Summary
Trump demands election be overturned. Trump joins Texas lawsuit to overturn results in four states. Seventeen states join Texas lawsuit to throw out election results. Lou Dobbs attacks GOP for doing nothing on voter fraud claims. Supreme Court refuses to hear Trump's Pennsylvania election challenge. Pennsylvania GOP lawmaker says, refusing to back up Trump's fraud claims would get my house bombed. GOP obstructed Obama from day one. Many Americans are ignoring potentially life-saving precautions. Michigan State Representative Cynthia Johnson is interviewed. Comedian Leslie Jones, the current host of ABC's "Supermarket Sweep", who has made her cable news commentary a favorite spectator sport, is interviewed.
Transcript
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: And you won't ever miss an interview like that. Thanks again to David Burns for joining our Maverick Series.
That does it for me. I'll see you back here tomorrow night, hopefully, at 6:00 p.m. Eastern. THE REIDOUT with Joy Reid is up next with a very special guest that we are very jealous of, Leslie Jones. Don't miss it.
JOY REID, MSNBC HOST: President-elect Joe Biden will be confronted by not one but two viruses when he takes office in 42 days. The first, of course, being the pandemic, but the second virus is the more pernicious long-term threat to our country, the disease of anti-democracy derangement, infecting nearly the entire Republican Party. And not just Donald Trump, to the point that Republicans up and down the scale, from national political figures to local yokels are joining in Trump's increasingly absurd and far fetch last gasp at overturning the presidential election.
Trump is now disposed of pretending to even believe in democracy and is now straight up screaming on twitter for the election to be overturned. And he followed through on a pledge to join in a ludicrous Texas lawsuit asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Biden's victory by stopping the certification of votes in four battleground states. That lawsuit found by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, in addition to being a Trump's uber loyalist, is also under FBI investigation over allegations he improperly use his office to benefit a wealthy donor and remains under indictment on felony charges of securities fraud. You know, maybe he will be jumping in line soon for a pardon.
Paxton's suit asks the justices to overturn Trump's loss in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and Georgia and to ignore more than 10 million Democratic votes in the process. The New Times reported late today that Trump has already personally ask Republican Senator Ted Cruz to argue the case if it reaches the high court.
But this disease of anti-democracy derangement in Republican is so virulent that even the two individuals who claim to represent or want to represent the people of Georgia, Senator David Perdue, and the un-elected senator, Kelly Loeffler, both sided with Texas, saying they fully support the lawsuit even after Georgia's Republican attorney general called it factually wrong. In fact, Republican had just thrown the old concept of state's rights into the garbage. Nearly half of the Republican in the Georgia state Senate applauded the Texas lawsuit of actually saying please, please, steal in our state's right to determine its own electorates. Go for it. And now 17 states have joined Texas in urging the Supreme Court to hear the case.
Let's be clear, this isn't about fraud. Ken Paxton himself said as much. These Republicans are simply saying, in effect, they do not and will not accept that black voters should be allowed to cast votes, however legal those may be, to overrule the desires of a majority of white voters and tip elections and pick the president.
Georgia Republicans made that very clear, outlining a plan to punish heavily black Fulton County and the Atlanta suburbs that delivered their state to Biden by restricting voting by mail and rolling back the election laws that contributed to the state's record turnout in November. If enacted, the new law would eliminate, no excuse absentee voting, it would add a voter I.D. requirement to mail ballots for voters with an eligible excuse and eliminate drop boxes. In short, let's make it really hard for those black voters and young voters and suburban Democrats to do this again.
Joining me now is Congresswoman Joyce Beatty of Ohio, chair-elect of the Congressional Black Caucus. Jonathan Lemire, White House Reporter for the Associated Press, and Kurt Bardella, senior adviser for the Lincoln Project. Thank you all for being here.
I'm going to -- as you going -- ladies first. And I want to apologize to the Representative but I do want to go to Jonathan first, just from a reporting point of view.
This sort of crackpot theory that the votes in particularly primarily African-American cities, in cities where lots of black folks live, are, by default, invalid, they must be made invalid by the conservative majority on the court. That sounds insane, I think, to most people. But it is really seeped into the DNA of the Republican Party.
I want to play for you, Lou Dobbs who still has a T.V. show, and this was on Monday. And this is him yelling at Stephen Miller, the white nationalist in the White House, that he is not going hard enough to overturns those votes. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LOU DOBBS, FOX NEWS HOST: It's extraordinary. The president warned for months and months and months about mail-in ballots and the potential for fraud and the Republicans do nothing Stephen. What the hell is wrong -- what's wrong with the Republican Party?
Where the hell are the Republicans? Where the hell are the Republicans? Ted Cruz has stepped up to say he would argue before the Supreme Court. Why in God's green earth wouldn't the White House jump on it?
These people are either damn fools or they're damn liars.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: I think it's bizarre for a lot of people, Jonathan, to watch Mr. End All Immigration, scream at Mr. End All Immigration, especially brown and black immigration, because they're not going hard enough. The White House has now jumped on board. How many Republicans when you talk to them off the record support this idea that the Supreme Court should simply invalidate black votes because they didn't do a good job of stopping black people from voting?
JONATHAN LEMIRE, MSNBC POLITICAL ANALYST: That was quite a piece of television, Joy. What we're hearing from Republicans is indeed very different than perhaps what the president wants to hear when they're talking privately behind the scenes. I think this is an answer on two trucks. First, you're certainly right, this is an effort the Republican Party has consistently in recent decades, made it harder to vote. And that shouldn't be lost here. They have tried to restrict the franchise particularly in communities of color that they feel like it won't go a vote for the Democrats. And that is a disturbing trend, no doubt.
Republicans though don't necessarily feel like, when speaking candidly off the record, that this is an election its outcome is going to change. They know that Joe Biden has won. And on January 20th, he will raise his right hand and take the oath of office. The Supreme Court yesterday, went in its 9-0, which means of course that, in effect, it's 9-0 decision with no dissents, which mean, of course, the three justices that Donald Trump appointed, including one just a few weeks before election, with the president saying explicitly, he hopes the Supreme Court would give him the election, would allow -- he'd hope that the race will go to the court so he could claim victory, they dealt a devastating blow in that 9-0 decision to toss out quickly the campaign's lawsuit in Pennsylvania.
But, yes, they have asked Ted Cruz if it gets to Supreme Court to argue their case. That's in part because they're current little team is all sideline with COVID-19 infections.
There aren't any real belief here that this could change. This is the president continuing publicly to trash about and complain about the election. And even though the results are not going to change, Joy, we shouldn't -- it would be impossible to over state just how damaging this is though, not just to restrict the access to the vote, perhaps, but also to undermine the legitimacy of the Biden team before he even comes into office by planting such doubt in so many of the supporters of the president who now, if they believe him, think that Joe Biden wasn't duly elected.
REID: Well, and that is the point, Representative Beatty. Thank you very much for being here and congratulations on being named the new head of the CBC.
But, you know, I have compared in the recent book I read about Trump, and on air, I will say it again, that the Republican Party at this point is essentially identical in many ways to the national party, the nationalist party in South Africa, that (INAUDIBLE) apartheid. Because the argument that they seem to be making is that, on its face, whenever black people vote, they're votes are, by default, invalid and fraudulent, and that the only black votes that should count are those that go for Republicans. If you don't vote for Republican, your vote must be negated. We'll stop you from voting if we can. But if you are able to vote we will try to invalidate it.
I don't see a single Republican publicly saying we don't agree with that because while Donald Trump is doing the thing on T.V. and Twitter, they're going behind the scenes and trying to create laws that will make it impossible for black people to have their say and have that move in election.
You've got -- in Pennsylvania, you've got this false claims, a report from The New York Times, of a rigged election may inflame the party base for years to come. One lawmakers said, that refusing to back up his assertions would get my house bombed.
So whether it's because they're afraid of what is now a very fundamentally white nationalist base. Whether people view themselves that way or not, they are basically saying, I don't buy it. If a majority of black that have voted for Biden, there's no way he is president. He is only president, if we decided, and we didn't. I don't -- do you have a counterargument to that?
REP. JOYCE BEATTY (D-OH): I think you are absolutely right in your initial words that this is absurd as that. But he -- Trump is playing to his base. And he has intimidated so many of the members of Congress, on the House and the Senate side, that I think they actually believe that and those who don't are too fearful to come to the front.
The only thing salvation we have is with the 50 some lawsuits, they have been overturned and, as someone said earlier by the three justices that he has appointed, but we are in a very scary time when you look at those white supremacist, when look at him, Trump refusing to admit that they are what they are and my colleagues are being silent on this.
And I think you had a great analogy when you compare it to what happened with apartheid in South Africa. They feel that we are less than them, and that's why racism is a national crisis. And that's one of the things that we're dealing with in Congress.
REID: Indeed. And, you know, Kurt, I'm so glad that you're available to talk to today. Because, look, there is white nationalism where people lined up with guns and threatened to do things like kidnap the governor of Michigan and say, we're going to shoot people, where they're -- a woman is afraid to get their house bombed. I mean, one lawmaker saying they're house will be bombed, because, obviously, there's a violin (ph). We get reminded daily by the right, we have all the guns and they want us to know that, right? They are basically projecting that potential violence is on the table if they don't get their way electorally. So we know that.
But this is not like a new thing that Trump invented. And I do object when people sort of make it a Trump thing. When Barack Obama got elected, another case in which, you know, Democrats can only really get four out of ten white voters. It just the way it is. You can get close to half of white woman. You get about 40 percent overall because you ain't getting more than like 30, 35 percent sort of white male vote. It's just the way the parties shake out. So when Democrats win, they win because they get a super majority of brown, black and Asian-American voters, like they super charge that vote for the other side and add that to 40 percent of white voters, that's the formula, right?
When Barack Obama used that formula to win by 10 million votes in 2008, the leaders of the Republican Party -- this is from the Huffington Post back then, as President Barack Obama was celebrating his inauguration at various balls, top Republican lawmakers and strategists were conjuring up ways to submarine his presidency at a private dinner in Washington with Newt Gingrich saying on the way out. You'll remember this as the day the seeds of 2012 were sown. You had Mitch McConnell saying I'm going to make him a one-term president and that filibuster, just like the old southern Dixiecrats used to do, everything that Barack Obama try to do. That is the same thing. I don't think it's any different.
You worked with Steve Bannon, the original white nationalist O.G., white nationalist in the White House. Do you see anything wrong with my theory here?
KURT BARDELLA, SENIOR ADVISOR, THE LINCOLN PROJECT: No, Joy, you are 100 percent spot on. And I think it's important to point out that this is not just about Donald Trump. If Donald Trump had never existed, we would still end up where we are now. I think Donald Trump was an accelerator and that putting the blatant racism on the Republican Party front and center.
But let's be very clear here, they have been orchestrating these policies to try to suppress minority voters for more than a decade now. And they have been operating under the belief that they need to pick their voters, they can allow the voters to pick their leaders because the demographics in this country have been changing. And we have seen with every election cycle that black, brown, Asian-American, every demographic that isn't white is overwhelmingly going for Democrat.
So Republicans, knowing that our demographic is changing, knowing that by 2035, that we are going to be a majority-minority country, they need to pick their voters and do everything that they can to try stop black, brown people from showing up to vote. Because they know that when they do vote, when it is a level playing field, when they have equal opportunity to let their voices be heard, they know that Republicans lose. And that was something that was always going to be the reality regardless of whether Donald Trump existed or not, that's what they are going to try to do.
And anyone who thought that after this election, that somehow the Republican Party would wake up and see the light and stop being racist and stop championing these policies, and stop propping up a feckless thug like Donald Trump, anyone who thought that that was going to happen hasn't been paying attention to what was been going on this entire decade.
REID: Yes, indeed. You know, it's hard to look around. And, look, there is white nationalism where people show up and say, hey, I'm white nationalist and they do the Charlottesville thing. There is like the John Wayne white nationalist, where he's like, yes, I'm a white nationalist, I just think white people should run this country. That's the way I think it is, that's the way it's always been. Like there was casual version of white nationalism that Donald Trump just is really good at marketing and making open and the Republicans don't have to hide it anymore. They can just be the old Dixiecrats. It is what it is, but I don't see Mitch McConnell running from that, like he is owning it. He is owning it now.
Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Jonathan Lemire, Kurt Bardella, thank you all very much.
And up next on THE REIDOUT, hospitals are overrun with COVID cases, but Donald Trump is only interested in taking credit for the vaccines while there is a real concern about vaccine shortages.
And then there's the other virus, the anger and the hatred from Trump's supporters who cannot deal with his defeat and are now harassing and threatening people who are doing nothing more than upholding the law.
And then, this a hell of a turn, Leslie Jones is here. And if you have not been following her Twitter feed, you are really missing out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE JONES, U.S. ACTRESS: Joy, you look so good, Joy. You always got to going on. You're hair looks good. I love the pattern, I love the pattern of the dress, it's all cute, girl. You always look so damn good.
Joy, you just make me happy, because, you know what, Joy, because you give me the Joy, Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart. Where?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Where? I love it. Oh, I cannot wait. Back with more of THE REIDOUT right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Years before the -- years before Donald Trump exposed and fermented the vile underbelly of the GOP into power, the head-scratching antics of Republicans, including then -- included then Texas Congressman Ron Paul and his fight for the right to drink unpasteurized milk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, JUNE 17, 2011)
FMR. REP. RON PAUL (R-TX): So, now what the FDA is doing and why they feel so compelled to protect you, they will arrest you if you start drinking raw milk and you happen to cross a state border.
What is so dangerous about you making your own choice about whether or not you can drink raw milk? I think we ought to vote for the right to drink raw milk.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Drinking raw milk, with all its dangerous bacteria that cause foodborne illnesses, serious illnesses, mind you, that can even cause death, the right to consume whatever you want it, however you want it, even straight from the cow, was a thing with Ron Paul, father of herd immunity-supporting Senator Rand Paul, a matter of personal freedom that eclipsed what would actually keep you healthy and alive.
Which brings us to today, where lifesaving measures are again under attack, this time by a Republican president and his entire party, with anti-mask COVID deniers sending death threats to local leaders who are trying to enforce safety measures, including a commissioner in Idaho who had to abruptly leave a meeting because a mob was swarming her home with her 12-year-old son alone inside.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DIANA LACHIONDO, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO COMMISSIONER: My 12-year-old son is home by himself right now, and there are protesters banging outside the door, OK? I'm going to go home and make sure he's OK.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Madam Chair, Dr. Peterman, I'm sorry to interrupt but I got a call -- a call from the mayor. And it sounds like the police and she is requesting that we stop the meeting at this time because of the intense level of protesters in the parking lot and a concern for police safety and staff safety, as well as the protesters that are at some of our board members' homes right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: With me now, Laurie Garrett, health policy analyst and Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer, and Natalie Betker, assistant nurse manager in the medical intensive care unit at the Cleveland Clinic.
Thank you both for being here.
Laurie, that same commissioner -- her name is Diana Lachiondo -- had tweeted today: "And, as our federal and state officials have consistently failed to provide the kind of leadership needed in this moment of crisis, those responsibilities have fallen on local leaders, health board members and public health employees.
"I'm calling on the governor, Governor Little, to act boldly and with conviction. We cannot patchwork together orders from health districts and cities; 1,000-plus Idahoans have lost their lives to this virus, and our hospitals are on the brink. Rise to the moment and lead, Governor."
And that's written to Brad Little.
I don't know how we get out of this nightmare, Laurie, of a pandemic if there are people -- and we don't know what percentage of this country are invested in the idea that they have a right to get sick, that they have a right to then go to the ICU and take up beds, and that they have a right to make you sick and me sick and maybe kill us, that they have a right to do that.
And they're willing to be violent to defend this so-called right. Am I too hopeless here? Because this to me looks like a nightmare we can't get out of.
LAURIE GARRETT, SENIOR FELLOW FOR GLOBAL HEALTH, COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: Joy, right now, the United States is -- not only has the largest epidemic. We're now the only significant epidemic of any size in the world that is still growing.
So, Europe is going back down again. India, Brazil, they're all doing better than we are. Everybody's doing better than we are. We just had a new landmark achieved, 3,000-plus deaths in a single day just reported, with 288,000 new cases in a single day.
So, we are beyond the pale, 15.3 million total cases so far in this epidemic. When we compare us to the rest of the world, it's a sorry sight. And there's just one reason for it, leadership. There's no magical aspect of the virus that's different between the United States and Canada or the United States and Mexico.
There's no special biological reason. This is all 100 percent politics. And if we can't solve this political crisis, we will just see the death toll keep climbing. We will go into Christmas hitting 4,000 deaths a day. We will reach New Year's with over 400,000 dead Americans, and we will go to Valentine's Day approaching a half -- 500,000, a half-a-million deaths in America.
REID: And I personally -- those numbers, it's very hard to sleep whenever I hear those numbers.
And let me -- you talked about leadership. Here's the American Conservative Union chairman. His name is Matt Schlapp. So, again, he is in a leadership position, insists that he will be going to church on Christmas, no one's going to stop him. And here's what he had to say about the idea of having mask orders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: This is fascism. We have the right to travel. We have our Bill of Rights. We have the right to do wrong things, Harris. We have the right to do unsafe things.
It's part of being an American, and I love every aspect of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Matt, you do not have a right to kill other people by coughing out a virus on them. And I don't know how you get to that.
I had met Matt Schlapp on TV shows before. I do not understand that logic.
But I want to go to Natalie.
And not to get into the politics of it, but I'm wondering if you, as somebody who's on the front lines of dealing with patients, are you confronting what we have heard from some other doctors and nurses, patients who actually resist the idea that they even have COVID, resist the idea that -- to do anything to stop themselves or others from getting sick?
Are you seeing that resistance actually take place inside of the hospital?
NATALIE BETKER, CLEVELAND CLINIC: Yes, we are seeing that.
And those patients are still coming in the hospital. They're still sick. And they think, once they're in the hospital, they're kind of acknowledging and realizing, this is not fake, it's really going on. They're very sick from it. And people are even dying.
So, I would say that, yes, people are -- once they're in the hospital, they're acknowledging, this is real, once they see the things that are going on inside of our hospital walls.
REID: Yes.
And they're also not probably getting a $100,000 special treatment that Rudy Giuliani got. Let's play a little bit of Giuliani talking about his own treatment for COVID. And he's left the hospital, by the way.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: You can overdo the mask. You can overdo almost anything. Everything done in moderation makes much more sense.
My advice to people is, get early treatment. The earlier you get treated for this, number one, you totally eliminate the chance of dying, and, number two, you probably eliminate the chance of getting a more complicated illness.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
REID: Just get early treatment, Laurie. Just get early treatment.
He got the special -- the one Trump got the cost like 100 grand. Your average person is going to get that. Are we now in a position where it's going to be rich man, poor man? The regular person is going to get the regular treatment and take their chances, and people like Rudy can buy their way toward the Trump treatment?
That, to me, does not sound like a normal democracy. It sounds like, I don't know, fascism. Let's use Matt Schlapp's term. What do you think?
GARRETT: Well, I mean, it is absolutely true that he has received a level of treatment that is not available to the average American, probably not even available to the average wealthy American.
It involves a certain amount of political connection to be able to obtain the constellation of experimental treatments not yet fully approved by FDA that he was able to get.
And, Joy, what really worries me is, since they have completely screwed up the orders on vaccines, so that now, from once promised that we would have 200 million doses, enough for 100 million Americans, we're now down to about 2.5 million doses, enough for 1.25 million Americans before the new year.
So, the hospital -- I mean, the vaccine orders have been so screwed up, and they keep coming down and down and down, that now we're hearing from the world's largest vaccine generic maker, the Serum Institute in India, that they will start producing vaccines, and they will sell to the highest bidders.
So, we could reach a situation here in the United States where very wealthy Americans are able to get vaccinated by buying their special versions of Pfizer's product or Moderna's product from India, and getting their specially paid doctor to handle it for them, and thereby getting vaccinated.
It is terrible. Everything in America about how we are fighting this epidemic is just falling apart.
REID: It's absolutely terrible.
I'm going to give the last word to you, Natalie.
What would you tell somebody who is resisting wearing a mask, resisting doing the basics and social distancing and saying, I don't care, I'm going to do my Christmas and my New Year's, I'm going to gather?
BETKER: As a front-line health care worker, I would just beg and plead you, please, please stay home, wear the mask, social distance as much as you can, so that we can all see our families next year for the holidays, because the things that we're seeing in the hospital are terrible.
People are very, very sick. Our beds are full. People are dying, and they're dying alone. So, I urge you to even think of a situation where you get to see grandma in the hospital with COVID, and you have to say goodbye to her over FaceTime, because that's the reality of what's going on right now.
I don't think it's a hard ask to ask the public to continue doing what they have been doing and stay home when you can. Wear your mask if you have to go out in public. Social distance. The front-line health care workers are begging you.
We are tired. We have been here since the beginning of this. And, quite frankly, we're just -- we're really sick of seeing these people die from COVID. So, do what you can. Do your part. Please, wear the mask and stay home.
REID: It only requires you to give a damn about other people, about someone else, please, even if it's just your own family.
BETKER: Yes.
REID: Laurie Garrett, Natalie Betker, thank you both very well -- very -- a lot. And stay healthy. Stay well.
Still ahead: Comedian Leslie Jones will be here.
But first: Donald Trump refused to tone down his gaslighting rhetoric, despite threats to election officials across the U.S.
The target of some of those vile threats joins us straight ahead with her thoughts.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: Donald Trump has spent the past five weeks living in an alternate reality, one where he actually won the election, while congressional Republicans give Trump his safe space to clutch his blankie and make unsubstantiated claims that the election was rife with fraud, which it wasn't.
These actions are not only undermining our democracy. They're riling up Trump's most loyal followers in the most dangerous ways. The Republican Party of Arizona is now asking their followers if they are willing to give their lives for Trump and -- quote -- "die for something."
The chair of the Wisconsin Elections Commission tells "The New York Times" of the threats she received, including people on Twitter posting photographs of her house. She said another message mentioned her kids and said: "I have heard you will have quite a crowd of patriots showing up at your door."
And that's exactly what happened this weekend to Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, with dozens of protesters, some openly carrying guns, showing up outside her home while she was inside with her 4-year-old son.
And the threats are coming in states that aren't even being contested, like in Vermont, where the secretary of state's office said its election team has received threats that they should be -- quote -- "executed by firing squad."
And the violent messages are not just against Democrats, but Republicans as well, as Trump attacks members of his own party who dare to tell the truth about the election.
And this is why we heard election officials like Georgia's Gabe Sterling making this plea to the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GABRIEL STERLING, GEORGIA VOTING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTATION MANAGER: Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language.
Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions.
This has to stop. We need you to step up. And if you're going to take a position of leadership, show some.
This is the backbone of democracy. And all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: But, of course, the president is not toning down his rhetoric at all. So, why should we expect his supporters to do so?
And it's likely to get worse. Just listen to this repulsive voice-mail left for Michigan State Representative Cynthia Johnson, a black woman, after she participated in a voter fraud hearing last week.
Now, first a warning: It is not for children's ears.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED CALLER: I hope you like burning crosses in your front yard, because I'm sure, by the time this is all said and done, there will be several, and maybe even a noose or two hanging from the tree in your yard, you dumb (EXPLETIVE DELETED) commie (EXPLETIVE DELETED).
Rot in hell.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
REID: Representative Johnson, who got that threat, that disgusting threat, joins me next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STATE REP. CYNTHIA JOHNSON (D), MICHIGAN: This is just a warning to you Trumpers -- be careful. Walk lightly. We ain't playing with you. Enough of the shenanigans.
Enough is enough, and for those of you who are soldiers, you know how to do it. Do it right. Be in order, make them pay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Michigan State Representative Cynthia Jackson said enough is enough after receiving threatening voicemails like this one because she spoke out against Donald Trump's claims of election fraud.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
VOICEMAIL: I hope you like burning crosses in your front yard because I am sure by the time this is all said and done, there will be several and maybe even a noose or two hanging from the tree in your yard.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
REID: Today, the Republican leaders of the Michigan House of Representatives took action, but not on the threats against her but against her comments.
They removed Johnson from her committee assignments and are looking into further disciplinary actions.
I'm joined now by State Representative Cynthia Johnson of Michigan.
And, Representative, when did the threats begin approximately?
JOHNSON: Thank you, Joy, for inviting us to your show.
The threats began on the night of December 2nd, at our committee hearing.
REID: At the committee hearing.
JOHNSON: Uh-huh.
REID: And to this date, have any of your House colleagues, including the speaker, Lee Chatfield, and Representative Jason Wentworth, who will be the next speaker, have they commented to you personally or to your team about those threats? Because we reached out to them to try to get their comments, and we got no response.
Have they commented to you about the threats you received?
JOHNSON: Not one time. They have not reached out to me to say, how -- how is your family? Even though I received death threats on my life and on the lives of those who I love, including my staff, and members of our community and not one time that Lee Chatfield or any other leader, did any other leader, reach out to me, no, they did not.
REID: And yet they're now looking to strip you of your committee assignments. They want to punish you for the Facebook posts that you put up.
And it's not as if all of the Democrats are actually backing you up, because you have the attorney general of Michigan, Dana Nessel, saying, well, she condemns the threats against you but also condemning your comments on Facebook.
Are you getting support from your caucus?
JOHNSON: You know, I'm going to say straight up -- no, not like I should. I'm simply doing my job. I'm doing my job for the constituents who live in my district. And I am being punished.
I'm here today with you --
(CROSSTALK)
REID: Do you -- do you -- well, let me ask you quickly before I let you go, because, you know, we've played a lynching threat against you.
JOHNSON: Uh-huh.
REID: Are you -- are you concerned for your safety at this point?
JOHNSON: I am not. I have a job to do, and my job is to protect democracy. And my job is also to question people when they come to our hearings, and that's what I was doing.
REID: Michigan State Representative Cynthia Johnson, stay safe. Protect yourself. And we appreciate you being here to let us in on this horror we're going through. And do stay safe, ma'am. Thank you.
And up next -- Leslie Jones is here to tell us more about her entirely appropriate, potentially unrequited online love affair with our very own Steve Kornacki.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE JONES: I don't feel like you're concerned so you got your hand in your pocket. What's your hand in your pocket for? That means you're relaxed.
Why are you relaxed? It's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) election! Steve, Steve, where are you! Where are you and your calculator! This man does not have a calculator!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: That is called a turn, a hell of a turn. Don't go anywhere. Leslie herself is here, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
REID: The pandemic has upended all of our lives. The past ten months have been a stream of unrelenting pain and agony quite frankly. Trump's abysmal performance in the face of the pandemic has only added insult to injury.
But rest assured, all is not lost. There are glimmers of hope and joy out there.
Take, for example, comedian Leslie Jones, formally of "Saturday Night Live" and the current host of ABC's "Supermarket Sweep", who has made her cable news commentary a favorite spectator sport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LESLIE JONES, COMEDIAN: I came just so I could see you again, Katie. Fire is what I think when I see you, Katie.
He's a Trump impersonator. How disgustingly sad.
Yo, this is what I want to know. Georgia, what part of Georgia is this?
Mitch McConnell crying is like the devil weeping over not being able to kill 50 more people.
Hey, yo, guys, is that Geraldo Rivera? Wait a minute, Geraldo Rivera is a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Trumper?
You're up there with a chart that you can't even read. He can't even read this chart.
This is exactly what we supposed to be doing. Just like he said, the government is supposed to look like what America looks like. Man, I'm loving it, Biden and Kamala!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
REID: And Ms. Jones is putting her talents to good use. She just wrapped up an Instagram live event with Georgia Democratic Senate candidate Jon Ossoff.
And Leslie Jones joins me now.
OK. Ms. Leslie Jones, I have to tell you, this is proof that God changes things, because I was like, please, can we just try to get booked Leslie Jones?
Because your commentary about politics is my favorite thing in the entire world. I pretty much only want to listen to you talk about politics.
How did this begin? How did you start on this journey of commenting on everything that happens in politics on MSNBC?
JONES: OK. First of all, Joy, I let them know that I was not going to do any interview first but yours. That's right.
I love Joy. Joy to the world. Joy to the fishes and the deep blue sea. I love Joy.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
REID: I love you too. I got a chance to see -- uh-huh?
JONES: No, it started when I saw you one day. I saw you and I was like oh, my God. And I started watching.
And I think at the time Steve was at the board and I was like, who is this guy? He is absolutely thorough and awesome. Who is he? He looks concerned. I need him in my life.
And that's how we started.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: So let me quickly play a little montage for our audience who has not heard some of your commentary about all those on MSNBC. Here it is.
JONES: Oh my God!
(LAUGHTER)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: They are brother and sister, seriously, because they have both the sarcasticness and the passive aggressiveness that we need when we are getting some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) off of our chest.
This is Lawrence? Is this guy (INAUDIBLE) Lawrence? I like that guy. He is very common.
Brian -- Brian is petty. I love him.
I bow at the altar of the magnificence, of the geometrical. It's just -- he's not even moving.
When Nicky puts her glasses on that means that (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that needs to be read. I'm only for Nicky -- for Nicky today.
Maybe he has a whole bunch of these pants. I don't know, but he's my hero. He's my hero right now.
Joy, Joy, do you see him, Joy? Joy, do you see that purple suit? Joy, do you know you're talking to Morris Day?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
REID: Morris Day -- OK, I fell on the floor. I mean, literally, I watched that about 400 times, because he really did put that purple suit on. He meant it.
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: It's not purple, it's blue. It's blue, Leslie, I promise.
(LAUGHTER)
REID: He really truly -- he did it with authority.
But when you look at politics today, I -- I had the blessing of seeing you do comedy live. And you are obviously hysterically funny.
But how do you find your ability to laugh at the way the things have gone over the last four years? How have you preserved that just for yourself?
JONES: Because I'm 53 years old, Joy. I've been -- I've been through a lot of presidencies, you know what I'm saying? You know, I was around with Reagan and I have been around a long time.
And I have a great sense of humor and you have to have a great sense of humor in life, because either you're going to cry all night or you're going to laugh. I'd rather laugh, you know?
REID: Yeah.
JONES: It's -- you know, my favorite thing to do is to do crowd work and the person that I'm talking about, make them laugh the most. I just -- I find joy in doing -- Joy, Joy -- I find joy in doing it. It's so fun. And it makes everybody happy.
And, look, Joy, people who didn't know each other before now know each other. Like all of these people that are coming, I don't know them.
REID: Yes.
JONES: Madeleine Albright, somebody told me, I was like, oh, I didn't know she was somebody. I was just talking to a duo walking on a jacket. You know what I'm saying?
Like, you know, James Carville, oh my God. I couldn't believe it. Like I love it. I love that they love it.
REID: You're making people love politics. So, I have to ask you. You were just in Georgia. You did an event for -- not in Georgia, but you were doing an event for Jon Ossoff.
I don't know if you got a chance to watch this debate that took place this past week. But let me play just a little bit of it for those who didn't see it.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JON OSSOFF (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: Our senator has been absent, is absent. Doesn't think he needs to be here answering questions. Doesn't think he needs to be in Washington passing relief for the people.
RAPHAEL WARNOCK (D), GEORGIA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: When you received the private briefing regarding the coronavirus pandemic, you dumped millions of dollars of stock in order to protect your own investments. And then weeks later, when there came an opportunity to give ordinary Georgians an extra $600 of relief, you said you saw no need and called it counterproductive.
Why do you think it's counterproductive to help ordinary Georgians in the middle of a pandemic?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: What do you make of this -- of this race, and what do you think the stakes are for the country?
JONES: Well, I think everybody needs to know that the people that now need their place taken are not taking care of this country. That's what we need to look at.
I mean, it's very obvious. We have people who have died. We have people who are unemployed. We have people who are hungry and losing their jobs and losing their businesses.
And these -- all these people pay taxes. We were looking for America to take care of us. That's the first thing.
REID: Yeah.
JONES: Second of all, what's at stake is our democracy. And, you know, how can you not look at these two candidates and not want them to represent your state?
I tell you, Jon Ossoff, what? What a man, what a man, what a man, what a majestic (ph) man.
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: Gosh. Gosh. That's what we want our Senate to look like. We want our Senate to look like that.
REID: Yeah.
And, let me ask you this, because, you know, I like to say, I've gotten to see you in clubs, in comedy clubs. And there are so many performers that are hurting right now who really depended on live performances, in nightclubs, on the places where you have done so much work to get to where you are today.
JONES: Uh-huh.
REID: Does it frustrate you and enrage you that it's so hard to get our representatives to just pass a bill that could help folks like that, the people who are suffering that way.
JONES: I'm -- you know what I'm more about that? I'm not as mad as them as I'm mad at us as the people for not making them do it. Do you understand what I'm saying?
REID: Yeah.
JONES: How are we divided right now? That makes no sense.
REID: Yeah.
JONES: How we made this pandemic a political thing, it makes me absolutely enraged. And it makes me go --
REID: Yes.
JONES: -- OK, is half our country is selfish? Are y'all selfish? Are you not really taking -- like are you really not taking this seriously? You have seen 300,000 people and just the sight of seeing bodies in a freezer truck, Joy.
How does that not break your --
REID: Yeah.
JONES: -- break whatever it is? Even if you don't believe it and I'm not going to wear a mask just because I don't want to be a part of the bad stuff that's going on. Come on, you guys.
REID: Yeah.
JONES: When are you going to start thinking about each other instead of our own agendas?
REID: Absolutely, amen to that.
OK, I have to ask you a question about "Supermarket Sweep". I would -- I'd be remiss if I did not ask.
JONES: Yeah.
REID: OK. So, you need to give some advice. Now, if -- I was, let's say, on "Supermarket Sweep", would it make more sense logically to go for the big mega pack of diapers or to go for the ham? Because I feel like go for the ham is the way people want to go. But which way should go?
JONES: Well, the hams -- I think the hams are priced at $65. And the diapers are priced at something like $47. So, it's always good to go for the meat first. The meat, meat.
REID: Yes.
JONES: And then, plus, we have a lot of items that are marked with the gold -- with the gold sticker so you know that it is over $100. So, it's always good --
REID: Yes.
JONES: -- to go for the meat, because they got $300 meat over there. They got $60 for all the steaks (ph) are 65. It's always good to go for the meat first.
I understand that diapers cost a lot but --
REID: I love you.
JONES: (INAUDIBLE)
REID: Amen. Leslie Jones, I love you and there is nothing you can do about it. I adore you. Thank you so much for being here.
(CROSSTALK)
JONES: You made my year. I'm retiring now, though. I'm retiring now because you came on my show.
Thank you very much.
"Supermarket Sweep", Leslie's show, airs Sunday nights on ABC. Do not miss it.
I also want to thank you. She will be on with Nicole tomorrow.
I also want to thank my pal Jonathan Capehart for filling in with me this week. Be sure to catch her show starts this weekend on Sunday, "The Sunday Show".
Chris Hayes is on now.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END
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