Infighting on the right as tensions explode. And tonight, republicans have no clear way out of the mess of their own making. A new Government Shutdown threat just over a month away, and very real questions about funding the military and the war in ukraine. Already, as republicans are searching for a new speaker, the same magafueled turmoil that took down mccarthy is on display. Multiple republicans already announcing bids, including jim jordan and Steve Scalise. Some on the far right and Foxs Sean Hannity floating Donald Trumps name as speaker. One republican senator giving his gop house colleagues some advice. This ousting of Speaker Mccarthy and now we have a pro tem as speaker. I dont have a lot of advice for my house colleagues, other than this. Follow your heart, but take your brain with you. Id also advise all of my house colleagues to be sure and take their meds. Take your meds. Now, thats a republican senator giving that advice. Kevin mccarthy now has two historic bookends to his speakership from 15 pathetic and desperate rounds of voting in january to his ignominious dismissal yesterday. Mccarthy in his remarks last night blaming democrats for his fate, and then, in the same vein, acting speaker Patrick Mchenry lashing out almost breaking a gavel and kicking former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her top deputy, steny hoyer, out of their offices. But of course, no consequences for these eight republicans who drove mccarthys ouster, who voted against him, and betrayed him, ultimately telling him, youre fired. Thats where we begin. Joining me now is the Reverend Al Sharpton, the host of Politics Nation, and howard dean, former vermont governor and the former dnc chair. I should note that both of my guests shared the debate stage in 2004 as Democratic Candidates for president of the United States. Gentlemen, its an honor to start the show with you tonight. Rev, im going to start with you. I want to get your reaction to mccarthys stunning dismissal and the chaos that seems to have no end in sight. It was stunning in the sense that it has never happened before in history, and it seems that the republicans that are totally intimidated by this maga group, which is a relatively small group, has no kind of idea of how theyre being perceived by the american public. You would not think that they are trying to tell people that they should take the white house back, they should take the senate and the congress back, so i think the more they behave in the way theyre behaving, the better it is for the bidenharris ticket, the better it is for Hakeem Jeffries to become speaker, because who would go and vote to give this gang that cant shoot straight the white house on the Congress Next year . And by the way, when you have hannity suggesting that a man thats on trial for exaggerating and defrauding his wealth ought to be running as Speaker Of The House, when he has time between his four criminal cases and 91 felony indictments, you couldnt make this up if you tried. Now, howard, you ran democrats in primaries, including in 2005. Thats a normal part of politics. But did you ever think, in your career, youd witness the kind of internal Party Insanity that were seeing in what im calling the gops version of a civil war . Frankly never thought that the Republican Party would be a threat to democracy, which they have now become. They are incompetent. They are meanspirited, and i always say their platform is basically hate and anger, and thats what they hope is going to win for them, and they wont. So, i have a suggestion. I suggest that we think back to one of the greatest speakers of the of any legislature in the history of the United States, and thats willy brown. Willy brown became speaker with as a member of a minority because he got republican votes, and he allowed some of those republicans to chair committees in the california legislature. He was the longestserving speaker in the history of california and incredibly successful. Thats what we need to do. I think the big winner out of all this is Hakeem Jeffries. Hes shown that hes got what it takes to be speaker, and theres Nothing Better to show how pathetic the republicans are to have such to be so lowminded that the First Act Of The Speaker pro tem is to kick nancy pelosi out of her office. I dont want to see us retaliate for that. These people are pathetic, and we ought to take a page from willy brown. We ought to run a bipartisan House Of Representatives chaired with the speaker Hakeem Jeffries. So, rev, you know, mccarthy is predictably blaming The Democrats for being ousted. Hes not taking ownership or accountability for his share of what ended up happening to him. I want you to listen quickly to what he said last night. You need 218. Unfortunately, 4 of our conference can join all The Democrats and dictate who can be the republican speaker in this house. I dont think that rule is good for the institution. You know, rev, this is his own rule, though. This is a rule that he knew and he accepted. You live by the sword and you die by the sword, but lets be frank so americans who are listening now can understand. This debacle is a creation all of their own. This monster that theyve created, they have to own. He particularly has to own it. Im talking about mccarthy. Mccarthy agreed to the rule. He agreed to other things that this fringe group of the republicans who have now become the rulers of the party demanded. He was the same mccarthy that called donald trump into account on january 6th and told him it was his people, and then days later, hes down in maralago kissing the ring. So, its clear that Kevin Mccarthy would do anything, say anything to anybody, as long as he can get a temporary advantage. Hes a day trader, and hes not one that is interested in the way he behaves, in governing, or in protecting the American People. Its what he wants at that moment, the gavel or whatever else, and blame everyone else, and i think that he has a long time now to sit and reflect on how he made deals that were bound to catch up with him. That that you sow, you shall reap, and he reaped what he sowed yesterday. Howard, how do The Democrats capitalize on this . Its a chaos caucus. The chaos now spilling over into an entire chamber. How do they take it, and how do they really send the right messaging for americans to understand not only is it the republicans fault of their own, but this is certainly not something that should be put at the foot of democrats . There are about 12 Republican Congress people who are moderates and who are sitting in districts where joe biden won the district. If i were Hakeem Jeffries, i would go to those 12 people and say, we are prepared to work with you in the best interest of the United States, and if you could bring along some other people, that will be fine, and we will you will we will split the power with you. This is a house thats so closely divided, were not going to get anything done, especially with a farright controlling the Republican Party. The reason they control the Republican Party is not because the Republican Party is crazy. Its because they lack courage. They lack the ability to take on the extremists who really are authoritarians. So, i think its time to see if the we almost have enough votes. We will have to give up on some stuff that i care about thats more on the left. Im willing to do that for the sake of america, and i think jeffries has proven that he would be a far more reasonable, thoughtful speaker than mccarthy. Mccarthys Primary Problem was he had no soul. Nobody believed him. And when he gave his word, it wasnt any good. And that doesnt work either on the left or the right or the center. What jeffries has proven that he does have principles and hes willing to do what he thinks is right. I think were going to have to make some concessions, but i think a house run with a democratic majority and a republican minority, which is the only way The Democrats could run the house, is worth making the concessions for the sake of starting to bring the country together. We cant go on having the maga extremists run the Republican Party. We cant exist as a nation if this continues. You know, rev, while all this is going on and theyre trying to get their acts together, though, im concerned. Are americans listening, and are they watching . I know that they understand that there is chaos thats going on right now in d. C. , but are they really listening to whats going on . I think that it is probably the job of The Democrats to make sure that they know whats going on, to get that message out, and not let this happen under some kind of cover. But expose it. Let them all you have to do is give them the spotlight, and they will do the rest of the job for us. And i totally agree, when you put a clean glass next to a dirty glass, people know what to choose. To put Kevin Mccarthy or the new Temporary Speaker next to Hakeem Jeffries, ive known hakeem 30something years, hes a member of our organization. Hakeem is bright. Hakeem negotiated with people that are more progressive in their politics than him in the Democratic Caucus of the congress, and they came in as united front, and they did so in the deliberations that mccarthy needed 15 votes. So, who do you want, somebody in charge that can stabilize and bring people together, or do you want people that the biggest thing they can decide on is try to evict somebody out of an office like that means something . Before the ink was even dry. Reverend al sharpton, howard dean, stay with me. I got a 60second break right now. K right now. And coming up, donald trump hit with an extraordinary rebuke today from new York Attorney general Letitia James. We have not seen this before. Also later, how the gop chaos is rattling conservative narratives and fox hosts, playing out all on camera. Before were through, senator cory booker on the Dysfunction Engulfing the gop. Were back in just 60 seconds. I. Were back in just 60 seconds. Now, sources telling me at this hour some House Republicans have been in contact with and have started an effort to draft former President Donald Trump to be the next speaker, and i have been told that President Trump might be open to helping the Republican Party. So, lets be clear. Hes not the president. The president s joe biden, not President Trump, but that suggests that some conservatives have not learned a single thing, because just hours after a maga lawmaker toppled the gop speaker, triggering internal republican mayhem, which, to be clear, donald trump did nothing to stop, fox host sean hannity floating the idea of the twiceimpeached quadruple indicted disgraced expresident as the next Speaker Of The House. Republican congressman troy neal claiming hes spoken with several other gop lawmakers who feel the same way. Of course, he doesnt identify who they are. And now, rightwing talk of trump could fizzle, but his influence on the speaker race itself most likely will not, pointing to magas grip and why its so hard for republicans to climb out of the ditch that theyve dug for themselves. Were back with the Reverend Al Sharpton and howard dean. My question to you first. The ink wasnt dry before sean hannity and others immediately began floating Donald Trumps name. What is in that koolaid that theyre drinking that they just cant quit trump . Whos sean hannity . Thats great. Look, whatever the name of that network is where the head guy just retired, may he retire in much peace, nobody gives a damn what fox says except for people who are already committed to the maga philosophy. So, i dont think its Worth Speculating on any of that. Whats wrecking the republicans is theyre putting themselves ahead of the country. I mean, i dont know much about scalise. Jim jordan, all he wants to do is get revenge on a variety of democrats and investigate them all. He offers nothing, except possibly covering up a sex scandal in ohio, but well get to that later. So, you know, these guys dont offer the country anything, and thats what the big problem is. Thats why im serious, i think its time for a coalition of republicans who do care about the country, with democrats who also care about the country, we got to work stuff out, and as i say, its not going to be all the things i want. Ive got a long list of things i want. Universal health care for people and so forth and so on. I know were not going to get that out of the congress that i just described, but weve got to balance the budget. Weve got to support ukraine because they used to say if we dont fight them there, theyre going to be fighting us in texas. You know, weve got to take this stuff seriously, and what weve seen so far is just a Middle School Mess by the republicans who cant get out of their own way. But rev, what does it say, though, that within minutes of Mccarthy Being booted out of his house speakership, youre already having trumps name . The reason why i bring this up, and i agree with howard that it kind of gives oxygen to a stupid idea, but i think it just goes to show, though, that trump, who didnt even bother to help mccarthy, lets be clear, right . He didnt a phone a friend didnt happen, so mccarthy doesnt get the help that he needs, doesnt get the assist that he needs from trump, and yet trumps name is automatically reverted to, and i concur that jordan and scalise, these are other more viable candidates, and trumps really not, and yet it does Say Something, though, that the partys willing to actually entertain somebody like donald trump as Speaker Of The House. Because they have turned into a cult, so everything goes back to the cult leader, and his narcissism, hes probably enjoying every minute of it. But lets be clear. Were talking about them turning over the speakers gavel, if they are, and according to hannity, there are sources saying that, who, if he became speaker, he would be third in line to be president of the United States while hes on Criminal Trial For Giving for stealing secrets, classified information, that has to do with the security of the United States. Who in their right mind would even think of giving that to this person, not only under investigation, hes under indictment, and you want to put him third in line to the presidency of the United States . Be my guest. It would guarantee hakeem will become speaker and guarantee that biden and Kamala Harris would be reelected. I wish they would do it. Be my guest. So, howard, i did have to ask, too, doesnt this entire fiasco and debacle create incentive for Kevin Mccarthy to reveal those backroom deals that he struck during those 15 rounds of votes to become the speaker . You know that theyre there. We know they exist. I hate to say this in the presence of a wellrespected media reporter, but no. This is Middle School drama. Who gives a damn what mccarthy said . Mccarthy undid himself by not keeping his word to anybody. He made a deal with biden. He broke it. He made a deal with the right wing. He broke it. He made a deal with The Democrats. He broke it. Thats why nobody came to his defense. It was conceivable that if mccarthy were an honorable person and kept his word, The Democrats would have supported him because, in fact, that would have helped our agenda, not just their agenda. So, mccarthys goose is cooked no matter what happens, and this ridiculous nonsense that engulfs the media about who did what to who, that is irrelevant to the future of the country, except to send the message that these people are incompetent and you cannot trust maga republicans to run this country and preserve our democracy. Rev, i got less than a minute. Last question to you. Based upon what howard just said, if Kevin Mccarthy is so untrustworthy, doesnt honor deals, is it really that bad that Kevin Mccarthys gone now . I think that it is not bad that he is gone. The opportunity was, though, for him to step up and try and deal like an adult. He didnt. He came in like a child, he left like a child, and hes being replaced by people that act just