Transcripts For MSNBCW Velshi 20200725

Good morning. Its saturday, july 25th. Im ali velshi. President trump waking up in his golf course in new jersey once again at a cost to taxpayers. And while some may think trumps golf habits a sill thing to discuss, golf has found its way into a new controversy. Donald trump intransacted Woody Johnson who also happens to be a major trump donor to try to persuade the British Government have the british open Golf Tournament at trumps golf course in scotland. Get this, ambassador johnson raised the issue with a highranking british official. That was confirmed to nbc news by the formers second in command. Plainly put, the president of the United States tried to use the power of his office to pressure a 14 power into making decisions not for the benefit of the country at all, but for the benefit of his personal business. Thats exactly what authoritarians do. Another grifrps into hlimpse in america. But far more important is the crisis in portland, oregon. The president and the administration would like you to believe that the reasons the federal government has sent in camouflaged federal troops with the ability to arrest Peaceful Protesters, place them in unmarked cars and sometimes formally arrest them and sometimes release them without a word is because of violence at federal buildings. But those agents in trumps response have instigated nearly all of the violence. Consider this report from nbcs mara barrett on portland from last night. Quote, within minutes peaceful protests shifted to clashes with federal agents overnight friday escalating much more quickly than weve seen in the week weve been on the ground. Multiple fireworks were set off toward the federal courthouse and minutes later tear gas was deployed. Federal agents exited the building firing pepper balls and deploying tear ghas that densel filled the air. That makes sense not with the situation on the ground but with trumps order to, quote, dominate the protesters. As i said, its a constitutional crisis. The president is ordering federal authorities to dominate american citizens exercising their constitutionally right to protest. What the president and his administration are doing is taking district violent action against those who oppose him politically. Hes even said to publicly. Were sending law enforcement. Portland was totally out of control. The democrats, the liberal democrats had no idea what they were doing. Were looking at chicago too. Were looking at new york. Look at whats going on. All run by democrats. New york and chicago and philadelphia, detroit and baltimore and all of these oakland is a mess. Were not going to let this happen in our country. All run by liberal democrats. Youre only targeting cities run by democrats. Is this just a political stunt. These cities unfortunately that are in trouble are all run by democrats. Right now were sending extra people to help. Were arresting a lot of people that have been very bad. Portlands not out of control and the federal troops are not there to help. In addition, to more cities being under siege, trump threat then week to send 50,000 to 60,000 more toogagents to citie the president is threat war on cities run by his opposition. 60,000 agents is an army. We do have a system of checks and balances and while it seems powerless to stop trumps assault on American Cities, it may hold him responsible. The inspectors general of both the department of Homeland Security as well as the Justice Department have officially opened investigations into the president and the federal governments response in portland and in Lafayette Square in d. C. A month ago. Joining me now is the woman that played a vital role in getting those investigations up and running. Thank you for being with us. I want to get your take on this, the idea that there are investigations by the inspectors general. I had a list last night when he was on lawrences show of six inspectors show who have been targeted by donald trump and removed. They are the people who keep the departments honest. Trump just sort of gets rid of them when he doesnt like what they do. Well, thank you for having me on the show. And im glad that the inspectors general are starting these investigations. We demanded that they do that. Were calling on them to do that and demanding those answers. We will be watching vigilantly to make sure that those inspectors general are protected. Because, youre right, alli, ths is unacceptable whats happening in portland and were not going to stand for it. Think we need to keep in mind whats happening across the country. The Trump Administration has completely failed to provide National Leadership on coronavirus. His poll numbers are dropping. People are connecting the dots and saying, were out of work, were about to get evicted, theres no National Leadership, and so donald trump is trying to distract the country and make us afraid. And were not going to stand for it in portland, in oregon, or across the country. We can see right through it. Its unacceptable what hes doing. And frankly, since we smopoke lt week, a lot more people have been hurt by these federal troops that are here in portland and were just not going to stand for it. I want to ask you about the situation in portland. I spoke to Nicholas Christoph whos there. Weve got our reporter mara barrett there. We see the images. Donald trump is characterizing it as a place out of control where police and state authorities cant get a handle on the situation. Tell us the truth about portland. Thats not the truth at all. In fact, we had lets remember by people are protesting. Theyre protesting because black lives matter. And after that horrific murder of george floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of police officers, people were protesting marching for justice, for us to address as policymakers, as a society systemic racism. And we had primarily peaceful protests in oregon and across the country. Rightly so. And what happened when donald trump sent these troops in is that they have escalated the conflict. And look at the troops. Theyre in camouflage gear. They have militarystyle weapons. They are escalating the conflict and people, as i mentioned, are being hurt. Since we last spoke, ali, christopher david, the veteran was beat with batons and sprayed directly in the face because he dared ask the officers a question about their oath of office and the constitution. And just a few days ago, ali, a history professor from out of the History Department at lewis and Clark College was shot by these federal agents with munitions. And she said in the emergency room she just kept thinking to herself, this was my government that did this. What is happening is unacceptable. The truth on the ground is that the escalation is coming from these federal officials. Theyre there on the pretension of protecting a federal building. They are going way beyond that and violating the Constitutional Rights of oregonians. Were just not going to stand for it. We have the biggest protest yesterday since george floyd was killed. Yes, the federal response seems to have provoked further protests not less of it. Absolutely. Thank you for joining us again, we appreciate your time. Thank you. Another city that the Trump Administration has threatened to deploy federal agents to is milwaukee, wisconsin. Joining me now is democratic congresswoman gwen moore. This is even more authoritarian because its not the president who said he wants to send people there, its the chief of staff mark meadows. This is now spreading all over the place that kind of anybody can send federal agents to whatever city they just decide to. Ali, good morning in the is an absolutely lawless, unconstitutional, unprecedented action in the United States of america. And i watched your earlier blocks and so hopefully we will be able to get some judicial relief from these storm troopers. I am very concerned about the notion that theyre going to send these troops to milwaukee. And, in fact, they have already sort of laid the groundwork for this operation, legend and predecessor operation relentless pursuit. And to use as an excuse the increased murder rate in milwaukee, much of it caused by the increase and misery index from this pandemic virus that the president has done nothing to provide National Leadership around mitigating where weve seen this increase largely attributed to domestic violence. So its hard for me to see how troops in camouflage are going to intervene in an increased murder rate in milwaukee. So im very skeptical about their motives. Yes, i think that many cities are being lured in by the notion that theyre going to send in grant money to help with overtime for police. But that is a lot different mission overtime for police and extra police hires is a lot different mission than having folks leap out of unmarked cars and arrest citizens who are protesting. And i particularly concerned about that, ali, since were going to have the Democratic National convention in milwaukee. Yeah. Where there is there are bound to be the protesters. There should be protesters in america, but this thing about this law and order cloak is an old trick and it continues to work. Donald trump has been tweeting, he tweeted at suburban housewives of america. He actually used those terms. Hes tweeted about suburban Property Values going down, about they are coming into you know who is what he said are going to come into your neighborhood. Those arent even i was talking to eddy from princeton, he said those arent even dog whistles, theyre just straight up racist tropes. Yeah. Yeah. Just straight up. And, you know, our governor has indicated that he doesnt want these folk in the state. Our attorney, our state attorney general has really referred to it as fascist. Our local Police Department has said no thank you. And, again, we are going to exhaust every means that we can to prevent them from disrupting our community, particularly during the dnc. You know, your colleague lawrence odonnell, wrote a book about the 1968 chicago convention. And i think what people really dont remember or understand about that, that all the chaos and rioting and stuff was caused by the police. By the police really launching an attack on folks who were peacefully congregating in a park. The mayor had declined to provide permits for peaceful protests beyond one permit and we dont want to see a repeat of that in 2020. Were not going to stand for it. Congresswoman, good to see you again. Thank you for joining us. Democratic congresswoman gwen moofr wisconsin. Coronavirus cases and deaths are still on the rise in this country. But there may be hope yet. The development of a vaccine looks encouraging and my next guest is one who should know. Hes the director of the National Institutes of health. He joins me next. Back up, first hanna has been upgraded to a category one hurricane in the last few hours. Its the first hurricane of the atlantic season. It has been churning in the gulf of mexico is expected to strengthen and make landfall in texas later today. Beaches around the state are closed and a hurricane warning is in effect for much of the texas coast. Velshi continues in a moment. This network is one less thing i have to worry about. 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And you have money, more money to spend because you got both free money. Go to rakuten. Com and sign up today for a 10 bonus. Tens of millions of americans who lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic could soon find it harder to say in their homes or put food on the table. An extra 600 a week in Unemployment Benefits that the federal government had provided under the c. A. R. E. S. Act that passed in march is set to expire this weekend. But republicans and democrats are deadlocked over extending those benefits and Senate Majority leader mcconnell says it could take a few weeks to resolve this issue. By the way, it takes the states a little time to get it into their system, so it could be many weeks without the extra money. While this bitter fight goes non washington, the pandemic shows no sign of slowing down. According to an nbc news count, more than 70,000 new cases were diagnosed on friday, 1100 more lives were lost. Thats the fourth day in a row that the daily death toll was about a thousand. According to the New York Times, the surge in cases in the United States is so extreme that once adjusted for population, ten states are recording more new cases than any country in the world on a per capita basis. Joining us now is dr. Francis collins, the director of the National Institutes for health. Dr. Collins, thank you for being with us. I want to jump forward because weve had a lot of discussions about masks and School Reopening and testing. I want to jump forward to the idea of their putics arapeutics vaccines. There are over a none testing and half a duds than look promising, aboutthy ha they hav have efficacy and produce antibodies in people for a number of time and they have to be safe. And thats the more important one, because everybody will want this. Using those two criteria, where do you think we are right now . I think were on the road towards proshlotentially a good outcome by the end of this calendar year, by about december, because we do have several vaccines that are based on different kinds of scientific approaches, which is a good thing. You dont want to put all your eggs in one basket. And these have already gone through the phase one trial approach are whe approach where you find out whether this can be tolerated in a small number of people with nothing more than a soar arm and sore arm and a little bit of fever. But you dont really know that its safe and effective until you try this out in the real world for each of the four vaccines that are going to be tested over the next couple of months, the first one starting on monday, 30,000 people will be asked to volunteer to take part in the trial. Half of them will get the vaccine, half of them will get a dummy placebo because you need to understand this in the most rigorous way. And then well look to see whether they are protected from getting infected with covid19. That means that most of these trials are going to be done in place wheres the virus is actively spreading because thats how youll know. It vaccine is working, so the southeast and the west are where most of these initial sites are going to be where people are asked to sign up. But were on that pathway. Please do not imagine that were cutting any corners here as far as safety and efficacy. We have to know, do these vaccines work and do they work for everybody and do they have any kind of safety problems . In which case we dont want go with that one. But we have a menu now of enough opportunities that we should have by the end of this year something that works, maybe two or three vaccines that work, that would be nice too. So there are people who are sort of add vvertising. Because i want a vaccine as much as anybody does, i dont believe ive had coronavirus so i would love that vaccine. Theres nobody who wont want one. So the pressure, the political pressure to get a vaccine out there is greater than it typically is for most drugs. Every drug goes through phase three testing and sometimes theyre released for emergency use. But we really cannot let the political influence have any impact on this process. And we will not let that happen. As the director of the National Institutes of Health Working with my colleagues at cdc and fda, there will be no willingness to cut a corner h e here. If the vaccine doesnt work, doesnt protect people, if it isnt safe, it will not be approved. That will be particularly financially painful thing to happen. One thing were doing as part of operation warp speed is to actually start manufacturing tens of millions of doses of each of these vaccines on the chance that theyre going to work. Because you dont want to get to december and find out one looks good and have to wait another three months to build up enough doses to start immunizing people at highest risk in the is manufacturing at risk which may mean that a lot of doses will have to get thrown out for vaccines that didnt work. But we hope that at least one of them will work and then well that be far ahead of where we otherwise would have been. Well, dr. Collins, a lot of americans are concerned about their National Institutions of some sort getting diplomatic sized a politicize and i appreciate you not letting that happen. Thank you for being with us this morning. I was glad to be with you. Thank you for spreading the word of the science. We will continue to do so. Florida seen a spike in Coronavirus Infections and deaths this weeks but that hasnt stopped the governor from siding with President Trump in saying the schools are going to reopen this fall. Our fight against covid shouldnt deprive our kids of the tools they need to succeed. Heres the hard truth. Our kids are at the least risk from this virus in much lower risk than they are from seasonal influenza. Our kids also play the smallest role in transmission of the virus. Yet, it is our kids who have bourn the harshest burpd of the control measures instituted to protect against the virus. Floridas Largest Teachers Union is challenging the plan in. The Florida Education Association sued desantis this week accusing him and other state officials violating a constitutional mandate to keep Public Schools safe and secure. Joining me to talk about this is the unions president. Thank you for joining us. Tell my you are on this, because florida schools open, they are the earliest schools in the country, i believe, to open. Yeah, we are one of the earliest schools in the country. Listen, thank you for having me this morning. We are trying to stop a runaway governor and a commissioner of education that we believe is out of control n. They issued an emergency order saying all 67 School Districts will have a brick and mortar option for our schools and that they have to open by august 31st. And in the man dpat ydate, if yt comply with the order, if its not approved by the commissioner ofd occasio education, then th punitive damages. Right now the backdrop in florida is that we have 360,000 plus cases of covid, we have over 5,000 people dead. We have 23,000 children that have been tested and tested positive for covid19. That is completely out of control. We have a doubledigit Positivity Rate and we know the through line and the cdc says that we need to make sure that we have 5 or 3 before we and stop this Community Spread before we can open our schools. The problem that youve got in florida is that across the country weve got governors who are operating at slightly different speeds. Some of them have been far ahead of President Trump, some have them have been a little bit behind President Trump. But your governor is like o b1 kenobi to President Trump. Hes way above President Trump in terms of the conspiracy theories and the reasons why this is all out of control. He hasnt really acknowledged the problem that youve got. It is completely reckless what we have going on here in the state of florida. This is a governor who, you know, a month ago gave all kinds of pomp and circumstance about if we can open walmart and home depot then we can open our schools. This is a governor whos tied himself directly to betsy devos and donald trump with no guidance, no national guidance, no state guidance that gives out slowly but doesnt give us a comprehensive plan. We know its going to cost more money than less money. Im partners in the American Federation of teachers. Weather first to come up with a reopen plan nationwide. Unfortunately our government has not taken any hard look at the data shown. We also work closely with the nea and theyve issued all kinds of comprehensive plans to go back to school and do it safely. All our kids want it is to get back in class. I dont mean to interrupt you, but i want to underscore something you just said. You said your National Union came one a plan to get students back to school, because the accusation against you and unions and teachers is that you somehow dont think its important that students get an education and that kids get back to school. I would argue that every parent with a child would kiss the ground teachers walk on now. Your Teachers Want to get back to work and you want to have kids back in school, you just want to do it safely. Our High School Band directory dont know any High School Band director, football coach, first grade teacher who doesnt get giddy with zeal who doesnt want to get back in school and start to teach the kids in the way we do. We dont do this for money. We dont do this for any kind of, you know, forward progression for ourselves. We do this for our community, families, for kids, for florida. So its unfortunate that our governor wont even listen to the polls. The latest poll says that 73 of floridians feel that the spread of coronavirus is out of control in florida. 62 feel that it is not safe to open schools. And 57 feel that its unsafe to open colleges and universities. Weve got to listen to the science, the data, and the people. Our parents know whats best so give them the choice, but dont put them in the lions den of this coronavirus. We dont have control here in the state of florida. Our governor continues to be reckless with bars and restaurants and beaches and we simply cannot be reckless with our Public Schools. I think its important what you said. You dont do it for the money. There are very few professions that require the years of education that you need to be a teacher that pay as little as being a teacher pays in some parts of the country. You obviously are not doing it for the money, so we thank you for continuing to have the safety our nations children at heart. The president of the Florida Education Association, thank you for joining us, sir. Look at these images. This is america right now. The unstoppable descent in authoritarianism starts this way. Chipping away at norms. Eight American Cities may soon have have federal forces in them. Why you should be outraged next. Them. Why you should be outraged next. Youre clearly someone who takes care of yourself. So when it comes to screening for colon cancer, dont wait. Because when caught early, its more treatable. Im cologuard. Im noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92 of colon cancers even in early stages. Tell me more. 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At least eight American Cities will soon be occupied by some sort of federal force. Attempts to stop the incursion have been unsuccessful. Last night a federal judge denied a request from oregons attorney general for police to identify themselves when making arrests and the selfaffirmed states rights gop is notably quiet. Washington state governor inslee says trump is seeking attention sake the president is itching for a confroontation. And another one said she would help if trump wanted to help 0 with ordinary policing. If trump wishes to antagonize new mexicoe new mexico caresidents, they ha no desire to have them here. The department was established to protect america from the ever present threat of global terrorism. It was not established to be the president s personal militia. I mean, as governor i go back to those days and say had i been governor even now, i would welcome the opportunity to work with any federal agency to reduce crime or lawlessness in any of the cities. But i would tell you it would be a cold day in hell before i would consent to a unilateral uninvited intervention into one of my cities. A cold day in hell. This is a republican by the way. The department of Homeland Security originally founded to protect the company from external actors is now being used by the federal government to stop citizens from acting within their First Amendment rights in the right to peaceful assembly. Joining me now is deval patrick, former governor the massachusetts, 2020 president ial candidate and cochair of american bridge. One of the largest democratic super pacs in the 2020 election. Good to see you again. Thank you for being with us. I want you to comment on what governor ridge said, because the thing i think about a lot right now is that the District Attorney here in pennsylvania, in philadelphia has said if these federal agents show up in philadelphia, he will have them arrested. But its odd to think about a showdown between local police and these federal agents. If this is going to fall to governors to enforce. This is a very dangerous time, as governor ridge said, as you said in your commentary earlier. Because this isnt just about a difference in opinion about a policy choice, every president makes those choices and citizens often have differences of opinion. I tend to differ with almost all of the policy choices this president has made in the is dangerous because its lawless. And we either are or we are not a government of laws. And the notion that the president can, without impewtation, send unidentified paramilitaries in to provoke peaceful protests into violence for what seem to be nothing more than political purposes is highly, highly concerning. And it ought to concern everybody. I want to ask you about a tweet that you sent out on july 23rd. You said defund the police is an opportunity to think about what communities need to reallocate funds to services that people need, to reconsider the acts that we have criminalized. We are actually in doing what the president is doing criminalizing something that is protected in the First Amendment. The concept of protest is not only something we shouldnt crimin criminalize, police should be walking next to professors and cheering them on because of all of the things that protests have resulted in in america, including the formation of this country. Thats right. Thats why we are in such a dangerous time and in such a dangerous place. We have a system of checks and balances. The congress is supposed to engage in rigorous oversight at a time like this. In fact, it may be time for extraordinary measures by the congress, such as withholding funding for the agencies that are participating in this unconstitutional policing. The courts are supposed to limit the power of the of the president and, frankly, the president is sworn to respect those limitations. But this president time and time again, it happened in washington in Lafayette Square just a few weeks ago. When there is this kind of excessive executive action and he is challenged on it, he, his attorney general, and many of his other officials just shrug. And, you know, we, as americans, are going to have to decide, november cant come soon enough, whether this is the character of the country we want. I submit that is what is on the ballot and why, frfrom my perspective, we cant vote this president out and joe biden in fast enough and get on with the business of Building Back our country better. 101 days with mailin ballots or absentee ballots it will come sooner. Ken cuccinelli tweeted an interesting picture out. He said heres a shield and a couple of gas masks from a rioter arrested in portland. Not a sign way slogan that someone with their First Amendment rights. Even journalists go out with hardened helmets and gas masks into america, not two foreign countries. We do this fror protection from authorities, not rioters. Thats right. I think you showed the images from portland earlier of paramilitaries launching tear gas into crowds. You saw, we all saw the shocking scenes from Lafayette Square across the street from the white house, perfectly Peaceful Protesters who were harassed and gassed by paramilitaries. Why . Because they were raising their voices around issues of Police Overreach and violence. And in order to make a pathaway for this president to have a stroll across the street so he could have a photo op for his campaign. I mean, it is a shocking combination of circumstances and the president is looking to expand this. And so we have to have congress do its job in terms of oversight. I believe that attorney general barr is due up on the hill as soon as next week where i hope he will be asked im certain he will be asked and i hope he will answer some direct and hard questions about this action. And i hope that the courts will do their job and respect and defend the constitution. Because its quite clear that the president and his team will not. Good to see you again. Hes the former 2020 president ial can dade. Thanks for joining us this morning. If 2020 has taught us anything, it can tell us that a lot can happen in 100 days. Well look at that after the break. Well look at that after the break. D him. As part of our love promise, subaru and our retailers host adoption events and have donated 28 Million Dollars to support local animal shelters. Were proud to have helped over 230,000 pets so far. Changing the lives of dogs like jack, and the families who adopt them. Subaru. More than a car company. When you think of a bank, you think of people in a place. 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Or this. Or this. Or even this. Weve seen and covered it. So, switch to farmers and you could save an average of three hundred ninetyfive dollars. Get a quote today. We are farmers. Bumpadum, bumbumbumbum today we are exactly 101 days from election day. An election thats more important than ever in your life. And one that sets its set of unique challenges. Not only will voters have to deal with the coronavirus pandemic this november, but they must also choose which direction the country should take over the next four years. Many see this election as a referendum on donald trump who spent the last 3 1 2 years tearing down American Institution institutions, Sowing Division and stoking hate. Hopefully these last 100 wont be like the president s first 100. But trump has been fairly consistent in tearing down the department. The 100 day marker is never an entirely reliable indicator of a fouryear term, but its worth remembering that Franklin Roosevelt and barack obama were among those who came to office at a moment of National Crisis and had the discipline, the preparation, and the rigor to set an entirely new course. Impulsive, ego centric trump has in the same span set fire to the integrity of his office. With me to discuss, the author of that piece, david remnick, editor of the new yorker is titled voices of american dissent. Hes exploring dissent of american story and of its future. Its a pleasure to have you here, and this is exactly the thing ive been trying to say for the last two hours. Dissent what is what we are. It is in our dna. Protest is the music of democracy. Our approach to this is entirely upside down. No, we just lost john lewis, the great john lewis. And john lewis was part of a movement that helped push Lyndon Johnson and the United States government to enact civil rights and the Voting Rights act in the mid60s. Now weve gone backwards in many ways from that time and were seeing dissent again, i hope, push our institutions and push our government toward real transformation. What were seeing in the white house, remember, this presidency began with the resident phrase, ali, what are was it . American carnage. He wanted to scare the hell out of everybody, create an imagery of chaos and violence and he was going to fix it. Here we are 3 1 2 years later, what his he in his desperation doing because he cant count on the economy . Hes screwed up terribly with the coronavirus and people have lost trust with him, so what is he left with . A strategy of american carnage. Hes going to go into portland and stir up as much image riff cha imagery of chaos and slap it on his Campaign Commercials and say here i am, im the saviour yet again. Its an impressive arc. Weve seen this law and order safety first thing happen in the past. Weve seen it with ronald reagan, we saw it in the Willie Horton ads. But theres Something Different in this one because in both of those cases it was law and order, your suburbs are in danger, white people you in danger, ill protect you. This is different. This goes even further. This criminalizes protests and suggests that protest equals anarchy. Well, its complete nonsense, as all the news reports, as our correspondent James Gardner has shown from portland. In portland things were winding down. They were getting much smaller than they had been. And the effort by trump is clearly to arouse passions and to the great krf tcredit of the people on the streets in portland, you see this movement of mothers standing in front with signs, wonderful signs like we are disappointed in you. These are how theyre facing off against unmarked federal marshals and federal agents who are doing the bidding of the president of the United States whos become, in so many ways, unhinged. In 20 years, david, or 25 years, you are a creature of history, they will ask us what did you do in 2020 . Whats the right answer . Think we all have our roles to play. Most citizens with their role to play is finally whats available to them is the ballot, despite in many states ballot being suppressed the people have protested. Journalists should be doing their jobs with with real rigor and honesty and clarity. You are doing your work. I mean, this is from the very first day the challenge of the Trump Presidency has been to be vigilant about creeping authoritarianism. And when i said that and many others said that, people thought this was very alarmist. Oh, no, hes just kind of a clown from new york and this isnt going to be very serious and the challenge is not as desperate as all that. Im sorry it became worse than i ever imagined, worse than so many people had ever imagined and it has been a test of American Institutions, the socalled deep state, as the president so eloquently puts it, its been a test of the press, its been a test of all of us. And i think its a test to of the ability of people who may have voted for trump, for whatever reason they had, to change their minds. One of the most difficult things in life is to change your mind, is to is to apprehend the evidence in front of your face no matter how distorted it is by fox news or various corners of the internet. Look it square in the face and see that, you know, the error of your choice four years ago. Because authoritarianism is exactly what this president has been playing at since day one. Theres nobody i know who voted for donald trump who thought they were voting for authoritarianism but they are going to have to take a hard look at that this time around because for that this time around because a vote for trump did encourage and facilitate a winding road toward that end. Well, i think that trump recognizes the corner that hes in. He can read the numbers and as inaccurate as some polls can be when you see margins of 10 and 15 , Trump Realizes that hes in a real corner and he is acting like a desperate man and theres nothing that he will not do. David, thank you for your thoughtful writing. The editor of the new yorker. Federal agents continue to use tactics in portland. Dressed in camouflage uniforms ready for war, agents arrived three weeks ago at the behest of President Trump with an alleged goal of curbing increased cases of violence. Theyve used protocols that have been banned for most Police Forces including the use of tear gas which is banned internationally against the use of enemies and adversaries and flash bangs and of course there was this deplorable scene. A u. S. Navy veteran, thats the guy in the backpack and the sweatshirt. Veteran beaten as he stood his ground. All he wanted to do was talk to them. The thing that was so upsetting was that there didnt seem to be any recognition that as a veteran i was even going to be listened to or treated any differently than anybody else and that sort of makes sense because if theyre going to gas moms, theyre going to beat up vets. They gassed moms too. Theyre rounding up individuals who were just seemingly invoking their First Amendment right to protest. Protest is protected under the First Amendment. This week the wall of moms tried to create some separation to keep the protesters safe from federal agents. Those women outfitted in yellow shirts wearing helmets and goggles in some cases arrived to cheers as they linked arms in a chain with the goal of protecting the protesters, but no such luck. They were met by military type force. Your mom getting sprayed by tear gas, picture that. I was vomiting, i couldnt see. I lost control of my bodily fluids and i was screaming because i didnt know what to do and i could hear people scream run, but i couldnt see and so someone grabbed me by the arm and pulled me and i ran. I dont know i dont remember who helped me but someone poured baking soda on my eyes and i could see and i ran to the car and got out of there. Moms arent the only ones putting themselves in harms way. There were some dads there too but also joined by a wall of vets. People who already put their lives on the line for the country, now putting themselves on the front lines again after a fellow veteran was attacked by federal agents. Joining me now, column itself nor the New York Times is also coauthor of the book tight rope. Hes covering whats going on there. Someone tweeted me and said maybe if you didnt have the tight shots of the violence and pulled it back youd notice that portland is not on fire. The only reason ive got them is what i need my viewers to see is these camouflage laiden military gear equipped federal officers who look like theyre going to war aiming their weaponry at unarmed american citizens who are wanting to protest. I do think the viewer has a good point because essentially look, what president is doing here is not trying to protect a courthouse, hes not trying to suppress riots. Hes trying to change the narrative from 140,000 americans dead from covid19 to a city in flames that he has to protect. And you know, it is true that there are some trash fires outside the hatfield courthouse in portland. It is true that there are some incidents of vandalism and violence, but the overwhelming response each evening in front of this courthouse is a Peaceful Protesters like that wall of moms that you mentioned, the wall of veterans, the medics and so i do worry that our coverage, because we tend to focus on that kind of conflict and that kind of imagery that it risks reenforcing a trumpian narrative that is fundamentally misleading about what is happening in portland. Still a great city. Come out and visit portland, folks. I know, and you have reminded us of that. You reminded us last night but you tweeted on july 24th as i cover the portland protest i think my New York Times colleague got it right when he noted that President Trump is following a standard dictator script for handling protests. This is also the assad model in syria and youve seen this models where. The strangeness is that it happens here in america. Thats right. And so what happens when you have an authoritarian leaguer who is confronted by Peaceful Protesters is that you want to undermine their legitimacy and you do that in part by radicalizing them, by creating scenes of violence and conflict. And thats what assad did in syria and its what you have with President Trump now. I hes certainly been i think quite successful in escalating the conflict in portland. There was a genuine problem in portland with a small number of people who were starting small fires, who were vandalizing the courthouse. Theres no doubt that there was a genuine problem there. He he hugely enflamed that and created these kinds of scenes that on fox news i think are trying to reenforce this narrative of a country on the edge of the abyss. But i you know, certainly the response to portlanders is theyre that the threat comes from the federal troops, not from the citizens trying to protect the city. Thanks again for your great coverage. Im used to complimenting you on your great coverage in dangerous places around the world. Now were doing it in the United States. That does it for me. Thanks for watching. You can catch me back here tomorrow morning for a very special edition of velshi as we mark 100 days from the election. Ill be live from pennsylvania, one of the most critical l battleground states in this 2020 election. You are watching msnbc. Coming up, a. M. Joy with tiffany cross. Stay with us. Joy with tiffany cross. Stay with us thank you very much and its a great honor and privilege, because hes become a friend of mine to introduce president erdogan of turkey. Hes the head of a country and hes the strong head. Dont let anyone think anything different. He speaks and his people set up at attention, i want my people to do the same. President trump xi is sharp. President putin is sharp. Erdogan is sharp. You dont have any nonsharp people that youre dealing