Transcripts For MSNBCW The Last Word With Lawrence ODonnell 20200922

Thinking it, she was so lucky to have that job, to have that proximity to Justice Ginsburg, to have that experience to know her so well. I also just feel like were obviously and for totally understandable reasons with whats going to happen with the succession of the court thats created by Justice Ginsburgs death. But for all of the mourning of her passing, one way to honor her legacy is to make sure that we understand it. And the people who were involved working shoulder to shoulder with her when she was writing her most important opinions and doing her most decisive and long far sided thinking about the constitution i think have stuff to tell us that we should learn from in terms of how to approach this moment and how to be strategic. There is a lot in her legacy that could help us right now and i feel like im not ready to stop talking about that side of it. I think, though, we can also see the glow, just the glow that she feels just thinking about Justice Ginsburg and just thinking about that experience of being lucky enough to work with her. I have my own little highly tan shenial moment and it came during her confirmation hearings. He used to use my office at the Senate Finance committee as her hideout because there is a kind of secret back door passage way from where my office was into the other buildings from dirk sen into the Heart Senate Office Building where her big tv hearing was going on. And senator moynihan from monew york, my boss, the tradition is the senator from your home state introduces you and senator moynihan guided her through that process in his way and it was his idea to park her on my sofa which she did for a few hours at a time, and that was kind of magical. Senator moynihan had recommended her to the president as did joe biden which was even more important because he was judiciary chairman and even more important than that Hillary Clinton had recommended her. So she came to the president with very, very strong recommendations. I also now feel like we need to create you know like flat stanley . We need to create a flat Ruth Bader Ginsburg and park her on your couch now that we know you earned that. Like if i did that, that would be creepy, but you could actually legit do it. And the effect it has, rachel, is im on my best behavior if shes in the room. All right. Im going to kinkos right now. Thank you, rachel. Thank you, lawrence. Four years ago senator Lindsey Graham said you can use my words against me. But the most important democrat in america who is using Lindsey Grahams words against him is Jaime Harrison, the democratic nominee for senate in South Carolina running against Lindsey Graham. The latest polls show Jaime Harrison tied with Lindsey Graham in South Carolina, and Jaime Harrison will join us here later on tonight. And dont be surprised if he uses Lindsey Grahams words against him. At the end of the hour, tonights last word will go to Steve Schmidt who is outraged at what Mitch Mcconnell is doing to the Supreme Court confirmation process and no one but no one brings more eloquence to outrage than Steve Schmidt. I want to begin tonight with two things. The first thing is the only way the democrats can block the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice this year to replace the honorable Ruth Bader Ginsburg. And the second thing is the name of the person donald trump is most likely to nominate to the Supreme Court at the end of this week. Lets start with that first thing and with the parliamentary lay of the land in the United States senate. A lot of people think the senate is filled with complex rules that can be used to block anything or almost anything moving through the senate and it is true there are many obscure rules to senate procedure, but most of them apply to budget issues. But cant raise a budget point of order against a Supreme Court nomination. None of the delay tactics you get to use on legislation can be used against a Supreme Court nomination. You have heard Democratic Senators say theyre going to use every procedure maneuver they can to block the nomination, but you havent heard any of them, any of them specify what those procedural maneuvers might be. When you hear a democratic senator say they are going to hold republicans feet to the fire as i have heard more than once, thats not parliamentary language. I worked in the senate for years and i dont know what theyre talking about. Senators arent allowed to use their fireplaces in their offices anymore. There is only one way. There is only one way to block this nomination, to stall it, to slow down the United States senate. There is only one way for democrats to seize control of the calendar of the United States senate and throw up a roadblock to this nomination in the senate, and this parliamentary maneuver is not something that the democratic leader of the Senate Chuck Schumer can do. It is not something any democratic senator can do. There is literally nothing Democratic Senators can do to block this nomination. But the house of representatives can do something. The Democratic House of representatives can actually seize control of the calendar in the United States senate. Speaker nancy pelosi can do that, and she knows that she can do that and she was very, very careful when she was asked about it yesterday by george stef nop loss who before he worked in the Clinton White house was on the staff of the democratic leadership in the house of representatives. Some had mentioned the possibility if they try to push through a nominee in a lame duck session that you in the house can move to impeach President Trump or attorney general barr as a way of stalling and preventing the senate from acting on this nomination. Well, we have our options. We have arrows in our quiver that im not about to discuss right now. If nancy pelosi delivers articles of impeachment to the United States senate, senate rules say upon such articles being presented to the senate, the senate shall at 1 00 afternoon of the day sunday excepted following such presentation or sooner if ordered by the senate proceed to the consideration of such articles and shall continue in session from daytoday sundays excepted after the trial shall commence unless otherwise ordered by the senate until final judgment shall be rend dered and so much longer as my, in its judgment, be needful. Today on the senate floor, Chuck Schumer said there is only one way. Those were his exact words, there is only one way. He didnt say he had arrows in his quiver, just one arrow, and its not in his quiver. There is only one way, one way for this chamber to retain its dignity through this difficult chapter. There is only one way for us to have some hope of coming together again, trusting each other again, lowering the temperature, moving forward. And that is for four brave Senate Republicans to commit to rejecting any nominee until the next president is installed. Two Senate Republicans of questionable bravery Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are opposed to noting until after the election. Mitt romney has remained silent so far. The three front runners on the trump short list for the Supreme Court are all federal Appeals Court judges. Alison jones rushing of the Fourth Circuit court of appeals in richmond, virginia. He was confirmed in the first year of the Trump Presidency 5344. Amy koeny barrett was confirmed 5543 in the first year of the Trump Presidency to the seventh court of appeals in chicago. And Florida State Supreme Court judge Barbara Lagoa was confirmed to the 11th Circuit Court of appeals just last year by a vote of 8015. And that makes judge lagoa the most likely choice for this nomination. Barbara lagoa is from miami. Donald trump will see her cuban heritage as helpful to his campaign in the mustwin state of florida. And she went through her fbi background check for her current job just last year, so a new background check for judge lagoa would be completed faster than possibly any other nominee. And most importantly for the politics of the senate, Barbara Lagoa was confirmed just last year with 27 democratic votes. Most democrats on the Senate Judiciary committee voted for Barbara Lagoa just last year. Among the democrats on the Judiciary Committee who voted against the confirmation of Barbara Lagoa last year, senator Kamala Harris and our leadoff guest tonight, senator amy klobuchar. Were joined now by senator amy klobuchar, a senior senator on the Judiciary Committee. First of all, i want to dispense with some theories out there about what might happen. Okay, lawrence. Lets begin with impeachment because one very important clause inside that, which sounds good, sounds like impeachment articles control the senate and immediately have to be heard beginning 1 00 p. M. The next day. But inside there it says unless ordered otherwise by the senate. Isnt it true that the impeachment process can be derailed by 51 republican votes, including an immediate not guilty vote. You appear to be quite the expert on these rules, lawrence, and first of all, that is my understanding. But id want to look at it again. But i would like to say this. Right now our focus is on the heart of what you just said, and that is four republicans. We already have two. Two more with nearly all of them that were here in 2016 made it very clear the precedent that they set and the precedent that they set was that the people should vote and pick the president and the president picks the Supreme Court justice. Just like Abraham Lincoln did in the only incident next to this one when a just disdied so close to the election and thats when i will one up you on facts. Justice tonni, the author of the dread scott opinion unfortunately died close to the election. And Abraham Lincoln waited. He did get reelected and thats when he decided to nominate a justice. So my point here is that whatever all these rules say and, yes, there are things that we can look at Going Forward especially, but right now the best way to do this from our country and to bring our country together is for those republicans, and i put it on them, to make this call and to follow their own precedent. What would be the case that you would make to a republican who thinks the president s nominee is the right person for the job who agrees with all of the known judicial philosophies of the republicans of the president s nominee . What is the case you would make to that republican senator . Sure. Id make the case that this is about our democracy, that our country is at this moment, this boiling point where, first of all, we need a president that brings them together. That is joe biden. But that secondly, it is our job to kind of put all of this aside. They are not beholden to Mitch Mcconnell. They are beholden to the people of this country. And 62 in the routers poll, 62 of the American People said that the next president should pick the Supreme Court justice. 5 out of 10 republicans said it. So i think in the end the voting thats going on, the motion thats out there, about the notorious rbg and that anything and everything was possible and that she never gave up when people told her she shouldnt go to law school. She graduates number one in her class. She goes in and does it and wins. When she gets to the court, she becomes an icon in her 80s. Anything is possible. So those are the arguments im going to make to my colleagues because we are at a moment where americans are voting in droves. They are voting big. Joe biden is ahead in states we never imagined. You just mentioned Jaime Harrison, who i cant wait to see on your show, coming up. These races are going in a direction that the people want them to go in. So i believe in the end that our colleagues at least a few of them have to listen to that regardless of where they are on any nominee. And it is our democracy thats at stake. Well, it sounds like Mitch Mcconnells worried about that, the possibility of those two votes because he sent out that letter to all of his republican colleagues kind of as fast as he could because he didnt have time to kind of call them all individually. And as you know, he included that phrase that leaders include when they dont have the votes. He said, i urge you all to be cautious and keep your powder dry until we return to washington. Of course in Senate Leadership speak, that means im very afraid of what you might do with your powder. So just shut up and dont say anything until you get back here. Yeah. Like i said, they are accountable to the people that sent them to washington. Theyre accountable to our country and patriotism and democracy. Mitch romney many times stood up for our democracy. They also understand the issues at hand. Health care is not only on the ball ballot. Its going to be on the Supreme Court docket on november 10th when they will be deciding that critical case out of texas about whether or not people are going to be able to keep their Health Insurance if they have preexisting conditions, over 100 million americans could lose their Health Insurance. They know as we see the smoke on the west coast that the environmental protections that so many people hold dear are eventually going to be on that court docket. Money thats been flooding into the elections where you have such a conservative court time and time again with the Citizens United case on down which a lot of people that arent just democrats dont like that, and thats a case we need to make to the American People. Not only because they need to vote like their life depends on it, to quote the great my sell obama, but also because they have to understand the great significance of this Supreme Court justice. It is not donald trump that could make this decision. It is literally in their hands right now as they go to the ballot box. Senator quickly before we go to a break here. 27 democrats voted for Barbara Lagoa last year. You were not one of them, but most of your colleagues on the Senate Judiciary committee, democrat colleagues did in fact vote for her. What do you say to them if she comes up as the nominee . They voted for her to be confirmed to the court just one level below the Supreme Court. What do you say to the democrats who have to now in effect reverse themselves on this judge . The Supreme Court is a whole other ball game. You have old arguments already made that you want to get a justice that is would do would make Ruth Bader Ginsburg proud, would make her family proud. You look at her last fervent wish, those are her words, my most fervent wish is i will not be replaced until a new president is installed, debt piet the fact that donald trump is undermining her own family after shes died by questioning whether or not she said that. And of course as you know her, she would use the word fervent in her closing days. And then the second argument is when you are picking judges for the Supreme Court of the United States, it is a whole different standard. It is a whole different ball game. Senator amy klobuchar, i know how much Justice Ginsburg meant to you and that she was an inspiration. A lot of people talk about what an inspiration she was to little girls around the country. And some of whom became senators. Yes, exactly right. An inspiration to senators. Senator amy klobuchar, thank you for joining us once again tonight. We always appreciate it. Thanks, lawrence. Thank you. After this break Justice Ginsburgs dying wish was to have the winner of the next president ial election pick her replacement. As you just heard from senator klobuchar, donald trump is lying about that now. Npr report ernie that toten berg was the reporter who revealed Justice Ginsburgs dying wish. She will join us next. And at the end of the hour, as i said, steve smith will get tonights last word in his First Television discussion since the death of Justice Ginsburg. Tomizs your car insurance, so you only pay for what you need. I wish i could shake your hand. Granted. Only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Im a verizon engineer. And im part of the team building. A powerful 5g experience for america. Its 5g ultra wideband, and its already available in parts of select cities. Like los angeles. And in new york city. And its rolling out in cities around the country. With massive capacity. Its like an eightlane highway compared to a twolane dirt road. 25x faster than todays 4g networks. In fact, its the fastest 5g in the world. From the network more people rely on. This is 5g built right. Only on verizon. Essential for sewing, but maybe not needles. For people with certain inflammatory conditions. Because there are options. Like an unjection™. Xeljanz. The first and only pill of its kind that treats moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, or moderate to Severe Ulcerative Colitis when other medicines have not helped enough. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. Before and during treatment, your doctor should check for infections, like tb and do blood tests. Tell your doctor if youve had hepatitis b or c, have flulike symptoms, or are prone to infections. Serious, sometimes fatal infections, cancers including lymphoma, and blood clots have happened. Taking a higher than recommended dose of xeljanz for ra may increase risk of death. Tears in the stomach or intestines and serious allergic reactions have happened. Needles. Fine for some. But for you, theres a pill that may provide symptom relief. Ask your doctor about the pill first prescribed for ra more than seven years ago. Xeljanz. An unjection™. Ruth Bader Ginsburg has four grandchildren. She dictated her dying wish to one of her grandchildren who released that statement from Justice Ginsburg to our next guest knee that toten berlg who reported it friday night, quote my most fervent wish is that i will not be replaced until a new president is installed. This morning President Trump who knows nothing about life on the Supreme Court told this lie. He said i dont know that she said that. Or was that written up by adam schiff and schumer and pelosi. Tonight in a radio interview with the bbc, Justice Ginsburgs granddaughter said this. I asked her if there was anything she wanted to say to the public, to anyone that wasnt already out there. And she said there was. And i pulled out my computer and she dictated the following sentence to me. She said, my most fervent wish is that i will not be replaced until a new president is installed. And i read it back to her. She was very happy with that. When i asked her, is that it . Is there anything else you would like to say . She said the rest of my work is a matter of public record, so that was all she wanted to add. Joining our discussion now is knee that toten berg . I know you were a close friend of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, so i am sorry for your loss. I want to get your reaction to the president , what he actually said this morning basically calling clara spar ra a liar and just your reaction to it. Well, i dont make a habit of commenting on my opinion of president s. This president or any other president. I only know that thats what clara read to me, and then icon firmed it with others who were in the room who were not family members, including her doctor who was there and presumably understood that Justice Ginsburg knew what she was doing and was fully competent to make that statement. I think somebody in the room suggested at some point, did she want to dictate some sort of a message like john lewis did that appeared after his death, and she said, no, that this is what she wanted to say. She dictated it, and that was it. That was very ruthian. Nina, what is your sense of the likelihood of senator confirmation. Lets just presume it for a second, that if there is a justice who is rushed through at this point, and what would you expect that to do to the court . Well, it wouldnt be good for the court. It wouldnt be good for the country. It wouldnt be good for anybody, and it probably wouldnt be good for republicans in the short return and democrats in the long run because as you have noted, im sure, lawrence, the wings of both party, the left and the right on the left is the woke, and on the right it is the freedom caucus. Its whatever. They have an enormous amount of influence because they are the base in a very polarized time. And what almost certainty would happen is that eventually either if joe biden were to win or at some other future time the democrats would be under enormous pressure then to add a couple of justices to the court. And Justice Ginsburg was very clear that she thought that was a bad idea because it would just keep flipping back and forth between who won the most recent election. Its not that it hasnt happened in our history but it hasnt happened in over a century. Chief justice riehnquist who wa a very conservative member of the court was fond of saying that the crown jewel in the american judiciary is independence. This would just abolish it. That would be the longterm effect. And i have talked to very conservative republicans who like trump appointees who actually think this is bad for the court. Lets listen to the way donald trump talks about the independent judiciary. Here he is at a rally in North Carolina on saturday. Now, were counting on the federal court system to make it so that we could actually have an evening we know who wins, not where the votes will be counted a week later or two weeks later. So there he is basically saying counting absentee ballots is suddenly wrong. But apparently there could be a big litigation stream initiated by the president that would then end up possibly in this Supreme Court. Uhhuh. And you would have the very person who has just been confirmed, along with other, you know, trump appointees and democratic appointees, saying deciding what was the appropriate outcome based on the law as they saw it. And, you know, even if you assume good will by every member of the court, the court would have lost the trust of the American People. Thats the problem. Nina, what do you think Justice Ginsburg would advise, say, a President Biden for the characteristics that he should look for in a Supreme Court justice . You know what . Ruth ginsburg was one of the smartest, if not the smartest people i have ever known. One of the things she taught me over time is to keep your mouth shut when you ought to, and im not putting words in her mouth. I completely understand that position, nina. I have been doing the same thing with senator moynihans memory now. I cant duplicate what he said. Thank you very much. Again, nina, im very sad for your loss. I am, too. But i am so glad that i knew her for 48 years and that she taught me not only about the law but how to live. Thank you, nina. I appreciate it. Thank you. See, thats what i mean about the glow of people who were lucky enough to know Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Millions of people now are turning loss into action, political action. See sill richards joins us next on what the Supreme Court vacancy means to the president ial campaign. When our daughter and her kids moved in with us. Our bargain detergent couldnt keep up. Turns out its mostly water. So, we switched back to tide. One wash, stains are gone. Daughter slurping dont pay for water. Pay for clean. Its got to be tide. Here is something thats never happened before. The New York Times reports democratic donors shattered records on act blue, a donation processing site giving more than 6. 2 million in the hour after Justice Ginsburg died. By noon saturday donations had topped 45 million. In the 28 hours after her death, actblue raised a record setting 91 million in donations. The number is now over 160 million. Joining our discussion now is the cofunder of the womens Political Group super majority and the former president of planned parenthood. I just want to begin with your memories of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I would assume that as president of planned parenthood you might have been in the room in the Supreme Court chamber some time seeing Justice Ginsburg in action. Absolutely, lawrence. And, in fact, i remember i had really just started planned parenthood when there was a major abortion rights case before the court. And at the time, Justice Ginsburg was the only woman on the court. So you can imagine this barely hundred pound five foot woman sitting there with all these men representing an entire gender and basically carrying us all on her shoulders. Of course, she was more than up to the task. But it was really extraordinary to hear men talking about the most intimate personal details of womens private medical decisions and Justice Ginsburg, of course, we lost that decision and she wrote a scathing dissent. She was amazing. And of course it was great to go back and see her on the court with soto mayor and kagan. They were a fierce trio and they made all the difference. I spent every year on this program trying to get people to concentrate on the Supreme Court as a reason to be voting for president. This is a tragic way to get that focus. But it seems the focus has finally arrived, especially on the democratic side. We have new polling showing that more democrats now than four years ago believe it is very important, a very important issue. It is up to 66 of democrats and fewer republicans. It has dropped as an important issue for republicans. Its gone from 70 down to 61 . So the sense of urgency on this issue seems to be on the democratic side this year, possibly for the first time. I agree, lawrence. And of course that super majority we have been totally focussed on women voters. It is hard to imagine, women were already on fire about the total failure of this administration to deal with a pandemic, about the fact that they cant send their kids back to school. They have been on the front lines providing care as health care workers. But now the loss of Justice Ginsburg and actually the treatment that Mitch Mcconnell didnt even miss a beat by immediately moving to talk about her replacement, the disrespect thats been shown by this United States Senate Leadership, women are so on fire. Its amazing. Of course, we were already seeing polling that women, s suburban women are against donald trump by more than 30 points and they understand whats at stake on the Supreme Court. Not only, of course, the right to just safe and legal abortion, which with 17 cases coming up to this court, but a week after the election, five days after the election, this court will be hearing the case that would essentially overturn the Affordable Care act and potentially 20 Million People in this country losing their Health Insurance. Women understand that and they are organizing and they are voting and theyre going to be the dominant voters this november. I believe one of the reasons that Mitch Mcconnell rushed his statement about this was because he was worried that he didnt have the votes, and he had to alert his republican members, make that declaration, were going to be voting on this. Thats right. Now, look, he doesnt have the votes yet, so i dont want to acknowledge that a couple of the women in the United States senate on the republican side have said they wont for a replacement, but it should be for the next president. But this is extraordinary, to see when you have a senate that hasnt dealt with any of the problems that people care about now, record unemployment, Record Health care access, this pandemic and yet they can rush back just to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, the hypocrisy is rank and women see it. Thank you so much good to see you, lawrence. Thank you. Well, Lindsey Graham says we should hold his words against him and who better to do that for the democratic nominee in South Carolina who is running against Lindsey Graham. Jaime harrison joins us next. One more mile look reply all look own your look. With fewer lines. Theres only one botox® cosmetic. Its the only one. Fda approved. To temporarily make frown lines. Crows feet. And forehead lines. Look better. The effects of botox® cosmetic, may spread hours to weeks after injection, causing serious symptoms. 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If there is a republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said lets let the next president , whoever it might be, make that nomination and you could use my words against me and you would be absolutely right. And now Lindsey Graham says this, i will support President Trump in any effort to move forward regarding the recent vacancy created by Justice Ginsburg. Im not going to hold Lindsey Grahams words against him. Im going to leave that to my next, Jaime Harrison. Im democrat Jaime Harrison running for senate to unseat Lindsey Graham. I roads out of poverty, made it to yale on scholarships and kept my word to come back home and help. But Lindsey Grahams word. Trump is a race baiting xenophobic religious bigot. We can beat this guy. But i need your help. Donate now at jaimeharrison. Com. Im Jaime Harrison, and i approve this message. Joining our discussion now is Jaime Harrison, running against senator Lindsey Graham. And Jaime Harrison, the latest quinnipiac poll shows these numbers higher. Graham at 48 , harrison at 48 holding a tie in South Carolina. We just talked about the fundraising surge that some democratic organizations have seen. Have you experienced any extra fundraising surge over the weekend . Well, lawrence, we have gotten tremendous support, and we really appreciate it. And, you know, folks can continue to help us go to jaimeharrison. Com. But what we are doing is focussing on the issues here in South Carolina. Lindsey graham is too busy trying to be important, trying to get in front of all the cameras so that people with see how great he is, how he doesnt keep his word. But ill focus on the issues that people care about here, the things that people are suffering with in this state. Because hes not doing his job, i need to do it for him. And im focussing on those issues right here here in South Carolina. So four years ago when Lindsey Graham was running against donald trump, he said things like i think donald trump is a con man. I think he would destroy the republican party. There is just a long list. I dont want to use your time that way. How does he explain his complete reversal, complete flipflop on all those statements in South Carolina . Well, you know, the answer to everything for Lindsey Graham is brett kavanaugh. That is his goto answer. Let me just stop you there for a second. He flipflopped on donald trump and was playing golf with him long before brett kavanaugh. Well, lawrence, you know, one of the things that my grandfather told me is that a man is only has good as his word. I would not use those type of december kripivity adjectives to describe anybody unless i meant it. If i meant it, i would not be golfing with that person the next day. He is only focussed on his own relevance and political power. He does not care about the things that people in South Carolina are dealing with on a daytoday basis, and thats why we need to send him home. South carolina needs a senator that fight for her instead of against her. But Lindsey Graham is just focussed on touching the emperors claw. We need somebody who will roll up his sleeves and do the work that the people in South Carolina sent him to do. What is the single most important issue you are trying to talk to South Carolina voters about . It is about health care. You know, here in my state, we have had about 250,000 people who dont have health care here because republicans like lindsey refused to expand medicaid. Four of our hospitals have closed over the past few years. Even just two years ago, 14 of our 46 counties had no obgyn and there are Health Care Disparities all over the state. You have lindsey that came up with this bill that doesnt protect folks with preexisting conditions when almost a quarter of the state has preexisting conditions. This guy is just hes the worst, and thats why we need to send him home. And senator graham is going to try to send to the Supreme Court a new justice who will vote against and eliminate the Affordable Care act. Well, what i find disturbing, lawrence, is that Lindsey Graham took off almost all of august. He went golfing. He even got a tan. But now he can find the urgency. One, hes betrying his commitment to the people of South Carolina because he committed to not taking up a nominee in an election year, but hes doing that. And now he can find the urgency to rush a Supreme Court justice nomination through his committee and to the floor of the u. S. Senate, but he cant find the urgency to address another covid relief act. In this state, we let 3,000 people die. There are a number of Small Businesses on the edge of closing. Again, we need a senator who is going to fight for us and not fight against us. And Lindsey Graham has exhausted his time in washington, d. C. He needs to go home. But he needs to south representing the state of South Carolina . You know, in the old world of polling when an incumbent was running below 50 , the wisdom was the incumbent will lose because undecided voters will go to the knew choice. Hes now up at 48 with you. Youre tied at 48 . Thats a very, very, very bad poll for an incumbent in the time left for this campaign. Do you believe you have the resources and the Campaign Team and the Ground Troops you need in South Carolina to actually pull this off . Lawrence, the momentum is on our side. You know, right now i am living rent free in Lindsey Grahams head right now because he understands that the people of South Carolina want something different. Its been consistent in our polling that 57 , 58 of folks want somebody new to be their u. S. Senator. And theyre going to get somebody who is going to focus on them and fight for them. Lindsey just wants to sit with Shawn Hannity every night or fly around on air force one or golf with the president. Jaime harrison, thank you very, very much for joining us tonight. We really appreciate it. Thank you, lawrence. Take care. Thank you. After this break steve smiths first tv discussion since the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. It will be his turn to hold Lindsey Grahams words against him in tonights last word next. Mornings were made for Better Things than Rheumatoid Arthritis. When considering another treatment, ask about xeljanz. A pill for adults with moderate to severe Rheumatoid Arthritis when methotrexate has not helped enough. Xeljanz can help relieve joint pain and swelling, stiffness, and helps stop further joint damage, even without methotrexate. Xeljanz can lower your ability to fight infections. 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And its rolling out in cities around the country. With massive capacity. Its like an eightlane highway compared to a twolane dirt road. 25x faster than todays 4g networks. In fact, its the fastest 5g in the world. From the network more people rely on. This is 5g built right. Only on verizon. More dangerous and corrupt president than trump. Hes harming our basic values, giving rise to hate, and hes selling out america to big corporations. Im working to protect immigrants, women, communities of color, and lgbtq people. And im making corporations like pg e and Insurance Companies play by our rules. We need experienced leadership to wipe away trumps stain on america for good. The Lincoln Project is a group of Republican Campaign professionals who are doing everything they can to save the country from another four years of the republican presidency of donald trump. The Lincoln Project is now using republican senators words from four years ago against them. Its up to the American People in this next election to make the nomination for this important seat on the Supreme Court. For the last 80 years, the senate has not confirmed any nominee nominated during an election year, and we should not do so this time either. Were not going to nominate a Supreme Court justice until the people have spoken. Theres going to be an election, and then the new president will have an opportunity to nominate someone and the senate to confirm them. The people deserve to be heard, and they should be allowed to decide through their vote for the next president , the type of person that should be on the Supreme Court. The last word tonight goes to Steve Schmidt. He is a former republican strategist and cofounder of the Lincoln Project. Steve, ive been watching this stuff a long time. Ive seen a lot of things. I have never seen anything like this reversal by these republican senators over these four years on this very same issue. The hypocrisy is unspeakable, but it is what it is. But lets talk about why this is so terrible. The injured party to this action here is not the democratic party. Its the United States of america. And i think its important for everyone to understand that what fuels a semiautomatic is faith and belief in the legitimacy of the system. In particular, the legitimacy of the system through the eyes of people who are in the minority. And i dont mean minorities. I mean politically the minority, that they understand that the system has rules, that we elect our representatives, that the person who gets the most vote wins. If you lose an election, you get them the next time. And so weve seen four years of donald trump whacking at our institutions with a baseball bat, hitting the pillars on the rule of law, assaulting the justice department, the intelligence agencies, burning it all down. And so now look what we see here. We see all of these republican senators. Its so breathtakingly dishonest. And what theyre doing is hurting the country because the faith and belief that we need to sustain our democracy is bleeding out of the system. This is a moment that calls for wisdom, calls for restraint. Restraint is an underappreciated virtue in the functioning of a democratic republic like the United States. Just because you can do it doesnt mean that you should. And by forcing this forward, if they can get the votes, they will break utterly the institution of the United States senate, shattering what was once known as the worlds greatest deliberative body, and theyll break the Supreme Court as an institution. It will become just one more profoundly distrusted institution that the American People look at and think that it was constituted unfairly. And so its a terrible moment. The principlest application of raw politics in the moment is going to cost the republicans their majority in the senate, and i think its going to put the final nail in trumps coffin. This is politically terrible for republicans, but theyre willing to do damage to the country in this moment obviously to get the pick through on the court. Steve, when i was working in the senate trying to round up votes for democratic legislation, which sometimes by the way included republican votes that would support it, one of the things i would encounter once in a while is a senator saying to me, look, id love to be with you on this. But in my campaign, i said x. Therefore, i cant reverse myself now. This doesnt that just doesnt seem like a factor in the lives of republican senators anymore. No. Look, at the end of the day, you need look no further than the republican platform, lawrence, right . Every idea, every principle, every policy was stripped out of it. Its a cult of personality. At least theyre being consistent with regard to the platform. What the platform requires these senators to do is to be loyal and obedient to trump, and thats what theyre doing. Their word means nothing. The principalist position that they have on this is just astounding, and it is amazing to see all of them and what they said, just how fundamentally dishonest it is. And the truth of the matter is, is that trump was always a symptom of our broken politics. But these are all the people who broke it. These are the type of people who are breaking it now and making it worse. And were not going to be able to restore the faith and trust of the American People in government with politicians like these. Its just so staggeringly dishonest, theres almost no words for it. No, and i know some of these republican senators, grassley, mcconnell for that matter. When i was working there, if you had told me that they were capable of these kinds of reversals, i would have argued. I would have said absolutely not. They have real lines that they believe in, and Donald Trumps done everything to remove any sense that they ever seemed to have of what they believed in. For sure. And i dont know what else you can say about it other than these are the same people. Every one of them knew that donald trump was lying to the country about covid. They also, every one of them, knew that donald trump knew how deadly covid was. Not one of them took the floor of the senate. Not one of them went to the oval office. They are supine. They are weak. They are cowards, and they are a huge part of the reason that this country is in such precipitous decline tonight. Steve schmidt, thank you once again. Steve schmidt gets tonights last word. The 11th hour with Brian Williams starts now. Well, good evening once again. Day 1,341 of this trump administration. 43 days to go until our president ial election. Eight days remain until that first president ial debate. We begin this monday night, this new week, with a presidency with even more on the line than before, if possible. The fight over a