The wrong president for this moment. And since then the reality of that has come into even sharper focus. To be blunt, the president makes bad situations worse, and hes woefully out of touch with the majority of americans on matters of critical importance to our equality, health and wellbeing. Trump is simply incapable of addressing the issue of race in my substantive way. The death of george floyd has been a turning point in our culture. Nearly three weeks after his death, were still seeing protests across the country, and those protests are starting to lead to small but meaningful changes. City and state officials and individual Police Departments are taking action to update a centurys old cycle of inequality in policing for black men and women. We will have more on those specific changes coming up. But where is the president in this discussion . Virtually absent. While local leaders are doing the tough work, trump is having trouble with taking even superficial or symbolic steps in the right direction. Yesterday, for instance, he held an event in dallas on race and policing, an event that failed to include the citys police chief, the sheriff and the district attorney, all of whom are black. Today trump made a bizarre claim in an interview with fox about what he had done for the black community. I think i have done more for the black community than any other president and lets take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good. Although, its always questionable. Well, we are free, mr. President. He did pretty well. Im going to take a pass on abe, honest abe as we call him. Well, we are free, mr. President. The New York Times might have put it best when it said that the president , quote, increasingly sounds like a cultural relic on issues of race. But Public Opinion is shifting quickly on race in america and even some of the most cautious leaders in institutions are talking openly about discrimination and reconciliation. Meanwhile, trump, quote, has never appeared more isolated on a dominant social and Political Movement in the country. Hunkered down at the white house, tweeting conspiracy theories about injured protesters. It should come as no surprise, then, that in a new nbc report trump told aids, quote, these arent my voters during a discussion about protesters. So much for unifying america, i guess. He cant even pick the low hanging fruit. Trump cant even support renaming military bases that bear the names of long, dead confederate soldiers who were rebels against the republic and on the losing side of the war, the side that wanted to keep slavery. Military officials and even some republican senators are open to the purely symbolic move of changing base names. But trump just sends out dog whistles about the names being those the names of those racist confederates being too important to americas history. The president has gone silent on the coronavirus pandemic at a time when infection rates are now on the rise in many states. Last week, dr. Anthony fauci said hes no longer in frequent contact with trump and the daily Coronavirus Task force briefings long ago faded into the distance. But hospitalizations in at least nine states are on the rise, and self states have seen their biggest one day rise in new cases this week. The federal response to that is almost nonexistent. Think about it. We just hit two million covid19 infections in the United States, and the president said nothing about it. The president s inability to meet the moment on two of the biggest and most urgent crises of our day are vividly illustrated in a single event he is holding next week. Donald trump is holding his First Campaign rally in months in tulsa, oklahoma, a city infamous for the 1921 burning of black wall street. Its going to be held, by the way, on juneteenth, a day of symbolic significance to the struggle for black civil rights in america. Whats more, the Trump Campaign is not requiring face masks or social distancing at the rally. But it does have a disclaimer at the bottom of a registration page for the event that reads, in part, by attending this rally, you and any guests voluntarily assume all risks related to exposure to covid19 and agree not to hold donald j. Trump for president incorporated liable for any illness or injury. In other words, dont sue us if you get sick or die. This is what the president had in mind when he said, make America Great again. All right. Leading up our discussion tonight, the senior director of progressive programming at sirius xm radio and the author of an upcoming book. The end of white politics how to heal our political divide. Also joining me jonathan alter, columnist for the daily beast. Both are msnbc political analysts. Thanks to both of us for being with us. Im not going to play it again because i just played a little bit of the trump interview on fox news. But he talked about being great for the black community and sort of accepting Abraham Lincoln because hes not too sure of his performance. Im puzzled because im not sure if our viewers think thats true, but i am puzzled as to what he gets for saying that. Yeah. I think that its a Voter Suppression strategy, but its also a strategy to comfort his base of voters. So no none of his voters want to think that they are racist. They may harbor views for people of color or black people. They may say things like, well, i wish the protesters wouldnt loot or be violent or break windows. I mean, i think its bad. That video was sad. But im not racist but i support trump because of the tax cuts, right. So that articulate a policy reason while ignoring all of the racism. And in this particular moment, its very clear that you have to pick a side on, you know, on this issue of racism in the United States and the origins going back to our founding. And donald trump essentially is making his base feel okay with supporting him. So he says things like, well, ive done so much for black people. And what his base hears is that, you know, black people who complain about donald trump, theyre just ungrateful for all he has done. Its basically to give his base cover for being labeled as racism for supporting trump. Thats interesting. I hadnt thought about that. Jonathan alter, this has come full circle for joe biden, who started his campaign for president with a video, a very vivid video about the charlottesville images and a reminder that thats not who we are. I wouldnt have thought in fact, some people thought that message got away from joe biden because we had sort of moved away from that moment. But, in fact, george floyd and the movement about Police Brutality and the movement about institutionalized racism that seems to be picking up steam amongst americans that are not black goes right back to where joe biden said we want to go. So the alternative message to make America Great again is this is not who we are. This is who we are. Lets be that. Well, it turns out that joe biden has, who knew, the perfect message for 2020 of reconciliation, rights, restoring the soul of america. Hes been saying that since the start. And it seemed like kind of a dated message when he started with this last year. But it turns out to be perfectly in tune with where the country is. And then when you have him stepping up and showing leadership as he did yesterday in introducing a very sophisticated and potentially very effective plan for confronting the covid19 crisis and for opening up the economy, he realized we have one candidate who is a leader who wants to bring reconciliation, and we have a president who wants to make america hate again. Thats all that he really has to offer. You know, he has not been able to make America Great. Everything that he promised he would do starting with mexico to pay for the wall he has not accomplished. We are the laughing stock of the world. We have completely failed to lead both abroad and at home and so the only play he has, the only move he has is to go hard right. His problem, and hes in deep political trouble, donald trump is, his basic problem is he has nowhere to go to make up the room, to make up the gap. Where does he get the new votes that he needs to win . Its not clear at all today. Yeah. And i wonder whether being quiet is not just a better thing for him. I mentioned the renaming of bases that are named after confederate generals and confederate heroes as low hanging fruit. Theyre all dead. They were in the losing side of a war and those are bases on which the u. S. Military operates, the u. S. Military against which confederate soldiers fought. This is not complex. This is not the hard part of this. It is actually only symbolic. I dont know that anybodys life gets better because you change the name of a base away from that of a confederate general, but donald trump cant even get his name around that. I still think at the end of the day hes always talking to his base. So i think that the defense of keeping the names as they are is a signal to his base again that hes with them on this issue and that he hears them when they say keep the statutes up. We need to appreciate our quote, unquote southern heritage, right . And i think that, you know, it is a lot of gas lighting going on. Donald trump is the gas lighter in chief. Its been that way since the beginning. But i think that, you know, this is a moment where none of that is going to work. You have the pandemic in the backdrop of all of this, and so every single one of his deficiencies are on full display. And you have somebody who essentially is a reality star play acting as president and he is not competent in leading the federal government through the response, which actually requires attention to detail and pulling the different levers of power. He just is not equipped to do any of that. And i think thats so fully on display in this moment. So all he had, all he has is racism. That is the only thing, thats the only card. Its like when the republicans criticize, you know, black people for playing the race card. Donald trump plays the racism card and hes playing the whole deck. Hes playing the whole deck. Going to tulsa on juneteenth is a message to black people. Going there on the day that we celebrate our freedom and going there with his essentially supporter who is are very overtly racist, right . Steven miller is writing this speech and he is a white nationalist. Going there is sending a message to black people that you are not free. We do not agree with black lives matter and what you are saying in the streets declared equal justice and rights. We are on the other side of that. So for the rest of us, we need to be clear on where we stand and then make sure we can demonstrate that at the ballot box in november. Jonathan alter, donald trump has an unusual relationship with the military. Hes never served in the military, but he has some sort of fetish with the military. Tomorrow morning he will deliver the commencement address at west point. And it seems as sort of a strangled effort. Hes going to have this remarkable backdrop. Whats really happening is that some of his own military leaders and former defense secretaries and former military officials have all distanced themselves from the actions that hes taken over the last few weeks, including getting federal troops into the streets or at least calling for the idea that federal troops going to the streets. Hes sort of hes missing the moment entirely. Hes going to seem out of place there tomorrow. You know, this is one of the most fascinating Political Developments of recent times, the sort of unwarring of the Republican Party from the military. Im not saying that biden is going to carry every vote. But it is astonishing when you see mark milley basically denouncing the president , saying that he embarrassed him and the armed forces by politicizing that event when he held up the bible. You see jim mattis who has immense respect. General mattis is the most revered person in the military in recent years, when you see him denounce in very clear terms the president of the United States and say that he is a threat to our country and our values, this will have an effect within the military. Thats why i think, look, trump can win. A lot can happen. But more likely that there is a joe biden landslide than a donald trump victory. When you are on the wrong side of the commissioner of the nfl and chairman of the joint chiefs, you have a real political problem. And the question now is whether with trump on the defensive the democrats can get their act together enough to have a big victory where they really clean out the stables, clean out all the trump enablers, all the trump apologists, send them packing. Then next year our country can come together because we have already in some ways come together in this moment. This is a moral imperative. You know, this was a time of choosing. There was moral power in what happened not just those comments from those military leaders but what happened in the streets, and people power, moral power. Thats what changes the world. So i have actually been very encouraged by whats happened. As painful as its been over the last couple of weeks, the country is coming together, rejecting donald trump and drawing a line in the sand. The country was born of protests. The Civil Rights Movement was born of protests. Some of the finest things in this country have come of protests and that is what we have seen in the last few weeks. Thanks to both of you. Jonathan, good to see you as always. Coming up, we are still in the midst of a pandemic, despite the messaging coming from the trump white house. I will talk to the Health Commissioner of oregon, where despite a very low infection rate, theyre taking a pause just out of precaution. Just outn just because of an accident, even if its your fault. Cut sonny. Was that good . 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And now, with one of our best offers ever, were committed to helping you do just that. Get a powerful and reliable internet and voice solution for only 29. 95 a month for three months. Call or go online today. We thought you can help ray bring hiwhat . S to school. Kelly, do you know him . Hes a new friend. You ok . You know you can tell me. Im ok. Oh, i trained her in the car. Shes not gonna break. [ laughing ] the United States is still in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, averaging 20,000 new cases and hundreds of deaths every day. More than 115,000 people have died so far of the coronavirus. While the situation is improving in some of the hardest hit im sorry, the hardest hit cities in the northeast, there is an alarming rise in cases in the south and the west as states move to reopen. Florida and texas both reported record daily high numbers of cases this week. And today tulsa county, oklahoma reported its highest ever daily increase in cases. Tulsa is where donald trump plans to hold a Campaign Rally one week from tonight in an outdoor arena, even though trumps own cdc just released new guidelines that say that the highest risk of coronavirus is in, quote, large, inperson gatherings where it is difficult for individuals to remain spaced at least six feet apart and attendees travel from outside the local area, end quote. That might be why the campaign is making attendees sign waivers saying they cant sue if they contract coronavirus. Meanwhile, the white house economic adviser larry kudlow down played the virus numbers today. I spoke to our Health Experts at some length last evening. They are saying there is no second spike. Let me repeat that. There is no second spike. All right. In oregon, were seeing a different kind of leadership, even though the state has one of the lowest infection rates in the country. The sevenday average of new cases has increased by 190 in the last 14 days, 190 in two weeks. Today the democratic governor of oregon, kate brown, announced he is pausing her states reopening for a week. Todays decision to pause as a state is a clear reminder that we need to double down on the simple but effective precautions each of us should take to reduce the spread of the disease. I know how frustrating it is to move slowly. We all wish this reopening could be happening faster. My job, however, is to make tough decisions, even when they are unpopular. And when it comes to the health and safety of oregonians, the buck stops here. Joining us now is dr. Shawn side linger, the Oregon State Health officer and epidemiologist. Good to see you. Thank you for being with us. Tell me how these decisions get made. Because what we have been hearing for three months or more is a push and pull between political and economic interests and Public Health interests. I think these decisions get made looking at the data. As you showed we had increased cases here in organ and were seeing people presenting to the hospital for admission. This indicates the disease is still circulating here in oregon. We want to make sure this trend doesnt continue. If we can take a pause, not reopen additional counties to additional activities, see what the data shows over the next week, we can make some data driven recommendations to Governor Brown and we can come up with some decisions that will keep the health and safety of oregonians first and foremost in our minds. So you may not be ready for the recommendation stage yet, but what does the data tell you about whats going on here . How is it different than what you would have expected to happen if you hadnt seen the spike . I think, you know