sucker from what the president said and said, look, the president has just given voice to something that is acceptable to say and to feel and that s american not standing for progress and integration and for inclusiveness but america standing for shutting up its borders and putting up barriers and putting up walls. to the extent that america can appeal to the better angels or darker angels in this world, that s what this country does. that s what this president has the capacity to do. any president of the united states can solicit and harness moods around the world, not just in this country. and this president is allowing people who agree with him on issues of immigration and on issues of race to say, look, you see. the president of the united states is saying this. it s okay for us to say it, too and okay for us to feel it too. so whether the country can then swing back and other countries can have that conversation in a way that s more honest, perhaps that s what the country needs.
divide between race even among two conservative republican presidents, but after all these decades of progress, here we find ourselves with the reactionary and, yes, some would say a racist president. good morning, it s monday, january 15th and it is martin luther king jr. day. with us, we have msnbc contributor mike barnacle. the chair of african-american studies at princeton university eddy gloud jr. cady kay. david ignatius and pull zer price winning historian john meechum. let me begin with you, john. history does not always go in straight lines. i do think, though, historians 30 years from now will be
in america is the problem of the color line. question is and the tragedy of the current moment that you re describing is we thought that was the problem of the 20th century. evidently it continues to be a problem into this our fourth century as a country if you count is colonial experience. you re right about history being long. dr. king used to quote paraphrase theodore parker from the mid 19th century who said the arc of a moral universe is long but it bends towards justice. and that s the hope we have to dedicate ourselves to on days like this. and i do believe it does. that arc, eddy, does bend towards justice. it certainly has over the past 30, 40 years. of course, it was ronald reagan who won the last two landslides. now, i loved reagan.
notoriously selective in our exercise of historical memory and it s our on going forgotfulness the original sin of racism continues to haunt the country that keeps us on this hamster wheel. here we are now dealing with the latest consequence and that s donald trump. well, but eddy, let s also look at the entire portrait that s laid before us. let s not try to glaze over the bad but let s not forget the good at the same time. barack obama elected president of the united states twice. record turnout among black voters when barack obama was running. we see what happened in the state of alabama as a reaction to many things, but it was black voters that helped elect the first democrat in that state in
and reagan was an optimist. but barack obama also an optimist. eddy, that s why when you have presidents like reagan and you have presidents like obama, that is america bending choosing hope rather than fear. but right now we have a president who again every chance he gets seems to burrow down, be reactionary and seek approval from a third of the electorate. yeah. he s constantly appealing to his base. i think instead of appealing to our better angels as abraham lincoln had us do, he appeals to our darkest fears. i think it s important we need to remember, joe, especially on this day the kind of racial ana mist attended the eight years