>> thank you. that is our show for tonight. now it is time for "the last word with lawrence o'donnell." >> tonight we are answering a question i've been wondering about which is how can marco rubio be on the same ticket as donald trump, because the constitution says, i have to say this right, that the electors from a state cannot vote for two candidates who are from the same state. they can only vote for one. >> it would make little marco move, right? >> that's the thing, does he have to move? how does the senator from florida moved from florida? is that legal? anyway, we need an election lawyer to figure this out for us. i just don't understand how they can be talking about rubio as if that is some sort of easy choice to make. >> i'm glad you are getting to the bottom of this. that is quite the pretzel twist. i will be watching. presidential campaign debates were invented by and for tv. 1960 wasn't just the first televised presidential debate, it was the first. george washington never debated . abraham lincoln famously participated in the lincoln douglas debates, but that was in a senate campaign that abraham lincoln lost. we had 34 presidents in a row who never debated to get the job. if you are around 70 years old, you can actually remember seeing every presidential debate in history. that is how few there have been. you could have seen every one of them and not one of those debates has actually been a test of anything presidential except demeanor and the only presidential campaign debater in history who has failed the basic demeanor test is donald trump. the debate rules are always absurd and test nothing about the job of the presidency. the rules tomorrow night are typical. they say,, the debate will begin with a question with candidates each allotted two minutes to respond. this will be followed by one minute rebuttals and responses to the rebuttals. in the job of the presidency the president is never forced to give two-minute replies or 62nd replies about anything. ever. there is an especially ridiculous rule for tomorrow night's commercial breaks. there will be two commercial breaks and the rule says campaign staff may not interact with their candidate during that time. that could not be more childish and unrealistic. presidents always can can or not just with their staff and the cabinet, but with the very best experts in the world on every subject at any time, for as long as they want. a better way to do this tomorrow night would actually be to allow the candidates to have as many staff as they want. join them on the stage throughout the debate and make sure that all of them have microphones. and the candidates should be allowed to turn to their staff and confer with them about anything, at any time in the debate. and we should be able to hear everything that they say, so we can hear if the candidate has competent or incompetent staff. we could hear the candidate overrule some advisors and say something else. we could watch the candidates actually think and process information, including possibly information that they might not know until a staff member tells them or reminds them. a candidate should be allowed to let staff members actually answer questions for them, just as the secretary of state answers questions on behalf of the president around the world, as has every secretary of state in history. that is the way the presidency actually works. the presidency does not involve oral exams and memory quizzes. the president is allowed to forget what the marginal income tax rate is on couples filing jointly with an income of $150,000. there is always someone in the room who knows the answer to that kind of thing, which by the way is 22%. and i don't know that because i used to write tax law and i memorized the tax brackets. i know that because i just looked it up. that is the way governing works. people are allowed to look up whatever fact they need and they are allowed to forget those facts when they don't need it because they will always be able to retrieve those facts one way or the other when they do need it. or they should always be allowed to ask nearby experts or advisors for that fact. that's the way it works for senators, that's the way it works for presidents, members of congress, mayors, city counselors. faithful viewers of this program with memories might remember me issuing a version of this play about presidential debate and how absurdly unrealistic they were. how they have nothing to do with the job because i have issued a version of this complaint about the debates every four years at least. what we will see in tomorrow night's debate is yet another example of just how unfit for the presidency donald trump is. donald trump will lie and we know he will lie because we know that he will speak and it is impossible for him to do one without the other. there is a new rule at tomorrow night's debate which has not been tried before. quote, microphones will be muted throughout the debate except for the candidate whose turn it is to speak. that should be called the trump rule. that rule was obviously written to try to keep donald trump under the kind of control that all presidential debaters before him have been capable of imposing on themselves. tomorrow night's debate audience could be the biggest television audience that the candidates have this year and on the eve of the debate, former republican congressman adam kinzinger who served on the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack at the united states capital, for the first time in his life, endorsed the democrat for president. >> i am adam kinzinger and i am a proud conservative. i always have been. as a proud conservative i always put democracy and our constitution above all else and it is because of my unwavering support for democracy that today, as a proud conservative, i am endorsing joe biden for reelection. my entire life has been guided by the conviction that america is a beacon of freedom, liberty, and democracy. well i certainly don't agree with president biden on everything and i never thought i would be endorsing a democrat for president, i know he will always protect the thing that makes america the best country in the world, our democracy. donald trump poses a direct threat to every fundamental american value. he doesn't care about our country. he doesn't care about you, he only cares about himself and he will hurt anyone or anything in pursuit of power. you saw that when he tried to overturn an election that he knew he lost in 2020. he attacked the foundation of this nation, encouraging a violent mob of his supporters to march on the capital to prevent the peaceful transition of power. now he called for termination of the constitution. he wants to be a dictator on day one, he actually said that, and he is continuing to stoke the flames. there is too much at stake to you sit on the sidelines. so to every american, i say now is not the time to watch riley as donald trump threatens the future of america. now is the time to unite behind joe biden and showed donald trump off the stage once and for all. >> leading up for discussion tonight's former assistant democratic leader, congressman james clyburn of south carolina. he is a national cochair of the biden harris 2024 campaign. congressman, thank you very much for joining us tonight. you were in my judgment and the judgment of many others, the single most important endorsement joe biden got four years ago to send him on his way to winning the white house. how important do you see the kinds of endorsements joe biden is getting from prominent republicans now like adam kinzinger? >> well, thank you very much for having me, lawrence. very, very important, because i think tantamount to everything, democracy is on the ballot this year and when you have people like adam kinzinger and other corporate americans, as well as some of the other republicans that i know that will be endorsing joe biden, it demonstrates that people are putting this country above partisan politics and i think that is so important this time. adam is correct. nobody agrees with joe biden on everything. i don't agree with joe biden on everything, but that is not what this is all about. this is about whether or not we will continue our pursuit of a more perfect union. whether or not we will leave, for our children and grandchildren, a country that will allow them to fulfill their dreams and aspirations without any fear of having to succumb to a dictatorship and donald trump is telling us each and every day that he has very little respect for the constitution. he is not concerned about the future of others outside of his own and his family and we ought to take him at his word and get beyond the partisan politics. get beyond parties and think about what the future holds for all of us. >> are you finding that there are voters out there or groups of voters who have been pro- biden voters in the past to the biden campaign, president biden needs to reach out to tomorrow night in this debate or the campaign needs to do more work to hold onto those voters this year? >> oh yes, no western about that. there are people who are ambivalent about what is going on around them. they see the polling data that seems to be contrary to what they are feeling. it is certainly contrary to what i have been feeling and experiencing. i was in georgia over the weekend. i did five events within 36 hours and i'm telling you, people are listening, they are looking, and they are feeling. and what they feel is a lot of anxiety and we need to reach out to them. so i have said to president joe biden on more than one occasion, no matter what question is asked, make it very clear that your proposals, what they will do for the individual, what they will do for families and what they will do for communities. that is what this is all about. people want to know whether or not they can think of a future, dream of a future that their children, their grandchildren can be proud of. >> in the south carolina debate four years ago in the primary among the democrats, there was a moment when you convinced joe biden to say publicly that he intended to appoint a black woman to the united states supreme court if he had a vacancy. is there something like that that you think the president could say tomorrow night or at some point during the campaign? is there some specific thing like that that you would be hoping to hear from him from -- from him? >> yes, the things he will do to preserve this democracy, to continue our pursuit of a more perfect union. let people know what he will build upon. what kind of health care system they can look forward to. i say all the time it is one thing for things to be available to people. it is something else for them to be affordable for people and that is what i think the president needs to do, just let people know this is what you can count on from me, to keep this democracy, the greatest democracy in the world and let people know how you plan to do that. now he has got a great record and that record is good to run on, but as you run, people need to be looking toward the future. what they can expect in their lives, five, 10 years from now, if you get reelected and i think he will get reelected and i do believe if he reaches out to people in this manner, they will reward him handsomely in november. >> your constituents rallied around joe biden four years ago in south carolina. when you're there now and they ask you about joe biden, are they asking how sharp is he? how is he doing? they must want to know the inside story about what president biden is like four years later with all of the talk of his age. >> yeah, they are concerned about that and i talked to people about that all the time. no one can run away from their age. i am almost two years older than joe biden, but i have never had to overcome stuttering as a child. that is something he worked very hard on and he is still not 100%. a lot of times when he rushes a word out, people see that as being some sort of a gaffe. i said this earlier. one of my legs is shorter than the other as a result of an automobile accident when i was a child, so i walk with a slight limp and sometimes you can notice and sometimes you can't. it all depends on what day it is as to how i might walk and that is the same thing with joe biden, but there is nothing wrong with his brain. he has one of the most, i think, masterful grips on the government of our country that one could have and he shows it time and time again with the proposals he has for the american people. so when you have good ideas that people can rally around, irrespective of their stations in life, irrespective of skin color or gender, irrespective of their status, he will do what is necessary to move this agenda forward and that is what is so good about joe biden. just look today, the announcement he made today about repairing a fault that took place with our men and women in uniform that no one has thought about, but he is coming forward, demonstrating his compassion. i would love to see that kind of compassion demonstrated tomorrow night as he gives answers to the questions. >> congressman james clyburn, thank you very much for starting off her discussion tonight. >> thank you for having me. >> coming up, while the supreme court once again refused to issue its opinion about donald trump and immunity today, the word did in effect give immunity to clarence thomas. that is next with andrew weissmann. so, what about $574 for switching your home insurance to allstate? oh, i try not to think about home insurance. too complicated. actually, allstate can handle the switching for you. —just call 'em. —it's that easy to save? yup. and you get allstate. huh, well that's a step up. goodbye, gerald. oh... check allstate first and you could save hundreds. you're in good hands with allstate. ♪ i am, i cried ♪ and you [ laughing ]undreds. ♪ i am, said i ♪ ♪ and i am lost and i can't ♪ punch buggy red. ♪ even say why ♪ ♪ i am, i said ♪ ♪ ♪ are your gutters clogged? cleaning them can be dangerous, mucky, yuck. get leaffilter. it's as easy as one, two, three. call or click today. get your free gutter inspection on your schedule and get leaffilter installed in as little as a few hours. you'll never have to clean out your gutters again, guaranteed. get leaf filter today. call 833 leaffilter or go to leaffilter.com as easy as 1, 2, 3 it's time. yes, the time has come for a fresh approach to dog food. everyday, more dog people are deciding it's time to quit the kibble and feed their dogs fresh food from the farmer's dog. made by vets and delivered right to your door precisely portioned for your dog's needs. it's an idea whose time has come. ♪♪ nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer. what if we don't get down in time talk to a healthcare provider to get a birthday gift for zoe? don't panic. with etsy we can find the perfect gift, and send her a preview right away. thanks guys. [ surprised scream ] don't panic. gift easy with etsy. everybody wants super straight, super white teeth. they want that hollywood white smile. new sensodyne clinical white provides 2 shades whiter teeth and 24/7 sensitivity protection. i think it's a great product. it's going to help a lot of patients. when we're young, we're told anything is possible... i think it's a grea ...but only a few of us go out and prove it. witness the greatness of anna hall on a connection worthy of gold: xfinity mobile. only xfinity gives you the most powerful mobile wifi network, with speeds up to a gig in millions of locations. and right now, xfinity internet customers can buy one unlimited line and get one free for a year. get the fastest connection to paris with xfinity. - [narrator] life with ear ringing sounded like a constant train whistle i couldn't escape. then i started taking lipo flavonoid. with 60 years of clinical experience, it's the number one doctor recommended brand for ear ringing. and now i'm finally free. take back control with lipo flavonoid. today, the most blatantly political supreme court of our lifetimes decided not to publicly issue its decision on donald trump's appeal claiming former presidents of the united states are completely immune for criminal prosecution for anything they have done during their presidencies. we cannot say that the same supreme court that stands accused of helping donald trump's campaign by delaying its decision in that case, so that the case cannot come to a trial before the presidential election, now deserves to stand accused of trying to protect donald trump's position in the presidential debate tomorrow night. it seems likely that the supreme court will not issue its immunity decision tomorrow, but could release the decision on friday or next monday, thereby shielding donald trump from any possible uncomfortable moments in the debate that could be created by their decision. the supreme court has made it very difficult to try to imagine that they are not playing politics with at least the timing of that decision. today the court released a decision that justice ketanji brown jackson said only this court could love. meaning perhaps only a corrupt court could love. it was a 6-3 decision in which all of the republican appointed justices agreed that there is nothing corrupt about a government official being given money by a company after that company gets a big contract from that government official. the ruling overturned the bribery conviction of james snyder, a former indiana mare who was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison for accepting $13,000 from a trucking company after it one $1 million in city contracts. the washington post reports the conservative super majority on the court found the federal law prosecutors used to convict james snyder only applies to situations where officials accept gifts before taking government action, not to getting a reward after, which is known as a gratuity. a gratuity? there is no such thing as a gratuity and government. in government that is called a payoff. but we now know that the supreme court itself is populated by government officials, by judges, who take payoffs. what they were preferred to call gratuities. clarence thomas alone has taken over $4 million worth of gratuities from ultrarich republicans who he did not know and had never met until he became a supreme court justice. in her dissent, justice ketanji brown jackson wrote officials who use their positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions. it seemed as if she was actually writing about the supreme court itself in that line. officials who use their public positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions. that is exactly what clarence thomas has done for many, many years. he has used his position, his public position, for massive private gain and today clarence thomas said that's legal and so did the five other republican appointed supreme court justices. justice jackson wrote officials who use their public positions for private gain threaten the integrity of our most important institutions. greed makes governments at every level less responsive, less efficient and less trustworthy from the perspective of the communities they serve. snyder's absurd and a textual ruling of the statute is one only today's court could