When all in starts right now. Good evening from new york. Im chris hayes. On january 6th of this year, shortly after noon, news leaks that Merrick Garland would be getting a huge new job. Two sources familiar tell my colleague mike memoli and me says President Biden selected Merrick Garland to serve as his attorney general. He is widely viewed that can be a Unifying Force within the department of justice trying to restore public faith in that institution and restoring morale within it. Garland, of course everyone knew, went through a historic snubbing in 2016 after then president obama nominated him to fill antonin scalias seat on the supreme court. They refused to meet with garland, not to hold hearings or a vote on his nomination. On january 6 the redemption story began. He was going to be joe bidens choice for attorney general. Then an hour or two later, the rest of that days awful events unfolded, overshadowing the new potential a. G. And now here we are, nearly two months later, garland is still the nominee, still not confirmed, like deja vu, as the department of justice remandalay bay casino remains in shambles desecrated with every chance it got. The reason Merrick Garland is not yet the attorney general, the reason republicans understand they have no real power right now except to delay and to troll and to make things difficult for the Biden Administration. There is no republican governing agenda. They have no affirmative goals to accomplish. They just want to hurt the new democratic president and the democratic majority in congress in any way they can, so enter senator tom cotton of arkansas, on laterally holding up Merrick Garlands nomination because he didnt like garlands answers to his fox newsstyle questions about immigration and guns and racial equality. That leaves Merrick Garland stone walled for the second time in five years by truculent republicans who are not interested in the business of governing. Unless you think this is the first time tom cotton has pulled this kind of stunt, he has a history of this, including one of the most shameful episodes of republican obstruction in the entire Obama Administration, which is really, really saying something. You see, back in 2015, tom cotton blocked the nomination of Cassandra Butts as adviser to the bahamas. I knew cassandra as well. Cottons hold on Cassandra Butts nomination, it had nothing to do with her, absolutely nothing. Literally zero. He even admitted as much, telling butts herself that blocking her was a way to inflict special pain on the president. And, well, tom cotton got his wish. He blocked Cassandra Butts until she died, thats right. She died. After a brief illness in maye of 2016. She succumbed to acute leukemia while still waiting to be confirmed more than two years two years after her nomination. So, congratulations, tom cotton, you did it, you did hurt president obama. I think that probably hurt when his friend and associate and nominee died before she could take over as ambassador to the bahamas. That was a win, i guess, for tom cotton. Hes tried it before. Thats the model of governing we are seeing from republicans, temper tantrums, obstruction, and nonsense, focusing on priorities like mr. Potato head and dr. Seuss, attacking joe biden for referring to lifting mask mandates as neanderthal thinking. Were seeing a perfect example of that model on display tonight right now as i speak to you as the senate moves towards a vote on the 1. 9 trillion pandemic relief bill. And republican senator ron johnson of wisconsin is making good on his promise to slow down that relief, getting to americans by whatever ridiculous means necessary. I dont want to sound like a leftist, but im going to resist. The first way im going to resist is im going to go down and object to the waiving of the reading of the bill. I will make them read their 600, 700page bill. Good for you, senator. Thats right. In the midst of a pandemic thats killed 520,000 americans thousands every day, every day, were just numb to it now, but every day it continues. And its put millions out of work. Ron johnson wants to delay help getting out to the American People by forcing the senate clerk to read aloud all 728 pages of the bill. They have been at it for nearly five hours already. Near expected to go into the wee hours of the morning. Remember the last time we had a democratic president in office, remember ha . Mitch mcconnell said the single most important thing we want to achieve is for president obama to be a oneterm president. It is the overriding impulse of the republicans throughout the Obama Administration and we are almost surely in for another round of that. Democratic senator advice van hollen of Maryland Joins me now. Senator, you know, i always feel like when im talking to a member of the u. S. Senate you have to describe your strange culture, sydney, australia alien culture to me. Lets start on the reading of the bill thing. Whats the deal there . Well, the deal is under our rules, a senator can object to proceeding and demand the reading of a bill. And so thats why you have this pure obstruction going on as a result, and thats why at 2 00 a. M. In the morning youll see me sitting in that chair providing presiding over the senate because ron johnson has just decided to drag this process out and further delay relief to the American People. It does strike me, however, as unlike the cotton hold on Merrick Garland which im going to get to in a second. This is essentially an impotent stunt. No doubt about it. This is just stomping his foot. This is taking advantage of a rule that is available. Its not used very much, but its an example of the lengths to which people like ron johnson will go simply to throw this big hissy fit. We will prevail. Its just a matter of eating up the clock, but it is an example of republicans, you know, kicking around in the sand box. I should note i think that senator johnson is in the chamber, at least, listening to the bill being read aloud. In the broader sense of obstruction here, mike lee is talking about theyre going to go through this voteerama. It seems the caucus is united. There is an understanding that you need every member of the caucus with the tie breaking vote, vicepresident harris, and youre going to get this done in the next few days, is that right . Thats right. You just saw the vicepresident cast the tiebreaking vote on whats called the motion to proceed to the bill. So now were on the bill, then well go to voterama, chris. The president said he would prefer to have republican partners in this effort, but the imperative is to get this done for the country. So, on the tom cotton hold, im always confused about what you can and cant do in the senate, what you can and cant get away with in the senate. At some level everything goes by unanimous consent. If people want to be real pains, they can make the whole senate body do that. Most people arent, but then it allows people to pickup that and wield it when they want to as cotton did with Merrick Garland. Why can he do this . Well, he can do it, chris, because under our rules, if youre talking about an executive appointment at the cabinet level, that the senator can delay this up to 30 hours. So, again, Merrick Garland will be confirmed as our attorney general. In fact, i believe were going to get to this nomination next week, but what tom cotton can do and is drag out the time and, of course, theres all sorts of other important business that we want to get to the United States senate. So this is a delaying tactic. My view is when it comes to the fundamental rules that allow senators to delay, which is the filibuster, we need to eliminate it or radically reform it, or at the very least for now, put the burden on the obstructionist rather than on those who want to move the process forward. We were joking this morning. We were thinking, is ron johnson going to make them read this thing and not actually show up and go on fox news . I think this is a ridiculous stunt, but at least hes sitting there. If youre going to do this, then you have to go sit there and listen to this thing. You have to waste your own time. A filibuster that did that would be a wholly different thing from what you have now which is just a pro forma invocation of a 60vote threshold. Go sit there in the chamber. Well, thats exactly right. As i say, i think we should scrap the filibuster rule altogether. But in the very least, you should have to go down to the senate floor and do what most americans remember is an oldfashioned filibuster rather than just threaten to filibuster and then put the burden on the majority that wants to move forward to first file a cloture petition and move forward in that way. If you want to be the obstructionist, you should have to have your 40 votes, not just senator johnson on the floor. You should have to have your 40 votes. Right. There present on the senate floor to have to block it rather than just do it from, you know, the back corner. Lets talk about the substantive stakes here. I havent actually heard, to be honest, a ton of arguments from republicans on this bill. Theyve been talking about other things. To the extent theyve argued about it, they say well, only some of it is really covid related and a lot of other democratic priorities in there, and also we spent a lot of money so far. What are you counting on for this bill to deliver for the people that you represent in maryland . Well, were counting on a number of things. Number one, this is essential to the continued production and distribution of the vaccines. Number two, its essential to provide help to our schools and educators. We all want our kids back in school as soon as possible and as safe as possible. Its one thing just to say it, but we want to be able to do it. This bill will help with that. And, of course, it provides important relief to people who are still unemployed through no fault of their own. It provides rental assistance so we dont have a tsunami of evictions when the moratorium ends. Food assistance and, of course, the individual payments and other very important provisions. And finally, chris, we know from the Congressional Budget Office and other economists if we dont do Something Big like this, were going to live with these higher levels of unemployment into the year 2025. Thats just unacceptable. That to me is the big lesson of the last time a Democratic Administration along with a Democratic House and Democratic Senate had to dig out of the catastrophe, generational catastrophe that the previous Republican Administration had turned over to them, which was just 12 years ago, that that was the big lesson. The floodgates didnt open enough and we under shot, we under shot on the recovery. Too many people were out of work for too long. There was too much austerity. We were too tight with the reins. Has that lesson sunk through at least the president of the United States and the democrats and the Senate Caucus . Thats exactly right. And that is the lesson to be learned. I remember being in the house of representatives at the time. I was screaming because the Senate Democrats were negotiating with the senate republicans, which was fine to start with. But then it went on and on and the overall amount of the relief got chipped away, got chipped away at. And then when it finally came to the house, not a single republican voted for it even after all of that. And then, chris, as you just mentioned, republicans spent the next five, six years talking about why the recovery was too slow. Yes. And its largely because they refused to provide that relief and that we allowed it to get negotiated down. Thats not going to happen again. This is one of these places, i think i see this in hearing speaking to members of both houses as we do on this Program Every night. The politics and the substance are aligned. Lets get money into this economy. Lets support a rocket ship recovery. And its good for everybody, its good for the democrats, and its good for the American People if things are, to quote jared kushner, rocking in this economy five, six months from now. Look, people are going to measure this by how it impacts their lives and thats why you see majorities around the country, you dont have republican senators voting for it rather than be obstructionists representing their constituents back home. Thank you for making time with us tonight. Good to be with you. Thanks, chris. One of the most famous insurrectionists, you recognize him, this guy, infamous instantly, right . Seen kicking back with his feet up on the desk in Nancy Pelosis office. Today he was dragged kicking ask screaming out of court very unhappy about how hes going to be spending the next few months. Thats next. Ths. Thats next. Give you a sort of white smile. Try new crest whitening emulsions for 100 whiter teeth. Its highly active peroxide droplets swipe on in seconds. Better. Faster. 100 whiter teeth. Crestwhitesmile. Com so youre a small business, or a big one. You were thriving, but then. Oh. Ah. Okay. Plan, pivot. How do you bounce back . You dont, you bounce forward, with serious and reliable internet. Powered by the largest gig Speed Network in america. But is it secure . Sure its secure. And even if the power goes down, your connection doesnt. So how do i do this . You dont do this. We do this, together. Bounce forward, with comcast business. How did you get it . I didnt steal it. I plan on it [ bleep ] i couldnt [ bleep ] see. I figure, well, im in her office. I got blood in her office. I put a corner on her desk even though [ bleep ]. And i left her a note on her desk that says, nancy [ bleep ]. After he stormed the capitol, richard barnett, that man, boasted on camera that he had taken an envelope from speaker pelosis office and left her a note. This is him infamously inside pelosis office that day with his feet up on the desk and some kind of stun gun strapped to his hip. Two days later, barnett surrendered to the fbi in northwestern arkansas. Hes been in jail ever since and faces several federal charges including obstructing an official proceeding, Disorderly Conduct in an official building and theft of property. In a Virtual Court hearing today, barnett found out he would remain in jail until his next court date in may and he lost it. Yelling at the judge and his own lawyers that it wasnt fair that he was still in jail, shouting, theyre letting everybody else out. Barnett is one of the roughly 250 people who have been charged in connection with the capitol riot. There are reverberations whether the threats still persist. This was the scene in washington, d. C. Today where two months after the attempted i think recollection the area around the capitol is still on lockdown because of worries of postings on qanon forums about a plot for another attack today, march 4. Thankfully nothing happened. Here to explain the significance of the date and where the movement stands, brandy and ben who cover the Qanon Movement and online extremism for nbc news. Great to have you both. Brandy, maybe you can start with what the concerns were about march 4th and why that date had any significance. Yeah, well, apparently there were two tiers of concerns. One was that there was some vague threat that the Capitol Police had seen or found from qanon forums. And the second one, and this was from the federal law enforcement, found that there were some aspirational threat based on qanon forums. So doesnt that sound like a great idea, we should do Something Like this on march 4th. Now, march 4th is a weird one, so hang on with me. But and i will say that Media Coverage of how silly this all is made it seemingly less palatable for qanon people over the last week. But basically, qanon believers and some general Trump Supporters believed that this was the day that donald trump would be sworn back into office. This new date was on sort of loan from a different antigovernment Conspiracy Theory movement called the sovereign citizens movement, and its thats full of people who believe laws dont apply to them, they dont have to have Social Security cards or pay taxes or whatever. Qanon said a law passed in the 1800s allegedly made the United States a corporation instead of the government. The thinking went no laws had been real since that time, so the president ial election wasnt real. So trump could come and this was the day he could save us all and become the 19th president. Oh, and while he was at it, execute a bunch of democrats and movie stars while he was at it. This one also invoked the pope and the queen of england and biden as a body double. Its a lot, chris. It always is with this people. Luckily they stay behind the computer. Heres my question, ben, as we zoom out. There are two ways i can imagine the trajectory of a lot of sort of right wing extremism post trump. One is that there is an intensification of the tenancy in opposition. I remember under bill clinton thats when you had this very powerful Militia Movement. You had Oklahoma City bombing. There was a way in which this democrat in power made people feel, certain people, drove them to more extremism and they radicalized against it. The other was donald trump himself was this kind of stoker and messianic figure who was pumping this up the whole time. And in his a