Republicans at every level, federal, state, everywhere, are putting in Place Step by ugly step all of the tools that they need to steal the next election and the one after that and the one after that. You get the picture . Across the country 14 republicanled states have enacted 22 laws that restrict access to voting. And theyre just getting started. At least 61 additional bills with equally restrictive provisions are snaking their way through 18 state legislatures. Most of these laws just so happen to target communities of color, the elderly, people with disabilities and the young. And if thats not repugnant enough, some of these republican laws have stripped secretaries of state of their power, clearing the way for partisan control of State Election boards and made it easier to overturn election results. Take, for example, the partisan unconstitutional and undemocratic 2020 Election Inspection happening in arizona, which republicans across the country are keen on replicating. In pennsylvania, trump successfully bullied a State Senator into backing a similar fraudulent review of the 2020 election, even though State And County officials have repeatedly said there was no evidence of fraud in the state. These calls come around the same time that a similar republican review of the 2020 election in michigan found no evidence to prove significant acts of fraud. Say it louder for the maga people in the back. There is no fraud. Thats not stopping republicans from rewriting the rules. The question is what can democrats do about it . In the courts a slew of Voting Rights Groups with help from an election superlaunched an allout legal war. In the streets civil rights groups like the poor Peoples Campaign are hosting events. Today they held a moral march on West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin and on Senator Minority Leader Mitch Mcconnell calling on them to kill the filibuster and pass the for the people act. Dr. William Barber And Reverend Jesse Jackson were under Field Arrest for, quote, illegal Demonstration Activity after leading nearly a dozen buses of activists from ohio, pennsylvania and new york. Down south black voters matter launched their Freedom Rights For Voting rights this week. Today they were in North Carolina and South Carolina engaging and more importantly mobilizing voters. Fair Fight Action launched their hot Call Summer Campaign to help educate and mobilize young voters of color and young progressives. On august 28th, the 50th Anniversary of the 1963 March on washington, Martin Luther King iii and the reverend Al Sharpton will launch their voting Rights Campaign in d. C. Its a Nationwide March Against Voter Suppression. And that is just some, that is just some of whats happening out there in terms of trying to protect your right to vote. And this will be a Voting Rights summer. Meanwhile, Senator Amy Klobuchar is taking her committee On The Road. Theyre going to stop in georgia to hear firsthand from people who are being impacted by this Voter Suppression law. Joining me now is Senator Amy Klobuchar of minnesota, the chairman of the Senate Rules and administration committee. Senator, explain to us what youre doing. I think a lot of People Part of the anxiety that people who are worried about our Democracy Feel is a sense that democrats seem a little bit calm about it. Were definitely not calm out here. Im not calm, joy. Okay, good. Tell us what you guys are doing. Well, i just see the evil out there and what they have been doing all over, as you point out. Over 20 of these laws have actually passed. I think weve got to do something about it. What i loved about your leadin is just all the action happening right now to mobilize people, to get them to vote. So what im doing, for the first time in 20 years, the senate Rules Committee is going On The Road. Were getting out of this building and going to where the people are and hearing exactly whats going on in a state like georgia, where they literally passed a law that banned volunteers from giving out Water And Food to people who sometimes have to wait in line for hours and hours and hours in the hot sun. Were going to hear about how they what they did to mess up and try to limit early voting, just like what you just heard about in texas where the governor just today announced action on July 8th in texas after those brave legislators tried to stop it. So we this is just the beginning. Our party was united yesterday. The republicans stopped us. Not just from discussing this, we couldnt even debate it. Not for a week, not even for a day. They stopped it in its tracks and we have to bring our case to the people and let them hear from the people. I know that Senator Joe Manchin has his own version of a voting Rights Bill. Some people love it, some people dont love it so much. That is in theory the next bill that could ending up getting onto the floor. Ron brownstein tweeted this today. Jeff merkley said theres no guarantee of Success But Senate democrats have a plan. He said theyll quickly negotiate a new voting Rights Bill centered on manchins plan that all 50 democrats back and see if any, much less ten republicans will sign on. My guess is no republicans will sign on to that. Let me let yall know in advance they arent. Thats why people watch your show, joy. Thats why they watch your show. Absolutely. But shouldnt Senator Manchin and senator sinema, i dont know if theyre on your committee. Are they going to go on this trip . It seems to me that it might be helpful for them to hear from the people youre going to hear from. Lets step back about the manchin proposal. First of all, what we voted on yesterday was to move to a debate on the bill. Hes done some good Faith Work and i know stacey has told you about this, including now considering including Sameday Registration in his proposal along with the early voting, the 15 days of early voting and a number of other things. Theres clearly still language that has to be worked out and were continuing to work with him, so thats really important to know his good faith effort. From there we have to figure out a way to get this done. And i believe in abolishing the filibuster. Ive come to that belief after seeing years and years of obstruction on everything from Immigration Reform to Climate Change as were heading into this hot summer as well as Voting Rights. But even Senator Manchin has shown a willingness to talk about the standing filibuster and other ways you could do this. So i havent given up on any of that, especially when it comes to Voting Rights. So that is actually kind of hopeful. I know that there is former Senator Al Franken is part of an effort to come up with things like having 41 votes to hold a filibuster or having people hold the floor. Are those conversations going on in the democratic caucus, including Manchin And Sinema saying maybe we add some of these things but at least it would be more realistic than trying to find ten republicans to do anything . I just dont think thats realistic when it comes to Voting Rights and i want to make that clear. It may be on other things. But they instead of changing their candidates or changing their views on issues or changing how they talk to people, they double down on it. Now theyre saying we want to change the voters. In the words of Reverend Warnock in his maiden speech, some people dont want some people to vote. So the answer to me is look at these Senate Rules, figure out what we can do to move ahead and as Senator Schumer said many times, failure is not an option. The exciting news for me from listening to your program is that there is so much work even outside of us taking our Rules Committee out On The Road and continuing this push to get this done, that theres organizing including organizing to get people to register already for the next election going on right now and people should view that as Progress And Excitement and not give up on the work that must be done. You can get an amen on that. Its not sunday, but you can get an amen on that. We cannot give up, our democracy is too important. Senator amy klobuchar, Ploez Keep in touch out On The Road. Joining me now is Arizona Secretary of state Katie Hobbs and she is running for governor of arizona. Lets talk about your state. Your state has one of the weirdest fights against the right to vote. I mean even this story about your ballots being trucked off to another state, you know, and trying to figure out what the heck happened to those ballots where they have been trucked off to montana or something. Do you know what the status is of these ballots that were trucked away to montana . You know, its unclear what exactly is happening because the folks in charge of this exercise have not really been forthcoming with information. So we think its hard drives with ballot images going to some lab, but we have no idea of what the security is of this Lab Or Cabin or wherever it is or what theyre planning to do there. And again, its because they havent shared the information. This exercise that they keep saying is transparent but we know its not. So we do know that they plan to wrap up their work this week, i think, and then theyre expected to issue some sort of report in the coming weeks to summarize whatever they, quote unquote, find. I cannot wait. The chicken poop, the bamboo, the ballots that were supposedly flown off overseas or flown in from china. Cannot wait for this report from the Cyber Ninjas. But as much as we can laugh at how stupid a lot of it sounds, the Cyber Ninjas are going to make a lot of money because it seems like every republican in every state wants to hire them to come do that, including States Trump won. Everybody wants to repeat the madness happening in your state. How much of a danger as you as a former elections official, how much of a danger are we in that that is going to be the new norm for the way republicans react to Election Losses . Yeah, and im still the election official. Sorry about that. You are still. Thats okay. We know that these folks are writing the playbook to take this On The Road around the country. Theyre trucking in legislators from all over to see the great gold standard. And i say that completely sarcastically because this is not an audit. And that the Cyber Ninjas are making a lot of money off of this. And so we have to be writing the playbook of how do we stop this from coming. Theres really nothing contemplated either in our statute or other State Statutes that even contemplate the idea of this type of postelection rehashing of the results when you dont like them. And really its untenable that it is at the bare minimum, it gloms up election administration. Were already trying to get ready for the next election and its consuming resources. But their End Goal of continuing to try to undermine the Publics Confidence in our elections is really dangerous. And so, you know, its important that folks are watching and were trying to stop this from replicating. How badly do you and other Election Administrators that you talk to want and need a federal law to get this to sort of stop this madness . It is very critical to have some sort of federal intervention to ensure uniform Voting Access across the country. Everything that were talking about is tied together. The Big Lie from the election, this socalled audit in arizona, the rash of voter restrictive laws that were seeing across the country. And the failure of republicans to even debate Voting Rights improvements in congress, its all connected together. And a federal federal laws to improve Voting Access across the country provides some minimum floor of access is so critical right now. Its clear that the american people want this. So i was glad to hear from senator klobuchar, shes done so much great work on this legislation and trying to move it forward. Im glad theyre taking this On The Road to hear from americans about why this is so critical. I know there is a law that would actually strip you of your power in election administration. Democrats did try to block it. Do you think that law will ultimately get through . Very quickly, im out of time, but do you think it will ending up being on the books. It sounds like it will and were going to challenge it. We will definitely keep an eye on arizona. Arizona Secretary Of State Katie Hobbs, thank you very much. Appreciate it. Still ahead, conservative activist Christopher Russo launched a campaign against the perfect villain. Everyone from Tucker Carlson to Donald Trump listened. He responded on twitter challenging me to bring him on this very show to debate. Okay. Well, he joins me next. Plus Speaker Nancy Pelosi drops hints about forming a select committee to investigate the capitol insurrection. One of the officers involved in the response thinks it would be a very good idea. As an american, i believe very strongly in a twoparty system. Right now one of those parties has a Cancer And Weve got to cut it out. Wow. And two republican governors battle it out to see who can be the Trumpiest Trumpster in the land, but only one, only one can be tonights absolute worst. Who will it be . The reidout continues after this. 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At walmart, target and other fine stores. upbeat Pop Music in background throughout nicorette knows, quitting smoking is freaking hard. You get advice like try hypnosis. Or. Quit cold turkey. Kidding me . instead, start small. With nicorette. Which can lead to something big. Start stopping with Nicorette The Fight to vilify critical Race Theory occurring mostly within the confines of Twitter And Fox news is now taking over School Board meetings. In some cases turning into a literal fight like what you see here in Loudoun County, virginia, where a public meeting over lessons on race and a proposed policy on equity for transgender students devolved into mayhem with Audience Members displaying aggressive behavior. One man was charged with Disorderly Conduct and resisting arrest. Another was injured. We reached out to Loudoun County schools and asked if critical Race Theory is being taught anywhere in the district. Both the superintendent and the School Board say, no, its not. Raucous School Board meetings are one result by political operatives to eradicate curriculums on racial and other forms of equity which is not the same thing as critical Race Theory. One of the those operatives, critical Race Theory owe Opponent Christopher Ruffo joins me now. Thank you for making time this evening. Thank you. You and i started off on a little bit of a twitter beef. I talked about you, i quoted you in an article that one of our great journalists here at nbc had quoted you in a piece. I quoted that on tv and then you tweeted that you wanted to come on the show and said i didnt have the courage to put you on. I will note that twitter is a hyperbole zone. Whatever, its all water under the bridge. But i want to get to a couple of factual things. Why would i need courage to have you on . Are you an expert in race or racial history . Are you a lawyer . Are you a legal scholar . Is that part of your background . Yeah, im a Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute where im running their initiative on critical Race Theory. The reason that i reached out on twitter to you, and i appreciate you having me on, i enjoy this cross partisan dialogue. But the reason is not just because you were attacking me on air one second. Im sorry. I wasnt attacking you. I was reading your quote. You were reading it with the framing calling it political operative, which im not. Im actually a Think Tank scholar. But put all that aside. The problem that i have is youve spread four key false pieces of information. Youve claimed that critical Race Theory isnt being taught in schools. Youve claimed that most American Public School students learn confederate Race Theory and are taught that slavery is not so bad. You claimed that State Legislation will prevent teaching about the history of racism and finally youve claimed it isnt rooted in the philosophical root of marxism and i think theyre wrong. The first thing and well talk about the politics because im going to challenge you on whether or not youre a political operative. I read your this is your talking Points Memo that youve put out that definitely seems to be working because youve seen people like Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio use a lot of the verbiage that you suggest and a lot of the framing that you suggest that they should use in talking about critical Race Theory. I also watched your video very highly produced, well produced video in which you make a lot of claims. Some of which i just want to go through very quickly. When do you say the critical Race Theory was created . So critical theory was created critical Race Theory is something different. The late 1980s and early 1990s. Thats actually not true. So i went on Harvard University which is where critical Race Theory was born at Harvard Law School. It actually happened in 1981, Professor Derek Bell and some of his students including Kimberly Crenshaw so thats not true. One other thing because you make a lot of allegations, my friend, a lot of allegations. You talk about particularly in your video that people, these professors, this professorial types who you acknowledge are academics, they are looking to do such things as replace equality with equity, which is a conservative charge that since i was in High School they have been saying that. To ending individual Property Rights and even to committing Reverse Genocide or calling for Reverse Genocide. I know youre a filmmaker by trade. No. Youre a documentary filmmaker. You use the term Reverse Genocide i watched the clip. Thats incorrect. You did, you did. And so im not we cant Play It because were not going to pay you to play your video. This is a term the term is actually countergenocide. One moment. Countergenocide it comes from a book called Rethinking Ethnic Studies which is rooted in the critical Race Theory tradition. Its not my term, im simply quoting a book that is cited in Californias Model ethnic studies curriculum. I think thats horrible. You think thats horrible. We can agree with that. But you cant misrepresent where it comes from, whos promoting it. And model ethnic studies is not critical Race Theory. You say that dr. Ib ram kendi, you call him the guru of critical Race Theory. We reached out to him because you say hes the guru of critical Race Theory. You name him a lot in a lot of your both in your manifesto or talking Points Memo and also in your video. We asked him if hes a critical Race Theorist. He said i admire it but im not a legal scholar so i wasnt trained on critical Race Historian and chris would know this. I didnt attend law school, which is where critical Race Theory is taught. Its really the only place it is taught. Nbc has looked into everywhere and its not taught this is the second thing he said which is strange to me joy, let me respond. I have a question. One moment. This should be a dialogue, right . Its my show so its how i want to do it. Let me read you one more quote from him because youve made a lot of claims about critical Race Theory saying that white americans are inherently racist. That racism is inherent to whiteness. And that is one of the core charges that youre making about these sort of what you consider woke studies in school. This is what Ib Ram Kendi has said. He said weve been taught that racist is essential to who a person is. Its a fixed category. Its in someones heart. Thats one of the reasons why people are unwilling to or unable to admit the times in which theyre being racist because its not just admitting i was being racist on that moment, basically were tattooing racist on our forehead the rest of our lives. Isnt that the opposite of what youre arguing . First of all, its very interesting to me that so many people are running away from the label of critical Race Theory. Hes not a critical Race Theorist. Im going to quote two critical Race Theorist, barbara applevong. She says all white people are racist. Robin De Angelo. Shes not. White identity is inherently racist. No. So what youre doing is playing a series of word games. New York City no, no. These are deeply interrelated. Im not going to let you play word games. Hold up. No, no, no, no. I havent gotten a full sentence out. You probably never watch me on tv. We didnt know who each other were but i dont allow people to just make up and say lies on the show. Its just not really right to do it. But hold on. Robin De Angelo is not a critical Race Theorist and i want everyone to know that. But lets just go through a minute because whiteness and racist. Where did the Term Whiteness come from . Sure. I think this is an important point and i hope you let me get a full paragraph out about this. Go for it. Whiteness is the idea that there is some kind of Meta Physical Category in the world that all white people are reducible to this essence Of Whiteness. What happens is they load all of these negative connotations. They say whiteness is by definition that includes white fragility, includes white privilege, includes internalized white superiority. Then what they try to do is repose these reductive racial categories onto individuals and i agree with kendis approach. But ill give you three examples of critical Race Theory being taught in schools. Cupertino, catch in cupertino, california sir, chris, these are in your Talking Points and i know what youre going to say because you said it with mark lamont hill. You repeat these same things. Theyre in this manifesto, people can read it online of the on the subject Of Whiteness are you aware since you say that youre sort of a quasihistorian in your thinking, that whiteness was actually formed in the united states . That whiteness didnt even exist as a thing. Europeans were all european. They were italian or polish or whatever. When the colonists came here, they created the idea Of Whiteness. This is from the smithsonian. I agree with that. As a way to distinguish themselves from what they call the savages, the natives, and from black people, from africans. Who even if you had a little african in you, if youre plessi, who is 7 8 white, if you are african that you reduced in rights. So people are saying whiteness has always had power. There used to be a saying im free, white and 18. It was commonly said in the 40s, 50s and 60s. So whiteness has power. People who want to Decouple Whiteness from power is what youre annoyed by. Let me play a little bit of what you said. No. Hole hold on. You did a speech where you talk about how you really feel about the academics of it. Here it is. This is cut i think this is go for it. Play it. Im a white guy fighting critical Race Theory. Do you identify as white . I mean im an italian american so you tell me. Lumping people into white, black, asian as you suggested is such a crude and broad categorization. Theres these like very kind of pathetic and very, you know, angry graduate students that try to fight me on these highly technical haggel interpretations. I dont have time for this. I dont give a [ bleep ] about this stuff. So you dont give an s about this stuff. Youre having a campaign to take everything that hold on. You want to make a Campaign And Stuff everything in there you dont give me a chance to respond. Stuff it All Into critical Race Theory. What i dont think is right is forcing 8yearolds to deconstruct their race identities is power and privilege. Its Intersectionality Theory which is part of critical race theer row. New York City its not. You had her on your show. She invented both things. What youve done with Tonights Segment is what im fighting against. Im fighting against the manipulation of language. Right, youre fighting against wokeness and you dont like corporate wokeness, i get it. I get it. Because otherwise you just say whatever you want and then you back away from it and dance around it and its not going to happen. Parents all over this country, they know whats happening in schools. They know whats happening in public institutions and youre seeing People Revolt against this divisive identity politics. You can dance all you want but youre not going to stop people from understanding whats happening in the classrooms. I actually appreciate that you said that because, christopher, what you basically you admit it yourself. That youve taken all of these wokeness moments, corporate wokeness, corporate sort of woke money, woke capital, the things that annoy conservatives, and youve stuffed it All Into the name critical Race Theory. Its really like Christopher Rufo Theory. You tweeted this. Listen hold on, hold on, one sec. Im going to read you to you and then you respond to it. The activists are realizing that their ideas once put into practice are generating discontent, which is as you just described. Thats true. Asianamericans in particular are revolting against crt which is really Christopher Rufo Theory because you made it up. Then you said we have successfully frozen their brand into the public conversation and are steadily driving up negative perceptions. We will eventually turn it toxic as we put all the various cultural insanities under that brand category. The goal is to have the public Read Something crazy in the newspaper and immediately think critical Race Theory. We have decodified the term. Arent you just taking Wokeness Stuff that annoys you and calling it critical Race Theory . No, not at all. The idea of the Codification And Decodification of language comes from pallo frer. Now youre doing pedagogy . Yes. To take these techniques and use them against their own ideology. My strategy has been enormously successful. Among conservatives. 64 of americans now know what critical Race Theory is. No, they know what Christopher Rufo Theory is. 58 of them view it my friend, you made up your own thing. You admitted you were going to do it. Ill give you credit for one thing. You did create your own thing. Not a lot of guys in their 30s have created their own thing, labeled It Something that already existed as a name, slapped that Brand Name on it and turned it into a successful political strategy. Youve done that. Its creating a lot of hell at School Board meetings. Well, joy, i appreciate it and ill give you the position as the most prestigious Christopher Rufo Theory scholar in the world. Next time give me a chance to complete two sentences. Not if youre going to do Talking Points. They were your Talking Points. People can read your Talking Points online because youre online as well. Christopher rufo. Up next, Jelani Cobb is here to help us digest that interview and much more. Well be right back. More. Well be right back. This. Is what freedom sounds like. And this. This is what Freedom Smells like. Ahhh, enjoy 30 days of openroad freshness. Febreze car. Ive got moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. Now, theres skyrizi. Things are getting clearer. I feel free to bare my skin yeah, thats all me. Nothing and me go Hand In Hand Nothing on my skin, thats my new plan. Nothing is everything. Achieve clearer skin with skyrizi. 3 out of 4 people achieved 90 clearer skin at 4 months. Of those, nearly 9 out of 10 sustained it through 1 year. And skyrizi is 4 doses a year, after 2 starter doses. I see nothing in a different way its my moment so i just gotta say. Nothing is everything. Skyrizi may increase your risk of infections and lower your ability to fight them. Before treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection or symptoms such as fevers, sweats, chills, muscle aches, or coughs or if you plan to or recently received a vaccine. Nothing is everything. Now is the time to ask your dermatologist about skyrizi. Okay. So you heard my conversation with conservative activist Christopher Rufo about the Distortion Campaign that he and other conservatives and republicans are waging over their new cultural boogieman, critical Race Theory. Here with me now is Jelani Cobb. I want to go through really quickly. Christopher was very upset that i didnt let him read his Talking Points. These are his Talking Points, so we printed them out. What he started to do, and this is just for our audience too. The reason that i did not let him continue is in this manifesto, in this talking Points Memo, and i used to be a Press Secretary so ive made these for politicians. He wanted to start to read some of the stories that he has put in here to claim that theyre critical Race Theory. He started to say Seattle Public Schools told teachers and so he had them already here. He wants to read them on tv with people so he can then advance his own version of he made up a version that he called critical Race Theory. Just to prove that to the audience so we can have this conversation with some context. Here he is at the Clairemont Institute admitting that is his plan. People are understanding that something is going wrong in the culture, that certain ideologies and ideas were devouring institutions. And then we put a label to it, critical Race Theory. Actually they put a label to it in the 1990s and we appropriated it, attacking it at a political level and providing political leaders with a kuj el. He says hes not a political operative but you heard him say its a political cudgel. Theres so many lies i dont know where to start. Just lies. Its a very difficult thing to hear because as scholars we actually care about definitions. We care about meaning. We care about nuance. We care about scholarship and historiography. And for a person who wants to just throw grenades and play with shrapnel, hes been able to take an idea devoted to the pursuit of equality, devoted to understanding why equality has been has been so evasive in the span of our history and then turn it into a weapon to further the inequality that was the problem in the first place. So theres so many things to start with. Lets start with the idea Of Whiteness. So we are looking at a project which is trying to understand the power afforded to a political category. And that is a political category Of Whiteness. Were not talking about individual white people. Were not talking about the person at your job or next Door Neighbor or your friend who you went to school with. Thats what you would believe. Were trying to have a crusade which will marginalize white americans and turn the rest of the country into wakanda and theyre playing on these fears in that way. That is not what critical Race Theory was concerned with. If we look at the 1790 Immigration Act At The Beginning of the country when restricted immigration to people that they categorized as white, making the contention that only white people, this fictional category, could hold the rights of citizens. And so this is the ancestoral legacy we are grappling with. Go back and read linnaus and creating the categories of race. Read thomas jeffersons Notes On Virginia where he as an intellectual is looking at the Cutting Edge currents of racial theory in europe and the creation of these Subordination Ideas of africans and applying them to the context of this newly created country. Read nell urban painters book the history of white people. There is an entire we could talk about this for another 15 minutes with me just listing historiography. Theres an entire body of knowledge that explains what this is. Mr. Rufo was just lying. It upsets me to see someone just lie about work we care so diligently for. He even admits he doesnt give an s about these things. He literally said and he tweeted and admitted at the Clairemont Institute while sitting next to the Flight 93 Election Guy who said that the immigrants coming into this country who were nonwhite have no sense or feel for democracy. Basically they shouldnt be here and then ended up in the trump administration. He admitted that hes just taking the things that irritate white conservatives and just conservatives in general. They dont like wokeness. They dont like, you know, Trainings On White Americans being sensitive to nonwhite americans. They dont like woke capital. They dont like those things. And so theyre going to call them all critical Race Theory and use them, as he said, as a political cudgel to get republicans elected. Let me play for you one last thing before we go and this is joint chiefs of Staff Mark Milley who i thought was brilliant pushing back on this. Take a listen. What is wrong understanding, having some situational understanding about the country which we are here to defend. And i personally find It Offensive that we are accusing the united states military, our general officers, our commissioned, Noncommissioned Officers are being, quote, woke or something else because were studying some theories that are out there. That was started at Harvard Law School years ago and it proposed that there were laws in the united states. Antebellum laws prior to the Civil War that led to a Power Differential with africans. It matters to our military and the Discipline And Cohesion of this military. God bless that man. Is it more is it more worrying to you that this kind of a campaign is working out there in School Boards and people are being whipped into a frenzy because theyre just irritated about wokeness, or does it make you hopeful to hear something like general milley . Its alarming, but also i think these people are not students of history in any regard because one of the things they would know is that the public gave Joe Mccarthy a great deal of Rope And Leeway to spread his lies. Do you know when he got in trouble . When he said that the army was full of communists. People were not prepared to hear that. They dont want to hear the institution the army is the institution that has the most trust from the united states. Its in the top three consistently. No one is going to believe that. Im really glad to hear general milley speak out in that way in a voice that people can hear some sanity from. God bless that man. Jelani cobb, thank you so much. Well be right back after this. 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The need for Witness Protection would seem to contradict the idea that these were a bunch of peaceful tourists as some republicans would like you to believe. In a new video released by the justice department, it shows that they were anything but. Its against that backdrop that Speaker Nancy Pelosi is weighing whether to appoint a select committee, a la watergate, to investigate the events of January 6th. Joining me now is Congresswoman Maxine waters of california. Congresswoman, its always great to see you. I want to ask you about the possibility of a select committee. Scott dworkin defeated that a republican consult republican s To Push for a new vote on a January 6th commission, saying a select committee would actually be devastating for the gop. Thats very interesting that any republican would think that it would be devastating to have a select committee. I would love to have your comments on that, and what are you hearing about whether or not such a select committee is going to happen . Well, let me tell you, joy, we are all disappointed, very disappointed that we could get we could not get bispart Zn Support for a commission. For them to resist, for republicans to resist a commission, speaks to whether or not they are interested in really having the facts come out about the insurrection. And what took place. Who was involved in it, who supported the transportation for so many of those people to come by airplane, by bus, what have you . I know that there have been some reports that talked about those who signed up for the permit as being the same people who worked in the president s campaign. And so we wanted a commission that would be bipartisan. They have resisted it. And so yes, we have to think about what is the alternative . Yes, a select committee is being talked about. And i think that were going to have to go forward with a select committee. I support that. The speaker has not announced it yet. But i know that it is being discussed. It is being thought about. Because we have to. We have to do something. And we have to get the facts out about who invaded our capitol. This insurrection that took place, where our Police Officers, the Capitol Police, were in handtohand combat. They did not have the kind of protection that they should have had. And they were being beaten up. And you saw the officer that got killed. He was crushed. And then the sight of the american flag on the pole used to beat up Police Officers is more than one can bear. And so im anxious for us to move forward and get a select committee. And im very hopeful that it will come about soon. And do you believe that republican members of congress who may have given tours or in any way helped and aided in this insurrection should be subpoenaed by such a committee . Yes, i do believe that. I do believe that, first of all, we have members of congress, republican members, who are aligned with and associated with qanon, who know many of the Oath Keepers, and some of the proud boys, and not only do we have some that know them and have worked with them, i believe that there were tours that were given. I saw some of them the day before over in front of the Raburn House Office building. At that time, i warned our Capitol Police to watch out because strange characters were rooming around, and i saw some inside the ray burn building. So yes, i believe some members of the republican party know more than they are telling or want to tell. Yeah, and maybe thats why they oppose having a commission. Congresswoman maxine waters, always great to speak with you. Up next, Mirror Mirror on the wall, who is the trumpiest of them all. Tonights absolute worst is next. Kip, step. Swipe, lift, spin, dry. Slam, pan, still. Fresh move, move, move, Move Aaaaand still fresh. Degree. 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We dont just work at recology, we own it, creating opportunity and a better planet. Now, thats making a difference. Florida governor Ron Desantis is no longer just sucking up to his states mow infamous and oriest retiree to score political points. Hes going Trump Twinsy on steroids to become the first maga culture warrior. Starting with, you guessed it, critical Race Theory. At Ron Desantis urging, this month, the Florida Board of education banned the teaching of critical Race Theory in florida schools. Youll not be surprised to know that State Officials acknowledged its not taught in any florida districts. But ron is fighting for reelection in 2022, and not so secretly angling to be the orange Mans Successor in 2024 or maybe his running mate. When it comes to the pandemic, the two shared a similar Donothing Attitude that worked out great. Last month, desantis basically said covid is over and banned businesses from requiring proof of vaccination. The Orlando Sentinel reports florida ranked 37th in the nation in a Study Measuring consumer confidence, job market strength, and covid19 safety. But wait, theres more. Ron is also getting into a Maga Warrior Arms Race with Greg Abbott on the issue of fearmongering about immigration at the border, the brown scare. Desantis said hes sending Florida Law Enforcement officers to the southern border at abbotts request, the same Day Abbott said hold my beer, im building a war, and fronting 250 Million of Texas Taxpayer Money for it. Not to be outdone by baby trump, who signed a bill promoting patriotic education in texas. Same thing that happened in north korea. Ron signed his own patriotic Education Bill in florida, requiring students in florida to be taught that communism and totalitarian governments are evil, but patriotic education is what china called its Propaganda Efforts after the tiananmen massacres, so theres that. What garnered ron the title of absolute worst is one of the bills he signed requiring public universities and colleges to survey students, faculty, and staff about their beliefs and viewpoints. And suggesting Budget Cuts could be looming if universities and colleges are found to be, quote, indoctrinating students. The Thought Police, except he wants to indoctrinate students by mandating patriotic education like were, you know, china, while banning certain things that students are taught, and also using the state to intimidate educators. Which honestly, sounds a lot like authoritarianism. And for that, you, ron comrade desantis, you have once again earned the dishonor of being the absolute worst. And thats Tonights Reidout and All In with Chris Hayes starts now. Tonight, on All In rising republican star orders the Thought Police to college campuses. I know a lot of parents, one of the things they worry about, if you send a kid to a university, you know, are they just going to basically be indoctrinated. Tonight, the new law that would defund colleges for not being republican enough. And a new low for bankrupt political party. Then, todays key Plea Agreement at the epicenter of January 6th prosecutions, as an accused Oath Keeper cuts a deal and cooperates. Plus, the White House takes on rising Gun Violence in amer