parties should be a party in itself. on the flip side, george, there are people, democrats including liberals who are starting to say that wokeness is getting them in trouble and going too far, and it s a great talking point for the right. and here s nicholas christoff a week ago in this column saying i feared our ling quistic contortions however well-meaning aren t addressing our country s inequities or achieving progressive dreams but rather creating fuel for right wing leaders in order to take aggressive action. have we reached the tipping point in that? there is truth in that. for example, the word latinx, which i don t even know how to say. you said it right. i said it right. the first thing sarah sanders did as governor was to ban the word latinx in arkansas state documents. it was like that s really stupid, but on the other hand, people latinos or hispanics or i don t know what the phrase
here at home. 26 republicans including minority leader mitch mcconnell released a statement commending their trip saying they re committed now more than ever to the u.s.-taiwan relationship. joining our conversation author and columnist nicholas christoff. rick, i know you have reservations about this trip so i want to ask this question in two parts, which is if you re nancy pelosi, if you are someone advising nancy pelosi, what is the rationale for this trip? what do you think is gained which i know sort of requires you to look at this through a different lens, and from your vantage point why was it mistake? it s hard for me to put myself in the speaker s place, which you asked me to do. but i think that, you know, one of the things in politics is you don t want to commit an unforced
centuries to come. it s unclear why we are in this position in america. and just because you turn away and bury your head in the sand that, doesn t mean that more intense hurricanes aren t going to attack you, that forest fires aren t going to go for you, that higher temperatures aren t going to bother you. denial is not a strategy. it just amplifies the problems for the next generation. nicholas, always good to see you. thank you for joining us to talk about your new documentary. it s based on his upcoming book tightrope: americans reaching for hope. we ll be back with a check of the markets right after this quick break. you are watching msnbc. e watchic especially these days. (dad) i think it s here. (mom vo) especially at this age. (big sis) where are we going? (mom vo) it s a big, beautiful world out there. (little sis) whoa. (big sis) wow. see that? (mom vo) sometimes you just need a little help seeing it.
dream. nicholas christoff who is also a new york times columnist joins me now. you and cheryl started this journey in your hometown of yamhill, oregon. and you started by focusing what happened to people you went to school with. that s right. cheryl and i were traveling around the world covering genocide, refugees, war. and meanwhile periodically coming home, and i was finding a humanitarian crisis on the kids who were on my old school bus. so for our book called tightrope and for this documentary now also called tightrope so one of the things we did was we followed the kids on my old school bus, a quarter of whom have now passed away mostly from drugs, alcohol, suicide, reckless accidents. and it s a microcosm of so much that has gone wrong in so many places around the country. what we think, you know, should be the foremost challenge and
korea. might there be a similar surprise out of hanoi? no surprise the president is posting about his arrival on twitter. thank you to all the people for the great reception in hanoi. tremendous crowds and so much lover. let me bring in former acting director of the cia. now an msnbc global affairs analyst. nicholas christoff, and here with me in vietnam, phillip ruck rucker. thank you all for being with us on our special split coverage. john, let me start with you. what do you see as the x factor potentially in the discussions. we ve talked about and seen surprises before. what may come out of this one? anything that goes beyond the projection you just put on the screen would be a surprise. but one surprise would be if the united states got the north koreans to agree to stop