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Transcript: The Beat with Ari Melber, December 29, 2020

Guests: Mara Gay, Chaitanya Komanduri, Chelsea Handler, Bill Kristol

Summary

The showdown over the size of COVID relief in the Senate continues. Chelsea Handler discusses her new special on white privilege. Is President Trump's conduct in his last days in office hurting the Republican Party? The heroes who protect and serve are remembered.

Transcript

JONATHAN CAPEHART, MSNBC HOST: Meanwhile, "THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER" starts right now.

Hey, Ari.

ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: Hey, Jonathan. Thank you so much.

Welcome to THE BEAT. I'm Ari Melber.

We're tracking a major clash in Washington, with consequences for millions of Americans, a showdown over the size of this COVID relief.

Now, President Trump is in a political civil war with Republican leaders. He's now warning they have a -- quote -- "death wish" if they continue to oppose him on this, which has Mitch McConnell in something of a late-in-the-year jam, caught between many Republicans' opposition to increasing these COVID stimulus checks, checks that you could receive, and the outgoing president now demanding them.

Now, after months of Republican dithering on all of this COVID relief, the year is ending with this important fight. It's a fight over action. There are people right now whose rent and emergency bills, whose lives could really turn on what happens next.

House Democrats have now passed this bill that basically raises the stimulus payments that -- again, that you would be set to receive to $2,000. This is a plan that Trump now supports. And Senate Democrats are ready to make it law.

But, today, Mitch McConnell is blocking holding a vote on just that. Now, this part is a familiar story, McConnell obstructing a bill. He's proud of that kind of thing. But some Democrats say they actually have more leverage this time, that this time could be different.

And the reason is the calendar. It's the end of the year. Congress wants to go home, just like everyone else around these holidays. And Senator Bernie Sanders is invoking that very leverage, warning he will use the rules to potentially force senators to be stuck in D.C. with the Senate open over New Year's, unless McConnell green-lights an up-or-down vote.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BERNIE SANDERS (I-VT): We have got to raise that direct payment to $2,000.

So, that is where we are right now in this historic moment. Do we turn our backs on struggling working families, or do we respond to their pain?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Republicans looking at a tough choice.

If they vote against the money, they buck Trump and oppose this clearly vital he for Americans during the pandemic. If they vote for the money, they do break with this small government ideology and talk about controlling the deficit.

Now, Democrats need at least 12 Republicans in order for this measure to pass. Tonight, there are five Republican senators who say they're with them.

Trump, meanwhile, back at the golf course today, showing that, however much he claims to care about this issue, it's not enough to make him actually show up at work like -- well, at least like the rest of Congress. That includes people, of course, in both parties.

The outgoing president has not taken questions from the press in 21 days, not even regarding the Nashville bombing.

Meanwhile, vice president-elect Harris is back with Senate Dems, pushing their message, pressing McConnell to hold the vote, while also getting her COVID vaccine dose you see there on camera for all Americans to see the leadership.

Now, it may seem odd, after so many Republican delays on COVID relief all this year, that this particular funding showdown comes down to the wire with this deadline in this holiday week at the end of the year.

But let's be clear about why this is happening. This isn't some accident. This isn't, as I mentioned, just a late-in-the-year type of thing. This is a reflection of what Mitch McConnell does. He prefers to obstruct and stall. He calls himself the Grim Reaper for a reason.

It's also a reflection of Donald Trump's penchant for erratic governing. And it also reflects that at least some Democrats are showing a new level of vigor in using whatever tools they have to try to force a vote. Bernie Sanders won't be popular with his colleagues for what he's doing, threatening to keep them there.

And so what you see here is how the year ends, a stark contrast in our nation's leaders, the president golfing his way through this life-and-death dilemma for so many, Congress at work, finally, and the incoming administration applying pressure and modeling a more serious approach to COVID, while warning that, for far too many Americans in this Trump era, it is already too late.

Our coverage kicks off tonight with "The New York Times"' Mara Gay, conservative Bill Kristol, editor at large for The Bulwark and director of Defending Democracies Together, and Chai Komanduri, who has worked for the Obama and Clinton campaigns.

Good to see each of you.

Bill, there are many aspects to this, including, as mentioned, the serious stakes for Americans. But it's also something of a Trump vs. Republican chaotic civil war thing. And that's sort of your thing, would you agree, been your thing for the last four years?

BILL KRISTOL, DIRECTOR, DEFENDING DEMOCRACY TOGETHER: Yes. Unfortunately, yes.

MELBER: Yes.

KRISTOL: I'm looking forward to that ending on January 20.

MELBER: Well, there you go. Maybe other people will join you in looking forward to that.

So, I go to you first on breaking down what is happening here on an issue that matters.

KRISTOL: I mean (AUDIO GAP) he just -- he saw this was a clever thing that might make him a little more popular.

Is he actually pressuring Republican senators to break with McConnell? Is pressuring McConnell? I don't see much evidence of it. He's golfing, as you said -- He's one or two tweets urging something.

But we know what presidents can do if they care about an issue. We know what Trump can do if he cares about an issue. There are a heck of a lot of Republican senators who don't want to get on the wrong side of him. And I see no evidence that he's doing any more than sort of -- wants to go out looking as if he's a generous guy and will let -- that he buckled and signed the COVID bill and the government staying open -- the funding of the government, which was good.

He's going to get (AUDIO GAP) defense bill tomorrow. I think this is really showboating by Trump.

MELBER: Mara?

MARA GAY, EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBER, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Well, the thing that's interesting to me is that the Democrats, as you alluded to, Ari, seem to have a little bit of a pep in their step in terms of understanding not just the leverage and the power that they have, but far more importantly than the politics of the situation, really understanding the visceral importance and impact of what $2,000 would mean for the American people, and really putting the onus on Republicans to make it happen, or to fail the American people.

I think that's something that they have really struggled to do for a long time. I think they have struggled to articulate a coherent policy platform and message at times around the everyday issues that impact working-class Americans of all races and backgrounds.

And this is something that they really are understanding how to do better. Their messaging has improved around it. And more important than the messaging, they really are essentially sticking this to Mitch McConnell, and saying, do you want to deny this to the American people?

And that's -- I think that's politically right. And more important, I think it's morally the right thing to do. There's also just an acknowledgement that the current situation is just not enough for people.

It's not even going to make a dent into the real expenses that Americans are facing. So, I think it's the right move.

MELBER: Chai?

CHAITANYA KOMANDURI, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, I mean, I think that the only way to read these events is that Trump was sending a ballistic missile directly at Mitch McConnell. And it was mainly an act of revenge, an act of anger at the fact that McConnell had acknowledged Biden's victory.

That was the only reason that he had done it. That's the only reason he had taken the Democratic position and gone full AOC all of a sudden on the stimulus after all that time.

Now, what occurred, I believe, probably, if Lindsey Graham is telling the truth, is that Lindsey Graham, perhaps some others, made it clear to him that Georgia is not in the bag for the Republicans. There are some early warning signs in the state. There is a very light Republican turnout in Northwest Georgia that is of great concern.

There is very high African-American turnout in the early vote of that state, enough to concern the Republicans that a failure to pass this bill will lose them the Senate. And I think Graham and others made it very clear that, if Republicans lose the Senate, Trump will be blamed.

His future in the GOP will be in jeopardy. Trump 2024 may not happen if that is the case.

MELBER: Well, it's interesting, Chai, with your knowledge of campaigns, reminding us all where that hangs in the balance.

And I think you're associating yourself with Bill's interpretation, that a lot of this matters a great deal -- we're covering it for the significance -- and yet the underlying motivations of the power players are incredibly petty.

Because it's the Christmas season Chai, I'm going to try to go Christmas here, but you know that's not my personal specialty. I have less personal knowledge of the faith.

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

MELBER: But it feels like you and bill are -- feels like you and Bill are arguing that you have -- as far as working people are concerned, you have a real Scrooge in Donald Trump.

And what makes Scrooge potentially generous on paper is not generosity, you and Bill arguing he doesn't actually care whether people get this much-needed relief, but, rather, the only thing that Scrooge could get generous over his the pettiness of trying to burn someone that he's mad at, and that if the pettiness and the revenge is motivating enough, he will be less, less stingy, Chai.

KOMANDURI: Yes.

And if you look back on the last four years of this presidency, we talked a lot about how Trump has violated norms, but he always violated norms, almost always, to help himself, to shield his taxes, to shield his finances, to shield transparency, to make sure the Trump Organization made more money.

He never violated norms to advance conservative policy goals. That was never something that he ever did. It was always really about himself.

And so we're entering a new year, but it's the same Trump. Trump only thinks about himself. And perhaps we should be grateful that he only thinks about himself, because somebody who really thought about the country and thought about what they could do with all the power of the president could perhaps be a lot more dangerous over the last four years than Trump actually has ended up proving to be.

MELBER: Well, it's funny you're making that point.

I don't know if you popped on The Drudge Report today or not, which is still a pretty influential right-of-center aggregator, but we will put up The Drudge Report on the screen here. They go at the fact that, as they put it, OK, give out the money, debt nears $28 trillion, and they have the ticker tape record.

It was down below $20 trillion when Trump took office.

The point, Bill, made very simply, that I think reinforces what Chai is saying, is that it was not about any -- quote, unquote -- "fiscal conservatism" to begin with.

KRISTOL: Yes, that's for sure, I think, with Trump.

I mean, I think -- look, I kind of -- going to get back to Mara's point about the Democrats. I think they have done a decent job of framing this. They could do more, though.

President-elect Biden could say, this is really urgent. If President Trump doesn't do it, I will submit this on January 21, and I will ask Speaker Pelosi to bring it right back up in the new Congress. And I will ask Democrats (AUDIO GAP) and I will even ask Senator McConnell, as a courtesy to a new president, to allow for an up-or-down vote.

I mean, they could do more to heighten this, I think. I think, with this us about the British, the bad, the worse -- somewhat worse version of COVID coming here, the more -- the one that's more -- unfortunately, more contagious, and with the general apparent -- I think it's temporary, but still the somewhat halting rollout of the vaccine, Speaker Pelosi could pass -- and they have not -- there's not much money in that COVID bill for the states to actually manage the vaccine rollout.

I think it's $8 billion. And that's a big thing to get this thing done right. Speaker Pelosi could pass two days from now $20 billion, $40 billion for the states (AUDIO GAP). Who wouldn't be for that? I mean, I think this is a case where throwing money at a problem could do a lot of good, right?

This is not -- we know how to do this. We just don't quite have enough assets going right towards this. And then see if -- dare McConnell not to take that up, and then pass it again in the new Congress next week and have, again, the president-elect, Biden, say, I'm going to do this right away.

So I think, for now, it's still a little haphazard, because this $2,000 thing kind of emerged in a slightly weird way, and they were all fighting about the other -- the COVID bill. And so I'm not sure how much effect -- I'm not sure McConnell -- how fearful McConnell is.

I'm not sure that McConnell thinks he's going to lose Georgia because of this. He may lose Georgia anyway. But I think this is (AUDIO GAP) the Democrats up on the air in Georgia with a massive ad buy saying two things.

McConnell, you -- they tell you want a Republican Senate. McConnell is stopping you from getting this money, A. B, Donald Trump thinks -- and in the Republican parts of Georgia Northwest and so forth, Donald Trump thinks you should have this money. Why aren't Loeffler and Perdue insisting on it?

What's the point -- and go to Trumpy voters with some dark money Democratic advertising to attack them for not supporting President Trump.

So, I think the Democrats are not quite all in here on punishing the Republicans as they might for this.

MELBER: Mara?

GAY: Yes, I agree with that.

And just to continue that thought, I mean, I think there's an opportunity here to do the right thing, if you can really capitalize on this economic populism, that actually cuts across both parties right now. There is an opportunity to do that.

And I think it's the job of everybody in Congress, in this case, when we really do need to just throw money at a problem, to make sure that they do that. They need to make this happen. If they can't make it happen, I think they risk, all of them, looking extraordinarily out of touch with the reality on the ground, which is just an immense amount of suffering.

So, I think there's an opportunity here.

MELBER: Yes.

Bill mentions the degrading COVID outlook amidst all of this. Chai, that's something that president-elect Biden hit today. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: The Trump administration's plan to distribute vaccines is falling behind, far behind.

With only a few days left in December we've only vaccinated a few million so far.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Chai, the argument there being it's not exactly warp speed.

KOMANDURI: No, it's not.

And this is a thing that, if you were somebody who was giving Trump political advice -- thankfully, I'm not one of those people -- but if you were one of those people giving Trump political advice, one of the things you would say is, hey, you should be doing victory laps about this vaccine. You should be out there touting your success of the vaccine.

If you really care about Trump 2024 and the future, the best thing to do is maybe go out graciously, extend the olive branch to Joe Biden, concede, and then just do victory laps about the vaccine. Make sure everybody in America knows that you are working the hardest you can to get that vaccine out of there.

Now, that's not who he is. That's not what he thinks about. He thinks about the vaccine only in that it helps him politically, personally, but he never thinks about the country. That is just never something that has ever entered his mind.

So, it is very sad, I think, for the country, because we don't know fully what the damage has been done by Trump's inaction during this period of transition, but I think, by the spring and summer, we will know, and it might be very tragic.

MELBER: Yes.

Well, and, Chai, you talk about giving that advice. You have worked for these campaigns. How would you teach Donald Trump to be gracious? What would you do? Are you that good at your job that, if you had to do it as an operative, how would you do it?

KOMANDURI: Well, I mean, one of the things that you -- I mean, that's something you can't really teach a candidate. That's something that comes from within.

And you choose candidates because they have those qualities inside of themselves, rather than the other way around, thinking that you can do -- go in reverse.

But I don't think that we should underestimate how much of a psychological drama about Trump we are watching. I mean, his inability to concede here really speaks to something very deep about his life.

When candidates lose presidential elections, it is a humiliating personal rejection. It is a tremendous failure. And they need family and friends around them to help them cope with that defeat.

Donald Trump doesn't have that. I mean, I remember a crushed Hillary Clinton embracing Chelsea Clinton after she conceded. There was a great Netflix documentary where we see Mitt Romney surrounded by his family as he's about to call Obama to concede.

Does Donald Trump have any of that? If he were to concede, who's going to give him a hug? Lou Dobbs? You know, I don't know who in his life can do that, who in his life can reach up -- who can reach him in that way.

And in many ways, I think if that -- if there's a Christmas lesson to be learned from there, it's exactly that. Trump may on paper seem like a winner in life. He has money, power and status. But what we really see is this man is a loser. He has nobody.

MELBER: Very strongly put, incisively so.

And, Bill Kristol, as the saying goes in Washington, sometimes, you start out with Scrooge, and you end up with a hug from Lou Dobbs. And that's it.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Chai, Bill, Mara...

KRISTOL: Sometimes, you end up a Scrooge. You start off a Scrooge, and you end up a Scrooge.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Yes, sometimes, it's Scrooges all the way down.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Thanks to each of you, important stuff, but with a little bit of wit along the way. Appreciate each of you.

We have our 30-second break.

When we come back: You have the Democrats trying to demote McConnell. That's the plan in Georgia. Al Sharpton here later tonight.

Also, what Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen told me, why it's making waves, and news today on the pardons spree backfiring.

Also, before we're done tonight, Chelsea Handler, the great comedian, is here for a new conversation we're excited to air for the first time.

But, first, next, Michael Beschloss on lame-duck Trump -- when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELBER: I'm joined now by presidential historian Michael Beschloss, author of 10 books on the presidency.

Happy holidays. Thanks for being here, Michael.

MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, NBC NEWS PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Same to you, Ari. Nice to see you.

MELBER: Great to see you.

I wanted to actually pick up on something that our other guest Chai Komanduri was just discussing, something you have studied across different presidents, how you deal with that rejection.

And Sam Nunberg, who once worked for Trump, but has become somewhat more critical, makes this new comment: "Trump's no longer the celebrity mogul magnate he was in New York. Now he's part of the exclusive Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush one-term president club."

Your thoughts on that part of history here?

BESCHLOSS: Yes, I don't know why all these Republicans seem to be so afraid of Donald Trump in retirement.

Look what happens to presidents who are defeated for reelection. They fade out pretty quickly and they are not very powerful. So, anyone who is fantasizing that a year from now that Donald Trump is going to be this ferocious political figure, that everyone is going to have to consult every tweet he emits or every speech he gives perhaps at a county fair or something, that is not going to happen.

I think that he is likely to be distracted by legal problems. I don't think he will be remotely the figure in the Republican Party that he is today. And that's why I think Republican leaders right now should move on, look to the future, not to the past.

MELBER: Very interesting.

You mention the legal problems. That's something that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen just brought up on this very program last night. It made some headlines today.

For folks who haven't seen or are busy with holiday leftovers, which we totally accept, here is the crux of the news he made last night. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL COHEN, FORMER ATTORNEY/FIXER FOR DONALD TRUMP: This produces a very significant problem for Donald Trump, in the fact that, once you receive that pardon power -- once you get that pardon, you're no longer able to invoke the Fifth Amendment, right, of your right against self-incrimination because you cannot be charged.

So, all of these people may ultimately be his downfall, simply because they will be testifying against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Michael?

BESCHLOSS: I saw it. I thought that was well-said.

And who better than Michael Cohen to be an authority on what problems Donald Trump is going to have legally? I think he's going to be a Velcro for lawsuits, even if he pardons himself, assuming that the courts decide that it's possible for a president to pardon himself, which I'm not so sure about.

MELBER: Yes.

Do you think, then, that Donald Trump, based on what past presidents have done, has a route? I mean, is there -- it's funny to say, but is there a Carter route, where you actually recede from a political world that has ultimately rejected you and focus on other things?

I mean, for Trump, it's not going to be, presumably, based on his past, building houses for the needy, but it might be some other project to occupy him.

BESCHLOSS: OK, I'm trying to do this with a straight face.

No, I do not think that Donald Trump will be out building houses for the needy. No, I do not think he will start a foundation. He tried that once, and it turned out to be corrupt.

This is someone who's got big financial problems, big legal problems. He's going to probably be overwhelmed by them, maybe very soon after he leaves office.

MELBER: Yes, all important historical context.

Michael Beschloss, thanks for joining us, as always.

BESCHLOSS: Great to see you, Ari. Happy holidays.

MELBER: Happy holidays.

We have a lot more in the program tonight, as I mentioned, comedian Chelsea Handler on THE BEAT by the end of the hour.

But first: Rupert Murdoch apparently done with Donald Trump's antics. See the blistering new op-ed out today making waves, which also gives some clues to where conservatives may be headed, as well as how Trump's erratic behavior has worries about the very thing that could control the fate of the Biden presidency: What if the Republicans lose Georgia?

When we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELBER: There's a lot going on.

We are now one week out from these pivotal Georgia Senate run-off elections. The outcome, of course, can tip the Senate. It could control what happens to the entire first term of the Biden era.

And new tonight, we know now that a record 2.3 million people have already voted, which breaks the record from 2008. Trump will be in Georgia next week stumping for Loeffler and Perdue, but this increasingly erratic behavior, plus the attacks on local elections officials and Republicans, has many Republicans worried about this all backfiring.

Take a look at the conservative "Wall Street Journal," warning Donald Trump caving on the COVID relief check is now -- quote -- "a biggest assist to Democratic hopes of gaining control of the Senate."

Meanwhile, longtime Republican pollster Frank Luntz sounding an alarm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANK LUNTZ, POLLSTER: It feels like this president's trying to do as much damage as he can, not just to Mitch McConnell, but the Republicans in the House and in the Senate.

I'm afraid and I believe that those two Republicans may well lose on the 5th of January because of what the president is doing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: I'm joined by Reverend Al Sharpton, host of MSNBC's "POLITICS NATION," president of the National Action Network.

Rev, Merry Christmas. Good to see you, sir.

REV. AL SHARPTON, HOST, "POLITICS NATION": Merry Christmas to you.

MELBER: You hear these warnings, and everyone knows you want to pump up your side, you want to warn people also to get out and vote. So there's a turnout quality to this.

But it's also -- it's also a theme that we have heard throughout the hour tonight, which is people in both parties looking at Donald Trump here as playing only for Trump, even if it risks what happens in Georgia, Rev.

SHARPTON: There's an old saying, be careful what you wish for.

And they wanted Trump, and they have got Trump, as erratic, as self-serving and as megalomaniac as he is. He never did care about anyone but Trump. And it was all right when it was Mexicans or blacks, but now he's made it very clear he could care less about his own party, including whether they maintain a majority of the U.S. Senate.

For he to come out of nowhere, after Mark Meadows, his chief of staff, was involved in negotiations, and now say, oh, no, the money is too low, I want to $2,000, this is all Trump trying to have the attention back on him, and paying back those that wouldn't go with his scheme of trying to undermine an election that he clearly lost.

MELBER: Yes, and you remind everyone that, of course, anything here that was supposedly a priority could have been proactively pushed by the president of the United States for the past several months.

It didn't need to be this way if this were legit.

Go ahead, sir.

SHARPTON: He was involved in the negotiations through his chief of staff.

He's a man that tweets in the middle of the night. So, when all of a sudden did come up with this $2,000 that he wanted, that, clearly, Democrats have been saying all along they wanted more money? It's not the wrong thing. It's the wrong purpose -- person for the wrong reason.

And I think that he -- to do that at risk of his own party shows just kind of the kind of person he is.

MELBER: Yes.

SHARPTON: On the way out the door, he's doing to them what he's done to us for four years.

MELBER: Well, Rev, your analysis here, I know you're a James Brown guy, but you're getting pretty close to Dr. John there. Trump was in the right place, must have been the wrong time.

(LAUGHTER)

SHARPTON: And I think that the problem they have is, they don't know what to do with it.

MELBER: Yes.

SHARPTON: And, as fate would have it, he's going to be in Georgia the night before the election, which they predict always that the red voters come out on Election Day more than they early-vote.

And you don't know what he's liable to say. They don't know what he's liable to say.

And I will give you a secret, as someone who's fought with him for 30-some-odd years in New York. I don't believe he knows what he's going to say.

And that's what's dangerous, to put a man in charge that he doesn't know from one moment to the next what he's going to do, because he's driven by ego and impulse. And that's dangerous to have as president of the United States.

MELBER: Yes, you lay it out.

And you mention that all of this builds to putting attention what is either infighting and Republican chaos, or, to the extent people follow policy -- and, as we all know, the more it hits your pocketbook, the more you're likely to perk up about it. Not everyone pays attention to restaurant regulations on the daily, but when all the restaurants are closed, or how the rules work, people pay attention, which could be bad for Trump and the Republicans, because it's going to draw attention to what I'm about to play for you, which is that Trump's erratic swinging on this very COVID funding issue tied up these Georgia Senate candidates in knots.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KELLY LOEFFLER (R-GA): And I have said, absolutely, we need to get relief to Americans now. And I will support that.

We don't need incentives not to work. We need to get folks back to work.

CHARLES PAYNE, FOX NEWS: Right.

LOEFFLER: I'm not seeing a big need to extend the federal unemployment insurance.

SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): Look, this should have been done four months ago.

I'm delighted to support the president and his $2,000. I think this is absolutely appropriate. So, I fully support what the president is doing right now.

Giving just a direct payment, like we did in the first round of CARES. I really oppose that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Donald Trump managed to force both of them to contradict themselves on the core issue of COVID recession funding, support for people who need it, here in this closing argument section of that campaign, Rev.

SHARPTON: They have gone directly against what they have said in the past. And the voters in Georgia are -- may be diverse, but they're not stupid. They can see what they said, and they can see what they're saying now.

And since you mentioned James Brown, it appears to me that they're both talking loud and saying nothing.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Fair. Fair. Get on the good foot, as it were.

I have one more thing to show you, Rev. And that is -- this is wacky. I'm not even going to show with sound. I'm not going to show the full ad, but I will put up the video, so folks have a sense of Donald Trump here on his way out with this video, implying that maybe he has some sort of link to this Nobel Prize.

Of course, he has not won it. If he had, you would have heard about it. And it actually reflects sort of a -- one of his fixations, of the credit he tries to get for things he didn't do. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Nobel Peace Prize, I will tell you about that. I saved a country. You love your president, and you president gets honored, because I'm not being honored. You're being honored with the Nobel Peace Prize.

Donald Trump's Nobel Peace Prize, two of them. I should have gotten about seven or eight. So, they gave me a Nobel Prize for that. They gave me a Nobel Prize for something else.

When I say Nobel Prize, nomination. I don't know. I don't know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Fact-check is, he...

SHARPTON: Delusional. Delusional.

MELBER: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: He lost any competition there, just as he lost the election, Rev.

But it speaks to a real messiness, for lack of -- of a more neat word, if you will, in the outgoing days of this administration, what he's pushing out, what he's lying about.

SHARPTON: And it's sad to see a man 74 years old just come apart in public because he lost an election.

And to think that, as we are looking at 300 and tens of thousands of people did, and he could have done things to avoid it when he was warned it could be that way in January of this year, and he didn't act until late March, and for him to say he saved the country, when those amount of people are dead, when he could have done more, it is absolutely insulting and offensive.

And all I'm doing is trying to continue to raise the issues and work out every day, because, on January 21, I will be more contemporary this time. I will do the Jay-Z. I will have 99 problems, but Trump won't be one of them.

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Brush it off, Rev. Brush it off.

You know the difference between me and you? I talk about Jay-Z. You talk to Jay-Z. So, I'm following your path. Give me a few more decades. We will see where we go.

SHARPTON: A few more days is more like it. I know your track record. You don't take decades to do anything, Ari.

(LAUGHTER)

SHARPTON: That's why you have THE BEAT.

MELBER: Rev Al coming through with all kinds of layers and levels.

Appreciate you, sir. Again, happy holidays, merry Christmas.

And I will remind everyone, as you know, "POLITICS NATION" weekends 5:00 p.m. Eastern.

Stacey Abrams, meanwhile, one other programming note, will be on "THE REIDOUT" tonight 7:00 p.m. Eastern, right after this show, so plenty what we think you should watch from our colleagues.

We are going to fit in a break, but coming up later tonight, we have some of the top cultural and "Fallback" moments from this big year of 2020.

But, first, the national reckoning on race, musicians and artists speaking out, plus the great Chelsea Handler, a comedian who's getting serious, she says, about certain political issues of privilege, on THE BEAT tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELBER: A lot happened this year, but 2020 will certainly be remembered for the national reckoning on race, Black Lives Matter protesters coming out in massive numbers for days on end, calling for change to injustice.

We also saw a wave of engagement from artists, cultural figures, musicians, actors.

Our next guest, comedian Chelsea Handler, has actually been at work on these issues. Her Netflix documentary is called "Hello, Privilege. It's Me, Chelsea," confronting race and privilege head on.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELBER: Why this project on white privilege?

CHELSEA HANDLER, COMEDIAN: I just kind of had a wakeup call after our 2016 election. And I thought I want to really do something.

I took a deep look at my own life and just realize kind of how I'm spoiled and entitled, and -- that I had become. And I wanted to actually take an honest look at it.

And I started to think about the privilege that I was born with that and I have taken for granted my whole life, because I thought white privilege was a specific sect of the community, like the Rockefellers and people who went to Harvard and Yale. I thought, my father was a used car dealer. I'm not -- that's not privileged.

But, obviously, we have learned, unfortunately, over and over again in this country that having the -- being white is an advantage. So, as long as somebody is being discriminated against, somebody is benefiting from that discrimination.

And I didn't want to be the beneficiary of that. I wanted to be part of the solution and part of the conversation to move forward. So, I read a lot of black authors. And I thought, wow, the next thing I should do is make a documentary questioning white people about white privilege.

MELBER: Right, and which is using your -- sort of your platform and following to have some of this conversation.

Let's take a look at you talking to two very recognizable comedians.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANDLER: If you had a message that I could give to white people who don't understand what white privilege is, and that there are many nuances, what would that message be?

TIFFANY HADDISH, ACTRESS: You guys know where you come from. You know your history. You know where you're going, because you know where you came from.

We don't know that. We got to take like a DNA test where our ancestry come in, and we still don't know if we were related to kings or queens, or if we were farmers, or if we built houses. We don't know.

So, you guys know. That's a privilege you guys have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: Tell me about that moment.

HANDLER: Well, I mean, again, something that a white person has never had to think about, certainly something I never had thought about until Tiffany said that sentence to me.

And then I really had to think about it after the fact. And I have discussed it on social media at length, too, with people who've watched it, because they mean, what does she mean? And it's like, well, what do you think she means?

These people are unaccounted for. People's ancestors are unaccounted for. And it just -- it's such a -- like, there's no way to even cover the subject matter in a documentary. There's no way to cover the subject matter in six documentaries.

But I am committed to doing this work and continuing to have follow-up conversations about it, because it is a white person's problem. White privilege is our problems to fix. And we keep going to the black community wanting to know what to do.

We need to fix it. And we need to be uncomfortable about it, because we can afford to be a little bit uncomfortable and have uncomfortable conversations. That's how change happens.

MELBER: You don't follow any particular career rules. You have sort of built your stature and your following, and now you're doing whatever you choose to do.

How did you get there? What do you say to people who say, gosh, that's neat, I wish I could do that? Like, you're doing funny stuff. You're doing serious stuff. You're interviewing people. You're making a documentary. You're making a comedy special.

What do you say to people who look at that and go, wow, how can they do that?

HANDLER: Well, I -- first of all, it's a lot of privilege, again.

It's -- but that's not all of it -- all it is. It's a need to be authentic. I went into therapy for the first time in my adult life. That led to a book, because I wrote about my therapy experience with -- about my psychiatrist, because he opened all these doorways in my head.

And I started to become a real more patient, more kind person because of therapy.

MELBER: Did you worry therapy could make you less funny?

HANDLER: No, I'm not worried about anything like that. I mean, I have got the funny. I needed the serious.

So, I did that. Then I wrote a book about it. And then I wrote this -- and then I filmed this documentary. So, those two projects, in my mind, were very much about this new phase of my life, where I am conscious about what I want to do.

And I don't want to take, take, take and get a paycheck just for showing up. I want a message. I want to inspire people to do more and to do better and to go out and be activists and fight for people in marginalized communities. It's really important to use your voice.

And even if you don't have a platform, I would implore you to also use your voice. It's important to look around and see who's being discriminated against and say something.

MELBER: What do you think was the delay in your life that then led you to go to therapy?

HANDLER: Arrested development, just too much success, and a lot of it, and just going -- spinning around for many, many years.

I mean, they were great times, but I wasn't connected to the work I was doing for a long time. I was just kind of saying yes. Oh, they will pay you to do this. And here's a show, and here's a book, write a book, or do this.

I was just saying yes to things. And I finally was like, no, say no, and sit with yourself for a year, and then see what you want to do and who you are at this age. I'm 44. I want to do something that's going to help people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MELBER: We wanted to share that with you.

And our thanks to Chelsea Handler, some interesting thoughts here, especially at the end of the year, as we all take time to reflect.

That's the very first time we have aired that interview. I should note it was previously recorded.

Our special report on heroes protecting and serving, that is something we want to share with you as well that we think is very important. It's up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELBER: Welcome back.

Now we turn to our special report on the police officers who serve and protect and marking many who are leaders in their field. Right now, investigators are still probing the motive that drove that Nashville suicide bomber.

Six officers are being hailed, though, as heroes for evacuating residents at the scene and saving lives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I want to thank the police department in Nashville, particularly those five police officers who worked so quickly to evacuate the area before the explosion occurred, risking their own lives.

JOHN DRAKE, METROPOLITAN NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE, POLICE CHIEF: They didn't think about protecting themselves. They thought about the citizens of Nashville and protecting them.

Had they not made their efforts, we'd be talking about the tragedy of people and lives lost.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: For all the debates and controversies in our public life today, there's wide agreement and unity on one thing there, heralding those clearly heroic actions by those police officers.

And it's a reminder that, even as the debate over U.S. policing continues, with hard and significant evidence about police misconduct and racial profiling, there's also no single story to tell about the roughly 800,000 Americans who serve as police officers.

That is just one reason why every year here on THE BEAT and in my work as MSNBC's chief legal correspondent, we take a brief accounting of some of the officers who died on the job this year.

We look at their lives, their service, and we think for a moment about the families and communities that mourn what is right now, this very week, the first holiday season without them.

We're talking about officers who lose their lives protecting us in all the different ways that officers face these daily risks.

Now, we do this reporting every year with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, which tracks this all year, and also does work to support officers and their families.

Their data shows 2020 is one of the deadliest years for police officers in America in nearly 50 years. We have had years where violence takes the lives of many officers. This year, their work, their presence in the community made many police officers more exposed to a risk that, of course, took over our whole world this year, the coronavirus pandemic, which has now driven the officer death rate to its highest since the year of the September 11 terror attacks.

As you can see here, 242 officers died in 2001. And so far here in late December, you see the spike, 210 officers dying this year.

Here is how the leader of the Officer Down Memorial Page put it: "By the end of this pandemic, it's very likely COVID will surpass 9/11 as the single largest incident cause of death for law enforcement officers."

Now, the estimates are that 179 officers died of COVID this year alone. That's more than the total number of officers who died in the line of duty last year, for example.

Here, we're going to show you their faces, each one a public servant. Each face you see here is a person who's now left behind a family and friends and stories.

There's no way to even begin capturing, discussing reporting on each of these lives. But when we look at what they have done, when we take a moment, that's why we're leaving this up on the screen for you right now, to just sink in what their work and lives meant and how, from our reporting and from the stories of their friends and family, we have heard about, yes, the tragedy, but also the inspiration, the uplift, as well as the heartbreaking end.

Take one, for example, tonight, Wayne County Sheriff Benny Napoleon. He spent three weeks battling COVID on a ventilator just this month and died of the coronavirus last week.

Now, he had served 45 years in law enforcement. He had braved so many other threats, to then be felled by this one. And people tell us Napoleon was known and loved in the community. He also led a high-profile investigation into the attack on Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan.

And the type of work he did wasn't only recognized by people in his community, which was important to him. He was also recognized for his service by everyone from President Obama to Michigan Governor Whitmer, who said she was keenly aware of how his personality and gregarious love for people was key to how he led.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENNY NAPOLEON, WAYNE COUNTY, MICHIGAN, SHERIFF: I am here. I am ready to serve you!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: First responders are part of the priority targets for the vaccine, given their essential work and their regular exposure.

But, of course, the vaccines did not come soon enough for Sheriff Napoleon. Mourners attending a public viewing for him this week, lines of people outside a funeral home in the December cold, gathered before those doors even opened.

He's just, of course, one person, one of these 210 officers who pay the ultimate price. Others died this year of other police fatality causes, like gunfire and car crashes, COVID, though, the main killer.

So, as we take a moment to, of course, just learn briefly about one of them, we hope there is here some measure of proportion to think about 209 others, and then their hundreds and thousands of family, friends and community members left behind.

This all comes in a year where there has been so much loss, it is hard to comprehend it. There are times when people, when all of us may want to just turn away from all of this death to just move on.

So, tonight, we take this brief moment to turn towards it to face the lives and these deaths and to remember and honor those who serve.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MELBER: It's been a long year. We all know that.

Let's take a look at some of the moments from our "Fallback Friday"s in 2020.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: It's Friday on THE BEAT, and it's time to fall back.

The ridiculously funny, super famous comedian Kevin Hart.

Multiplatinum rapper Jadakiss.

Chris Bridges, AKA, Ludacris.

I bet you know Henry Winkler.

American icon LL Cool J.

Multiplatinum-selling rapper Yo Gotti.

Joseph "Reverend Run" Simmons and his wife, Justine Simmons.

Does he ever share his Adidas with you?

JUSTINE SIMMONS, WIFE OF JOSEPH "REVEREND RUN" SIMMONS: No.

JOSEPH "REVEREND RUN" SIMMONS, RAPPER: Yes.

Why you got to mess with my marriage, Ari?

(LAUGHTER)

MELBER: Do the buds need to fall back? And, obviously, I'm asking Joe Budden, so there is a potential pun that I won't make.

BILLY PORTER, ACTOR: Even the rats are hungry, you all.

(LAUGHTER)

DAN ABRAMS, ABC NEWS: Oh, oh. Oh, if we'd only known.

JAY WAYNE "JEEZY" JENKINS, MUSICIAN: We need to stick together. We are the people, and we the ones that got to survive this together.

MELBER: Guess who is bz-ack? Fat Joe and Bill Kristol reunited.

Who can forget the bond created, yes, right here on THE BEAT?

JOSEPH CARTAGENA, FAT JOE (singing): It's too late, baby. Yes, it's too late.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

MELBER: Let me ask you a question, Jeff.

How do millennials feel about...

JEFF GARLIN, ACTOR: You can ask me anything you want, Ari. I'm your guest. Go!

Was it not Ross Mathews who said birds of a feather...

ROSS MATHEWS, TELEVISION PERSONALITY: Flock together. Thank you. Thank you.

(LAUGHTER)

CYNTHIA MCFADDEN, NBC NEWS SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: There's way too much handshaking.

(LAUGHTER)

NICK LAVALLEE, COMEDIAN: You're like the Justin Bieber of Manchester, New Hampshire right now.

MELBER: I'm worried this segment is going off the rails. And I blame both of you.

LAVALLEE: That's what we're here to do.

RUTH MARCUS, "THE WASHINGTON POST": You're welcome.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MELBER: They said there's too much handshaking, and that was before we knew to stop shaking hands.

We will see you back here tomorrow at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

"THE REIDOUT" starts now.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END

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