All African American voters to honor us this november with their support. Get away from the democrats. Joining me now christine emba, liz copeland, and david brock. Thank you all for being with me. Let me go to you first, christine. President obama said avenfrican americans should vote for him, hed be honored and they should get away from the democrats. But then the next night he comes and says this about a confederate general. So robert e. Lee was a great general, and Abraham Lincoln developed a phobia, he couldnt beat robert e. Lee, he was going crazy. I dont know if you know this. But robert e. Lee was winning battle after battle after battle and Abraham Lincoln came home and he said i cant beat robert e. Lee. Now i said president obama, obviously it was President Trump that said that. How does anyone expect for African Americans to honor them with their vote if theyre calling a confederate general, who led a military Movement Based really on treason and on slave ownership, calls him a great general . What it shows is that donald trump really does not know the African American audience well. First of all that phrasing African Americans should honor republicans, a little bit awkward shall we say. And the next night in ohio he went on this tangent about general lee who he knows that his base appreciates, primarily white, very concerned over the removal of confederate statues, those are the real people hes trying to attract. When he speaks to African Americans, its off the cuff. It doesnt really matter to him, and he knows that. Liz, one would have to say that President Donald Trump knows that robert e. Lee is a confederate generals, one of the statues being protested was of robert e. Lee. So clearly one has to ask is he really trying to get African American voters or is he using them as a backboard to score with those that are to the far right and are intensive or are outright hostile to African American voters interests . I dont think donald Trump Realizes exactly what hes saying. History will tell you upon talking about the issue of confederate statues that general lee wasnt in support of it during his time. So i think the other commentator is right. Hes talking to his base, who are upset about these initiatives to remove these confederate statues that are images of a terrible time in our history and to try to honor a general who was treasonous during that time, who was fighting against the United States on behalf of the south in order to protect and maintain the southern way of life, which would include slavely. But to be honest i dont think President Trump is thinking African American voters are taking him seriously. But he got about 8 of the African American vote of the 2016 election. You think about the statements he made during that cycle when he said, theres my black over there, it really just shows his lack of sensitivity. His tone deafness. Again i dont think hes talking to us, hes talking to the base in that room. And i didnt see many people who looked like me there. David, when we look at this, how do we think in any stretch of the imagination that republicans can go along with this and not denounce it . Why arent Republican Leadership coming out denouncing this blatant appeal to racism, this blatant appeal to honoring people that were slave owners and actually killed American Military people to defend slave holding . Thats right. Look, republicans political fortunes are tethered to this president. So on issue after issue, not just this issue, you never see separation from elected republicans and donald trump. And you have to remember that they used to call these dog whistles in the reagan days. These arent dog whistles, i disagree with what the last folks were saying in the sense he knows what hes doing here. These are blatant appeals to his base. The whole trump phenomenon has a racial element to it. It goes back to the suppression of the black vote and how hoe helped get himself elected in 2016. It has to do with what theyre doing in georgia with purging of black votes. And go back to charlottesville, he could not condemn the nazis, the klan, the attack on the nfl players, he knows what hes doing. Its stoking up on white men. How do republicans stay in the fold of the Republican Party if donald trump is the head of the party and is blatantly playing to racial, and in many cases, racial hostilities and divisions . s in a a really good question. I spoke to a mentor of mine, michael steele, the former head of the national committee, his point and ill share it, were hearing a party in spite of that leader. Hes the leader in title only. The reality is he doesnt speak for me or many others in the republican parties. The point that many republicans hold their nose, turn a blind eye to his statements because at the end of the day the president is able to effectuate change and policy. Hes able to move the policy agenda along and theyre willing to deal with his antics and denounce many people like paul ryan and Lindsey Graham have come out and denounced his statements, certainly after charlottesville, theyll say what hes not saying is correct but he like his policies isnt that really very cynical, liz, to say yes, he can praise slave owners, he can praise confederates, yes, he can denigrate black interests, but he at least is with us on other issues. What kind of cynical use of voting is that . I think youre mischaracterizing what im saying. Im certainly not saying that donald trump is praising slave owners. What he said was robert e. Lee was strong he was a slave owner. He wasnt praising him being a slave owner he was praising him. Thats who he was. Youre right. But he didnt come out and say lets praise slave owners. To my point i believe hes tone deaf, its inappropriate, insensitive. To your point how can we as republicans stand by our party when we have the head making statements like that, its not easy. But this is the party we have and im in it to effectuate change, im an urban conservative. Rural conservatives might agree with it. As an urban conservative i have a problem with it. Im not the only one to speak out about it. Christine, donald trump is an urban conservative, hes not from rural. He knows what hes saying and hes dealt with a city that has Racial Discrimination. In fact, he was sued for Racial Discrimination in housing early in his real estate career. So saying youre an urban republican either youre with someone or not. Let me ask you this, if barack obama had praised someone who had been similar in terms of being an extremist against whites, would the Washington Post where you are and others have let him get away with that . I dont think so. And i dont think the media or anyone else has let him get away with anything. Even the insinuation he was friends in the past with radicals had hammered on. I think the word titular is interesting here and useful. Donald trump does know hes supposed to be americas president so he makes these half hearted attempts to reach out to African Americans so he can say hes president to all people but we see the sincerity or lack thereof when he says things like honor us and im going to spend ten minutes talking about my favorite confederate general to my real fans. Hes just playing lip service, and unfortunately its to African Americans. I want to talk about one African American he reached out to later in the week. The panel is staying with us. But coming up, senator corey booker, ill ask if the president has the right to call his opponents a, quote, mob. And whether hell run for president in 2020. Well be right back. President i. Well be right back. Insurance that wont replace the full value of your new car . Youd be better off throwing your money right into the harbor. Im gonna regret that. With Liberty Mutual new car replacement well replace the full value of your car. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty replace one meal or snack a day with glucerna. Made with carbsteady to help manage blood sugar. And end the day with a smile. Glucerna®. Everyday progress. Senator corey booker was in the battleground state of iowa early this week, urging state democrats to keep the faith after Brett KavanaughsSupreme Court confirmation and teasing up even more speculation that hes gearing up for a president ial run in 2020 by taking a big stage just hours after casting a well publicized no vote against kavanaughs confirmation. I caught up with senator booker to ask him about all of this and what he thinks about his party and what it must do to bridge gaps with black voters. There are three weeks left before the Midterm Elections. Senator booker, thank you for joining us this evening on our first weekend of politics nation at this hour. I wanted, first of all, and theres a lot of issues i want to get in our discussion. But first, you were one of the most vocal and passionate during the kavanaugh hearings. A week later how do you see it and what has the nation learned from this whole encounter, and what do you advise we do Going Forward . We took a painful defeat, but we are not defeated. Now we have to let our hurt and outrage and gets out working because the midterms so important. We saw how important one seat could be in having a house of representatives that will stand up for people. Everybody has to take their energy now and direct them towards the polls. Youve been around the country and youve been campaigning for Democratic Candidates all over the country. What are you feeling out there . What are you hearing from people . Ive been, as you said, from rural areas, urban areas, atlanta, to the west, nevada, arizona and im seeing so much energy already and im hoping we can turn the dial up in these last bits. The aligned sort of dark money, corporate power, is pouring the last few days is going to pour tens of thousands of dollars in the races. And we understand the power of the people is greater than the people with power. We have to stand up with all their money with our mobilization and work. I see a lot of energy out there, its exciting me, but we know the last three plus weeks are where elections are decided and we have to get people out there to vote, volunteer, to call, to give a dollar. I posted on my social media accounts ways for people to make a tangible difference. We see this week that the president has really continued to play this divisive game, sending all kind of dog whistles, calling protesters mobs, saying things that clearly border on just blatant divisive language, yet kanye west and others meeting with him out thing make america great, how do you respond to the tone of the president and using other people to try to neutralize that tone by acting as if what he is doing is in some way fair and inclusive . For the president to criticize anybody, for folks who dont have his position and power to talk down to them, when he was campaigning about punching people in the face, talked with rhetoric that was inciting people to do things that nobody could condone, for even while hes been in office, the way he degrades individuals, the terminology he uses. He seems to be someone thats whipping up the worst of our angels. And often to take steps that are this is a guy that couldnt even condemn nazis marching. He has no moral standing whatsoever, when it comes to standing about the actions of nonviolent protesters. This is a time, though, we need to be calling for a revival of grace. This is a time we need to be calling for the radical love that we saw from generations before. Now radical love means confronting injustice, whether thats bull connor of old or other folks trying to perpetrate injustices. So we have to match his outrageous works again with our determined works in this election. We know if we splflip the housed senate, we are going to have the needed checks and balances on a president who controls the white house and the senate. And we saw him last week flip in his favor the Supreme Court. When you look at the passion going to the polls, you look at the state of georgia where the Associated Press did a story this week where theyre taking peoples names off the voter registrati registration rolls and people not knowing it and 70 of them black, we have to be vigilant to protect the vote. This is why whats happening in the Justice Department under Jeff Sessions is so outrageous, theyre not fighting these cases, so we have to put people in position to do these things. Let the house of representatives go back to democrat control so we can investigate these things. Not with dirty tricks, standing on the sideline calling foul. We need to be on the field. The only thing that stands in our way right now with getting justice is apathy, indifference and lack of engagement. In georgia we have the numbers despite their dirty tricks. We have the numbers right now to elect stacy abrams and flip house seats. When you hear about this stuff going on, respond to their dirty tricks with your determination. Respond to their outrages with you out working. We have to get people engaged. King said it better than i can, we have to repent for this was during the outrageous days of segregation and white supremacy, we have to repent for inaction of people. Where some of us are concerned is it seems that the democratic governors association, that does a lot of fundraising and resources for gubernatorial races, have not really invested in some key races that africanamericans are running in, the florida race with andrew littgillum and geor with stacy abrams, so the dea itself seems to not be investing at the proportion it should in states that the democrats can win. Are they taking the black vote for granted . I was with ben last night and he told me about the data of his campaign compared to other campaigns around the country. If you look at where we have the best chance to win in a blue state like maryland a guy like that if he gets invement from the gda he can win that seat. So to me its unacceptable. I was there yesterday and im going to continue fighting. The message has to be sent, thats a race we can win. And not to invest in ben, former head of the naacp, worked on gay rights, he needs to have support from his party. So the dga has to do more to invest in that race. Looking at the numbers alone, i was mayor i said in god we trust but analyze the data. You see desantis in florida being accused of racial statements. You see, as i mentioned, in Georgia People being taken off the rolls by the secretary of state whos running against stacy abrams. These are things that are going to have to be dealt with no matter who people decide to vote for. Again, we know factually right now there are schemes going on all over this country from texas to North Carolina in North Carolina a federal judge said attempts to suppress the vote was like using quote unquote surgical precision to disenfranchise africanamericans. Thats why this is high stakes right now. If we dont want to roll back to the days where you saw Voter Suppression rampant, and its getting worse and worse with every Republican Legislature doing things to restrict the vote. The way to answer that is by getting to the polls and fighting back. We know this is our history. The Edmund Pettis bridge, remember that was about Voting Rights. Our ancestors were willing to take beatings and gassings to stand up for the right to vote. Seeing Voter Suppression going on, we have to be willing to make our sacrifice and the least we can ask of each other is our civic duty and getting out to vote. This election if we win state houses and attorney general races we can push back. If you stay home during the fight youre surrendering the field and the rights our ancestors fought and died to have. Now is the moment. If it is to be, it is up to me. What are you going to do in this time when the cause of our country is at hand. You have proposed with some of your colleagues an antilynching bill. People dont know lynching has never been made into a federal crime. Explain to us the bill. This is a darker part of our history when thousands and thousands of people, mostly africanamericans for such a long from the 17, 1800 excuse me from the 1800s to 1968 thousands of africanamericans were lynched around this country and there were efforts in this body to stop that, dozens of efforts but it was blocked. Weve never made lynching a federal crime in this country. And it is a sore, sore point. A blistering festers part of our history that we have never addressed. Especially for the memory of those folks and those families who had not only been lynched but there never were investigations into their lynchings so this is a bill to correct our past, to show we are having a moment of reconciliation in this country. It is a bipartisan bill, i have tim scott, Kamala Harris and others working with me on this. This is a time we need to right wrongs of history where we need to have reconciliation and recognition of our tragic past and we need to move together understanding the hurtful aspect of our past. Make this a federal crime and show that we are willing to start to address some of the unaddressed issues from our common history. President trump took a shot at you sayin