Summary
Japan`s longest-serving prime minister is assassinated. The January 6 Committee hears testimony from former White House counsel Pat Cipollone. President Biden signs an executive order to help women get access to the abortion services. Oscar-winning producer, director, actor, and activist Jesse Williams discusses his new project aimed at ending police brutality.
Transcript
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: But, until then, have a great weekend.
And THE REIDOUT WITH JOY REID is up next.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Tonight on THE REIDOUT:
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re coming in like white on rice for Pelosi, Nadler, Schumer, even you, AOC. We`re coming to take you out and pull you out by your hairs.
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REID: The toxic stench of political violence that we experienced here in America now also being felt by our friends in Japan, as that country`s longest-serving prime minister is assassinated.
Also tonight: The January 6 Committee finally hears from the man who had a front-row seat to Trump`s effort to steal the election.
And the man who actually won that election. Joe Biden, is using the power of his presidency to help women get access to the health care they need, as Republicans race to ban abortion.
We begin tonight with the horrific political assassination of Japan`s longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The horrifying scene was caught live on tape. And I do need to warn you, the images are truly disturbing.
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(GUNSHOTS)
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REID: Abe`s death was -- has profoundly shocked the country, where gun crime is extremely rare.
On Japanese social media, the hashtag #WeWantDemocracyNotViolence was trending throughout the day. Their calls come at a time when democracy around the globe is hanging by a thread. We saw as much here in the U.S. last January 6, when a mob of insurrectionists besieged the Capitol, attempting to physically overturn a free and fair election with acts of physical violence and guttural chants calling for the assassination of Vice President Pence.
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RIOTERS: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
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REID: Next week, the select committee investigating the January 6 attacks will outline how that violence was aided and abetted by far right extremist groups, including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys.
Today, one of the people most involved, Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers` leader, informed the committee that he wants to testify, but only in a live setting with his lawyer present.
Video released by the committee showed Rhodes meeting with Enrique Tarrio, leader of the Proud Boys, an FBI -- a group that the FBI informant -- that an FBI informant says would have killed Pence if they had caught him that day. Both Rhodes and Tarrio are currently in jail awaiting trial on charges of seditious conspiracy.
Moments ago, "The Washington Post" reported that Donald Trump is considering sending a letter to Stephen Bannon, saying that he is waiving his dubious claims of executive privilege, potentially clearing the way for a staunch ally to appear before the committee, which he has complained is devoid of any hardcore supporters. How interesting.
All of this comes as Pat Cipollone, Trump`s former White House counsel, sat before the committee today for more than seven hours. A source familiar with that interview told NBC News that Cipollone has been a cooperative witness within the parameters of his desire to protect executive privilege for the Office of General Counsel.
So, make no mistake. Cipollone is no hero, and he should receive zero plaudits for finally dragging himself before the committee. I mean, it basically took a 25-year-old staffer`s public testimony, plus a subpoena, to compel this 56-year-old to speak.
Unfortunately, Cipollone`s track record of placing country before Trump has been lackluster, to say the least occasion.
In case it has fallen into the memory hole for you, as it had for me, Cipollone defended Trump during his first impeachment for his previous attempt to undermine democracy. And here`s what Cipollone had the audacity to say, pretty galling in hindsight.
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PAT CIPOLLONE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: They`re asking you to tear up all of the ballots across this country on your own initiative.
Take that decision away from the American people. So, I ask you to defend our Constitution, to defend fundamental fairness, to defend basic due process rights, but, most importantly, most importantly, to respect and defend the sacred right of every American to vote and to choose their president.
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REID: May irony rest in peace.
OK, well, here`s why all this matters. It matters because democracy is literally at stake. Free and fair elections are at stake, because, if you think January 6 was the end of the line for the full-frontal assault on our democracy, then you, unfortunately, are sadly mistaken.
Just take a look for a moment at Arizona. In March, the Republican- controlled legislature passed a law that requires people who use a federal form to register to vote to provide additional proof of citizenship. And guess who voted for that? None other than Rusty Bowers, Arizona`s Republican House speaker, the man who appeared before the select committee because he refused Trump`s demands to overturn Biden`s victory in Arizona.
[19:05:05]
This man literally rejected claims for Rudy Giuliani that millions of undocumented immigrants had committed voter fraud. And yet, despite rejecting that claim as unfounded, he still voted for a law that essentially uses the exact same logic to make voting harder.
Republicans knowingly passed the law, even though it contradicts the federal law and a previous Supreme Court decision. I wonder if that has anything to do with our newly minted radical Supreme Court majority, stare decisis being dead and all.
Anyhoo, on Wednesday, the Department of Justice sued Arizona for their brazen disregard for law and precedent. Sadly, Arizona is just one of the wave of states that have since January 6 passed onerous voting laws based on the same big lie about voter fraud that drove Trump`s legal challenges to the 2020 presidential election.
And if you need any further proof of just how bad things are going, earlier today, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that ballot boxes are not allowed in the state and that a voter cannot have someone else return in person their completed absentee ballot on their behalf.
I mean, when you peel back the layers, defending democracy is not a one- off. It`s a daily act of total defense. And the Republican Party, writ large, have yet to show that they are on the right side of that fight.
And joining me now is Glenn Kirschner, former federal prosecutor and MSNBC legal analyst, and Charlie Sykes, editor at large for The Bulwark.
Thank you both for being here.
I want to go back and I want to start with Pat Cipollone. Let`s go back to that, because this is the man who starkly defended Trump on the basis, irony being dead, please don`t overturn the votes of 72 million Americans by throwing Trump out of office by impeaching him. He`s going to testify. So that`s a good thing.
How ironic is it, Charlie, for you that they`re doing that and, at the same time, Republicans are trying to use that exact same logic to overturn the next election?
CHARLIE SYKES, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: Well, I think the key point is that this attack on democracy is not an historical fact. It is ongoing.
And I think you`re seeing the way the Republican Party has internalized the notion of the big lie, and, therefore, you`re seeing this movement to make it harder to vote over and over and over again. So, the Pat Cipollone testimony is really a big deal. It would have been better had he spoken out earlier.
It would have been better if all of these White House aides had come out during the second impeachment. But my guess is, there`s not a lot of joy in Mar-a-Lago tonight knowing that his legal counsel, the man who was literally in the room when he was plotting the insurrection and the coup, is in fact now testifying under oath.
But what you`re seeing in Arizona and Wisconsin is just a naked attempt to make it more difficult to vote. And in the case of Wisconsin, obviously, they`re going to use this decision to try to cast some completely bogus doubt on the outcome of the 2020 election here.
REID: Yes, of course.
I mean, what do you make of, really quick, to stay with you, Charlie, the idea that Trump now wants -- would like to see Bannon testify? I mean, what`s not been part of these hearings are the shenanigans in previous hearings, when Republicans like Jim Jordan can scream at people.
SYKES: Right.
REID: Trump wants somebody screaming on his behalf, I guess, from the witness desk.
I mean, how would that even -- how would that, in your view, impact the way these hearings are actually going.
SYKES: Oh, I don`t think it`s going to impact it significantly at all. I mean, it`s clearly a win for the committee that Bannon has decided that he rather would -- on second thought would rather not face trial, would rather not go to prison.
But, on the other hand, what is Bannon known for? It`s flooding the zone with crap, right? That`s the -- I`m guessing would be his goal, is to throw out as much stuff as he possibly could. But, so, no, this may be a distraction, but keeping the eye on the ball, this committee has done a remarkable job.
There is no longer any mystery about what happened. They have gotten dozens of witnesses on the record, many of them from the Trump administration, many of them Republicans. We know what Donald Trump did. We know what he did not do.
Now the biggest question is whether he`s going to be held accountable. And things like Steve Bannon throwing feces up against the wall is really not going to change the outcome of this in any in any appreciable way.
REID: Yes, any more than Trump throwing his food at the wall did.
SYKES: Right.
REID: Let`s go to you on this one, because Stewart Rhodes is an important person to hear coming.
Just a couple of things that we have here. So, prosecutors have already alleged that Stewart Rhodes held a call with a stack member. People don`t do protests in a stack on January 6. Around 2:32 p.m., Rhodes exchanged a 97-second call with stack member and Oath Keepers leader Kelly Meggs, as he, Jessica Watkins, And the rest of the stack embedded themselves at East Side Capitol -- at an East Side Capitol -- at East Side Capitol Building doors.
There are text messages that show that an identified person wrote about protecting Ronny Jackson, about providing physical protection to at least one Republican member of Congress.
What do you expect Stewart Rhodes to add to this? And if he does it live, what do you think that means?
[19:10:00]
GLENN KIRSCHNER, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: Joy, stick a fork in Stewart Rhodes. He`s done.
And he is looking for a way out. But I can tell you, the committee is not going to negotiate terms that are favorable to Stewart Rhodes to take his testimony live, so that he can turn it into a circus.
But I do think the negotiations will be ongoing, because the strength of the evidence against Stewart Rhodes, it`s overwhelming. So I think this is part of the negotiation dance that`s being done. If he truly comes on board, if he accepts responsibility for his crimes, he pleads guilty as a cooperating witness, then I predict the Department of Justice will give him the opportunity to testify to the January 6 Committee, under that cooperation agreement.
And that`s the only way we can sort of guarantee that what we get out of a Stewart Rhodes is truthful, reliable testimony. So,this is all posturing by Rhodes. And we will see if he ends up ultimately pleading out and becoming a cooperating witness.
REID: Let me play you again what Cassidy Hutchinson said. This was one of the -- probably the -- you said, I think, that this was the most damning thing that you heard during her testimony. Let`s play it again. This is Cassidy Hutchinson.
This is three for my producer.
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CASSIDY HUTCHINSON, FORMER AIDE TO MARK MEADOWS: I was in the vicinity of a conversation where I overheard the president say something to the effect of: "I don`t effing care that they have weapons. They`re not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march to the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away."
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REID: Glenn, what`s the worst-case scenario of what Stewart Rhodes could testify about his relationship to the White House, to the president, and what he and the Proud Boys did -- what he and the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys did?
KIRSCHNER: You know, if the Department of Justice -- and, of course, the J6 Committee is building a bridge between guys like Stewart Rhodes, may be through the war room at the Willard Hotel and directly into the Oval Office.
And we now know, courtesy of that brave 25-year-old woman Cassidy Hutchinson, that Donald Trump was informed that the crowd was armed with assault rifles, pistols and other weapons. And you would expect any reasonable person to say, I hope that the metal detectors are operating properly because I have a safety concern for everyone here.
He said the exact opposite. Take the metal detectors down, let them in, because they`re not here to hurt me.
The inference I`m arguing to a jury, Joy, is that he knew they were here to hurt the people who are up the street certifying the win of his political opponent. So, after you let them in with their assault rifles, we will all walk down to the Capitol and we will stop the certification. He used to use the word steal, which helps provide his criminal intent, because he knew it wasn`t a stolen election.
So this could be dramatic and damaging testimony to Donald Trump.
REID: You know, Charlie, and we live in a world where we just saw the political assassination in Japan and where we saw a potential political assassination of one or more people, including Mike Pence and the speaker of the House, in our own country.
SYKES: Yes.
REID: What does it say that the Republican Party is directly associated, getting bodyguard services from, traveling around with, inviting to the White House people who are essentially fascist militias that are a part and parcel of their effort when it comes to elections?
SYKES: Well, that`s why next week`s testimony is so crucial, because you`re drawing this nexus between the attempt to steal the election and the potential of political violence, which has always been hanging out there.
And I think it is legitimate to link what happened in Japan to what`s happened in this country, because we have this rising tide of extremism and extremist rhetoric and violent rhetoric. And we have not had the kind of political assassinations that we had back in the 1960s.
But what you saw on January 6 over and over and over again was the evidence that people were prepared to do something like that. And I think that there`s a reason why the January 6 Committee has saved this for the end of its investigation, because this was not just a tourist visit to the Capitol. It was not just a political effort to try to get Congress to exercise some oversight.
There is this nexus between the Trump plot and these violent seditionists who were prepared to perhaps use weapons and to kill the vice president of the United States. And I think that this is an important point for people who think, well, there`s a political -- look, you have these kerfuffles. And, in the past, people have objected to the counting of electoral votes.
Nothing like this has happened in American history. Certainly, nothing like this has ever been done by an American president. And if they can connect the dots, it will be explosive.
REID: Absolutely.
And let`s not forget, when it comes back to Pat Cipollone, he didn`t say, Cassidy, makes sure that Donald Trump doesn`t do this. If the president does, it will destroy our democracy. He said, we will be committing crimes. He was concerned about his own political -- his own legal liability, not about the country.
[19:15:04]
So let`s not lionize him yet.
Glenn Kirschner, Charlie Sykes, thank you both very much.
Up next on THE REIDOUT: President Biden announces what he can do to protect abortion access in America.
More on that and what`s happening on the ground in the states where women are fighting for their basic rights, when THE REIDOUT continues after this.
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REID: President Biden signed an executive order today to protect reproductive rights in a post-Roe America.
He delivered impassioned remarks condemning the Supreme Court and the extremist wing of the Republican Party.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We cannot allow an out-of- control Supreme Court, working in conjunction with extremist elements of the Republican Party, to take away freedoms.
Just last week, it was reported that a 10-year-old girl was a rape victim in Ohio, 10 years old, raped, six weeks pregnant, already traumatized, was forced to travel to another state.
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Imagine being that little girl. Just -- I`m serious. Just imagine being that little girl, 10 years old.
For God`s sake, there`s an election in November. Vote, vote, vote, vote.
Consider the challenge accepted, court.
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REID: The order directs HHS to boost access to abortion pills and contraceptives and aims to protect the privacy of those seeking information on abortions, including online.
The move comes as a growing number of states adopt laws to ban or restrict abortion care in the wake of the Supreme Court`s decision, including Louisiana, where, today, under a new court order, nearly all abortions are now illegal.
Joining me now is Dr. Yashica Robinson, medical director of the Alabama Women`s Center for Reproductive Alternatives and who testified during a House Judiciary Committee hearing on abortion care access in May.
And just to set the stage, at the risk of bringing back a bad memory, I want to -- from your testimony, I want to play a moment that resonated a lot online. This is the questioning of you by Congressman Mike Johnson.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): If a child is halfway delivered out of the birth canal, is it permissible haven`t to have an abortion? Would you support the right for an abortion then?
DR. YASHICA ROBINSON, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, ALABAMA WOMEN`S CENTER: I can`t even fathom that ever...
JOHNSON: I`m not asking you if you can fathom it. If it occurred, would you support that abortion or not? That`s unrestricted abortion, right?
ROBINSON: I can`t answer a question that I can`t imagine I -- just like you probably can`t imagine what you would do if your daughter was raped.
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REID: I feel like -- I played that for you, Dr. Robinson, because I feel like the people who are making these laws don`t understand anatomy, biology, or sort of normal human life, because asking a question like that is so absurd, that I can see what you`re just -- you couldn`t even figure out how to answer it.
But what do you make of the fact that, including in your state, mainly men are banning abortion when they genuinely don`t seem to understand basic biology.
Oh, you`re muted.
ROBINSON: I completely agree with you.
The people that are making these decisions, they don`t understand basic anatomy, health care, and what people really -- what pregnant people really need. But it also makes it very clear that they`re not interested in learning, because people like me are willing to make ourselves available and talk to them about the true life experiences of our patients, so that they can understand.
But it doesn`t seem like that`s important. I think what`s more important is what gets their party out to vote and get them in. And so the facts don`t really matter.
REID: I mean, and just to clear it, for people who might sent this video around to their grumpy ultra-right Christian uncle, there is no such thing as aborting a child that has already been born. That is just not a thing that is real.
ROBINSON: No, but that`s the thing that -- I mean, that sounds appalling to me, but that`s not real life. That`s not abortion -- that`s not what abortion carry is.
And so I think, for people who don`t understand, for people who`ve never -- who are not medical and people who`ve never had to make that decision, I think, when you have politicians that paint pictures like that, it gets people on their side, and it gets them votes. And I think that`s the only thing that really matters.
REID: What was your response to the president`s executive order today to try to protect people who try to just look online or try to search information about how to get abortions and protecting access to abortion pills?
Do you think that will help women in your state, in Alabama?
ROBINSON: Well, initially, when I saw it -- I just made it in from the hospital about 15 minutes ago. But when I saw it, I opened my phone up, and I saw it, and I got really excited.
But I am not a lawyer. So I don`t really -- I didn`t understand what it meant. And so then, as I talked to people to understand, my response is, I`m happy to see that there`s some support there. However, it`s not enough. It`s too little to really help patients and to increase access to the care that we really need.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Yes.
I`m sorry.
ROBINSON: I`m glad to know that there are efforts to protect access to medication abortion.
That doesn`t help people in states like Alabama, where we can`t -- we`re not able to treat the patients at all.
REID: And we know, in states like Mississippi and Louisiana and Alabama, basically, all the abortion clinics have closed.
Can you talk a little bit about what that means to the other kinds of care that these kinds of facilities offer? For a lot of women, Planned Parenthood or other clinics are actually their only health care, period.
ROBINSON: Well, that means that all of those other essential services are going away, in addition to the ability to take care of patients who opt for care in these centers just because it may be more cost-efficient for them.
It allows them access to care in a setting where they`re not able to access it in a hospital. It gives them access to physicians who will give them the care that they need, even when their private physicians are unable or unwilling to care for them in very complicated situations.
[19:25:09]
REID: What`s happening with your foreign patients in Alabama? What are they going to do now?
Are they having -- are people telling you they`re going to need to leave the state? Like, what`s going to happen to these women?
ROBINSON: I mean, yes, we`re hearing people that say that they really need to -- they will have to leave the state for care.
But the thing that`s most heartbreaking is the people who are not able to do that. And those are the people that I care for. Those are -- that`s the majority of my patient population, people who do not have the means to travel. And those are the people that are going to be harmed the most.
I also hear from physicians who don`t understand what this means. I talked to a physician today, and she says, so, what does that mean? You can only go up to 15 weeks? I`m like, no, we can`t care for any patients.
They also -- it also came up in our surgery center. Someone said, well, are we even able to do this D&C? In the end, the patient did get their D&C, but what that tells you is that physicians, very educated people, people who are capable of taking care of patients, are second-guessing...
REID: Yes.
ROBINSON: ... proceeding with the care that they know patients need.
REID: Yes, and that`s going to have deadly results for a lot of women.
And in your state, just to be clear, there is no rape or incest exception?
ROBINSON: No, there`s not.
REID: There is no exception at all. No mercy.
(CROSSTALK)
ROBINSON: No.
REID: Dr. Yashica Robinson, thank you for all that you do. We really appreciate you.
And still ahead: Remember the Rick Wilson-coined saying "Everything Trump touches dies"?
Well, now Trump is building a new Republican Party. How do you think that`s going to hold up?
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[19:31:29]
REID: As we get closer to the fall, we not only head into the midterm elections, but also football season.
For more than 100 years, the NFL has given us the thrill of the game., though, over the years, it has had its share of competitors. You will be forgiven if you do not remember the United States Football League, the USFL. It lasted just three short seasons in the early 1980s and played during the spring.
It was the league that brought together Donald Trump and the current Republican Senate nominee from Georgia, Herschel Walker. After reportedly being rejected from buying an NFL franchise, Trump settled for buying a USFL team instead, the New Jersey Generals.
Trump was able to lure the young Heisman Trophy winner, Herschel Walker, away from the University of Georgia to start his professional career with the Generals. But, like most of the things Trump touches, the USFL imploded, after he led a failed effort to move the USFL season to the fall, in direct competition with the NFL.
Now as a Trump-endorsed candidate for Senate, Walker is proving to be just as much of a disaster. Most recently, Walker lied to his own campaign about the multiple secret children the fathered, according to The Daily Beast. And Walker is not alone among the Trump-endorsed candidates who are earning penalty flags.
You have Pennsylvania`s Republican Senate nominee, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who just filmed a campaign ad from his mansion in New Jersey. And in actual Pennsylvania, you have Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, the same guy questioned by the FBI after photos emerged of him on the Capitol grounds on January 6.
He has been rebuked by multiple Republican leaders in his state, who have endorsed his Democratic opponent, Josh Shapiro.
Then there`s Eric Greitens, a Republican Senate candidate in Missouri best known for allegedly locking a woman with whom he`d had an affair in his basement and sexually assaulting her. Greitens denies that.
He followed up his much-criticized ad calling for the hunting of so-called RINOs with a new ad still chockful of guns and explosions, saying he`s coming -- quote -- "with an army of patriots," hopefully not to any woman`s basement.
The list just goes on and on and on. The Tea Party candidates, they were bad. Many still continue to make a mockery of the House and Senate. But these MAGA contenders are the Tea Party on steroids. With these candidates, it`s as if Trump has essentially launched his own Republican version of the USFL. And, well, we all know how that ended.
Joining me now, Dana Milbank, columnist for "The Washington Post," and Gyasi Ross, attorney and member of the Blackfeet Nation.
Thank you all for being here.
Dana, I`m going to start with you, political columnist Dana Milbank.
There is just a plethora of weirdos that are running in this new sort of MAGA cycle. How do you think Mitch McConnell feels about that? Because he`s stuck with them. And, if they win, they will be with him in the Senate.
DANA MILBANK, OP-ED COLUMNIST, "THE WASHINGTON POST": You`re right.
And a few of them, like Ron Johnson, are already there. And I think if you broaden the net a little bit, Joy, you could have a full squad. You have the offensive 11, defensive, and even special teams from all these lunatics that they have got in there now.
It`s sort of inevitable, I think, that this was going to happen. Each wave of crazy sort of builds on the wave of crazy that preceded it. So we had the revolution of `94. Then we had the Tea Party wave. Then we had Trump coming in, and now these are ultra-MAGA that go, in some cases, even beyond what we have known that Trump could do.
So, certainly, this is not what Mitch McConnell wanted, and he`s pushed behind the scenes. But this isn`t his party anymore. And in these Republican primaries, the extreme candidate wins in virtually all cases, whether that`s a Donald Trump-endorsed candidate or whether that`s somebody who`s even outdoing Donald Trump.
[19:35:13]
So it is absolutely a full squad of crazy right now.
REID: You know, and the thing is, Gyasi, the point of politics is to win elections, right?
And the thing about Donald Trump is that the base adores him and worships him in some ways, but he`s not got, like, a winning track record there. And right now, the polling, at least as of now, is not looking good. Raphael Warnock polling is pulling well ahead of Herschel Walker, John Fetterman polling well ahead of Mehmet Oz, Josh Shapiro polling pretty close, close, but well ahead of Doug Mastriano.
I mean, it`s not as if these are -- this is a winning strategy. But the leadership of the party can`t do anything about it because this is what the base wants.
GYASI ROSS, ATTORNEY: Yes, they`re stuck with what they created.
At one point, they decided that it was a good idea, for whatever wisdom, to let Donald Trump come in and have his way and to create the optics of the Republican Party. And now they`re stuck with him.
Now they have a self-fulfilling prophecy that it`s going to be inevitable that these folks are going to get crazier and crazier. And if Herschel Walker, who I did enjoy in the NFL...
REID: Me too.
ROSS: I`m a Seahawks fan. And he played for the accursed Dallas Cowboys, but, nonetheless, I enjoyed him.
Still, as a candidate, if he is the best you can do, Republican Party, Donald Trump, that`s not to take really any partisan position. Just based upon what we don`t know, based upon what`s been coming out in very recent weeks, there`s more bombshells waiting for Herschel Walker.
And I think that`s true of most of Donald Trump`s anointed picks.
REID: You know, and, Dana, I mean, this piece in The Daily Beast was something else.
I mean, they talked about the fact that his own campaign essentially mocks him behind the scenes, doesn`t trust him. They expect him to constantly lie. You have people like Jay Nordlinger, who`s a senior editor at "The National Review," coming out and sort of excoriating him, saying: "The Senate, it matters. The Senate -- I don`t expect every senator to be Daniel Webster or Henry Clay or even Hubert Humphrey or Howard Baker, but there ought to be a minimum amount of respect for that body."
But these are the same people, these conservatives, just like Mitch McConnell, they have been fine with Tommy Tuberville, who doesn`t, I think, know what the Civil Rights Act is. They have been fine with Marsha Blackburn. They have been fine with Rand Paul, who made up his own certification to be a doctor, and yet still operates on humans.
Like, they`re fine with Ron Johnson, who had to pull an ad recently because he was going to try to mock the idea that there is gun violence. Then he had to pull it because there was an actual massacre. The Tea Party candidates aren`t appreciably better, but they have been fine with adding those, so they can`t really shut the door now, can they?
MILBANK: No.
And Herschel Walker is thinks there are 52 states, so it is possible that those two imaginary states will have Democratic senators, thereby consigning to Republicans perpetually to a minority.
But talk about staff saying they can`t really trust their candidate to tell the truth, he lies all the time. Where did we hear this before? And, of course, that guy had four years in the White House.
So the real danger, as we have discussed here, is not that they have nominated crazy people who will lose, but that they have nominated crazy people who could actually win if everything falls in the right way.
So, in some ways, Democrats have been encouraging this, for understandable reasons. They`re easier to beat. But if that wave comes in a certain way, you can have -- this can make Tommy Tuberville look like Thomas Jefferson.
REID: Well, I mean, or if they understand that they fix some of the state`s voting rules to make it so impossible for people who don`t want somebody like a Tommy Tuberville or a Herschel Walker to be in office that they can`t vote anyway.
Gyasi, let me go to you on this, because, right now, you have got good news for the president. This jobs report is actually pretty good, 372,000 jobs created, 3.6 unemployment rate. Normally, in normal politics, this would be a banner-waving day for President Biden.
But he has all these issues with the base of the party who don`t look at the macroeconomic or even the microeconomic numbers. They just feel crappy about the whole world right now and are taking it out on him.
Do you think the fact that he came out today and did an executive order on Roe, that he`s trying to be more proactive, can help him to counteract the fact that the good news is genuinely good news? But it doesn`t seem to be sort of reverberating in his favor poll-wise.
ROSS: Yes, so take a step back. I think it`s really good that he takes an executive order on Roe.
I think those sorts of actions, whether it be on qualified immunity, stuff that he -- that seems like it`s responsive to the populace that put him in place, specifically, women, specifically, black women, specifically, black people, it`s important for him to do those things and look responsive.
[19:40:00]
The macroeconomics, absolutely. Those things are things that are kind of insider baseball. And we expect people who -- whether it`s on Twitter, whether it`s folks who are on the pundit stage, those folks understand that.
The vast majority of people do. We ultimately want headlines. We want to see somebody that`s responsive to us. And I believe that Biden, President Biden, hasn`t done a good job of heralding his successes. I think that he does have successes.
I think that he has substantive successes that would, in fact, resonate very well if the messaging was right. And I just seen that there was another turnover with his messaging folks. And that`s something that I think the presidency has to get a hold of, is understanding that there is a way to trumpet these victories that, in fact, the president does have.
REID: And I think he needs to not count on the media to do that for him, because the only story that the political media tends to like is Democrats in disarray.
They`re not ever going to be like, this Democratic president is doing great. That`s just never going to happen.
Dana and Gyasi are going to stick around, because they`re going to be playing "Who Won the Week?" You do not want to miss it. And I`m sure you will find that my pick is the cat`s pajamas. That`s a tease.
But, first, I recently spoke with Oscar-winning producer, director, actor and activist Jesse Williams about his new project aimed at ending police brutality.
That interview when THE REIDOUT continues.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:45:55]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: For most of us, especially those who haven`t actually interacted with the police much, TV, movies and news really shape our views on policing.
In the early 1900s, for example, Hollywood painted cops as silly, incompetent in comedy skits like the Keystone Cops. It was then that the International Association of Chiefs of Police called Hollywood out for that behavior.
And, soon, cops became advisers to Hollywood producers, helping them shape stories about police, usually putting themselves in a positive light.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: That was a clip from a new project focused on how police officers are shielded from accountability. As that video details, Americans have been exposed for decades to what they call copaganda, starting with the 1950s show "Dragnet," where the LAPD had a say in the scripts, to the endless number of police and "Law & Order" shows that we have today.
And joining me now is Jesse Williams, actor, Oscar-winning producer and activist, and Judith Browne-Dianis, executive director of The Advancement Project national office.
Thank you both for being here. Great to see both of you.
Judith, I`m going to start with you. The Advancement Project is putting out this video. Tell me why -- or this series, I should say.
(CROSSTALK)
JUDITH BROWNE-DIANIS, CO-DIRECTOR, ADVANCEMENT PROJECT: Thanks, Joy, for having us.
We wanted to do this. Jesse and I really created this because it`s a love letter to black people to explain how cops get off. We saw the videos, right? We saw Philando Castile. We know what happened to Breonna Taylor. And we know there was no accountability. So we wanted people to understand that it`s the systems, that it`s our culture that creates a place where there can be no accountability, where they get to evade accountability.
And so this is really about teaching people. We call it kind of the "Schoolhouse Rock" of policing.
REID: Let me play another clip. And this is going to be on the institutional protections that police officers enjoy. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NARRATOR: Have you ever wondered how cops are so well-protected when they break the law?
I mean, cops have a special set of institutions that protect them from any liability for their actions. This includes the prosecutors, police unions and the police force itself. It all starts with this thing called the blue wall of silence.
It`s a code of silence that cops live by, a no-snitching culture that protects them when they do something wrong or even illegal. Their rule is, see something, keep your mouth shut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: And, Jesse, you have an audience that ranges from TV to Broadway. I know you have been very politically active. But you have a very broad audience.
But who is the audience, in your mind, for this series?
JESSE WILLIAMS, ACTOR AND ACTIVIST: Well, thanks again for having us. It`s a kind of multipronged.
As Judith said, part of this is to let folks know, when this happens time and time again, this is not about you. It is not about your value. Do not let this -- do not be discouraged that this is a reflection of your value, the life of your -- the value of your life. This is about a system that is in place.
We want to raise everybody`s understanding of what these words mean. When you hear DA, when you hear grand jury, what do those things mean? So, a kind of rising tide lifts all boats of understanding of what`s happening in our system, and also to give a sense of history, some historical context, in terms of Hollywood`s role.
All of this stuff, it undergirds what we have become accustomed to. And the more you become accustomed to abuse, the more you tolerate it, the more you`re likely it doesn`t get -- doesn`t make your blood boil anymore. And that`s exactly what the system wants.
So it`s overall educational for everybody. But what we started to see was that folks were getting really discouraged and felt like this must mean we don`t have worth. And that`s not acceptable to us.
REID: You know, what`s interesting, Judith, to that very point, we have seen police react in some very familiar, and not in a good way, ways to the protests that we have seen over the end of Roe vs. Wade.
And you sort of contrast that kind of policing, which I think you guys are talking about here, which is sort of unaccountable and sort of brutal to physically restrain the actions of citizens, right?
[19:50:02]
And then you sort of look at the Uvalde situation, where a lot of people thought, well, I thought that`s what police did, is rush into the line of fire. But the Supreme Court says they don`t have to do that.
How do we get past this disconnect between what I would say mostly non- black people, non-people of color think police are supposed to do, what African-Americans, what black folks and brown folks and indigenous folks want police to do, and what legislatively they are required to do?
BROWNE-DIANIS: The other thing we`re doing Joy with the series "How Cops Get Off" is that we are sending people to a Web site, policefreecommunities.org, because we want people to start reimagining what public safety looks like.
Uvalde was not public safety, right? And all of these mass shootings are not public safety. And we have to (AUDIO GAP) thinking about something different than always saying that the police are going to take care of us.
We want people to start thinking about, what are the root causes of violence? And let`s start addressing those things, instead of always saying, let`s give more money to the police, the police are going to handle it, because too many of our communities know that that is not true. We do not trust the police. We are scared of the police.
And we want people to live in a society where they can feel safe and they can be free at the same time. And so this is the opportunity to learn and think about, what are the solutions that will really help our communities, so that everyone feels safe?
REID: Jesse, I think, for particularly -- Black Lives Matter was formed because people do fear the police and feel that police disproportionately brutalize people who are black and brown.
And yet what Democrats are doing is giving them more money. The sort of line now is, fund the police, give more money, more training, more funding. And people are frustrated by that. What do you say to people who are frustrated by the fact that, in their mind, the people they`re electing are doing the opposite of what they`re asking them to do?
WILLIAMS: Continue to be frustrated, take them to account, because this -- that political theater, that cliche kind of boomeranging, support our troops, it`s all an extension of this just kind of sloganeering, because it`s always been a great shield to hide behind.
More law enforcement, military, it sounds like you love America. It sounds like cowboys and horses. And it`s a fairy tale stuff. It has nothing to do with what`s actually keeping people safe, allowing them to protect themselves and their families.
So, continue to keep -- to keep our feet on the gas, as it were, to shine a light as to why this is really happening.
REID: I appreciate both of you doing this important work.
Judith, really quickly, where can people watch these -- this series?
BROWNE-DIANIS: Sure. They can see them at policefreecommunities.org. And they`re also on YouTube. They have their own page, "How Cops Get Off."
Thank you.
REID: All right.
Jesse Williams, Judith Browne-Dianis, great to see you both. Thank you. Appreciate you.
BROWNE-DIANIS: Thank you.
WILLIAMS: Good to see you. Thank you.
REID: Stay with us. "Who Won the Week?" is next.
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[19:57:33]
REID: As excited as I am for the weekend, I am even more excited about my most favorite TV game, ah, yes, "Who Won the Week?"
Back me, Dana Milbank and Gyasi Ross.
Dana Milbank, who won the week?
MILBANK: Well, Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, Republican of Arizona, had a rather extreme view of gun rights on the House floor this week. Let`s watch her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DEBBIE LESKO (R-AZ): I would do anything, anything to protect my five grandchildren, including as a last resort shooting them if I had to, to protect the lives of my grandchildren.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Well...
MILBANK: An extraordinary, granny, get your gun moment. She did clarify that she does not intend to shoot her grandchildren.
And, for that reason, Debbie Lesko`s grandchildren have won the week.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: Because they`re still here, and they survived grandma.
MILBANK: They`re here. No restraining order needed.
REID: Wow. She`s not going to get a lot of visits from her grandkids around the holidays. That`s terrifying.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: I`m almost afraid to ask, Gyasi Ross, who won the week?
(LAUGHTER)
ROSS: No guns involved.
MarJon Beauchamp. MarJon Beauchamp, keep that name in mind,. a young, beautiful, Native and black young man from the Yakima Nation, signed his first NBA contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, a NBA champion a year-and-a- half ago. It`s amazing. It`s historic for Indian country.
We don`t have a lot of folks in the NBA. I`m sitting here at Buffalo Hide Academy on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Browning, Montana. And all of those Native kids also won the week.
REID: That is awesome.
Have there -- has there been an indigenous, a Native American NBA star? I`m trying to rack my brain. Has there ever been?
ROSS: Kyrie Irving.
REID: Oh, wait. OK, we got to have a whole conversation. I did not know that. OK. My mind is blown. Mind officially blown.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: Mind -- we got to have that conversation on the side. Wow.
OK, well, my "Who Won the Week?" is going overseas. I`m traveling us over the pond. My "Who Won the Week?" is a cat. He`s a cat, not a guy, like, I`m saying, that cat won the week.
I`m saying, that cat one the week.
This is Larry the Cat. Larry the Cat is the Downing Street cat. He lives at Downing Street. He greets presidents of the United States, except Donald Trump, who he did not care to greet.
This is what he tweeted today about the end of Boris, Prime Minister Boris. He said: "Time to clarify a few things. I`m not Boris Johnson`s cat. Like all prime ministers, he only temporarily is the resident of Downing Street. I live here permanently. When he finally goes, I stay. Yes, it`s all very embarrassing, but it will be over soon."
That is why Larry the Cat won the week.
Dana Milbank, Gyasi Ross, thank you very much.
And that is tonight`s REIDOUT.
"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts now, my darlings!
(LAUGHTER)