Transcripts For MSNBCW Velshi 20240703

Preparations for a shutdown have already begun across the country. One week before funding for the federal government runs out on September 30th at midnight. The White House Office of management and budget has already reached out to leaders of federal agencies to coordinate with them. About what they and their staff can expect if they are forced to shut down. Next week. Like the last time the government shutdown, which lasted for 35 days from the tail end of 2018, until the first weeks of the 2019. Millions of americans lives will be disrupted as various federal services will be shuttered, and work will be followed, and workers will be furloughed, and wont be paid for the direction of the shutdown. Workers who are considered essential, like Border Patrol agents, federal law enforcement, and air Traffic Controllers, will continue working. But also will not be paid until congress results the dispute. Federal employees will be eligible to be receiving back pay, but an impending shutdown puts many people in a tough bide. Especially those who may be living paycheck to paycheck, or work as contrast thirds for the government. And wont be eligible for back pay. This is what is at stake if congress is unable to pass any term of short term or long term resolution by next saturday. It is another stunning an embarrassing episode for this house, with just returned from a sixweeklong recess 11 days ago. Funding the government, boring though it may sound, is a basic power given to congress in the constitution. One a very few powers given to congress in the constitution. The appropriations clause, article, one section that, clause seven, reads quote, no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law. That clause gives congress, or people more commonly referred to as the power of the person. The power not held by any other of the executive branch. Is appropriating friends to keep the government running and functioning is one of the fundamental responsibilities of congress, but this congress cant even agree on how to get started on doing that. Getting the republican conference to agree on a bill, let alone a strategy to get a bill to the floor of the house, has proven to be a mighty challenge. Signs that things werent going well became most appearance on thursday, when emotion to begin debate on a Defense Funding Bill failed for the second time this week. Prompting Republican Leadership to send members home. Congress now has about five days left to take action, since members are off tomorrow and monday for the Jewish Holiday of yom kippur. Now speaking at the house, Kevin Mccarthy told the house yesterday, he believes his conferences making progress in negotiations. And anticipates to resume voting on a mini bus, as a point to an omnibus, are many, bus as series of Appropriation Bills on tuesday. Its important to note that unlike during other potential shutdowns, isnt largely a fight between republicans and democrats, its a fight between republicans and far right republicans. An insurgency, led by floridas my at gates, and a small number of hardliners who are demanding deep cuts in controversial policies, that have basically no part of passing in the summit. Since even before the congress can battle into session, gaetz has been mccarthys chief antagonist. Tensions between the men were evident Way Back Injury during the prolonged speakership session. Kate is gonna turn of the heat on mccarthy, threatening to pull some the platform, x, on thursday. Were gonna have to address his leadership after we get through with this government funding crisis. The tension is it just between gates mccarthy, now the frustrations within the House Republican conference spilling out into the, open with various members calling the party dysfunctional and calling the process painful. Join me now is republican congressman don bacon of nebraska. He is a member of the house agriculture and Armed Services committee. He also serves as a whip for the bipartisan problem solvers caucus. Representative bacon, it is good to see you, not a good situation we are in right now. What does this look like to you . I just gave that my best attempt to have the viewers understand where we are in congress. What is your perspective . Good morning allen, hate to say it, i think it is right on the numbers. I had to say that you are, robert the person you pointed out is a small group. Youre talking at some votes, five people. Sometimes its about ten people. Remember, we have 222 republicans. So you are talking 5 of the caucus, or conference, or less. Thats all it takes to disrupt forcing the majority. The fact is were going to have to get in agreement with this is all said and done. I have recommended to the speaker, and our conference, that we work across the aisle and get a bipartisan deal on spending because we are going to have to do that anyway. We are going through a lot of gymnastics right now, to 18, 222 republicans. And your five who refused to do it. Cut them out, work with the democrats to make the best deal we can as republicans. And govern. These 5 to 10 people dont want to govern. They want to shut down, they said it yesterday. They want a shutdown. Most of us republicans do not, 95 of us do not want to shut down. And we should not let them get that. Lets make these 5 to 10 people irrelevant. Work across the aisle, just the way to change the way that is decided. These guys are dysfunctional, and there is a lot that i like to say about them, they would vote against the bible, because its not about jesus. Thats where these guys are at. Lets talk about that for a second. Because, i quoted from the constitution, there arent a lot of things in the constitution that are specific to congress. There are a few, there are some dates, and sometimes you have to meet. And the regularity with which you have to me. But this is the main responsibility. You actually have to have a budget, any other appropriate, you have to do these things. What is up with the goals . I describe them as far right sometimes. But i feel like that is inaccurate. Because that distinction goes beyond ideology. It goes beyond the idea that folks are meant to govern. Whether we vote for you as a republican, or the democrat to go to congress. The thing is stuff needs to get, and we need to people, to spend your time, in your resources, and your Effort Negotiating to get it done. What is the motivation of some of these people . I cannot figure it out. I think on the onside, something that we could probably all agree on, we are worried about the 33 Trillion Dollar or this year. I dont think the shutdown is the way to handle that. But some of these folks would rather shut the government down to deal with that 33 trillion. Also the idea, at, late that these folks live in an angry part of the universe. Its all about doj going after politicized indictments and their own echo chamber. They do that, some of these folks have a burn down mindset. And i think we can agree, we have a third three trillion dollar debt. We kind of need to bear arms on this. And i think shutting down is not the answer, but thats where theyre taking this. They want 30 cuts in some of the discretionary spending, its not gonna fly. First of off, you know you have to get it through the center, and youve got a democratic president. So unless again, we should negotiate the best deal that we can, and get the democratic president , and We Runner Case by the American People on november 24. Thats how it supposed to work. I think we do have some folks who really think that we can make demands on the senate, and Chuck Schumer will just bakr. And i dont think that they have their feet on the ground, or are living in a reality. A real reality. I remember that they want to stop this bill, and get a better bill out of the senate. And i was like yes. And Chuck Schumer runs a seven, were not gonna get a better build it what we just negotiated. I dont agree with him, but we should be tackling the 33 Trillion Dollar debt. We have to find a way to get our arms around that. He talked about the honest concerned about the 33 Trillion Dollars, i would refer to that as that good faith concern. That people think thats a real debate that should have been in by the way, believe it or not, congress has mechanism for that debate to actually occur. They may not be all that effect of these days but thats an ideological, an important debate that by the way one day you and i will have on the show. What is it like to be don bacon these days. Because every time something crazy happens in congress, i end up invoking her name. Because you are the guy who is up there, making the reasonable statement. You are the cabin who is out there saying this is the way that we are going to do it. But don bacon, you are made a republican. It it has got to be tough being a republican who is an msnbc this morning. Telling us what is wrong with the republican conference . I am a republican down deep. It was the first i campaigned for when i was 13 years old, eisenhower. I love abraham lincoln. I am the party of reagan and lincoln. We had some folks that i think, have strayed away from the reagan philosophy. Take 80 and make a deal. But these folks 100 , and would prefer zero versus getting 95 . Literally, some of these guys are on upper about everything. The Goalpost Move with every day, so five or ten of them, and im gonna come back to that. 95 of us are not these 5 . So hes gotta keep this down on the ground. This 5 is painting us because outside sees the dysfunction, and its this 5 doing it, and i think it does reflect poorly on the rest of us and they should know that. Most of these folks would rather be in a minority. Or they could just yell and scream about no. When youre in a majority you have to defend. And that takes 80 80 , or 90 . In congress there is very seldom a perfect deal. Most of everything we do is imperfect and theres just 435 votes in the house and the senate its just reality. Ronald reagan had it right. If i can agree with you 80 of the time that is to it. Okay good. Congressman, i dont know exactly how were gonna do this, but im asking right now if you can come back, because i need to talk to about agriculture, the farm, bill and some important things that we City Slickers do not talk about enough about. But it is very crucial to how we see this country. Im inviting you out to have that conversation again, the republican congressman, don bacon of nebraska. Still ahead on velshi, were going down to the states. Were taking a look at how State Courts Are Playing In The Future of democracy, and this country. And florida governor, ron desantis, promising to 1 a gallon cast if he makes it to the white house. Only one problem. Gas prices are not set by the president. I wanna give you the facts of the gas prices work. And buckle up, nearly underway. Where examining folks so seminal, so important, that you think it could never face calls for a ban. Im talking about the diary of and frank. This book is that gateway. Many young peoples first exposure to the dark depths of the holocaust. A teacher in texas has been fired first citing a graphic adaptation of the book to their eighth grade class. Were discussing the shocking developments with this book. Two creators. This is velshi this is velshi im adding Downy Unstopables to my wash now. Ill be smelling fresh all day long. [sniffs] still fresh. Still fresh due to the increasing cost get 6 times longerlasting freshness, plus Odor Protection with Downy Unstopables. Of a barrel of crude oil. The price of gasoline is now rising across the country as well. Hitting its highest levels of the year this week. Aaa notes the National Average price for a gallon of self serve gasoline is 3. 85 per gallon. As of this morning, florida governor, ron desantis, trying to capitalize on those rising prices. He is blaming the cost of gas on President Joe Bidens woke energy agenda. Everything is walk for ron desantis. And get this, Desantis Pledge that if he becomes president , he will deliver two dollar per gallon gas. Come on ron. For facts sake, the president of the United States has virtually no direct input into the price of gas. So even if desantis wanted to do that, he could not. Lets examine why. First off, there is a multinational infrastructure that controls the price of gasoline which is simply crude oil that has been refined into petroleum. A major fixture in that infrastructure is the group, opec, which dancer the organization of petroleum, exporting countries. Its described as an Inter Governmental Organization controlling most of the worlds oil supply. It is basically an anticompetitive cartel. Opec is made of 13 of the worlds leading Oil Exporting Nations. Including saudi arabia, iran, kuwait, the united arab emirates, and venezuela. The United States, the largest producer of oil, and canada, from which the u. S. Gets most of its oil, are not members of opec. In 2016 the group also teamed up with ten other Oil Exporting Nations including russia, which is the worlds Third Largest oil producer, to create a new entity commonly referred to as opec plus. Now opec and Opec Plus Aim to regulate the surprise of oil that was that the price for the world market. It is the world market. According to opec, roughly 40 of the world Oil Production, and 60 of the World Petroleum markets come from the group member countries. They accounted for more than 80 of the worlds Crude Oil Reserves in 2021. So it should not surprise you that this set of countries has a major influence on Global Energy prices. Opecs influence on the market has been widely criticized for Inflating Prices to the benefit of its members. To help offset prices, some countries like venezuela and iran subsidize the price of gasoline, making it cheaper for consumers and gas nations. The United States is not one of those countries. Instead, the u. S. Led the federal gas and gasoline. 18. 4 per gallon, that tax pays for things like Federal Highway maintenance. So another we understand that theyre far bigger factors at play when determining the cost of oil in the global market, and that its not decided by the white house, its worth noting that there is one scenario in which the president of the United States can directly affect the price of gasoline in the United States. The u. S. Government controls what is known as the Strategic Petroleum reserve. Espy are. It is the Worlds Largest supply of emergency crude oil. The sbir was established to reduce the harmful impact of global disruptions in the supply of petroleum an oil. Think economic races, natural disasters, or manmade accidents. But the president can only tap into the espy are under very specific circumstances. Its happened a few times. Including in 1991, after Operation Desert Storm in iraq rupture the global oil market. President george h. W. Bush directed the parliament of energy to prepare for a drawdown of nearly 34 million oil barrels, from the Strategic Oil preserve. In 2005, hurricane katrina, president george w. Bush called for a drawdown to help offset the major damage to the Oil Production facilities in the gulf of mexico. During the arm spring in 2011, president barack obama approve the sale of 30 Million Barrels of crude oil to offset Supply Disruptions because of an rested libya which is the 12th largest exporter of crude oil in the world. In 2017, president donald trump, tapped into the reserved for the biggest nonemergency Strategic Oil selloff to fund the government. And last, President Joe Biden announced herself from the reserve, to address the significant Global Supply disruption called from blood where put and swore on ukraine. But like i said, those instances are rare. And they are generally speaking, for emergencies. As it has for decades, the price of oil is determined by a Global Network of Oil Producing companies. Some opec, some none opec come trees, the president of this country, past, president , and future. It does not have the power to tip the scales of the global oil market. No matter how much ron desantis choirs rock, over Bidens Energy policy. Twodollar gas is just not going to happen because he said so. Try again. N because he sai so try again. Try again. Trying to control my asthma felt anything but normal. Enough was enough. I talked to an Asthma Specialist and found out my severe asthma is driven by eosinophils, a type of asthma nucala can help control. Now, fewer Asthma Attacks and less oral steroids thats my nunormal with nucala. Nucala is a oncemonthly addon injection for severe eosinophilic asthma. Nucala is not for sudden breathing problems. Allergic reactions can occur. Get help right away for swelling of face, mouth, tongue, or trouble breathing. Infections that can cause shingles have occurred. Dont stop steroids unless told by your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. May cause headache, injection site reactions, back pain, and fatigue. 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This week, President Biden warned that donald trump and the maga republicans in thrall to him are quote, determined to destroy democracy and quote. Now, you might think this is hyperbole, but it is not. Donald trump has tried to overturn an election, he has promised retribution against his enemies if he returned to power. He once mentioned terminating the constitution. And hes currently calling on republicans in congress to shut down the government. In order to hobbled the investigations against him. But since we have been suing in this trumpian Political Landscape for so long, it is easy for words like threats to democracy to actually lose their meaning. For this existential threat we are living through to become routine, and somewhat numbing. Well my next guest knows very well what happens when democracy is eroded, and this information is rampant. And she knows how not to let it become routine and numbing. She also lives by an adage that Many Americans throw around. That democracy is not free. The legendary, Filipino American investigative journalist maria, has been on the front lines for the fight of democracy for decades. At a great rest for her own life, she has taken on antidemocratic forces on all fronts. From to everyday authoritarians. She has paid for. It they have trumped up criminal charges, after the new site that she founded publish a series of stories exposing government corruption. And scrutinize president dutertes bloody war on drugs, that left thousands dead or disappeared. It was that coverage of dutertes regime that helped her when a Nose Bell Peace Prize in 2021. At one point she faced that many as ten arrest warns of same time. And just last week, she was acquitted of attacks of asian prize in the federal pains. Which is a win, not just herself, was by the countrys fight for press freedom. And the fight for press freedom, is the Fight For Freedom itself. According to a statement from roffler, it was the fifth and final tax related charge against her in the publication. They were acquitted of for similar charges back in january. For more on the global fight to preserve democracy, i am joined in the studio by ressa. A in the philippines. And the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2021. Maria is the author of the very important book, how to stand up to a dictator. The fight for our future. Maria, what a great honor it is to be here with you. It is mindblowing to listen to you in person. Allie thank you for having me. You and i talked, while this is all going on, back before you are a nobel prize winner. And it was not just the information. It was about the fact that we, as journalists, small or large, are up against an institution. And machinery. And the infrastructure of disinformation. Sometimes its your own government. Sometimes its other parties. But this is our problem. Because now we are dealing with people who fall victim to that. And we now have to have been a debate within the confines of bs. While the key part here is all of us are vulnerable to it. And the first part is actually the social media companies. Our First Contact with a i that has designed the very connections between this to spread lies six times faster than facts. Thats an m. I. T. Sparedy. So that is the first, up the Incentive Structure is turned upside down but listening to you introduce this, and how fresh ill democracy, is it made me remember again we called it in rappler, death by 1000 cuts because it is the way that truth is eroded, it is the way that democracy is eroded if lies spread six times faster those three sentences ive said, over and over since 2016. When the weapon was turned against us, if you do not have facts, you cannot have truth. Without truth, you cannot have trust. You cant have trust. Without these. Three we have now shared reality, and that is where it begins. If people do not believe you, dont believe what i say, how can you reach for them . Ou dont be how does that work . You are here well i was doing that thing about ron desantis saying that he wants to get Cast Out To Dallas aghast a gallon. I want to explain to people how that works. You may not speak to rhonda scent, despite you want to question about him about this. Thats my audience, they are the same remarkable people that tune into this show every single week. Theres a whole piece of america that is mason. And its not even what you say, its not the rational part. Its that the facts that will appeal to them. It depends on what you feel. The loyal audience believes you because they feel that they can believe you. But if they are cognitive by, and if they have information warfare. We know in 2016 126 million americas were pounded by russian disinformation. And if they believed it, if they were afraid they would lose their jobs. If they were a young, white man who is afraid, he listened to it. It played into his cognitive bias. He wont listen to it again. So my logic about how oil prices are set, versus someone saying that you have been screwed, im gonna give you a cheaper price of oil . It is fear, anger, and heat. That was the parts of the make download that messaging touched, and it all becomes almost impossible from russia for thinking slow to reach you. Unless there is another emotion. This is something that we found in the philippines when we kind of try to do a whole of society approach. In 2016, i was in Mountain View telling people there that what is happening to assist coming for you. And it is so sad to have seen it. And january six, 2021, to have actually moved faster into violence them in the philippines. So yes, its going to be impossible to reach them. And this is a problem for journalists. How do we touch people with facts when it is emotionally. They are closed after as. So i guess there is some empathy discussion, but Something Else that you and i were talking about. You are the head of an organization, that one of the world didnt know. Did know about it. But it speaks to the idea that there is actually something we can all do. Again, i think most of my viewers always registered to vote, and go vote. But give me some help, for people who are desperate. To think that democracy might be starting to allude as. What can they do . First of all, it isnt out there this battle. You know, you have done a lot on ukraine, and russias invasion. And people think this is the conventional war out there. It is not. It is personal. It is here. In your hands and it is a person the person, battle for integrity. It is a battle for value. It is a battle for how you see the world. What can you do . You have to ask yourself, the same questions. You and i have asked ourselves. For me, it became very clear. What am i willing to sacrifice for the truth . And i realized. It was potentially your money and your freedom . Thats a big step. I was willing to go to jail. Im actually uncross mid, yves it tells me its more than 100 years in jail. So yeah, you are forced to come back. A few tweets, and stuff like that. Youre prepared to say, i will risk my livelihood. And again, im not making comparisons. But those are choices that gandhi made, and Martin Luther king day, and Nelson Mandela made. They said, im Gonna Believe in something. And its going to cross me real stuff. It is never that active, either. It was almost like, again, you move stepbystep, by step. As the Duterte Administration began to attack us. I live, you live, by a set of standards and ethics if you are a professional journalist. And what was happening to, as the attacks, the 28 cases first. They were investigating as. All of a sudden, out of the blue. And the fabric tax of asian cases you talked about . Six months earlier we were given a prized by the government for being a top Corporate Tax payer. So reality had no connection to the cases against us. Slowly, they are going away. But still have three criminal charges left. So i think the point there is i just kept walking down this path. And what became clear, and this is what i wrote in the book. It is up to you to determine what your world is going to be. And frankly, americans . You have a ton more power than we do. Because the tipping point. If you look at , a study done in sweden. Last year they said 60 of the world is under autocratic rule. I thought, that is bad. January of this year it became 72 i love that joe biden wanted to be otherwise. But he keeps saying, democracy is winning, autocracy is losing. And im just not sure that is true. Slowly , incrementally, americans have gained back something. But it is fast. And when i saw that number in january of this year. We started counting how many elections. If you dont have integrity facts, you dont have integrity of elections. We are being slowly manipulated. Part of the reason they keep saying, doing something about section 2 30. And it even worse and large language models. So with the elections coming up next here, look, youve got taiwan in january. Indonesia, the Worlds Largest muslim population. In february, if you have the eu coming up. Maybe canada, the uk. But india which started this year. But the critical part for the world . Heres where is the United States gonna go . And that is what every american is going to have to do for us. Well, i can vote. But, the Rest Of The World Cannot Vote in american elections. When i saw blood muzzle and get the one, i was thinking, hes got his eye on what america decides to do in 2024. The future of this country, and the sovereignty of the ukrainian people has a lot to do with how America Votes in the next election. I would say the rest of the world, the way the world will turn. The critical part for us. I figured its gonna slit after 2024, because we have to keep pushing to get these Democratic Values to make them real for everyone. So that they vote for it. Maria, a lot of people have ballot beef against media and journalism. When they do, im pointing to you, to hold it up for the rest of us. What you have been doing. Thank you so much. Maria ressa is the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize. She is the ceo and president of rappler, that it leaving digital and music distributor in the philippines. And she is the author of how to stand up to a dictator. Coming up the indictment of the new york senator bob menendez, and asking the question how much as one kilo of gold . White details ahead details ahead as often as every year. Take charge with the freedom to upgrade every year with go5g next at tmobile. Also, hes hungry. When i was diagnosed with hiv, i didnt know who i would be. But here i am. Being me. Keep being you. 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New jersey governor, phil murphy, is calling on senator bob menendez to resign after the democrat was indicted on federal bribery charges that include ill gold bars, stacks of, catch in the egyptian government. Him and his wife nadine were charged with three counts of bribery adamant hatton federal court. The indictment paints a picture of a yearslong corrupt scheme and which menendez allegedly yielded the power of his position, tibet that new jersey businessmen and the egyptian government. Hes accused of using his office to have in criminal investigations into to new jersey businessmen. It also accuses menendez of giving sensitive, and non public u. S. Military information to an egyptian american businessman and at least two occasions. In exchange, the couple allegedly received lavish bribes. Including quote, cash, gold bars, payment toward a whole mortgage, compensation for low or no show job, a luxury vehicle, and other items of value. The indictment refers to seizures of more than 500,000 in cash, and more than a dozen gold bars during the june 2022 search of the menendez home. The indictment says that they, after a trip to egypt in 2021, Menendez Google search quote, how much is one kilo of gold worth. And quote. Senator menendez has dismissed the allegations a Smear Campaign against him. Joining us is a Washington Post reporter who covers the Justice Department and the fbi. Thanks for being with us. There is a lot going on in the story. If you are not following from new jersey, theres a lot to it, theres a lot of texture. There are several allegations that have to do with Senator Menendez taking bribes, tell me, some of which dont seem to be bearing relationship to each other. Give us a sense of What Menendez is accused of doing as a relief to the government of egypt . Theres a couple of things going on. Allegedly in this indictment. And what it seems to be frequently is the senator who is the chairman of the foreman relations committee, a very important part of this case, meeting the government of egypt and filling them with Sensitive Information that was important to the government of egypt. Including, for example, the number of employees at the u. S. Embassy in cairo, which is not classified but it is Sensitive Information for security reasons. As well as information like keeping them up to date and well informed about the status of military aid, and Financial Aid that the u. S. Government plans to give egypt. Obviously, that is very Important Information to the government of egypt. And theres other things going on which is about allegations about, having to do with her new jersey businessman and halal meat aberration. What else . What is that . Interestingly, this is also related to the government of egypt. Because that businessmen, that business had and was given a monopoly for a lot of halal meat businesses by the egyptian government. And the time, that raised eyebrows. Because this business wasnt really understood our known in that world. And suddenly, they had an effective monopoly on a pretty lucrative business. And what the indictment alleges is that that became a vehicle through which bribes and payment could be made to menendeznd his wife. Specifically for a noshow job out of that halal meat company. So its a little convoluted, but essentially, it all traces back to this allegedly crooked relationship Tween Menendez and people in egypt who are willing to pay him or his wife money to keep them up to speed and in the know on things that they cared about. Governor, were gonna cover this closely. Thank you for joining us this morning. A reporter for the Washington Post, covered the department of justice and the fbi. Democracy for the future of this country is not just being fought in washington, its being fired you need to Pay Attention to your State Legislatures. Well talk to you about that on the other side de ou are ready. man are there any snakes . woman nope. man are you sure . Here we go vo its time to push your limits. man okay. woman youre doing great man oh, is that a buffalo . woman babe, thats a cow. vo the allnew Subaru Crosstrek wilderness. Adventure on the edge. Get the new Iphone 15 Pro with titanium from Boost Infinite and transcend to a wireless utopia. The new titanium Iphone 15 Pro. On us, with no trade in needed. Infinitely better. Meet the future. A chef. A designer. And, ooh, an engineer. All learning to save and spend their money with chase. The chefs cooking up firsts with her new debit card. Hungry . Uhuh. The designers eyeing sequins. Uh no plaid. While mom is eyeing his spending. Nice. And the engineer . Shes taking control with her own account for college. 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From this highly. Contagious virus. Not all dangers come with warning labels. Talk to your pharmacist or doctor. About getting vaccinated against rsv today. Politically, wisconsin is divided remarkably evenly. True to its swing state identity, and president ial elections, wisconsin has switches well between republican and democrat for three elections running. But in 2011, republican legislators redrew the congressional maps. And the regroups the map so severely that wisconsin has become the most gerrymandered state in the nation. Despite the fact that voters are evenly divided politically, Wisconsin Republicans hold a disproportionate amount of power in that state. For instance, the 33rd assembly district. For 50 years, the district was like this math on the left. The way that district should look. Its relatively rectangular square and have naturally occurring borders. Theres a lake over here, these are county, lines and state lines. Okay. The state was the Assembly Seat held by democrats. Then republicans we drew this same district into a shape that looked like legislators called the trex map. The head, the arms, the legs. After a redraw the maps, the seat went to a conservative republican who has made repeatedly disparaging comments about the black lives matter movement, and has been an outspoken supporter of those who stormed the Capitol On January the 6th. Its gerrymandering like this that is allowed the Wisconsin Legislature to be dominated by republicans for the last 15 years, despite a very evenly divided electorate. In 2018 for instance, democrats won 54 of the vote. But only one about one third of the seats in the state assembly. The state Supreme Court has leaned disproportionately to the right as well. But this year, a seat was open on the state Supreme Court. That had the potential to swing the Balance Of Power more to the left. Both priorities clung at power, desperate to win the seat. In an intensely better, and expensive election. The Wisconsin State Supreme Starts Court races the most expensive of its kind. Cost nearly 45 million, nearly tripling the previous record, according to a report from the democracy campaign. Which tracks campaign spending. In april of this, your borders tipped the scale back toward progressive values for the first time in a decade and a half. By electing janet. And now, the state could be poised to throughout those Gerrymandered Maps that i just showed you. So naturally, republicans in the state are trying to remove that newly elected liberal judge from the court, for the high crime of having liberal opinions. Stay judges are elected by voters, they are not appointed in wisconsin, they are permitted to take stands uncertain political issues that federal judges are not. And jen is that. Shes commented on both abortion, rates and wisconsins Gerrymandered Maps. Now, rips conson republicans are attempting to remove. Are they, say for a comment that she said about Gerrymandered Maps being quote, greg. Now the court may be faced with a series of vitally important, deeply partisan bills this fall. From a boarding, luck to an 1849 era abortion law. Political fights are popping up like this in state courts across the country, in North Carolina, republicans open an investigation into a liberal justice named and need earls, after she mentioned the existence of implicit racial bias during a press interview. Last year in, ohio state republicans try to impeach a republican judge, after she ruled that the Gerrymandered Maps were unconstitutional. In montana, a new bill aims to reshape judicial procedures, to give more power to the republican Run Legislature by allowing them to appoint the judicial standards commission. In arizona and georgia, recent republican administrations have packed the state Supreme Courts. The fight for power over state courts is escalating, putting institutions which was supposed to be nonpartisan, at the center of bitter political battles. After a quick break, i will talk to david gram of the atlantic. Whose latest piece is titled, americas newest battlefront. Is our business. We need to scale with customer demand. In real time. jen so we partner with verizon to take our operations to the next level. marquis with a custom private 5g network. ella with verizon business, we get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. marquis so our customers get what they want, when they want it. jen its not just a network. Its enterprise intelligence. vo learn more. Its your vision, its your verizon. Rsv can severely affect the lungs and lower airways. But im protected with arexvy. Arexvy is a vaccine used to prevent lower Respiratory Disease from rsv in people 60 years and older. 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Now you can stay reliably connected through Power Outages with unlimited cellular data and up to 4 hours of battery backup to keep you online. Only from xfinity. Partisan politics are not home of the xfinity 10g network. Supposed to bleed in to our justice system. Tell that ideals becoming less, and less of a reality as State Legislatures across the country and bringing partisan fights to state Supreme Court. For more on this im, joined by the staff writer for the atlantic, dave, graham who has written about this very topic. David thank you for being with us, this is a really complicated issue because it plays out differently in every place. In some cases it is the State Legislatures themselves that are creating partisan, judicial environments. Either from their appointments, or in the case of North Carolina, redetermineing what the rights of the Supreme Court in a given state might mean. And other places like wisconsin. Its elections and gerrymandering. What is your sense of how serious and how pervasive this issue is . I think that the Common Thread through all of this is, we see infringement of the independents. Things to try to punish judges, and make sure that they stay in. Mine i think its easily a, mess but we see it happening across the country. Not only are the Wisconsin Races becoming expensive. But theyre becoming more polarized, across the country, and you see and a check on the legislative branches as well. One of the things where youve talked about, we have entered the era of total politics. And i want to just laid an egg served here into what you say. Those in power use every legal tool at their disposal to gain advantage. With little regard for the long term downsides. Total politics dismisses both insistence and value of neutral institutions. It mostly respects rules but not norms. All that matters is what is possible, not what is prudent. I want to just take this and printed out, and posted on my wall. Because in those 33 sentences you described what has been so wrong with us institutionally across the United States. But just to unpack that a little for me. Little regard to longtime downsides. The benefit of neutral institutions, and the independents on rules but not norms. Yeah, i think theyre wisconsin example is a perfect case of this. And you can even go back to the election itself. I think its a good argument that we dont want judicial elections to be the partisan could face that we see another things. But that horse is a little out of the barn. We saw other and both sides with good conservative, and liberal candidate in the election. Now we have an impeachment. Coming there is nothing and the law that says we cannot impeach the Supreme Court Justice Without any real grounds. But you see them doing it. Theres not really a good case for it. They were talking about. This not only in the case, but even before the ballots have been counted they started talking about an impeachment. So its the right of the legislature, but its clearly a list of the spirits of that clause. And it was what voters want. And its about maintaining power of cars. I want to put some meat on these bones of a cannon terms of numbers. A justice report says, Brennan Center review abels considered last year shows that legislator shows at least 25 states introduced at least some before bills that would have politicized our undermined the independence of state courts. One of the things that you pointed out in your article is almost all of these are gop. In fact, all of them but one . That is right. So we see partisan judges, and elections on both sides. But we dont see democrats trying to punish judges and keep them in line. I think a lot of that stems like from things like redistricting. If you gerrymander, courts will try to strike you down. But if you cant keep them in line, we see this in the what is the fix for this david . Obviously, when we talk about the Ethics Problem of the Supreme Court we are stymied. Because there isnt actually a picks. We are depending on the fact that the Supreme Court justices will fix themselves. If there is a big Step A State Level . Because if they are not breaking the law, the Supreme Court doesnt really have a stay in what the Supreme Court does our cannot do. We have an exception in North Carolina with a lower of the harper. Lock it how do you fix this problem . I think its a very tough problem. The people need to Pay Attention to these races, the state courts, which were not used to Pay Attention to and paying attention to other things. To know whats going on. When you see Someone Voting for janet, by an 11point margin, voters are making clear what they want from the state court. And its hard for legislators to not Pay Attention to that when people speak clearly over and over. I think there are reforms that could be good. There is a strong argument these kind of election should be partisan elections. That depends on legislatures and governors who are already trying to politicize and reverse that. So im not sure we have a lot of hope about that going backwards. David, thank you for that great riding on this. Its an important issue, i hope people take it in, they just, that start thinking more about the State Legislatures and the state Supreme Courts. David is a staff writer for the atlantic. Congress rolling out, about five days left to keep the government open. If not, millions of americans, federal workers in fact, will not get paid. And they can blame the Republican Party for that. Another hour of velshi, begins right now morning, it is saturday september the 23rd. I am ali velshi. A seemingly irreparable rift between the vast majority of republicans, and a small corridor of the farright parliament is going to bring that government established fall again. This isnt groundhog day, this is the 18th congress of the United States. Preparations for a shutdown have already began across the country. One week before funding for the federal government turns out on september, runs out on September 30th at midnight. The White House Office of management and budget has already reached out to leaders of federal agencies to coordinate with them about what they and their staff can expect if they are forced to shut down next week. Like the last time the government shutdown, which lasted for 35 days from the tail end of 2018. Until the first two weeks of 2019. Millions of americans lives will be disrupted as various federal services will be shuttered. Workers are going to be furlough, they wont be paid for the duration of the shutdown. Workers who are considered essential, like portable troll, agents and federal law enforcement, and air Traffic Controllers will continue working, but also will not be paid until congress results there a dispute. Federal employees will be eligible to receive back pay, but an impending shift down puts many people that have banned. Especially those living the paycheck to paycheck. Or will work its contractors for the government. And by the way, they wont be eligible for back pay. This is what is at stake. If congress is unable to pass any sort of short term and long term resolution by next saturday. Its another stunning an embarrassing episode for the republicanled house. Were just returned from the sixday long recess 11 days ago. Funding the government, this isnt an option. Its a basic power given to congress and the constitution. The appropriations. Cause article, one section, that caused. Seven reads, quote, no money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law. Appropriations made by