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Transcript: The ReidOut, 9/24/21

Guests: Patrick Gaspard, David Robinson, David Jolly, Claire McCaskill

Summary

Partisan Arizona vote audit confirms Biden win. Arizona state senate reviews vote audit findings. Texas begins forensic audit of votes in four counties: Three more states spending taxpayer money on vote audits. Pennsylvania A.G. sues to stop collection of voter info. Democratic Representative Maloney say GOP Representative Greene was gleeful about events on January 6th.

Transcript

JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Hey, Ari, legendary.

Thank you very much. Have a great weekend Cheers.

ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: You too.

REID: All right, thank you. All right good evening everyone. We begin THE REIDOUT tonight with breaking news. Joe Biden has officially won Arizona`s most populous county of Maricopa helping to solidify his victory in the key swing state.

Oh, wait. Okay, my bad, that is not breaking news at all. We`ve known that for almost a year, since last November when the election was decided. Biden`s victory in the state was certified by the Arizona Secretary of State Katy Hobbs and witnessed by state officials, as required by law. And yet, the Republicans and MAGA cult members behind this fake Arizona fraud- it felt compelled to finalize the report today, offering nothing damming and nothing new.

And after that, after nearly $6 million and the corrupting voting equipment that tax payers will now have to replace at their expense. After all those Cheeto fingers, leaving cheat to dust and the great search for bamboo shards from Asia, after a five-month campaign lead by partisan grafter with zero election experience, the curtain has finally closed with the Republican Party of Arizona announcing that President Biden did indeed win the election.

In fact, according to their tally, Biden won by a wider margin than first thought by 360 more votes, to which I hardly say. I mean, come on, it`s funny, objectively funny.

So yes, we can laugh about how this entire ordeal ended with the Cyber Ninjas looking more like Cyber Fools. But in all seriousness, it`s no laughing matter for our democracy. Here is the rally happening right now outside the Arizona State Senate building where the sham review hearing is underway, a place where big lie slogans and militia men with semiautomatic weapons emerged.

What we`re seeing here in Arizona is a full-on attempt to over throw the democracy happening right out in the open because those kooky optics were the point. Republicans can`t win elections fairly anymore. So their new strategy is burning faith in democratic institutions to the ground and having these fake fraud-it gaslighting exercises metastasized. Arizona was just the beginner.

Republican lawmakers in other state are ramping up pretend-investigation into the 2020 election too. In Texas, known as the New Gilead, under his eye, a full forensic fraud-it of the election in four counties has begun. The secretary of state did not explain what prompted it. But the announcement did occur hours after their dear leader make a public demand for it, prompting Texas Governor Greg Abbott to take time from -- take time off from putting woman bodies under state control to green light those recounts, even though, mind you, Trump won the state of Texas. Fraudits are happening in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin too and there is nothing funny about that.

Meanwhile, we`re awaiting potentially bombshell new information about the front end of Trump`s attempted coup. Last night, the House select committee investigating January 6th subpoenaed four former Trump officials and associates for documents and depositions to be held next month. Those witnesses were not only privy to Donald Trump`s thinking before and during and after the insurrection, some were involved in the planning of the, quote/unquote, Stop the Steal rallies as well as the Pentagon`s response to the siege shortly thereafter. So, basically, laugh until you cry.

Joining me is former U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill, and Joyce Vance, MSNBC Legal Analyst and former U.S. Attorney.

Claire, I have to start with you on this because you know, you were a United States Senator in the state of Missouri where a lot of this thinking is sort of become mainstream and mainlined. It feels like what this is in the Republican Party is the refusal to accept the reality that they did accept after President Obama won, that, you know what, we`re having trouble winning voters of color. We need to do some kind of audit to figure out why we don`t want to vote for us.

That was the old way of thinking, well, wow, maybe we need to rethink our strategy. The new thinking is YOLO. We`re going to pretend we didn`t lose. We`re not going to admit it. We`re not going to psychologically accept that it`s possible for us to lose. But what do you make of my theory?

CLAIR MCCASKILL, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think the problem here is you have a leader in the Republican Party who has no regard for truth, who has lied in his entire life. I mean, this is a man who lies like other people brush their teeth and put on their shoes. It is his main way of communicating. When he doesn`t like what the truth is, he just makes up something else.

Look what he did today. I mean, his Cyber Ninjas basically say, hey, guy, you didn`t even get as many votes as you thought you got. You got less than you thought you got. And what does he do? He sends out the clarion cry to all the Trumpers in the country, hey, the mainstream media is lying here, there really was fraud.

[19:05:06]

I talked to some Trump supporters over the weekend, Joy, and I had a civil conversation with them. And let me tell you, they sincerely believe Donald Trump. They think the election was stolen. They believe this is a fraud. They believe that he is actually the legitimate president of the United States right now.

And it was so unbelievable to have a face-to-face conversation with someone who says well, yes, of course, he won. This is all just a fraud. This is just the powerful people in the swamp pulling the levers of power to take the presidency away from him. So today, he sent out a message to them, hey, guys this was still all a fraud. I`m still the president of the United States.

REID: And, you know, Joyce, the thing is at the voter level, right, because, I mean, look, (INAUDIBLE) did this audit, there was some of this after President Obama won too. Let`s just be clear. There was this idea that nobody on my bloc voted for Obama, so there no way he won. Nobody I know, I don`t know anybody that voted for that guy, so it`s not possible. Because when you see yourself as the majority and you see yourself as the mainstream, it is hard for you to believe that people unlike you of another race, of another region could possibly have gotten their way, right?

And it`s one thing for people at the voter end to believe that but there are a lot of people at the political end who -- it doesn`t matter if they believe it, they`re acting on it.

Let`s go to Pennsylvania. You`ve had now Pennsylvania`s attorney general, who is a Democrat, who`s now filed a lawsuit against the Republican state lawmakers. Because what they have done in the state of Pennsylvania is to try to subpoena detailed personal information about voters. So they want to be able to rifle through people`s personal information because they know that a lot of voters believe what Claire -- the people that Claire talked to believe, right? And that they`re willing to reinforce that. Because they think that will help them win elections.

My worry is that this -- we can laugh about it but this is now become a feature of our politics on the Republican side.

JOYCE VANCE, MSNBC LEGAL ANALYST: It`s an incredibly damaging trend. When you think about it on one hand, this is voter intimidation. You`ll remember, Joy, that in Arizona right after the fraudit started, DOJ sent a letter to the state of Arizona and said we`ve got some concerns about this so-called audit that you`re doing. You`re going to lose control of ballots, which are required to keeping your custody for 22 months after an election, but we`re also worried about people going out and knocking on the doors of Arizona voters because you`re asking the Cyber Ninjas to find out if voters were legitimate voters.

DOJ raised those concerns and those same issues are implicated in Pennsylvania and other states now. It`s not just voter intimidation, which would be more than bad enough. Now we`re talking about collecting information on voters. We know that that information can be used in really negative ways. In 2017, when Trump was still president, he had created a so-called commission on election integrity and they were the first group that Trump put together. Their job was to look for fraud. They had to fold a couple months into their operation because they didn`t find any fraud. But what they were caught doing was collecting information on voters and asking states to turn that information over. It was clear that was being collected for political purposes. That was enough to shut them down in 2017. The problem is, now it doesn`t seem to provoke as much outrage.

REID: Well, and also they`re putting in place people at the local level and at the election counting level who they know will go along with it or who believe it, or who actually believe this fiction that it`s just not possible for Republicans to lose elections. It just impossible, that unless they win, it`s fraud.

I want to play one of the sort of people who normally I would say this is an extreme but this is a mainstream Republican. This is Sean Patrick Maloney who runs the DCCC taking about who is the happiest on January 6th.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D-NY): I was in that undisclosed location with a bunch of Republicans who were, one in particular was gleeful that what was transpiring outside. It took me a minute to understand why she was having such a good time. But I saw it. I saw it with their staff who caught up with her. They were excited about what was going on. They had been at the White House, I believe, the day before talking about what was going to happen.

NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: Who was the gleeful Republican member of Congress?

MALONEY: Well, I don`t want to say but her initials are Marjorie Taylor Greene.

WALLACE: Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: I mean, Claire, you know, Margie three-names basically has been replicated all across this country at the local level and people like her are going to be in charge of counting the votes in 2022 and 2024. That`s what scares me. The coup ain`t over.

MCCASKILL: Well, there is no question that what they`re trying to do is not just keep people from voting, but also to rig the count. And that`s what is the scariest thing.

[19:10:02]

I actually have said on this program and other programs, I think the more they publicly try to keep people from voting, the more it`s going to motivate our voters to get out there.

But rigging the count is a whole different kennel of fish and that is a huge problem. And that is why we got to make sure that DOJ is on point here. We got to make sure that we`re bringing lawsuits everywhere we can and, frankly, we got to remember, Joy, there is elections out there that matter besides U.S. Senate and president and governor. We have got to pay attention to local elections.

And Democratic donors across the country that are busy sending $20, $30 to somebody who has got a slam dunk race, do your homework. Find races, local races where you can really make a difference. I think that`s one thing the Republicans have done much better than we have over the last decade.

REID: They`re going from the school board up. They`re trying to infect the same sort of fascist menology all the way from school board up using fake issues, like critical race theory and mask mandates, to get their voters motivated and even chasing these voting laws. They`re even pretty open. This isn`t about GOtv. This is about motivating their voters by trying to guarantee them a win. So if you just come out and vote, we guarantee that you`re going to win because we`re not going to let the other people vote or we are going to rig the count.

I want to read a little bit from a Robert Kagan column that is scaring everyone, Joyce. This is sort of everyone`s worst nightmare. Here`s a little piece of it. He writes Trump charges a fraud in the 2020 election are primarily aimed at establishing the predicate to challenge future election results that do not go his way. The amateurish Stop the Steal efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump and his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020.

The big nightmare, Joyce, is that they will rig the system by owning the system and running the system and there won`t be the goo-goo good government local Republicans that stop them. Next time, they`ll just take the election regardless of what the majority says.

VANCE: Joy, I can remember a time not very long ago when people like you and people like Claire who raised this issue were dismissed as being hyperbolic or alarmists. And the reality is that this is always been the narrative underlying what Trump is doing.

The big lie unrealistically strove to overturn the 2020 election. What it really is now and the reason that it has continued for so long into the Biden presidency is it sets the tone and the narrative for 2022 and 2024. And, obviously, the former president and perhaps other operatives in the Republican Party have realized that it`s possible to sell the American people a negative narrative, a bill of goods that says elections are fraudulent and that they hope will let them take over elections in the future.

REID: Claire, did D.C. Republicans, particularly on the Senate side, did they understand that, in your view?

MCCASKILL: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Most of the Republicans in the Senate are privately embarrassed at the big lie and the fact that all of them are too timid to take on what is now, without any doubt, the controlling base of their party.

REID: But do the Democrats get it? Like are the Democrats prepared to fight this?

MCCASKILL: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. I think everyone gets what is going on. And I think there is frustration because we have such an evenly divided Senate. I mean we have an evenly divided Senate and just have a majority because we have a couple people elected that, frankly, especially those in states that Trump won by more than 20 points. I mean, they are Democrats but they are there because they have always campaigned as somebody who was more moderate than the Democratic Party.

So, we have this horrible conflict of trying to get to 51 on things or trying to reform the filibuster to get at this. That`s why it`s so important. And by the way, even doing this stuff in Washington doesn`t necessarily take care of the state and local level.

REID: For real.

MCCASKILL: So take a chill here and realize even if we did away with the filibuster, that doesn`t fix this problem. You got to fix this problem at the local level. So, start paying attention who your local recorder is, who the county clerk is, who your secretary of state is, get involved in those elections.

REID: It is not Sunday but you can get an amen and halleluiah for that. Claire McCaskill, thank you very much. Joyce Vance, thank you very much. Ladies have a great weekend.

Up next on THE REIDOUT, President Biden promises consequences for the mistreatment of Haitians migrants. Ambassador Patrick Gaspard is just back from the southern border. He joins me next on what he saw and what needs to be done.

Plus, this week, you heard us discuss a thing called the missing white woman syndrome, the cases that get all the media attention.

[19:15:00]

But what about the missing people of color? Now, we are seeing an uptick in coverage. And tonight, I`m joined by the father of Daniel Robinson who went missing in June.

And imagine a white MAGA Senate candidate lecturing the children of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Junior about what their dad, their father stood for. We live in strange times, you all.

THE REIDOUT continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas confirmed today that no migrants remain at the bridge encampment in Del Rio, Texas. This is a dramatic development nearly a week after 15,000 people, most of them Haitians, converge at the border crossing.

According to Mayorkas, since Sunday, 17 repatriation flights have returned about 2,000 Haitian nationals to Haiti. About 12,000 individuals were relocated and will have their cases heard by an immigration judge to make a determination on whether they will be removed or permitted to remain in the United States. Roughly 8,000 have decided to remain in Mexico.

[19:20:08]

Many migrants face expulsion because they are not covered by protections extended by the Biden administration, called temporary protected status, that granted more than 100,000 Haitians the right to remain on American soil if they were here prior to July 29.

Mayorkas once again reiterated the administration`s determination that, despite a recent presidential assassination and earthquake, Haiti is capable of receiving return nationals. The administration has relied on a rarely used public health law invoked by the Trump administration called Title 42 to suspend all entry to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

Critics are calling for an end to the use of Title 42.

Earlier in the day, President Biden took responsibility for what was happening at the border.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Of course I take responsibility. I`m President. But it was horrible what -- to see, as you saw -- to see people treated like they did, horses nearly running them over and people being strapped. It`s outrageous.

I promise you, those people will pay.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: While they`re willing to take responsibility, it doesn`t look like the administration will end expulsions anytime soon.

Vice President Harris, the administration`s point person immigration at the Southern border, did acknowledge that more had to be done to help Haiti during a rather weirdly elated appearance on "The View."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMALA HARRIS, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have got to do more. There`s no question, the United States is a member of the Western hemisphere. Haiti is our neighbor in that regard. And so we have to do more in terms of supporting the Haitians who are returning to the island, returning to Haiti.

We have got to do more, without any question, to support Haiti in terms of its need to get back up and to recover.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: For more, I`m joined by Patrick Gaspard, president of the Center For American progress, former ambassador to South Africa and former White House political director during the Obama administration.

He toured the Del Rio encampment yesterday.

And, Patrick, it`s always great to see you.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mayorkas has been doing a round of media interviews on CNN, on MSNBC. He was on this program as well last week.

I want to let you hear his latest comments about whether or not Haiti ought to, in its current state, be receiving migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, U.S. SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We have continued to study the conditions in Haiti. And we have, in fact, determined, despite the tragic and devastating earthquake, that Haiti is, in fact, capable of receiving individuals.

And we are working with Haiti and with humanitarian relief agencies to ensure that their return is as safe and humanely accomplished as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Based on what about what`s going on in Haiti right now, do you agree with that?

PATRICK GASPARD, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH AFRICA: Absolutely not. I respectfully disagree with my friend Secretary Mayorkas.

Let me first, Joy, acknowledge the progress we did make today. It`s terribly important that, in two separate appearances, the president and the vice president acknowledged that what occurred at the border was inhumane, reprehensible, and hearkened back to some of the worst history that we have had here in the U.S.

The president said there would be consequences. And we`re beginning to see that. I will also acknowledge that Secretary Mayorkas is now allowing migrants asylum seekers to come into the U.S. to have their cases adjudicated.

We don`t have transparency. There are human rights attorneys who need to provide counsel to those asylum seekers. And I was in Haiti right before the pandemic, Joy, even before the pandemic. Folks were still reeling from the earthquake. They were reeling from tropical storms. And there was profound political violence in the country as a consequence of the illegal, unconstitutional extension of President Jovenel Moise`s term.

He tragically was assassinated in July. We need to appreciate that there`s a connection between the dislocations in Haiti, the policies that we have supported there, and what we`re seeing now seeing at the border. So I respectfully disagree with the secretary on that one point, even while acknowledging the progress that they made in very short order.

I also want to say, Joy, that we have to acknowledge that advocacy works, because the combined voices of Americans who said, this is not us, compelled the administration to act.

REID: Yes, I mean, it was seeing people being essentially herded like cattle, and men, women and even children in that condition was shocking, I think, for anyone with eyes, right?

I have to just bring up the elephant in the room, because you were an ambassador and you know what this role is like. To have the special envoy to Haiti resign in such a dramatic fashion, and that letter that was written was pretty alarming. And I think he spoke for a lot of people who felt sort of disgust at seeing the way that Haitian migrants are being treated.

At the same time, the pushback against him has also been kind of alarming, in that one of the things the administration, that the State Department is saying is an Ambassador Foote, that one of his ideas that he put forward that was declined by the administration was sending the military into Haiti.

[19:25:03]

Well, that doesn`t sound like that makes any sense either. And that is also alarming.

I don`t understand. Like, is there anyone that actually has a good idea about what to do regarding our island neighbor?

GASPARD: There`s a lot to unpack there, Joy.

But I have to tell you that I`m having a really emotional reaction to the footage that you just showed again. You know that I`m Haitian American.

REID: Of course.

GASPARD: My family came here in a (AUDIO GAP) welcomed by our fellow Americans.

And it`s difficult to see what happened. And I was there at the border yesterday speaking to women, pregnant women, who traveled 5,000 miles to seek freedom here, who said that there`s no way they can be sent back to Haiti because of the policies that you just described.

I know Ambassador Dan Foote. I worked with him in his two months as envoy. I will tell you that he is one of the few in the American administration over several presidencies who acknowledged Haitian civil society, who leaned into the aspirations of average Haitians, who just want a democratic path for their country.

And so there was a resonance that he found that in community. Many of us were not surprised by his resignation because he had expressed some real disagreements with the path of policy. So I just want to say that the Haitian American community found the ambassador that be somebody with integrity and to be purposeful.

And in that letter, not only that he speaks of the inhumane treatment of Haitians at the border, but he spoke directly to failed U.S. policy in Haiti and said very clearly that, if we are not endorsing and supporting the path that`s been carved out by over 300 civil society groups who have courageously come together to talk about what future democratic aspirations should look like in Haiti, then we will continue to have these kinds of crises at our border.

It`s important to bring these two pieces together.

REID: Yes, indeed. I have to let you listen...

(CROSSTALK)

REID: Oh, absolutely.

I even hate to play this for you. But I`m going to let you listen to what some Republicans -- because they haven`t exactly been honest brokers on this. They have been using this horror that we have all watched for politics, of course. And here`s what some of them have been saying about these migrants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRIAN BABIN (R-TX): We know what the Democrats are up to here. They want open borders. This is exactly their strategy. They want to replace the American electorate with a Third World electorate that will be on welfare and public assistance.

TUCKER CARLSON, FOX NEWS: In political terms, this policy is called the great replacement, the replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from faraway countries. They brag about it all the time.

But if you dare to say it`s happening, they will scream at you with maximum hysteria.

CHARLIE KIRK, FOUNDER, TURNING POINT USA: We`re going to talk more about that. We`re going to talk about how the other side is -- has openly admitted that this is about bringing in voters that they want and they like and, honestly, diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So that is obvious and blatant white nationalism. The Great Replacement Theory is white nationalist. What you just heard was white nationalism.

What do you make of the fact that it is now open white nationalism?

GASPARD: Yes, there was a time when people used to sound dog whistle, and there`d be some race-baiting. That`s just straight up racism.

What Tucker Carlson said, that conspiracy, that theory around the great replacement is straight-up racism. It`s nothing new in this country. We have had that kind of rhetoric, that kind of violence in the past.

I will tell you that there were individuals who were dressed in full kind of military regalia who greeted Reverend Sharpton and I at the border yesterday. They were using that rhetoric, and they were trying to incite us into some kind of a violent reaction.

But you know what I also saw yesterday? I saw hundreds of Del Rio residents. This is -- Del Rio a small town. I saw those residents who are average Americans come out and give food, shelter, lend whatever assistance they could to those asylum seekers and refugees.

And I like to think that that`s the real heart of America, and not what we`re seeing on FOX News and elsewhere and...

REID: Amen.

(CROSSTALK)

GASPARD: ... aisle that the Republicans occupy.

REID: Yes, amen to that. Let us hope.

Patrick Gaspard, my friend, thank you very much. It`s always a pleasure speaking with you. All the best to you. Thank you so much.

Still ahead: the search for Daniel Robinson. The family of a 24-year-old Arizona geologist missing since June is not giving up hope, but they need your help.

His father, David, joins us next. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:33:46]

REID: Earlier this week, we had a conversation about the Gabby Petito case and the lack of coverage for missing people of color. It`s called missing white woman syndrome.

And, boy, did that start a conversation. But despite how upset some people got about our mentioning this aspect of media bias, with a hat tip to the late, great Gwen Ifill, people are now paying more attention to some of these other cases, like Jelani Day, who was reported missing in Illinois in late August.

Sadly, his body was identified yesterday. It had been in a county morgue for weeks. His family criticized police for dragging their feet in trying to find him.

And there`s the case in Arizona of Daniel Robinson, who has been missing for three months. The 24-year-old geologist was last seen leaving a job site in the desert. Nearly a month later, his jeep was spotted overturned in a ravine only a few miles away. According to police, his cell phone, wallet and keys were found with the vehicle. They say no foul play is suspected.

But Daniel Robinson`s father says police have dropped the ball in the search for his son. As a result, he`s hired a private investigator and is taking up the search himself.

David Robinson joins me now.

And, Mr. Robinson, I am so sorry for what you`re going through. I have children your son`s age. And so this one hits me hard, as a mom.

[19:35:02]

So, let`s talk about this. I noticed your story. After the whole conversation started about missing white woman syndrome, lots of people started tweeting your story and your petition to me. And that is how I found out about it, not through mainstream media, not through local news.

Tell me how -- tell me your son`s story. Your son went out to Arizona. And then what happened?

DAVID ROBINSON, FATHER OF DANIEL ROBINSON: Well, my son, he graduated from the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina.

Straight out of college, he came out to Arizona, in Tucson, to take a final class. From there, he landed his job in Phoenix here with Matrix New World. And he was very happy to be here in Arizona, mainly so because he`s a geologist, and that gave him an opportunity to work his profession, and also the things that he loved, do the things that he loved.

REID: So, when your son went missing, how long did it take before the last time you heard from him and when you said, OK, he`s just not calling?

Young people sometimes won`t check in. When did you make the connection that this is something other than him not just checking in?

ROBINSON: Well, my daughter, she lives in Phoenix also. People from his job came over there to her apartment, notified her that they was looking for him.

Of course, she`s going to call me or her mother. She called me about it. We didn`t think anything too bad, other than he was started to not answering his phone. That was the first unusual -- after, I realized it was from the time he -- they say he was last seen at his job and the time that he wasn`t answering the phone, it comes six hours.

For Daniel, that`s totally unusual.

REID: Yes.

ROBINSON: He would never, ever get to that point.

REID: And what did local police do when you contacted them? What did they tell you?

ROBINSON: Well, they was helpful for the first day. They took the report.

First, they told me I had to wait 12 hours, which I was three hours off. I called back after the three hours. They took my report. And they allowed -- they also started asking questions around the job to try to locate him that way.

I think one of the officers, Cruz (ph), went out and did a drive-through of the street area, not in the desert. I requested them to go out to look for my son. And they told me, of course, he`s a grown man. So -- and it was at night also, so they couldn`t go out.

The next morning, I asked them the same question. Hey, can you all please go out there and look for my son? Then Officer Cruz told me that they were going to go out there, but then he called me back an hour or so later and say, it`s been denied from the higher-ups because he`s a grown man, and he has the right to leave if he want to.

From that point, I have an auntie who called. And I don`t know what she said to them, but she called me back and said, hey, they`re going to send a Firebird out from Phoenix, Arizona. And that was the first search.

But, by that time, they told me the first time they were going out for my son, I was in my car already heading to Phoenix. By the time I got to Phoenix, that`s when they was out, on the 26th.

REID: Yes.

And, I mean, he has a right to leave if he wants to, but his car is overturned. They find his keys, they find his wallet. That`s not somebody just heading off on a vacay or not -- deciding they want to go away.

The circumstances surrounding your son`s disappearance are so strange, that it would seem to be sort of a natural story for media to pick up. Did you get the sense that local media, that people were taking an interest in his story, due to all of these bizarre items that are associated with it?

ROBINSON: Well, of course, I started my own search...

REID: Yes.

ROBINSON: ... from 80 almost 200 people.

We had been doing it for several weeks. And, in the meantime, I was definitely try to reach out to the media. I was able to get some media coverage with the local news.

REID: Sure.

ROBINSON: I was desperately trying to get more coverage through social media and things like that to try to get national attention, because I wasn`t getting anything from the Buckeye Police Department at the time.

So, I had to take matters into my own hand. It just took three months to do so.

REID: And do you feel that the police have failed you in this matter?

ROBINSON: Yes, I do. Yes, I do.

And the biggest part is the urgency.

REID: Yes.

ROBINSON: I feel like, if it was something taken seriously from day one -- prime example is the Gabby story.

Every situation should be handled the same way.

REID: Yes.

ROBINSON: I think first 24 or 48 hours is crucial to finding someone.

REID: Thank you for pointing that out, because I think also because he`s a guy, and not a young woman, and there`s all sorts of factors into what people pay attention to.

But you`re absolutely right. Each of these stories should be treated with the same urgency.

We wish you the best of luck. Please keep in touch with us. And we will also keep in touch with you and stay on top of Daniel`s story.

David Robinson, thank you. And wishing you all the very best. Thank you so much.

All right, if anybody has any information that could help find Daniel, you can reach David Robinson at this Web site, pleasehelpfindDaniel.com, pleasehelpfindDaniel.com. Or you can contact the Buckeye, Arizona, police at 623-349-6400. That`s 623-349-6400. Please help if you have any information at all.

[19:40:18]

OK, we have got a lot of politics to talk about coming up on THE REIDOUT. And that continues after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REID: The virus now infecting the Republican Party, not COVID, which they weirdly want to sop up like gravy with a biscuit, has left the party firmly in the hands of, well, cranks and kooks.

Look at the Ohio U.S. Senate primary race to the bottom, where ferociously anti-non-white refugee former state Treasurer Josh Mandel is on Twitter lecturing the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.`s adult children about their own father`s legacy, telling Martin Luther King Jr. -- Martin Luther King II -- get this -- "You don`t know what you`re talking about."

[19:45:03]

And he told King`s daughter Dr. Bernice King, to spare him lectures about her father`s legacy, which he specifically works to preserve.

He went on to tell the CEO of the King Center that he`d take his civil rights guidance from her cousin, Alveda King, thank you, which is unsurprising, since she is a big fan of the disgraced former president and a fixture over at FOX News.

Josh Mandel undoubtedly knows nothing that Dr. King actually preached, beyond "I have a dream." He probably memorized just that one line. So he should take under advisement Dr. King`s own words.

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."

Meanwhile, hedge fund hillbilly grifter J.D. Vance, in an interview this week where he defended the Texas abortion ban, was asked if anti-abortion laws should make exceptions for rape and incest.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), OHIO SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: It`s not whether women should be forced to bring a child to term. It`s whether a child should be allowed to live, even though the circumstances of that child`s birth are somehow inconvenient or a problem to the society.

The question really to me is about the baby.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

REID: Well, no one thought to ask of J.D. what she thought about Commander Vance`s thoughts, not that they could. Under his eye.

Maybe they could query her Martha.

Now, keep in mind, Ohio`s ostensibly moderate former Governor John Kasich signed into law some of the most restrictive abortion bans. So Vance`s beliefs are more or less mainstream in the Gilead old party.

But in a sign of our dark future, these two fear-mongering MAGA suck-ups are now two of Ohio Republican stop alternatives to replace the normcore, bland current Republican Senator Rob Portman, who`s retiring and getting the hell out of kooky town, because, in the current GOP, the only thing that matters is that orange Julius Caesar gets the minions he wants.

I`m joined now by Dean Obeidallah, host of "The Dean Obeidallah Show" on SiriusXM and an MSNBC columnist, and David Jolly, former Republican congressman who is no longer affiliated with the party.

And I love that you emphasize that, David, but I`m going to make you answer for this one, because, right now in Ohio is kooky or kookier. You have got these two guys, one of whom despises non-white refugees, despite his own family having a history as coming to the United States as refugees, and now thinks he knows more about Dr. King than Dr. King`s own children.

Your thoughts?

FMR. REP. DAVID JOLLY (R-FL): Joy, can I just cede my time to you to continue with your riff...

REID: No. No.

JOLLY: ... because you`re nailing it. Everything...

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

REID: You may not.

JOLLY: Listen, so we`re so far out from 2022, here`s what I will tell you.

I`m a relatively informed politico analysis, whatever you want to call me, and I otherwise wouldn`t be paying attention to this race, but for the fact that J.D. Vance and this other guy are in this race to out-stupid each other.

And you kind of have to pay attention like every single day for who`s going to say something more stupid than the other. But you hit on something very interesting, which is they are looking to succeed Rob Portman.

And Rob Portman is actually from that -- call it the Jeb Bush, Chamber of Commerce, cerebral Republican class. He was an OMB director under George w., George 43, a fairly traditional Republican. And so I think if you can take any analysis from what we`re watching in this evolution in Republican Ohio politics right now, it`s that look at where we`re going to, from Rob Portman now to J.D. Vance or Josh Mandel.

And that tells you everything you need to know about the Republican Party today.

REID: Rob Portman doesn`t fit in. He doesn`t have giant red shoes and a red nose to put on and crazy red hair. You have to be like "Whew!" to be Republican now or, else you don`t really fit in at all.

Dean Obeidallah, let`s go to the state of Georgia, where the favorite of Donald the Trump is Herschel Walker. A few things about Herschel Walker. He had threatened his former life -- former wife`s life -- threatened her life during and after her marriage. She ended up getting a protective order in 2005.

He has written about his dissociative identity disorder, which used to be known as multiple personality disorder. He`s written and his given interviews about playing Russian roulette with a gun. He`s lived in Texas since 2011. And so his current wife was investigated for illegally voting in the state of Georgia.

That is Donald Trump`s candidate. And so guess what Mitch McConnell says? "Oh, there are some things written that indicate he`s had some challenges to his life. On the other hand, the good news, he`s made some very impressive performances on national television."

Your thoughts?

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, MSNBC DAILY COLUMNIST: I think he should move to Ohio and make it a real fight between him and J.D. Vance and Josh Mandel.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: Although they`re vastly different, Mandel and Vance are out -- trying to out-bigot each other.

Herschel Walker`s -- it doesn`t matter anything about their past. There`s one thing, Joy. Will you pledge a loyalty oath to Donald Trump? All that it`s about.

So he`s Trump`s guy. He played for the Washington Generals when Donald Trump owned that football team. He loves him. That`s all -- there`s nothing else.

So, he will campaign on: I have had problems. I might have some -- a few personalities. Vote for of all my personalities in this election.

[19:50:00]

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: But Donald Trump likes me.

And I`m not making fun of if he had some actual disorder.

REID: No.

OBEIDALLAH: I hope the best for him, that he`s done with it.

But again, none of that matters. All that matters is loyalty to Trump. And that`s what that election is about, just like Jody Hice running against Brad Raffensperger for secretary of state, because Jody Hice is way out there.

Jody Hice, they actually said, should women run for office? And he said, as long as they have the permission of their husband. That`s Jody Hice running for Congress...

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: For secretary of state. And he`s in Congress now.

So, he -- in Georgia, the bigots are much more troubling than Herschel Walker, who has got some personal issues. Loyalty to Trump is all that matters.

REID: OK, real quick. Lightning round.

What`s your favorite breakfast cereal?

Dean?

OBEIDALLAH: I`m not sure. Raisin bran. Raisin bran.

REID: Raisin bran.

OK, David favorite -- your favorite breakfast cereal?

JOLLY: Is Red Bull a cereal?

(LAUGHTER)

REID: No.

JOLLY: No. I don`t know.

REID: I`m going to answer for you. Captain Crunch is the best breakfast cereal.

Now let me see -- let me let you guys know what Michael Flynn thinks he might be having soon for breakfast.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FLYNN, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Somebody sent me a thing this morning where they`re talking about putting the vaccine into salad dressing or salads. Have you seen this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Oh, I thought it was breakfast cereal. I`m sorry. It was -- mine was funnier. He should have said it would be in your cereal. He said it was in the salad dressing.

So, that`s totally sane, David. I messed that up.

JOLLY: Joy, no.

REID: Totally sane to say it`s going to be on your salad.

JOLLY: There`s something good that can come from this, because now the MAGA constituency might start ordering their salad dressing on the side, which is a more responsible dietary tool.

(LAUGHTER)

REID: I don`t know why it was a breakfast cereal in my head. But I think this actually worked out better.

Let`s talk about Marjorie Taylor Greene.

OBEIDALLAH: Sure.

REID: So she basically, to me, is those two old guys that were in "The Muppet Show" that are up in the balcony screaming at everyone and screaming at the other Muppets while they`re trying to do the show.

Like, that`s actually her job, apparently, now. So she was screaming at not only Debbie Dingell, who is her senior, but anyone else who walked out of the Capitol today, just screaming at them and being like, ah!

Your thoughts, Dean?

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: Was she screaming, please pay attention to me?

(CROSSTALK)

OBEIDALLAH: Did she just scream, please pay attention to me?

She -- who put honey Moderna dressing in my food?

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: You have got her screaming about -- she literally just wants attention. She`s on no committees. She`s got nothing else to do, but scream at other members of Congress for attention.

And here`s the worst part. In the first quarter, she raised like $3 million in campaign contributions. So we look at her and go like, wow, that`s almost unstable, there`s somebody scary. Republican base looks at her and go, I love that. I`m going to send that person money.

Again, that is far more scary than the yelling of people on the Hill there. When I saw that, I couldn`t believe it, yelling at Debbie Dingell, who`s a very nice person.

REID: I guess we should just be happy she wasn`t armed while screaming. No.

And on a more serious note, David, I mean, these Republicans are going to run on race-baiting Haitian migrants and claiming that they`re -- that they are part of great Replacement Theory, on Critical Race Theory, which is taught in law school, supposedly infecting the minds of white children, and on anti-maskism basically demanding that children infect each other with COVID in school.

That is the 2022 campaign on the Republican side. Is there any chance that, despite redistricting and gerrymandering, that will not succeed? Is there any chance that that fails, we hope?

JOLLY: Yes, look, Republican Republicans have an advantage in the House because they could pick up eight to 10 seats just through redistricting.

But you hit on something very important. The Republican playbook in 22 `is about culture wars and this idea of Replacement Theory, of critical race. This is all -- use the word racism. This is a racist Republican platform.

And when I see Replacement Theory I think of this. It`s the poem on the Statue of Liberty, Emma Lazarus, who says, bring me your tired your poor yearning to be free.

The fascinating thing is, the passage before that, she says, hey, keep oh, distant lands, keep old world. Other countries, keep your pomp, keep your famous, keep your fabulous. Send me, send us, the United States, your tired, your poor, those yearning to be free.

REID: Yes.

JOLLY: The story of the United States is a story of diversity and immigration. Today`s Republicans don`t want you to believe that.

REID: Well, they don`t like Emma Lazarus. She was too woke. She was too woke.

David and Dean are going to stick around for "Who Won the Week?" And you should too. It`s going to be fun.

We will be back in a second.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:58:12]

REID: Well, folks, once again, we have made it to Friday. And that means it`s time to play our favorite game, "Who Won the Week?"

Back with me, Dean Obeidallah, David Jolly.

David Jolly, who won the week?

JOLLY: Texas Democrats, the news that Beto O`Rourke might run for governor of the state of Texas.

Look, he is a rock star among Democratic politics. He`s a national figure. He can nationalize this race. We know that, statewide, in Texas, Democrats continue to encroach upon Republicans. Beto is not the perfect candidate, right? Some of his statements on guns, some of his statements on other progressive issues don`t seem too Texan.

But the reality is, Texas Democrats have somebody that could be a massive fund-raiser and could nationalize the Texas race. We will see. There`s a lot of chatter about an independent third party run as well.

REID: Yes.

JOLLY: But Texas Democrats won this week.

REID: OK, all right. That could be a very interesting race.

All right, Dean Obeidallah, who won the week?

OBEIDALLAH: Hold on to your hat.

(LAUGHTER)

OBEIDALLAH: I`m picking a Republican. And you may not have picked it up, but I`m not a fan of the GOP.

His name is Jack Sellers, the chair of the Maricopa County Board of Elections. He`s a Republican. For months, he`s been denouncing that sham audit as a grift. He said it`s craziness. You`re wasting time.

And, sure enough, the report comes out, and he`s proven correct. In fact, not only did the Jack Sellers win the week, but Joe Biden won it as well, because he keeps winning Arizona.

(CROSSTALK)

REID: There you go.

(CROSSTALK)

OBEIDALLAH: Blue states should do audits, because so we just can have -- Biden wins every week. Well, he wins again.

(CROSSTALK)

REID: He`s just going to win every week.

Well, my choice was going to be whoever made the "Imeach" sign for Lauren Boebert, because I`m -- I`m -- yes, "Imeach Biden."

But I`m picking Melba Wilson. Today, she hosted Meghan Markle and Prince Harry at her wonderful restaurant, Melba`s in Harlem. There they are.

Oh, my God, I`m so proud of Melba. That was awesome.

That is tonight`s REIDOUT.

"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.