With making change . Also, the debate over kink at pride. Some say these events need to be more familyfriendly, others say pride has to welcome absolutely everyone. The chairman of San Franciscos leathermens Discussion Group joins us live. And lgbtq history goes back a lot further than you might think. Our producer brings us the latest research on people like Alexander The Great and william shakespeare. From nbc news in washington, im Joshua Johnson, welcome to the week. This week brought some big developments in the fight over Voting Rights. Yesterday, the doj announced that it is suing the State Of Georgia over restrictive new voting laws passed there. This as the biden administrations first major move against numerous republicansupported laws. Critics say theyre designed to make it harder to vote. The lawsuit comes just days after democrats in congress failed to advance the for the people act. Attorney general Merrick Garland called on congress to do more. Our complaint alleges that recent changes to georgias election laws were enacted with the purpose of denying or abridging black georgians to vote on account of their race or color. We are using at every method in our disposal and in our enforcement efforts. But that is not enough. We urge congress to act to provide the department with important authorities it needs to protect the Voting Rights of every american. Meanwhile, in arizona, the ap is reporting that a socalled Election Audit there has wrapped up. To be clear, its an audit in name only. It has no power to change the results of the election. But, that is not going to stop the former president s supporters from rallying around this count. They claim to believe that it will turn up evidence of fraud. Republican officials in maricopa county, thats the phoenix area, have repeatedly insisted that the election was fair. Republicans in the Michigan State senate also shot down Donald Trumps claims of voter fraud in their state. In a report released on wednesday, republicans could not have been clearer. Quote, this Committee Found no evidence of widespread or systemic fraud in michigans prosecution of the 2020 election, unquote. Despite their findings of a safe and secure election, theyre still urging their colleagues to pass new voting restrictions. And in texas, Governor Greg Abbott is calling State Lawmakers back for a special legislative session. The docket may well include Election Restrictions put forward by Texas Republicans in a previous session. Democrats blocked the restrictions from passing in a lastditch effort last month, but not without consequences. Last week, Governor Abbott followed through on his threats to cut hay for texas state legislative staffers over this move. Lots to discuss with our panel tonight. Joining us now is comedian and actress, margaret cho. Her new movie, good on paper, is streaming on netflix. Also with us, are tim miller and msnbc political analyst and writer at large for the bulwark, and eugene daniels, an msnbc political contributor, White House Correspondent for politico and coauthor of the politico playbook. So much fabulousness in one panel, i can scarcely take it. I want to start with eugene, and your fabulous opinions and perspectives on this voting bill, and the doj lawsuit against it. Whats our sense of how that might play out . Yeah, i think what we know and what the doj knows and what this Administration Knows is that nothing is going to happen in congress, unless a lot of changes happen. Unless they can convince people like sinema, people like manchin, other democrats who are behind the scenes, of allowing those two to be the proxies and take the shots. To change their minds on the filibuster. I talked to some of the Texas Democrats who came to the white house last week, some of those people who walked out, in order to make sure that that Voting Rights restriction bill didnt pass in texas. And theyre putting a lot of stock in the federal government doing something. And they also meant the doj. So what theyre seeing is that this administration, when they know they have these slim majorities in the house and the senate, that they cant do much of anything, unless theres broad, broad support in congress with republicans. The doj is going to do the things that it can. They have beefed up the amount of people that can look into Voting Rights and civil rights investigations, and its possible that we see the doj, this Doj Go State By state, as some of these laws go into place. And sue them. And take them to court, to test whether or not these things are actually what, you know, what people in georgia or in texas or in florida say theyre supposed to be about. And i think that is what were going to continue to see, because it doesnt seem like anything in congress is going to happen anytime soon. Yeah, tim, with regards to going statetostate, i have to say, these laws in some states feel very much like a fait acompli. With the composition of a number of state houses, the republicans control more of them than democrats do. In a number of states, there arent enough lawmakers, democratic or other parties besides the Republican Party to push back. So absent litigation, the doj doing something, it seems like we can expect more of these kinds of laws to end up on the books, either temporarily or permanently. But how do you see it . Yeah, absolutely agree with that. And i just do have to say, given the previous segment that i am onboard for free britney and i wanted to take a strong stand with that. You put it on the record. We appreciate it. As far as this legislation is concerned, look, if you look at a place like georgia, despite the fact that the democrats won both senate seats, despite the fact that joe biden won, because of the gerrymandered state legislature, because of its kind of historic status as a red state, the State Chambers and the State Offices are still very, very republican. And so they can basically do what they want with the new voting restrictions. I think that the democrats options going forward, looking at these red states, and even looking at a lot of purple states like wisconsin has a very republican state legislature, for example, despite having gone democrats in national races, the democrats only options are twofold. One is the doj route and the lawsuits. Obviously, elias has been on the ball. The other big option is raising as big of a stink as possible in these states. And there is Political Science evidence that actually, a lot of times Voter Suppression efforts backfire and they create more turnout, greater turnout in the election. And i think theres some reason to look at that in the georgia election. The turnout was up greatly because of all of the controversy around, you know, obviously, President Trump trying to a coup, in addition to the Voter Suppression effort s with s, right . So i think those are the two cards that democrats have to play. Margaret cho, first of all, first of all, margaret cho, welcome. Im so glad to have you on the program. Delighted to have you with us. Thank you. I was going to ask you about that aspect of all of this. Not simply because, but also because, in georgia in particular, there was a significant increase in turnout among aapi, Asian American and Pacific Islander voters. What is your sense on the impact this might have on voting . I hear tims point, that even with these efforts to suppress the vote, it might end up backfiring and actually causing more people to be more involved and more resolute about turning out to the polls, No Matter What. Which i love. Which i love and thats the one weapon we have, is educating ourselves. The world has changed so much. And Voter Suppression has definitely backfired, because now were so much more aware of whats happening, and this is due to social media, due to the internet, due to this kind of News Coverage thats happening now. Republicans only care about voting when they lose. And the fact that theyre losing and cannot accept that theyve lost is like, its just to the point where the doj has to be involved, is really insane. And so i feel like with the aapi community, in particular, my parents have never voted, because theyve never felt like that this is their country and now theyre realizing the mistake of that. Asian americans, Pacific Islanders are realizing theyre here, were not all queer, but i am, and were here to vote. Dig into that a little more. You said your parents had never voted because they never felt like they were a part of this country. What has that shift been like for them and for you . I think its really hard for them to sort of connect to this idea of being here. Because a lot of times, asian immigration has been about this kind of weve got to go back to our homeland, without actually realizing, this is our homeland, and we have generations that have been here. And so, this mindset, it really is something that is kind of continually reinforced by our own invisibility within american society, which has only recently started being lifted now. This fog of visibility around asian. This is kind of like now sort of going away and melting away. Were seeing more of an americanization of the asians, which i think is really, really important. Eugene, i do need to shift and ask you briefly about Something Else that came up this week, which is the prospect of criminal charges to be filed against the trump organization, that might come from the Manhattan District Attorneys Office as soon as this coming week. How much do we know about this and what do we expect . I presume, at least from the nature of the charges that i believe will be filed, that the d. A. Must feel fairly confident in the evidence if hes going to bring these charges against the company. No, they absolutely do feel confident, because they wouldnt bring those charges, because this is a former sitting president , the trump name is huge in america, so they know that they have to have their ts crossed and their is dotted here. But what we know right now is this is about taxes, its about some perks that were doled out to wildsberg and some other executives. Tens of thousands of Private School children. To rent apartments and car leases and these are all things that have been reported on. And whats really interesting is this has been escalated over and over and over. And i was one of those people who was pretty cynical that something was going to happen here, because of the fact that this is the company of the former president , and for those that are kind of getting excited, because the trump name is in this, its not clear what exposure President Trump himself has. And so that is thats some caution for folks that are looking for something to happen to him within the next week. But also, weve reported in playbook, officials where maralago is you know, the winter white house, he would call it located, they were trying to figure out and gaming out what it would be like to arrest a former president , what the Secret Service would be doing. So people in the Legal Community have been trying to figure out how they navigate if something were to happen with donald trump, with him needing to be arrested, what that would look like. Theres a lot that we dont know here, but what we do know is that the d. A. Seems to be wrapping up their case here. And before we pause, tim, the former president is actually speaking at a rally tonight in wellington, ohio. Thats southwest of cleveland. There you see him on the dais. What is your sense, tim, of what all of this might mean for his future political prospects . We know that mike pence spoke earlier this week at the Ronald Reagan president ial library, where he kind of expressed pride of having stood up for the Election Certification on january 6th, but did not quite go as far as condemning mr. Trump for his actions and his words on this day. What does all of this mean for the possible potential of a trump political resurgence going forward, before we pause . Yeah, well, look. I mean, if he wants to do it, there are going to be people there that want him to do it. And hes going to be extremely formidable. I was punishing himself before i came on here with watching a few minutes of this, and theres a massive crowd, theres no pregnancy for this. After george h. Bush lost in 92, he wasnt going around and doing rallies where he was condemning bill clinton and attacking the rinos, the party that wasnt loyal to him. This is a completely without precedent action, from a president without precedent. And the Republican Base right now wants him. So if he were to want to run again in 2024, he would get it. And this is the bed that the rest of the republican establishment has made. They had a chance to impeach and convict him. They got seven votes, they only needed three more votes. But there he is, giving this speech in ohio in front of a huge crowd. Jim jordan he brought up on stage. Jim jordan said, im only here to say one sentence, i want trump in 2024. Thats where the mindset of the party is right now, whether folks like it or not. Margaret, ill spare you from having to say anything about donald trump on stage, because i have that much respect for you. Im just going to let that go and well move on to more fun things in our next segment. So margaret, tim, eugene, dont go anywhere. Weve got much more to talk about, including marketing to lgbtq people during pride month. How should the community respond to being commercialized . Well get into that with our panel in a minute. And later, kink at pride . Why do we need floats if kinky people in leathermen are in the parade anyway . Good question. Well ask a leatherman, just ahead. But first, richard lui is here with the headlines. A very good saturday for you. Some of the stories were watching this hour. A fifth person has died after a Hot Air Balloon crashed in albuquerque, new mexico. That balloon crashed into a power line early saturday. The victims were between 40 and 60 years old. The city of sydney, australia, and surrounding areas will go into a twoweek lockdown beginning saturday. The move comes in response to the highly infectious Delta Variant that has grown to 80known cases there. Australia struggles with its vaccine rollout. Under 5 of the country is fully vaccinated. The Pacific Northwest has an historic heat wave this weekend. Temperatures in washington and oregon broke alltime records, reaching over 30 degrees above normal. Residents scrambled to adjust. Public Schooling Centers opened. Many Outdoor Events were canceled. More of the week with Joshua Johnson right after break. Jos johnson right after break works fast and lasts. Keep it. Youre gonna need it. Kick pain in the aspercreme nobody builds 5g like verizon builds 5g. Thousands of engineers taking business to a whole new level. Employees are empowered. Customers are engaged. Near Real Time Data for fast decision making. This is business at the speed of 5g. 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Watch the Olympic Games on xfinity root for team usa and feel the energy 7000 plus hours of the olympics on display with xfinity you get every hour of every day different sports on different screens, you can watch it anywhere and with the voice remote you never have to leave your chair show me team usa. All of this innovation could lead to some inspiration and you might be the next one to represent our nation this summer on your tv, tablet, or any Screen Xfinity is here to inspire your biggest dreams the arrival of pride season brings with it a range of Marketing Campaigns, targeting the Lgbtqi Community and their allies. Here is part of a commercial that levis produced for pride this year, its called all pronouns, all love. My liberation is wrapped up in your liberation. Do you think youre free . Well,