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tv   Alex Wagner Tonight  MSNBC  March 21, 2024 1:00am-2:00am PDT

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the coming days. the administration says the speculation about cutting off military assistance to israel at this point is uninformed speculation. but it is true there are more conversations about this happening inside the administration when it comes to this all-important decision whether it is actual leverage. it is also building up to a point of this conflict headed toward a showdown in rafah where netanyahu has already signed off. it is a big decision. off. it is a big decision. >> all right john hudson, peter, thank you both. that is "all in" on this wednesday night. alex wagner tonight begins with ali velshi. >> we run into each other a lot. it's not i pay attention to a lot oftt social media these day bute i tweet yesterday after i
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finished the show is there some sort of beef. >> when i'm over i'm quick because it's your show, so we get in, get out. >> no beef, and i want to make sure everyone knows that, my friend. good, important discussion. have a great evening. i'll have a good show. keep your filthy hands off trump tower. that's donald trump's latest fund raising pitch to supporters. quote, insane radical a.g. letitia james wants to seize my properties in new york. this includes the iconic trump tower, so before the day's over i'm calling on 1 million trump patriots to chip in and say stop the witch-hunt against president trump, end quote. the tone of trump's fund-raising e-mails are always blaringly urgent, but new reporting today suggests donald trump really is panicking about losing his properties. the former president has just five days to pay the state of
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new york a bond of nearly half a billion dollars after he was found liable in the new york attorney n general's civil frau case against him. trump has spent the last month desperately trying to find a financial institution, basically an insurer, that would essentially front him the money while he appeals the case. his lawyer claims he's approached more c than 30 potential lenders, but so far none have come through. they said coming up a bond of that size is a practical impossibility. today the new york attorney general's office urged an appellate court not to buy those claims saying that, quote, defendant's argument is based on the false premise they must obtain a single bond for a single surety for the entire judgment amount of $464 million, end quote. and so well wait to see what happens next. unless the appeals court weighs in and pauses the judgment, if trump does not find some way to come up with the money before
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monday, new york attorney general letitia james really can start the process of seizing trump's assets. and she has made very clear that she's prepare today do just that. >> if he does not have funds to payt off the judgment, then we will seek, you know, judgment enforcement mechanisms in court, and we will ask the judge to seize his assets. we are prepared to make sure that theak judgment is paid to w yorkers. and yes i look at 40 wall street each and every day. >> i look at 40 wall street each and every day. the attorney general has ever onceal mentioned trump tower, trump's new york city home. still today allies of the new york city general leaked word, quote, it's an option trump appears to have considered partly because he believes the
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chances arees good that he coul recover the assets on appeal even if he takes the case to new york supreme court, end quote. now, c there are a number of problems with that logic. one, trump could easily lose on appeal and losese his chance of getting his property back. two,in even if he did win on appeal, this ison interesting, there's no guarantee he'd get the seized property back. as one expert told the new york post, quote, they're going after the money. trump does have other options to immediately prevent the state from seizing other assets. he could for instance declare bankruptcy. trump's businessesor after all have already declared bankruptcy six times before. but, hey, what's a seventh bankruptcy at this point? according to reporting from cnn, quote, trumpm has privately expressed opposition to any path concerning filing bankruptcy, end quote. as onenk insider close to trump told "the new york post" he's
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been there and done that. alternatively he could try to borrow money from some of his wealthy donors, but apparently his egoly doesn't allow for tha. he doesn't want anyone to feel sorry for him, a source close to trump told "the post." it is in keeping with trump's public persona for him to be too ashamed to ask for help from someone wealthier than he is. and then there's the possibility trump could's borrow the money from a foreign power looking inexert influence over trump, a country like russia or saudi arabia. has theory has mostly been suggested by trump critics, but watch what happened today when fox news asked trump's lawyer if they were considering doing just that. >> is there any effort on the part ofan your team to secure ts money through another country, saudi arabiaan or russia as joy
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bahar seems to think? >> well, there's rules and regulations that are public. i can't speak about strategy that require certain things, and we have to follow those rules. >> the question was are you considering q getting money fro saudi arabia or russia. the answer there in case you didn't t get that, well, there' rules and regulations. ian can't speak about strategy,e have to follow those rules. yeah, of course because trump is a big rules guy as we all know. that response from trump's lawyer was not exactly the resounding no you might expect if trump had actually ruled the option of t getting money from foreign governments out. so what happens now? for months we've watched as donald trump has managed to obtain delay after delay after delay in his various criminal cases, but in the new york civil case the clock is running out. the bill is due in five days. joining me now assistant attorney general in new york, and adam who has been covering
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the court proceedings for just security. thank you both for beingr here. adam one, let's talk about this, we've sort of tried to lay out the e possibilities, but assumi something doesn't happen, donald trump has to produce something in five todays, either the bondr the t money. >> so he either has to produce a bond, which will stave off enforcement, a bond in the full amount of the judgment plus interest, expected interest. you're talking 500 plus million-dollar bond. that stops enforcement. if he loses the appeal, the full amount is paid within ten days toid the states. that'she option "a." option "b" is's enforcement can start. enforcement the attorney general's office has said they'll give a 30-day grace period. they don't have to. in state court there's no 30-day stay period. but they've given until monday. that means on monday they can start seizing financial assets.
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>> literally they can go put a notice on the door of one of his buildings or something? >> so there's a sheriff in new york city, kind of like the wild west meet new york city. the poern can sign an execution, delivers it for a $50 fee, and signed by the sheriff and the marshal can walk into the bank. they did a trial a complete road map to c his assets. >> adam, are you curious about this? people have speculated about this for a while, at a level about half a billion dollars, donald trump may have problems raising this money. this is not to say his value may not exceed this, but it's tied up in his assets. we now have ahi clearer picturef
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donald trump's cash situation than we have in all those years trying to get his tax returns. >> absolutely. and we have a clear picture of his universe and constellation of his businesses from judge barbara jones, who is the court monitor and who is looking over everything. her recent report said that there are 512 different entities. now, that is something as adam said earlier, it's a road map where we, the public, may not yet even people who have been following this very closely have a clear idea of what this means, buthi the a.g. knows that, the monitor knows that, and pretty soon that might be coming to a head in the enforcement phase. >> adam, let's talk about the fairness of the system. if you are found responsible and you have to pay money, there is an appeals process. and if you put someone else into the situation who's not donald
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trump, it may be onerous for people to come up with money, which is why we have the surety system. what does the surety mean, what does the bond mean versus him actually having the money? >> sog the bond is written by insurance broker on behalf of an insurance company. and unlike your car insurance or homeowner's insurance,or most cs don't crash, right? and so you might pay $2,000 a year to ensure a $30,000 car, but most people lose their appeal. right? you already lost in the court below. so this insurer is taking a significant risk. they are insuring that the full amount of the i judgment from t courtnt below will be paid if t attorney general in this case the plaintiff wins her appeal, if trump loses the appeal. so the bond pays out. it's an insurance policy, effectively that pays out the full amount. >> adam, he's got assets, but
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this isse never -- for anybody o has any assets at all, anybody who's got a car or house, nobody wants to liquidate it in fire sale terms. obviously in this particular instance if he loses an asset, he has l to give up or the sherf and marshal come and put a claim on his property beyond his bank accounts, you don't always get the best value for that, so thaa can't be trump's preferred option. >> oh, it can't be. and one of the interesting things in that interview tish james gave she mentioned one property in particular and that's 40 wall street. i remember when trump was giving his testimony in his meandderring style and he said that tish james doesn't even know where 40 wall street is, and she laughed out loud because she could seela it from her office, and other people from the a.g.'s office were laughing, too. one wonders if that's what she has her sights on.
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and trump did say his entire pitch to the appellate court in trying to halt this process is that he -- the real estate isn't liquid and that the bonding companies won't work with him as a result of that. now, the a.g. says that's not true. maybe his properties aren't as valuable as he says they are. >> there's something. they could probably add's a bun of properties and come up to the amount of money he needs. i guess the issue is you both have mentioned this road map. we know where donald trump's finances whare, at least the attorney general does. what does this business of him potentially b declaring bankrupy or companies declaring bankruptcy? what's his d personal culpabili
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verses. >> one owes 125 million and other 200 million, it's a lot of money. he could declare bankruptcy, an entity could declare bankruptcy, but bankruptcy doesn't wipe the debt clean. bankruptcy pauses and brings in a bankruptcy judge and a bankruptcy trustee to sort out where are the assets and where are the liabilities, and he'd still have to pay. >> adam, this idea of raising money from a foreign source, particularly a foreign government, it's speculation. there's no -- there's no sense that's true, which surprised me about that fox interview, because you would think the answer to that would be a resounding atno, of course we'r trying to raise money from theyi russians or saudis. i don't know if either of you understand that answer about, well, there's rules and things liketh that. butd it made me think maybe yo are talking to a foreign entity about paying these bills. >> it'syi a classic nondenial
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denial. she didn't say we're putting this off the table, just as you mentioned, but shes didn't say we're going to do this. it's awe way to kind of dodge t question in the textbook style every journalist and reporter looks out for. >>lo adam, we know donald trump raisese money every time he fes under threat in some fashion. would that be sufficient, would that beat legal if he did this campaignd and said save trump tower or every trump supporter give a dollar before midnight and hela raises the money? >> look, it's not easy to raise $500 politicalian even for donald trump. "b," i don't think you can use campaign money to pay for an appellate bond on your personal liability. there are campaign finance p la, and they prohibit that sort of thing. >> guys, i've learned a lot. thank you both for being here, both adams. all right, we've got a lot more to get to tonight including
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newly released facts that undercut fox news' fear mongering about crime in america. we'll explain. plus, the biden administration today gave a new joltod to the electric vehicle industry and the fight against climate change. we'll have more on that just ahead. that just ahead.
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there were many bizarre things about donald trump's presidency, but one that was notably consistent and equally confusing was his autumn session with appliances. >> seats, toilets, light bulbs, but sinks, toilets, and showers. you don't get any water. people are flushing toilets ten times, 15 times as opposed to once. seats, right, showers, and what goes with a sink and a shower ten times. not me. it's not me. >> i feel like if you need to flush the toilet ten times you should speak to your doctor, but trump was very fixated on the energy efficiency efforts of fast administrations. he even made it a point to roll back more than 100 environmental rules while he was in office. and now that he's campaigning
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for a second shot in office, he's got a new obsession, one that's got less to do with the bathroom and more to do with the driveway. >> we are a nation whose leaders are demanding all electric cars despite the fact they don't go far, cost too much and whose batteries are produced in china with materials only available in china. on day one, i will terminate crooked joe's ridiculous electric mandate. >> kind of strange he still says china like that. in fact the economy has been crystal clear electric vehicles are the future, it's the largest economic path and a crucial transition to make it if we plan to confront climate change, a crisis primarily fueled by oil and gas emissions. and this very reason is why the
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latest regulatory move by the current president, president biden is, in fact, a huge deal. today the biden administration announced a new rule on tailpipe emissions, but experts are hailing it as the single most important climate regulation in the history of the country. let's talk about this. joining me now is the renowned arcter and activist. i want to get your take on this because a lot of people serious about climate say we have to change the way we move around. we have to think about movement differently than our car obsessed society does. while weep remain a car obsessed society, this seems to be like a step in the right direction. >> well, for sure. put it in context. you know, today the world meteorological organization reminded us that 2023 was the hottest year in the last 125,000. they issued what they called a red alert for climate change. so far 2024 is hotter than 2023.
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we've got to do something, and that means we've got to do something about america is one of the biggest sources of emissions with transportation of cars and trucks. this rule biden put forward today is not that strong, it relaxes somewhat the trajectory they were on because the uaw, the auto workers union and others have said maybe we're moving a little too fast, but it does continue the momentum towards the electrification of our automobile fleet. and if you think about, ali, the things that we have to do to deal with climate change, this is not a very hard one. what we're asking people to do is over the next decade change in their current car that's probably already cheaper or headed that way, that's quieter, that has fewer moving parts that costs a lot less to operate.
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that's not a particularly large sacrifice to demand. the main sacrifice, of course, comes from the fossil fuel industry who wants to keep selling you gas forever. and so today they announced they were launching a seven-figure ad campaign in the swing states accusing biden of a electric vehicle mandate, which this for better or for worse is not. trump you may recall last weekend promised a bloodbath in america, and the thing that he was talking about when he talked about the bloodbath was electric vehicles. so like it or not, climate change and the things we have to do to begin to deal with it is now front and center in this campaign. >> yeah, and i think you make an interesting point because there are people including yourself who think that if we want to take this as seriously as we should, it requires massive behavioral change.
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and not just behavioral change but infrastructure change, right, so we can use public transit more than our own cars. with that said, this shift to electric vehicles, all that will happen is you charge your cars as opposed to going to a gas station. which makes me wonder why donald trump is so come invested in the fact this is some kind of evil takeover by bad people. it doesn't make that much of a difference to most people. >> "a," as usual the guy has no idea what he's talking about. he said the other day electric vehicles only go 15 miles. i've been driving an ev for years and it goes 250. the ones they're building now go 4 or 500. so i mean part of it's that, but mostly it's the fact the republican party on these issues for years now has been a wholly owned subsidiary of the fossil fuel industry. and the biggest threat to them
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is that people will stop having to fill up all the time. look, i hardly remember how to operate the gas pump anymore, because i just plug into the wall at home. and, you know, the price of running the car is much smaller than it was before. it's good for me, it's bad for exxon, and that should give you some clue as to why the fossil fuel industry has launched this seven-figure ad campaign. >> bill, duds this give you confidence? i ask you this as a proxy for people who don't think donald trump's going to be the answer to fighting climate change but who are a little bit dissatisfied at which the pace which the biden administration has gone on this despite some major milestones that they have achieved. does this feel like a movement in the right direction meaningfully or not really? >> no one's ever moving fast enough, but in this case the choice could not be clearer. i mean third act is an
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organization for people over 60, endorsed biden this week. and one of the biggest reasons for it was because it's abundantly clear that if we elect donald trump, it will be a full-on pound the break halt to the momentum developed around renewable energy. it's not that biden's doing everything right. he's not because he's in a politically constrained environment, but he is reorienting our society in the right direction, beginning to spend the money we need, and giving him four more years would probably make serious progress. the contrast between that and the guy who remember pulled us out of the paris accords last time, the guy who told us global warming was a hoax invented by the chinese, i mean, come on. how many floods and fires and droughts do you have to see
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before you understand that really it's time to start moving? >> bill, thanks again for being with us and all that you have done over the last several decades to keep this issue front and center. an arthur and environmentalist. more this evening including alabama weighing into the culture wars, enacting a ban on the teaching of diversity, equity and inclusion. a democratic state lawmaker joins me with her reaction later this hour. but first donald trump's right wing media focus on depicting this cripe country as a crime infested hell cape. a new report on crime reveals that narrative to be more fiction than fact. we'll have that next. ion than f. we'll have that next
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on their favorite sport. the crime issue is really serious. >> it's never been more clear in america that we are in a crime crisis. >> we've been documenting retail theft across america for three years. it's rampant. >> the problem driving retailers out of these states and cities is crime, which is rampant. >> it's the crime, stupid. it's the crime, stupid. it's the crime, stupid. >> if you were to randomly flip on fox news there's pretty decent odds you'd be watching a segment how biden's america is rampant with crime. america is in a crime crisis. it's not just fox. trump is also obsessed with crime buts a very specific kind of crime. >> it's a new category, i don't know if you've heard this but came up with this one, migrant
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crime. there's crime, there's violent crime, there's migrant crime. we have a new category of crime, it's called migrant crime. the united states is being overrun by the biden migrant crime. it's a new form of vicious violation to our country. it's migrant crime. we call it biden migrant crime. >> there's a problem with that because what trump and fox are pushing lack facts. across the country the crime rate is down, and it's continuing to drop. we got new fbi crime data yesterday that shows no matter how you slice it america is getting safer, property crime is down, violent crime is down. the murder rates saw the sharpest annual decline ever recorded recorded. and that supposed wave of migrant crime trump is obsessed with fox news ran the first 100 segments of it this year. but the tax are not on fox or trump's side either.
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statistically speaking immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than u.s.-born citizens are, but you don't hear that on fox news. now, none of this is to say that many communities across the country aren't still grappling with very real incidents of crime or that we should turn away from efforts to reduce crime. but the narrative being pushed here that crime is on a precipitous rise under biden's democratic administration is simply false. what fox news lacks in facts, it makes up for, though, in vibes. >> democrats will say that crime is down. that's not how people feel. >> we all know communities don't feel safer. >> and you do see crime on the rise. i know president biden held that whole presser on crime is down in america. do you believe your own eyes or believe the president of the united states? >> he just at the white house a few moments ago was touting a drop in crime stutestics. that is not we're all feeling and seeing.
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>> don't believe your lying eyesch the reality is that crime in america started spiking in 2020 during the pandemic when donald trump was president. but fox news is taking advantage of a gap between perception and reality here. polling shows us almost every year for the past few decades americans have felt like the country was getting more dangerous even when it wasn't. and those feelings now have a partisan split to them. last year gallop found 92% of americans believe crime rose from the year before compared to 58% of democrats. i wonder why. all right, still ahead tonight an education bill that hundreds of students protested earlier this month just became law in alabama, making it the latest state to target diversity, equity and inclusion. i'll talk to alabama state representative about that next. e representative about that next
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nearly 300 students gathered in montgomery today to protest the sb' 129 deia bill. >> history should not and will not repeat. the time has come for a new wave of activists and empowered individuals to speak up and spread justice and equity in every way possible. >> that was samford university
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student hakeem tims. the bill he referenced is a new alabama senate bill restricting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the state's public schools, universities, and colleges. and the history he referenced included this spring 1963. thousands of students gathered to protest segregation in alabama. they faced fire hoses, police dogs, and arrests while calling for the diversification of classrooms in one of the most segregated cities in the country. that was just 61 years ago. and today it became that much harder to learn that history and to diversify classrooms in alabama. despite student protests, today governor kay ivy signed that new anti-dei bill into law. it prohibits the teaching of quote, divisive concepts including that individuals are inherently responsible for actions committed in the past or
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that meritocracy is racist or sexist and bans trans people from using restrooms that align with their gender identity. criticizing the bill mayor woodfin wrote quote, if supporting inclusion becomes illegal in the state, hell you might stand in front the school door like governor wallace. governor wallace in 1963 stood in a doorway to block black students from attending classes at the university of alabama. he's the one whose inaugural promise was quote, segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. joining me now is the alabama state representative. representative, good to yo sue. thank you for being with us this evening. i'd like to get your reaction to this is a pretty sweeping bill that doesn't really address anything that most people who understand dei believe is dei. it just seems to be a generally
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anti-diversity education and diversity education bill. >> yes. thank you. first of all thank you for having me tonight. i represent in my legislative district an area in which four little girls were killed at the 16th street baptist church that were bombed attending sunday school. i fought against this legislation, sb129, and on the house floor i simply oak echoed these words, this bill takes me back. this is a rollback of brown vs. the board of education. this takes me to blessy vs. ferguson, a time of history here in the state of alabama we celebrated the 59th anniversary of the bombing of the -- excuse me of the crossing of the edmund pettus bridge. i'm so alarmed by this piece of
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legislation and to turn it device was concepts. well, affirmative action was put in place in this country for a reason. it gave individuals who have been marginalized in this country an opportunity, a fair shot whether they lived in a certain social economic -- or had a social economic status versus that of our counter parts or not, to me this is racism 101. this is beyond jim crow on steroids, and i'm very concerned what message this sends throughout the country, throughout the world that we're doing here in alabama, in a state so rich for discriminatory practices. >> one we've been concentrating a lot on lately because of the restrictions on reproductive practices. seems like there's a lot of conservative thinkers and think tanks who are behind this movement to ban dei, in many cases the same people who think there's been censorship at university campuses and there's enough free thought. yet this concept about learning
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things like 1961 and 1963 and black history in america and learning about or being curious what blaks fixations look like are people who complain their speech has been shutdown on other fronts. >> absolutely. we live in a time here in the state of alabama it's no longer good or safe to be black in america. well, i'm a black woman. i'm proud to be a black woman. i'm proud of my heritage. we have individuals carrying pieces of legislation such as this one just as they did with the crt bill. but when you ask them the question do you know what 1619 meant in this country, they can't tell you 1619 is when the first slave trade took place, when black slaves were taken to jamestown. when you're asked the question do you know what the middle passage was, but yet you're bringing bills that will tell me or tell any other individual that my blackness does not exist, or if i have an lgbtq
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brother or sister that their rights no longer exist. but if you would allow me just to take it a step further, what we're witnessing now is the realization of what may happen in november. this will be a continuation of rollbacks. we saw that in the dodd case in which a woman's right to choose was rolled back. we're now seeing it here with what's considered divisive concept laws now spreading and will spread across the union. lgbtq rights will become further under attack, so my question is what rights will people such as myself or marginalized people in this country end? i'm sitting here thinking about the dred scott decision, thinking about congressman john lewis crossing the edmund pettus bridge to fight for the right to
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vote when every day those rights are being stripped away. i'm also concerned for my democratic brothers and sisters who do not understand the importance of what an election will mean to us and people who like me in this country. that is what sb-129, the effect sb-129 will have is a rollback. as i mentioned beyond all possible doubt jim crow on steroids, this is taking me back to an era where i can still hear why grandparents talk about what it was like to hear that bomb that went off at the 16th street baptist church. but what it also says to me is that my black in america is not beautiful, that i'm not given those inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in this country. >> thank you for connecting this with what a lot of people might think is an abstraction to something very real and what people can do about it in november. this is not something to watch and say, hey, it's alabama, they
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do some crazy stuff down there, this is the kind of thing catching on in other parts of the country as well. thank you for joining us tonight. we appreciate your time. >> thank you so much. all right, we have a one more story coming up. as benjamin netanyahu signals he's determined to launch a ground offensive in gaza's densely packed southern most city, a look at the leverage president biden has to prioritize the protection of civilians. that's next. civilians. that's next. er medicines. that's why he switched to dovato. dovato is a complete hiv treatment for some adults. no other complete hiv pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable than dovato. detect this: leo learned that most hiv pills contain 3 or 4 medicines. dovato is as effective with just 2. if you have hepatitis b, don't stop dovato without talking to your doctor. don't take dovato if you're allergic to its ingredients or taking dofetilide. this can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. if you have a rash or allergic reaction symptoms, stop dovato and get medical help right away. serious or life-threatening lactic acid buildup
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i can guarantee you this, the days when the jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days
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are over. we are no longer scattered among the nation's, powerless to defend ourselves. we've restored our sovereignty in our ancient home, and the soldiers who defend our home have boundless courage. for it first time in a hundred generations, we, the jewish people, can defend ourselves. >> that was prime minister benjamin netanyahu in 2015 making a joint address to congress urging against a nuclear deal with iran. he raised the specter of genocide in his remarks but said defiantly israel could defend itself. however, that was not entirely true then, and it's not entirely true today. israel has never defended itself by itself. israel is the largest recipient of u.s. foreign aid since its creation. according to congressional data, it has received more than $200
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billion in economic assistance and billions more in missile defense funding. that assistance includes some of the weapons that israel is using in its war with hamas, a war that has now claimed more than 31,000 lives and counting according to the palestinian ministry of health. at the start of this conflict president joe biden was quick to offer his unwavering support of israel's right to defend itself, but he begun criticizing prime minister netanyahu over his attacks on civilians and a blockade of aid that could force as many as 1.1 million people, half the population of gaza, to the brink of starvation. president biden keeps calling for israel to show restraint, but could he go farther? he has leverage in this situation. the supply of u.s. weapons paid for by american citizens that israel is using in this war. so why won't the president use that particular leverage? joining me now is michelle goldberg, opinion columnist for "the new york times." michelle, thank you for being with us.
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it's an interesting few weeks we've been watching where president biden announced airdrops of aid, announced a sea bridge that antony blinking says will be in effect in about two weeks as if we're dealing with a country with whom we don't enjoy great influence. he would really like netanyahu to allow the aid into gaza, and yet he get him to do it. >> look, i think that netanyahu has always showed -- he expects enormous amounts of deference from american leaders and shows democratic presidents complete contempt and defiance. and we've seen this over and over again. and i think he depends on domestic politics constraining american presidents or at least democratic american presidents because, obviously, israel has very strong supporters among, you know, large parts of the american jewish community, among evangelical christians that's made it in the past kind of politically poisonous to go
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against israel. but that hasn't always been the case. you know, i think an example people bring up all the time is ronald reagan basically demanding that they stop basically what he called a holocaust in lebanon in the '80s. and there's another time in which american presidents have exercised real leverage over israel, it just falls to biden to actually do it. >> but what you just commented on, what netanyahu knows is that there are domestic political considerations about that in america. so where biden is facing pressure from some progressives and some people within the democratic party for not exercising that leverage that he's got, if he were to, what happens then? >> well, i think there's blowback either way, and so at a certain point you say, you know, you have to kind of make a decision based on morality and leadership, not just domestic political calculations, not that domestic political calculations
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are important especially given the existential threat that's at stake in the november election, but i think that, look, you have chuck schumer basically talking about netanyahu as an obstacle to peace. so either way there's going -- because this is an issue that defies the democratic party, either way there's going to be some fallout. but i think the fallout besides there is the fallout from not acting is humanitarian catastrophe. and the only thing i would disagree with you, ali, is when you said that over a million people might be on the brink of starvation, they're on the brink of starvation now. you know, by the time -- i'm sure you know by the time they actually declare famine it is going to be too late to save many of these people. and i also think in terms of our national security, the idea of
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kind of showing strength can sometimes be overrated in american politics. but there's something kind of pathetic about having israel that is so dependent or at least so willing -- such a massive recipient of american aid being so defiant of the wishes and the demands of the american government. >> you make an interesting point. the chuck schumer stuff, the speech he made last week may have been lost on some people. it's remarkable chuck schumer going out on that much of a limb to criticize benjamin netanyahu. look, america's highest ranked elected jewish person. he was not critical of israel, the country. he was simply critical of netanyahu and stopped just a little short of asking mim to resign, but he did think israel should elect a new leader. >> right. and my guess is that chuck schumer does not go out and give a speech like that without giving a heads up to the white house. i think that at this point, you
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know, netanyahu has been -- he's obviously an obstacle or his government is an obstacle to getting humanitarian aid into gaza, and also he's an obstacle to any sort of plan for the day after, which is one reason why -- who are a lot of reasons why they're quickly losing support in the united states and around the world. but one is because there's no -- there's no end to this on the horizon. there's no day after. >> michelle, thank you as always. it's good to see you, my friend. michelle goldberg, an opinion columnist for "the new york times." and that is our show for tonight. "way too early" with jonathan lemire is up next. it's time to pack it up. i want to give you the top ten reasons why impeachment is dead, number 10. your key witness today is testifying from the slammer. number 9, key evidence of a bribe you all relied

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