>> good evening, welcome to

politicsnation. tonight's lead causes for concern. tonight i am wrapping up my weekend here in washington, d.c.. i heard last night from president biden addressing the final day of the congressional black caucus's annual conference. a possible government shutdown looms. house republicans failure to agree on a spending bill could soon impact the lives of millions of government workers and military families, including many americans of color. meantime, new polling out from the nbc news shows the president has some work to do with a cross section of american voters. black voters included.

just a little over a year before the next election. nearly three quarters of voters are worried about the presidents age and a record 50% of them are dissatisfied with his tenure. americans are also concerned about biden's most likely opponent, former president donald trump. two thirds say they're concerned about the civil trials. a head to head matchup between the two candidates currently polling as a dead heat. white house advisor steve benjamin joins me shortly with his take on these stock numbers. followed by the chair of the congressional black caucus himself, fresh from its 2023 conference. his members lay out their priorities and their expectations for the next 13 months. all of that tonight on tonight's politicsnation. joining me now, steve benjamin, senior adviser to the president

of the united states, the director of white house office of public engagement. thank you for joining us, director benjamin. always good to have you with us. i hate to start here, the implications of this new poll look pretty dire for the white house, in addition to the three quarters of voters saying they're concerned about the presidents age and mental fitness, the president is struggling with an all-time high disapproval of his job performance. perhaps what troubles me most is that despite donald trump's multiple indictments which have had a negative impact on how voters view him, according to the poll, president biden and donald trump are deadlocked in a hypothetical 2024 rematch. what is your take on these numbers, mr. benjamin. >> rev, thank you for having

us. i saw the poll two days ago that show the president a plus five over the former president. the rally is this, we have to do a better job getting out of the incredible success of the biden and harris administration. 13.5 million's new jobs created. a historic low. with black workers since we started keeping statistics in 1972. the amazing cut from the deficit. so much work has been done. we brought back american manufacturing. we have amazing historic investments in climate and resilience. there's so much good going on, as a former politician, i used to wish that i had 3 to 5 bullet points. that administration has 3000 to 5000. you have to keep punching to make sure the matches get

through. or over a year out from the election. almost every sitting president in recent history this far out and candidates are usually down before the election, people dial in. we start to deal with critical situations like we're dealing with right now with this proposed republicans shut down. you think about the impact. i pulled out some notes as i was preparing to talk to you. we are talking about the impacts of this particular republican shut down. it's highly likely to happen, that service members will get their paychecks. travelers could have airport delays. we're talking about 7 million pregnant postpartum women not able to get their government support to help them get through the toughest times of their life. critical research on diseases like cancer and alzheimer's would be stalled because of this republican shut down, what i see and joe biden is a man with amazing wisdom and experience supported by an incredible partner in the vice

president. we have to make sure we work extra hard to push the messages of success. remember, it's not long ago that we got past the greatest pandemic since 1918. the greatest economic disruption since 1932 and the greatest social unrest that you are a critical part of. it's all wrapped up into. when america was on the back. joe biden with the american rescue plan in each of these other historic successes, trillion dollars in infrastructure and climate change, historic investments and colleges and universities. he's led the country back to where we are in essential laces. where trusted around the world. he built incredible global partnerships. there's so much that -- i take responsibility, the entire team, we have to make sure we can keep punching the messages. by the time we get past the republican shut down, the american people will have a crystal clear choice as to who they want to continue to lead the greatest nation in the

history of the world. that will be joe biden. e greatestyou know, as you saidi thought about how three and a half weeks ago, the civil rights leaders, including myself met with the president and vice president after the march and he methodically ran down what blacks and others had gained from the inflation reduction bill and from the infrastructure bill. is the problem messaging as you pointed out? you mentioned last night at the congressional black caucus, the keynote dinner, president biden took aim at house republicans for their inability to move forward on government spending bills, with less than a week to avert a government shutdown, here he is laying out the stakes. >> if the government shuts down that means members of congress, the members of the u.s. military are going to have to continue to work and not get paid, the government shutdown could impact everything from cancer research to programs for

children. , the most basic responsibility of congress is to fund the government. republicans should start doing the job america elected them to do. >> director benjamin, talk a little bit more about how a shutdown will adversely impact black communities. >> again, i talked about families and mothers and children not having access to the support they need. i'm talking about pregnant women and postpartum part-time women and children. that's 1 million people in arizona and georgia and michigan and north carolina alone. this is real, you're talking about service members not getting their paychecks. men and women who put on their uniform to defend america every single day being disrespected again, i want to bring up tommy turbeville not bringing up -- and threatening the national security of our nation. what i thought was crystal clear, do your job, we need the

republicans in congress to do their job and pass the spending bill and allow us, all of, us to continue serving the people of this country. the reality is, if you're doing your job, i did my job, we would be shown the door. people need to do their jobs. the president and vice president are leading every single day. i would tell, you if you have the stamina of this presidency literally not figuratively crisscrossed the globe and be back in this office at atm, working every single, day doing real things, this office of gun violence protection prevention that we opened on friday and announced, a historic investment in trying to make sure we're keeping our community safe. read a point where republicans also failed, act we have more guns on the street in america than we have people. this is leading every single day. he's doing his job, we need the republicans and congress to do their job. >> president biden's 2020 victory hinge largely on the support of black voters, yet

several pose show the enthusiasm of the president has taken a substantial hit. going back to that nbc news poll just today the news is reporting that voters have low interest in next year's election. then at the same time in past election cycles. how do the administration's priorities for a second term speak to the needs of black voters who will need to win the second term? >> the reality is we not only have to keep talking about the incredible successes that we've had part of the theme was promises made and kept. he put an african american woman on the ticket. the second most powerful person arguably in the world is kamala harris. he made a commitment to put the first black woman on the u.s. supreme court in ketanji brown jackson, the brightest light that we see on the court right now.

a laundry list of successes that affect the whole health status. you think about the fact that we call it diabetes, we call it sugar. you think about 35 dollar insulin and what that has meant to families all across america, including black families. limiting the amount of out of pocket cost for seniors when you have people who had to choose between whether they would eat or have their medicine. we have to do a job punching through these messages. making it clear that we have to finish the job. if we are not able to finish the job, the alternative is not only some other guy, it's someone who thoroughly threatens the existence of the united states of america. people who want to terrify history books and act like it doesn't matter, we have a president here who decided that he wanted to make sure that the legacy of emmett till and the historic leadership of mrs. mamie till mobley by establishing a national monument, telling the story of

emmett till and making sure that people like the governor of florida can't rewrite history. we have a president and vice president who worked every single day for all americans. they have been particularly focused on equity and making sure that we erase the disparities of the past. that's going to be front and center for american voters when they go to the polls next november. we will make sure. but we will win this thing. we have to make sure we're able to finish the job. i will say one last, thing rev. i appreciate you. i appreciate your show. i appreciate your candor. when we have a chance to interact, we have a great relationship. it's also really constructive criticism. that's what we do better. we exchange ideas, we say what's going wrong, we say what needs to be done better. and that's the way you build strong relationships that benefit the people that we know that we have to serve. we want people to engage with us. let's continue to talk. let's make sure that we're listening to people. there are lots of folks -- i will do my air quotes, the media, it's not real media.

these false messages are being sent to african american voters from the same people who are finding the attacks on affirmative action. the same people who are finding the attack on the sba aid program. it's the same folks. it's up to us to make sure that the truth continues to come out. we make the case that not only is joe biden the right man for right now, i dare say he's probably the most consequential president in the history of the last 100 years. histo ry of th last>> i thank you for being wih us. i can say you do take our calls and text messages, so does the president, thank you for being with us, steve benjamin, from the white house. joining me now is the chair of the black caucus, congressman stephen -- democrat of nevada, as always, thank you for being with, us mister chairman. tonight the congressional black caucus just wrapped up its 52nd

annual legislative conference in washington, d.c.. i was happy to attends. it was a great conference. this year's theme was securing our democracy and protecting our freedoms. uplifting our culture. talk about the mood of this year's event on the eve of an election year with the shutdown looming. at a time when many black americans are concerned about our political future. >> rev, thank you for having me on. thank you for being at the conference. you are among thousands, over 5000 registrations who attended the conference from all over the country. this is our annual convene where we talk about the issues that are most important to black americans. we have obviously focused on the importance of democracy and what's at stake in our democracy. the need to secure our democracy at this moment. it is under attack. we talked about the need to

fortify and protect our freedoms, whether that's women's freedom to make their own health care decisions about their reproductive rights or a businesses freedom to economic prosperity. it's under attack by people like ed bloom and others who are trying to sue us from having the economic prosperity. we also wanted to uplift our culture. we are people that have overcome great odds and discrimination. and the enslavement of our ancestors. now we understand in this moment that we have to take on this mantle of justice and opportunity and equity that prior generations fought for. we are ready to take on the fight. >> president joe biden attended the phoenix awards last night. he talked about his administration's record. >> both of our plans are

working. a record 13.5 million new jobs. more jobs than any president has created in a single four-year term. black unemployment reached a historic low. black small businesses started up at a faster rate than any time in last 25 years. >> we mentioned in the last segment the enthusiasm for the president has diminished. how do you convince black voters that biden's policies are working? >> two things, first, rev, sometimes i questioned these polls. i really feel like they are framed in such a way as to set a narrative that is not necessarily reflective of where people are, or who are even included in the polls to begin with. it's hard to include young people and people who aren't on the phones who use their cell phones or use social media primarily to communicate.

more importantly than that, the economic achievements of president biden and vice president harris are results of the black vote showing up in 2020. former president donald trump asked black america, what do you have to lose? and then he packed a supreme court and the federal judiciary and they answer that question by taking away fundamental rights for women and for students to be able to pursue college. now, for businesses to even be able to exist. we have them suing the spd program which is nothing more than a tool to help minority black and women owned predominantly white women owned businesses from being able to exist. what are they so afraid of? >> i think in this moment it's time for all of us to be very clear on what our objective is. it's to come together to build economic prosperity and wealth for every community.

when we lift up the black community, we lift up everyone. i want to commend the president for speaking about how the child tax credit lifted nearly 50% of black children out of poverty who stood in our way. republicans like kevin mccarthy and mitch mcconnell. he talked about the fact that we have investment in broadband and taking lead pipes out of our water systems, who stood in our way? republicans in the house. right now, with the looming shut down, who is standing in our way? people like matt gaetz who is exhausting. it's kevin mccarthy and marjorie taylor greene who are willing to literally close down the government over what? they can't even tell you. >> congressman, well i still have, you i want to ask you about to affirmative action cases you referred to. on tuesday, i will be in atlanta to rally support of the phyllis fund and its cofounders

after they were hit with a discrimination lawsuit for funding businesses owned by women of color. another group run by the same conservative activists is suing west point along with the department of defense, the secretary of the army and others over the academy's alleged use of race and ethnicity in admissions considerations. we could start to see more of these challenges. what are your thoughts on how to push back against this? >> we are going to push back with everything in the power of the congressional black caucus. first of all, i want to commend the founders of the feelings funds. i was able to meet with one of them. i want to commend those of you who are going to continue to stand with them. let's explain what this is. this is a fund that was established by entrepreneurs to provide capital to other entrepreneurs to start their business.

add blond others filed a lawsuit to prevent them from doing it. they're the same people behind the lawsuit on affirmative action. it's the same person and the same people behind them. it's the same people behind other lawsuits against the sba program. it's clear, it's targeted and it's well funded. it's coming from every angle. if you want to take us, on we're gonna take you on. i'm proud to be able to work with other organizations like man, like the national urban league, like the naacp, as well as other groups like the black economic alliance. we understand that this is about the very existence of our community to have economic prosperity. we're not asking for anything more than anybody else. that's to be able to build wealth and you have legacy and who passed things down to our children. to build up our communities. we want america to succeed. we believe in america. we want its institutions form

our democracy and its freedoms to our culture to be recognized as equal to anyone else. >> -- congressman steve horstville, thank you for being with us. still ahead, young people -- even as some republicans are questioning whether they should have the right to vote at all. later, president biden and donald trump are headed to michigan this week to talk to striking autoworkers, we'll talk with our political panel about the fight for union voters. first, my colleague richard lui with today's other top news stories, richard. s, richard >> a good evening to you. a fifth day of negotiations between hollywood writers and producers is underway. sources say major progress is made. a major sticking point remains over the use of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry. a space capsule containing samples landed safely in the

utah desert. nasa scientists say the collectors soil could reveal new information about how our solar system was formed and how life emerged on earth. more politicsnation right after this break. this break who won the superbowl twice. and this pro with the perfect slice. and if we profer it, we know america will too. what about spaniards? and i guess spain. age is just a number, and mine's unlisted. try boost® high protein with 20 grams of protein for muscle health versus 16 grams in ensure® high protein. boost® high protein. now available in cinnabon® bakery-inspired flavor. learn more at boost.com/tv ♪♪ we're not writers, but we help you shape your financial story. ♪♪ we're not an airline, but our network connects global businesses across nearly 160 markets. ♪♪ we're not a startup, but our innovation labs use new technologies to help keep your information secure.

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gen z congressman, maxwell frost, alongside president biden and vice president kamala harris, to announce the creation of the first ever federal office of gun violence prevention. frost spent years as a young person advocating for gun control. now, the first bill he introduced in congress has become a reality. according to npr, gun violence is one of the five most important issues that will inform young people's vote next year. alongside health care, economy, housing, reproductive rights, and climate change.

it's inspiring to see young people are focused on the future with their votes. favoring action, rather than being paralyzed by fear. this voting bloc should not be taken for granted. in 2020, young people turned out to vote, especially in some key swing states. president biden won. like georgia, pennsylvania, nbc exit polls suggest that 60% of those between ages of 18 to 29 voted for biden. higher than any other age group. unfortunately, a new pew research center report reveals that about six and ten u.s. adults express they don't have too much or no confidence at all in the future of the united states political system. and young people are the most frustrated. only about half of adults under age 50 say voting can have at least some effect on the

country's future direction. republican presidential field candidate, vivek ramaswamy has suggested raising the voting age to 25 years old. which is a strange position for the youngest candidate in the race. until you remember, republicans view young voters as a threat. and i've gone out of their way to suppress them with onerous registration rules, especially on college campuses. when i was a young activist, i knew the power of making my voice heard. in the power of the vote. at times, it can be discouraging, when it seems the government isn't working on behalf of the people. but i've seen significant progress through the years, driven by the results of the ballot box. now, it's not the time to give up hope. young people must rise up and stay in the fight, the power is with the people. and that is exercised through our vote. if we stay engaged, change will

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let's bring in my political panel, to political strategists at nbc political analyst. -- robert gibbs, and republican, rick tyler. thank you both for joining me. robert, president biden will be in michigan tuesday to join the picket line with uaw workers, while republican front runner, donald trump, will meet wednesday with autoworkers in detroit. the two have traded barbs ahead of their visits, with trump claiming he forced biden to make the trip. while the biden administration -- lack of support -- for the president. largely stood behind us. --

well he's popular with some segments of the workforce, in spite of his policies. how do you see this week playing out politically? >> well, rev, all you need to know about how important this issue is to the economy, or how important michigan is to the next election, is to see the two presumptive nominees in each party spending a bunch of time in michigan. i think it's important to who joe biden is, as somebody who's a champion for working families and working people. it's something that you saw a big change from the 2016 vote in the 2020 vote. in terms of where blue-collar voters landed for democrats. also important for somebody like donald trump, who's trying to make inroads, or continue to make inroads, with these voters. this is going to be a literally the place for politics, quite frankly, this week, it's gonna be in detroit. in and around this important economic issue. >> rick, trump will be skipping his second republican debate to

appear in detroit. our new nbc news poll finds overwhelming majorities of americans have concerns about both candidates. three quarters of voters are worried about biden's age, while two thirds of trump -- are troubled by trump's legal's issues. biden does have a serious challenger so far. at least six republican rivals to trump will be on the stage at the reagan library, in california, on wednesday for the debate. do you think voters will be taking a closer look at them this week? >> i think they will, rev. first of all, biden and trump have combined to age of about 150. six -- is now 62, president obama, much, much younger, and people have concerns about both candidates. remember, donald trump is not that much younger than biden, only about three years younger.

i do think the first debate was significant. i think some people did get some traction there. vivek ramaswamy certainly did. he's now favor. nikki haley, certainly, got the most bump out of that. and has managed to a lot of people to give her a second look. i think that will happen again. well trump's with the autoworkers in michigan, people should remember, donald trump when given a choice to use union labor over non-union labor, chose non union labor over 50% of the time. in fact, if you take a new jersey and new york, he used non union labor 80% of the time. donald trump has stiff to labor workers's entire career. he still has stiff dishwashers, bartenders, waitresses, waiters, dry wall or,'s painters, a carpet installer. iron workers. it goes on and on and on and on. donald trump is not a federal working men, and that is in his

record. >> robert, let's turn to the possibility of a government shutdown. speaker mccarthy put congress in recess this weekend. without a spending deal. if no agreement is reached, the government will shut down by this time next week. that could mean missed paychecks for millions of government workers, and military families. many of them people of color. what is the real impact of a shut down for many working americans, it's much more than annoyance. isn't that correct? >> oh, absolutely, rev. you're gonna have people missing paychecks. people that are living paycheck to paycheck, or don't have a ton of disposable income, are gonna have to think through how they pay their bills at the end of the month. as they come to. let's also not forget, all the services that are going to be disrupted. you know, you need to get an unemployment check. you need to get a passport renewed. a ton of things that the

government does every day is also gonna be interrupted as a result of this. let's be clear, rev, this is a total abject failure of speaker mccarthy and house republicans. they said, from the get-go, they wanted to not pass temporary spending bill. past the end of the fiscal year. they wanted to do it appropriations what we call regular order. well, we have not done any of that. we've barely considered one bill. every other bill can't even be considered by republicans where they control the house. this is just a simple abject failure of republicans in the house. i think they're gonna be blamed for shutting down the government with, quite frankly, no real plan to keep it funded. >> rick, the washington post points out this shutdown fight can almost entirely focused on domestic discretionary spending. which amount to less than one

trillion of the six trillion dollars the u.s. spends each year. the rest of it goes to debt payments, social security, medicare and defense. if these shutdowns are just political theater, couldn't there be a better way of having these debates about spending? >> yes, of course. robert certainly is right, the republican will take the blame for this, this is not a republican or democratic fight here. a republican on republican fight. let me be clear, mostly republicans want to pass the c r. they want to keep the government open and funded. and that includes speaker mccarthy. a handful of republicans, who, frankly, i don't think respond up to be in congress, because they have no interest in governing. they don't want to govern. they want to shut down the government. and they may be successful in doing that. it will cost the republicans the majority in the house, and it will hurt them in the elections. and mccarthy needs to be tough on them. this government, the whole operation of the united states

government, in the constitution, comes down to one word. compromise. and if mccarthy can't figure out how to govern with his own party, he's gonna have to work with the democrats. i would encourage him to do that. i think he can fund democrats who will be willing to work with the republicans. to keep the government open. and that's priority number one. if you can't govern, look, i want spending to be curtailed, i want less, spending i want small government. you gotta look around. if you don't have the votes to do, it you go out politically and get more people up there who see it your way. who don't shut down the government. that is not governing. that is a loser, especially for republicans. >> robert gibbs and rick tyler, thank you both for being with us. after the break, a d.c. festival is celebrating faith and activism. by shining a light on the powerful connection between the pulpit and protest. we'll be right back. be right back. >> tech: cracked windshield on your new car? you don't have to take it to the dealer. bring it to safelite.

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i was honored to welcome the footsteps of reverend dr. martin luther king, alongside his eldest son and daughter in law and granddaughter. at the 60th anniversary commemoration of the original march on washington last month. this week, i'll be attending washington -- created in 2013, to showcase thecivil rights movements lost

stories. and it's modern struges full disclosure, i will have the honor of being recognized for a lifetime of activism driven by faith. joining me now is -- creative director of the march on washington. film festival. thank you for joining us tonight. tell me a little bit about the story behind this film festival, created by washington-based attorney, robert ray even in 2013. to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the march. what was he trying to achieve with this event? >> robert had the opportunity to participate in one of congress and luis is enable trips to the south to significant sites of the civil rights movements, on one of those trips, he met a woman in a church, and spoke with her. and realized there were so many untold, miss told, and silenced

stories of the movement. so, ten years ago, we started by showing some films about the movement. that was his inspiration. since then, we've had a wonderful opportunity of bringing many of the people who were prominent during the 50s and 60s and on in the movement to celebrate them again, and to remind us of the work that they did. >> the theme then of this year's festival is politics, power and protest, the church in the civil rights movement. and the two lifetime awards being given at the festival next week are going to myself and georgia u.s. senator, reverend raphael warnock. which prompted you in the festivals leadership to choose, what prompted to you to choose this particular theme at this particular time? >> well, last year, robert said to me, the splc in the church

in the spiritual aspect of nonviolence was very prevalent in that period. and where is it now. let's take an assessment of where the church is now. and the progress of the movement through that faith-based activism. that's what prompted it. it caused us to look to the two of you, you two gentlemen, to be our award winners. along with some of the programming will be doing this year. >> one thing i keep thinking about, even the footsoldiers of the movement or increasingly passing away, late congressman john lewis, who you mentioned. every day, they were part of growing more distant by the day. yet the struggles they faced have not abated. but rather they've evolved. and new generations are now contending with those modern civil rights challenges. how is the festival trying to bridge the gap between the past in the future of our struggle for freedom? >> that is such an important

point. and something that weighs on my mind every year, as i put the festival together. let me give you an example of one of our events, which will be on saturday evening, where we really embody this theme of pulpits, protest and power. we are going to look at that from three generations. the event will be three speakers, interspersed with music and some dance around this issue. the first speaker will talk about the role of ministers who are also activists and some became politicians in the 50s and 60s in the movement. one inspired them. and how their inspiration inspired others. the second speaker will be in her 30s, she's in her 30s. she'll be talking about activism today. her name is real -- our speaker is reverend gellman coats. rahel will talk about her work

as a can temporary activist, here and overseas. and the connection between the two. how in ferguson and black lives matter, we saw protests happening around the world. something brings us together. in the third speaker, steven greene, reverend green, who's in his twenties, we'll talk about the future of activism. what young activists have to face in the future, what tools will they use, what strategies will they employ. ten, 20, 30 years from now. and we are encapsulating all of that with this set by yolanda adams, shall be performing as well. >> before i let you go, we've watched conservatives across the country try to ban the teachings of certain aspects of black history in the black experience. how does that assault inform what you and your team are trying to do with this festival? i'm out of time, i wanted you to address that. >> thank you. i'll be brief. we employ the wisdom and the

teachings of scholars. so, several of our panels, virtual in live, will bring the scholarship of folks who specialize in this around their writings, around their studies of the writings, and we have a book list we try to encourage people to follow and use. so, we bring those band books back into the front view of what we're talking about. and encourage people to read for themselves. >> isisara bey, think you for being with us. up next, my final thoughts, stay with us. stay with us ♪ oh what a good time we will have ♪ ♪ you can make it happen ♪ ♪ yeah oh ♪ now, try new dietary supplements from voltaren for healthy joints. ♪ now, try new dietary supplements from voltaren (man) that looks really high. (woman) it is high.

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most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. learn how abbvie could help you save. qulipta®. the forget-you-get migraine medicine™. this week, colorado prosecutors began building their case against two officers charged in the death of elijah mcclain, a young black man who was stopped, put it in a cold, and sedated

with cattle four years ago. alongside the killings of george floyd, breonna taylor, and others, mcclain's death was among those highlighted during the black lives matter protests of 2020. the two officers have pleaded not guilty to charges of criminally negligent homicide, manslaughter and assault. a third officer and two paramedics are scheduled for trial later this year. we must not let the news dictate the movement. the movement must make the news. put a spotlight on our grievances. that's why we go into atlanta to fight against those that would turn back the clock on affirmative action, on dei programs, and people that want to just give resources to people to start businesses, as the fearless fund is doing for black women and women of color. many of whom cannot get

financing in institutions that still don't fairly and equitably distribute money for start-up businesses in those communities. we must continue to fight, just like the generations before us fought and gave us doors that were open that they never saw. we cannot let those doors closed on our watch. whether it's the mclean trial that we're seeing, or whether it is those that are fighting to keep economic doors open, as we will be in atlanta tuesday, the struggle continues. and we all must be involved. that does it for me, thanks for watching. i'll see you back here next weekend at five pm eastern, american voices with guest host julián castro starts at the top of the hour. after a short break. after a short break.

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