the fight against that restrictive voting rights bill in texas is about to get more interesting. as democrats remain in washington, d.c., to block republicans from passing that bill back home, beto o rourke is on the ground in texas teaming up with voting rights activists like the poor people s campaign for a selma-style march called the moral monday march for democracy. the march will start in georgetown, texas, and make it to austin. brouk, fourpd of powered by people, working to mobilize texas voters. also with me, reverend liz harris, cofounder of the poor people s campaign. great to see you both. reverend, first talk to us about the significance of bringing attention to voting rights in
your life when we have a vaccine that is proven in safety and efficacy? kristin, you lost your dad, mark, to the virus. we ve talked before about how he listened to former president trump s advice not to panic. recently we ve seen republicans divided on how to approach the virus now, how to approach the vaccine. speak to me about how the consequences of the party leadership and right-wing personalities have message this. is it surprising that they still have not turned a full corner? it s not surprising, alicia. i speak from experience. my dad was a lifelong republican who was, you know, in step with them from day one. and, you know, when it comes to this virus, it is going to take quite a lot for us to make sure that we can slow the spread. and i think that focusing solely on folks who don t believe in the vaccine or people who
the streets and organize if there s even if the court decides to move in this direction. and we will be flooding the streets come election time to make sure that we get back what has traditionally been a very sacrosanct constitutional position. nick, you have to admit republicans have successfully transformed the court. they have made it a key issue for voters. how do democrats counter the success that they ve had? well, it s organizing and investing at the state and local levels, honestly. conservatives have done a great job at stacking the courts. they focused their energy and their time, and we just don t do that. we focus a lot on policy-making. we spend a lot of political capital there. but if you watch the conservatives, that s what they do. they pivot, they stack the courts, they focus on state and local governments. and you see that playing out here where they ve now have control of state governments
vote is 2:00 a.m. to 3:00 a.m. and for the first time they were able to to do it in 2020. the voter suppression legislation would cancel 24-hour voting, drive-through voting, it would make it harder to vote by mail and it would intimate voters at the polling place because watchers would be given free rein to do that. republicans, democrats as well are trying to get us back to one person, one vote, the bedrock, fundamental principle of our democracy. alicia, yes, it is urgent in texas. this is front lines in the fight. it is harder to vote here in texas than in any other state in the union. and so if we re going to get the right to vote back, let us lead it here in texas better than any other place. and again, thanks to reverend harris and bishop barper and the poor people s pain and centering it on the impact of people who will be telling their stories
it appears red states are paying the highest price. thanks to vaccine disinformation spread among right-wing skpligsz media outlaws. 8 of 10 states with the highest spike of coronavirus hospitalizations are led by republicans. of course this can be linked to our former president and his allies. we re still dealing with a trump hangover, the consequences of more than a year of him downplaying the pandemic even six months into the biden administration. one of the biggest disinformation offenders, georgia congresswoman marjorie taylor greene. twitter suspended her account for spreading lies about the virus, making it more important for republicans to see those who see the danger. these folks are choosing are horrible lifestyle of self-inflicted zane what is it