Im Jessica Layton. Politicsnation with Reverend Al Sharpton will start and just a moment. But first, we begin with a quick update on to war in israel between israel and hamas. Nbcs ellison barber is stunned by from the israel gaza border. Ellison, we know its military. The Israeli Defense forces said earlier today a plan to expand operational activities and gossip was approved. What the latest . Their language in terms of when the next stage of this war will pick and has gotten stronger in recent days. As you said, the spokesperson for the Prime Ministers Office said they had approved plans to move forward, and that would include a Ground Offensive into gaza. So far we havent seen anything to indicate at his started, yet but we were speaking to some idf soldiers in the area. One of them told us they have been told three different times that the current invasion was going to start. And that it hadnt started just. Yet we have seen, in the skull and behind, us that for gaza. Is the glow of bombardments happening inside of gaza, that weve also heard artillery in the distance, fired from the israeli side into the direction of gaza. Throughout the day today, there have been missiles fired from inside gaza towards central and southern israel, as well as the opposite. Israel firing missiles into gaza. They have said that when they to launch this next phase, the current offensive, that they will focus their efforts on the north part of gaza and in particular gaza city. Thats pure, according to the idf, hamas militants primarily operate out of. We have seen massive impact on civilians in that area, according to israeli officials about 700,000 civilians have evacuated from northern gaza. To the south. But there have still been strikes and the south as well. So humanitarian aid finally made its way into closet this morning, 20 truckloads carrying medicine, food, and water. But human rights organizations, that you, and the world health organization, they have all said that was a drop in the ocean. About a third of palestinians were considered food insecure prior to the start of this war, and the situation has only deteriorated and the days since october 2nd, and there is a push, a hope, that more aide will be able to go. And it is pushes at the border with egypt but the area that Israeli Forces have identified as a humanitarian city that city they have said is where civilians can go to get humanitarian aid. But there is not a direct route of a green corridor or a cleared humanitarian route from the rafah Border Crossing to that city. So there have been questions about if this war escalates, as we expect it to, and a current and patient is launched, if that could provide obstacles for getting aid into areas or civilians have been told to go to get that eight. One thing people inside of gaza desperately need is fuel. That is something israel has agreed to allow inside of gaza. Because the courts are afraid that hamas militants will take that and use it to further the terrorist operation. So therefore, they would allow fuel inside. But hospitals inside gaza have said their generators are running out of fuel and they need fuel desperately in order to keep working and keep treating civilians who need help, the same goes for that you and run schools inside of gaza. We were so many people are sheltering and internally displaced. Jessica . I know, ellison, so many concerns about the confusion surrounding the humanitarian aid. Getting to the civilians who desperately needed. So thanks for answering the questions about that. What else can you tell us about the latest on this conflict in other parts of the region . Lebanon, syria . Right. So on the northern border with israel, there has been a lot of back and forth exchanging of fire. The idf said today, they struck what they described as two terror cells, hezbollah terror cells on the border with lebanon. At a Press Conference this evening, a reporter asked, a spokesperson, with the israeli Prime Ministers Office, if they expect for this war to expand on multiple fronts, they said from israels perspective, they dont want that to happen but they said, if hezbollah continues with this, and in there if you make the decision to join this war, they said they will respond with the full force of israels Defense Forces in that area. It is very possible this could become a multifront war and a lot of the focus has been on that more northern border, and whats been happening with hezbollah. Israel has it thickens the state of lebanon responsible for any sort of missile fires, any sort of militant activity that comes from their border, even if it is not directly their government, but they consider the state of lebanon to be responsible for what hezbollah militants are doing in their territory. Jessica . Ellison, you are doing and credible work around there and. Israel ellison barber, in israel. Tonight ellison, thank you. We want to let you know, reverend sharpton is moments away from the studio. But first, joining me now is congressman adam smith i, democrat of washington state. The Ranking Member of the House Armed Services committee. Congressman, great to have you here tonight. Thank you for joining us. Lets start with the israelhamas war, the white house is taking more than 14 Billion Dollars in aid for israel from congress. As part of 105 Billion DollarNational Security package, which as we know, also includes 61 Billion Dollars in aid to ukraine. That request comes as the house has gone 18 days now without a speaker, which were going to talk about in a moment. But first, are you optimistic at all that congress can deliver on this a package . I think its going to be very difficult. Optimistic not the right word i think the president took the right step [inaudible] the speech he gave a couple of days ago meeting the case for why it was important, very well stated. And working closely with the senate. Both republicans and democrats to agree on the package going for. So youve got that going for you. The main road block, as she pointed, out is the house. Both the fact we could have a speaker and effect that republican majority, the speaker we had, was not inclined to put out this package, despite the fact there is overwhelming support for it in the house. We have got over 300 votes consistently to support ukraine, the problem has been the small group in the house who have the stranglehold over Kevin Mccarthy and wouldnt allow these issues to come up. So its going to be tough, but there is a path. I want to stay with israel for a moment. The u. S. State department and various Media Outlets are now saying it was a rocket from gaza that appeared to a stray. Likely collusion that deadly Hospital Explosion and not an israeli missile, and it was reported earlier. With all the misinformation going around, we want to talk about how important it is to wait a bit before jumping to conclusions, to set blame on any side before all the facts are clear. Yeah, completely agree. Youre right. This is a theory, very difficult situation. Things are flying and happening fast. We could be more accurate about the information that gets put out. Theyre at none of that is to play down the humanitarian crisis going on in gaza. I also think President Bidens absolutely right to be working as hardy as he has egypt and others in the region to try to get humanitarian assistance into that gaza population. Thats a crucial part of this. Look, israel needs to degrade hamas. But thats not just a military mission. They need to make sure that they dont make hamas more powerful, and the way they handle the situation. So its really complicated to achieve that objective, which we all support. Hamas is unquestionably a horrible terrorist organization, but weve got to be smart about how israel goes in there and tries to we condemn. So we know that Homeland Security and the fbi are warning of a heightened threat environment in the u. S. Because of this israel Hamas Conflict right now. They were saying, lone offenders inspired by the war of the most likely to threat to americans, especially jewish, muslim, and arab communities. This, week we know, sadly a sixyearold Palestinian American Boy it was laid to rest after being stabbed 26 times and what is now being investigated as a federal hate crime. Congressman, how concerned are you about the tension and the anger over this conflict boiling over here in the u. S. . Im very concerned. Extremists on both sides have really stepped up their efforts to basically hold the rest of us hostage to that extremism. You also have the teacher, i forget, in france . Who was killed by someone on the other side. I think we have to really be diligent to tamp down the hate that comes from this conflict on both sides. Weve seen jewish people in america targeted. We have seen muslim people and america targeted. Look, we really need to turn all of that down, and if i may say, so the House Republicans are not exactly helping. Winter issuing Death Threats to try to push people into voting for their chosen candidate for speaker. I think we should sit a better example about having a robust but polite debate that makes it clear that violence is never acts acceptable. Robust and polite, something that may have gotten away from us in recent years and months. Congressman adam smith, thank you so much for joining us today. Good news everyone, Reverend Al Sharpton has arrived and at little later in the show hell be speaking with a brother of an israeli man taken hostage by hamas about how his family is holding up and whether they are feeling more hopeful after the release of those two american hostages last night. And a little later, our friend and colleague rachel and it will be on politicsnation talking about the latest on humanitarian efforts in gaza and her new look at the long american fight against fascism. Well be right back. Well be right back. They switched to google tools for education because theres never been a reported Ransomware Attack on a chromebook. Now theyre focused on learning knowing that their data is secure. theos nose was cause for alarm, so dad brought puffs plus lotion to save it from harm. Puffs has 50 more lotion and brings soothing relief. Dont get burned by winter nose. A nose in need deserves puffs indeed. Americas 1 lotion tissue. The power goes out and we still have wifi a nose in need deserves puffs indeed. To do our homework. And thats a good thing . Great in my book who are you . No power . No problem. Introducing stormready wifi. 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. Home of the xfinity 10g network. Heres why you should switch from chrome to duckduckgo. Duckduckgo is a browser you download to your mobile and desktop devices. Unlike chrome, the Duckduckgo Browser has privacy builtin. It comes with a private alternative to google search, which doesnâ– t spy on your searches, and it blocks cookies and creepy ads. And theres no catch. Its free. We make money from ads, but they dont follow you around. Welcome back to join the millions of people taking back their privacy by Downloading Duckduckgo On Mobile and desktop today. Politicsnation. I totally got stuck in los angeles traffic, and there was an accident, as i ran ahead, i said, ive got to get to the studio. I have a date with rachel maddow. They said rachel maddow, they rushed me around some kind of way, so i made it, because when a political story goes so deep, that even im at a loss, and im lost in the weeds i turn to my colleague rachel maddow, every monday at nine. Tune into msnbc for her insight to her show, and the insight. And to her podcast also. To better understand the world around us, because thats what i do to understand the world around me. As the country prepares for another election, year, her new book out this week, prequel an american fight against fascism, offers a lens to view the current Political Landscape in the United States by tracing back the history of american democracy, parallel to global fascism. Rachel maddow joins me now. I am delighted to have you here, and that i got here to be able to have this date. Thank you for coming on the show today, rachel. Of course, i dont think that my name has ever, ever been used to get around traffic, or around an accident with Police Officers ever before. So if you did it, you win some sort of world record or something for that, al. If anybody can do it, it would be you. Ill take that. Before we dive into your book, i want to get your thoughts on the war in israel. In the past 24 hours, weve had at least a few hopeful signs with the delivery of humanitarian aid to gaza today from the past for the first time really since the conflict started. And the release of two american hostages. We have a lot more to go, but we had to released yesterday by hamas. What have been your thoughts as youve covered these Historic Events over the past few weeks . Well, as you know, as all of us know, its an impossible story. It is just morally so difficult. Its something that i think all of us feel a lot of emotion covering the Terrorist Attacks were so statistic, and so cruel. And the fact that people are still being held, and the fear, and the terror, and what we know is the treatment of some of the people who we know how they were treated in that terrorist attack, its just overwhelming. I dont even think we can observe it. And, we are also very, very, very concerned that the death toll in gaza and what may lie ahead in terms of whether civilians can get out of the impossible position they are in, can get the safety. Its morally overwhelming. And theres also this big problem of disinformation, as you know. Theres so much propaganda and disinformation being circulated that it makes, for those of us who work for established News Organizations with literally standards departments that control our sourcing, and were able to talk about things with commitments that, to do corrections when we get things wrong, which everybody inevitably does. It makes it all the more important for those of us at big News Organizations to make sure that we are providing credible information as best we can, in a sea of disinformation that is out there. Its just really hard. On the other hand, the glimmers of at least positive movement that weve had, seeing those 20 trucks cross the rafah crossing from egypt into gaza feels like its a drop of water in the ocean, but it is at least drop of water. You have those two hostages at least. Well, theres still 200 more to go. But to released is the first. I just pray that in both those instances, thats the start of something much more significant, and much larger along those same lines. Yeah, a drop of water, i think, is the right way to say. But it is a drop of water. You and i both mourn the civilians killed in israel, and those suffering and killed in gaza. Yeah. We cannot not deal with both. But lets switch gears now to your book, prequel. Its a look at how america fought against fascism, not only overseas, but here at home. At a time when it wasnt a sure thing that democracy would come out on top, what drove you, first of all, to write this book . You you know, rev, i was interested in the rise of trumpism, this variety of the rightwing that weve got ascending right now in conservative politics. I was interested in, just something that seemed like very much an open question to me did not seem to have an open answer. Which is why are we seeing this type of ultra right ascendance in conservative and republican politics alongside a big upsurge in antisemitism . Particularly in holocaust denial. Its always been such a bizarre toxic thing to me. But just strange, in addition to being bad. I started looking into the origins of american holocaust denial, and american, very robust antisemitism, and how it has linked to rightwing groups, and to American Politics probably in the past. I really didnt intend to tell this story. But i stumbled on the story of dozens of americans being put on trial for sedition, for allegedly trying to violently overthrow the u. S. Government in a conspiracy with not see germany. There is all these paramilitary groups, it was some of the most influential people in the country, both in congress, and just in the culture and in business who were involved with it. It was a story that i had never learned. As soon as i got that far, i realized, oh, this is the story i need to tell. That led to the ultra podcast, and that then has led to this book, which is about american fascism as we were gearing up to fight the not sees. These were The Americans who wanted us not to fight the not seize, or who in fact, themselves, worked for the not seize, who were trying to bring about an american form of nazism here. A lot of americans associate modernday fascism with trumpism, and you mentioned trump. This week, the former president , and current republican front runner, by the way, was fined by a judge for trashing a law clerk online. Trump has tried to undermine the institution of the courts during his various trials. Just as subverted the Justice Department, and the media, while the president and even the election. In your view, are these the tactics of a fascist . Thats a very good question. I feel like a lot of people get their hackles up when you apply terms that were more comfortable using in a historical context, or terms that we are more comfortable using about other countries to our modern politics today. Certainly when it