Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20201210

Of each other and thats it. This is pandemic book tour special. Yeah, and for your last book tour you went around the country, there were a bunch of events. Even though i was on crutches, it was very laborious. Theres always something with a Rachel Maddow book tour. Lawrence, thank you so much for that interview you did with me about bag man. You were very kind, you picked out stuff from it that nobody else picked out about it. I loved the book, rachel, it was easy to do. Thank you very much, rachel. Thanks, lawrence. Thank you. Mitch mcconnell did not cry today. The United States set a record today, the largest number of people to die in this country on one day from the coronavirus, 3,046 deaths. But Mitch Mcconnell did not cry today. More people than were killed on 9 11. But Mitch Mcconnell did not cry today. There are more people in hospital beds tonight in america being treated for coronavirus than at any point this year. The highest number ever. 106,688 people in hospital beds tonight, many of them fighting for their lives with their families not knowing if they will lever see them again. But Mitch Mcconnell did not cry today. Millions of people out of work. They lost their jobs, their income to the coronavirus pandemic, unable to pay their rent, waiting in food lines. But Mitch Mcconnell did not cry today. Not for them. Not for any of the people suffering tonight in america. Mitch mcconnell did nothing for those people, again, today. The only reason we know Mitch Mcconnell can cry is that exactly one week ago today, exactly one week ago today, Mitch Mcconnell cried. He cried on the senate floor after listening to the Farewell Speech of the retiring and utterly undistinguished republican senator from tennessee, lamar alexander. Mitch mcconnell cried. For lamar alexander, who isnt sick, who wasnt dying like the 3,046 people who died in this country today from covid19. Lamar alexander hasnt suffered at all during this pandemic, hasnt lost any income, isnt worried about the rent. And thats who Mitch Mcconnell cried for. The one time we have seen him cry. Lamar alexander was a fully reliable tool of Mitch Mcconnell in the United States senate. Lamar alexander had no Guiding Principles stronger than doing what Mitch Mcconnell wanted him to do. And nothing could be more important to Mitch Mcconnell, more endearing to Mitch Mcconnell, than that kind of Blind Loyalty to Mitch Mcconnell and his mission. Mitch mcconnells mission was described today on msnbc on Nicolle Wallaces show by Steve Schmidt in one of those extemporaneous short speeches of his that just stop you in your tracks and force you to not just listen but to say the words again in your head and think. And every time you think about the most forceful things that Steve Schmidt says, the most sharpedged things that he says about the people who he used to work for in the Republican Party, you know that its true. And Steve Schmidt saying it about republicans makes it all the more importantly true. Steve schmidt ran john mccains campaign for president. Steve schmidt has always wanted a republican to be president of the United States until donald trump became the Republican Partys nominee for president. What Steve Schmidt said today explained everything, everything that republicans try to do to suppress the vote in places like georgia, which we will discuss later in this hour. Everything republicans do in support of Donald Trumps completely frivolous lawsuits about the election. Everything republicans do in washington all day long, every day, was explained by Steve Schmidt in this one searing sentence in the middle of a riveting soliloquy on what the Republican Party has become. The Republican Party is an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power for selfinterest. An organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power. In Steve Schmidts analysis, ted cruz is a participant in that organized conspiracy. So ted cruz said yes when donald trump asked him last night if he would be willing to argue the case for him in front of the United States Supreme Court filed by the Texas Attorney general, seeking to invalidate the Election Results in four states, pennsylvania, georgia, michigan, and wisconsin. In the New York Times reporting, there was no indication that donald trump had to apologize to ted cruz before ted cruz accepted the assignment. Donald trump of course famously insulted ted cruzs wife in the president ial campaign in 2016 when ted cruz was running against donald trump and donald trump at the same time suggested that ted cruzs father was involved in the assassination of president john f. Kennedy. At the time ted cruz said that donald trump was, ted cruzs words, a sniveling coward and, ted cruzs word, a rat. But ted cruz doesnt need an apology from donald trump because as Steve Schmidt said, ted cruz is part of an organized conspiracy for the purposes of maintaining power. Nothing personal. And the way ted cruz remains a member of that conspiracy is by getting Trump Supporters in texas to vote for him. Ted cruz will probably never get a chance to appear in front of the u. S. Supreme court in that case because the Supreme Court is very unlikely to accept the preposterous case, to throw out millions of votes. Ted cruz did not offer to help anyone suffering either physically or economically from the coronavirus pandemic this week. Ted cruz did not offer to help support the people in texas who have created some of the longest lines in the country at food banks. Ted cruz did not try to help anyone who cant pay their rent after covid19 took their jobs away. Our first guest tonight, congressman katie porter, just couldnt take it anymore. She couldnt take what Mitch Mcconnell is doing. And she explained it all on twitter today. She wrote, when i came to congress, i knew i had a responsibility to pull back the curtain for the American People and expose corruption in real time. So im filling you in on senator mcconnells attempts over the last eight days to tank a bipartisan covid relief bill. You may have heard that democrats and republicans have agreed upon spending 900 billion to fund another round of Small Business loans, support hospitals, and essential workers, and help the 10 Million People who lost their jobs through no fault of their own. Everyone at the negotiating Table Including Senate Republicans has agreed to a compromise except one. Mitch mcconnell is refusing to bring it to the floor unless it wipes away all covidrelated lawsuits filed that allege injury or death due to corporate negligence. These lawsuits represent the worst of the worst examples of disregard for human life cases filed on behalf of nursing home patients and Grocery Store workers who died because the company in charge of keeping them safe prioritized cutting costs over protecting them. The same mcconnell who said that President Trump is 100 within his rights to pursue baseless lawsuits alleging Election Fraud is now refusing to pass urgentlyneeded relief unless it strips those same rights from the most vulnerable among us. This must be exposed. We might break a record again tomorrow. We might have more than 3,046 deaths from coronavirus tomorrow. The one thing we can be sure of tomorrow is that Mitch Mcconnell will not cry. Leading off our discussion tonight is democratic congressman katie porter of california, a member of the House Financial Services committee and the House Oversight committee. Congresswoman porter, thank you very much for joining us tonight. Take us through what its been like for you in the house having passed covid relief bills, massive covid relief bills months ago that have been ignored by Mitch Mcconnell and now were going through this process where Mitch Mcconnell continues to ignore the best efforts made by everyone else trying to solve this problem. You know, its not just what ive been going through as a member of congress. I just want to say what ive been going through personally. You talked at the beginning about Mitch Mcconnell not crying today. Well, i cried today, because my grandmother is dying of covid19. And shes dying because of people not taking responsibility for this pandemic. So its just disgusting to me that mr. Mcconnell will not allow a bipartisan compromise to move forward because he wants to give away goodies to huge corporations. Let me just, congressman, please, go back to your grandmother for a moment, im very sorry to hear about her condition. Where is she, how long has she been sick, and what are you hearing about her condition tonight . Shes in iowa where she was born and has lived her whole life. Shes 94 years old. She was transferred to the hospital. We elected to have her put into hospice so shes receiving comfort measures and will pass away in the upcoming days of covid. And in the meantime, im getting phone calls from constituents who have lost loved ones and hearing stories about workers who are scared to go to work because they dont have enough ppe. Im putting food in trunks of cars to help people at food banks. This is the epidemic in america. Its an epidemic of covid, its an epidemic of hunger, of housing inecurity. Its not an epidemic of lawsuits. Any effort by Mitch Mcconnell to suggest that that is happening is flat out lying to the American People. Let me ask you as a former law professor yourself about a technical point that isnt clear to me. How would federal legislation control civil lawsuits within the 50 states each of which have different rules for civil lawsuits within those states . That concept is called preemption. And what it basically does is that when the federal government passes a law, in this case the proposal for Mitch Mcconnell is to allow corporations to act as recklessly as they want and to not be on the hook if people get covid and die as a result of their recklessness. And so the federal law would override the state law. Now, you know, ive been thinking a lot today about my tort class in law school where i learned about how these rules about Employer Liability came to be. Weve put these rules in place because corporations, particularly at the time of railroads, were allowing their workers to get maimed, to be killed, and not engaging in any kind of reasonable safety precaution. So we adopted the standard we have now. So if businesses are following reasonable rules, state Public Health guidelines, theyre not going to face any liability. There is no epidemic of liability. In fact there are more lawsuits, baseless lawsuits brought by trump about this election than there have been medical malpractice or personal injury lawsuits relating to covid19. So Mitch Mcconnell is in search, this is not a problem, this is simply about giving his corporate donors what they want. So when i listened to you talk about Steve Schmidt and shes talking about this conspiracy, his words, this conspiracy to keep in power, its important to peel back, keep who in power . And the answer is the nations largest corporations who want a green light, they basically want a license to kill without any liability. Rachel has covered in depth the way things have been handled in meat packing plants, including people in one meat packing plant at the Management Level making bets on how many people working in that meat packing plant would get covid19, they were actually betting on it. Thats exactly the kind of situation that Mitch Mcconnell is trying to prevent any lawsuit arising out of evidence like that that has emerged. Weve seen it right here in orange county. Right here in orange county, we had 46 workers who got sick at a Single Call Center owned by at t. Two of those workers died. And yet Mitch Mcconnell wants to let at t off the hook for having to do anything to try and keep those workers safe. If Mitch Mcconnells rule were to go forward, then companies would not have to provide ppe. They wouldnt have to follow state Public Health guidelines. And if they ignored all those rules to put profit ahead of people and people died as a result, they would get off the hook. Thats what Mitch Mcconnell is holding up relief to hungry people, people facing eviction, over. The bills that the house has passed that Mitch Mcconnell has just stiffed, not even given a chance to even be considered there, it has a pernicious effect of making washington and the National Media ignore those bills because they dont have a chance to pass the senate. Its kind of its important work that youve been doing, that nancy pelosi has been doing over the whole year, that just gets ignored because of this mcconnell roadblock. I think thats understandable from the perspective of the American People. They need help. They need food on the table, they need a roof over their head. They need unemployment assistance. They need these things. So i understand and deeply sympathize with the American People. But i want them to understand that whats holding us back is standing up to make sure that theyre going to be safe in the workplace, that our essential workers will have to have reasonable safety precautions in the workplace, that nursing home patients will have to be protected by Nursing Homes following reasonable safety precautions. Thats what were fighting for. Congresswoman katie porter, thank you very much for joining us tonight, and im very sorry for what you and your family are experiencing now with your grandmother. And i am, as ever, impressed by your commitment to working for your constituents and the people of this country even under these really difficult personal circumstances for yourself. Really appreciate you joining us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. And when we come back, its all about Mitch Mcconnell. Georgia can do it. Georgia can remove Mitch Mcconnell from the leadership of the senate in those two senate races that are being run in georgia right now. Well be right back with the latest from georgia. Traditionally, black people have been shut out [music playing throughout] of the financial system. My grandfather founded Industrial Bank in 1934 so black people would have a bank that would work with them. Because our doors are open, other doors are opening to more opportunities for our community. Were excited to work with citi, so we can realize our dreams of expanding our reach and impact. Citi is committed to working with blackowned banks like industrial, so they can continue to support their clients and communities. Save for being a new customer, for adding drivewise, and for driving safely. Whatever you drive, start driving down the cost of insurance. Start driving down the cost see every yikes. And even every awwwwwwww. Wait, where was i . Introducing self protection from xfinity. Designed to put you in control. With realtime notifications and a week of uninterrupted recording. All powered by reliable, secure wifi from xfinity. Gotta respect his determination. Its easy and affordable to get started. Get self protection for 10 a month. From now until january 5th, each candidate running for senate in georgia is invited on this Program Every night. Its an open invitation to all four of the candidates, the two democrats and the two republicans. Both democrats, jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock, have accepted that invitation and have appeared on this program. And they surely will again. But the republican candidates, Kelly Loeffler and david perdue, have refused to appear on this program. They arent very good at answering questions about the way they have traded stocks, using information they gained in their position as senators. We would also like to hear about what they have to say about why they are attacking the results of the georgia election, the election in their own state, which was run by republicans, a republican georgia governor, a republican georgia secretary of state, and republican appointees within the secretary of States Office in georgia. Senator loeffler and senator perdue are supporting the lawsuit brought by the Texas Attorney general who is under investigation by the fbi and probably seeking a pardon from donald trump, a lawsuit to completely invalidate the Election Results in georgia and other states, including pennsylvania, where republican senator pat toomey has said the attempts to reverse joe bidens win in pennsylvania are indefensible. Republicans did everything they possibly could to suppress the vote in georgia which joe biden still won because of the determination of georgia voters to not be suppressed by those techniques. Now georgia officials are planning to reduce the number of early voting locations in the most populous counties including cobb county, where joe biden won by 14 points. Tonight, jon ossoff, who is running against republican senator david perdue, said this during a conversation on instagram with leslie jones. There was a Supreme Court decision in 2013 called Shelby County v. Holder. In that Supreme Court decision the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights act of 1965. Since that Supreme Court decision, states like georgia have engaged in more and more ruthless Voter Suppression but then heroes like Stacey Abrams stood up and said, actually were not going to let you take away the sacred franchise that people bled and died for. When people learn someones trying to take away their rights, were galvanized in our determination to exercise them. Joining me now, the manager of Stacey Abrams 2018 campaign for governor. What is the situation in georgia tonight . Lawrence, i think you said it. We have two Republican Senate candidates devoid of any substance. They wont debate the candidates or if they do, in Kelly Loefflers situation, they speak like an automaton, like a trump maga talking point automaton. In georgia were seeing the surge that were seeing all over the country and these issues are affecting georgia voters. Theyre turning out to vote, lawrence. Over 1. 1 million georgia voters have already requested ballots. Democratic numbers are incredibly strong. Meanwhile, we have david perdue and Kelly Loeffler playing all of these trump politics and all of these political games, trying to sow all this disinformation in the georgia elections. And i would call them games except theyre so dangerous. This disinformation that they are trading in and by supporting all this baloney trump litigation, they are really just helping bust up all these norms and all of our institutions in the state. And whats wild about it, lawrence, is weve got these republican maga folks cheering some of the early vote closures that you just referenced. But lawrence, some of these are in republican counties, okay . These guys need to look at the numbers. In forsythe and hall county, donald trump won those counties, guys, and yes, theyre targeted at latinos and asianamericans. But early vote location closures hurt everybody in the county. And because donald trump and his cronies are all antivote by mail, over 70 of georgia republicans used vote by mail in forsythe county. Forsythe county is a north suburban exurban north georgia county, okay . There are a lot of democrats there but there are a lot more republicans. Theyre trading in all this disinformation but its creating quite a backlash because theyre trying to turn their folks out at the same time. So were letting them go through all of this, and, you know, have their sort of interesting war while were focused on turning out the vote and making sure our folks know where the early vote locations are and how to return their vote by mail ballots while they have this massive feud. Theres obviously a massive amount of money pouring into these campaigns. Republicans pouring in more money at this stage than democrats, apparently. But what has that done to Georgia Television . Are voters just overwhelmed with campaign ads at this point when they turn on their tvs . Sure. Its a big national race. It feels like a president ial, the levels of spending are extraordinary. And you cant watch Television Without watching a ton of political advertising. What im really looking at, though, lawrence, is all the other activity on the ground. Hundreds of thousands of doors have been knocked by fair fights allies in the field, organizations like the new georgia project and black p. A. C. And asianamericans advancing justice. There are a whole coalition of progressive and democratic groups that are tuning all of that noise out and theyre getting the vote out. And you can see it already in the numbers. And so weve got some important dates coming up in georgia. If youre a georgian, make your plan to vote, go to peachvote. Com. Monday is the first day of inperson early vote. The vote by mail process is still ongoing. Folks can still request and return those ballots. And so, yes, the money is extraordinary. But at a certain point folks start to tune that out. And what people are not going to tune out are those knocks on the door or the Text Messages or the phone calls. Theres tons of food giveaways and work to make sure that theres charitable events happening. It is a really tough time for families. While the republicans are duking it out, just like your previous guest, congresswoman porter, talked about, most georgians are trying to figure out how to have a reasonable holiday for their family, how to get the kid the thing they want on their christmas list, and have unbelievable financial distress. We all know people who have covid in georgia and are struggling. Our icu capacity is going down. This is a scary time. And so jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock are talking about those issues and all of the allied groups are really meeting voters where they are to talk to them about those issues and connect the dots. Republicans are blocking covid relief to do giveaways to large corporations. Just like congresswoman porter said so eloquently. Jon ossoff and Raphael Warnock will be like katie porter. They will go to congress and speak truth to power and deliver for georgians who need that relief so desperately. Lauren, thank you very much for your expertise on the situation in georgia. Well need to hear from you a lot between now and january 5th. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you. When we come back, a republican lawyer quit his position in the Florida State government after seeing the video that we showed you last night of the state police raid on the home of Health Department whistleblower Rebekah Jones. The republican lawyer who resigned his position after seeing that video will join us next. Everyone wants on the 5g americas been waiting for. Verizon 5g is next level. Switch now and save 700 on galaxy s20 plus and get another on us. Plus select unlimited plans include disney , hulu, and espn . 100 obsessed with the mandalorian. man i watch a lot of sports. woman it has all my favorite shows. And right now the best in gaming is also on us. Its like a gift on top of another gift. Gifts keep coming at you. Everywhere. This is 5g from americas most reliable network. Im a talking dog. The other issue. Oh. Im scratching like crazy. 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Ask your veterinarian for apoquel next to you, apoquel is a dogs best friend. Our next guest resigned his position in the florida government because of what youre about to see. We showed you this video last night, when Rebekah Jones, the florida Health Department whistleblower who was fired for refusing to manipulate covid19 data, joined us here to describe what it was like when Florida State Police Officers entered her home at 8 30 a. M. On monday searching for computer evidence about a possible text that should not have been sent. They entered her home with guns drawn and aiming those guns upstairs in her home at her husband and her two children, ages 2 and 11. Come outside. Outside. Who else is in the house, maam . My two children and my husband. Where is your husband at . You want the children down . Call them all down. Mr. Jones, come down the stairs now. Police. Come down now. Search warrant. Youre aiming a gun at my children. He just pointed a gun at children. Here is what Rebekah Jones said about that last night on this program. I thought i was being arrested. I had no idea what for. But i have honestly been expecting desantis to send people after me for six months. I didnt know they had a search warrant for the house until they started yelling warrant inside and told me to tell my husband and two children to come downstairs which was confusing because i had no idea why. And theyre standing at the top of the stairs, and the my husband is holding our 2yearold daughter and my 11yearold son is behind him and theyre pointing their guns at him. At the end of that discussion last night, i reported the breaking news that attorney Ron Filipkowski resigned in protest from his position on a Judicial Nominating Commission after he saw that video of the police, guns drawn, in Rebekah Jones home and after he studied the search warrant which was issued by a judge who was appointed by Florida Governor ron desantis. In his Resignation Letter from the post that Governor Desantis appointed him to, attorney Ron Filipkowski said, i have been increasingly alarmed by the governors response to the covid19 pandemic. I believe the policy of this state towards covid is reckless and irresponsible. I have followed the events of ms. Jones and reviewed the search warrant that led to her home being raided. Based on what i have seen and read, i find these actions unconscionable. Even if the facts alleged are true, i would still call her a hero. I no longer wish to serve the current government of florida in any capacity. Joining us now is Ron Filipkowski, former vice chair of the 12th circuit Judicial Nominating Commission in florida. Hes also a former general counsel to the sarasota Republican Party. Thank you very much for joining us tonight, mr. Filipkowski. We really appreciate it. Tell me how you came to your decision. Did you see the video first and then read the search warrant and assemble your thoughts from those two things . Yes. I saw the video, and obviously was pretty shocked and outraged like everybody else. And then i posted something on twitter about my visceral reaction to that. And actually a trump supporter sent me a link to the search warrant from the miami herald website and said, before you say anything, you better read the warrant and see what terrible things shes done. I did that and it just made me more mad. Well, yeah, im going to read from the warrant, because its all about a text. Theyre in there with guns drawn because a text was sent to florida workers in the florida Health Department, maybe to 1,200 people. The text said this. It was a group text. Its in the warrant. It said, its time to speak up before another 17,000 people are dead. You know this is wrong. You dont have to be part of this, be a hero, speak out before its too late. That was the crime that was being investigated with guns drawn in Rebekah Jones home. Its outrageous. I mean, and the fact that a search warrant was signed which was so broad, which encompassed them seizing all of her electronic devices, with no minimization or limits on what they could do once they received those devices, led me to believe that really their primary the primary target of this warrant is not necessarily Rebekah Jones, and the primary purpose of the warrant is not to make a criminal case against Rebekah Jones. The primary purpose of all of this is to find out the identities of the people inside the State Government who are talking to her and what theyre telling her. And i think thats really what theyre after. Yes, and she has said that she has had some Confidential Sources in there who have been trying to give her good information about covid and she worries now that with the seizure of her electronic devices, the identities of those people could well be obtained by the state police whose boss is the governor of the state of florida. And you make the point that those Police Officers knew exactly who this woman is, shes kind of famous in florida now. Yeah, absolutely. Theres just no i know that the Governors Office is denying that he had any knowledge whatsoever about this investigation or this warrant. I mean, this is a Law Enforcement agency that reports directly to the Governors Office. It doesnt report to a state Attorneys Office locally. So and this is a nemesis of Governor Desantis and has been for six months, an outspoken critic, high profile. So the idea that his own Law Enforcement agency would execute a search warrant like this on such a high profile critic and they wouldnt clear it through him or his general counsel first . That just strains all credibility to me. Ron filipkowski, thank you very much for joining us tonight. And also thank you for taking your oath as a lawyer seriously and your position as an officer of the court seriously, and when you see Something Like this, Say Something about it the way you have. We really appreciate that. Thank you. Thank you. And when we come back, a meeting of Public Health officials in idaho had to be shut down when protesters showed up at the homes of the officials who were in that meeting. Well show you what the mayor had to say about that, next. Im still discovering whats next. And still going for my best. Even though i live with a higher risk of stroke due to afib. Not caused by a heart valve problem. So if theres a better treatment than warfarin, im reaching for that. 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Whoohoo great tasting ensure with 9 grams of protein, 27 vitamins and minerals, and nutrients to support immune health. And nutrients to youre still the one that i love to touch still the one and i cant get enough were still having fun, and youre still the one applebees 2 for 20. Now thats eating good in the neighborhood. So imagine youre at an important Public Health meeting, doing your job, and suddenly protesters are outside your home, scaring your 12yearold son, who is home alone. Does that seem like the world is going crazy to you . And how much is social media helping that world go crazy . When you look around you, it feels like the world is going crazy. You have to ask yourself, like, is this normal . Or have we all fallen under some kind of spell . Thats our next guest, Tristan Harris from the netflix hit documentary the social dilemma. About social medias influence on our lives and the way we think. We have nurses in this country reporting on people who have fallen under some kind of spell about the coronavirus. They dont believe the coronavirus is real, even when they are in the hospital dying from it. Yesterday, people who dont believe the coronavirus is a threat to them managed to shut down a Virtual Meeting of Public Health officials in boise, idaho, when they protested outside of the office and at the homes of the officials who were in a videoconference where they were scheduled to discuss the possibility of mandating masks. Im sorry, i just got a text from my neighbor that there are protesters at my house. So im going to step off for just a moment to call the police because my kids are there. Thank you. Okay. Ive also got protesters outside my house as well. It is not under control at my house. And its not under control at dianas house. My son is at home by himself right now and there are protesters banging outside the door. Im going to go home and make sure hes okay. I will reconnect with you when i get there. Im sorry to interrupt, i got a call from the mayor and it sounds like the police and she is requesting that we stop the meeting at this time because of the intense level of protesters in the parking lot and the concern for Police Safety and staff safety as well as the protesters that are at some of our Board Members homes right now. The Washington Post reports the protests were organized by a multistate network of right wing activists called peoples rights. The group was founded by ammon bundy, a vocal antimasker and antigovernment activist who gained National Attention as part of the 2016 standoff between Patriot Movement extremists and federal police at the Malheur National wildlife refuge in oregon. One of bundys associates was killed by police after reaching for a gun. Twitter is now labeling Donald Trumps tweets about Election Fraud as disputed. Not untrue, not false, just disputed. Today youtube announced, we will start removing any piece of content uploaded today or any time after that misleads people by alleging that widespread fraud or errors changed the outcome of the 2020 u. S. President ial election. So what twitter is labeling disputed, youtube is now refusing to even show on its website. Never before in history have 50 designers, 20 to 35yearold white guys in california, made decisions that would have an impact on 2 billion people. 2 billion people will have thoughts that they didnt intend to have because a designer at google said this is how notifications work on that screen that you wake up to in the morning. Tristan harris joins us next. Into a smaller life . Are your asthma treatments just not enough . Then see what could open up for you with fasenra. It is not a steroid or inhaler. It is not a rescue medicine or for other eosinophilic conditions. Its an addon injection for people 12 and up with asthma driven by eosinophils. 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A threat of violence that is meant to intimidate, but can also ultimately incite, and cause deep, deep problems in our community and tear families and other people apart. Im seeing what madison warned against, about a minority of people who make it impossible to govern. A minority of people who make it impossible to govern. And who are now encouraged by false information flooding into that phone in their pockets every minute of the day and night. Joining us now, Tristan Harris, a former Google Design ethicist and the cofounder and president of the center for humane technology. Hes featured in the social dilemma. Thank you for joining us. I want to get your reaction to what were seeing with these kinds of protests in boise, intrastate communication necessary. A lot of communication necessary to get people there in their protest positions, and a tremendous amount of false information has to flow to them in a way that they believe it and they therefore believe that coronavirus is not a threat to them and thats why theyre out there protesting. What is your reaction to that kind of assembly that is based on that kind of information flow . Yeah, lawrence, well, watching your teeup here, its really troubling. Were living in an era where 3 billion peoples thoughts are now jacked into this Digital Information system that is shaping what all of us are thinking and believing. Is there violence on the streets of oregon right now . How would i know . Im looking through the binoculars of social media. Whether i get a news feed on the left or the right that tells me here is evidence of violence or theres no evidence of violence. Or heres evidence of voter fraud, in one news feed, theres more and more evidence, and in another news feed, each of those cases are being dismissed. And you get this microreality, and what social media has done, because of this Business Model, as we say in the social dilemma, the Business Model that depends on us getting an affirmation feed, not an information feed, weve divided the collective National Psyche against itself. Were now not seeing the same movie of reality. The talk of theres a coup going on. That language, theres a coup. The left sees it as President Trump is staging a coup by trying to reject the results of the election and incite his base. And the right sees it as the results of the election are invalid. I believe the current stat is, 70 of republicans believe the election is not valid. And depending not on having seen the same information, but depending on the fact that weve seen different information. And the only way we can have Common Ground is by realizing how social media has destroyed our Common Ground. Thats a common place to stand. And thats what the film is really accomplishing, trying to get everyone to see were now ten years into this mind warp that has so radically steered us into more and more conspiracy theories and radicalism. Lets talk about the distinction between youtube and twitter. Youtube saying were not going to allow you to put up any more stuff about Election Fraud. And twitter using the word disputed, every time Donald Trump Tweets something utterly false about Election Fraud its called disputed. And Trump Supporters love that what he says is disputed. Thats part of what they like about being on his team, being on his side of the dispute. And everything trump does is a dispute. So it seems to me that that language on twitter just doesnt do what twitter might intend for it to do. Its hard, because as the Companies Start to take down certain kinds of content, that also increases polarization. And foreign adversaries like china and russia that use the fact that the Tech Companies will label it saying this is disputed, they use it to drive even more polarization. Now people will get more upset that Tech Companies are taking down certain things, and upset that theyre not taking down other things. And theres no simple way where they can reduce this problem. Theyve created 3 billion truman shows. Theres not a person behind your camera who is checking to see if i say a swear word or something with a fivesecond tv delay and doing gatekeeping. In this model we have 3 billion truman shows, and theres no gatekeeping. Yes, twitter may try to flag one thing, but for every one thing they flag correctly, they may accidentally take down 100 accounts that didnt deserve it. And that drives more polarization from conservatives who believe theyre being censored. So this is the situation were in. And they can grow faster whackamole sticks, but the Business Model is a mole farm. Theyre growing for more problems that they can deal with. And the only way to get out of it is have a cultural awakening that recognizes weve been through this mind warp, and its driven us crazy. On all sides. And i think the social dilemma is helping us see that, across bipartisan perspectives. In the end, it comes down to us taking control of it ourselves, turning off the phone, and breaking our own connection to that information flow. Yes, except honestly, if everybody watching this program right now got off of twitter and youtube, it still we still live in a country where most other people wouldnt have done that. And well still see the results of elections determined by what people have seen and believed on social media. The damage has been done. Even if you subtracted social media, were running malware with confirmation bias. One of the things about conspiracies, if you believe in one, youll believe in more. When social media has dosed us with conspiracies for years and years now, we have to have a cultural reckoning. Im hoping the Biden Administration can say just like we have economic recovery, we need to have social recovery. This is the issue beneath other issues. Whether you care about racial injustice, climate change, or the election, whether its legitimate, it depends on us having a shared movie of reality. Tristan harris, you can hear more from tristan on the Netflix Documentary the social dilemma. Thats where i first heard you. I could listen to you all night. I am going to watch the documentary again. Its a brilliant analysis that opened my eyes. I really appreciate you joining us now. Thank you so much, lawrence. Tristan harris gets tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts right now. Good evening once again. Day 1,420 of the trump administration. 32 days since the electric was called for joe biden. 42 days until the inauguration of joe biden. And we set an awful record today. 3,063 people died of the coronavirus just today. Thats more than the number killed on 9 11. That news comes just as we are hours away from a Pivotal Point in the fight to stop the virus that has held the country in its secure grip for just about ten months now. Tomorrow, the fda holds a critical day long meeting that will hopefully end in a vote to approve emergency use of the