♪ ♪ ♪ that's five pm on the east coast, and the nation's eyes are on washington. on capitol hill. we are a stopgap federal spending bill is now in the hands of the senate. after being passed in dramatic fashion by the house, just a couple of hours ago. to fund our government and avoid a shutdown with just seven hours left on the clock to do so. we have a lot to cover on our show tonight, but we start with a possible shutdown at midnight. nbc's ali vitale is standing by on capitol hill. elie, give us the latest. >> right, things have been fast around here, because if you had told me when i left late last night, that speaker mccarthy was going to effectively look left and do this in a partisan fashion, i would have told you, absolutely not, no way. but it was a recognition on mccarthy's part that within his conference those republicans that continue to block his path forward were not going to change and is that it was him who had to change the strategy. now what this does is by the house, and by proxy the senate, if and when they take this up in the next hour or two, it buys them about 45 days to continue on the path of appropriating. figuring out how much they wanted budget and spent in the coming fiscal year. the house was able to move through about four of those appropriations bills. there is 12 in total. conservatives, angry about the way mccarthy does, but nevertheless, now in this position of having these 45 days to either continue battling or say what they can get from leadership as they move along in this budget and process. that assumes, of course, that i shouldn't is averted in the next few hours. the senate has this bill. there are two in what's called a hotline. effectively run this procedure and given a saints to their conference of what's actually in this bill that they're going to vote on. as of now, and you and i both know this, haven't looked at it and what congress for a while, the senate can move as quickly or slowly as all 100, or in this case, 99 senators does not want to. move the usual people who tend to come of this process and slow it down, people let senator rand paul or ted cruz, they've said they're not going to do this. so it looks like, once the senate is ready to take it up, we could see as little as 15 or 20 minutes of debate before the pass this, and what's expected to be a problem profession. >> let's go back to the house for a minute, ali. how soon to you think we could see kevin mccarthy's face a challenge for his speakership, since some of the far-right were very upset with how he did? >> it's fitting that your first question, because many of us who have been covering this process, and frankly and hurt mccarthy because since general, have been wondering this thing. members of the far-right party of this republican conference have been clear. matt gaetz said, quite literally, if mccarthy turns to his left and avert a shutdown and bipartisan fashion, he will move the trigger what's called a motion to vacate. basically, trying to oust or fire at the speaker. that's a conclusion that mccarthy himself made to get this job and the first place, back in january. allowing only one member of the house to trigger that. then the open question becomes, if it's filed, witness that filing happen? leadership can buy themselves up to two days before the vote takes place. but then, it becomes a guessing game of if democrats, especially moderate ones, maybe in red or purple districts, step and to save the speaker, is the preference for democrats to continue or current with someone that they know, as opposed to an unknown speaker? and then of course, the reality that you can't replace mccarthy with nobody. and right now, while there are several names you could, float no one seems to be the consent's choice. and so, even if there is momentum, or energy, behind relieving mccarthy of his duties as speaker, it's not entirely clear who those hard-liners would even want in that position. >> all right, thank, you and the seas ali vitali on capitol hill. we'll go back to you if needed. joining me now, senator bob casey. democrat of pennsylvania. senator, thank you for joining us. the ball is in the court of you and your senate colleagues at the behest, the house passed a 45-day continuing resolution to fund our government. what can you tell us about the negotiations that are taking place right as we speak? >> reverend al, great to be with you. there was a lot of today's work will be the government will be funded. i think that's very important for the american people. all the people depend upon, with regard to the federal government. fifth woman's, infants, and children's program, and programs like that that healthy vulnerable will be funded. we'll be able to do food safety inspections and so much else to protect public health. and our military and national security will be funded. so that's the good news. because, when the senate takes up this bill, we don't know, when and the next several hours, at the latest, the government will be funded. so that's good news. >> just after the cr passed without the support of several far-right house republicans, kevin mccarthy went out and stood on his conservative credentials, criticizing democrats as the source of today's contention. alleging democrats and the president are -- security at our southern border. what do you make of the speakers plot after today? >> if it weren't such a serious, grave topic, the funding of the federal government, what the speaker is trying to do is deflect blame. because the country knows, the only reason there is drama here, is the only reason why so many people believe the government would shut down, it is because of an extreme group of house republicans. and for whatever reason, the speaker can't get them in line. but the good news is, the good news is, we're going to be able to fund the government. and as soon as this bill passes the senate, job one going forward in the next couple of days will be to make sure we get substantial funding for ukraine. for ukraine's military. and i want to support a measure, and will support a measure, that will be beyond the dollars that were proposed about six billion dollars. we've got to fund that effort against flip him or putin, and defeat him. and i hope our house republican colleagues will join us and being on this side of ukraine and democracy, rather than putin and autocracy. >> let me give our condolences over the loss of your colic this weekend, california senator dianne feinstein, who passed away from it morning at the age of 90. after serving nearly 31 years in the senate. the longest serving woman in the chamber of history. we have congresswoman barbara lee on the show tomorrow. she's running to phil feinstein's seats, along with katie porter and adam schiff. how do you personally remember your late colleague, senator casey? >> reverend al, we all have our own personal moments that we had with dianne feinstein. first and foremost, she was a giant in the senate. everyone who knows anything about intelligence, i happen to be on the intelligence committee the last three, irrespective she served for decades on the committee. the judiciary committee. all the fight she waged for people who didn't have a voice. and for our national security. and so much else. but i think personally, for me, just recommit moment my wife and i had in 2015, when we went to san francisco for a couple of days. we saw my daughter and we did some work out there. but dianne had as over to her house, and was so gracious and such a great host. and i'll never forget that moment. she was a wonderful person, and in addition to being a champion for people without a voice and a very, very strong and capable, effective legislator. so we'll miss her personally, and almost her leadership. >> you have your own sate race to win. a race that could determine the majority in the senate. your republican opponent is a businessman, david mccoac who announced his bid this week, . he is running unopposed th time, after losing the last gop senate primary to doctor oz, went on to be defeated by your narrow colleague john fetterman. mccormick wasted no time trying to blame you for a mess looting incident and philadelphia, claimant you and your democratic colleagues are soft on crime. but what's your response? >> first of all, it's pretty clear, people who know me well, my record. the republican party in washington is really the party who's voted over and over again to take away money from the -- program. take away money from the current the good prosecutors, and help us fight crime across the country. he's supporting all those cuts. he was commanding, house republicans, on these terrible cuts they were going to make to the women, infants, and children's program and so many others. i look forward to the debate about who's going to support public safety. i have a strong record. and i hope, if we start our campaign, i hope people will go to bob casey dot com and support or campaign. >> thank you for being with us. senator bob casey. switching from senate to house. joining me now is congressman dan goldman. democrat of new york. he sits on the house oversight committee and served as lead counsel in the house impeachment of president trump in 2019. congressman, the continuing resolution passed overwhelmingly in the house just a few hours ago. after weeks of contentious debate that ultimately led down to just hours before the deadline and a potential crisis for the nation. being on the house floor today, what were your thoughts watching this last-ditch vote after all of that? >> lied to put you to wait this long? this is exactly the continuing resolution that we had always been advocating for. a clean continuing resolution that extends the time so we can work on the appropriations bills at the levels that both parties agreed to last june, in the fiscal responsibility act. and ultimately, that we get the disaster relief. we need to get ukraine funded. that is absolutely paramount. but we don't have to get it and this bill right now. there are other ways we can do that. and it was paramount to keep the government open. the democrats stayed united. we stayed very unified and persistent and the way that we thought this should be done. the republicans tried every which way to reduce spending, to jam through their very draconian border bill, that will not actually help things, that will make things worse. and we start the line. and ultimately they caved, and they came to us, because they knew that we had the right position. >> i want to talk to you about what else republicans in the house were up to in this week, while a shutdown looms. an impeachment inquiry against president biden began in the oversight committee on which you sit. i want to play with this moment from your colleague alexandria ocasio-cortez, responding to a screenshot of a text message introduced as evidence by a republican congressman byron donalds. roll the clip, please. >> earlier today, one of our colleagues, a gentleman from florida, printed up on the screen something that looked, appeared to be a screenshot of a text message containing or insinuating and explosive allegation. that screenshot, of what appeared to be a text message, was a fabricated image. >> now members of staff of both sides of the aisle who reportedly stunned by this moment, and others from the hearing. you know firsthand how thoroughly prepared your party for their impeachment proceedings against trump was. what was your take on what you saw from republicans this week? >> it was embarrassing, right. if it run it was. i mean, what came out at that hearing was not only as congresswoman ocasio-cortez pointed out, misinformation fabricated evidence. but it was also very clear that the republicans who are using evidence from a different time period to make allegations against president biden. they're using evidence from 2017. he wasn't president or vice president in positive contain. they are alleging that the biden doj blocked the hunter biden investigation, if they show an email from 2020, when donald trump was president. i repeatedly tried to get in additional witness testimony that directly contradicted many of the things that my republican colleagues for saying. and of course, it was three noteworthy, right, from the very first hearing, part of this impeachment inquiry, so to speak, they had no effect witnesses. they had no witnesses who had any direct knowledge of anything. and the witnesses that they did bring, and they're quote unquote experts, said that they do not have enough evidence for an impeachment. so it was a complete bust and we were very happy that they were able to bring this out to the american people and we were able to expose the sham that this impeachnt is. >> now nbc poll out this week found nearly three and five voters do not think the house should move forward with impeachment of president biden. on the one and three republican voters say impeachment will in fact -- have this into congress. what do you think house republicans are moving forward with the effort anywhere? do you think it's connected to the legal problems affecting their guy, the former president trump? >> i think it all has to do with donald trump. and he's made it very clear. he has said he wants president biden to be impeached, because he was engaged. he doesn't care, of course, about the evidence. he doesn't care about the fact, he never has. but he is directing things from his home, down in mar-a-lago, and his mob soldiers up here in the house of representatives are doing what he wants. but i think that polling is going to change significantly after our hearing. especially because fox news ran the hearing live all day long. narrowly, chairman comer, chairman jordan, they get up on fox news, and they have celebratory panelists, hosts, who are applauding them and prop him up and making old's conclusions. on thursday, they got a different taste of what was really in the evidence. and i hope that they realize the fallacy that this whole impeachment investigation is. >> i noticed fox wasn't in the hand house. congressman, before you go, you join for tonight house democrats this week calling on supreme court justice clarence thomas to recuse himself from an upcoming high court case impacting executive agencies after recent reporting found that he had visited events held by the conservative coke network. attorneys for which are currently asking the supreme court to overturn it will give a executive agencies brought authority to implement regulations. what's at stake here, congressman? >> this is both a perpetuation and continuation of the unethical behavior that clarence thomas has clearly paint using and win for the last two decades. but in this particular instance, there is a clear conflict of interest related to forthcoming work. before the supreme court. clarence thomas, who is known to be very intransigent in his views from the beginning 30 years ago to now, has actually flip-flopped on this specific issue, which the koch has been advocating against for nechanitz. and now the koch network is breaking a case in front of the supreme court to overturn a very second president, that is used far and wide throughout the united states for legal interpretation. and clarence thomas was at a donor event trying to help the koch network raise money. that is a clear conflict of interest and he must recuse, because of it. o>> congressman dan goldman, thank you for being with us tonight. coming up, donald trump tries to trick americans into thinking he's pro union with a visit to michigan during the auto workers strike. but don't be fools, i'll explain why in this weeks gotcha. and we're watching capitol hill, as the senate takes up a last-minute spending bill to avoid a government shutdown. stay with msnbc for the latest. but first, my colleague richard lui with today's top news stories. richard? >> roughly, are. new york city is drawing out of her nearly seven inches of rain led to widespread flooding. southwest, buses have resumed. normal service. officials say a sea lion that briefly swam out of her enclosure in central park was rescued and is now back at the. suit the french government assures parisians it will solve a bit by problem in time for the summer olympics, less than a year from. now the bloodsucking and six were found on subways, theaters, and even at the airport. and the white house pushes former president jimmy carter a happy 99th birthday. the former president's birth at celebrations port move to today, instead of tomorrow. the day of his actual birthday. due to the uncertainty surrounding a government shutdown. more politicsnation with reverend al sharpton after the break. break. proven over 90% effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. an increased risk of guillain-barré syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. fainting can also happen. the most common side effects are pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. home of the xfinity 10g network. the power goes out and we still have wifi to do our homework. and that's a good thing? great in my book! who are you? no power? no problem. introducing storm-ready wifi. now you can stay reliably connected through power outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery back-up to keep you online. only from xfinity. >> this week, a day after home of the xfinity 10g network. president biden becomes the first sitting president ever to join a picket line, republican presidential front runner donald trump traveled to michigan for his own union rally. but in a show of solidarity for the united autoworkers was under a element to say the least. trump's event was held at drake enterprises, a non-union auto parts factory, and involved in the strike, located in clinton town ship, a suburb 20 miles north from detroit. he wasn't invited by the employees, but rather by the company presidents. nbc journalist on hand can only find a handful of actual uaw members, and others at the event reported speaking to people wearing union shorts and korean union signs were actually not in the group at all. maybe that's just as well, because trump's speech was not exactly inspiring. take a listen. >> it doesn't make a damp bit of difference what you get, because in two years, your oak canopy out of business. you're not getting anything. what they are doing to the auto industry and michigan, and throughout the country, is absolutely horrible and ridiculous. it doesn't matter what the hell you are getting now. do me a favor. just get your union guys, your leaders, to endorse me. >> trump wants organized labor to pack your campaign, but he sure hasn't done much to earn that supports. in fact, quite the opposite. as presidents, trump-stacked his national labor relations board with anti union appointees and packed the courts with conservative judges who ruled against unions in case after case. when gm workers went on strike for two months in 2019, trump barely lifted a finger to help them. it was democratic presidential hopefuls who visited the picket lines, including joe biden, bernie sanders, elizabeth warren, and amy klobuchar. the biden campaign took aim at trump's record with autoworkers in an ad that aired on fox this week, right before the second gop presidential debate. here's a clip. >> he says he stands with autoworkers, but as presidents, donald trump past tracks breaks for his rich friends, but older makers shove their plans and michigan lost manufacturing jobs. >> trump's -- support of the uaw this week is par for the course. and the 19 80s, he hired non-union, undocumented, polish workers to do the demolition work, paving the way for trump tower on fifth avenue. paying them as little as $4 an hour. in 2016, as president elect, he told carrier workers, at a plant in indianapolis, he had safe there are jobs from being moved to mexico. a year later, roughly half were laid off. union members work to horror to hire a guy for a job who won't work hard for them. mr. trump, i gotcha. i gotcha. have to put your mind to it and fight. subject 2: it doesn't feel good because you can't play outside with other children. subject 3: as a parent, it is your job to protect your family. but here is something that i cannot do. i cannot fix this. i don't know if my daughter is going to be able to walk. i don't know if she's going to make it till tomorrow. 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[music playing] >> welcome back to politicsnation. let's bring and my political panel. michelle goldberg, opinion columnist for the new york times and former republican congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania. charlie, the senate will be voting for friday on short term spending, a short term spending bill, to be exact, after the house passed bipartisan bill to avert a shutdown. it was a turnaround for speaker mccarthy, who had struggled to appease hard right members of his own caucus. what do you think will be the fallout from this showdown? >> i suspect the speaker will face a motion to vacate the chair, that, is to remove him from office at some point from those hard-liners. i think that's coming. it's inevitable. the speaker threw down the gauntlet last week, and said, go ahead, off for the motion. and i'm pleased that the speaker chose to do the right thing today, by putting up the partisan bill. i've been saying for weeks, this is a very easy issue to resolve. all they had to do was put a bill on the floor that was a clean funding bill, and it can strum a partisan vote, probably around 300 votes. they got 335. the senate's gonna take it up and put ukraine off for another day. i expect them to vacate -- whether they'll be successful or not, i don't know. but i do expect, democrats have to make a decision. if they choose not to help mccarthy, the house goes back into chaos. and if they choose to help him, obviously that probably don't want to do that for political reasons. so i think it's up in the air just help this will resolve itself, what the outcome will be, but it's pretty certain the motion to vacate is coming. >> michelle, speaker america nancy pelosi warren's minority leader hakeem jeffries and others in his leadership team against bail and out speaker mccarthy. according to multiple democrats who spoke privately with politico. to think democrats in the house to the right thing, joint with republicans, to avert a shutdown? >> absolutely, they absolutely do the right thing and pass and this bill. there are theories in the democratic vote was almost unanimous, except for one congressman who objected -- objected to the effect it's tripped up on for ukraine. this is what democrats wanted. a main, continuing resolution. a capitulation on the part of the, right because they filed and there are maximalist attempts to use the government shutdown as leverage to get, kind of, really unpopular policies. policies that are not even necessarily that popular in some cases with their own party, never mind the country at large. that doesn't mean, though, that democrats now need to save the -- mccarthy from the kind of on wilderness and his own caucus. democrats i've talked to are willing to think about civic mccarthy, if that need something and exchange. there would need to be a real power sharing agreement. they're just not willing to say, you could to continue being speaker and pursuing, let's also remember, the recent vessel to this impeachment inquiry in the first place was and inducements to republicans not too short of the government. so that was the reporting in august, that if they, if mccarthy would give them this as a bone, they would be less likely to shut down the government because they would want to continue their inquiry. and instead they decided to shut down the government, and that were just a player, the essential -- declare the impeachment inquiry essential, and they weren't able to shut down the government. this leadership, although he showed leadership today, he's an incredibly make and -- figure most of the time. ->> you are not suggesting that the hard right members of his caucus keep their word. but anyway, charlie, let's switch curious to the gop primaries from front runner donald trump and nikki haley traded props on social media in the wake of this week's stick and republican debate. after a trump cult haley disloyal on social media, and said he would never pick her as a vice presidential running mate. haley responded by saying trump's -- campaign is getting momentum. she has certainly trunk media attention after two strength of a performances. the question is, who's watching? this week's debate through the lowest writings since 2015. do you see haley or any other republican candidate gaining momentum right now? >> i don't. it seems to me that too many of this candidate running against donald trump are running for second place, which was really last place and the primary. so i think what is to happen is these candidates, who are challenging trump, need to take him on directly. i've been mystified why -- political malpractice, except chris christie and asa hutchison and maybe a few others. they really need to explain what should own trump it's a great risk for the republican party. they have to make that case. the case to fire donald trump as the leader of the party. they have not on. that too many -- effect ramaswamy -- he's certainly not running for president, he wants something, but he's never gonna be president. he's never even gonna be the nominee. again, i've run a lot of campaigns. and when you're running against somebody, you need to draw a strong contrast with the person who's living. there are not doing. that they need to do it collectively, because trump otherwise dominate the narrative and they can breakthrough. so it was an interesting debate. it's an undercurrent. nice to watch the fights leading up to the big one. but there was no big. fight that's where we stop. >> michelle, let's turn to california. let's turn to california governor gavin newsom. who has the complicated past -- task of appointing summit to the senate after the passing of senator dianne feinstein. newsom has said he would a point a black woman to finish out her term. one of the options is congresswoman barbara lee, who will be on the show tomorrow. and is running for the seat. however, newsom has said, it would be unfair for him to appoint anyone who's running in a contested primary. congresswoman lee has said, it would be insulting for governor newsom to appoint a different black woman as a mayor caretaker for the office. what should the governor do, given the circumstances? >> i think the governor's an extremely difficult position, given the contradictory promises that he's made. right? he's promised to the point a black woman -- the most obvious person is barbara lee. he's also promised not to make an appointment to push in his putting his thumb on the scales of this primary. to kind of basically appoint properly, there is no way he can appoint properly and say i'm not endorsing her for the sake the next time around. so. honestly. i think as insulting and suboptimal as it is, he does have to appoint a certain caretaker for this seat, and let the voters decide who's going to be the nominee in the next general election. >> charlie, what would beat your advice to the governor? what should he do? he's in a tight squeeze here. >> if his intention was to appoint a black woman, he should just do. so i would have advised him not to say that upfront, because now he's raised expectations for properly and others. and i've worked with properly and congress. but it's clear he's going to go for a caretaker. it will likely be an african american woman, just as he said he would appoint. that will disappoint properly and make the other candidates running for the u.s. senate in the democratic primary quite happy. that's what i think newsom will do. and to be smart, he'll do it quickly and not let us faster too much lung. >> he's gonna have to find a qualified black woman that wants to be just a caretaker. we'll see. michelle goldberg and charlie dent, thank you both. after the break, how some states our sidestepping the rules to tonight black voters representation, and what can be done about it as we fight for fair elections. that's after the break. that's after the break a ultra. unlike some others, it supports 7 brain health indicators, including mental alertness from one serving. to help keep me sharp. try new neuriva ultra. think bigger. febreze! your bathroom... needs febreze small spaces... the always-on, odor-fighting air freshener you set and forget. no outlets used, no batteries needed, no effort required. so your bathroom stays continuously fresh for 45 days. that's the power of febreze small spaces. 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(announcer) change your life at golo.com. that's golo.com. the subway series menu is getting a new lineup of sandwiches - the deli heroes. there's fresh sliced turkey on the titan turkey. fresh sliced ham on the grand slam ham. five meats on the beast! and look at that double cheese! try subway's tastiest refresh yet. why didn't we do this last year? before you were preventing migraine with qulipta®? remember the pain? cancelled plans? the worry? that was then. and look at me now. you'll never truly forget migraine. but qulipta® reduces attacks, making zero-migraine days possible. it's the only pill of its kind that blocks cgrp - and is approved to prevent migraine of any frequency. to help give you that forget-you-get migraine feeling. don't take if allergic to qulipta®. most common side effects are nausea, constipation, and sleepiness. learn how abbvie could help you save. qulipta®. the forget-you-get migraine medicine™. >> welcome back to politicsnation. as the 2024 election draws closer, they struggle for equitable electoral representation especially for communities of color is planned out and state houses and in the corpse. joining me now to talk about some of the most recent flash points and the thought for a fear of democracy is michael waldman, the president and ceo of the brennan center for justice at the new york university school of law. michael, thank you for joining us. let's start our conversation in the pedigree state of ohio. the states supreme court has rejected for congressional maps in just the pt three years for being overly partisan. this week, a commission of lawmakers, including five republicans and just t democrats, passed a fifth redistricting plan after negotiations, held largely behind closed doors. what's your take on this latest proposal? and what has the process dragged on for so long? >> you are exactly right, reverend, what you're seeing all across the country is a struggle overrepresentation with a big, thick implication for the outcomes of elections for racial fairness and many of the things. in ohio, the state supreme court has struck down the maps over and over and over again. and the legislature would basically control the commission has simply ignored what the state supreme court has done. those of us who care about fair maps for trying again, but it might will be the case that the answer has to come from voters for a fellow initiative to create a strong and independent redistricting commission and interestingly, one of the people who's pushing for that is the former chief justice of the ohio supreme court, who is a republican. >> wow. also this week, the supreme court rejected a second nfl about republicans to use a congressional map with just one majority black district. the court ruled, three months ago the map filleted the voting rights act. both ruins from the roberts court for a bit of a surprise, given the chief justice was instrumental in johnson voting rights act a decade ago. is this a change of position from this conservative court? >> >> it's hard to know, you're exactly right. it was a big surprise because john roberts has made a career -long crusade out of demolishing the voting by tech and part of the voting rights act that he upheld. the alabama legislation did something unfortunately sharpton that is similar to what the ohio legislation is done and it's reminiscent of what we saw in the 1950s in the south. massive resistance. they just ignored with the supreme court said. well it went right back to the supreme court and they said, no, you really have to do it. if alabama re-draws the maps and creates another congressional district likely represented by a black member of congress, we're also seeing this in other states. louisiana and elsewhere. this will mean more representation, and again, could have a significant impact in this election. >> and a flagrant disregard for the supreme court. i mean, it reminds me of when i was a kid, how alabama governor george wallace standing in that school house door. it's like alabama all over again. there are not going to listen to the courts or anything that gets in the way of the race -- racial decisions. given alabama rulings, i'd like to get your thoughts on two of the similar cases. this week, a federal trial opened examining whether florida governor ron desantis violated the constitution by deliberating dismantling the district that would've favored black candidates. and when the supreme court opens a new term on monday, the docket will include a case alleging some 30,000 black voters, were illegally drawn out of a south carolina district, now represented by republican congresswoman nancy lace. are you feeling more optimistic how these cases might clear out at the federal level? >> i do hope that the ruling by the supreme court, again, big surprise, will give some courage to these judges are across the country to stand up for voting rights, to stand up for equality. that has been happening. that has been very encouraging. in florida, desantis pushed this map through over the objections of a florida republican legislature that but it wasn't fair. so there's a lot of evidence coming out of this trial that the political motivations in what desantis was doing. it's a big test for the courts. right, now the supreme court stood up this past week. and it's also really important that if we say were for the rule of law, it has to apply when courts rule that maps are racially gerrymandered when they are unfair, and these legislatures can't just thumb their noses at the courts. it's part of receding, but it's part of this extraordinary struggle between now and november 2024 and beyond, for the shape of american democracy. the courts haven't always gotten the right, they haven't always stood up when they should, but when they do, it's really important that these political legislatures follow the rule of law. >> speaking of 2024, before i let you go, michael, your organization not only fights and tracks gerrymandering, but also voter suppression efforts that continue across the country as well, it could interfere with the election process, including the counting and certification of the vote. as you well know, the front runner for the republican presidential nomination is facing felony criminal charges for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election. how concerned are you, right now, about what will happen in 2024? >> the most important thing that could happen is that we get ready. in my remembering, the election deniers didn't do very well in 2022. they didn't struck the elections, a lot of them actually lost their losses for secretary of state because election officials were ready, before because law enforcement actually stepped up to protect winning rates, and voters understood what was going on. we knew that there would be a huge effort to subvert the elections in 2024, it goes beyond just what the candidate at the top of the ticket is saying, but he's got tens of millions of people believing the big lie. those of us who care about democracy have to stand up for the truth which is that our elections are fair and we have to make sure we stand behind that. >> michael waldman, thank you for being with us. up next, my final thoughts, don't go anywhere. don't go anywhere. wolf: don't mind me. i'm just the flu. (coughing, sneezing) i'm quite harmless, really. and when people ask, “but aren't you linked to dangerous flu complications... ( coughing, sneezing.) ...like pneumonia, heart attack, and hospitalizations?” (coughing, gasping.) ...i just say, “but i'm just the flu.” (sniffs) (elevator dings) it's him! who? i'm just the flu. fight the flu with higher-dose flu vaccines from sanofi. they're proven to provide better flu protection than standard-dose flu shots in older adults. they've even been shown to better protect against flu-related complications. don't get fluzone® high-dose quadrivalent... ...if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its components... ...including egg products, or after previous dose of flu vaccine. don't get flublok® quadrivalent... ...if you've had a severe allergic reaction to its components. tell your health care professional... ...if you've had severe muscle weakness after a flu shot. people with weakened immune systems may have a lower vaccine response. demand more from your flu shot. to get a sanofi vaccine, make sure to ask for it by name. schedule your sanofi flu shot. available at these preferred national pharmacies. >> i want to, before we go, i want to react to today's federal appeals court decision against the feel is fun. today's ruling effectively halts the funds vital work empowering black female entrepreneurs. while the courts consider civil rights cases brought before that by far-right legal activists, intent at chipping away at affirmative action and diversity efforts in americas boardrooms, college campuses, and even our military academies. on tuesday, i traveled to atlanta in my capacity as head of national action network to stand with the leaders of the feelers fun when it seemed as if they could be able to continue their operations during the proceedings ruled by a district judge if they could continue. it's outrageous adventurer meant to a dress our countries path -- companies stand accused of racial discrimination. it's even more than maddening. that efforts are being suspended before the allegations against them have been considered in court. this decision was the 11th circuit. three judge panel, to appointed by donald trump. my thoughts with the good people at the feelers fun tonight, as well as many aspiring business leaders for whom the fund was a lifeline, is that even though we may face an uncertain future, we must keep fighting. we will keep fighting. that does it for me. thanks for watching, i will see you back here tomorrow at five pm eastern for another live hour of politicsnation. alicia menendez with american voices starts right after a short break. look ♪ ♪ ♪ look ♪ ♪ ♪ i'd like to tackle one of these after a game. quarterbacks can't tackle anything! you're probably not easily persuaded to switch mobile providers one for your business.ame. but what if we told you it's possible that comcast business mobile can save you up to 75% a year on your wireless bill versus the big three carriers? it's true. plus, when you buy your first line of mobile, you get a second line free. there are no term contracts or line activation fees. and you can bring your own device. oh, and all on the most reliable 5g mobile network nationwide. wireless that works for you. it's not just possible. ♪ ♪ ♪ it's happening. >> hey everyone, i'm alicia menendez. welcome to american voices. we have a lot to get to tonight, but i want to begin on a rs