Transcripts For MSNBCW Deadline White House 20200827

You cant stop it with a tweet. You cant create a distraction and hope it will go away. It doesnt go away. By its nature, a pandemic is unforgiving. If you get it wrong at the beginning the consequences are catastrophic and its very hard to catch up. You dont get a Second Chance at getting it right. Well, President Trump, you got it wrong from the beginning and then he got it wrong again and again. Senator Kamala Harris reality check to a nation reeling under multiple crises is where we start today. Washington post columnist Eugene Robinson and Associated Press White House Reporter jonathan hemere, democratic strategist ayesha mills will join us in a few moments. If you had intel about all the places where you could hurt donald trump the most politically, and then wrote a speech about those places, that was the speech senator harris delivered today. Well, we just saw right there, nicolle, one of the reasons why senator harris is on the ticket. They saw her time in the senate in a number of highprofile committee hearings, the withering question, her prosecutorial background shining through, the way she can pick apart a case or in this case an opponent. This was withering attacks from senator harris on a number of levels. Certainly, you know, first and foremost, breaking very much what weve heard from the Republican Convention all week in terms of talking about not just kenosha and depicting it in terms of violence or of rioting, which weve heard from Administration Officials and other republicans, but rather, certainly condemning the violence that has followed, but very much speaking to the reason for the protests, the suffering that black men have had far too often at the hands of white police officers. She gave voice to that something that the administration to this point has not done. She went after donald trump point by point condemning his handling of the pandemic suggesting that the biggest moment of his presidency he was scared, that he froze. Thats what she said today. He showed reckless judgment and put himself above the American People, suggesting, of course, that his number one job, his sacred duty as president is to protect the safety and well being and livelihoods of american citizens, and she said today laid out very plainly she did not. While this was certainly not the degree of trolling we saw last week when donald trump went to scranton, joe bidens old hometown in the hours before joe biden gave his acceptance speech, the fact that senator harris did this today a half mile from the white house a few hours before the president goes on stage over here on the south lawn, certainly caught Donald Trumps attention. The words she used, eugene, i think was negligence, that he was guilty of negligence, that he was alerted she didnt make these points, but we know from reporting in your newspaper and from jonathan and his colleagues in the press corps he was made aware of the lethal nature of coronavirus by the Intelligence Community in january. And then she laid out very methodically using his own words to build a case against him. These seem like the kind of factbased indictments that have the only chance of cutting through the so far three night long propaganda reel coming from Donald Trumps campaign. Yeah. I mean, if you need a prosecutor shes like jack mccoy on law and order. She laid out the case in an elegant and powerful way. You know, negligence, reckless indifference. There was a point at which she, after building the case, she basically said, you know, donald trump never understood the presidency, he thought it was about him. Its not supposed to be about him, its supposed to be about the American People. She came to that conclusion after having laid out all the ways in which he had failed the country. I thought it was very effective counter programming for the Republican Convention especially in tandem with the interview that President Biden gave to Andrea Mitchell earlier in the day which in a less formal way hit some of the same themes, but she was thorough, she was extremely powerful, and it was such a contradiction to the where are we speech that mike pence gave last night. Mike pence gave a speech saying well everything is awesome under donald trump and its all going to go to hell if you elect joe biden. Well, no, mr. Vice president. In fact, you know, everything has gone to hell under donald trump and here are the ways in which everything has gun one to hell and you didnt mention Racial Justice and the number of deaths in the pandemic. You were not being honest with the American People and she was. Such a good point about pence. A lego movie and the theme song is everything is awesome sorry im a little sleep deprived this week. Let me follow up with you on the contrast, you make a point too mike pence sought to deliver condolences to a Homeland Security security official murdered in oakland, his intention was to try to truly deliver condolences to an official who was murdered in oakland he left out the white supremacist part of the story and over and over again, maybe its a coincidence, okay, but over and over again, theres a hidden punchline with violence and violence in the streets of Donald Trumps america that has a direct tie back to white supremacy. It absolutely does. And, you know, mike pence is not that stupid. He knows that thats the case, right. He knows that was, you know, the boys or whatever they call themselves that killed the guy in oakland who knows that it was apparently a white supremacist who killed the other night in kenosha, he knows these things, but they treat this as just radioactive. They wont even get serious about the domestic terrorism threat posed by white supremacist groups, which is clear, which everyone who knows anything about the subject is screaming about this is a major terrorist threat we face right now domestically and they wont acknowledge it. I think its frankly fear of offending part of the trump base. I want to show you what weve been talking about, this methodical case against donald trump and his incompetence and his failures in many instances in his own words on coronavirus and the other side im going to bring into our conversation democratic strategist iy ya mill. Lets listen for. On january 24th, he praised the transparency of the chinese government. He said, quote, china has been working hard to contain the coronavirus. The United States greatly appreciates their efforts and transparency. It will all work out well. But they werent being transparent. They blocked Public Health inspectors from our cdc from getting access and information that they needed to protect american lives. On a call with governors across the country on march 16th, he told them it wasnt his job to get personal protective equipment to frontline workers. He said, quote, respirators, ventilators, all of the equipment, try getting it yourselves. Unquote. On that day, we had about 5,000 cases as a nation. Today we have nearly 6 million. Thats just staggering when you listen to the facts. I guess you have to hope if youre still living in reality and factbased america, not the target audience for this weeks programming that the facts still make the American People hope that we can do better. Well, i would hope they do. My favorite thing and first of all, hi nicolle. Hi. My favorite thing about senator soon to be Vice President harris is that she does show up with an attorney spirit, stating the facts in a way that are Crystal Clear and you cant argue against them without frankly lying and trying to hoodwink people and suggest that like oh, well, you know, believe maybe what im not saying. Donald trump is always trying to do gymnastics with the way that he makes our arguments. Sometimes he makes them plain, sometimes he backtracks. Kamala harris is always straight to the point and states the fact. This is the thing i think about. As a democrat watching our Convention Last week, going into this election, im constantly thinking about how are we messaging to the people who need to get fired up and animated. Im the person thats the choir, right, so Kamala Harris speaking to me, im listening to those facts and i remember when that happened. The question becomes, can we message in a way that average, you know, decent and thoughtful american says i forget about that and didnt remember. I think that Kamala Harris the attorney for the people is exactly the person who can do that and just state a plain case in laymans terms. I think she did that today. It will be interesting to see, though, you know, more importantly how this may or may not derail Donald Trumps night. You know that all the guy does is sit around and watch tv and as he is going into his big speech i think it was extremely strategic for harris to have done this in advance to kind of preempt and have a prebuttal because i think that thats also going to, you know, stir up something for donald trump which will make plain to the American People in the clips that come out of it that he also cant just focus on what hes doing because hes so busy running around trying to manage his reputation and poke at other people that he cant focus on his narrative. Jonathan, aisha makes a good point, Neither Convention is programmed for, you know, either the people who are enthusiastic about biden and harris or the people who are sold hook, line and sinker for the whole sort of trump airbrushing of the last three and a half years. Its for the people who arent sure, who may be chose mystery basket trump, not that it was a mystery, but lets try this, both sides are talking to that audience and what struck me about senator harris speech is there have been efforts to use her history as a prosecutor against him from both sides, but at this moment in Donald Trumps america and that is what this is, a programming note when you hear donald trump talk about how scary things will be if joe biden takes over, things are scary now because donald trump has lit the match and thrown it into these raw, painful wounds of systemic racism, thats why the things that are happening in the streets are happening, and its a 17yearold with a long gun who shot two people and then walked by police, the very same police who held a black man by his tshirt and shot him seven times, thats why theres violence and thats why things are happening in Donald Trumps america. We can hope they get better in Joe Bidens America should he win, but the truth and the fact right now is theyre happening in Donald Trumps america. Is there anyone that has i dont know the word to use anymore awareness of the reality of the moment or have they all left us, left planet earth for the trump distortion field . Nicolle, theyre all talking with one voice right now, painting this sort of dark picture of American Cities and the violence we have seen in some. Lets be clear in small doses. Most of the protests we have seen sweep this nation since the end of may when george floyd was killed has been peaceful. There have been moments in portland or seattle or now in kenosha, but those are small. This administration is placing the blame on the democrats saying these are cities run by democratic mayors or states run by democratic governors and would only get worse if the democrat was in office, trying to suggest yes, things will get scary in Joe Bidens America, ignoring the idea this, of course, right now is Donald Trumps america. You talked about audience, the audience for the president all week and certainly today is also going to be some republicans hes lost, some hes had soft support, some of those maybe even independents who broke for him last time because they wanted to give him a chance, perhaps they didnt care for secretary clinton but now have he has lost suburban voters, senior voters, over his handling of the pandemic and theyre trying to create a permission structure for those to come home, moderate or soft republicans to come home, perhaps who dont care for trump the person but have liked his policies and might be willing to give him another chance if theyre convinced by what they see this week. Aides have kept the speech under pretty tight wraps. We are aware of some parts of it. He is, indeed, to suggest he has spent four years to try to unit do the 47 years joe biden has done in his life, try to paint biden as a puppet of those radical fringe leftists, when biden is a far more moderate figure, and he is going to suggest it was four years ago youll recall he said i alone can fix it. That was his convention speech. This time he will paint himself as a singular barrier, the one force left, sort of defending the american way from these forces of radicalism. Thats his Closing Argument tonight. I expect were going to hear that a lot between now and election day. Let me show you joe biden on some of these topics. This is the same guy when people came out of charlottesville and a young woman gets skilled and spewing hate and veins bulging and carrying swastikas and White Supremacists and asked about what happened he said theres very fine people on both sides. He pours fuel on the fire. Hes encouraging this. This is his america now. You want to end where we are now weve got to end his tenure as president. Eugene, i worked for a president who was very unpopular in some parts of this country but when something happened he sought to make it better in any way he could and sometimes that meant deploying first lady mrs. Bush or standing back. But he always had the same of solving any problem where people were hurting and ill be the first to say sometimes came up short. But donald trump doesnt fit that place. Its time to stop shaving the truth out of the conversations. I havent heard the white house rebuke the man with a long gun who went into a community that is reeling from a Police Shooting last week. I havent heard donald trump say what weve said that the same police force and week treated a black man and a white assassin, treated two people differently. I havent heard anything. No, you havent. No, you havent heard them rebuke the young man, you havent heard last night you didnt hear mike pence say jacob blakes name. You dont hear the names of the people the turmoil and the unrest and the protests that weve been seeing for months now. You have you see no grappling whatsoever with systemic racism and its outcomes, its tragic outcomes, because they dont want to acknowledge that it even exists again. They seem to believe that either they dont believe it exists, which is hard for me to believe, or they believe that acknowledging it would be offensive to some of their base that it would disappoint some of the base, that it would conflict with their attempt to sort of scare everybody about all the black people out there and brown people out there who are coming to move next door to you in the suburbs and make your life a living hell you suburban housewives. I guess they think it would conflict with that message to acknowledge the problem that theyre making worse and its it really is a tragic situation because it is the country is ready for the grap pling and discussion ready for action and the administration yes, in this sense, is standing between the country and something potentially very good and wont budge so in that sense i guess he is the last line of defense, but its the last line of defense against progress. The young man involved in the shooting has been charged. Hes 17 years old and were not reporting his name. Eugene, and aisha are staying and were going to bring you the latest reporting on whats happened on the ground in wisconsin and around the flashpoints. Jonathan, want to give you a quick last word though on something you said about what to expect tonight. What do they think about how the week has gone so far . Theyre pleased so far. They think theyve delivered their messages. Theres been grumblingings about the tv ratings that have been down. Way down, hugely. With the one exception of melania trumps night. She did well. It will be a steamy night here on the south lawn, there is going to be an element of unreality as the who us tries to project the fact that the coronavirus has killed 176,000 people is a thing of the past. We heard larry kudlow refer to it, its going to be an image like it didnt exist, more than 1,000 people on the lawn. Weve obtained a memo from the Republican National committee those there are not going to be required to wear masks and not all going to be administered covid19 tests before they arrive. We pray for their safety. Jonathan, thank you for spending time with us. When we come back, same police force and town and week, questions being raised how police in the same town on the same week reacted to the 17yearold arrested and charged with intentional homicide after a shooting in wisconsin. And yesterdays nba walkout sent a wave of other protests across professional baseball, tennis, soccer. Well talk with one veteran turned activist how the sports world can continue moving the ball forward on social justice issues. Well have the latest on the hurricane that ripped through texas and louisiana overnight. At least four people lost their lives and a fire is raging at a Chemical Plant in lake charles, louisiana. All those stories still coming up. S still coming up tech when youve got auto glass damage. Safelite can come to you. Tech and youll get a text when were on our way. Tech just leave your keys on the dash and well replace your windshield with safe, nocontact service. Tech schedule at safelite. Com. Singers safelite repair, safelite replace. What happens when switch to Xfinity Mobile . Well, the good news gets shared. And it gets rated 1 for customer satisfaction. But dont just take our word for it. Take theirs. Its your wireless. Your rules. Only with Xfinity Mobile. Call, click or visit a store today. Yesterday during this hour we showed you some video from the tuesday Night Protests in kenosha, wisconsin and we have to warn you its graphic. It shows escalating violence and gunfire exchanged in the end two people were left dead, a third injured. The young man seen there with the militarystyle semiautomatic rifle has been charged with first degree intentional homicide. Were now learning more about the suspect. Hes 17yearold kyle rittenhouse, claimed he had come to kenosha that night to protect businesses during the unrest that followed the Police Shooting of jacob blake. His social Media Presence shows a strong support for law enforcement, for donald trump, for guns, and the Blue Lives Matter movement and first reported by Buzzfeed News rittenhouse posted a tiktok video from the front row of Donald Trumps rally in des moines, iowa, in january. Aisha and eugene back with us. Saying police force in that vehicle, Armored Vehicles that watched mr. Rittenhouse walk right by from that same police force comes the officer who held jacob blake by his tshirt and shot him. Nicolle, i really appreciate you in the last segment referring to him as an assassin. Thats what he is. Im not a lawyer and so i dont pretend to knows the charges but one thing i know about how we constantly talk about the incidences and perpetrators that has been frustrating for most of us in black america, it is that younger white boys, white men, get a humanization around the conversation of who they are. This kid went to school in this place and aspired to be this, that and the other thing and he liked guns, but he also had special needs, et cetera. Dylann roof, another example of this, shot up a bunch of people praying at a church and the police took him out alive and went and bought him food because hes human. The reality is, i think, as we watch this with so much pain and for me just anger and frustration is really starting to bubble up on top of that pain, is to have a conversation about the dignity and the humanity of the actual victims here and who they are and why their lives matter. This guy should be thrown everything that they can possibly throw at him in terms of the law, but i think that we should talk a little bit more about how this came to be. Who deputized this kid to come through and say hes going to stand and defend and protect anybody with his guns. Who incited that . Who told him to get in a car and examine on and drive if we know in the coverage on this network and others that the Trump Administration, certainly people that are inspired by donald trump, also feel entitled to go and stand and deliver whatever kind of violence they see fit on behalf of protecting, you know, whoever they think theyre protecting. That is the big problem here that really needs to be examined and talked about a lot more. You know, eugene, pick that up. Im just looking through the New York Times reporting on mr. Rittenhouse. He i mean, i think there were calls for vigilantes to go that were on facebook. I mean, this story being in the same town, being responded to by the same police force, involving a 17yearold who had an affinity for donald trump, so much so he went to one of his rallies who seemed to be aware of or responding to calls from i think facebook and reddit to be there, this seems to indict everything and everyone frankly with some blood on their hands. Two people are dead. Do you think anything changes . Well, look, i dont think you could put it in the problem if more stark relief than that. When jacob blake was approached by police who were responding to some sort of domestic dispute and we havent heard all of the details and all of that but somehow they escalated it to the point where as you said the officer held his tshirt and shot him seven times in the back. Kyle rittenhouse walks down the street, people are yelling behind him, you know, that guy, that guy was shooting people, and the officers just sort of let him just walk merrily by. Its not as if there was nothing suspicious about his behavior and, in fact, it was illegal for him in the state of wisconsin to open carry a weapon like that. He was 17 years old. The officer wouldnt have known that but he looked young and it was certainly he was somebody you would stop in the middle of a chaotic situation if willing to take that weapon out of the equation, yet he wasnt stopped. It was as if they were happy he was there. So what is a black man in america to do if my skin is a threat, if my skin is a weapon, and a danger to any police officer, why aat are you suppos to do . Its frustrating. And infuriating. And i think thats what youve been seeing over the last few months. Eugene, far be it from me a white republican to push back on anything youre saying but let me do so anyway. What do we need to know . I know we dont know anything, but jacob blake certainly hadnt just shot two people and he wasnt carrying a long rifle. What do you mean we need to know . I mean, i guess the point is the dehumanization is were going to wait and learn more before we say anything bad about these exactly. Exactly. We dont need to we dont need to another more details because its a domestic dispute. You deescalate people and go on about your way and everybody patches up or somebody leaves and goes some place else or whatever. You handle it in a human way and thats the thread thats common through the situations, george floyd, allegedly somebody said he passed a phony 20 bill and Rayshard Brooks fell asleep in the drivein line at a wendys and these situations that are routine and normal that should be dealt with without an officer even thinking about drawing a weapon and pointing it at someone, yet when africanamericans are involved they end up ending in tragedy. So youre right, and i didnt mean to say we needed to know more to know whats going on here because we dont need to know anymore. This is a pattern weve seen over and over again. You know, and aisha, i dont ever mean to put myself in the story, especially not this one, but let me say this, whats going to happen tonight is that donald trump is going to lie to the country, sadly a lot of people will believe him if youre among the very small tv audience compared to last week watching, when he blames lawlessness on democratic mayors and governors. Some of whats happening in the streets is sort of unprocessed grief and rage frankly at what doc rivers has put voice to, dom smith at the mets put voice to, that it seems like people dont care. It keeps happening. And i might be wrong. Donald trump might go out there and say i stand with these families who have lost africanamerican men, sons, fathers, brothers, he may humanize, i doubt it, im pretty sure im on safe grounds saying its not likely to happen, but if it does i will be the first to say i was wrong, but i want to ask you where the human piece gets addressed . We have 68 days to go before an incredibly conquenshal election but we have to fix the human piece just in how we talk about these things. Absolutely. And so, for example, were talking so much about the perpetrators and the alleged perpetrators and theres this debate back and forth between two sides about who is a perpetrator. I believe that the cops were wrong. Most of us believe that the cops are wrong. And also this white man who was vigilante who decided to assassinate people he also was wrong. Donald trumps people believe that well, its the protesters who are wrong. Were having all of this debate about who the perpetrators are and zero conversation about accountability. We get to more of the dignity and respect and justice when we acknowledge the fact that we keep watching this clip of this white man walking down the street wielding an illegal firearm, this is a rifle that hes got hanging around his body, who are the cops that are in those cars watching him walk across that street and driving by . All of them should be held accountable. There must be some disciplinary action for the people on the force who watched this man, didnt stop, ask him a question, nothing. Thats where we need to really be focusing our ire and conversation because the truth is, is that the reason that the cops are out there killing people and unabashedly so in some instances because there hasnt been deep accountability to them. There are folks who believe they are above the law and continue to believe that because were not coming them. I would love it see the faces and know the people who are supposed to be protecting and serving and being paid by the way by the tax dollars of folks in that state to do their jobs and here they are driving by while a person walks down the street armed, who not even stop and see if theyre dangerous, but what in the world are you doing Walking Around with this weapon. I think the conversation lens needs to change and we need to stop the back and forth about they brought it on themselves or this is the perpetrator and talk about the people whose job it is to make sure this isnt happening and what are they doing with themselves. Aisha mills, Eugene Robinson, thank you both for spending some time with us and for your candor. After the break yesterday was unprecedented in the world of sports after boycotting games, nba players this afternoon are considering a return to play and asking the question, now what . S . We cant just take from nature. So we collaborate ocean spray works with nature every day to farm in a Sustainable Way i got this Mountain Bike for only 11. Dealdash. Com, the fair and honest bidding site. An ipad worth 505, was sold for less than 24; a playstation 4 for less than 16; and a schultz 4k television for less than 2. I won these bluetooth headphones for 20. I got these three suitcases for less than 40. And shipping is always free. Go to dealdash. Com right now and see how much you can save. Its hard to tell your 14yearold son that i worry about him when he walks out that door. I have a 21yearold son and i worry about him. Black men are endangered species pretty much. These cops are killing because they feel like if they dont have their body cams on they have a right and i tell my kids all the time, i say, i dont care whats going on because at the end of the day i want you coming home to me. If you have to lay down on the ground and they can kick you, beat you, at least youre going to go to the hospital and come home to me. This is the sort of thing weve seen so often in the past few days particularly in and from the world of sports that shared sense of pain, of grief, fear, spilling out in conversations about police violence. Professional athletes are turning that raw emotion into activism. What started as a boycott in the nba spread to other sports leagues last night. Games were canceled and postponed to send a message to start a conversation. The nba announced this afternoon there wont be any games tonight. Theres a Conference Call schedule between players and owners to go over next steps and play could resume either tomorrow or saturday. Lets bring into our conversation retired professional basketball player author of we matter athletes and activism thank you for spending time with us. Outside the world of sports you have the sense that boycott yesterday kind of came out of nowhere, but thats not true. Theres a long history going back to muhammad ali as a Conscientious Objector of the vietnam war and turning up the volume of their protests since Colin Kaepernick took be a knee and paid a price for it. Talk about this moment right now, tell me whats happening right now on these teams . Well, this is a moment where youre seeing athletes as a whole just say enough is enough and i think right now, what a lot of people dont understand is that they see athletes on tv, see athletes like lebron and, you know, everyone theyre playing and in their sport but they dont understand theyre fathers, they dont understand they have these talks with their children every single time Something Like this happens. You saw robert earlier, and i can relate to everything he said as a father. Every time Something Like this happens i have talks with my children. My son is 15. Just turned 15 and im terrified for him. Every time Something Like this happens i cant sleep for a few days. [ inaudible ] when stopped by the police and what he cant do. Hes going to be driving in a year and that frightens me in itself. Those are the conversations and things that go through athletes minds for some reason that america things were in this protective bubble where these things dont really bother or affect us but that isnt true. What do you think about doc rivers statements and lebrons tweet yesterday enough is enough. I mean, do you do you think this will represent a next level, i dont want to use the word breakthrough because that seems like an artificial measure, but they have the countrys attention the nba does right now, by postponing the games in the playoffs, being in the bubble, being together, and by having the country sort of really feeling this vacuum at the highest levels of the federal government. Its tough because you would think that the country would have taken notice as a whole a long time ago. You know, this isnt the first case of Police Brutality, the first case of a black man being shot thats caught on video. But i think that what makes this different is that the entire nba had a work stoppage a boycott, and are voicing that they want change and they want it now. So now it depends on where you go from here. There is a lot of different directions. I wrote a column for the guardian and i was urging for them to push the nba ceos, i dont call them owners, for obvious reasons, nba ceos to use their power and influence to be able to push laws to be changed in the cities where their teams are. For instance, mark cuban in dallas has a lot of power and political clout in dallas so he could even put pressure on the city to be able to say okay, if the Dallas Police department doesnt adopt some of these these Police Reform different protocols were going to withhold funding from you and i bet you would see change happening immediately. Take that next step. Because, you know, the nba, these are billionaires, Mickey Harrison in miami, you know, these are billionaires and they have power to put change. Its different for millionaires. Nba players are doing a terrific job of letting their voices be heard and objections be heard but i want to see the next level. Because i want change to happen. Its a perfect point. These are the same billionaire owners who get cities and towns that cant fix their bridges or schools to build them beautiful stadiums so thats a brilliant point. I want to ask you about lebron james effort to we spent a lot of time talking about the effort to really impact Voter Suppression and to make it easier for people to vote, to turn some of these empty arenas since everyone is playing in orlando in the bubble into giant voting precincts. Is there an opportunity to draw more attention to that, to engage more players and teams in that effort . Definitely. What the players, what lebron is doing, is ramping up the voting effort is phenomenal. You talk about him in particular, the way he is moving his platform is on the level of the activist weve seen in the past. I think that you have somebody at the top of their craft using their voice, using their platform and pushing people for change. I saw a quote where he said a few days ago that 50 of his mind is on the playoffs and the other 50 is on how he can help his black people. Thats powerful. Thats a powerful statement to make. What hes doing also is making it easier for other players to be able to stand up. If you remember a little bit of a period of time in the 90s things were quiet. Things were a little bit different. The whole climate of the nba was different. But now you have the top player who is speaking out not going to shut up and dribble like laura engram told him to do, hes going to speak out and talk about politics, come back at trump, talk about Voter Suppression, hes going to talk about Police Killings of unarmed black men and women and do everything and be that muhammad ali type of mouthpiece in this day and age and its inspiring for other athletes who are following behind him. Its a beautiful thing. Its a pleasure to talk to you about all this. Its a big deal. It goes beyond the world of sports and politics but a big moment for the country and grateful to have your insights. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Our coverage of the rnc continues tonight. Our preconvention show starts with an interview, mary trump will be with us before her uncle donald trump delivers his acceptance speech. Mary trump sitting down with rachel and joy and yours truly here on msnbc at 8 00. After the break were tracking the situation in louisiana and the damage caused by the most powerful storm to hit that state in more than a century. Ali velshi is down there for us and will join us next. D will jo. Im a verizon engineer, and im part of the Team Building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband, and its already available in parts of select cities. Like los angeles and in new york city. And its rolling out in cities around the country. 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People have been told to shelter in place, lock their door, close their windows and turn off their airconditioners. Theres no reports of sdwruinju or deaths. One of biggest issues fallen trees that are blamed for four des deaths. Texas governor says thats bun unconfirmed case in his state. Hurricane laura trudged inland with maximum sustained winds of 65 miles an hour and as laura continues on her course, President Trump this afternoon visiting fema headquarters to get briefing on the storm. He says he will visit the gulf coast soon and will still deliver his acceptance speech tonight. I was prepared to postpone this speech tonight and make it on monday. I was going to texas. I was going to louisiana, maybe arkansas. Looks like arkansas. I just spoke to the governor. It will be in pretty good shape. Theyll need some help. We got bait lucky. It was very big, powerful but it passed quickly. Em everything is on schedule. Well probably be going on saturday or sunday and heading to texas and louisiana and maybe an additional stop. As trump pledge the full support of federal government his critics pointing to his move a a few weeks ago gutting Femas Disaster Relief Fund of 44 billion as part of his executive action to bypass congress on Coronavirus Relief when that he failed to cut a deal to do so. How are people doing . Reporter its tough around here. I rode the storm out in beaumont, texas. Im on the eastern part of the texas, louisiana border. Its not that far but the damage is something around here. Just up the road, the damage to a neighborhood looks more like what youd see in a tornado than a hurricane. This is strong hurricane. You see that kind of damage but massive power outages. Theres been a a few deaths in louisiana and one that is not confirmed in texas. Texas got the easier part of things. Its caused damage for hundreds of miles up the coast. Im on i10 now. Ive been seeing a number of electrical bucket trucks that are moving back and forth to restore pow. Al seen a number of vehicles with generators on them going back and forth under police escort. Its down this direction on i10 east toward port arthur about 30 miles from here where we have that chemical spill. As you know, this area is called the Golden Triangle between port arthur and beaumont and going out to lake charles. A lot of natural gas, a lot of Chemical Plants. Thats always a massive concern. About 85 of the gulf of mexico workers in the actual gulf on rigs and platforms rr evwere evacuated. Refining has been stopped. They generally tried to contain the danger but we have this one chemical fire east of us. This is typical in any hurricane. You see these overhangs go down. It goes a lot deeper than that. Access is a big problem. This thing came on in louisiana. Ive been trying to get there. Cant get there in some cases because the roads are all closed. The winds are down. The repair trucks can be out there but people have not some people have not seen their homes yet and they are in for sad surprise. The thing bill warned us about was this historic unsurvivorable storm surge. A lot of damage we have seen at this point is from the wind. Wa are the reports on the storm surge . Reporter it does we have fot got records of it reaches the heights. We didnt have the measurements equipment and it went out of order in some cases. It didnt seem like it it as high but we have one side the storm surge. On the other side you have 150 ma miles an hour winds. You combine those two and every damage was going to happen. East of me for a very wide swath all the way up louisiana we have that kind of damage. Ali, you stay safe and pass along our prayers and our best wishes for the recovery there. Thank you so much for reporting on that for us. Up next, back to politics and the racial reckoning this country is facing today. The next hour of deadline white house starts after quick break. House starts after quick break we cant just take from nature. So we collaborate ocean spray works with nature every day to farm in a Sustainable Way i think the most difficult part is to see like people still dont care, and for this to continuously happen, it just shows just the hate in peoples heart. I have young nephews ive had to talk to about death before they even seen it in the movie. If not now, when . If not during pandemic and countless lives being lost, if not now, when . If not now, when. Its 5 00 in new york. A president who sees good people on both sides of White Nationalist rally have left a nation to reckon with Racial Injustice all on its own. Basic viss young and old have poured into the vacuum in growing numbers especially in the wake of George Floyds killing at the hands after minneapolis killing earlier this summer. No moment has mustered the clengive energy and floouns ain and power of professional sports of 29yearold jacob blake. A colleague calling it the biggest moment of sports activism in american hicstory. Athletes from the nba, wnba, Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer took their bolders stand yet against systemic racism and Police Brutality boycotting games on wednesday in response to the Police Shooting in wisconsin. The boy scocott spraed to the m. Nba players are set to resume playoff games. This hour yesterday the entire league was boycotting. Todays playoff games are still postponed and its unclear when they will be rescheduled. Professional athletes stepping into the Leadership Void to make sure the shooting of jacob blake didnt fade into the fog of Donald Trumps america. Trumps poentss heard the outcry. Joe biden and Kamala Harris out in force offering their vision for justice and an indictment of the american carnage playing out on trumps watch. Jacob blake shot 7 times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons. Seven times in the back in broad daylight in front of his three young sons. As vice President Biden put it, the shots fired at mr. Blake pierced the soul of our nation. Its sickening to watch. Its all too familiar. It must end. The reality is that the life of a black person in america has never been treated as fully human. We have yet to fulfill that promise of equal justice under law. This is the same guy when people came out in charlottesville and a young woman gets killed, they are spewing hate and veins bulging and he said they are very fine people on both sides. He just keeps pouring fuel on the fire. Hes encouraging this. Hes not diminishing it at all. Its his america. You want to end where we are now, we have to end his tenure as president. Filling the leadership is where we start today. Editor at large for the 19th focused on intersection and policy, erin haines is here. Kevin let me start with you about this moment in sports. Not just yesterday when the drama of boycott hit news rooms around america but the sustained efforts and the expression of an intention to keep the focus on these issues. S im surprised. I didnt see it coming. For a long time we have criticized athletes for being too involved in their games and not being involved in things outside the game. This time, that didnt happen. You understand why. This is a sport the nba and the wnba where the people who play the game are the people who are most affected by this sort of violence. This Police Brutality and police against black people in this country. They basically couldnt take it anymore. It will be interesting to see now they had their day of absence from their games, to see what their course of action will be from here going forward. I think they need to be organized and listened to people in the black lives Matter Movement and pick up from there. Kevin, you and i first met when i was covering Donald Trumps constant weekly attacks on nfl players for standing with collin kaepernick. Ive asked you this before, why does the nba sit more comfortably . Why is adam silver able to give more space to his teams than seems to happen in other sports . I want to renew that question but i also want to play you this chris weber sound. Former nba star and ask you to also around the humanity that all these athletes and former athletes have been willing to share. We should mentioned baseball cancelling sochl the inling som last night. Lets watch chris weber and talk on the other side. We know it wont end tomorrow. We know theres been a million marches and nothing will change tomorrow. We know vote. We keep hearing vote. Im here to spoke for those that are always marginalized. Dont listen to these people telling you dont do anything because its not going to end right away. You are starting something for the next generation and the next generation to take over. I applaud it. Its the young people leading the way. I applaud them. Kevin. That was unbelievable. One of the things that struck me about yesterday as the emotion, the raw emotion that you saw coming from black male players all across this country. Something you normally dont see. They are cast in this very hardened light by the media. Their feelings are something that very much kept inside. Yesterday they were unleashed in anger but also in tears. I saw robert cory say a similar type on a broadcast he was on. This is its a very, very difficult time. One thing i would say is players have to understand and all of us have to understand that when we are involved in this struggle, this struggle is multipronged. Protest is multipronged. Its not just voting. Its not just boots on the streets. Its things the players are able to negotiate with the nba that i wasnt in favor of because i think that leads to a movement and a message. Theyve been able to keep this issue on the fore front of everybodys minds. John, the sort of Practical Impact was to thrust Donald Trumps greatest vulnerability around policy measures. Theres no issue around which he trails joe biden more than on this question of Racial Justice. What the league did and what all professional athletes did yesterday was make sure that this is the story were talking about. When donald trump is creating a fiction. A fiction where he has no responsibility for the pain and sort of the deterioration of the country not that its ever been perfect or great. He has presided over and thrown gasoline and matches on every conversation and every crisis around race as president. Right. You know you think about this week, the convention week. The reason that parties and president s and president ial candidates care so much about the convention is that its the four nights they have under their control. After this, its kind of out of their control. Theres the news cycle. Theres external events and debates. Theres never a period they have uninterrupted air time. This convention has presented the question of race in some ways as being a question of law and order. Of fear mongering, playing to an imagined silent majority, white majority and saying, even after the shooting of blake on monday, jacob blake, to say this is all about kenosha is about violence and anarchy of those on the left. Those joe biden will copitulate to. Youve seen protests at the street level, the grassroots that have been unleashed since the killing of george floyd in the spring. Those protests have been gathering momentum in a lot of different places. Alsoly in kenosha where theres been clashes. Youve had the street and the grass roots versus the top down message of the Republican National committee. Yesterday what the nba did was say, wait. Were going to insert ourselves in the National Media conversation so that were now going to have a fairer fight because a fight between the Republican National committee and donald trump and on one side and lebron james and the whole of the nba, these sports stars who are massively popular, wealthy because they are so popular, idolized, dired by not just black kids but majority of the nba fans are white fans. They have stood up and command the spotlight. They command attention. They have said, no. This isnt just an issue thats about law and order. This isnt a story about the radical left. This is a story about Police Brutality. This is story about what you can see with your own eye os on the tape of the 7 shots in the back of that man on monday. Were going to make sure theres an argument here thats played out where its a fair fight in some sense. In terms of the Media Attention that this side of the argument gets. Thats what the power of this is. This makes it donald trump versus lebron james and all of those other player. That has interrupted the flow of the Republican Convention. Donald trump feels as if he has to respond. If the nba hasnt done what it did yesterday, im not sure that donald trump would have spoken about jacob blake. We dont know what hes going to say. He would have tried to get tru this speech about talking about law and order and not having to address this issue in the way he feels compelled to. They have seized control of the media narrative and made a different week for the republicans than they hoped to have. Erin, john is making an important point. I come to his points out of sort of feeling of personal failure. Rachel maddow and joy and i are reluctantly and with a lot of restrants jumping in to fact check this and that. I like to make this programming note to all of our viewers to anyone who turns on donald trump and hear him talk about donald trump ushering in violence. Donald trump ushered in the violence. Donald trump is in charge right now of everything that happens on the street and in last nights address from Vice President pence when he shared his condolences for Homeland Security official. That Homeland Security official was murdered by a bugaboo boy or whatever they call the White Supremacists. This frauds thats being perp perpetuated on the American People, it seems another benefit, another gift from this boycotts is we puncture through the lies in a more effective way than news coverage. I think what the reality is that the National Reckoning on race is happening in this country and its very much under way whether the president , his administration or this convention wants to acknowledge it or not. Thats the message that youre seeing from black athletes in terms of what the wnba and the nba did, Major League Baseball did. What they did by walking off the court literally in frustration around the unrelentsing killing of unarmed black people in this country is saying, this is happening in our america too. Frankly, the ignoring of the killing of george floyd, ahmaud arbury, the shooting of jacob blake by them making little or no mention or to make mention many a way that only demonizing largely Peaceful Protesters or centers destruction of property of violence is to say this is not happen in their america. As john mentioned this convention opened with the shooting of jacob blake and yet the law and order message is something that youve heard several people doubling down on saying we need to focus on the future and learn from the past with no real mention of what is happening very much in the present. The solution to ending the rioting and the looting that they seem to be so focused on is to stop killing black people and come up with a plan for how, whoever is president next, plans to address that. Thats something were hearing from the biden harris ticket but something President Trump and Vice President pence seem either unwilling or unable to really acknowledge. It will be interesting to see if that is something that the president is going to speak to tonight but i think given what we heard from him over the past four years and over the course of this reelection campaign, i dont know that is something we should expect to hear but as somebody who is the leerd of this country in a country where this is happening, he should be expected to acknowledge it. The indictment of Donald Trumps roll of fanning the flames of White Nationalism are coming from inside the house. From the highest levels of Homeland Security. Let me show you this ad from Republican Voters against trump. It features Elizabeth Newman who i had the pleasure of speaking to. Lets watch and talk bt it on the other side. We looked at emerging threats including the growing threat from domestic terrorists. In over the period of 2017 to 2018, we started to see that rise of White Supremacists agen agenda. I and my leadership at the department of Homeland Security were clear we found the ideology behind White Nationalism to be a growing threat, a very common refrain i was asked was does the president rhetoric make your job harder . The answer is yes. The president s actions and his language are racist. Things like fine people on both sides or send them back to where they came from. Those words gave permission to white issue premists to think that what they were doing was permissible. I do think that the president s divisive language is indirectly tied to some of the attacks we have seen in the last two years. On. Lets think about what we have had this week and not miss the message. We now think the president is going to talk. If you read whats been leaked, the notion he will talk about unrest in portland, seattle, chicago, kenosha which suggests what well hear from donald trump is another version of democratic cities out of control where riotics and looters are running in the streets. Not any direct addressing of what we saw on video this week. Were four days into this convention. Jacob blake was shot in the back seven times on monday. Donald trump has not said his name in four days. Donald trump has only talked about kenosha and the context yesterday of sending tweet out that said, were going to send federal forces in to get control of the city of kenosha in the context of the shootings that took place there. We now have a suspect in those shoots. We have a 17yearold white kid. Theres video of that kid at a donald trump rally in the front row in iowa on january 30th. That kid with a long gun who lives in illinois, traveled up to kenosha as to get in the middle of this. Hes got social media that says back the blue. Blue lives matter. He has social media that says hes a huge fan of donald trump. That kid, that white 17yearold kid who went up there. Who is a domestic terrorist. Exactly what this former Trump Administration official says is making our job harder. Yes, hes giving permission to domestic terrorists. I dont know this 17yearold kid but you look at his social media and his profile, he looks like a White Supremacists. If hes not on out front white issue pr supreme assists. He is a terrorist. Anybody who leaves their home, drives to another state and shoots two people on the street meets the Legal Definition of a terrorism. Were seeing it now. Trumps silence is another version of the permission structure that allows those kinds of feelings to take root and those behaviors to happen with impunity. Again, i with hold judgment. We have not heard the president speak but so far were four days into this and what the president said and what he hasnt said is exactly the problem and gives exactly the kind of implicit racially, insind area message that allows this violence to take place and encourages it and what that woman woman and many other people who have watched him over the last four years have pointed to as the problem. Thank you all so much for spending some time with us. When we come back, much more on the democratic tickets biggest counter attack. Biden harris dismants ling the falsehood and revisionist history on the Republican Convention. More republicans are stepping forward to endorse joe biden. Widespread damage in destruction left behind after the most powerful hurricane to hit louisiana in over a century. In normal times those hard hit times would turn to fema but donald trump has taken billions from femas relief funds. Deadline white house continues after a quick break. Unds deadline white house continues after a quick break. [ chuckles ] whoo. Im gonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gonna get this place all clean. Ill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. 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The democrat ticket is rebutting whats been a week of republican fear mongering and a dark presentation of what is quite ironically Donald Trumps america as well as prebutting what will be the culmination of it all when trump officially accepts his partys nomination. Here was joe biden this afternoon with our colleague an dree t Andrea Mitchell. Covid is out of control. Hes doing very little. He didnt prepare for it. He continues to be in a position where he does nothing to deal with it. We have 15 Million People out of work. We have it just is amazing how if you notice ed they didn speak about covid or any of the reason why were doing whats happening in kenosha is happening. Vice President Joe Biden is like of us, cant control his dog in the middle of an interview. This afternoon senator Kamala Harris criticized trump on his big day with a wide range of attacks on his administration and leadership. Hes the president of the United States. Its not supposed to be about him. Its supposed to be about the health and the safety and the well being of the American People. On that measure, donald trump has failed. You see, at its most basic level, donald trump doesnt understand the presidency. Instead of rising to meet the most difficult moment of his presidency, donald trump froze. He was scared. He was petty and vindictive. Joining our conversation, former White House Press secretary robert gibbs. A. B. , i watched senator harris speech today and i tweeted this already. Its not a new thought. As i watched it, i thought this is exactly what they were afraid of. Trump adviser told me there was some angst about her being selected. She stood there. Shes the only one on either ticket, the only one of the four of them running who that been a prosecutor. She spoke calmly. She stuck to the facts and she indicted donald trump with Donald Trumps own words. I thought it was a devastating take down on the biggest impediment, economic recovery, which is the failure on coronavirus. Right. I do think that she is a much more controlled and effective speaker than donald trump and then joe biden and mike pence who advistends to speak and he repeats over and over again in circular fashion. Shes a good mes skren century jer and they are on the right message. The decision to ignore the pandemic and talk about happy times and the need for a tough leader who is not a nice guy because hes not a wimp and hes unorthodox and the other themes they are hitting at the rnc is a mistake. When people are not only really hurting from grief or infection or financial ruin but were going to see more of it. There are looming evictions and forclosures and kcascadining jo loss and god forbid School Closures once they open. The idea its about his leadership and not the state the country is in is the right focus and that is what biden focuses on. Its about the voter, their pain. The other thing is unity. The president and you heard this in Kellyanne Conways comments about the worse of chaos is, the better it is to strike a contrast. The president speaks to citizens of democratic states and cities like they dont matter. He doesnt lead them. Hes not responsible for them and hes not interested in their well being. They can rot in democratic run cities that are some kind of war zone. He has nothing to do with. Its never about unifying in a moment of pain, righting wrongs and soothing all these division. Its always as biden making the point over and over again in his interviews about stoking division. Its smart of them to come out. I think they are probably about 36 hours late. I would have recommended they come out sooner. They will need to keep talking to people who are aware in the murder suici middle of wildfire, chemical stills, covid19 and economic destruction and all this strife from the shooting of jacob blake and others that the presidency is really not about its leader. Its about the country. That is always their message. Let me just say its bat bleep crazy for one of the most senior white house advisers to gcome ot and try to goose the violence. We know the person who is charged with murder, intentional homicide is someone we were talking about in the last block, certainly based on his attendance at a trump rally and his social immediate ra fimedia trump supporter. This depiction, more comes down on the trump side. Its indisputable. This case that senator harris made of Donald Trumps failures on covid which are the single biggest impedement to any economic recovery is undeniable. I think its a turn to Trump Campaign has never made which is understanding that this isnt 2016 in the sense that 2020 hes the incumbent president. As you said, as the Vice President ial nominee and others have said, whats happening in america is as a result of the lack of leadership by the american president. Donald trump could love this campaign to be bought as if he wasnt the incup bents president and he didnt own the lack of leadership and the failure of response around coronavirus or the lack of leadership and the failure and response in the Economic Disaster or in racial relations and what hes done and through his rhetoric wa he has added to that. I think that will be fundamentally something that is really difficult for him to swim around or to get over in this election. Its something quite frankly, they never really thought through the leg work of how to fix what ails the country in order to run on something that is different. Let me show you some more of joe biden from today. Everything hes inherited, he screwed up. He screwed up the economy so badly. The last four years, we werent having riot, racial riots. When they occurred we didnt have to call in the National Guard. We protected federal property without hurting people. Removed in the direction that made sense. Hes a fiction writer in the extreme. I take abs point they could have started this part of their messaging and their push back earlier this the week. This does seem like the appropriate way to push back. Im heartened as someone and im sure you feel the same way. Tieing failures the peoples homes, people lives and the economic disparity that every one is feeling whether covid has struck their family or their home or not. Well, absolutely. Look, i think as we have talked about it, the worse may not yet be over. We have seen weve had 22 of the last 23 weeks. Weve had initial unemployment claims above a million. Just to give some people some Historical Perspective about this. The record before covid was less than 700,000. We have been above a million the last 23 weeks. This devastation is going to continue. Its here. I think today is a recognition from the democratic ticket that by in large the Republican Convention is over and this campaign is joined. Youve got both tickets are now solidified and youre really going to start the daytoday march of what this Campaign Like and its going to be really important for vice President Biden, senator harris to be out there on a daily basis making sure they are part of this argument. Making sure they are part of this vision and it cant be knocking down what lies have been told. Continuing to fill in and continuing to give some really lift to what both of them would do to rebuild their economy. What they would do to get a hold of the response on the coronavirus, on race relations, on public safety, on a host of these things. Theres no doubt the challenge has been lads through the messaging of the Republican Convention of what donald trump and mike pence want to run on. I think its pretty clear that its incup bents upon biden and harris to make sure they are out there forcefully with the other side. Noun with is going anywhere. We will bring into our conversation after a quick break. Well be right back. Quick break. Well be right back. Find your g. Find pants that arent sweats. Find your friends. Find your sense of wander. Find the world is new, again. At chevy wed like to take you there. Now during the chevy open road sales event, get up to 15 of msrp cash back on select 2020 models. Thats over fiftyseven hundred dollars cash back on this equinox. Its time to find new roads, again. Just hours before donald trump accepts the republican nomination, support is snowballing today among former republican staffer, former republican president s and president ial candidates for president , support for joe biden. The growing antitrump movement includes hundreds of former aides to the last three republican nominees, dozens of bush and romney and mccain alum any. More than a hundred former staffers who notably feuded with donald trump. It comes on the same day as this ad is teased to be introduced in arizona where mccain served in arizona. Much more unites us than divides us. We are fellow americans and thats an association that means more to me than any other. If theyre not happy here, they can lever. They can leave. Many people will miss them. Were dedicated that all people are created equal and endowed by our creator. Theyre bringing crime. Theyre rapists and some, i assume are good people. Joining us the political director for Republican Voters against trump. The group behind that ad, tim miller. Robert gibbs and a. B. Are still here. Tim, what do you think is going on out there that so many people want to be count and. It used to be like the Witness Protection Program coming out against President Trump. Not so much anymore. For sure. I think in 2016 there was a lot of folks that didnt think he would win and thought they could shri sling by quietly. In 2016 there was a lot of residual hatred over the on thes. People are fed up with virus, the protests, racial division. People are ready to speak out. Were happy at Republican Voters against trump to be the vessel for that. In arizona running to that az is the ad for Elizabeth Newman inside the white house and in charge of Threat Prevention at dhs talking about how disasterous his response to covid is. I appreciate the tough questions you gave her last night. Bush and romney and mccain staffers are against him and trumps own Homeland Security theres a segment of voters that will breakthrough with. Were trying to elevate the voices. They can hear how dire the situation is. Not with trumps tone but the results on the virus and on the pandemic. I feel bad about the tough question. I loved it. Thank you. She gave me the best explanation for a question ive been asking on this show and prooif prooif privately. Why do they stay . The question i asked her was about how she stayed after she heard the sounds of children wailing on the propublica video. I think she gave an answer that may go a little distance to explaining why general mattis stayed until he couldnt. Until he disagreed with donald trump on policy. I guess why other people in National Security stay. My question to you is, how do you make the American People understand that it isnt this abstract concept of democracy that is at risk. State of wisconsin. National security is what happens in your backyard. National security is not feeling safe sending an email or writing a text. National security is not knowing if your son or daughter in the National Guard will be deployed somewhere because donald trump does something wreckless and impulsive and bleeping stupid. National security is what happens in our homes and lives and donald trump threatens it. I think this is what makes e his beths testimony so powerful. She gave the president too long a leash for way too long. When voters hear that, when trump voters who gave him that leash, who gave him a chance, who wanted him to succeed, hear from somebody inside and in charge with dealing with threats and when she testifies me didnt care about White Nationalist violence and we see the extremist right violence last night and how it caused two unnecessary deaths in kenosha, when she says there were experts that were presenting a pandemic plan and the president didnt take it seriously, didnt want the hear about it because he was worried about the economy and his campaign. That hopefully will breakthrough with some segment of the electorate that knows inside that his decisions have caused harm to this country and maybe they are traditionally republicans. Maybe they really dont like the democrats but maybe they just hear this system and say for this one time, we need to go with joe biden for temporary fix because this is insane. Its gone too far. A. B. , these seem to be the most effective attacks and they come from joe biden and Kamala Harris and tims group. They are the way to reengage maybe on the fence trump voter. No matter what you believe hes failed you. Hes failed to protect you pr the virus which means your Small Business is not safe or secure. Your station in life is not safe or secure. It didnt have to be this way. It did not have to be this way. I think that the virus is the most damning of president President Trumps and maybe of anyone in that office ever in the history of our government because as ive said on your show before, the federal government cannot pass pandemics off to the state. Its federal burden. The government is accountable for our collective security. Its not responsible for keeping us healthy, happy or rich. Its responsible for stopping or mitigating and protecting against pandemics and forn threats. It did not have to be this way. We are not safe in Donald Trumps america and biden said so in so many words in his interview today. He talked about safety and more than a thousands people are dying. Hes reducing testing. There was no plan to opening schools. They are becoming outbreak centers in half of our 50 states. I think what tim Republican Voters against trump videos are doing, i dont think its a huge stampede to come out and make the videos. Theres a lot of pressure on these peoples family and communities to not speak out about how they feel about donald trump. You do not shame their neighbors and friends and member of their community about this message of how hes failed. What they are saying is policy differences are no longer a luxury that we have. The president is trying to break the system and this is why you see all of these staffers from the last three republican nominees and of these voters on the videos talking about why they can no longer support him. We have never ever seen anything like this where members of Major Political party leave the party and support the other candidate of the other party simply because they believe the country and democracy is at stake. Its a very message. Thank you for spending some time with us. When we come back, picking up pieces after most powerful storm to hit state of louisiana in more than a century. State o in more than a century dont just think about where youre headed this summer. Think about how youll get there. And now that you can lease or buy a new lincoln remotely or in person. Discovering that feeling has never been more effortless. Its the final days of the lincoln summer invitation sales event. Right now, get zero percent apr on all 2020 lincoln vehicles. Microban 24. Watch as microban 24 kills 99. 9 of bacteria. And then, even after multiple touches, keeps killing bacteria for 24 hours. I trust microban 24 to keep killing bacteria for 24hours. Im a verizon engineer, and im part of the Team Building the most powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband, and its already available in parts of select cities. Like los angeles and in new york city. And its rolling out in cities around the country. With massive capacity, its like an eight lane highway compared to a two lane dirt road. 25x faster than todays 4g networks. In fact, its the fastest 5g in the world. From the network more people rely on. This is 5g built right. Only on verizon. Hurricane laura now a Tropical Storm is moving through arkansas, mississippi and tennessee as it heads toward the east coast. It left behind damage in southwestern louisiana and eastern texas. High winds and heavy rain damaged buildings and brought down power lines leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses would you tell us electricity. Fallen trees are blamed for four deaths in louisiana. Recovery efforts are being complicated by a chemical fire at a manufacturing plant near hard hit lake charles, louisiana. Authorities have told People Living near the plant to stay inside their homes, turn off their airconditioners. President trump got an update after a visit to fema headquarters. While he thanked fema, he may have hobbled the agency ability to respond to disasters. Earlier this month he took 44 billion from Femas Disaster Relief Fund to pay for expanded unemployment benefits. One year ago today, we learned that trump took 155 billion from fema to pay for Detention Centers and hearing facilities for Asylum Seekers at the southern border. Lets get the latest on Tropical Storm laura now. Bill, i was up at night worrying about what we described yesterday as unsurvivable storm surge. Tell me what this storm looked like when it came to shore. The first thing, im going to comment im going to comment on, you said they told people in louisiana to turn off the air conditioner off. Turning that off is telling the people in the northern part of the country in february to turn off the heat. 100 plus heat index the next couple days in all these areas that dont have power. Lets get into the storm, what happened last night. The winds delivered what they thought they would, category four, 150 Miles Per Hour winds slammed on shore. Looks like a tornado went through, 30 to 40 foot wide tornado went through southwestern louisiana, including lake charles area. The strongest winds recorded were in lake charles. Thats some of the highest winds ever recorded inland from a tropical system. Incredible stuff. It is 30 miles from the coast. It is so swampy and flat, the geography in louisiana didnt tear the storm apart. We were mentioning it tied the storm from 164 years ago. This is the seventh storm, this is the third hurricane landfall this year alone. Peak of season isnt until september 10th. We have a long ways to go. I know. Thats the bad stuff. So the tornado watch continues little rock and areas of mississippi. They havent had a lot of tornadoes, still could have power outages, especially in areas of arkansas. Winds down to 50 Miles Per Hour. In little rock, the worst of it is over top of you, in a half hour will improve, then just a big rain maker when it heads to the east coast. A nasty saturday, especially saturday afternoon as this rainfall associated with laura comes through. Little rock is under flash flood watch, new orleans through louisiana, we cleared you from flood watches. Thats one piece of good news. And the final thing to talk about, this time of year you say whats next. We have two systems that are way, way out in the atlantic. Nicole, happy to say i dont expect land areas to be threatened anywhere for the next five to seven days. We get a chance to catch our breath before im sure it will get active as we click into september. Good news these days. Bill karins, thank you for spending time with us. When we come back, remembering lives well lived. Remembering lives well lived your humira experience even better. With humira citratefree. It has the same effectiveness you know and trust, but we removed the citrate buffers, theres less liquid, and a thinner needle. With less pain immediately following injection. Ask your doctor about humira citratefree. And you can use your copay card to pay as little as 5 a month. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections. Serious and sometimes fatal infections,. Including tuberculosis, and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened,. As have blood, liver, and nervous system problems,. 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