Transcripts For MSNBCW AM Joy 20200815 : vimarsana.com

Of the right for women to vote. That was granted for only white women. Africanamerican and many asian and latinex women were barred from citizenship and voting. Black men and women were blocked from voting by racist local laws until the Voting Rights act of 1965. The u. S. Womens suffrage movement, the way its taught and understood and characterized to this day often erases the prominent role of black women. Women like beabolitionists sojournsojour sojourner truth. And women like the sisters of delta sigma theta, an early black sorority founded at howard university. They ban tousished to a segrega section when they joined the march, something ida refused to do, instead marching with the white women. This boiled down to the right to participate as organizers and citizens, as voters and political candidates continues today under a president who is refusing to fund the post office in what looks like a clear attempt to steal this election. But a remarkable shift occurred this week when a woman, who is black and asian and the daughter of immigrants joined the democratic ticket in an effort to defeat donald trump and his version of america. Kamala harris is no accident, ladies and gentlemen. She is the result of a movement, one a century in the making. And joining me now is erin haynes of the 19th, who nabbed the first interview with senator harris after she joined the ticket and someone who certainly needs no introduction on this show but were going to introduce her anyway, my friend, my pal, the amazing joy reid, host of the historic showed, the reidout and the man who sold america, it is illuminating. Joy, ill get to you in a second. I want to start with you, erin. You know i think youre such an amazing reporter and writer but you came through yesterday like an Ice Cream Truck on a hot day and you got that scoop, lady, so we need to talk about it. I have to ask you, what was the most surprising thing about that interview . I watched it, i thought it was great. You did an amazing job. What did the senator say that surprised you most . I think what surprised me the most, just kind of overall was that you could really tell how much shes evolved as a political athlete since her candidacy for president a year ago. You know, this was somebody who was forceful. The way that she talked about the urgency of voting, you know, telling people to literally jump over whatever obstacles were in their way to get to the ballot box in november. How she was able to tie her historic candidacy to as Vice President to the historic suffrage secentennial and how i came together to make her the voice for joe biden and calling that an audacious, risky choice. This is no the Kamala Harris that voters got to see a year ago but it is the Kamala Harris that voters will be introduced to heading into the general election. M i cant overstate the historic nature. I want to play a sound bide when you asked her about joe biden choosing a black woman. Did you feel joe biden needed to choose a black woman or a woman of color as his running mate and is that something you talked to him about at any point in this process . Joe biden had the audacity to choose a black woman to be his running mate. How incredible is that and what a statement about joe biden, what he decided that he was going to do that thing that was about breaking one of the most substantial barriers that has existed in our country, and that he made that decision with whatever risks that brings. Well, what does it bring . Does it bring risk . And if so, what are those risks, erin . Well, i thisnk it must be acknowledged that this is a ticket that is running in a very racially polarized climate in this country, despite the National Reckoning we have around race, that reckoning is a push back to a lot of the racism, frankly that, we have seen resurface. I would say not just since 2016 but really over the past decade, dating back to the rise of the tea party and the leelection of the first black president , barack obama. There is no promise in our country without racial backlash. That is what this ticket is up against, even as we are marking this historic candidacy, she certainly acknowledges that but knows thats not going to be enough to motivate voters this year, simply making history. You know, they are still going to have to persuade folks. She is somebody who, you know, is also im seeing being cheered by not just black women. Its a diverse range of people who are excited to see her because of the qualifications that she brings to this ticket. But i certainly have also seen already youre seeing the racial play book that is coming out from the president , that he has been using around issues of race and gender, using that against senator harris, even in less than 72 hours that she has been on the ticket, that is already something that was emerging. So, you know, i think that that was kind of the risk that she was alluding to in what she called an audacious choice. I thought it was interesting that he brought it back to the birtherism attack. I was thinking are your righters on strike . Because you did that last time. It interesting but its unsurprising. I think were seeing President Donald Trump return to a lot of the racial play book from 2016 and before he became president because, you know, it has worked for him with a certain segment of the country. You know, bringing back birtherism, bringing back law and order, trying to scare women into thinking minorities are going to ruin their part of the country, these are all things that we have heard from him before, that you would think wouldnt be resurfacing in 2020 but, again, because they worked before, he is ready to have those old fights, even if its in a new day. And those arguments are still resonating with a significant person of the country. We have to be honest about that. Joy, i said to you some can look at this as a revolution but this is an evolution. You need to get on board or get fossilized, particularly because white men are 30 of the population but hold 60 of elected office. So i think this is the entree into a new era. The man who sold america is quite uncomfortable with that. So tell me, i have to tell you, joy, i actually thought a lot about you when this announcement was made because you have made history. You are the first black woman to host a primetime cable news show in this era and on one hand were also elated i remember the jubilation we all felt when msnbc announced your show. There were so many zoom parties and the same thing happened with senator harris. I still relish in that joy and i also think its 2020 and were still talking about firsts so what do you make of this moment in history . No, youre absolutely right. I think about the fact that and i talked a lot about shirley first of all, erin, congratulations on getting that interview. It was an incredible interview. Well done. This is some black girl magic that were see on the screen this morning which i love to revel in. Were still 50 years past when Shirley Chism tried to get this done. And thats something that Kamala Harris referenced when she was running for president. And if you think about the fact that shes only the second black woman to ever be United States senator. Think about that for a second. This country has been around since 1776 and weve only had two black women ever be elected to the United States senate. We have zero black governors we saw what happened when Stacey Abrams made that try in georgia. The lengths to which brian kemp and company were willing to go to keep her out of the governorship. Were still seeing massive voter disenfranchisement, the most aggressive disenfranchisement of voters, particularly black voters and indigenous voters and brown voters that we have seen really since the 1950s and 1960s. Weve gone right back to that era because i think, as you said, the man who sold america understands that what hes doing absolutely works with a certain population. But its not a growing population. Youve said this a lot, tiffany, you wrote about it in your book. What donald trump is based in is the part of the population that isnt growing. Theyre not growing numerically and theyre not growing ideologically. So his only way of winning is to try to reduce the numbers on the other side. So you have to disenfranchise people, dont let them vote. Kill the post office . So hes like military people cant get their mail because i need to reduce the number of people voting because its the only way that he can win. He cant win by addiction. He can only win by subtraction. Absolutely. And we ought to anticipate this. What bothers me, joy, you and i talked about this and people say in a surprising move donald trump is trying to defund the post office. Whats surprising about it . Please tell me, what is surprising about it . He does exactly what he said he was going to do. Go ahead, joy. Did you want to Say Something . I just want to say one thing. Not only is it not surprising, its also not unique to him. If you think about the republican attitude toward the Postal Service, you can go back decades. Theyre the ones who forced the Postal Service to prefund their pensions 175 years ahead. Theyd rather that ups and fedex be the Postal Service. They dont believe in the public commons. If donald trump were alone, he wouldnt be dangerous. He fits right in to Many Republican ideologies. Its just that he says the quiet part out loud. And all this tom foolery predates donald trump. Weve seen these at tutsis atit practices for a long time. Erin, i want to ask you on air, the media landscape is still overwhelmingly white and male. As we commemorate the hundredth anniversary of the 19th amendment, something that bothers me. People always say it gave women the right to vote and i always say, no, it gave white women the right to vote. What advice would the great brilliant erin give as we go into covering this new era of politics . Well, tiffany, thank you for that great context at the top of the show because, you know, representation does matter. I mean, that is the bottom line. I work in a newsroom that is named for the 19th amendment a something i want to reflect the omission for the black women who fought for the franchise just as hard but had to fight even harder because they wouldnt get it in 1920 and wouldnt get it for another four decades. That needs to be acknowledged. The kren ten yecentennial is an for all of us to correct the record. Senator harris referenced howard women who were suffrage, who there have been attempts to erase them in the years since that momentous ratification. We have to tell the truth now about who was not included in suffrage to make sure that the next hundred years are more inclusive, are more representative and tell the truth about who and where we have been as a country. Amen to that, sister. I want to say congratulations to you. You were named as an msnbc contributor. Im so excited to see that happen. Joy, i owe you socially distance m mimosas for coming on this morning. I like mimosas. Well all do it. Be sure to catch joy on the reidout. Starting monday, shell help kick off msnbcs allstar coverage of the Democratic National convention. Coming up, we have the amazing ayanna presley, a history maker herself. Shes goi thats next. Thats next. What getting fueled with one protein feels like. What getting fueled with three energy packed proteins feels like. Meat cheese and nuts p3. Because 3 is better than 1 brushing only reaches 25 of your mouth. Meat cheese and nuts listerine® cleans virtually 100 . Helping to prevent gum disease and bad breath. Never settle for 25 . Always go for 100. Bring out the bold™ dad vo life doesnt give you many secobut a subaru can. dad you guys ok . vo eyesight with precollision braking. Standard on the subaru ascent. The threerow subaru ascent. Love. Its what makes a subaru, a subaru. Get 0 apr financing for 63 months on select models during the subaru a lot to love event. 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And whatever the reality is that we have to deal with, if he refuses to honor the sacred right of the vote, he wants to undermine the post office for the moment. Well be here in january. Thats most unfortunate. Okay. So despite the fact that he and his wife applied for absentee ballots, donald trump is at war with the u. S. Postal service ahead of election day. This week he explicitly said he opposes emergency funding for the agency because he wants to restrict the number of americans who can vote by mail. According to the washington post, the Postal Service recently warned 46 states and the district of columbia, where i live, that it cannot guarantee all ballots cast by mail for the november election will arrive in time to be counted and even if people follow all of their States Election rules, the pace of Postal Service delivery may disqualify their votes. On friday Kamala Harris was blunt about why she felt this was happening. Why dont they want us to vote . Why are they creating obstacles to us voting . Well, the answer is because when we vote, things change. When we vote, things get better. Joining me now is a woman who knows that all too well, massachusetts congresswoman eyieye i ayanna pressley. You are the first black woman to represent members of congress. As you good to be you. I want to get right into it with you. Youre such a superstar on capitol hill. This is an issue that your office put out a very strong statement on, and a lot of people dont understand the wide, dark shadow this can cast over so many other things. First of all, the post office employees, over 600,000 people. Thats right. And a lot of those people are people of color. And so as youre defunding the post office, because we know how people get upset about defunding things, where is the outrage about this . Where is the outrage about adding to the millions of people who are already unemployed, to the millions of people who are going to join the ranks of homelessness and Food Insecurity and they deliver ppe. My mother gets her meds from the post office these are real life consequences youre in congress, obviously you have a huge charge, but is there anything we the American People can do to protect this democracy and this election process . Well, first and foremost, if you havent already, contact your secretary of state and request a mailin ballot. This is plain and simple Voter Suppression. Its not surprising but its no less shapefmeful. You said theyre at war with the United States Postal Service but that means theyre also at war with the American People. They are threatening the livelihoods of the essential workersthis is a hell of a way to repay some 600,000 essential workers who have been working overtime in the midst of this pandemic putting themselves in harms way. This is an insult on democracy. I received a call from a married couple, theyre both letter carriers, theyre very worried about their livelihood. This is just outright its a modern day jelly bean count ostensib ostensibly. We recently found out the two appointments that the department of Homeland Security may be flawed or illegal, according to the inspector general. Of course the department of Homeland Security is the Oversight Agency for our election system. So when you couple that with kneecapping the post office, what should we anticipate on november 3rd . I said a lot, that i i dont know were going to know who the president is on november 3rd. Are we looking at another bush v. Gore scenario . Before we get there, theres work to do in congress. Were references a letter that i submitted earlier. The postmaster general, he must resign. Hes carrying the water for this corrupt administration and hes corrupt himself. Hes donated millions of dollars to donald trump. In my letter we call for his resignation but he must be subpoenaed to come before the Oversight Committee and to be taken to account for the way hes contributed to dismantling the United States Postal Service. Theres the heros act which the house passed that provided 25 billion in emergency funds for the United States Postal Service. So in the here and now we need to hold this administration accountable. If you havent already requested a ballot from the secretary of state, please do that immediately. Let me just tell our viewers. Dejoy was a longtime Trump Campaign donor. He took office in june. At that time they started removing mail sorting machines. It looks like this is all very intentional. You mentioned the Oversight Committee which you sit on. Whats the likely were going to see him come before the oversight commonwealth ove Oversight Committee in november . When it comes to their culture, corruption is the point