Summary
As President Biden racks up win after win, Republicans push abortion bans, Social Security cuts, and election denial. A Texas jury delivers a massive blow to Alex Jones, ordering the conspiracy theorist to pay more than $45 million in punitive damages to the parents of a first grader killed at Sandy Hook. Andrew Warren, a Florida state attorney, argues that he is the victim of a blatant abuse of power by Governor Ron DeSantis, who`s trying to suspend him. Congressman Jamaal Bowman speaks out.
Transcript
KATIE PHANG, MSNBC HOST: That does it for me.
You can also catch me on "THE KATIE PHANG SHOW" weekend mornings at 7:00 a.m. Eastern right here on MSNBC. And stream new original episodes of "THE KATIE PHANG" show on the MSNBC hub on Peacock as well.
THE REIDOUT WITH JOY REID is up next.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Tonight on THE REIDOUT:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now justice has been delivered, and this terrorist leader is no more.
This bill makes it clear the world`s leading innovation will happen in America.
Today, we received another outstanding jobs report.
We`re on the cusp of passing the most important step we can pass to help us lower inflation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: What a week of contrasts. As President Biden was racking up win after win, Republicans were pushing abortion bans, Social Security cuts, election denial, and watching their midterm prospects begin to fade.
And a Texas jury just delivered a massive blow to Alex Jones, ordering the conspiracy theorist to pay more than $45 million in punitive damages to the parents of a first grader killed at Sandy Hook.
Also tonight, I will be joined by Andrew Warren, the democratically elected Florida state attorney who was the victim of a blatant abuse of power by Ron DeSantis, who`s trying to suspend him.
We begin tonight, however, with a great week for President Biden and Democrats in Congress and, frankly, for America, one that will be poised to get even better, perhaps.
First up, the economy. After months of criticism of President Biden for everything from gas prices to inflation to you name it, today, we got proof that his economic policies are working with the latest blockbuster jobs report. In July, job growth soared. U.S. employers added 528,000 employees, smashing expectations. And the unemployment rate is now down to 3.5 percent, a 50-year low.
The job market has now recovered all of its pandemic losses across every sector, from manufacturing to retail. And the president touted the stellar report at the White House in full Biden mode, with his signature aviator sunglasses.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIDEN: Today, there are more people working in America than before the pandemic began. In fact, there are more people working in America than at any point in American history.
And today`s report proves make it in America isn`t just a slogan. It`s my administration. It`s a reality.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: He always does the Biden point.
Biden victories -- Biden`s victory lap is well-deserved, since it`s not just the jobs report. Gas prices have dropped every single day for seven straight weeks, down from a high of more than $5 in June, which Republicans swore was Biden`s fault.
Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have sent two major bills for the president`s signature, the CHIPS Act to boost American competitiveness in the microchip space, and the PACT Act, expanding health care benefits for veterans exposed to toxic burn pits, overcoming completely unnecessary Republican obstruction and gross high-fiving.
Senate Democrats are poised to give the president and the party another big win, preparing to work through the weekend to pass their Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, with historic investment to fight climate change and to extend access to Obamacare and to affordable prescription drugs by finally letting Medicare negotiate with drug companies, after clearing a major hurdle, getting Arizona conservative Senator Kyrsten Sinema on board, who demanded the preservation of a major tax loophole for extremely rich hedge funders.
Assuming it survives the weekend vote-a-rama that Republican Lindsey Graham promised to make hell for Democrats -- stay mad, Lindsey -- a final vote could come as soon as next week.
The very good week began with the announcement of a CIA drone strike that killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Afghanistan. On Tuesday, Kansas voters handed women and girls a major victory, rejecting a ballot measure that would have allowed lawmakers to ban abortion in the state by stripping women`s freedom from the state Constitution.
That vote sent shockwaves through the Republican Party and has been scrambling to try to backpedal on their extreme agenda. So, what else have they been up to this week?
After that high-fiving and fist-bumping over temporarily holding up military aid for veterans last week, this week, 11 Republicans still voted against it, including Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who felt the need to also be a jerk about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): The legislation also creates a presumption of service connection for global war on terror veterans for asthma. The CDC estimates that one in 12 people have asthma, which is approximately 25 million Americans.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: And then there`s the right-wing lovefest CPAC in its second day today.
[19:05:01]
They got a lecture on how to win yesterday from Hungarian autocrat Viktor Orban, an appeal that basically consisted of, just be more fascist.
Since then, well, it`s been about what you would expect.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MICHAEL LINDELL, CEO, MYPILLOW: Over 54 countries have now been taken by the machines or are getting taken by the machines. And you never get to go back.
FMR. GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK): It`s like Lincoln said. We`re not going to be destroyed from foreign forces coming on in.
SEN. RICK SCOTT (R-FL): The militant left in America are the modern-day version of book burners.
REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): When I said that I`m a Christian nationalists, I have nothing to be ashamed of. And that will make America great again, when we lean into biblical principles.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): It occurs to me that the Biden FBI believes this is a room of dangerous radicals.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
CRUZ: And you know what? They`re right.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Was that a tan suit on Ted Cruz?
Joining me now is Maria Teresa Kumar, president, CEO of Voto Latino, and Tim Miller, writer at large for The Bulwark and author of "Why We Did It: A Travelogue from the Republican Road to Hell."
(LAUGHTER)
REID: Tim, I have to start with you, because it feels like sort of the perfect chef`s kiss ending to Republicans` very, very bad week is Alex Jones.
Alex Jones now been hit with a $45.2 million penalty. And that`s just the penalty today. He also had been hit with $9 million. So it`s over $50 million that he`s going to have to fork over to just one of the Sandy Hook families.
And I just -- I have to play you what Marjorie Taylor Greene said, defending, defending Alex Jones before that verdict came in. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREENE: Somebody like Alex Jones, who did say some things.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
GREENE: But yet he is being politically persecuted right now and being forced to pay out millions and millions of dollars. And no one -- no one agrees with what he said. But what we`re tired of is the political persecution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Oh, it`s the persecution, Tim, of those persecuting families who just got mad because he said their kids didn`t exist and didn`t die in a massacre. Your thoughts?
TIM MILLER, CONTRIBUTOR, THE BULWARK: Man, CPAC always finds new ways to decide that they are the persecuted ones. They`re the ones who society is thrust their -- our ills upon.
Look, Joy, I have got some good news here. You started with good news about Biden, but the Alex Jones thing, bad things are maybe happening to bad people this week?
(LAUGHTER)
MILLER: This has been nice. We haven`t had a lot of that in the last seven years.
But a terrorist got to meet his maker. Alex Jones has to pay 45, 49 -- whatever it ends up being -- million to the victims. Hopefully that`s not the last one of those. The grand jury seems to be doing more work, looking into Trump and his associates.
I think that, in addition to the very tangible good news, I think that we can all take a little bit of joy out of people getting their comeuppance after a long time of them, unfortunately, avoiding it.
REID: No, absolutely.
And, MTK, I have to say, listen, we there was an Oath -- a 3 Percenter who got seven years. I thought it was probably too long. He didn`t get the terrorism enhancement. Prosecutors had asked for 15. But we are starting to see the law of consequences kick in. And I think that is nowhere more true than in Kansas, where the arrogance of Alito going out to Rome to applaud himself.
I mean, he`s like this close to doing rallies like Trump to sort of get himself to be more lauded and famous. After that, Kansas literally slapped down this attempt to strip abortion rights in that state. So it does feel like Tim is right that there`s a momentum now toward the arc of the moral universe actually starting to bend toward justice.
MARIA TERESA KUMAR, MSNBC CONTRIBUTOR: So, before I get into that, you should -- when you panned to both our faces after we saw the CPAC, we couldn`t -- it was both, we couldn`t believe it, like, is this real or "SNL," Joy?
(LAUGHTER)
KUMAR: I have to acknowledge both our faces were like, oh, my God.
(LAUGHTER)
KUMAR: So, your producers are doing an excellent job of cutting those clips, because that was amazing.
(LAUGHTER)
KUMAR: That could have been the mic drop, Joy, for the evening, frankly.
REID: Yes, indeed.
KUMAR: But, no, but I think what we`re seeing is that, when you look at what happened in Kansas, it wasn`t just that Democrats came out.
Independents who were not registered in either party came out specifically just to vote on that issue.
REID: Yes.
KUMAR: And then you saw a ton of Republicans that voted for the Republican Party for their candidates and still voted against the measure.
So this is what the Republicans don`t want. They don`t want a reason to rile up the American people and recognize -- for them to recognize that freedom is on the ballot in November. And one of the states that I`m looking at very closely right now, as a result of what happened in Kansas, is Texas.
Trump won Kansas by 14 points. He won Texas by four points. And you have Greg Abbott, who is on the ballot, who has personally banned abortions in Texas, and has personally tried to obscure the access to the voting booth, and who has tried to do exactly what the Democrats are winning on right now.
[19:10:05]
He tries to say that climate change isn`t real. He tries to make sure that everybody has access to their guns without any penalty. And they are going to have a moment of reckoning. I think it`s almost fitting that CPAC is being -- is taking place in Texas, because the roosters are coming home.
And I think they`re going to have a really hard time maintaining that. I think Texas is going to be a lot closer than the Republicans ever wanted it to be.
REID: Yes.
I mean, and, Tim, I feel like having Viktor Orban there was almost sort of poetic too. I mean, maybe the people there don`t understand this, but they could have Googled this. I mean, abortion is actually legal in Hungary, and you can actually get an abortion up to the 24th week if there`s a fetal anomaly, 24 weeks. You couldn`t do that in Texas, but you can do it there.
And the way that they`re encouraging more of the European babies, because he only wants the European ones, right, not the race mixed-ones, is they basically pay women to have kids. If you have more than four kids, you just get money. You get -- you don`t have to pay taxes. So it`s like positive incentives.
The things he`s doing, aside from the autocratic stuff, is not exactly what they think he`s doing, right? And so there`s that. And then you have got all of these sorts of things they have got to keep in their heads at the same time.
Kari Lake has to say, there`s fraud and this election was completely not valid, except I won, so it`s valid now. OK, so the late votes coming in now are cool now? It`s OK if the absentee ballots help you and if the -- if the three different kinds of elections help you?
How do they keep all of this in their heads at the same time, and try to survive getting rid of Roe?
MILLER: Well, I think that they all keep it all in their heads at the same time because they`re not actually trying to be consistent or care about policy.
This is the insight into the crowd at CPAC and really most of the Republican base. Like, they don`t have specific policies that they are hoping that the government gives them. They are looking for leaders to punish their enemies.
REID: Yes.
MILLER: Like, that is what is the motivating base of the Republican -- the motivating emotion of the Republican base right now.
And so that`s what Orban is, right? Orban triggers the media and he triggers people who think race-mixing is OK. And he triggers all the other people that they hate. And that is why they like Viktor Orban. They don`t actually know what the policies are in Hungary or appreciate the detailed policies in Hungary.
And so I think that that is where potentially some Republicans, I think, are gettable, right, because that base makes up a big portion of the Republican Party. They control the party, no doubt. But what we saw in Kansas is that there are Republican voters that don`t want to go all the way down the rabbit hole on all these extremes.
Even some -- even pro-life voters, they`re like, I`m pro-life, but the Hungary rules sound reasonable to me, right?
REID: Right.
MILLER: Like, I`m pro-life, but I think there should be exceptions. I don`t want there to be bounties on women`s head at four weeks. I don`t want, like in Missouri, a doctor to have to call a government politburo before they can operate on a woman whose health -- right?
Like, this is not -- like, that is not a popular position, even among some people, a minority maybe, but some people that voted for Donald Trump. And I think those folks are gettable. And I think that is what is kind of working right now for the Democrats after a tough a period of news earlier in the year. I think that`s why you`re starting to see these numbers change.
REID: Well, and I think, Maria Teresa Kumar, the challenge with setting your agenda for how you`re going to run your election in like May is that you really don`t know what things are going to look like in November.
And Republicans made a decision that their whole election was going to be crime, gas prices and inflation. Well, gas prices are down. And they`re just going to keep going down. They`re usually higher in the summer than they are in other parts of the year, right? So they`re going to just keep going in that direction.
There`s an Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that no Republicans are going to vote for. If your whole thing is inflation, and you all vote against the inflation bill, kind of hard to say that`s your issue. Biden then gets the credit for doing the thing to stop inflation. He gets to be the empathetic guy.
And then, to your point, on abortion, you start to cross outside the base, because if you`re saying you`re going to arrest people in Texas, you mean you`re going to arrest brown and black people, right? You`re telling the base of people you -- that they think they can attract Latino voters based on some of the conservative issues.
They ain`t going to do it if they`re talking about putting bounties on them.
KUMAR: Well, and we know for -- and what we know, Joy, is that, in Texas, ruby-red Texas, 68 percent of Latinos believe in abortion access.
And we`re talking about cross-generation. We`re not even talking about when you look at the younger voter, where`s the biggest opportunity among the Democrats. That number even skyrockets.
But something that you just mentioned, this is what I think the inflation reduction bill does so beautifully. And it deals with climate. So we`re going to have the biggest climate investment in our nation`s history that will help be a leader worldwide. So that helps young voters, because they have been -- they have been tracking the administration and holding them to account.
It also provides for Medicare prescription drug negotiations.
REID: Yes.
KUMAR: And that`s going to get older voters. And then you have the independents, when you start talking about the importance of making sure that you`re actually tackling inflation.
[19:15:00]
In one way bill, full fell swoop, he was able to tackle the three pillars of govern -- of the base that people thought that he couldn`t thread.
And so I do think that, going into the fall, there is absolutely wind on the president`s back and on the Democrats, because it`s not just what they`re able to deliver, but it`s also for everything that the Republicans are against.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: And the bottom line is, in general, Republicans get voted for, for themes and memes. Democrats get voted on for policy wins, because it`s just the way that the parties are perceived, and it`s kind of the way they are.
I wish we had more time. I`m sorry, Tim. You`re cutting off on time, but we`re done. Have a great weekend, Maria Teresa Kumar, Tim Miller.
Up next on THE REIDOUT: the over-the-top power trip by Ron DeSantis, punishing a democratically elected official who`s speaking his mind.
That official, state attorney Andrew Warren, joins me next.
THE REIDOUT continues after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:20:23]
REID: Being governor comes with a lot of demands, requiring you to focus your time, attention and effort on the issues most pressing to the people of your state, unless, of course, you are supreme chairman -- oh, I`m sorry -- I mean, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Here`s what he`s been focused on recently. He`s using a 75-year-old court ruling to go after a single Miami restaurant for hosting a drag show. He is agitated about the decision by other states to declare monkeypox a public health emergency. Forget the fact that it seems he`s trying to rerun his COVID playbook.
Florida has the third highest number of monkeypox cases in the U.S., according to the CDC. And while Florida is facing a 9,000-teacher shortage going into the school year, he is busy sending teachers to a Christian nationalist indoctrination camp to learn how to teach his version of patriotic history that downplays issues of race and slavery.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA SEGAL, BROWARD COUNTY, FLORIDA, TEACHER: Putting myself in the shoes of a first- or second-year teacher, seeing this slide, it`s very easy to say that George Washington and T.J. were both very anti-slavery. They did everything they could, not withstanding the fact they both own slaves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: T.J. being Thomas Jefferson.
And now DeSantis is suspending the top prosecutor from Tampa, Andrew Warren, who was elected to the position not once, but twice, for signing onto letters with prosecutors across the country saying they won`t use their offices to pursue criminal cases against seekers or providers of abortion or gender transition treatments.
Now, mind you, no cases have been brought to his office on either matter. And Florida has not even enacted laws criminalizing gender transition treatments for minors.
And joining me now is the newly suspended Hillsborough County state attorney, Andrew Warren.
I`m excited to talk with you. I have been getting so many texts from Florida friends about what`s happened to you. And so I`m glad that you were available today.
I want to play what Governor DeSantis said yesterday about suspending you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. RON DESANTIS (R-FL): When you flagrantly violate your oath of office, when you make yourself above the law, you have violated your duty, you have neglected your duty, and you are displaying a lack of competence to be able to perform those duties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: What do you think this is about? Because you have broken no laws. You have not gotten any prosecutions that you have declined to do. You just signed on to a letter.
What do you think this is about?
ANDREW WARREN, HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, FLORIDA, STATE ATTORNEY: This is about the government running for president.
This is political theater, plain and simple. And anyone who cares about democracy and free speech should be scared by this. And this is a core principle of our democracy that the voters get to decide who their elected officials are.
Even my 8-year-old understands that. It`s just this is how democracy works.
REID: Do you think that -- so, you think this is theater. You think that he`s playing for an audience in, like Iowa, and the potential caucuses that he`s playing for -- basically, for FOX News and for a Republican audience?
WARREN: Yes, absolutely.
I mean, you look at what he said. He`s mischaracterizing and lying what things that I have done, things that I have said. This isn`t about what I have done as state attorney. This is about what I have said. And it`s about him guessing about things that I may do in the future, as you pointed, Joy, for cases that even haven`t come before me yet.
REID: Let me go through this just a moment, because we know that, on the gender-affirming care side, the Florida Board of Medicine, who were all appointed by DeSantis, they just voted today to accept the state`s petition to ban and restrict gender-affirming care in the state. It has not gone to rulemaking. So it`s not a law yet.
It`s just a recommendation from the Florida Board of Medicine. So there`s no law that you have refused to indict on, right?
WARREN: That`s right.
So not only have no cases come before me about gender-affirming health care. There`s no law in place. I mean, this is Orwellian thought police, where I`m being punished for not enforcing a law that doesn`t even exist yet.
It`s hard to fathom how this happens in our country.
REID: And when it comes to abortion, abortion has -- there`s a 15-week ban. But is there a law in place that says anyone that -- have you heard of or do you know of a case where there`s a potential prosecution that could come before you of a doctor who performed an abortion after 15 weeks?
Is there a prosecution even pending anywhere on the docket?
WARREN: No. No, not at all.
And, in fact, what I signed on to that letter -- and let`s be clear. That letter was as a value statement expressing my opposition to laws that were violating people`s constitutional rights.
[19:25:05]
But at the time I signed on to it, Roe v. Wade was still the law of the land. So a 15-week ban was unconstitutional under federal law. And it`s currently unconstitutional under state law in Florida, because there`s a right to privacy in our Constitution. And it`s not just me saying that.
The first court to hear the issue said that. So I`m being punished for enforcing a law that doesn`t exist on transgender health care. I`m being punished for enforcing an unconstitutional law that hasn`t even come before me yet. Again, this is political theater. This is because the president is trying to outflank -- excuse me -- the governor is trying to outflank President Trump in his presidential aspirations.
REID: Let`s go through some of the other bills, because you`re talking about thought-policing.
You have been vocal in opposing some of the other things DeSantis has done. He signed this anti-riot bill in the wake of the George Floyd protests that grants civil immunity to drivers who hit protesters with their car and protects police budgets from being cut no matter what.
There`s also a bill that he signed creating one of the nation`s only election police units that friends of mine who work in elections down there say they are very concerned will be used to sic a police agency on voters of color.
You have been vocal about that. Do you believe that this is overall just saying no one in Florida who is elected or appointed is allowed to have any thought that Ron DeSantis disagrees with?
WARREN: Well, that`s certainly part of it, Joy.
I mean, elected officials in Florida should be worried and careful about what they say now, because if you say something that the governor doesn`t agree with or doesn`t like, you can be suspended or punished or who knows what, arrested.
But it`s more than that. The governor and any elected leader is supposed to be in office to solve problems, to make our community and our state and our country better. And, instead, this governor is inventing problems. He`s creating fake solutions to imaginary problems, so that he can go add it to his stump speech when he runs for his next office.
That`s the real shame of all of this.
REID: Very quickly, do you have any recourse?
WARREN: Well, I was -- this happened so fast. I was blindsided, escorted out of my office by an armed deputy with no notice, no chance to even look at the order.
REID: Wow.
WARREN: So we`re going to fight this. And we`re going to fight this vigorously. But we`re exploring our legal options right now.
REID: And I`m sure your constituents would appreciate that, since they elected you twice.
State attorney Andrew Warren, thank you very much.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Appreciate it. Thank you.
And...
WARREN: Thank you. Have a great night.
REID: You too.
Still ahead: another big win for the Biden agenda, as Senator Kyrsten Sinema agrees to support a major climate and economy bill, as long as it includes a big old fat tax break for the wealthy, of course.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:32:33]
REID: OK, to top off what has already been a great week for President Biden, the Senate is now just days away from passing the Inflation Reduction Act with support from all 50 Democrats and, notably, zero Republicans.
Senator Kyrsten Sinema finally gave the bill a thumbs up, but only after they agreed to cut out the carried interest loophole, a tax policy that would have made some of the wealthiest investors pay their fair share.
Now, it`s unclear why, in a bill focused on tackling climate change, lowering prescription drug prices and helping the economy, the carried interest loophole was the Arizona senator`s hill to die on. But, in Washington, this is how the sausage is made.
Meantime, Democrats appear to have ducked at least for now a pair of policing bills that would have sent billions of dollars in funding to police departments and added tens of thousands of new officers nationwide, basically the 1994 crime bill 2.0, weirdly enough, at a time when the nation is still grappling with the fact that 376 officers and millions and police funding did nothing to save 17 fourth graders and two teachers in Uvalde, Texas, along with other evidence that more police do not equal less crime, but could definitely mean more negative interactions and potentially dead motorists of color.
Despite the potentially devastating impact on their voting base, Democratic leadership did try to push the police funding bills through the House before the August recess, bypassing the usual committee and debate process by attaching them to the very popular assault weapons ban, until progressives successfully convinced them to separate it out.
And we are joined now by one of those progressives, Congressman Jamaal Bowman, Democrat from New York.
Congressman, thank you for being here.
And I`m glad you`re here, because I think one of the things that has frustrated a lot of Democratic voters, people who voted for Democrats, is that it felt like, well, nothing ever happens.
But I would always say to people, well, a lot happens in the House. It just doesn`t go through the Senate. This is a case where the things that were happening were about the House. The crime bill was coming from the House.
How did that happen at a time when Democrats have so much momentum? How did that end up being on the agenda?
REP. JAMAAL BOWMAN (D-NY): The fearmongering by Republicans is very effective.
And they have a national coordinated campaign of fear that continues to tell all of Americans that Democrats want to defund the police, Democrats are not in support of police, and we need more police in our communities to make our communities safer, when the reality is, Democrats have actually increased funding for police over the last two years, number one.
[19:35:06]
Number two, we need to have an honest, holistic conversation about what public safety is all about. Yes, the to people in my district and throughout the country support law enforcement, absolutely. But we also have to have a very public conversation about accountability.
George Floyd -- the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act passed the House well over a year ago, and has been sitting in the Senate, and it`s pretty much dead in the Senate ever since. We need to have a public, honest conversation about public safety in our country.
What is a research-based approach to public safety? And for these two bills to try to be forced through the House just blew me away. I mean, I know I haven`t been there that long, but I have introduced for 43 bills myself.
When you introduce a bill, it goes to committee. The chair of that committee then decides to have a markup, then decides to have hearings. There were no hearings, no markups, no anything. And they just wanted us -- I mean, at one point, they tried to bring the bills to the floor for a voice vote, which is pretty much yea or nay, and we`re done with it.
That is not what the American people want. We want safety, but we want accountability. And we want research-based approaches that deal with issues like poverty and the social determinants of public safety, which we`re not talking nearly enough about.
REID: And you could have -- and just to be clear for folks to understand - - we`re getting a little nerdy here with you all, but if there`s a committee process, then you do get to have that conversation, right?
You get to have that drawn-out conversation, because that means you call hearings, you can call witnesses. And you could actually have that. I mean, you could call Uvalde parents. You could call people from the Tops supermarket that survived that. And you could have a holistic -- and you could call it Capitol Police, because, let`s just be clear, there were Capitol Police who were fighting for their lives against other police.
Pennsylvania sent more police that were part of the insurrection than any state. Like, you could have those conversations, right, if you had a committee vote.
BOWMAN: If you have a committee, if it goes through the process of markup in the committee, it becomes a public conversation. And it becomes a process of truth and potential reconciliation with regard to policing, public safety and accountability in our country.
There are people, particularly people in communities of color and communities that have been historically harmed by police, that are wondering, what are the next steps with George Floyd?
And we were just looking to push forward these bills for police funding, without any conversations on accountability, without any guardrails to determine, how do we recruit, retain, train, and keep the best police and support the best police, while holding others accountable?
REID: Yes.
BOWMAN: We just got indictments on Breonna Taylor two years after the fact.
REID: Yes.
BOWMAN: We have got to talk about no-knock warrants, choke holds, and many other issues related to public safety and, again, have honest, very public conversations.
REID: And the other piece is that Democrats are actually having some momentum.
We`re going to just put up a few of the things that they have been able to pass. We have talked about it a little bit earlier in the show, I mean, the CHIPS Act, the PACT Act, the infrastructure bill, a gun safety bill, which was actually the first sort of gun safety measure since Biden was a senator. That was in the original crime bill.
The American Rescue Plan. You can keep going on and on and on. Like, Democrats actually have a portfolio now to run on, no? I mean, is that the conversation that you guys are now having, that it actually is -- the pundit class declared the Democrats DOA, in terms of the House and Senate.
That isn`t true anymore, right?
BOWMAN: I mean, Democrats are killing the game right now.
I mean, we passed an assault weapons ban in the House last week. The CHIPS Act is going to be huge, because now we`re going to start manufacturing chips again here in our country and reestablishing ourselves as a leader in that industry.
I have five amendment to that bill -- five amendments to that bill that focuses on worker co-ops, employee ownership, equity, and K-12 STEM education that are going to be a game-changer for generations to come.
And now we have, finally, Senators Sinema and Manchin board with a reconciliation bill that makes historic investments in climate, brings down prescription drug costs, holds corporations accountable with a 15 percent tax. There`s a lot to celebrate, and we have a lot of momentum going into the midterms.
Why disrupt that by dividing the caucus because of procedural flaws and, in my opinion, egregious governance by pushing forward bills that do not allow the public to listen in and learn and engage in the process of public safety?
REID: Yes.
I think, after the recent story, we can have a whole conversation about policing. But you all, Democrats are winning. So listen, I`m not, I`m not advising -- I don`t -- I can`t tell you what to do, but it does feel like you guys have some mo`. And it`s interesting that anyone would want to disrupt it.
Congressman Jamaal Bowman, thank you very much. Have a great weekend. Appreciate you.
And "Who Won the Week?" is still ahead.
But first: The reversal of Roe v. Wade has led to the airing of many Republicans` really extreme views on abortion. You want to force a full 14- year-old to carry her uncle`s baby to term? Really?
[19:40:04]
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STATE REP. CAREY HAMILTON (D-IN): Do you have any guidance as to how I would talk to my family or my young children about what I`m experiencing as I`m going through extreme trauma leading up to -- of a delivery of a dead infant, that they`re seeing me go through this pregnancy?
Can you...
[19:45:00]
STATE REP. J. MICHAEL DAVISSON (R-IN): Well, I would simply say this.
I don`t think any of us are guaranteed tomorrow. All of us must accept death as a consequence of life itself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Um, that was an Indiana Republican pushing an amendment that would require mothers to carry fetuses with no chance of survival to term, because all of us must accept death, like in carrying a corpse inside you and delivering it?
That amendment to Indiana`s already draconian abortion bill failed, thankfully. But this guy is far from the only Republican talking like this. And this crowd will have a huge influence on national politics if they win in November.
Think Tudor Dixon, running for governor of Michigan against Gretchen Whitmer, who said this about a theoretical 14-year-old incest victim.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
QUESTION: The question would be like a 14-year-old who, let`s say, is a victim of abuse by an uncle.
TUDOR DIXON (R), MICHIGAN GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Yes, perfect example.
QUESTION: You`re saying carry that?
DIXON: Do you -- OK.
(CROSSTALK)
QUESTION: But I will listen to yes or no.
(CROSSTALK)
DIXON: Because I know people who are the product -- a life is a life for me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Well, she says that this was taken out of context and that she was talking about parental consent, OK?
Arizona State candidate -- Senate candidate -- Arizona Senate candidate Blake Masters has referred to abortion as genocide and called for a federal personhood law, along with overturning the right to access birth control.
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate and Christian nationalist Doug Mastriano has said banning abortion is his number one issue and has compared abortion to the Holocaust multiple times, including sharing this abhorrent cartoon of the Holocaust and Stalin bowing down to Roe v. Wade. You can`t make this up.
And we also cannot forget Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, who has said he is anti-abortion from the womb to the tomb. Wait a minute. Can the dead be aborted?
Joining me now, Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent for "The Nation," and David Corn, Washington bureau chief for "Mother Jones" and author of "American Psychosis: A Historical Investigation of How the Republican Party Went Crazy," which comes out next month, and not a moment too soon, David.
I guess, since you have that title, I got to go to you first. Republicans are now trying to run the other way from this nuttery and say, oh, no, no, no, wait a minute. Hold on. We actually are for exemptions. And we`re actually really reasonable. And we think mothers are great.
Like, they`re trying to do it. But they`re already on record saying the things. Your thoughts?
DAVID CORN, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: And a lot of them are not running away, as you just saw in those clips. In the state level, a lot of Republicans are backing abortion bans with no exceptions or even the most limited of exceptions.
And I have a theory here. And I wonder what you think about this. Maybe it`s because of the book I have coming out. But I think, after January 6, after Donald Trump in a way got away with it, right -- he was not impeached. He still remains the leader of the Republican Party, good chance to be its nominee in 2024.
After mounting a coup and then inciting a riot, it looks to me like the Republican Party said, all bets are off. We can be as extreme as we want to be. We can accuse a Supreme Court nominee of being soft on pedophiles. We can increase gun rights, even in the face of this increasing gun violence. And, on, abortion we can go for what we have always really wanted, outright bans national.
We have several bills pending, already some -- already introduced by Republicans in the House, to essentially ban abortion nationwide. They`re just waiting to get in there after the midterms.
So I think the party has felt kind of unencumbered, unbounded after looking at what happened after the post-election period. I mean, if you can get away with the big lie that Trump has gotten away with, why not try to get rid of Social Security, get rid of abortion, do everything that they have always wanted to do, but have felt somewhat restrained from doing?
REID: Well, no, I think there is something to that.
And, Joan, I think it`s also that they only really listen to each other. They`re all -- they all have FOX News piping in at them day and night. And they think that`s the world, right? It`s like people who think Twitter is the world. Like, Twitter is not the world. Twitter is a portion of the world.
But people who start -- I think they have started to believe their own hype, and start to think that the things they`re doing are popular. And they think that, oh, people want this. I mean, Alito literally went on an international road show to sort of pat himself on the back and be patted on the back. They think this is awesome.
And then, when people actually vote and say, hell no, then they freak out.
Joan.
CORN: Yes, well, if you`re asking me, it`s seems...
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Joan.
JOAN WALSH, MSNBC ANALYST: And I think the...
(CROSSTALK)
CORN: I`m sorry. Go ahead, Joan.
WALSH: Should I talk?
REID: Yes.
WALSH: They have Kansas as an example.
And some people are kind of running scared after Kansas. But then you have got Indiana, which is such a laboratory of insanity, Joy. And I wrote about it last week. I mean, they actually don`t seem to even know how our bodies work.
[19:50:03]
One of them was complaining, oh, well, this is so granular. We weren`t prepared for this.
They don`t understand women. They don`t care about women. And the notion that you would just deliver a dead baby because death happens is so cruel and misogynistic, because that particular kind of death doesn`t happen to men.
So they don`t understand ectopic pregnancy. They don`t understand what it means to be having a miscarriage and need help from a doctor to expel what`s going on. They don`t understand any of it. And if they do understand it even a teeny bit, they don`t care.
REID: Well, I mean, there was one guy we talked about on the show earlier that thought that the stomach was connected to the uterus. They thought the stomach was connected. I mean, they don`t even know basic anatomy.
They`re -- to stay with you for a second, I mean, you have an anti-abortion activist named Jana Pinson who said, a lot of 13-year-old do a phenomenal job as mothers.
Like, they actually don`t seem to get it.
I want to stay with you for a moment, because you did write another book with a great title, "What`s the Matter with White People?" where you talk about the ways in which the right has turned against this -- the FDR New Deal.
Well, now you have Ron Johnson saying, let`s make -- let`s play him. This is Ron Johnson Social Security.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
SEN. RON JOHNSON (R-WI): Social Security and Medicare, if you qualify for the entitlement, you just get it no matter what the cost.
And our problem in this country is that more than 70 percent of our federal budget, of our federal spending is all mandatory spending. It`s on automatic pilot. It never -- you do proper oversight. You don`t get in there and fix the programs going bankrupt. It`s just an automatic pilot.
What we ought to be doing is, we ought to turn everything into discretionary spending, so it`s all evaluated, so that we can fix problems or fix programs that are broken.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
REID: Joan, I mean, they are letting their freak flag fly if they think that any Americans want Social Security to become a discretionary spending program that has to be authorized again every couple of years.
But they`re saying it.
WALSH: We will figure it out (AUDIO GAP) years.
We will cut it. We might have to cut it. We will never add to it, Joy.
Yes. No, it`s crazy. And when you look back at when I wrote about white people, what`s the matter with them, the -- Social Security and Medicare have always been kind of tangentially on the table. They have tried to cut them.
But the backlash from white seniors, in particular, they are a protected class. So, I don`t know. People say Ron Johnson is the stupidest man in the Senate. I think he has a lot of competition.
REID: He does.
WALSH: Some people say he doesn`t even want to win. He`s running such a terrible campaign. And that is the stupidest thing we have heard said by a Republican in a long time.
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Meanwhile, David Corn, back to you on, this is the voice of reason now.
Here`s Dick Cheney. I think we can play a little of it. We might not be able to play it all.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: In our nation`s 246-year history, there has never been an individual who was a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.
He tried to steal the last election, using lies and violence to keep himself in power, after the voters had rejected him. He is a coward. A real man wouldn`t lie to his supporters.
He lost his election, and he lost big. I know it. He knows it. And, deep down, I think most Republicans know it.
Lynne and I are so proud of Liz for standing up for the truth, doing what`s right, honoring her oath to the Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: David, I have described as Saruman fighting Sauron in "Lord of the Rings."
Your thoughts?
(LAUGHTER)
CORN: Well, I thought of it as Frankenstein vs. Dracula or Godzilla vs. King Kong.
(LAUGHTER)
CORN: Very hard to know who to root for in Donald Trump vs. Dick Cheney.
But I do believe in redemption. I know you do too. And so Dick Cheney is on the side of democracy now, when he wasn`t in power. That is a good thing. And we should salute that.
REID: Until there`s another war he can profit off of, fine.
Joan and David are going to stay with us, because they`re going to play "Who Won the Week?" right after this break.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:58:24]
REID: TGIF, everybody.
We made it to the end of a very busy week, which means it`s time to play our favorite game, ah, yes, "Who Won the Week?"
Back with me, Joan Walsh and David Corn.
Joan Walsh, ladies first. Who won the week?
WALSH: You set it up with the whole show, Joy. It is Joe Biden, without a doubt.
I mean, it`s all the accomplishments that you mentioned. It`s the great jobs report today it`s 50 days of gas prices falling. And if he pulls off this compromise with Manchin and Sinema and we get major climate and investment, that`s a miracle. And maybe it`ll shut people up who have been saying he shouldn`t run in 2024, because that`s crazy.
That`s crazy talk right now.
REID: Absolutely.
And I remember the same talk was made about President Obama. They`re like, he shouldn`t run for reelection. They always say that about every Democratic president. So I agree with you. It was a big week for Biden.
All right, David Corn, your thoughts on who won the week?
CORN: Scarlett Lewis and Neil Heslin.
These are the two Sandy Hook parents who won nearly $50 million in those damages against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. And what did they show us? They showed us that you can beat back the disinformation warfare of Jones and other people with a very simple element, the truth.
REID: Yes, absolutely.
And you know what? People forget, this guy is not just another conspiracy theorist. He`s like the uber-conspiracy theorist. He`s been doing bad stuff for a long time and was involved in January 6.
All right, my choice for "Who Won the Week?" it is a state. What`s the matter with Kansas? Not a damn thing. Kansas won the week. They beat back this draconian attempt to rewrite the state constitution to take away women`s liberty, women`s freedom.
The celebration -- we`re going to play a little bit of that celebration after Kansas voters, and not just Democrats -- Democrats, Republicans and independents, got together to take down this law. Sorry, Alito. You had a bad week, because they had a good one.
Joan Walsh, David Corn, thank you both very much.
That is tonight`s REIDOUT. Happy weekend.
"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.