protects legislative branchs of government from each other. >> right. >> it doesn't have any effect on a billionaire unless this billionaire in some weird way thinks that he's now a fourth brank of government. >> but aren't they? aren't they, senator? >> in a weird way this crude billionaire has somewhat taken over that role. >> yes. >> i think that billionaire influence over the supreme court is right now greater than the legal influence over the supreme court in cases in which the billionaires take an interest. >> and this is the thing, we cannot know -- clarence thomas has been a far right winger since he got on the court after being credibly accused of sexual harassment. the more you hear him enjoying the good life and the lush life that he can't afford on whatever 272,000 that we're paying him as taxpayers, the more you wonder

whether even if he was sort of steering this way any way, he steers a little more because the more he does what these billionaires want, the more goodies he gets and the more goodies his families get. one of them is his mother's landlord. i can't imagine a city council person being thrown off the city council. >> the same guy paid his grandson who he is raising -- his grand nephew who he's raising tuition. they're taking them on private jets and pretending that the private jets are food, lodging or entertainment, which are the only allowed exceptions. there are multiple layers to this. you start with really bad behavior by these justices. and then you start with failures to report and follow the rules within the judiciary about those acts of bad behavior. and then you get to excuses they make about the bad behavior and the failure to report that are

preposterous. eye rolling excuses, like alito claiming that an airplane is a facility. and then you get to the fact that they will never, ever, ever come clean about what the facts are. the most basic duty in any investigation to get the facts out they defend against. >> let me ask you about your bill. i presume democrats can pass it hopefully somebody like a manchin won't pull something or a kyrsten sinema, presuming you can all pass it, are you aware of a house majority, including a handful of these sort of try to get out of the swamp republicans, that will pass it on the house side so that you can actually have a bill go to president biden's desk? >> i think a great deal depends on continuing investigation. the press, your fourth estate, is doing a masterful job at bringing out information. i think there will be a lot more information coming out in the next few weeks.

so, the story is going to continue to get worse for these justices. and republicans are going to be in an increasingly difficult position saying nothing to see here, folks. nothing to see here, folks. when their federal judges in their own states are rolling their eyes saying, you got to be kidding me. we would never do this in my court. >> yeah. it is a conundrum and a voting issue in 2024. we shall see. a lot of senate races coming up. thank you. thank you very much. please keep us posted on the progress of your bill. still ahead, the u.s. military gets drafted into the right wing culture wars by a republican putting his personal religious beliefs ahead of national security. again. more next. national security. again. more next.

we're traveling all across america talking to people about their hearts. ooh, take this exit. how's the heart? i feel like it's good. you feel like it's good? how do you know when it's time to check in on your heart? how do you know? let me show you something. it looks like a credit card, but it is the kardiamobile card. that is a medical-grade ekg. want to see how it works? yeah. put both thumbs on there. that is your heart coming from the kardiamobile card. wow! with kardiamobile card you can take a medical-grade ekg in just 30 seconds from anywhere. kardiamobile card is proven to detect atrial fibrillation, one of the leading causes of stroke. and it's the only personal ekg that's fda-cleared to detect normal heart rhythm, bradycardia and tachycardia. how much do you think that costs? probably $500. $99! oh really? you could carry that in your wallet!

of course you can carry it in your wallet, right? yes, yes. get kardiamobile card for just $79 on amazon prime day. don't wait. this offer won't last. ♪

our commitment to ukraine will not weaken. we will stand for liberty and freedom today, tomorrow and for as long as it takes! putin still wrongly believes he can outlast ukraine. he can't believe it's their land, their country and their future and even after all this time putin still doubts our staying power. he's still making a bad bet. >> that was president biden today delivering a key speech at the nato summit in lithuania. reaffirming the alliance's support for ukraine after meeting with president volodymyr zelenskyy. the three-day summit was largely seen as a success as nato showed

off its strength against russia on the world stage, adding sweden to the alliance, meaning nato has expanded following russia's invasion of ukraine. which has to be putin's worst nightmare. but even as president biden is winning at nato politics, here at home, he's fighting with one hand tied behind his back as republican electives use our country's military as a pawn in their culture wars. today, for example, the house began debating the annual defense bill that sets the military budget for the year. something that is usually passed easily on a bipartisan basis. however, that bill is now being held hostage by the far right freedom caucus as some republicans are threatening to with hold support unless they tack on amendments that combat wokeness in the military. that includes rolling back a pentagon policy that helps service members travel out of restrictive red states to access abortion care. defunding the military's diversity, equity and inclusive programs and denying transgender troops medical coverage for

transitioning. meanwhile, alabama senator tommy tubervillle, who needed three tries to understand what a white nationalist is, remains steadfast in his refusal to confirm any promotions to top military positions until the pentagon agrees to essentially trap u.s. servicewomen in gill yard states like his when they have an unwanted pregnancy by not helping them afford to get out and get care. which means for the first time in 164 years the u.s. marine corps is operating without a senate confirmed come dent. something the chief warned will have widespread impact but tubberville seems to think that controlling women's bodies is more important. that's right. the party that once billed itself as the number one supporter of the military, has now decided that they much rather be using our troops as leverage in what they've dubbed the war on woke. which is really just code for war on history, black and lgbtq folks and women's bodily autonomy and chosen strategy for

fighting this war has been book bans. republican-controlled states and counties across the country are stripping school libraries of any book that might include some of these woke themes. which is basically anything that mentions racism or sexuality. but now, they've expanded their target to a book that's about an actual war. "jarhead" a veteran's best selling memoir detailing his experience in the gulf war in the '90s has now been banned at a high school in ottawa county, michigan. removed from the school library after being deemed an extremely violent, vulgar, pornographic diatribe. the author of that book anthony swafford is calling the move by the michigan school board idea censoring madness and he joins me next. censoring madness and he joins me next.

hi, i'm tony hawk, and like many of you,

i take a statin to reduce cholesterol, but statins can also deplete coq10 levels. that's why my doctor recommended qunol coq10. qunol has the number one cardiologist recommended form of coq10. qunol. the brand i trust.

is it possible to protect my business from cyber threats? it is, with comcast business. helping every connected device stay protected. yours. your employees'. even... susan? hers, too. safe. secure. and powered by the next generation 10g network.

with comcast business, advanced security isn't just possible. it's happening. get started wih fast spees and advanced security for $49.99a month for 12 monts plus ask how to get up to a $750 prepaid card with qualifying internet.

what are you working on? a bomb. it's happening, isn't it? this is the most important thing to every happen in the history of the world! >> in the memoir jarhead, author anthony swofford details his experience as a marine in the gulf war, including the sometimes ugly truth about what it is like fighting overseas. that book is now banned at a high school in michigan. just latest casualty in the culture wars. in response swofford panned a scathing op-ed in the daily beast. saying, i wanted to teach young people things about or that i hadn't been taught or hadn't wanted to know. i wrote an honest book, and i thought that honesty would be the books spine and help

sustain it in the world. the 20 years later, a politically stacked coup board can over a two-hour meeting cancel access to my work in the experiences of me and my fellow marines feels deeply un-american. joining me now is anthony swofford, gulf war veteran and author of jarhead, one of the most famous books for young readers about the subject of war. i was shocked that when i read the daily beast piece. it's not about lgbtq issues, it's not about black history. how did your book get caught up in this? >> i think the school board was stacked with people who were far right of center with the intention to sculpture the culture that their kids are exposed to in certain ways. in the fall they instituted a policy that basically any member of the community could

put up a book to be banned, and apparently for some reason jarhead was the first on someone's list. the books about for 20 years. it hasn't really changed much. but the culture has changed. they put in, institutional policy where seven members of the community read the offending book and make a judgment and pass it on to the board. so the book was 7 to 0 in favor of keeping the book in circulation, and when it went to the full boards of orally members from the extreme right voted 4 to 3 to ban the book. so they didn't listen to the committee that they had put together. the big note here is, pay attention to who is being voted to your local school board. these kinds of things matter. the thing that baffles me is, if the idea is that you are helping run the school board and helping educate young

people, then if you start cutting down access to any kind of information, you are not doing your job. you're actually harming your students, not helping them. >> the thing is, the irony is, the same high school students are the age, the very next year they graduate high school it might end up in the military. they might actually be having the experiences you're describing in your book, but they are saying to are too young to read about it, and they're acting as if kids have never heard swearing, have never seen violence, and they seen a movie? the idea that jar head, a book of about experiences a little older than the kids in high school, to me it's mind-blowing that someone with a bit inappropriate. >> by today standards it's rather tame. euphoria or half a dozen dozen tiktok videos exposed children to things that are more violent and possibly more obscene than jarhead is. and what it is, it's a true

look at what young people experience when they go to war. how a warrior is made. that was the thing that i wanted to teach people. this is how what happens when they're at combat, it is what happens when they come home. if you're so afraid of that, i think you have a real problem in terms of opening up knowledge, avenues of knowledge to your students. ok i think the message to the constituents in the hudsonville school district is, any book is up for banning. just give us a title, you don't like, it will ban it, because we have a 4 to 3 majority. >> they can do what they want. the thing about it is, what do you make of the fact that we are now at the point where the marine corps, in which you served, has no commandant, not because of anything about the marine corps about because of this senators hatred of abortion. and if things like abortion are being sandwiched in to what

used to be standard military policy, things like promoting people, making sure that generals get their four stars. that has now been co-opted by the extreme right and the religious right. what do you make of that? >> i am astonished by it. i have been following the tuberville story. he's like zero and one with rico, i don't know if he knows his audience. before the -- the commandant walked on water for marines. it's really important to young marines who have their boots on the ground that they have a leader that they know that leaders name and they really follow these orders. so yanking that from the marine corps and 60 other nominations i think he is holding up over something that, body autonomy for women who served in the military is ludicrous. it's kind of disgusting, really. >> we have really entered, i think, the twilight zone, when a senator can conflate those two things because of his own

personal religious beliefs. that's what people come out of the military come out of, an appreciation, diversity, the so many things. my brother was in the army, in the national guard, so he experienced it as as well. anyway, anthony swofford, thank you very much, and hopefully your book will get on band. >> tonight on all in. >> he's obsessed with me. he's going to any means possible to destroy my life, and our lives. >> why? >> to shift blame on somebody else. >> the maga scapegoat at the center of the january six conspiracy theories sues fox news as he attacks keep coming in congress, literally today. >> -- many people feel fed fed bed. >> former alabama senator doug jones on the wild controversy over the man who replaced him in the senate.