Im chris hayes. Right now were in the mid stz of a once in a generational National Conversation about policing, race and justice driven after the protests and the Police Killing of george floyd. Its the first time the fundamental rule of police are in the spotlight. Republicans admit things have to change. Yet even now, while were all paying attention, while the smartphones are on, while the lights are blaring, we keep getting new examples of police rushing to justice or outright lying to the public. Last night, the labor Union Representing new york city detectives said three officers were intentionally poisoned by workers at a restaurant called shake shack. They quickly ran with the claim in an oddly worded tweet reading, when new York City Police officerks not even take a meal without coming under attack, it is career the environment has deteriorated. It was amplified and it produced headlines and main stream outlets took mostly the cops at their word. Its a very serious charge to be leveling. I would not tweet out that a place poisoned me intentionally without really checking that out. And yet they just kind of ran wit. They got sick, so they must have been intentionally poisoned. It turns out it was not true. After a thorough investigation by the manhattan south investigators, its been determined there was no criminality by shake shacks employees. Investigators believe a cleaning solution had not been fully cleared from the milkshake machine, which is what made the officers sick, but an accident. Not an intentional poisoning as the police immediately claimed. And i know this story is kind of a small one that has to do with milkshakes, seems like a funny thing. But its part of a much larger, more important issue. The legitimacy crisis in american policing is facing in this moment. We have seen example after example of police rushing to judgment or just flat out lying to our faces in total trumpian fashion. There are so many examples of this, just from the protests alone. Like for instance, to pick one, when columbus, ohio Police Tweeted out a photo of this bus, which they suggested was supplying riot equipment, including bats, rocks, axes and clubs. Senator marco rubio of florida tweeted, i guess still no evidence of an organized effort to inject violence into the protest, right . Well, certainly not in this case, senator. It turns out the bus is used by traveling street performers. The bus is named buttercup. The clubs were juggling clubs. The hatchet was next to a wood burning stove. The meat cleaver was used to prepare meals. And there are Police Claims that are far, far more sinister than this. For instance, when the Buffalo Police claimed a 75yearold peace activist tripped and fell, when this video clearly shows that is not what happened. He was shoved. Today, by the way, his lawyers says gugino is unable to walk after what the police did to him in that video. When louisville reported the incident in the Police Killing of 26yearold emergency room technician breonna taylor, fatally shot by police in her own home, which lists her injuries as none, even though she was shot eight times and died in her home. Officers used a battering ram to knock in taylors apartment, to execute a noknock warrant. Of course, this National Conversation were having about police authority, it all started with the Police Killing of george floyd, whose killing was recorded. Whose killing prompted multiple 911 calls, including from aboffduty firefighter who said, im on the block of 38th and chicago and i watched Police Officers not take a pulse and not do anything to save a man, add thing dude, this they fing killed him. Heres the audio of another call about George Floyds treatment by police. Another call that was just released, someone tells the dispatcher that an officer pretty much just killed this guy that wasnt resisting arrest. He had his knee on the dudes neck the whole time. So you have video of it and multiple calls into dispatch, contemporaneous with the event, suggesting that police acted at the absolute very least inappropriately. Along with the video showing an officer kneeling on George Floyds tech, and Surveillance Video suggesting he cooperated with the officers and did not resist arrest. And yet, listen to this, this is the initial statement the Minneapolis Police department had the gal to release. Two officers arrived and located the suspect, a male, believed to be in his forts in his car. He was ordered to step from his car. After he got out, he physically resisted officers. Officers were able to get the suspect in handcuffs and noted he appeared to be suffering medical distress. Officers called for an ambulance. He was transported to the hospital and died a short time later. As if he just happened to die. As if the officer, derek chauvin, did not keep his knee on George Floyds neck as he called out for his momma and said i cant breathe. As if people didnt see this. Clear as day. Of course, police, like any institution, any government body, are going to make mistakes, lots of mistakes. But its just not acceptable to have police lying so casually about matters large and small, and they keep doing it. This legitimacy crisis has gotten so bad, that even President Trump was forced to act, or at least kind of to go through the fak simile of acting. Today he signed an exec save order, fainting in action, not doing that much, declaring mission accomplished. Consider how bad things have gotten, that a president who presents himself as the staunchest possible ally to police, who defends them every chance he gets and tells them to rough up suspects when he addresses them, that that man, donald trump k no longer protend to ignore exactly what we are all watching. Im joined now by congressman Hakim Jefferies, chair of the House Democratic caucus. Let me start, congressman, on where we started tonights open, on the police union, you know, level thing charge. Its a serious charge to say we were intentionally poisoned by employees. Like what does it say to you about the culture of the police union in new york or more broadly that they would just throw this out there . I think we maybe have lost the congressman. Congressman Hakim Jefferies, whose shot appears to be frozen. Well see if we can get him back or get the next guest, who is the mayor of San Francisco. Democrat london breed. Shes unveiled a road map for Police Reforms in her city and is now among many other things, the police will no longer respond to criminal calls. San Francisco Mayor london breed joins me now. Mayor, do i have you . You have me. Okay. Excellent. Let me start on this on one of the things that you announced, which i think is one of the more interesting ways that reform can go, which is reducing the scope of police business, which is to say, there are many calls that come in to dispatch, there are many things that happen that people want to report that are not crimes in progress, and you have talked about taking the police away from being the people that answer those calls. Describe to me what that looks like. So for example, im sure you heard just recently in San Francisco, there was a woman who called the police on a man in front of his house because he was putting black lives matter on his property. That is a call that the police should not be responding to. We have people who struggle with Mental Illness and addiction who need treatment, who need help, who need medical professionals. And so our goal is to look at completely revamping our system so that when a 911 call is made, that dispatchers are able to analyze that call and send out the appropriate response team. And that does not always have to be the police. Do you have a sense of who when you say appropriate response team, so if the idea is there are lots of things that people are either in distress or someone notices an anomaly on the street or something they feel officials should respond to yes. What the appropriate folks are, do you need to like sap that up, does that exist in your city or do you need to build that . So it partially exists, but we also need to increase our capacity. We have a Crisis Intervention Team of medical professionals that work with the department of Public Health. They often times are the ones out on the streets responding to crisis centered around people who suffer from Mental Illness. We have a street violence intervention program, people from the community who ask also respond to disputes that are nonviolent, that have no need for the police in various communities. And so its really about restructuring what we already have available. And enhancing what we have in order to respond to the situations that occur, because in most instances, there isnt a need for a police response. So how do we make those adjustments in order to eliminate the amount of calls that Police Respond to that are not criminal activities . Do you have a sense of the numbers . I know we have quoted some sheriff, i think, from louisiana, if im not mistaken who just said, the overwhelming majority of calls he saw in his multidecade career were not like uniform crimes as listed in the Crime Reporting of the fbi. Do you have a sense in your city what percentage of these calls you can sort of take away from the police and put in other hands . Well, i think its close to probably 50 of the call volume that comes in. Because i want to be clear, there are a number of crimes that still take place. We are a major city, and there is a need for a police response, especially around violence or if theres any other situation of that nature. But, again, i go back to some of the calls, the increased number of calls that have taken place where people who are homeless, mentally ill, who have other needs that Police Officers cant provide support for, thats where we can make the change. So i think it will dramatically decrease the number of calls that Law Enforcement responds to in the city, which will provide us an opportunity to redirect resources to ramp up what we need to do to respond. Final question, mayor. Weve had you on the show to talk about covid in your city. California has had some rising cases, most of those generated from areas outside of San Francisco. How is San Francisco doing, how are you doingsome well, we are weathering the storm. We have seen a slight increase in the number of cases over the past couple of months. Very low number of new cases. A decline in the number of hospitalizations, and the people who are in icu beds. Weve seen the number of deaths become steady. So were in a very, very good place here in San Francisco because of our quick action. And now we are pushing to reopen because we know people are ready to get back to work and we want to get our economy going. And we also want to make sure we do that safely. So we know that the protests and the other things that have occurred in our city, you know, its important that people are provided that opportunity. So we appreciate your words earlier in the introduction of your conversation and the fact that more people in the media are starting to highlight this conversation and the need to make sure that we push for reforms all over the country. All right. San Francisco Mayor london breed, thank you so much for your time tonight. Thank you, chris. Were going to go back to congressman Hakim Jefferies, democrat of new york. Congressman, how are you doing . Great to see you, chris. Oh, good,ky see you blinking. Let me start with where we started tonights program, because its a local question for you, and i think it has broad an kaability. Ive seen the tenor of Police Unions across the country. What does it say to you when a police union will go on and accuse only random workers of trying to poison them without running that to ground, what does it say about the credibility of these people . Well, their credibility is in question. There are Police Unions across the country, certainly in new york city, that have been a robust, skconsistent,nes unnece, unfortunate obstacle to reform. Far too interest they express interest in defending violent and abusive officers, opposed to being part of the solution in terms of holding those officers accountable. The president staged this event today, signed an executive order on police force. Most of the people i have read on it, and i have read the texts of the executive order say theres some things that may be a step in the right direction, but it defends on enforcement and how serious this Administration Takes it. Do you see it as Something Real to deal with . Its a modest set of measures that at least relate to an understanding that there is a problem that has to be confronted. As you indicated, chris, the president even has acknowledged that seemingly with these baby steps that hes taken today. But fundamentally, if things are going to transform, we need transformative laws. Thats why were going to continue to push forward the justice and policing act. The House Judiciary Committee will pass it tomorrow. It will be on the floor next week. We need to change our nations laws in order to change the mindset that exists in Police Departments across the country, that violent officers will be held accountable. And this we want a mentality of policing that relates to a guardian approach, but not a warrior approach, which far too often leads to tragic kongic consequences. Walk me through this. There are so many examples of police, you know, abouting iac way that provokes complaint and not being suspended or removed from the force or lying and not having those lies result in punishment. What would the legislation youre proposing do about that . Well, two things. One, it will establish a national use of force standard, by which were going to emphasize deescalation and deemphasize the use of force that often results in death or serious bodily injury. Once you establish that standard, and an officer crosses the line, then it becomes a lot easier to hold them accountable for engaging in brutality or violence. We also expand the jurisdiction of the department of justice, as well as state attorney generals, so that they can prosecute rogue Police Officers who brutalize the community, and to increase the likelihood of criminal accountability on the one hand, and at the same time, we reform and effectively abolished the doctrine of qualified immunity, so when someones civil rights have been violated, there is a right that exists and a remedy so there can be accountability on that side of the ledger, as well. There was some conversation, it was interesting to hear Kevin Mccarthy talk about some of this, the way things work in modern legislating is basically the partys leadership will sort of move legislation through, unless youre dealing with some kind of big omnibus spending bill. Do you think youll have buyin from any pruns republicans in t house if last week, there were House Republican colleagues of mine who expressed criminalizing the chokehold. There was expression of support for getting rid of qualified immunity to promote accountability when a Police Officer crosses the line. There was also republican expression of support for maintaining a database so that you cant have a rogue Police Officer fired for abusive conduct and then rehired in a neighboring jurisdiction. That happened with the tamir rice case and tamir rice was murdered. So there is some glimmers of hope that we are seeing, that my colleagues on the republican side of the aisle recognize that this time must be different. That we should act. We should act decisively and comprehensively to address this problem. All right. Congressman Hakim Jefferies of new york, thank you for being with me tonight. Thanks, chris. Next, new mexico protest that ended in gunshots. The governor on the injured protester, the armed militia and the statue at the center of it all, after this. Dont you dare. I dont think so [ sighs ] its okay, big fella. Were gonna get through this together. [ baseball bat cracks ] nice rip, robbie. Raaah when you bundle home and Auto Insurance through progressive, you get more than just a big discount. Im gonna need you to leave. You get relentless protection. [ baseball bat cracks ] you get relentless protection. At mercedesbenz, nothing service will do. Class thats why were expanding your range of choices. Many dealers now offer optional pickup delivery and athome maintenance, as well as Online Shopping with Home Delivery and special finance arrangements. So, whether you visit your local dealer or prefer the comfort of home you can count on the very highest level of service. Get 0 apr financing up to 36 months on most models, and 90day firstpayment deferral on any model. When you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. 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Was defending the statue. He pushes a protester, the crown turns on him, hes hit with a skateboarder, then tackled. He got up, he was holding a hand gun and he fires four shots, heard on the video. Shooting one protester who was still in Critical Condition tonight. Police took baca into custody and detained several militia men, as well. They said baca is not one of their members. Hes a former right wing city council member. Joining me now is the governor of new mexico, Michelle Lujan grisham. Governor, what is your understanding of what happened last night and how is your state responding to it . Well, two things. Frankly, you got what we understand to be the facts as were starting the investigation. Exactly right. We are incredibly horrified and disturbed. Were about to go into a budget special session, starts on thursday. And Police Reform and Racial Injustice are going to be topics that we will get through in a couple of days to see if we cant do better than the militarization of our police. And having militia engaged only to provoke violence at peaceful protests. These have to be addressed. The state has a clear role to make a difference here. Yeah. I mean, in some ways what was so unnerving about last night, and its something thats been going through my head through much of this is, things are just different when people are armed. I think we would all agree, right. A thousand people in the streets protesting, thats one thing. If a thousand people are protesting and all carrying guns, thats another. If 500 are on each side and theyre all carrying guns, thats another entirely. How do you understand this in terms of the role that weapons play or folks coming armed to these kinds of events. So, chris, a couple of years ago, i was talking to new mexicans and folks across the country that this country occurs to me has a very negative gun culture. And when i became elected governor, one of the first things i did was instruct our department of health to treat gun violence as the Public Health epidemic that frankly it is. And there is no question when you are gathering or marching or protesting, and theres a group of armed citizens with automatic weapons, who are completely dressed in military gear, their only role is to provoke and to seek intimidation of individuals who are peacefully protesting. And this horrific example that played out in albuquerque, you know, i have been incredibly grateful that we havent had such a situation, given the last 20 plus days in this country. And the incredible work of peaceful protesters. But make no mistake, this is not the first time this particular militia has been engaging in public. And i think its time we find a way to be clear, all our Constitutional Rights are valid. My constitutional right to be safe in my Community Needs to be upheld. And we have got to stop this intimidation and stop allowing armed men and women whose only purpose is to create havoc and harm at these gatherings. Its unacceptable, and we have the ability to do something about it right now in this country. And new mexico intends, i intend to do something about it. I want to read you something that simon rivera, a New York Times wrote, hes reported in latin america for years. He said ive covered violent street protests but never felt as threatened as last night in albuquerque. Why did authorities cede control to gunman. Do you have an answer to that . Its an incredibly fair question, and why the state is going to investigate this action last night, and not allow the investigation by internally by the local police. Why did they allow the militia to be present . Where were they . Why did they only show up im hearing reports 21 minutes after 911 calls were made. Where were they . When they showed up, it was more like a s. W. A. T. Presence. Why were they shooting rubber bullets at peacefully flee progress testers . Why did they allow the shooter to engage with protesters before the actual horrific incident that has a young man fighting for his life in our hospitals . There were plenty of warning signs, and i fear that we have some folks in our Law Enforcement entities, who i think have promoted potentially the efforts of these militia. And we intend to independently investigate that, and determine exactly whats going on. So i agree with the New York Times reporter, and im, you know, a life long new mexican and lived in albuquerque for decades before having this incredible job. And ive never seen anything like that anywhere in our state. And no doubt the militia played a violent role in what occurred, and we will do something about it. New mexico governor Michelle Lujan grisham, thank you so much for making the time for us tonight. Absolutely. Thank you for inviting me and thank you for everyone in the country who is fighting against these Racial Injustice issues and making sure we have a fair and just and appropriately engaged police force. New mexico will do its part. All right. Thank you, governor. Ahead, the negligence of President Trump who decided the ongoing pandemic was too boring and plans to hold a massive indoor rally instead. Thats coming up. Or powders. Try the cooling, soothing relief of preparation h. Because your derriere deserves expert care. Try new soothing relief. Weve always put safety first. And we always will. For people. For the future. And there has never been a summer when its mattered more. Wherever you go, summer safely. Get zero percent apr financing for up to five years on select models and exclusive lease offers. 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We are increasingly acclimating to this plateau and just accepting a world that no one else has accepted, where we still see about 20,000 new cases per day. To be clear, a fair amount of that has to do with the fact that the u. S. Has ramped up Testing Capacity in this country. Its gone up quite a bit. Its still uneven, but i got tested this week, it was fast and easy. You should definitely do it if you have had any exposure. But increased testing doesnt explain all of these case. And the government is trying to make excuses. Our testing is so far advanced, its so much bigger and better than any other country, that were going to have more cases. Were always going to have more cases. As i said this morning, thats probably the down side of having good testing is you find a lot of cases that other countries who dont even test dont have. If you dont test, you dont have any cases. If we stopped testing right now, we would have very few cases, if any. I mean, how nuts is that . There is no downside to testing, and finding out where the virus is. If we stop testing right now, we would have very few cases. It seems almost insane in june to have to say this, but the virus is the problem, not the measurement, and identification thereof. Of course, the Vice President is in lock step with the president s message. He said to adopt the stance. Today, pence headlined there is no coronavirus second wave, which is true, more or less, because were still not out of the first wave. The evidence also shows increasingly masks really help to stop the spread, but once again, Vice President pence not wearing one when he showed up at a small, cozy, intimate restaurant in iowa today. Neither was the Iowa Governor kim reynolds for that matter. No masks, no problem. We get a clear picture of whats high risk, what is low risk. It seems wearing a mask and being outdoors, those two things, if youre wearing a mask, if youre outdoors, thats on the lower end of the risk spectrum. But being inside in a packed in space with people talking loudly for a sustained period of time, thats about the riskiest thing you can do. A group of at least 16 people learned that the hard way when they all tested positive for the virus after spending a night at a bar in jacksonville beach. Magnify a bar by a couple of orders of magnitude, and you get a trump rally. Thousands of people crowded inside a stadium, talking loudly for a sustained period of time that. Is the plan for this saturday in tulsa, oklahoma where coronavirus cases are surging, and the City Health Department director says he wishes the president would postpone. The president and his team dont seem to think the virus is a real thing that needs to be dealt with anymore. Were past that. Thats old news cycle. Theyre not interested in solving problems any more. They want to own the libs, create their own alternate reality. In some ways, the pandemic is the ultimate of that. 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They will, but with accident forgiveness allstate wont raise your rates just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . Line the desert never lies. Isnt that what i said . No you were talking about allstate and insurance. I just. When i. Lets try again. Everybody back to one. Accident forgiveness from allstate. Click or call for a quote today. Our testing is so far advanced, its so much bigger and better than any other country, that were going to have more cases. Were always going to have more cases. As i said this morning, thats probably the downside of having good testing, you find a lot of cases that other countries, who dont even test, dont have. If you dont test, you dont have any cases. If we stop testing right now, we would have very few cases, if any. No, no, thats not the way it works. Even if you dont test, you still have cases. We have one of the worst responses in the world to the coronavirus, thanks to the administrations ongoing failure to recognize the reality of what were dealing with. Part of this broader thing thats happened in the Republican Party, which just seems increasingly unconcerned with the work of governing. When it comes to this pandemic, some republican governors who are on the same land mass we are on, which is the continent of people trying to figure out how to deal with a complicated problem. Then there are people who have fallen off the land mass, who think coronavirus can be willed away or just not engaging in the same problem as we are. It includes huge parts of the Republican Party, who are just no longer engaged in dealed with the complexity of gomping nor broadly. Im joined by steve benen, who has a new book out called the impostors, how republicans quit governing and seized american politics. I thought told start on the coronavirus issue, because it seems to me like theres a kind of split there between the kind of trumpian impulse and some things we have seen from the governors in places like mississippi and in north dakota and iowa, and other members of the Republican Party who seem, even if theyre not doing things i would like, engage in the general condition of this is a hard dwomgoverning problem, how we figure it out . I think youre right. There are a handful of governors like larry hogan and elsewhere. But theyre the exceptions that prove the rule. For every maryland, theres a florida and arizona and a texas, where we see state officials who are republicans who are not taking this crisis seriously. Of course, the head of the party is donald trump, and we see him in a white house thats been completely disengaged in policymaking. When i was putting together my book, one of the things i kept coming back to is that a governing party values data and evidence and expertise. And i think across the board, when it comes to the coronavirus, the pandemic, those are the areas in which the administration has fallen short the worst. Yeah, youve got this situation now where you just referenced texas. Texas has its not just the cases have gone up, though they have, theres some reason to think that things are not looking great in texas. Just a little short while ago, the mayors of houston, san antonio, austin, el paso, plain oi, Grand Prairie send a letter to the governor asking for the power to require people to wear masks, which they dont have. It shouldnt be that this is a big fight, this is not this is just the sort of simple Public Health measure, yet it epitomizes your thesis, which is that it a party that wont do that is not a party thats committed to governing in any real way. Exactly. When the overarching point of my book is that republicans have made this transition, from a governing party to a post policy party. Theyve given up on taking governing or policymaking seriously. And this is a classic example of that. It would save so many lives, make such a difference in Public Health. And yet, in so many instances, we see republicans in positions of authority, theyre just saying thats too much. Each as local officials effectively beg them to be more responsible, they refuse. And were seeing the tulsa rally, i honestly, i dont know, i guess theyre going to do this thing. But first of all, the venue doesnt have any other events until 2021, because its not safe to have them there. But this is more than just like were no longer interested in policy. This is even one step sort of me fair us nefarious. It seems almost a step past post policy. Perhaps, perhaps. I mean, if the virus had hired lobbyists to create an event for the virus, this is the event that they would hold. We talked a moment ago about the expertise and data and the importance of evidence. This is a classic example. The data says there is an increasing crisis in oklahoma. The evidence shows theyre indoors with 19,000 with no mitigating effects, and local experts are saying please dont do this, its dangerous for the community and perhaps the country. And yet, because President Trump is lead thing post policy government, because hes so indifferent to policymaking and expertise, theyre going through with it any way and dont seem to care. Is there a way to wrench them back . That is sort of the question. This idea that we can govern with 44 of the country and the Electoral College and a bunch of our federal society vetted judges on the federal bench and we can get away with it. Ask they . Can they . In the short term, yes. Theyve won several elections, theyre in positions of authority, they have power. So yes, to that extent, they have had some success on this front. But in the last chapter in my book, i talk about some of the solutions i think to the post policy problem. And the overarching solution, the key solution is that parties change when voters tell parties they have to change. And so i think right now, we look at the polls, we see evidence that the republican message is not working, i think the party will change when voters tell them they have to, and well see in november. We will see. Steve benen, the new book the impostors, how republicans quit governing and seized american polit politics is out today. Quite timely. Thank you for making time. Thank you, chris. Still ahead, the pandemic elections, the brazen republican effort to suppress the work, while primary vote rers turning out in record numbers. When you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. But when you have the chase mobile app, your bank can be virtually any place. So, when you get a check. You can deposit it from here. 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Food . Pepto® diarrhea is proven effective to treat symptoms, and it also targets the cause of diarrhea. The 3 times concentrated liquid formula coats and kills bacteria to relieve diarrhea. While the leading competitor does nothing to kill the bacteria, pepto® diarrhea gets to the source, killing the bad bacteria. So, try pepto® diarrhea, and remember to have it on hand every time you travel. Also try pepto®bismol liquicaps for onthego relief. There have been plenty of grim stories this Election Year in the middle of a pandemic as people literally risk their health and their lives to wait in line for hours to vote. Theres also been this amazing turnout happening despite the ridiculous hurdles. I mean, just last week, right, we saw these images of a complete systematic meltdown of the voting process in the state of georgia. It turns out between absentee and inperson voting big d democratic voters set a turnout record actually outpacing republicans in the state. Georgia isnt the only state thats seen record turnout. Earlier this month iowa set its own record for the june primary. In fact, the republican secretary of state of iowa who oversees the states elections was bragging about it rightly, tweeting this firework gif to iowas voters. We did it, guys. We got a lot of people to vote. He apparently didnt get the memo from his own party because a lot of people voting is not what Iowa Republicans want. So now theyre moving to shut that down until they can figure out whats going on. Last week Iowa Senate Republicans passed a bill that would predict the secretary of state, that guy with the firework tweet, from mailing absentee ballot request forms without a specific request from a voter. Just before they headed off for summer recess, the Iowa Legislature passed a measure to make voting even harder, including requiring early inperson voters to show i. D. Iowa is just the latest example of this crazy situation where one party wants as many people as possible to vote safely in a pandemic and one party just does not. Here now is someone from the party that does want people to vote, tom perez, chair of the Democratic National committee. Do you do you see it that way . Or is it more more textured and nuanced than that . I know, like, the republican secretary of state in ohio, finfor instance, has been mailing out absentee ballot applications and things like that, but how do you see it . I think youre spot on, chris. I mean, republicans for decades have wanted to make it harder for people to vote and theyre not subtle about it. Our leverage in the elections, quite frankly, goes up as the voting populous goes down. I dont want everyone to vote. Those are those are verbatim statements from republicans from decades ago. Thats the philosophy. They want less they want to make it harder for people to vote, especially people of color. Thats why you have the joni ernst protection act of 2020 in iowa because joni ernst is in trouble and theyve got to make it harder for people to vote. Thats why you see in georgia another the latest chapter in the Voter Suppression manual started by brian kemp led by others. We see this everywhere. We saw the attempted weaponization of the pandemic in wisconsin. But it didnt work. And thats the pivot. It didnt work because we are ready for it as democrats. We are doing a number of things. Were filing lawsuits in wisconsin. 142,000 people were able to exercise their right to vote, chris, because of our lawsuit. Were organizing everywhere. We have a purge tool that we released today, chris, that is going to help in every state. You can you can go into georgia and say, i want all the africanamerican voters who have been taken off the rolls over a period of time, and this tool will help you find that. These are the tools that we are working with to make sure we combat Voter Suppression. So so so that tool would be, like, for for lawyers or for campaigns or propublica or civic groups that can say that data is public but its hard to access and so this would be a tool to access it to see . Chris, one of the most important requirements of effective Voter Protection is to make it easy. You cant have to have a phd yeah. In order to access these tools. So civic organizations, vocationy organizations, anyone can use this tool. Were now embarking in a massive training effort to make sure people understand this tool so that you can go in georgia and say i want all the africanamerican voters in Fulton County who have been taken off the rolls. People need to learn this tool. If you text 433if you text vote to 43367, you can learn more about this tool. Its critically important. One of the one of the lawsuits that the Democratic Partys involved is in in texas where youve got this sort of crazy situation which texas law allows Senior Citizens to have a no excuse absentee ballot, which means anyone over 65 can, and basically the policymakers, the republican policymakers in the state dont want it to be the case that younger than 65 people can have that option in the midst of a pandemic in the state that is seeing its cases go up. You have sued, is that correct, to try to sort of force this issue in higher courts, at the Supreme Court . Right. Right. The plaintiff in that case is the Democratic Party of texas. They are led by a great chairman. And the 26th amendment prohibits discrimination by age in voting. So i think on the merits they have a really good case. Heres the challenge. The Supreme Court justice that oversees the fifth circuit, now, the party won at the trial level and then the fifth circuit, which is darth vader for any voting rights, they stayed the ruling of the district court. Right. And Samuel Anders lee to is the person that will oversee the efforts on the fifth circuit. So youll have to forgive me if im not holding my breath that Justice Alito is going to come to the rescue, but you know what . Were going to swing the bat and i applaud the party for its efforts because this so critically important. Finali question for you is o the aftermath of the election day and what the new normal looks like. In wisconsin it took a long time to count votes. In georgia we still have counties that have not fully reported. How important is it to you to acclimate, everyone, the media, everyone understanding that this fall there is a lot we wont know that night and its probably going to take a while if were looking at much, much higher levels of absentee voting . Right. Organize, organize, organize, chris. What were doing now, we have our virtual clip boards out and in virtually every state we are educating people on how to vote early, how to vote by mail. The most important acronym in the state of arizona is p. E. V. L. , pevl, the permanent early voting list. Were trying to get as many people as possible on the permanent early voting list so youll be mailed a ballot. You can vote early. You can vote easy. That is so critical. We have to make sure. We have to be prepared florida, texas and arizona saw their largest number of coronavirus cases today. Yeah. Weve got to be prepared. If you want to vote in person, you should be able to on election day. If you want to vote early, we should have maximum early voting days and if you want to vote by mail, we should make it easy to do that as well. Thats the definition of success. All right. Tom perez of the dnc. Thank you so much for taking time tonight. Always a pleasure. That is all in for this evening. The Rachel Maddow show starts right now. Good evening, rachel. Good evening, chris. Thanks, my friend. Appreciate it. And thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. This was the front page of the tulsa world newspaper today. You see the main headline there. Trump in tulsa. Now, the president coming to do a big rally event in tulsa is the main headline. But then look at column one. The other main news of the day in the tulsa world. Sevenday rolling average more than doubles the peak that was hit in april. You can see the lead of that story there right there above the fold, covid19 in tulsa