learned a lesson-- he had to keep donald trump on his side. >> mitch mcconnell is a very smart politician. i think he understood the trump base, perhaps better than most. and he understood that the trump base was probably not yal to him, but was loyal to trump, and he needed th. so what mitch mcconnell did was to try and patch things up with the president, to try and say supportive things as much as he could, and say nothing any other time. >> ...will not replace us! you will not replace us! >> narrator: then, an ominous harbinger of things to come. >> ...the torch-wielding white nationalists coming face to face... >> ...a demonstration by white nationalists at the university of virginia in charlottesville. >> what you had in charlottesville was the alt-right people, many of them marching in trump's name. >> this is trump's america! >> we could see them marching with torches, and it looked like something out of nazi germany. >> narrator: neo-nazis and white nationalist protesters were forming, protesting plans to remove a statue of robert e. lee. >> hello, how y

, to humiliate him repeatedly, to rake him over the coals, to let his followers know"this is mitch mcconnell's fault. he's failed you, not me." >> mitch, get back to work and put repeal and replace, tax reform and cuts, and a great infrastructure bill on my desk for signing. >> narrator: mch mcconnell learned a lesson-- he had to keep donald trump on his side. >> mitch mcconnell is a very smart politician. i think he understood the trump base, perhaps better than most. and he understood that the trump base was probably not loyal to him, but was loyal to trump, and he needed th. so what mitch mcconnell did was to try and patch things up with the president, to try and say supportive things as much as he could, and say nothing any other time. >> ...will not replace us! you will n replace us! >> narrator: then, an ominous harbinger of things to come. >> ...the torch-wielding white nationalists coming face to face... >> ...a demonstration by white nationalists at the university of virginia in charlottesville. >> what you had in charlottesville was the alt-right people, many of them marching in trum

a great deal, all from home, with truecar. >>> democratic lawmakers have been checkmate bid mitch mcconnell's maneuvers and his ability to keep republicans in line. now at democrats want to pass covid relief, voting reforms and increase the minimum wage. mcconnell and republicans have never had a problem holding democrats hostage on a bill or jamming through things on the conservative agenda so now some democrats are calling for an end to the filibuster in the senate to keep the gop from slamming on the breaks. over and over again this is what they have been doing. is it time to pull out all the stops. my next guest thinks so. brian fowler is my next guest, the former press secretary for hillary clinton's 2016 campaign and the former aid to the current majority leader chuck schumer. that's quite a resume. thank you, sir, for joining. appreciate it. democrats taking aggressive action on a number of their priorities. you say there's no time to waste. brian, explain the stakes here. >> well, don, after the 2016 election, mitch mcconnell came out and said quite simply, in his words, winners make

direct, redefining insurance. >>> so for years, democratic lawmakers have been check-mated by mitch mcconnell's political maneuvering and his ability to keep republicans in line. and now with a slim majority, democrats want to pass covid relief, voting reforms, and increase the minimum wage. mcconnell and republicans have never had a problem holding democrats hostage over a bill or jamming through items on the conservative agenda without bipartisan support. so now some democrats are calling for an end to the filibuster in the senate to keep the gop from slamming on the brakes. well, over and over and over again it's what they've been doing. is it time to pull out all the stops? my next guest thinks so. brian fallon is his name and he's the executive director of demand justice, the former press secretary for hillary clinton's 2016 presidential campaign and a former aide to the current majority leader, chuck schumer. that's quite a resume. thank you, sir, for joining. i appreciate it. you were calling democrats to take aggressive action on a number of their priorities. you say there's no time to

mitch mcconnell was the one who shepherded those 3 through as opposed to trump he tossed the ball up in the air mcconnell got it and he ran with it as far as elder statesman chuck grassley who if you told him to act as a g. di you know he's still not sure that he's going to run again i mean what is. somewhere between $89.10 so who knows what he's going to do still since pretty

but there is no question at all about what mitch mcconnell would do. t he would keep up with his usual tactics. and the number two democrat in the senate, dick durbin, says it's mcconnell's use of the filibuster that strangles the senate. >> if i became skeptical of the filibuster, it's because of your use of it, and i hope that you understand that you can't have it both ways. it can't be a rare procedure and be a procedure that dominates the actual business of the senate as this has done for so many years. >> so remember that senator mcconnell is the one who announced he would do everything he could to make president barack obama a one-term president. >> some have said it was indelicate of me to suggest that our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> that was a nice smirk there, but it didn't work. mcconnell infamously blocked former president obama's supreme court pick, merrick garland, even though obama had 11 months in office. mitch mcconnell refused to

mean we're so stuck in this tribal form of politics that someone like senate minority leader mitch mcconnell will say on one day that donald trump is morally and practically responsible for the insurrection and then turn around the next day and say, hmm, if he's the nominee in 2024, i will support him. this is like the brain rot that i am so frustrated with and that has to change because there has to be something more to the republican party than dr. seuss, mr. potato head, and donald trump because those are like the three wise men of the republican party right now. and i'm not here for it. >> amanda, thank you. bakari, thank you as well. i'll see you soon. we'll get your audio fixed. you look good, but you don't sound great tonight. >> thank you. >> thanks very much. >>> are senate democrats getting outmaneuvered by the gop, and should they be asking, what would mitch mcconnell do? >> we all know this will merely delay the inevitable. it will accomplish little more than a few sore throats for the senate clerks, who work very hard day in, day out to help the senate function. now here are a c

but if they change it, it's like mitch mcconnell said. you will rue the day you did it. ck to where we select supreme court judges and district judges and all that. remember, mcconnell is the one that changed it. everybody forgets about old harry. how slick harry was. he had so many bills to bring to front. it was pathetic. host: that was philip. david, you are next. caller: good morning. the american way for the past couple decades seems to be to jump from the fine -- frying pan to the fire, vote for one extreme to the other. we don't need to eliminate the filibuster. what we need to do is reform the filibuster. force these senators at point of filibuster to stay on the senate floor. the intent of the filibuster is compromise. it have is -- it hasn't achieved it. the only substantive legislation that has passed has been since the filibuster through reconciliation or some other process. if we force them to stay on the floor until a compromise is reached, we will start seeing compromise again and that will benefit the american people. host: fort lauderdale, florida, democr

mitch mcconnell said last week, you should focus on how united we had to what the biden administration is doing. that's the approach they are taking. it's not about trying to govern with joe biden and his administration. obviously both parties are partisan but the difference is, kirsten just end katd, they are more series about governing than republicans are. and the offer they had was not close to what biden would work with. and republicans are trying to take whatever they can out of the democrats' hide while they do it. it's not a lot. >> listen, i have to move on. i just want to play this. it makes a point of what you just said, kirsten, about being on the side of -- you know, the big g bigots and all that. we we play the tucker carlson thing. watch this. >> you ever notice how the scary internet conspiracy theorists,

senate minority leader, so good to see you mitch mcconnell. on "the faulkner focus" today. >> thank you, harris. >> harris: portland, oregon seeing a surge in deadly gun violence this year. what prompted the rise and what the mayor is asking for now? so i only pay for what i need. 'cause i do things a bit differently. wet teddy bears! wet teddy bears here! only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ keeping your oysters business growing has you swamped. you need to hire. i need indeed indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base claim your seventy-five-dollar credit when you post your first job at indeed.com/promo ♪ and a little bit of chicken fried ♪ ♪ cold beer on a friday night ♪ ♪ a pair of jeans that fit just right ♪ ♪ and the radio up ♪ get 5 boneless wings for $1 with any handcrafted burger. only at applebee's. in this family, everyone does their own laundry, but they all do it a little different. honestly, i add a couple of tide pods and

mitch mcconnell was the one who shepherded those 3 through as opposed to trump he tossed the ball up in the air mcconnell got it and he ran with it as far as elder statesman chuck grassley who if you told him to act as a g. di you know he's still not sure that he's going to run again i mean what is. somewhere between $89.10 so who knows what he's going to do still since pretty sharp but he's going to be in mid ninety's by the time his term would run around out after fire after he after he runs as far as january 6th i don't think that was the last gasp i think that was actually the beginning of the flag waving and i don't really think that taking bill clinton's name off anything to like taking ronald reagan's name off the airport in washington d.c. accomplishes a lot i think the conservatives and the alignment with the stars and bars on the confederate flag which we see on trucks down here quite a bit in florida i think that stands for something a whole lot different than frolicking with monica lewinsky. steve nothing to do with monica lewinsky what does that have to where does monica

progressive pushing to take a battle axe to mitch mcconnell's instruction. live to the shooting in atlanta. the top story in washington tonight is democrats going hard after mitch mcconnell with signs that with biden's covid bill passed, the next senate fight could be about the senate itself. with more top-elected democrats joining. this is big tonight. they have long argued this institution is broken, that right wingers broke it and that you can't even pretend to tackle america's tough problems if you won't clean up the system. today newly elected georgia senator raphael warnock used his first floor speech to invoke the pitched battle over americans' right to vote arguing senators' right to vote should not be vetoed by republican minority abuse of the filibuster tactic. >> we are witnessing right now a massive and unabashed assault on voting rights unlike anything we have ever seen since the jim crowe era. it is a contradiction to say we must protect minority rights in the senate while refusing to protect minority rights in the society. colleagues, those se

but interesting, senator mitch mcconnell and his wife elaine chao never seemed worried, never seemed to sweat any of it. mcconnell frequently joked about it as if they didn't have care in the world about it. now we know why. inspector general at the transportation department has released a public report on the matter, on the investigation that was done by inspector general's office at transportation department into multiple allegations of corruption against elaine chao. it discloses that investigators looking at corruption allegations found the allegations to be substantiated enough and serious enough she was referred to u.s. justice department for potential criminal prosecution. she is not the first trump cabinet official this has happened to. by my count i think the fourth trump cabinet official that we know of, who inspector general investigators referred to justice department for federal criminal prosecution on corruption charges after they looked into serious allegations against all the trump cabinet members. that said, spread it around thick enough, seems like nobody ever gets i

underscore this group of people we have been showing on screen, they are not all just allies of mitch mcconnell similar way to the way mcconnell thinks about it in a way much different from ted cruz, josh hawley and others. there is the quote from lindsey graham how everyone in the senate absolutely hated ted cruz when he was going down reading green eggs and ham. they thought he was making a show of himself. but the reality is the republican party has turned into that. there are more and more senators focused on their communications staff, what they are doing in those kinds of ways than working hard behind the scenes building relationships. it is a very significant change that stands to impact a lot of americans who may not even realize how much they rely on there being able to be some bipartisan behind the scenes cooperation. >> they are all institutionalists. they have a great deal or institutional memory. it worked cross-purposes to what schumer or president biden might want to do. even if we have been up about the senate rules committee. you lose the strength and the background when the se

the trump come back and make people like mitch mcconnell feel with him capitol hill isn't he the soft a figure of the donald trump would still need and he seems to be funnily eliminated when donald trump was president mitch mcconnell passed into office by a by the senate about 250 judges transforming our judiciary mitch mcconnell knows the game and if he gets a president on his side he'll play the game if he gets a president opposed to him like biden he'll play the game so i don't think that's the question the bigger question alex is i think we've seen now a true transformation in america the parties are separating and the republican party has a claim still has to be sort of worked on but a claim for working americans a claim for the noninterventionist wing of the republican party that's a new for us right that in the last 25 years republican party has been the party that fought to fight the wars and change the world so donald trump shifted on immigration on china the republican party has a stark set of positions that are different than they were or maybe more solid in a certain sense

with all due respect, mitch mcconnell talking about scorched earth, ask merrick garland if mitch mcconnells nominated to be a supreme court justice. ask the senators who have quit having the opportunity to debate and amend bills over the last five, six years because mitch mcconnell basically shut down the senate. he's already scorched the earth. now it's time to make people show where they stand, and let the public see where they stand, and if they're on the side of the majority of the public, them the republicans will win in 2022. but if they're not, we're going to pick up wisconsin, we're going to pick up pennsylvania, we're going to continue to build a majority towards the values that so many on the left are so anxious -- and i get it, i am too -- to get done. >> you're making a case that the talking filibuster is essentially a form of transparency. it's like you want to oppose, you have to show your work. many is that a fair way to -- a transparency reform? >> absolutely. and start voting on stuff. start having committee votes on things. start exposing that this is some mon linlic bloc

don't be afraid of mitch mcconnell because mitch mcconnell isn't afraid of you. truth.ou very much for coming back to "the sunday show." >>> coming up -- we'll get instant reaction to what we've covered thus far. voting rights and changing the filibuster. keep it right here. let's listen to this. louder. take these guys? i mean, there's room. maybe next time, fellas. now we're talking. alright. let's. go. kevin bacon here. you know me from six degrees of well... me. but it's time to expand. see, visible is wireless with no surprise fees, legit unlimited data, powered by verizon for as little as $25 a month. but when you bring a friend every month, you get every month for $5. so i'm bringing everyone within 12 degrees of me. bam, 12 months of $5 wireless. visible. as little as $25 a month. or $5 a month when you bring a friend. powered by verizon. wireless that gets better with friends. ♪ freshness and softness you never forget, with downy. >>> welcome back to "the sunday show." joining me now is zerlina maxwell and dan balz, chief political correspondent at "the washing

and to that, about donald trump himself was encouraging mitch mcconnell to eliminate the filibuster, ay i think senator mcconnell is talking to a sh rinking number of republicans who say the value in the filibuster. as you all were pointing out, this really is a 50/50 country and i think republicans, however agitated they might be with the elimination of the filibuster now, they're ready for 2022 to get power because because all of the things that leader mcconnell is threatening to pass in the event of the filibuster elimination, republicans have been wanting for the past four years. which is to say i don't think this would be the last resort that some senators are making it out to be. >>. >> yeah. senators would actually want this. republican senators. when they hear mitch mcconnell say if we get rid of the filibuster, watch out, we're going to be able to pass tough legislation on border security, we're going to be able to pass tough legislation on carry permits and making things reciprocal. i would think most senate republicans would say, well, good, let's do that and we can actuall

senator mitch mcconnell and his wife never seemed that worried about any of the scandals. mcconnell joked about it as if it was no problem and they didn't have a care in the world about it. well, now we know why. tonight the inspector general at her department, the transportation department just released a public report on the matter. the letter tonight released to the public shows investigators found the allegations to be substantiateiated and serious enough that she was referred to the u.s. justice department for criminal prosecution. this is the fourth trump cabinet official we know of who were referred to the justice department after looking into serious allegations against all of the trump cabinet members. if you spread it around thick enough, seems like nobody gets in trouble for it. under the trump administration, see if you can spot the pattern here. trump veterans affairs secretary was investigated for corruption. the investigation resulted in a referral to the doj for federal criminal prosecution. trump's doj declined to prosecute. trump's interior secretary, inve

republican minority leader mitch mcconnell says changing the filibuster will destroy bipartisanship, st actually got a rare bipartisan bill passed, and argues that mcconnell is wrong. so let's talk about that. the former democratic senator from wisconsin, russ feingold. good to see you, sir. thank you for joining us. really appreciate it. you have a new piece out in politico. it's titled "the filibuster isn't the key to bipartisanship. i know this firsthand." so explain that, will you? >> well, the filibuster has a long history. but in the last few decades, it hasn't been used for bipartisanship. it has been used for partisanship. when john mccain and i worked on mccain feingold, the filibuster didn't help us pass the bill. it made it take a lot longer. we started that bill on a bipartisan basis, and we had a rule that whenever we brought in a person from one party on to the bill we had to bring somebody from another party. i like to call it the animals came two by two. this thing was always bipartisan, and we still needed 60 votes to pass it. the idea that somehow the only way to get

i mean isn't he threatening that if you do this mitch mcconnell will continue to be mitch mcconnell?hat had a lot of popular support. he might oppose them, fair enough but he wouldn't even put them on the floor for a vote. mitch mcconnel is so afraid of the american rescue plan that he keeps looking for diversions, one after the other. and this is one of them. we're not going to be diverted. we're not going to be deterred. we're going to go forward because we know the american people demanded, need, want bold change. and we're going to do it, and mitch mcconnell can do all the threatening and bluster he wants. it's not going to stop us. >> stephen: is it empty, could he grind things to a halt as a minority leader? >> look, you know, i'm not even going to give these blustery threats credence. we're going to go forward. period. >> stephen: senator, thank you so much for being here. >> nice to be here with you, stephen. >> stephen: senate majority leader chuck schumer, everybody! we'll be right back with academy award-winning actor jared leto. ♪ ♪ ♪ ifif you're shshopping for a cocompac

i seem to remember in mitch mcconnell's home state, the governor there tried getting rid of obama carel threat from mcconnell? >> mcconnell is facing reality, and it bothers him a lot. the filibuster is on its way out. it's not a question of if but when. it may not be tomorrow or six months from now, but the filibuster is doomed for failure. you can't have a democracy that requires 60% of the vote on everything. that's what the republicans have done. they have made a mockery of what the senate should be. for example, linden johnson was a leader for six years. he had to overcome two filibusters. i had to overcome more than 100. the car pileup that mcconnell is talking about is already there. they created it. >> well, and the filibusters that linden johnson faced were around -- and now it's the republicans nature is the dixiecrat party. could any republican senator get reelected for getting rid of things like obama care and getting rid of medicare and getting rid of social security and beening abortion? the things they say they want to do if they did them? wouldn't they then be immediate

mitch mcconnell doesn't scare anybody these days.ell can hold on to his leadership of his republican conference. he is dusting off the playbook that they ran against barack obama, and that is obstruction and gridlock, grind everything to a halt. prevent progress. there is a mood in the country right now for results and good government. and let's get specific about what that means. that means 75% support for its stimulus bill which, thanks to voters in georgia, is projected to nearly double u.s. economic growth and add a full percent to global economic growth this year, returning us to pre-pandemic employment early next year, broad bipartisan public support. there is broad bipartisan public support for action on infrastructure and the climate. there is broad bipartisan public support for the defense of voting rights. mitch mcconnell should listen to the people, not to the lobbyists whispering in his ears, not to the pollsters whispering in his ears, to the people. and should get on board with the program and play a constructive role i

go big and mitch mcconnell resisted. now they're going big. what do you think? >> well, i think a lot of people like you said, neil, they just don't know. there's a lot of georgians, we've been sounding the alarm down here and a lot of governors have as well about this package that it's going to benefit new yorkers and californias more than hard-working georgians. unlike what president trump did where he treated all of the states equitably. this bill treats the cities across the country equitably. punishes states that have low up employment rates because they have been winning economically and gives a win to states that are losing economically, which to me is ridiculous. it needs to be changed. be fair and equitable. you certainly argue about the size of the package. i'm in your camp. i think it needs to be more targeted. look at georgia. really contradict a lot of what your last guest said, we've had construction workers working the whole time through the pandemic. building is booming in our state. our forestry industry

mitch mcconnell, reacting to that today.e of the world's most ineffectual bodies. it has become -- >> nobody serving in this chamber can even begin, can even begin to imagine what a completely scorched senate would look like. we want to just erase every single -- we would strengthen america with all kinds of conservative policies with zero, zero input from the other side. >> bret: so, senator mcconnell, trey, is making the line in the sand here. you go down this road, there is not going to be a lot like it's done in the senate. >> yeah, there are two points. if you go way back in history like two years, the democrats said this will destroy the senate and worse yet, the greatest of all, it will turn us into the house. it will just be an older version of the house and it will trample minority rights. that is what they said two years ago and now in a 50/50 senate, and this is the second point, 50/50 senates don't do transformational change. it's just not going to work. so, if they blow this up, i don't think they are going to c

who wins that fight, mitch mcconnell or donald trump? >> well, you'll remember this, kasie, but lisa murkowski won a write-in campaign back in 2012 for the senate. >> she did. >> i think you and i were working together at that point at politico. seems like aeons ago. but listen, i think that donald trump and -- mitch mcconnell has been a savvy political operator. he has been savvy in protecting his members, his republican members from these kinds of challenges. and i think mitch mcconnell's goal is to get people into these races that can win. if donald trump starts going into races and targeting incumbents, that's an expensive and complicated proposition. i'm not sure -- and i was talking to a lot of republicans about this yesterday -- i think we noted this in punch bowl news yesterday morning -- i tend to think that he's not going to have the sustained interest which he needs to get this done. i don't think that -- i think that if he does this, he could be blamed for losing majorities or hurting republicans' chances across the board, to

senator mitch mcconnell and his wife, secretary chao, never really seemed all that worried about any of these scandals, about any of this public reporting. they never seemed to sweat any of it. mcconnell, in fact, frequently joked about this as if it was no problem whatsoever and they didn't have a care in the world about it. well, now we may know why. tonight, the inspector general at her department, the transportation department, has just released a public report on the matter, on the investigation that was done by the inspector general's office at the transportation department into these multiple allegations of corruption against elaine chao. the public report, the letter tonight released to the public discloses that investigators looking at these corruption allegations against elaine chao actually found the allegations to be substantiated enough and serious enough that she was referred to the u.s. justice department for potential criminal prosecution. now, she is not the first trump cabinet official who this has happened to. this is actually, by my count, i think the fourth trump

senate minority leader mitch mcconnell says he's barely spoken to president biden since the inaugurationunity and bipartisanship that the president promised during the campaign. mcconnell's team tells nbc news that the two spoke once in early february about myanmar and covid relief. here's the minority leader on fox news yesterday, followed by the white house press secretary. watch. >> i haven't been invited to the white house so far this administration, not interested in doing anything on a bipartisan basis in the political center. i don't think i've spoken to him since he was sworn in. we had a couple conversations before then. >> he's had a number of meetings, bipartisan meetings, in the oval office. he will continue to do those. those have often been constructed with committee chairs or members with specific jurisdiction. he has a long friendship with leader mcconnell. he has spoken with him. he speaks with him regularly. >> close the loop on a leader mcconnell question. you said they speak regularly. he says he's only spoken one time, he corrected the statement saying they've spoken

does mitch mcconnell get a veto?g to do the things that the american people sent us to do? i don't think the american people want us to sit back and say, darn, we can't get anything done. can't get a minimum wage past. can't get immigration reform. can't get gun safety. can't get universal childcare. can't do things that are broadly supported across the country because mitch mcconnell, in the minority, has the power to block that. i think what's going to happen, if we will keep putting up the things that we need to do and if mitch mcconnell keeps blocking them, i think democrats will step up and get rid of the filibuster. >> when we talk about all of these different plants, how will they pay for it? you have an idea. the wealth tax. you tweeted this. >> let's remind everybody what it is. this is on fortunes that are bigger than $50 million. your first 50 million is free and clear. no tax at all. your 50 million and first dollar, two cents. two cents on every dollar above 50 million until you had a billion. and then w

that's an amazing statement from mitch mcconnell who i'm not sure could navigate himself to the center a tootsie pop, but mcconnell may be confusing doing things his way with what the word bipartisanship means. joe biden's been in the office for 66 days. the paint in the oval is still drying. there's no pattern of behaviors just yet. the momentum to work together has been probably been greater in the last two months than the last four years. biden hosted republicans to discuss the $1.9 trillion economic stimulus plan, a plan for which numerous polls showed broad bipartisan support before and after it was passed. a plan for which not a single republican voted. president biden has also met personally with other groups of republicans and now the white house is in touch with gop senators to talk about infrastructure and immigration. there's probably a lot more that the biden administration can, will and should do. but the literal last person to speak about a bipartisanship is mitch mcconnell, the man who could have worked hard to achieve things with president obama during a recession and r

mitch mcconnell is coming up with harris.rican government and affect every aspect of your life. >> dana: "the faulkner focus" up next. >> harris: thanks so much to bill and dana, appreciate that. new warning now from former president trump as he points blame directly at his successor for the worsening crisis on our southern border. i'm harris faulkner and you are in the "the faulkner focus". the white house is still down playing talk of a crisis even as dhs is warning the migrant surge is on pace to hit a 20-year high. as federal agencies struggle to house thousands of migrant children with border facilities overwhelmed. remember, this is a disaster. former president trump says the progress he made while he was in office is now in jeopardy. >> it is a crisis like we've rarely had and certainly

. >> harris: and making news now moments ago, senate minority leader mitch mcconnell telling me on thee focus" is denying it. >> my definition of a crisis is when you send the management agency which only goes to emergencies down at the border. it's by definition an emergency. this is a crisis, i don't care what the director wants to call it. it's a crisis. that they created. this administration. >> harris: you are watching "outnumbered." my cohost emily compagno, host of kennedy. joining us on the virtual couch for the first time, former white house press secretary and fox news analyst kayleigh mcenany, new member of our family and in the virtual center seed, even the virtual couch is crowded. "washington times" opinion editor charles hurt. welcome, everybody. i will start with you. wouldn't it be nice to ask the president about these things? maybe next thursday the white house press corps can have at it. >> absolutely. and they should. what i watch this morning, i was stunned. we are the fact-checkers? when they said apprehension was up, there is a article that will detail all the fe

works best when he works quietly -- mitch mcconnell works best when he works quietly and he wants to make sure a party not including trump emerges. that is how we can reconcile those statements. host: who has the potential to emerge if it is not going to be the former president? guest: i think there are a lot of people who have the potential to emerge. the second-place finisher in the cpac straw poll, governor ron desantis, is currently the hot topic in insiders. he is somebody who has a sophisticated demeanor but also one who is not afraid to mix it up with the press. conservative but not excessively so. over the next few months, he is one percent people will be taking a look at. people will look at marco rubio, tom cotton, former vice president pence, ted cruz, kristi noem. there are others who will put themselves forward and will have their day in the sun and we will see how they do. host: don is in traverse city, michigan, independent line. caller: the republicans have a bad problem with getting rid of democratic processes. democrats have a 121 page platform and there is a platfo

and mitch mcconnell wants to be able to be the guy that stops all of them. that is why he's so intent on keeping filibuster intact and why in my view we're going to need to change that if we want to accomplish things. >> how active is that conversation inside the caucus? i've seen amy klobuchar. i've seen tina smith. you've been on this for a while. but i know a lot of senators worry about protecting the role of the minority in a sort of partisan sense in our hyperpolarized time. how much is that conversation developing inside the democratic caucus in the senate? >> it's very much developing. when you hear even joe manchin say that maybe we should do filibuster reform requiring anybody against a measure to come to the floor and have to talk all night and all day if possible, that is an opening on joe manchin's part for filibuster reform. >> yeah. he made those comments this week and it is true that we don't have any talking required. we saw ron johnson doing sort of a version of it with the objection to the reading. he had to kind of sit there. and as soon a

mitch mcconnell has not shown any concern for the traditions. to the bipartisan traditions about supreme court judges. he used every tactic he could to steal supreme court seats. so he is picking and choosing which issue he wants to call for in terms of bipartisanship and senate traditions and which ones he doesn't. this can't be tolerated. when it comes down to it, as you were talking about, from stacey abrams to others, the fact is this voting rights issue is pre eminent. it is more important to frequent voting rights of americans than to preserve the filibuster in its current form. as senator warning on that, the new senator from georgia, the idea that you have to protect the rights of the senate at the expense of the people throughout the united states is an absurdity. if this is a democracy, you have to protect voting rights first. if the filibuster can be preserved in other ways, so be it. there may need to be an exception at least with regard to voting rights which are the foundation of the entire democracy. the filibuster is not the foun

then there is mitch mcconnell. mitch mcconnell. who in spite of saying trump is responsible for the insurrection voted to acquit him. he got slammed too. and they're all upset about names. remember when he talked about how many chins -- this president -- that mitch mcconnell has and all that stuff. that's what he wanted to write in the note to mitch mcconnell. hm. he called mitch mcconnell, said he was the most unpopular politician in the country. like i said, still sucking up to the former president. and while democrats are working to get covid relief to millions of americans, texas governor greg abbott with absolutely no evidence is blaming the biden administration for releasing migrants with covid. >> the biden administration was releasing illegal immigrants into our communities who had covid. the biden administration was exposing texans to covid. that is neanderthal type approach to dealing with the covid situation. >> all while in his head, he's thinking if he had a little bubble over his head, it would say don't think about -

what can mitch mcconnell actually do about it? trigger on eliminating or significantly changing the filibuster, he can grind the senate to a halt. you know, he'll get rid of these unanimous consent agreements. they won't agree to them. and it will bring the place to a standstill. if the senate wants to make changes to the filibuster, they must do it on a bipartisan basis. the senate is the one part of the capitol that has the ability to put together bipartisan agreements that ultimately become law. take that to the guy who served in the house. the party will pass a bill that's no chance of becoming law, we always had to rely on the senate come to the agreement. if the filibuster is dramatically changed and the senate is starting to look like the house with a majority body, i think they'll lose that capacity and put together at agreements and the last for bipartisan cooperation in washington. >> what about, coming back to you, sabrina, with the border, they tried and failed to make the border a winning issue, here in 2020, chanting

mitch mcconnell, all he cares about is winning.kevin mccarthys going to kiss the ring in march law mar-a-lago. kevin mccarthy wants to be speaker, believes he can be speaker when you look at the midterms in party and in power loses seats. he needs donald trump to do it. . >> you pointed out probably quite accurately that the republican party is in the process of trying to remake itself into the party of blue collar workers. so in the short-term, as well as the long term, how does that work out if they will soon be on record voting against the $15 minimum wage, against rent relief, mortgage relief, more mope for local public schools, more money for food banks where people who are suffering from malnutrition or not enough food in their own pantries at home. they vote against all of these social things and revert to things like immigration. how do they become the blue collar party when they vote against blue collar workers interests every time out. >> it's a very good question. because the rhetoric has undoubtedly changed. you do see

and you've got people like mitch mcconnell. maybe he should worry about his situation and let's do the business of the american people. that's what we want right now. we need real leader who going to fight for the people of this country. this is my plea to the american people. in the greatest times of darkness for you and your family, just ask the question who stood up for you. it is going to be the democratic party. we're going to get this bill done. it doesn't matter how long we have to stay on the floor. it doesn't matter how many amendments they put up. we will get this bill done, and this will provide the money in the pockets of the people keeping their jobs, making sure they can get their vaccines, and getting our kids back in school. we've got to do this. >> how do you -- >> it's absolutely critical. >> how do you walk this line between democrats who want to get that done and others who are, for whatever reason, taking what i think they're trying to portray as a more moderate position but pulling back on things. there we

why mitch mcconnell's warning was particularly noteworthy.because of the procedural stuff that kim was talking about, the idea that you could have these quorum calls, and the majority doesn't have a lot of ways to respond to that. it could send the sergeant at arms after people, and there's a precedent from 1988 where they carried a senator into the chamber feet first, but i'm not sure anyone wants to go there. and secondly, because mcconnell laid out a list of things where, you know, when we retake the majority, this is what we could do. it included nationwide right to work laws, included con sealed-carry -- concealed-carry reciprocity from coast to coast, and i wonder if that thought wasn't persuasive to a guy like joe manchin. paul: what do you think, is it persuasive to a guy like joe manchin, kyle, or no? by the way, i'm in the -- go ahead. >> i guess i'm a little bit more optimistic than dan, particularly given the scope of some of these bills that are being passed. i mean, this h.r. 1, this democracy reform bill to federalize, essentia

>> now, in response, the prospect of losing the filibuster, mitch mcconnell has been threatening to go bonkers, right? to lay waste to the senates, making it so that nothing can be passed. everything would grind to a halt. it would be a nonfunctional body, and one of the things he's trying to counter is the notion the filibuster has fundamentally been used as an institution to preserve white supremacy in america. barack obama made this argument last year at the funeral for civil rights icon john lewis when he called for equal representation of all americans. >> and if all this takes eliminating the filibuster, another jim crow relic in order to secure the god given rights of every american, then that's what we should do. >> another jim crow relic. not mincing words there. so then yesterday when mitch mcconnell was asked about the historical use of the filibuster to suppress black votes, he said this. >> it has no racial history at all, none, so there's no dispute among historians about that. >> newscast a bald faced lie as bald faced as anything donald trump has said. mcconnell's spoke

president trump went after liz cheney by name, and mitch mcconnell was booed in the room. whit?> mary alice, thank you. >>> and we turn to the rollout of a third vaccine in the u.s. late today, the cdc recommending johnson & johnson's vaccine for people 18 and older. the company expected to begin sending out nearly 4 million doses in just a matter of hours. trucks standing by. increasing the number of available doses this week by 26%. dr. anthony fauci urging americans to get whatever vaccine is available, stressing they're all effective and safe. here's eva pilgrim in kentucky. >> reporter: tonight, the nation just hours away from a much-needed third vaccine. johnson & johnson's single shot now cleared for emergency use and ready to roll out. >> this vaccine has been shown to be 100% protective against hospitalizations and deaths. >> reporter: in clinical trials it also proved to be effective against concerning variants from south africa and brazil. late today the cdc recommending the j&j vaccine to people 18 and older. nearly 4 million doses expected to ship starting tomorrow,