Incivility blocked president barack obama from filling a vacant sprooem court seat refusing to hold hearings on his nominee. Today mcconnell tweeted a picture of himself shaking the justices hand because he knew what was going on. Everyone did. With its decision on the travel ban today, the republican controlled Supreme Court gives an effective green light to the president S Immigration agenda which im sure he receives as more than just about this case. That i amgration agenda lets remember until last week including tearing Migrant Children away from their parents at the border as a kind of punishment and deterrence and reportedly holding those children as hostages to force families to drop their asylum claims. Family separation policy appears to have been halted after overwhelming public backlash but and this is important, the vast majority of those children right now as i speak you to have yet to be reunited with their parents. The president has been quite
political power of their overwhelmingly white base still make up a small minority of the Political Class and of the country in general. But right now at this moment, they are the ones in charge. Unless and until the bigger portion of the majority of the country mobilizes against them. Im joined by a member of the Democratic Party leadership, 2018 candidate for Attorney General of minnesota, one of the few muslims serving on the hill, congress man keith ellison. Your reaction to the Majority Opinion in which the Chief Justice says maybe he said nasty stuff but you have to look at the four squares of whats in there and it passes constitutional muster. Well, its really kind of a surprising and shocking decision because its very clear that you can have a document that might be facially neutral but if its intent, purpose and expected application resolution discriminatory, that is going to pass constitutional muster. Yet the Supreme Court said if they get a thin excuse for
were nothing short of disturbing. They are hostile to the idea of representative democracy. And im telling you, theyre pretty overt about this, pretty clear. You remember well the Chris Kovach Commission that was going to study the false voting group that according to him fraudulently switched the popular vote to hillary clinton. I mean, and thats just the begin. We all know were living under a gutted Voting Rights act. We still have not been able to pass the restoration of that. So thats what were looking at, a minority that is trying to dominate a majority and is using the courts, legislature and the president to do it. What do you say to people saying theyre doing a pretty good job right now. What do dobo it. I have to agree theyre doing a good job. Weve got to mobilize and get out there. Weve got go to low turnout
districts and get folks out to the polls. And weve also got to argue it is about an election but its not only about an election. Activism, engagement, participation in society really has to go up. You know, i tell you, sitting on the sidelines in this moment really its not a protest. Its a surrender. And so what im asking folks to do is get out there and do something about it. I just left a rally in minneapolis in front of e federal courthouse. I can tell you people are energized. Theyre not demoralized. Theyre looking for things to do. People are running for office and getting involved. Just the other day, we had the parkland students here in minnesota. Theyre organizing young people to register to vote making sure that the Millennial Vote turns out in november and people stay active throughout the year. Thats what weve got to do about it. We cant simply assume things will get better because they usually do. In this case, they may not unless we act now. Do you feel like democratic
leadership is sending a strong message what the sort of the agenda of the party is in resisting what you described as a kind of minority managing to exert its power over majority, how to resist that . I think that the Democratic Party leadership has shifted its focus, i mean right now were not only focused on every four years. Were focused on every single day. The Democratic National committee is thinking about how we can support candidates in municipal races, state legislative races, School Board Races all kind of races up and down the ballot. We do it every single race. So that is a shift in focus. We simply cannot have an approach where we raise money from a lot of rich people and buy ads every four years. Thats not going to work. We need to engage people at every single level. You mentioned a few other cases. Theres one that were watching for tomorrow. And you probably are keeping occur eye on the janice case, as well. That has a lot to do with the shape and trajectory of our
country as it relates to Public Employee unions. Were keeping our eyes out, chris. Keith ellison, thank you. Thank you. My next guest is a long time republican strategist who just quit the gop after almost 30 years over the president S Immigration policy. In a Tweet Storm Last week, Steve Schmidt wrote this independent party will be aligned with the only party left in america that stands for what is right and decent. That party is the Democratic Party. And msnbc contributor Steve Schmidt joins me right here. Good to see you chris. First i want to talk about that. The kind of Breaking Point for you. Youve been a never trumper. Thats been clear. Tes a group of people that i think have very strong views about this individual, this president and his character. Then theres a question at which point that becomes true about
everyone in league with him. What was the Breaking Point for you . I had the experience on June 5th Standing On Juno Beach and spending time in the canadian cemetery spending time at Pegasus Bridge where the British 6th Airborne went in and understanding the value of the u. S. Led Liberal Global Order that emerged from the aftermath of humanitys greatest tragedy which killed 80 Million People and left the world in ruins. That Liberal Global Order is worth defending. This president is an autocrat. He is not a small d democrat. He doesnt believe in Liberal Democracy. And what were seeing here every day are five behaviors, one, he incites fervor in a base through constant lying. Two, he scapegoats minority populations and heixes blame
for complex problems to them and them alone. Three, he alleges conspiracies that are hidden and nefarious and linked to those scapegoated populations. Four, he spreads a sense of victimizations among those fer per vent supporters. And five, he an sers the need to exert heretofore unprecedented power to protect his victim class from the conspiracies and the scapegoated populations. Through all of history, you understand totalitarianism, you understand how democracies fall. You will find those five behaviors. Now, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party i would argue and you and i disagree on many many things but we are fidelitious to Liberal Democracy. Thats true. That government of the people, by the people, for the
people must continue. And the Republican Party abdicated, Conservative Mix has become synonym mus with obedience to the leader a leader who says i am the law. I am above the law. I will define what truth is, truth is what the leader says it is. Not what we would have recognized months ago as objective truth. So the Republican Party has become a threat to Liberal Democracy and All Over The World, we see a regression in poland, in hungary, the rise of far right ethnationalist parties and the last time this happened, it unleashed a tragedy the likes of which the world has never seen. And i think theres a real lack of imagination in this country about how fragile these institutions are and about how dangerous a president is unprepared as authoritarian as ignorant as he the damage that
he would be able to cause. Thats incredibly well said. And when i think about this and you think about those behaviors they eem so obvious. And here you have today the court, this is what i found so fascinating about the courts decision today. If donald trump wasnt donald trump and president Marco Rubio On Kay One puts in this ban, it almost certainly its not even a question. The question is, does what this guy has said and the bigotry hes espoused taint in a kinds of unfixable way constitutionally this ban. We all saw it happen in realtime. Its remarkable you have gorsuch and roberts who is something you worked on his confirmation. I led the confirmation. Beak doing a kind of sophisticated version of the paul ryan i didnt read the tweet. They all read the paper and so the facts of the case. The intent was perfectly clear. This was a religious test. This was a religious ban. This was what he said it was. We should take him seriously when he says things. And so this is as unamerican a policy as we have ever seen. We have Freedom Of Religion in this country. And this is also true. This decision harms the National Security of this country in a profound way. The forces of islamic radicalism of extremism are real and dangerous. But the only force that can defeat it is moderate islam. This was a gift to the extremists. This was a fulfillment of bin ladens strategy which was to precipitate a global conflict, a war of civilizations between the west and between islam. We dont want to be at war with a billion muslims All Over The World in a 21st century crusade. So the stigmatizing of good and decent people in the insult given to the muslim soldiers who have served this country, who have sacrificed, it is appalling. Theres also a similarity here that strikes me whats happening on the border and here. In both cases the president talks about ms13 and i. C. E. Those are two groups genuinely ivl. Theres no real supports are of them. What he does policy wise is people fleeing i. C. E. From syria and people fleeing the murders in guamala trying to flee to this country, those are the people that end up caught in the gears of his demonization of those groups. You look at regression of democracy to an oughtocracy. All through history, when you look at violations of Civil Liberties they have always occurred through a prism of fear, fear is a contagion. It erodes Democratic Values and institutions but always In The Name Of security that Civil Lishes Are Col Pro Mized and that lesson has been learned through history. And here we are repeating it again. And the moral shame that comes from Internment Camps and precisely what they are for toddlers and children who are stripped away, some of those children stripped away from breastfeeding mothers, it is a shame that will linger a stench that will linger around this vial administration and my view for a century. Is there a is there a political constituency of vote in other words the country that feel the way you do . I really mean this. Like i dont know if there is. Theres Steve Schmidt. Theres nicolle wallace. Theres charlie sykes, people that exist in the world and bret stephens. Are there voters who at whats happening and say im a republican and cant abide this. I dont know if they exist. I think there are acts of
kindness and decency that take place every day in this country. I think about the las vegas 33yrold africanamerican , runs into a hail of gunfire. He saves 33 peoples lives. Hes running towards a group of school kids to save them and hes shot twice in the neck. And then a white cop runs into the gunfire to save Johnny Smiths life. That is also america. The author alex haley had a saying, he said find the good and praise it. Nobody can compete with donald trump in a vileness contest. Hes the most vial. Nobody can compete with donald trump in a dishonesty contest. Because hes the most dishonesty honest. We have to find the good and praise it in this country. Free market american capitalism is worth defending in my view. Liberal democracy is worth defending. The u. S. Led liberal global
order despite all of its flaws, it has secured the peace, it has lifted billions of people on the planet out of abject poverty into something approaching prosperity over the last 73 years. All of this is worth defending. It was architected by giants. Conceived by fdr. Built by a plain spoken man from independence, missouri, harry truman. Stewarded from john kennedy to Ronald Reagan to barack obama and the departure from it by this president , his Feather Sizing autocrats from erdogan to putin to president xi is disturbing. Our allies who we are connected to by shared history and values are rightly concerned. But i do believe that the American People dont want to live in trump i stan. They want to continue living in america. This is a fundamental question in 2018. This is the most important Midterm Election income american history. Because if this is not repudiated in november, this countrys going down a track of not just decline but a fundamental change that will be very, very difficult to change the trajectory that were on. Steve schmidt, its great to have you here. Thank you very much. Good to see you. After the break, 17 states are now suing the Trump Administration for its Family Separation follows as over 2,000 children separated from their families still remain in the custody of the u. S. Government. Resistance to that in two minutes. What about him . Lets do it. Come on. This summer, add a new member to the family. At the mercedesbenz summer event. Lease the glc300 for 429 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Mercedesbenz. The best or nothing. Billions of problems. Morning breath . Garlic breath . Stinky breath . Theres a therabreath for you. Therabreath fresh breath oral rinse instantly fights all types of bad breath and works for 24 hours. So you can. Breathe easy. Theres therabreath at walmart. Welcome to holiday inn thank you wait, i have something for you every stay is a special stay at holiday inn. Save up to 15 when you book early at hollidayinn. Com
still 2,047 separated children in their custody. And that is only six fewer than about a week ago, although we dont know if new children are coming in. Now 17 states as well as the District Of Columbia are suing the administration to force the government to reunite those families. The daily beast reports some veterans and active duty ca troops disapprove of Building Camps on military bases to house imMigrant Children. All of which adding up to hundreds of planned protests on saturday across the country including a Big March Being Planned in washington, d. C. Karine jeanpierre is a spokesperson for moveon. Org and Sonya Nazariyo of enriques journey, thats a fantastic book. Sonji want to read a new story about what is happening as the question of family Ru Funfication Hacks over everyone. The aclu says in a filing that the border agent threatened to put an immigrants daughter up for adoption if she did not essentially sign deportation papers. Weve seen other reports from the Texas Tribune about essentially threats that unless you say you will deport and waive your right to asylum, well keep you away from your kid. What do you think of that . I think its horrific. We are criminalizing people who are coming here and seeking refuge from the United States. We said after world war ii during that war we turned back a ship with 800jews and did not allow anne franks family to come to this country. We were the leaders in saying this would never happen again and yet here we are doing this with vulnerable children. We shouldnt shouldnt be criminalizing these folks and not using children as bait and saying were only going to give you your child back at the airport if you relinquish all your Due Process Rights to asylum. Theris a difference between an
economic migrant someone coming here for a better life and someone coming here because they are fleeing for their life and theyre being persecuted in their home countries. I have spent a lot of time in Central America in the worst neighborhoods. If you took el salvador and you took that murder level to new york city instead of