Transcripts For MSNBCW All In With Chris Hayes 20200714

And the retiring of a racist nfl mascot when all in starts now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. We have seen an abysmal failure of leadership from our president. The u. S. Has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world. Our president had zero desire and zero ability actually to solve the problem. Instead, from now until election day, every day, all of his energy is going to be focussed in finding a villain. I said repeatedly on the show, this problem that we are in the midst of, it is a very hard problem to solve, and people make mistakes. For example, the cdc initially told americans not to wear masks before reversing that guidance in early april. That was a very bad and costly error. In new york state, Governor Andrew Cuomo and mayor bill de blasio made serious mistakes that very likely cost lives. Heres the thing. There are two categories of leaders right now. There are those that are trying their best in good faith and working to do whatever they can to defeat the virus, even if they statements get it wrong because its hard and the information is changing. And then there is donald trump and his administration, who essentially detached themselves from the problem and are watching the country burn and in some instances even throwing fuel on the fire. They reached a pathetic new low this weekend when they released a cowardly statement, unnamed right, saying several Unnamed White House officials are concerned about the number of times dr. Anthony fauci has been wrong on things and included a lengthy list of the scientists comments from early in the outbreak. Has dr. Fauci gotten some things wrong along the way . He sure has. So has the cdc. They correct themselves when they get new information. Its a new virus. All the people on the front lines are trying to learn how best to suppress it. The white house on the other hand admits no mistakes. The president takes no responsibility. Instead, they are trying to blame dr. Fauci for their failures, the one guy in the administration who has any credibility, a legend in his field who has advised every president since ronald reagan. Democrat or republican. He was awarded the president ial medal of freedom. Three decades ago a plague began taking the lives of people across the world. Before it had a name, it had a fierce opponent in dr. Anthony fauci. As the director of the National Institute of allergy and Infectious Diseases for more than 23 years. He led the fight against hiv and aids. Those who know tony admit one flaw. Sometimes he forgets to stop working. He regularly puts in 80 hour weeks. And from time to time hes even found notes on his windshield left by his coworkers that say things like, go home. Youre making me feel guilty. Dr. Fauci is now 79 years old, and he is still working 80 plus hours a week. That is the guy the white house has landed on as their scapegoat as they desperately flail about for someone to blame for the worlds worst response to the coronavirus. There is a reason why Donald Trumps Approval Rating for his handling of this crisis is at 33 while dr. Faucis is at 72 . The scope and scale of the tragedy sweeping our country, the lives lost and disrupted, the economic ruin, the children not in school, theyre becoming clearer by the day, new deaths are increasing in puerto rico, and 22 states. With the trends looking worrisome in some of the states with the worst outbreaks. States like texas, arizona and florida. There are probably reporting lags happening, so we should expect those fatality numbers to climb even more. There is also a Testing Backlog in this country right now. Yes, im saying that in midjuly. It is so bad that experts say the results are often proving useless. You get a test eight days later, what good is that . That reality is creeping in. Despite the fact that we are more polarized as a country since the civil war, you can see it in the president s Approval Rating and his handling of the outbreak. In Arizona Governor ducey dropped to 32 Approval Rating. In texas, governor greg abbotts Approval Rating down to 44 . From 60 in april. People notice when there is a plague raging all around them. At the state level, the president is seeing awful poll numbers everywhere he looks. In deep red alaska, donald trump is 3 points ahead of biden. Don young, the longest serving house republican, is also in danger according to this poll, polling two points below his independent challenger. The race for governor of missouri, another deep red state trump carried by double digits, it is a statistical dead heat. In montana, the republican senator steve daines is died reddest of red states, donald trump and the Republican Party are in trouble, and it is just a very simple story. Vo this once in a century calamity. And with the virus raging like an old of control fire, so hot that even green wet pieces of wood will catch on fire, the only thing the president is doing to trying to point a finger at someone else. With you now, former secretary of health and human services, it former governor of kansas. Is great to have you on. I know you worked in an administration that dr. Fauci advised. I want to get your reaction in terms of your sense of him and the work hes done on this crisis and other crises. Well, i was really honored to have the chance to not only get to know but work with tony fauci for five and a half years, and i would say hes a jewel. Hes not only recognized in the United States, hes recognized all over the world. Everybody wants to have Anthony Fauci come and help them figure out puzzles and figure out diseases and get involved. And there is a reason for that. Hes a really smart guy. He does his best 80 hours a week to make the world a better place. Make it a healthier place. I find it shocking that this president has chosen to attack dr. Fauci, and its because dr. Fauci tells the truth. He has made statements about the virus as soon as he learns there is a new thing. He will correct that statement and give people honest information. Folks can trust him. And, chris, there is nothing more dangerous than not only going after the Public Health official leading the look for a vaccination, but undermining Public Health right now is a great way to make sure when there is a safe and effective vaccine, first of all, people wont trust information coming out of the white house. They wont believe that its safe and effective, and we are likely to have a large share of the American Public say i wont get the vaccine. I dont think this is something thats good for me and my family. If that happens, we will be seeing this virus for years to come in the United States and across the globe. That is such a great point that i hadnt quite gotten my head around, that if you poison the atmosphere on this, you produce a situation in which you cant effectively message. We have seen this on masks, right, not even getting the vaccine. This poll out i think just today is a gallup panel survey. 94 of democrats say they always very often wear masks. 46 of republicans. I mean, the grand irony here is if that number were 94 , the fortunes of the Republican Party would probably be better because the Public Health crisis in the country would probably be better as well. You bet. I mean, the cdc put out guidance to say wear a mask. It took the president 99 days to take that guidance. And the only place so far you seem to have taken that guidance is being in a hospital of wounded warriors. Now, no one else in america can get into a hospital. This virus is raging so that people are going into hospitals, whether it is to have babies or unfortunately to be treated and some to die of covid19. There are no visitors. There are no outside people. So mask wearing in a hospital is not a behavior that can be modelled by anybody. What the president refuses to do is go to one of his rallies, social distance people, limit the crowd and wear a mask. It is shocking to me that is a very simple thing to me. My four and a half year old grandson who i love dearly hates wearing his mask. But guess what . He wears it. He wears it because his parents know thats a way to keep him safe and secure and it is a way to make sure that he cant spread anything he might be carrying. We dont have a president who has that much discipline that hes willing to wear a mask and say to all of his followers stop this nonsense. This disease is serious. We need to socially distance. We need to wear masks. We need to shut down indoor activities where people are closely gathered. I want to save lives. I want kids to go back to school. Im willing to do whatever it takes to do that. Instead, he has chosen to attack the top Public Health official who is on the front lines of looking for an effective vaccine. That is really dangerous and people will lose their lives because hes unwilling to tell the truth. Yeah. That is a stark and unavoidable fact of the matter. Thank you so much for making some time for us tonight. Sure. Good to talk to you. At the beginning of the pandemic, the number one fail ear your in the u. S. Was testing. After the president repeatedly complained too many people were getting testing, he said he wanted to slow testing down, we now face a testing crisis again. New york times published a piece today describing bottlenecks in the testing system, Outdated Technology like fax machines to deliver results. Joining me now the author of that piece, the great Investigative Reporter sara cliff. Explain to me how we have arrived at yet another big testing bottleneck. So the good news is we have way more testing happening, about a half million tests a day. The bad news is we have this old, creaky Public Health infrastructure that we havent really invested in. It is just overwhelmed by this avalanche of information. So we talk to Public Health departments that are getting information by fax, by email, by phone call, by mail. Its just a huge, different type of reporting, and thats because we havent really invested in creating one digital infrastructure. The upshot of that is essentially twofold. One, it is really hard to Contact Trace when you are getting information late. You are getting it by fax. It is hard to keep this virus under control. The second is you have peoples results being delayed. So you have the case where someones results are sitting literally on a fax tray waiting to be read. Thats someone that is still waiting to get their results. They might think theyre fine. They might go into the community and infect people. It is odd to say in 2020. But the fax machine has become a big obstacle in fighting coronavirus. Explain to me just to zoom in, who is faxing whom what info such that we have a fax machine bottleneck four months into this . Yeah. So this is Medical Laboratories are faxing information to Public Health authorities. One of the things i thought was really interesting in this reporting is it is actually a lot of startup labs that want to invest in the technology they need. They got into testing because there is good reimbursement for coronavirus testing and they figured why bother buying this expensive package when we can buy a good old fax machine. You have Medical Laboratories faxing information to Public Health departments, in some cases literally overwhelming the fax machine. I talked to one Public Health authority there. The machine had a meltdown when one lab sent over hundreds of pages spilling them all over the floor. It is literally a mess. You know, part of when i was reading your reporting i was struck by two things. Thinto thi having this problem and we have these bottlenecks and how it is essentially rendered Contact Tracing useless in a lot of places, right . The other thought i have is one theme that is emerging is that exponential growth will overwhelm any system you put over it. You can design a building that could hold 20, 50 people in it. If you put 5,000 people in there, theyre going to fall through the floor. Like no system is going to do very well against the kind of growth levels were seeing in the u. S. Right now. That is such a good point. It kind of harkens back to the flatten the curve graphic we were all sharing a few months ago. We were talking about it in the context of hospitals. You have to flatten the curve so there are enough hospital beds for everybody. But the point you raised, chris, is there are so many things that cant really deal without a curve flattening. It is the testing capacity, the fax machines, the ability to Contact Trace. All these things that can handle a bit of an increase. But if cases shoot up at the rate were seeing it, it is not just hospitals that get overwhelmed, it is everything that gets overwhelmed. There is no amount of slack you can build into a system that can deal with the type of steep increases were seeing in some states right now. Yeah. And on this Contact Tracing, which was part of what youre writing about, other states, if you had 50 new cases, you can Contact Trace those people if you are testing quickly and getting in touch with them. If florida has 15,000 cases a day and the labs are backlogged so you are finding out a week after those people get swabbed, there is nothing happening there that resembles like you cant Contact Trace under those conditions, right . No, no. You definitely cant. And i think one of the things thats layered on top of this is it is not just the fax machines but the reporting requirements are really bad. Public Health Authorities are getting resulted that are missing addresses. Theyre missing phone numbers. They might have the persons name spelled wrong. So a lot of the work theyre doing is calling up the Doctor Office to find out what is this persons address, how do i reach this person . I spent a lot of time writing about Americas Health care system. We have such a fragmented system where a test is going to travel from a doctors order to a laboratory to a Public Health authority. It is almost like a game of telephone where information gets lost along the way. And all that fragmentation, the upshot is that it is very hard to go back and find who was the person who got the test, where do they live, what is their phone number, those basic, basic details that get lost in this Fragmented Health Care system that we have. Sara, who is just one of the greatest reporters we have on the american Health Care System and its many complexities and failures, thank you so much for coming out tonight. Thanks for having me. Tonight, despite having no plan whatsoever, the Trump Administration is really pushing to have kids and teachers and staff back in school this fall. Tonight some major cities are saying, sorry, its just not going to happen. That story is next. Reinventing. Its what Small Businesses do. With comcast business, your Small Business can work faster, with powerful internet from the nations largest gigspeed network. Work safer, with all your connected devices automatically protected by securityedge. And work anywhere, with comcast business at home, our new businessgrade Internet Solution for remote workers. Whatever your business needs, comcast business has the solutions to help you not just bounce back, but bounce forward. Call or go online to find out more. As the coronavirus surges across large portions of the country, President Donald Trump and his administration are very clear. They want kids in school this fall. If kids are in school, parents can go back to work, the economy can hopefully return back to normal and for donald trump that means he can get reelected. Hes more or less basically said that, that its all about the politics. Heres the thing. Everyone agrees it would be great if schools could open for in Person Instruction in the fall, but it is very hard to open a school if you also have a raging pandemic in your area. Now, that did not stop secretary of Education Betsy Devos from going on the sunday shows and posturing about all of this and basically falling on her face. Can you assure students, teachers, parents that they will not get coronavirus because theyre going back to school . Well, the key is that kids have to get back to school for a short period of time. You are the secretary of education. You are asking students to go back. So why do you not have guidance on what a school should do weeks before you want those schools to reopen. And what happens if it faces an outbreak . You know, there is really good examples that have been utilized in the private sector and elsewhere. Also with front line workers and hospitals. And all of that data and all of that information and all of those examples can be referenced by school leaders. Im not here for that. Do you have a plan for what students and schools should do . Schools should do whats right on the ground at that time for their students and for their situation. There is no plan, or the plan is, i dont know, like adopt the practices of the meat packing plants. The schools have to open up. No, its true. Schools have successfully opened up in other countries, but this is key. That only happened with the exception of sweden after they got the virus under control. But because of how bad its gotten here, open schools are just going to be a lot harder. Just within the last few days, atlanta and nashville announced they will at least begin the school year with all virtual learning. Then today, very big news on this front, californias Largest School district, los angeles and san diego announced instruction will be virtual for the entire fall. Joining me now for more on what needs to happen to safely reopening schools, senator doug jones. Democrat of alabama. He is cosponsoring a bipartisan bill to help schools reopen safely. Senator, lets start on that. You heart betsy devos saying, look, there are these models from the private sector of places. I know office places that are retooling and reengineering their hvac system. All that costs money. Do you think schools can safely reopen without more resources as of now . Absolutely not. I mean, and to model the private sector, i mean, you only have to look at whats going on in florida and texas and georgia and some of these other states that did open their private sector up quickly, way too fast, jumping over cdc guidelines. You have got to have resources. In alabama, our state School Superintendent estimates it will take 1. 8 million for School Systems to do the things necessary to open safety. School systems in alabama just dont have that kind of money. I dont think many School Systems around the country have that kind of money. The federal government has to step in. Thats what our bill will do, create grant monies to do just that. I hope, chris, we can get this in this next package. Shouldnt this be a no brainer . Who is cosponsoring with you . Can we pass this tomorrow . This seems like the most obvious and easiest thing in the universe. Yeah. I dont disagree. You have a democrat from michigan. You have a republican from louisiana. Bill is a physician. Hes a doctor, so this is important to him. He is somebody we have turned to often to get advice on how to best do this. I think it is a no brainer as well. It is going to cost some money, but we cant you know, what price tag can you put on our Students Health and their families and their communities, the teachers . We have teachers in alabama scared to death. They dont know whats going to happen. We have to give them the comfort level. We have to give them the resources they need to make sure they stay safe, their kids stay safe and we can get in a good learning environment, no matter what that might look like. It may look different from last fall. Let me ask you this. The state of alabama right now set a record on friday for single day fatalities and set a case record on thursday. It is not under control in alabama. The virus is growing in alabama right now. I think thats quite clear. What has to happen to get to a point where schools can safely reopen . I have seen some people. You saw the mayor of houston call for houston to have a shelter in place order for two weeks. Is places have to lockdown now if you want school in the fall. What is your view of what should be happening in your own state . Well, first of all, i think people need to start Wearing Masks more. We have had a safe at home order since may. But people arent looking at that. They were just going out. They have not been social distancing. They have not been Wearing Masks. We have a number of cities now that have gone through the step of having mask ordinances. I think personal responsibility is the key. Dr. Fauci said last week in a Facebook Live program that i did with him that alabama still has a chance, but we have to act now to start closing this down. We have to make sure that people stay at home, wear masks when they go out. And i think we could get it under control. Were still a few weeks away, but by the end of july, 1st of august, if we havent started seeing significant decline, i think it will be a real problem for schools trying to figure out the best way to open up and open up safely. Yeah. We should note that you have 138 School Districts in your state. Unlike many places in america, School Districts are their own kind of independent entities. There is some federal guidance from the cdc and some state guidance. But you have 138 different decision makers. Most of the plans that are happening in your state require students to wear masks or encourage them to do so. Some asked parents to check for temperatures. You have a patch work. Do you think that you have is there enough consistency, like are things in place enough to make this happen in your state . No, not across the board. The state is doing what they can to give that guidance. Theyre asking people to follow the cdc guidance. The state of alabama is in the process of distributing 2. 5 Million Masks to School Systems around the state. Thats a big important step. Weve got hot spots that are worse than others in alabama just like around the country. I think we have to focus on those hot spots more than others. But the plans are not in place. We dont have the testing. Testing is flat, just like the rest of the country. We still get a problem with tests waiting four or five days before we can get results. We have to do more from the federal government to get that testing out. Unfortunately senator mcconnell has been sitting on the heros package now for five or six weeks. It is next week we will be able to see what he has been working on behind closed doors to address this problem. We need to get it done really soon. Clock is ticking, senator. You are correct about that. Senator doug jones of alabama. Thank you so much, sir. Its my pleasure, chris. Thank you. Still to come, a juror who voted to convict roger stone calls the president s commutation of stones sentence a shocking act of corruption, and that juror joins me after this. So whats going on . Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. Youve got some allergic itch with skin inflammation. Apoquel can work on that itch in as little as 4 hours, whether its a new or chronic problem. And apoquels treated over 8 million dogs. Nice. And. The talking dog thing . Is it bothering you . No. Itching like a dog is bothering me. Until dogs can speak for themselves, you have to. When allergic itch is a problem, ask for apoquel. Apoquel is for the control of itch associated with allergic dermatitis and the control of Atopic Dermatitis in dogs. Do not use apoquel in dogs less than 12 months old or those with serious infections. Apoquel may increase the chance of developing serious infections and may cause existing parasitic skin infestations or preexisting cancers to worsen. Do not use in breeding, pregnant, or lactating dogs. Most common side effects are vomiting and diarrhea. Feeling better . Im speechless. Thanks for the apoquel. Aw. Thats what friends are for. Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. This virus is testing all of us. And its testing the people on the front lines of this fight most of all. So abbott is getting new tests into their hands, delivering the critical results they need. And until this fight is over, we. Will. Never. Quit. Because they never quit. Last time we publically heard from special Council Robert mueller was nearly a year ago when he testified about his report on russias sabotage on our election. Since then hes avoided speaking about the contents of his report until this weekend when he wrote an op ed. That of course was in response to President Donald Trump commuting his sentence late friday night. According to testimony in his trial and the mueller report, roger stones job was keeping the Trump Campaign informed about wikileaks. Release of emails stolen by russian intelligence. Stone was afforded due process. He had his time in court. It was proven to a jury that he was guilty of exactly what he was accused of. Seven felony crimes and he lied under oath to cover up what he did. He intimidated a witness. And now his sentence has been commuted by the president who benefitted from that lie. Make no mistake, roger stone was the go between on the central issue, right . The thing that we covered for years. He was the one closest to that word collusion. But the Trump Campaign and russian efforts to sabotage Hillary Clinton met in 2016. You will find roger stone. Joining me now is someone who sat through every minute of the trial, heard all the evidence and voted to convict roger stone, seth cousins. Seth, great to have you on. First, i guess, your reaction as someone who served as a juror in this trial. I imagine it wasnt unexpected. Your thoughts at the fact that the president has come in to say roger stone will not be going to prison . Sure, chris. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here, also disappointed that were still talking about roger stone eight months after the trial ended. So i have a couple observations, this is really just as a u. S. Citizen. First exactly like you just said is the naked corruption of the president commuting stones sentence. Just seems unprecedented. You know, this guy was charged and convicted of lying to congress, obstructing their investigation. He has been open that his purpose was to protect the president. And then the president turns around and he seems to protect his crony for breaking the law on his behalf. But the second observation may be second important. Were in the middle of the National Conversation about the Unequal Administration of justice in our country, the deaths this year of george floyd, breonna taylor, Ahmaud Arbery have started to open the countrys eyes to what black and brown people have been seeing and have been trying to say for generations, that the experience of law and of justice for black and brown people is very different than the experience for white people in this country. And here we have an example of how the president chooses to react to that moment. Hes not trying to solve these real problems. Hes not trying to make this a more equal thing. Hes commuting the sentence of the white man. Who covered up his crimes. I think its shocking. The coverup here seems to me crucial, right . I mean, the thing that the man ultimately in some ways he was able to kind of be sketchy enough and duplicitous enough that what he ended up being charged with, what was very clear was his lies. And how clear was it to you and your fellow jurors that he had done this, that he had lied under oath, that he intimidated a witness as part of a coverup enterprise on the president s behalf. Yes. Well, so, the evidence in the trial didnt go to it being on the president s behalf. But Everything Else that you said, chris, everybody on the jury was 100 convinced that the prosecution had proved its case. It had proven each of the lies that he was accused of. It had proved the witness they didnt have to, nor did they go try to explain why stone might have done that. In that case they only had to prove he actually had done that and he did do that. What do you think about what justice should be here as someone who sat in that jury, particularly in relation to the point you made about unequal justice. There was back and forth about commutation versus a pardon. This is a 70yearold, a nonviolent first offense. Sure, that applies to people in prison. What would justice look like for people who sat on the jury . I dont know the answer to that, chris. Im not a lawyer, so im not an expert on what an appropriate sentencing is for anyone. But it is clear that some sort of sentence in some sort of prison time was warranted. Even bill barr called the prosecution righteous and said that the sentence seemed correct to him. Yeah. Thats striking. Will barr who is getting out of the way of this slow motion disaster has happened now from the president he served. Seth cousins who served on the jury that convicted roger stone months ago, thank you so much for taking time for us tonight. Thank you so much for having me on, chris. Tucker carlsons top script writer resigns after racist and sexist posts come to light. The details on carlsons latest scandal after this. If you were to assemble a list, a hierarchy of concerns of problems this country faces, where would White Supremacy be on the list . Up there with russia probably. It is actually not a real problem in america. This is a hoax. Tucker carlson wants you to believe the concern about White Supremacy in america is a hoax, which is very convenient for a guy whos show has been dabbling in it for years. The truth is that White Supremacy is alive and well in this country, on tv and certain corners of the internet where racists get together and post this stuff. Like this observation during quarantine. Black dudes staying inside playing call of duty is probably one of the biggest factors keeping crime down. The author of that was not just some random racist. That was written by this guy seen here on a Washington Post dating column where he was identified as a proud trump supporter. He was also until last week the top writer on the Tucker Carlson news show on the fox news channel. He has been a racist and sexist Online Presence for years, hanging around in shady online forums. Taking part in offensive discussion topics. Just last week he responded to a thread in which someone asked, quote, and this is really offensive, would you get a jet black congo [ bleep ] do eye surgery on you . For 50 off. I would not get lasik from an asian for free, no. That kind of exchange is the whole point of forums like that. Horrible racists get together. They are the people who Tucker Carlson says you should not worry about because White Supremacy is not a real concern. But he is not just a random loser. He was tuckers top tick writer until last week. In fact, listen to this. He once posted to the dartmouth alumni magazine teleprompter, anything Tucker Carlson is reading off the teleprompter was first written by me, written by a guy who we now know has been posting bigoted remarks for years. How do you feel about writing now, now that you are on tv . Has it changed you . Well, i mean, i write every night. I work on the scripts. We have a wonderful writer, blake neff on the show. A wonderful writer, the guy who says i wouldnt get lasik from asians for free. After his racist posts were exposed, he resign and fox news bigotry, the online bigotry, not the tucker scripts. Fox said they had no idea what neff was doing. But come on. Least surprising news in the world. This guy worked for Tucker Carlson. It can be hard to keep track of them. The dark corners of the internet are where they hone their craft. One of them just, for instance, was the organizer of that charlottesville rally where white nationalists chanted slogans like jews will not replace us. Another was blake neff. And his work has helped lead to rave reviews for tucker by racists. Hes been celebrated by people like david duke. His show is the subject of admiration on the daily stormer. Doesnt hurt that tucker has credited white men for starting civilization. So you had a guy who was a racist writing his scripts for years, who has been praised again and again by the most outspoken racist in the country who love his show, a man who has hemorrhaged advertisers because he sounds just like blake neff. My country is invaded other countries. Look at the Population Movement in the United States. Our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the worlds poor even if it makes our own country poorer and dirtier and more divided. How am i, quote, personally responsible for the behavior of a Minneapolis Police officer. I have never been to minneapolis. And why is some politician telling me im required to be upset about it. This moment may be a lot of things but it is definitely not about black lives. And remember that when they come for you. Yes, when they come for you. Fox knows what its selling as does Tucker Carlson and the president , of course, knows what theyre selling. He loves it all. Hes constantly tweeting clips. In america 2020, the racist losers who trade vile jokes write the words the talking heads say into the camera and the president then tweets out. Those people who write that kind of stuff and message boards, theyre basically running the country. Around the world, 5 billion people lack access to safe surgery. For more than 40 years, mercy ships has deployed floating hospitals wi volunteer doctors who give their time to provide the free surgeries these children desperately need. I feel like my reason for being here is driven by love. I think its the love that changes the patients first. Join us. By calling or going to mercy ships dot org now. 19 a month will give children and families the hope and healing they never thought possible. And turn lives of pain into futures full of potential. Its a mission powered by love. Made possible by you. Call the number on your screen or donate now at mercyships. Org youre stronger than you know. So strong. 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You may pay as little as zero dollars for botox®. Ask your doctor about botox® for chronic migraine. You got this. A lot of people have compared 2020 to 1968, probably the last year in American History as tumultuous as had one and mass protests as weve seen the last few weeks. In 1968 the National Congress of American Indians first launched a campaign to end negative and harmful stereotypes. Particularly the continued use of racist and derogatory Indian Sports mascots, logos and symbols. 52 years later, amid what the New York Times has said may be the Largest Movement in u. S. History one of the most offensive names in professional sports is finally gone, retired for good. The washington nfl teams owner and head coach say they are working to develop a new team name and logo even though as recently as 2013 owner dan snyder said well never change the name. Its that simple. Never. You can use caps. Its kind of amazing the effects social moments can have and telling when bigtime corporate sponsors demand necessary change. Earlier this month ad week reported close to 90 investors and shareholders sent letters to nike, fedex and pepsi asking them to end their relationship with the washington franchise. Fedex told the team to change their name or they would pull their stadium signage, a move that could cost the team millions. Nike pulled all the teams gear from its website. And just like that the team has suddenly ditched its pejorative name. Im joined by Dante Stallworth who played for the franchise in 2011. I thought i would start on that. This is something indigenous activists have been fighting for decades and won a much deserved victory today. I wonder what its like to be on that team. Over the course of my life i feel that the awareness of just how awful this name is has developed among nonindigenous folks and wondered if you felt it on the team, did you talk about it in the locker room . Was it a presence for you . It was. It was a presence, and i think it started to hit the locker rooms more so in 2013, really when the pressure started to ramp up for the team to change the name. If im not mistaken, i believe thats the year that president then president obama had said at that Daniel Snyder should change the name of the team. And players were talking about it. Obviously for minority players it was definitely uncomfortable, but i think more so now players are starting to not only understand just how bad the name itself is but the history around the usage of the name and the history of the former team owner, the original team owner, George Preston marshall. He was the last nfl owner to integrate nfl teams with black players. So when you start to realize the history, then it gives you a better understanding of how the past is like the present today. Its interesting, too, because weve been ill talk to you in a moment about Roger Goodell and some of the things happening in the nfl but one of the things in this social movement in the wake of George Floyds killing and Breonna Taylors killing, lots of reaction and some feel symbolic and insultingly and others real and important. This feels like one of those. Do you think thats how its going to land in the nfl . I think when youre looking at the perspective how big this movement has been, and we look at it through how protests can create awareness and put pressure on teams or on entities to, you know, be in fear of what the bottom lines are. And so when the corporations come out and say, hey, its time for a change, which nike did and fedex did and other outlets started to not allow people to purchase merchandise, Washington Football Team merchandise, from their website. All of these things started to happen and you understand that persistence and justice go handinhand. The more that these things are starting to happen i think the bigger the pressure is building. As you noted earlier where the owner, the current team owner, dan snyder, said he would never, in all caps, change the name. And here we are today. Now the nfl, of course, has been front and center in a lot of this since Colin Kaepernick began his campaign kneeling during the National Anthem that created National Controversy and backlash and to a lawsuit in which he said he was black listed. It seemed fairly clear he had been for his unspokenness and now years later Roger Goodell saying black lives matter on tape. And then announcing that the black National Anthem, lift every voice and sing, will be played before nfl games. You had a great oped basically about that, about the empty symbolism here. What was your reaction to goodells announcement to that . My initial reaction was, like, who asked for this . No one asked for this. There are a lot of things seriously. There are a lot of things the nfl can do. The song is a great song. The history is steeped in a lot of antiimperialism, steeped in a lot of black excellence, steeped in the harlem renaissance. That song was initially a poem and then it came out. You cant really use that to get invited to the cookout. Thats not going to happen. There are other things you can do to get invited to the cookout, and the nfl has to reckon with its own policies and its own structure, organizational structure within the nfl ranks as far as the how little they have of africanamericans in their executive positions, head coaching positions. There needs to be a pipeline for young africanamerican coaches who can get into that pipeline, become an offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, which is essentially the way you become a head coach is through those positions. Until that happens, we look at the nfl as and i honestly believe that they now want to do the right thing since their players demanded it, chris, but well see how these things move forward. The players will continue to demand. I think theyre starting now to understand how much power they have. Yeah, and to that point, this is a strange time for a lot of reasons. Were seeing this push for sports coming back amidst the pandemic, and you have baseball and basketball in the bubble down in florida, and theres talk about what the nfl season will look like. I wonder as a former player how you would be thinking of the pressure to play under these conditions and your own safety amidst the pandemic if you were still playing. Its a little difficult to answer the question, but my general answer is if i was a younger player like some of these who just got drafted out of college, yes, i want to play. Its been my dream since i was a child. If im an older veteran guy who has a family and kids and a mother and grand parents and made your money, youre skeptical about playing and putting yourself out there. I dont know if theyll finish a full nfl season. I dont think well make it past week eight. I love football. Id love to see it. How safe is it . I guess well see. Hopefully its not a cautionary tale. Yeah, theres a real press release of the titanic vibe to all the stuff happening around the various leagues plans for this season. Okay, well see how this goes. Always great to hear from you. Thanks for coming on. Thanks, chris. That is all in for this monday night. The the 11th hour with Brian Williams starts. Good evening once again. Day 1271 of the Trump Administration. 113 days to go until the president ial election. Pandemic the white house is now enmeshed in what looks like an effort to try to sink dr. Anthony fauci, the scientist and doctor who has guided the country through pandemic threats under six president s and is a recipient of the president ial medal of freedom. Over 3. 3 Million People are infected that we know of. Over 136,000 lives have been lost. New cases are rising steadily. Above 61,000 new cases just today. Dozens of states now reporting outbreaks. 19 states set new benchmarks this weekend. And it was in the midst of that that these first reports started to emerge that the white house was not just trying to sid