I think the people that ride harleys are not happy with harley davidson. When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. Today was one of those days that crystallizes whats at stake in American Politics right now at this moment. The political cloelgs that controls all three branches of the federal government just took a major step to consolidate power. Leveraging an arguably stolen Supreme Court seat to validate the agenda of a president who we have to remember lost the popular vote Whose Campaign was backed by a foreign add ser vary possibly with his campaigns help and who in word and deed explicitly uses the power of his office exclusively for the benefit of the minority of the country that supports him. The Supreme Courtup head the president s ban on travel from a list of mostly muslim countries. The third version of a policy
refusing to hold hearings on his nominee. Today mcconnell tweeted a picture of himself shaking the justices hand because he knew what was going on. Everyone did. With its don the travel ban today, the republican controlled Supreme Court gives an effective green light to the president S Immigration agenda which im sure he receives as more than just about this case. That i amgration agenda lets remember until last week including g Migrant Children away from their parents at the border as a kind of punishment and deterrence and reportedly holding those children as hostages to force families to drop their asylum claims. Family separation policy appears to have been halted after overwhelming public backlash but and this is important, the vast jority of those children right now as i speak you to have yet to be reunited with their parents. The pridt has en quite clear about how he wants
anything. Thats disturbing because you can imagine how this can be applied in other areas. This seems to be a rubber stamp Supreme Court when it comes to the president s most odious and ugly discriminatory impulses. Theres Something Else this court has done which it has struck down lower courts block Rarejudicial Redistricting plans including in the texas case. Theyve also upheld ohios purging of people from the voter rolls. Again, those were similar people on both sides of those issues in terms of the opinions. What do you see is happening in terms of how the Republican Party and the court and the president are using the power they have right now . Ell, theyre using their power to dominate the country even though they represent a minority of americans. They the decisions that we just saw the regarding voting were nothing short of disturbing. They are hostile to the idea of representative democracy. And im telling you, theyre pretty overt about this, pretty clear. You remember well the Chris Kovach Commission that was going to study the false voting group that according to him fraudulently switched the popular vote to hillary clinton. I mean, and thats just the begin. We all know were living under a gutted Voting Rights act. We still have not been able to pass the restoration of that. So thats what were looking at, a minority that is trying to dominate a majority and is using the courts, legislature and the president to do it. What do you say to people saying theyre doing a pretty good job right now. What do we do about it. I have to agree theyre doing a good job. Weve got to mobilize and get out there. Weve got go to low Turnout Districts and get folks out to the polls. And weve also got to argue is about an election but its not only about an election. Activism, engagement, participation in society really has to go up. You know, i tell you, sitting on the sidelines in this moment really its not a protest. Its a surrender. And so what im asking folks to do is get out there and do something about it. I just left a rally in minneapolis in front of the federal courthouse. I can tell you people are energized. Theyre not demoralized. Theyre looking for things to do. People are running for office and getting involved. Just the other day, we had the parkland students here in minnesota. Theyre organizing young people to register to vote making sure that the Millennial Vote turns out in november and people stay active throughout the year. Thats what weve got to do about it. We cant simply assume things will get better because they usually do. In this case, they may not unless we act now. Do you feel like democratic leadership is sending a strong message what the sort of the agenda of the party is in resisting what you described as a kind of minority managing to exert its power over majority, how to resist that . I think that the Democratic Party leadership has shifted its focus, i mean right now were not only focused on every four years. Were focused on every single day. The Democratic National committee is thinking about how we can support candidates in municipal races, state legislative races, School Board Races all kind of races up and down the ballot. We do it every single race. So that is a shift in focus. We simply cannot have an approach where we raise money from a lot of rich people and buy ads every four years. Thats not going to work. We need to engage people at every single level. You mentioned a few other cases. Theres one that were watching for tomorrow. And you probably are keeping occur eye on the janice case, as well. That has a lot to do with the shape and trajectory of our country as it relates to Public Employee unions. Were keeping our eyes out, chris. Keith ellison, thank you. Thank you. My next guest is a long time republican strategist who just quit the gop after almost 30 years over the president S Immigration policy. In a Tweet Storm Last week, Steve Schmidt wrote this independent party will be aligned with the only party left in america that stands for what is right and decent. That party is the Democratic Party. And msnbc contributor Steve Schmidt joins me right here. Good to see you chris. First i want to talk about that. The kind of Breaking Point for you. Youve been a never trumper. Thats been clear. Tes a group of people that i think have very strong views about this individual, this president and his character. Then theres a question at which point that becomes true about
everyone in league with him. What was the Breaking Point for you . I had the experience on June 5th Standing On Juno Beach and spending time in the canadian cemetery spending time at Pegasus Bridge where the British 6th Airborne went in and understanding the lue of the u. S. Led Liberal Global Order that emerged from the aftermath of humanitys greatest tragedy which killed 80 Million People and left the world in ruins. That Liberal Global Order is worth defending. This president is an autocrat. He is not a small d democrat. He doesnt believe in liberal democracy. And what were seeing here every day are five behaviors, one, he incites fervor in a base through constant lying. Two, he scapegoats minority populations and he affixes blame for complex problems to them and
them alone. Three, he alleges conspiracies that are hidden and nefarious and linked to those scapegoated populations. Four, he spreads a sense of victimizations among those fer per vent supporters. And five, he an sers the need to exert heretofore unprecedented power to protect his victim class from the conspiracies and the scapegoated populations. Through all of history, you understand totalitarianism, you understand how democracies fall. You will find those five behaviors. Now, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party i would argue and you and i disagree on many many things but we are fidelitious to liberal democracy. Thats true. That government of the people, by the people, for the people must continue. Thats incredibly well said. And when i think about this and you think about those behaviors and here you have today the court, this is what i found so fascinating about the courts decision today. If donald trump wasnt donald trump and president Marco Rubio On Kay One puts in this ban, it almost certainly its not even a question. The question is, does what this guy has said and the bigotry hes espoused taint in a kinds of unfixable way constitutionally this ban. We all saw it happen in realtime. Its remarkable you have gorsuch and roberts who is something you worked on his confirmation. I led the confirmation. Beak doing a kind of sophisticated version of the paul ryan i didnt read the tweet. They all read the paper and so the facts of the case. The intent was perfectly clear. This was a religious test. So the stigmatizing of good and decent people in the insult given to the muslim soldiers who have served this country, who have sacrificed, it is appalling. Thes also a similarity here that strikes me whats happening on the border and here. In both cases the president talks about ms13 and i. C. E. Those are two groups genuinely ivl. Theres no real supports are of them. What he does picy se is people fleeing i. S. I. S. From syria and people fleeing the murders in guatemala trying to flee to this country, those are the people that end up caught in the gears of his demonization of those groups. You look at regression of democracy to an oughtocracy. All through history, when you look at violations of Civil Liberties they have always occurred through a prism of fear, fear is a contagion. It erodes Democratic Values and institutions but always In The Name Of security that Civil Lishes Are Col Pro Mized and
that lesson has been learned through history. And here we are repeating it again. And the moral shame that comes from Internment Camps and precisely what they are for toddlers and children who are stripped away, some of those children stripped away from breastfeeding mothers, it is a shame that will linger a stench that will linger around this vial administration and my view for a century. Is there a is there a political constituency of vote in other words the country that feel the way you do . I really mean this. Like i dont know if there is. Theres Steve Schmidt. Theres nicolle wallace. Theres charlie sykes, people that exist in the world and bret stephens. Are there vote who at whats happening and say im a republican and cant abide this. I dont know if they exist. I think there are acts of
it has secured the peace, it has lifted billions of people on the planet out of abject poverty into something approaching prosperity over the last 73 years. All of this is worth defending. It was architected by giants. Conceived by fdr. Built by a plain spoken man from independence, missouri, harry truman. Stewarded from john kennedy to Ronald Reagan to barack obama and the departure from it by this president , his Feather Sizing autocrats from erdogan to putin to president xi is disturbing. Our allies who we are connected to by shared history and values are rightly concerned. But i do believe that the American People dont want to
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still 2,047 separated children in their custody. And that is only six fewer than about a week ago, although we dont know if new children are coming in. Now 17 states as the District Of Columbia are suing the administration to force the government to reunite those families. The daily beast reports some veterans and active duty ca troops disapprove of Building Camps on military bases to house imMigrant Children. All of which adding up to hundreds of planned protests on saturday across the country including a Big March Being Planned in washington, d. C. Karine jeanpierre is a spokesperson for moveon. Org and Sonya Nazariyo of enriques journey, thats a fantastic book. Sonja i want to read a new story about what is happening as the question of family Ru Funfication Cks over everyone. The aclu says in a filing that
the border agent threatened to put an immigrants daughter up for adoption if she did not essentially sign deportation papers. Weve seen other reports from the Texas Tribune about essentially threats that unless you say you will deport and waive your right to asylum, well keep you away from your kid. What do you think of that . I think its horrific. We are criminalizing people who are coming here and seeking refuge from the United States. We said after world war ii during that war we turned back a ship with 800jews and did not allow anne franks family to come to this country. We were the leaders in saying this would never happen again and yet here we are doing this with vulnerable children. We shouldnt shouldnt be criminalizing these folks and not using children as bait and saying were only going to give you your child back at the airport if you relinquish all your Due Process Rights to asylum. There is a difference between an economic migrant someone coming
here for a better life and someone coming here because they are fleeing for their life and theyre being persecuted in their home countries. I have spent a lot of time in Central America in the worst neighborhoods. If you took el salvador and you took that murder level to new york city instead of fewer than 300 murders, you would have more than 5,000 bodies littering the streets of new york city. I remember an 8yearold boy in a neighborhood in honduras who from the age of 8 was harangued by the gangs. He would collect cans in his bag to repsych to be able to eat. And he was told from the age of 8, you have to join us. You must join us. Ultimately when he was 10 years old, they gang raped him. These are the options for children in these countries oftentimes. You join the gang or you flee within 24 hours. You pay the war tax or you flee within 24 hours. Girls are told and ive interviewed many girls who say i was basically told im pretty, i was told to be the girlfriend of
the gang leader or they said they would exterminate my whole family. People running from harm, and were not talking about huge numbers. So far in the first eight months of fiscal 18, weve had 59,000 of these families running from harm. 32,000 unaccompanied children. That fills one football stadium. For gods sake, the United States can afford that amount of compassion. Karine, when you think these are the stakes for these people and you hear about the president not just the Family Separation but say Eg Doesnt Want to grant asylum, he wants to get rid of due process, what degree do you think had Public Pressure matters here and protests like the ones that you guys are organizing for june 30th weve seen around the country . Thats the only way were going to stop this president and his awful policies is by the Public Pressure is by standing up and fighting back. The president backed down just a
little bit. I spent the day at the border. I joined aft and religious leaders. We started off in el paso where we were in front of the u. S. Courthouse where the process begins for separating kids from their families. Then we traveled to Tornillo In Texas where the Detention Center is and where kids are sleeping in cages at night. I learned two things. The first thing is you know what . This is not a political crisis. This is a moral crisis. This is a humanitarian crisis. And number two, nobodys talking about civility and who is left out of a restaurant or asked to leave at a restaurant. They dont care about that. They want to know what is the u. S. Government, what is the Trump Administration doing to reunite these families, reunite these kids with their parents. Thats what people want to know. And the thing about it, these are innocent children, chris. Innocent. There was this one young girl in