Summary
Exclusive new recordings of Trump family on Donald Trump. Trump's children lavish praise on his presidency. Mary Trump on secret recordings shared exclusively with THE REIDOUT. Ivana and Jared earned at least $36 million in outside income in 2019. Don Trump Jr.'s hunting trip cost $60,000 more than admitted by USSS. RNC paints violent, gloomy image of America under Trump.
Transcript
AYMAN MOHYELDIN, MSNBC HOST: Joy Reid is up next.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: Tonight, exclusive new audio clips from Mary Trump, the niece of Donald Trump, talking to Trump's sister, Maryanne Trump Barry. You will hear what she says about the Trump relationship with his adult children, plus his relationship with God.
Let me just set the scene for you on this Friday, and Happy Friday, by the way. Trump spent the week selling a delusion image of America under Democratic rule, and he used the people's house as his monarchical backdrop, inside what he views as Trump palace.
We saw a parade of courtesans and court jesters competing for his attention, but nothing compared to the performance put on by the rumored would-be heir to the throne, his only resume is their surname adult children.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
IVANKA TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: Dad, people attack you for being unconventional, but I love you for being real and I respect you for being effective.
TIFFANY TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S DAUGHTER: My father has made me believe that America can truly be great again.
ERIC TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S SON: I miss working alongside you every single day, but I'm damn proud to be on the frontlines of this fight. I'm proud of what you're doing for this country.
DONALD TRUMP JR., DONALD TRUMP'S SON: America is the greatest country on Earth, but my father's entire world view revolves around the idea that we can always do even better. Imagine the life you want to have.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Okay. As I mentioned, tonight, we have new insight into that family, the family that comes from Mary Trump's secretly recorded conversations with her aunt, Maryanne Barry, who is the president's sister. These recordings that we're about to play exclusively are snippets of two separate conversations. They were recorded sometime in late 2018 and early 2019.
Now, I should not that we were not provided with the full recordings. And in the recordings we're going to play for you, we can hear Maryanne Trump Barry and Mary Trump discuss Ivanka Trump during the period of the Trump administration initiated their child separation policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARYANNE TRUMP BARRY, DONALD TRUMP'S SISTER: When that damn Ivanka puts this picture of the Madonna and Child on Instagram when the big news of the day was how kids are being ripped from their families. I couldn't blame -- I'd never heard of Samantha Bee before. I couldn't blame what she said.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: So, in that recording, Maryanne Trump Barry was referring to Samantha Bee, the comedian, who had slammed Ivanka, calling her oblivious, among other things, after she posted this image of herself and her child at the same time that the country was learning that the Trump administration was separating migrant children from their families.
Now, the next clip that you're about to hear, Mary Trump and her aunt talk about Eric and Ivanka's ambitions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY: Meanwhile, Eric has become the moron publicly, Ivanka gives a (BLEEP). She's all about her.
MARY TRUMP, DONALD TRUMP'S NIECE: Yes, she's a mini-Donald.
BARRY: She's a mini-Donald, but yet he's besotted with her. He always has been. She's always been his favorite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: And we also hear what Maryanne thinks about her brother, Donald.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY: And then you get Donald, who won't do anything for anybody, unless it's going to inure to his -- I mean, he won't do any -- publicly. I mean, if you -- anything he did, he says, look what I've done. Aren't I wonderful. And he is as tight as a duck's ass, just like dad was, really.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Now, we've reached out to Maryanne Trump Barry for comment but have not heard back.
I'm now joined by Mary Trump, Donald Trump's niece and Author of Too Much and Never Enough, the best-selling book that has sold millions and millions of copies. Mary Trump, it's good to talk to you again, and also thank you for being on with us to sort of unpack the convention. It was something else, the convention, I should say.
M. TRUMP: It was, indeed.
REID: I think a lot of people want to know what tight as a duck's posterior -- what does that mean, exactly?
M. TRUMP: It just means really cheap.
REID: I kind of guessed it meant cheap, but, okay, thank you for clearing that up.
M. TRUMP: It's a little more colorful.
REID: So, Donald Trump really put on a show of his family, really pushed the adult children forward, even Tiffany pushed them all out forward. What do you think the purpose of doing that was this week?
M. TRUMP: I think it was twofold. You know, it was, on the one hand, to (INAUDIBLE) bona fide as a great family man, and on the other hand, it was a not-so-subtle faint towards a monarchical succession, which is a little terrifying. Because as you know mentioned, he co-opted the people's house for his own political ends with the considerable help of his party.
REID: And so -- right, because there two parts of it. Like part of me thought that he saw Joe Biden being lauded by friends and his family and how much love there was in the Biden family, and also Kamala Harris, having her sister and her niece send her up, and maybe got jealous. And then maybe he decided to do it. And that maybe the kids sort of got in on it on trying to sort of part him as being similar.
And I ask that because there was a part in presentation when Ivanka Trump talks about her son building a replica of the White House and that it being displayed by granddad in the Oval Office, which isn't like a Donald Trump-sounding thing that like he might do.
And then a lot of folks have pointed out, including some Republican friends have said, wait a minute, didn't she tell that exact same story about herself, saying that when she was 13, she made a replica of Trump Tower and Trump put it in his office. Do you suspect that maybe that story was a recycle? What do you make of that?
M. TRUMP: Well, first of all, from what I understand, not only was that story Ivanka told debunked, she admitted that it wasn't true, and it was also lifted from a story told in the Art of the Deal about when Donald allegedly stole Robert's blocks and glued them together, which, from what I understand, is also probably not true.
So, I guess gluing children's building blocks together is genetic, I don't know, but it's remarkable how similar the stories are.
REID: It is. Let me play another bite, and thank you for providing us with this audio. Here is the conversation that you had with your aunt about the DREAMERs. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY: Well, what he did with the DREAMERs. I mean --
M. TRUMP: Oh, God, that's --
BARRY: I am so much in support. No, but he changed his (INAUDIBLE) -- but he denies it. I mean, he would deny he changed his mind.
M. TRUMP: Of course he did. Well, it's just like with the kids who are now in de facto concentration camps down in Texas, he is blaming the Democrats for it. It is the Democrats' horrible policy, so which suggests that he thinks it's a bad thing and yet he is allowing it to continue.
BARRY: It is mind-boggling.
M. TRUMP: Mind-boggling.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I mean, the de facto concentration camp stands out to me as a way to describe this. Your aunt was a judge. Was this recording made while she was still a judge?
M. TRUMP: Yes, but she's been inactive for a while. I don't believe at the time she was on the bench.
REID: And so did she ever -- if she's calling them concentration camps, that sounds like a pretty severe thing. Are you surprised that she didn't go public given the fact that she's got a judicial background? Her comments could have been really powerful at that time. Does it surprise you that she didn't say anything publicly, just only saying it to you?
M. TRUMP: Unfortunately, no, it doesn't surprise me. She subscribes to the same notion of family loyalty that her siblings do.
REID: Let's play another piece. And this one, I think, is significant. Because we do have -- aside from the controversy with Jerry Falwell Jr., et cetera, Donald Trump's biggest face is white Christians. That is his -- white evangelical Christians are really his base. And here is a conversation with yourself and your aunt about Trump and God.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARRY: The only time Donald went to church that I know of, at least when dad wasn't bringing us every Sunday, was --
M. TRUMP: When he got married.
BARRY: Yes, and over the last several years, when the cameras were at the church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: So, to your knowledge, including your dad, they were brought to church, the family, every Sunday. Was this the power of positive thinking church, or was it a mainline sort of protestant church?
M. TRUMP: I honestly don't know how often they attended church. I don't think it was -- I don't believe it was every Sunday, certainly not when they were older. And as far as I recollect, my grandfather joined Margaret Collegiate Church, which was Norman Vincent Peale's church, the guy who wrote The Power of Positive Thinking in early '50s, mid-'50s.
So I never got the impression that any of them, with the exception of Maryanne, who converted to Catholicism before her first marriage was particularly religious or churchgoing.
REID: Yes. Did you ever hear your uncle talk about religious people? What were his thoughts before he got into politics and needed their votes about religious people, about Christians?
M. TRUMP: He doesn't have any. He has no connection to religion or faith that I'm aware of. You know, he's quite good at finding what, in his words, he would call suckers. So, as we've seen, unfortunately, he's been able to, you know, co-opt people's faiths to use to his own benefit without any sincerity or authenticity.
REID: Let's talk about the adult children. I hate calling them children because they're adults, even though they -- they're not independent of him and so they haven't actually done anything on their own, so they're kind of children in a certain sense.
Ivanka Trump and Jared released their earnings, unlike Donald Trump, they're a bit more transparent about it, $36 million that they made an outside income in 2019 while both of them are working for the White House, meaning that American people are paying them a salary.
And Ivanka, in particular, Donald Trump has been really going at China. China is sort of his New Mexico. But Ivanka Trump has gotten 18 trademarks in just two months, according to the Associated Press. She's got lots and lots and lots of business that she does in China. Do you get the sense that the adult children -- and I'm not going to ask you to make a legal opinion or anything like that -- are using the position that they have to enrich themselves further?
M. TRUMP: Well, if they weren't and if they actually cared about serving their country, all of them either would have put all of their holdings in blind trusts or they would have divested entirely. So I think that's the simplest answer.
REID: And, lastly, on Donald Trump Jr. Just his one trip, the trip to go hunting and to hunt down animals -- it's so brave -- $60,000 more than the Secret Service he originally admitted. I mean, they've spent a lot of money, according to Crew. Do you get the sense that he hopes to succeed his father and take over the presidency?
M. TRUMP: I think certain parts of the Republican Party are grooming him for that sort of thing, which suggests how far the party has fallen. I can't -- well, honestly, I can't think of anybody less fit than my cousin. The fact that we even have to be talking about my cousins is sort of tragic, honestly.
But in addition to being Donald's children, they're also his employees, and some of them actually work for the United States government. And all I see is they're taking advantage of their father's position yet again to accrue power. And we need to be on our guard about that kind of thing, because it's very dangerous.
REID: Absolutely, yes. Autocracy often has heirs. We didn't even get to Eric Trump and the trouble that he might be in in terms of an investigation out of New York. But, Mary Trump, you're always so transparent, and I really appreciate it. This has to be hard talking about your family. And so thank you so much. I really appreciate your generosity with your time.
M. TRUMP: Thank you so much, Joy.
REID: Thank you. All right, and coming up on THE REIDOUT, 57 years after the first march on Washington, thousands gather again at the step of the Lincoln Memorial, calling for racial justice. Jacob Blake's family was there, and his father joins me live later in the hour.
Plus, the GOP don't protest too much. Republicans spent a lot of time this week insisting that Trump is not a racist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've seen racism up close. I know what it is, and it isn't Donald Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These achievements demonstrate that Donald Trump truly cares about black lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Well, when you have to say it. I'm going to talk about that and the other convention nonsense next with Bill Maher and get his thoughts on Jerry Falwell Jr.'s pool boy telling him off.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And Jerry was laying on the bed. He was laying on the bed. He was drunk and he was giggling. And, again, I'm kind of weirded out at this moment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: The tea is spilling.
THE REIDOUT continues after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
D. TRUMP: A socialist agenda, violent anarchists, catastrophic betrayals and blunders, would eliminate America's borders.
They will demolish the suburbs.
A Trojan horse for socialism.
Wide-eyed Marxist mob rule.
Rioting, looting, arson and violence.
Soul crushing conformity.
God bless you and God bless America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Heading into this week, Donald Trump promised his convention would portray an optimistic, uplifting message for the country. Of course, for those watching, it was not quite that.
Dan Rather summed the week up best tweeting, the Trump re-election strategy seems to be to argue that only Donald Trump can save America from Donald Trump's America.
Joining me now is Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher. Bill, it's great to see you.
BILL MAHER, HOST, REAL TIME WITH BILL MAHER: Great to see you. Congratulations on your gig. I haven't seen you in such a long, I never got to say it.
REID: Thank you very much. Yes, it's been too long.
So I want to let you respond to this, because I live in the suburbs. I'm not sure Donald Trump is aware that some of us live in the suburbs, but I do. And I don't think I'm afraid they're going to be abolished, but that seemed to be the theme that, right, if you live in the suburbs, I guess Joe Biden is going to burn them to the ground or send people to do it. Do you think that is an effective way to win a re-election?
MAHER: I don't know, but that is the right question to be asking. I mean, I hear a lot today about all the lies, and, of course, there were a lot of lies. It's Donald Trump, there's going to be a lot of lies. Who cares? The question is, is it an effective message? Was it an effective convention?
It was a unique convention, but, you know, they had a crowd. They had people applauding. They produced things. He had a Mussolini on the balcony moment with his first lady, Evita Peron (ph). I don't know if this stuff works, but it might.
I was reading in the papers something very disturbing about Facebook, did you see that, how much Facebook is sort of controlled by the right wing and how much more their stories get re-circulated? I am feeling less confident about this. Maybe it's just their convention bump got to me, but I'm feeling less confident than I was a month ago.
REID: Well, so here is some of the data. I mean, the -- ratings-wise, it didn't do as well as the Democratic Convention. If you just look at the raw numbers, day four, when it's just head to head, Biden v. Trump, the Democrats edged out the Republicans. It was close. It was very close. But, in general, the Democratic Convention rated better, so we just go by that.
But I think you're right. I think a lot of people have anxiety, because you had these "Apprentice" producers who put this thing together. It was a smoothly produced thing. The content wasn't thrilling, but the messaging was very specific.
If you voted for Donald Trump last time, and you're a little -- feel a little icky about it because of the racism and because of the -- saying neo-Nazis had good people among them and all that, don't worry about it. Look at these four black guys. They like him.
Look at these women. They think he's nice. Like, it was literally just a permission slip, saying, you can do this again. And that -- I guess that's the question, right, whether or not people will take the permission slip, white voters who voted for him last time who are weirded out now.
MAHER: Yes, it was very effective.
I saw that one gentleman -- I think he was the attorney general. I'm sorry, I can't remember his name, African-American gentleman. And he was -- he was pushing back on Joe Biden saying, if you vote for Trump, you ain't black.
And I don't think that is a good thing for Joe Biden to have said. He said, I have my own mind. Now, I don't get what's -- that reasoning. But I don't get -- people do have their own minds. I have never been a fan of conformity. I have never been a fan of, we all wear pink on Wednesday, we all have to do this, we all have to say this, we all have to do this then.
I don't bend the knee. And I get that, that people are pushing back on that kind of stuff.
So, look, like I was just saying, I feel very nervous.
REID: Yes.
MAHER: The same way I did four years ago at this time.
REID: Well, I mean, it's right to feel nervous. I think the only way to win an election is to run like you're losing. I think people who get too confident always -- almost always lose.
But, I mean, the grandiosity of it -- you said the I don't bend the knee thing, which I think most Americans feel, but you have a guy who's running -- and I'm interested to get your take on this -- who's basically running as a monarch.
I mean, they used the White House. They used Fort McHenry. They put the family there. And then they threw a Trump sign up over it, and as if they were already royals, as if they're already the king, the royal family of the United States.
Does that kind of a message work with average Americans who can't even leave their house, can't go to the movies, can't go to a restaurant, have to put on a mask to go into the supermarket, into Safeway? But here are these 1,000 royal lieges who get to be mask-free in front of the White House.
I wonder if that message of, we sort of have a sort of different world than you, we get to live better than you, and we're the kings, does that hurt him?
MAHER: I mean, I think that's their choice not to -- I mean, some people, yes, a lot of places you go, you don't have a choice whether to wear the mask or not. You have to. But some -- if you're asking me whether that message works...
REID: Yes.
MAHER: .. to a degree, it does.
To portray that idea that I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees, yes, I think that is attractive, to a degree.
They looked optimistic. They looked like the country isn't falling apart, even though the country is falling apart. And optimism very often wins elections. Elections, every politician will tell you, is about the future.
So their strategy to downplay the present and everything horrible that's going on right now, and say -- I mean, just the promise of the vaccine by Election Day, just one of the many things he constantly is just pulling right out of his butt, but that's always been his method.
I mean, all I could think of when he was -- the whole convention, all of the speakers, all I could think of was that thing he told that time to Billy Bush, when Billy Bush said, you can't keep saying that "The Apprentice" is number one, it's not even close to number one.
And he said, Billy, you just say it, and they believe it.
REID: Right. Right.
MAHER: And that was the theme of the whole convention. Just say it, and they believe it.
REID: Yes. Yes.
MAHER: And in a country that is constantly being less and less educated -- we haven't taught civics in two generations, I think. So I don't think -- you're asking about monarchy.
I don't think people know what our system of government is to begin with.
REID: Yes.
MAHER: So I don't think they're going to be appalled by monarchy.
I mean, they just looked -- it just looked good. It looked like pageantry. I mean, if they were going to be upset, they should be upset what he said a couple of weeks ago, when he admitted what I have been telling them that he's going to do for three years now, which is, when he said, look, if I don't win, it's because it's rigged.
REID: Right. Right. That's right.
MAHER: So, heads, I win. Tails, you lose. I can't not lose -- I can't not win this election.
REID: Yes.
MAHER: That's what should be so scary.
REID: Yes. Well, it is.
I mean, I think to some -- in my mind, I do worry about losing the democracy, because, as you said, autocracy is appealing to a certain kind of person who wants order, and who sees a royal family.
I mean, there's been polling showing that certain Republicans are fine with diminishing democracy if they stay in power. And when people are afraid, and you have this demographic panic, saying the brown and black people are taking over, they're taking over my neighborhood, I don't want Black Lives Matter marching through my community, autocracy, like, starts to seem like the way to go.
But -- and I think for a lot of people who are panicking about the changing demographics, they're willing to let some democracy go. And that's what worries me about whether or not we're going to have a democracy four years from now, if Donald Trump stays in office.
Are you worried about that?
MAHER: Democracy is nebulous to a lot of people.
Again, I mean, if you do polling, you would be appalled at how many people cannot name the three branches of government.
REID: Yes.
MAHER: The just the very basic notion of checks and balances is lost on a lot of people.
But what's never lost on people is strength vs. weakness.
REID: Yes.
MAHER: Who looks like he's strong? Who looks like they're weak?
And...
REID: Last question before I let you go, and I don't have time to play the sound bite, because I have run through so much time with you.
These admissions about Jerry Falwell Jr. -- Giancarlo Granda actually gave an interview today.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: Talk about somebody who is the leader of the evangelical right, saying, oops, I think -- what do you make of that?
MAHER: You really want to get into religion with me, Joy?
(LAUGHTER)
REID: I do.
MAHER: Do you really want to -- of all the people, do you really want...
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: I mean, we're such good friends as it is.
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: I have a feeling this is going to just -- this is going to throw a monkey wrench into our friendship.
REID: It's going to go wrong.
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: I have been saying on television for 27 years, religion is stupid and dangerous.
REID: Oh.
MAHER: And this is just -- see, I told you. You asked me. You want to know.
I mean, last week, I did a whole thing about cancel culture and saying, if you're going to go through with cancel culture, you're going to have to cancel God, because, in the Bible, God and his number one son, Jesus, are both completely OK with slavery.
(LAUGHTER)
MAHER: And if you quoted some of the things that are in the Bible as tweets today, I mean, people would go nuts.
So, yes, are religious people hypocritical? Yes. And here's another example.
REID: Bill Maher, we're going to take this debate to another time, because I'm in the Christian faith. So, I'm going to do this with you another time. Hopefully, we can talk again.
Bill Maher, thank you so much for being here. I really appreciate you being here. Have a great weekend.
And Jacob Blake's father is here to share his thoughts next on the shooting of his son by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and what happened today on this, the 57th avenue (sic) of the 1963 civil rights March on Washington.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Hours after Donald Trump wrapped his circus at the White House, this was the scene just down the street today.
Thousands gathered to participate in the Commitment March to commemorate the 57th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.
That march is known for Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream": speech, but it's also where its youngest speaker, the late great John Lewis, made a call for a serious social revolution, a revolution that continues to this day.
The 1963 march occurred eight years to the day after the brutal lynching of 14-year-old Emmett Till in 1955, which galvanized the civil rights movement and John Lewis, who was just one year older than Till would have been.
It's a point that Democratic vice presidential nominee Senator Kamala Harris honored in her taped address today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. KAMALA HARRIS (D-CA), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: For Congressman Lewis, the brutal murder of Emmett Till is what shook loose the activist inside him.
It was the start of a lifelong journey towards service and driving change, the same journey that countless young leaders are building upon as we speak.
As John put it, Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard Brooks, Sandra Bland, and Breonna Taylor.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Demonstrators took to the National Mall as yet another family grieves and people seethe in outrage over the police shooting of yet another black man.
Twenty-nine-year-old Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by a Kenosha, Wisconsin, police officer. Blake's name received scant mention at Trump's convention, an omission noted by march organizer the Reverend Al Sharpton, who called the president mean-spirited.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. AL SHARPTON, CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST: How do you speak while this young man Jacob lies in a hospital, and you won't call his name? How do you sit? While Breonna Taylor's in a grave, and you won't call her name?
Well, Mr. Trump, look right down the block from the White House. We have come to Washington by the thousands. We going to call their name.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: At today's march, the mother of Breonna Taylor, whose killers, police officers who busted into her home and fired off shots, and the brother of George Floyd, whose killing in May sparked today's march, also spoke.
But perhaps most poignant were the words of Jacob Blake Sr., who addressed today's crowd, even as his son remains hospitalized in Wisconsin, paralyzed from the waist down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB BLAKE SR., FATHER OF JACOB BLAKE: There are two systems of justice in the United States. There's a white system, and there's a black system.
The black system ain't doing so well. But we're going to stand up. Every black person in the United States is going to stand up. We're tired!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: And I'm joined now by Jacob Blake's father, Jacob Blake Sr.
And, sir, thank you so much for being here.
BLAKE: Oh, no problem, Joy. Congratulations on your new show.
I'm really proud of you. And I'm honored to be here.
REID: Well, thank you so much. You did have not to say that. And I truly, truly appreciate that. That means a lot to me, sir.
I want to talk to you just a little bit about how Jacob is doing. How are his spirits? How are his spirits? And what is his prognosis for recovery?
BLAKE: They haven't really given a solid prognosis at this particular time, Joy.
He's heavily sedated. So, he's in and out of consciousness. And we're just -- he's hanging on, Joy.
REID: Yes.
BLAKE: And he's hanging on so tough, that they can't write him off. He's tough, young -- he's a tough guy.
REID: And you....
BLAKE: He got that from his father.
REID: Yes, absolutely.
Well, you talked about a white system and a black system in your powerful speech today. And let's talk about that -- that white system vs. the black system.
We know that the teenager, the vigilante, who shot two people, killed two people, was treated with kid gloves, I think, anyone would agree, as he walked around.
BLAKE: Bottle of water and a high-five.
REID: Absolutely, and walked around and was able to walk freely.
We understand that, at a certain point, your son, who is the victim of a shooting, shot in the back at close range seven times, was he handcuffed to the bed that he was in, in the hospital?
BLAKE: Probably one of the most irritating things of my first visit with my son was that I was checking out the area.
And when I looked at his feet, they had him in a flat bed, because they said it's better for his circulation. He was paralyzed from the waist down, with no feeling in his legs. But this cold steel was laying on my son's right foot. He was shackled to the bed.
And that irritated me, I think, more than anything of that day. What made me smile was my son acknowledging me and weeping with me. We wept together.
But that really...
REID: And did anyone explain to you why a paralyzed man, who is the victim here, was chained -- was shackled to the bed?
BLAKE: Well, there was no need for explanations, because I knew that they were going to start to besmudge -- they were going to besmudge my son.
And this was part of their plan. Once they didn't succeed killing them, well, now we got to besmudge him. So, they came up with some old warrants that were misdemeanor warrants, but it gave them the right to be -- to have custody over his own body as long as they wanted.
REID: Because it is -- first of all, if he's paralyzed, shackling him makes no sense, right? He's not going anywhere. And what is...
BLAKE: Well, it made no sense to do it for the seven shots in the back. That made no sense.
REID: Right.
And is he charged...
BLAKE: None of this makes sense to me.
REID: I'm sure.
Is he charged with a crime?
BLAKE: He was charged with misdemeanor something or other. We paid the $500.
But they wouldn't give him a bond at first, Joy. They wouldn't give him a bond.
REID: Yes.
BLAKE: So, we couldn't pay -- we couldn't pay -- it was going to be $250 to $300, $500. They wouldn't let us pay it, because they wouldn't set a charge.
So, the attorney general of Wisconsin, I don't know. He -- I don't -- they're not telling everything.
REID: What do you want to see happen with regards to these officers? What do you want to see happen...
BLAKE: I want the officers fired, Joy. I want the officers fired, because he committed attempted murder on my son. He attempted to murder my son.
If he would have shot two shots, you -- or one shot, you could have said, well, OK, maybe he made a mistake, but to shoot my son seven times in the back while he was pulling his shirt to keep him close for the shots.
REID: And do you want them to be charged?
BLAKE: Now, we all saw that.
REID: Yes. Do you want them...
BLAKE: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Oh, yes.
REID: Well, we will keep an eye on this case.
We are so sorry. I'm sorry this is the way that I had to get a chance to meet you through the TV. But thank you so much.
And, also, please give our best to the family, to Jacob's mom and to his sisters. You have all spoken so powerfully in his -- on his behalf. So, thank you very much.
BLAKE: Thank you very much Joy.
And, once again, I love your show. I watch it every day.
REID: Oh, thank you so much, sir. Thank you.
BLAKE: I used to watch it twice on the weekend. I still do, hoping...
(LAUGHTER)
BLAKE: I still do, hoping I get to see you on the weekend.
REID: Every so often, I might turn up.
Thank you very much. I appreciate you, sir.
BLAKE: Right. Thank you, doll. OK.
REID: All right, Jacob Blake Sr., thank you for being here.
THE REIDOUT continues after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: On August 28, 1963, 250,000 Americans marched on Washington to demand that the president address civil rights, voting rights and poverty; 57 years later, we have no president and we have no administration worth making demands to.
Instead, we have a man who would be king. Over the last four days, America and the world have been given the gift of warning. We have been warned viscerally and visually what it would look like if America fell into dictatorship.
What we saw this week was not a political convention, but, rather, an attempted four-day coronation.
Now, many countries have fallen into autocracy without seeing the left hook coming. But our dictator in training has been warming up for four years.
And, this week, he finally got his dream, to be treated like royalty by an adoring, maskless crowd willing to pretend, for his pleasure and at the risk of their lives, that there is no pandemic, by the sycophants in his supine political party, and by the Mark Burnett "Apprentice" team who was willing to produce it all up, Kim Jong-un-style.
And last night, well, last night was the big reveal. The White House was remade into Trump palace, the domain of Trump, his reluctant birther queen, and his princess, the royal public charge and her globe-trotting do-nothing, yet also do-everything husband, while Trump's court jesters made Fort Henry (sic) and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem into just another set of grubby Trump properties, hopefully not soon to go into bankruptcy or breakout in bedbugs.
All that was left was to slap the tacky Trump brand name on every one of those buildings, to match the iron gates strung up around the White House.
But here's the thing, Donald. And I call you Donald because, in four long years, you have expressed zero interest in actually being our president. Dude, that is not your house. Those are not your properties. And you and your brood are no royal family.
To paraphrase the line from "The Lord of the Rings," America has no king, America needs no king. And the majority of us will fight your attempted takeover, your drive to take away our health care, and your failure to contain the pandemic, which has made us sicker and poorer and pitied by the world, your bowing down to Russia, which has made us weaker, your caging of children, and your barring of Muslims and refugees, and your exploitation of immigrants, which has shamed us, your racism, and the white nationalist extremists and gunslinging vigilantes that you and your party have unleashed on us.
We will fight you to the bitter end.
Showing off a few black friends won't save you from what everybody knows you are.
So, word of advice, Donald the cruel, would-be first of your name. Don't start measuring the drapes for your dynasty. We're going to want our White House back.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Last night, Donald Trump used the White House, the people's house, at 1600 Black Lives Matter Plaza as a political prop.
As "TIME" magazine points out, while past presidents may have improperly they use the White House ,they at least tried to hide it. Now Trump's political use of office is part of the show.
As the former director of the Nixon Presidential Library Timothy Naftali told "TIME," "Trump does what Nixon did, but openly and more."
Joining me now is John Dean, former Nixon White House counsel and author of the new book "Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers."
And I am very eager to get your reflections on what you saw over the last four days, and particularly the use of the White House last night by Donald Trump.
JOHN DEAN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COUNSEL: Joy, it was awful.
(LAUGHTER)
DEAN: First of all, congratulations on the new show.
REID: Thank you.
DEAN: Let me join that parade and tell you that what I witnessed last night really was a travesty to a great historical site.
I mean, he -- what he had done is really just trash the White House politically. So, I was very distressed. I tweeted about it. It was clearly a violation of the Hatch Act, not for the president, who isn't covered by that law, but by everybody on his administration who helped put that thing together who works on the federal part of the executive branch.
They're all Hatch Act violators.
REID: Well, I mean, Ivanka Trump, who works for the White House, went ahead and festooned herself in front of the White House. There were all those Cabinet members that were sitting in front.
I mean, everyone violated the Hatch Act last night. And there is a Daily Beast story that says that the aides, they laugh about the Hatch Act. They think it's hilarious that we get so -- that the rest of us gets so exercised about it.
What do you make of their complete -- they just dismiss laws as a joke that they don't have to -- they don't have to go along with?
DEAN: Well, they have gotten away with it, Joy, and that's one of the reasons they don't have any respect for it.
The Republicans in the Senate are letting them have all the leash they want, do whatever they want. So, there is -- and the attorney general himself is not about to bring anybody up short on anything.
So, this is sort of an unrestricted presidency. That's part of my trouble with it. That's part of the reasons I have started writing about it, because it's deeply, deeply troubling, what could happen if this man gets reelected.
REID: And I definitely want to -- tell me a little bit more about the book, because you wrote a book that I -- called "Conservatives Without Conscience." It's something you wrote that I read, and still it sticks with me.
Tell me what you're writing about now and what you fear, I guess, when it comes to the Trumps.
DEAN: Joy, "Conservatives Without Conscience" was the first time I looked at how authoritarians had moved into the ranks of the Republican Party, initially just the leadership. Now it's the rank and file, when I noticed during the primary that nobody was paying attention to -- really to Trump's authoritarianism, and particularly that of his followers.
You can't be a very effective authoritarian or a demagogue if you don't have a lot of followers. Well, he's got a lot of followers. And they are being ignored, who they are, why they are the way they are, why they tolerate his norm-busting undemocratic behavior.
So that's what this book is about. It just addresses it head on, because you can't defeat them if you don't understand them. And the short story of that is, they're not easy to defeat.
REID: Yes, because they are devoted.
"The Washington Post" report, because this is the other thing that really disturbed me, that image of the White House with all these people crammed together with no masks on, crowded in, largely untested for coronavirus.
I want to let you listen to Jim Acosta from CNN on what White House officials, senior White House officials, told him about the lack of social distancing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM ACOSTA, CNN: And the senior White House official brushed off these concerns about the lack of social distancing at the president's speech tonight, saying -- quote -- and get -- this is -- this quote might blow you away: "Everybody is going to catch this thing eventually."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: It sounds like they are willing to catch it because they think that they will get herd immunity.
Do you get the sense that this is, in a sense, a doomsday cult, where the people in -- that follow Donald Trump are like they're OK with catching it, they want to catch coronavirus?
DEAN: Well, there are -- Joy, there are some end times-er people -- end times people in his ranks who think this is the apocalypse, and it could well be the end, so they can do anything they want and feel they are doing pretty well by it.
I don't share that. Most people don't share that. And what they're doing, in creating a super-spreader event like this, is really insanity. It shows a total lack of responsibility.
Hopefully, voters will come out in droves and appreciate this isn't the way our country should operate, this isn't the kind of leadership they want, and they are going to do something about it, send a message.
REID: The book is called "Authoritarian Nightmare: Trump and His Followers."
I will definitely be picking up a copy.
John Dean, it's so good to see you. Thank you so much for taking some time.
DEAN: Thank you, Joy.
REID: Cheers
And "Who Won the Week?" is next. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: TGIF. We made it to Friday. Thank you.
And that means it is time to find out "Who Won the Week?"
And this week, it's not even a contest. The week was clearly won by the athletes placing a much-needed focus on social justice reform and effecting change, with a special shout-out to the players in the NBA and the WNBA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STERLING BROWN, MILWAUKEE BUCKS: Despite the overwhelming plea for change, there has been no action. So, our focus today cannot be on basketball.
CHRIS WEBBER, NBA ANALYST: I have young nephews I have had to talk to about death before they have even seen it in a movie. If not now, when? If not during a pandemic and countless lives being lost, if not now, when?
DOMINIC SMITH, NEW YORK METS: I think the most difficult part is to see, like, people still don't care.
And for this to just continually happen, I mean, it just shows just a hate in people's heart.
ARIEL ATKINS, WASHINGTON MYSTICS: This isn't just about basketball. We aren't just basketball players.
And just because we are basketball players doesn't mean that's our only platform. We need to understand that, when most of us go home, we still are black, in the sense that our families matter. We matter.
And I think that's important. And I think people should know that. And I'm tired of telling people that. I know I matter. We know we matter. I'm tired of telling people that.
If you don't know that, you don't think that, you need to recheck it. And if you have a problem with us saying black lives matter, you need to check your privilege.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: God bless those athletes.
That is tonight's REIDOUT.
"ALL IN WITH CHRIS HAYES" starts right now.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END
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