manchin and sinema and the republican lawmakers who have been actively undermining our multi racial democracy for decades. then, four days after the leader of the extremist oath keepers were charged with seditious conspiracy's, why is donald trump sharing the stage with the self proclaimed oath keepers? plus, our last congressman, jamie raskin, we'll talk about the conspiracies of why he says prime time hearings will blow the roof off the house. and ezra klein and carol anderson, is saying that the biden presidency isn't going as planned. good evening from washington d.c., in for chris hayes. long before donald trump had any real presidential language, republican controlled states across the country were disenfranchising people of color, in fact the modern era of the voting rights struggle began before the 2020 election. it began more than two decades

ago with the 2000 presidential election. george w. bush versus al gore. that of course, came down to the state of florida. and of paper thin 500 voting majority for bush. in its wake, the u.s. commission and conducted an election process and found, quote, a widespread voter disenfranchisement that fell harshly of black voters. they concluded that statewide, black voters were nearly ten times more likely than non black voters to have their ballot rejected. there were multiple issues that contributed to this. but one of the most significant was a purge of tens of thousands of alleged felons from the voting roles ahead of that election. the commission found that black voters were placed on purge list more often and more earnestly than hispanic. that's all call this was right with an error rate of at least 14%. and they noted that black voters were disproportionately

affected because there are disproportionately charged, convicted and charged in the criminal justice system. another five to the commission identifying with the police presence in and around florida polling places on election day. for example, troopers conducted an unauthorized vehicle checkpoint within a few miles of a polling place in the predominantly african american neighborhood. an african american woman testified to the committee that she was stopped at the police checkpoints intel husky by approximately five white troopers located at the only main road leading to her assigned polling place. she said that she felt intimidated, because it was an election day. it was a big election. and there were only white officers there. i should also note that the commission pointed to an overall lack of leadership of protecting voting rights as being largely responsible for the broad array of problems in florida during the 2000 election. the chief executive of the state of florida, at that, time was of course george w. bush's daughter.

now, more than 20 years have passed since that report came out. we have had five more presidential elections. and the effort to disenfranchise voters in florida have discontinued. in 2018, nearly 65% of floridians voted in favor of a relent meant that would restore the voting rights of convicted felons after they completed their sentences. it would affect about 1.5 billion people in that city. but the following, yet the republican legislature and governor ron desantis overturn the vote of the. people and enforce the poll tax. they told everyone to pay their financial obligations before being able to vote. disenfranchising many fell into me not be able to pay off things like court fees, fines and restitutions. and of course, these restrictions especially affected black people in florida. who comprise the disproportionate share of felons and registered overwhelmingly as democrats. we've seen a wave of new restrictive voting laws passed

nationwide in the wake of the 2020 election. and again, florida is no exception. last april, the legislature passed and governor ron desantis signed a bill that makes it more difficult to register to vote. it restricts voting by mail. makes it harder for voters to use drop boxes. and even restrict the ability to provide snacks and waters to voters waiting in line. several lawsuits have been filed, challenging the law including one from the naacp arguing that it, quote impact the ability of black voters, latino voters, and voters with disabilities to cast their ballot. so, the state of florida stood as an example of voting rights under attack for sometime. no on this martin luther king day, pulitzer prize reminders on voting rights. in quote, running on well today. in 1957 he gave us this quote where he referred to the right

to vote as one of the highest mandates of our democratic tradition. >> the denial of the secret raid is a tragic betrayal of the highest mandates of a more crowded tradition. give us the ballot, and we will no longer have to worry the federal government about our basic rates. >> that milky speech is known as the give us the bullet speech. which is one of the refrains he repeats over and over. more than 60 years later, people have come up, still, in many places in america being denied the - secret right to vote. we are still fighting for these basic rights. as colbert king puts it in the polls, quote, using mlk day and the speech as standards. the united states is poised to step backwards. the retreat is evident in critically needing the voting rights legislation stalled in congress and republican nationwide effort to make it

harder for people unlike themselves to vote or to have their votes counted. and he points out that many decades ago, some republicans did answer doctor king's call. including, george romney. who was named the gop governor of michigan. he strongly supported the 1964 civil rights bill. pushed to include an anti discrimination plaque and the house. and refused to support the republican presidential nominee barry goldwater. and yet, today, his son, senator mitt romney of utah who was supposedly among the most moderate republicans in the senate, opposes all the recent efforts to secure voting rights. romney was against the legal act. which would make it easier for all americans to vote. he's against the john lewis voting right ads. and he now also opposes the freedom to vote act. three opportunities to vote that he is the reasonable decision republican. and he said no, all three

times. colbert king notice that them coming from the right wing has gotten increasingly radical and dangerous. he points to the other who argues and writing quote, democrats campaign decentralize election as part of a broader expert to consolidate power in the hands of its early class. his class want us to use this power to silence and disempower anyone who distance from the radical progressive agenda. that language, from senator rubio, is almost the exact same language for the bullets of silverado youth. congresswoman val demings, is running to challenge senator for his. seat she joins me. now congresswoman, thanks for coming on the show tonight. there are a lot of republicans showing dr. king quads or remembrances on their twitter account today. and in official statements,

what do you think dr. king would make of our political moment right now? >> let me just say, it's great to be with you. and we are celebrating the life and legacy, the work of dr. king. and yes, i've heard many people quoted him today. but obviously, they did not take his word to. hard celebrating dr. king had to be more than just a holiday. and when i look at my home state of florida, a place where i was born and raised, a state that i love. i really would want to live in a place we know where than this. we know that he is a stranger we, not, to florida. we've also had our governor tell the election process was a model for the nation to follow. but yet, we've seen continuous voter suppression laws. you mentioned marco rubio, who basically said that protecting

voting rights was ridiculous. well, senator, i think that it's not ridiculous to protect the cornerstone of our democracy. it's amazing he would show up to say that. but, did not show up and has a problem showing up for the work he missed recently. so, i believe that dr. king on the one hand would be proud of the progress that we have made. but be very extremely disappointed that we are continuing to fight the same old battle. the same type of battles, with different fighters. >> and you are of course running to replace senator rubio in the senate. but if you are in the senate right now, what would you say to your fellow democrat kristen sinema if you run into her in the hallway? last week, she made it very clear that she's not budging. even for voting rights. today, she was tweeting about how wonderful mlk is. >> let me say this. i'm certainly disappointed that

we did not move on voting rights. and we think about the person that we're celebrating today. a failure in this area is not an option. we cannot let dr. king's assassination be in vain. we cannot let john lewis's be dumping in vain. we cannot let rosa parks arrest be in vain. and i would just ask the senator to remember while she was there in the first place, a legacy, what does she want to be remembered for. but we will not let the 50 republican senators off the hook either. those who have suppressed and obstructed the right to vote, including rubio. as i said, who calls it ridiculous. florida, can do better. and if you'd like to join me in my race and send me to the senate my website is val demings-.com. florida can do.

better >> congresswoman, you and your fellow democrats are asking the department of justice to investigate possible voter suppression, what do you expect them to find? >> well, some of the things that you talked about earlier at the top of your show. i, mean voter suppression in florida unfortunately, it's no stranger to my home state of florida. we have seen the reduction of boxes in certain neighborhoods that even propose that would change voter registration laws. make it more difficult for people to register to vote and to see that you cannot pass up food and water. some of the things that are being proposed, not just in florida but across the nation, are disgraceful. so we must have the department of justice look into this. to make sure that everybody has the right to vote. john lewis said that the right to vote is precious. and that it is almost secret.

and we have to do everything that we can to protect. it >> one last question before we run out of time, senator rubio took to the chamber floor last week to give a speech disparaging the president and vice president for remarks about january six, restricting voting laws. and he says this line. take a listen. >> if your daily routine is to wake up in the morning and turn on msnbc, and then you go on twitter as you're drinking your caramel macchiato, and then you're reading the new york times as you're eating your avocado toast, i imagine all of those make perfect sense to you. after all, these people believe that this ridiculous narrative, every republican is an insurrectionist. probably races. wants to overthrow the u.s. government. and wanted to destroy democracy. >> now, aside from the fact that my daughter loves avocado toast. and obviously, everybody loves watching msnbc, how can marco

rubio get away with that type of stuff? if i set those things about republicans in that way, i would get slammed. how does he get away with this stuff? >> well we have to make sure that he doesn't get away with it. obviously, the senator is not in touch with reality. you know, people are hurting. they are worried about the increase in prices. the prices that they pay to the grocery store. the prices that they pay at the gas station. seniors are worried about the cost of prescription drugs. dealing with everyday issues, safety and security of our nation -- with the senior senator from florida just said was simply ridiculous. we can do better. i ask that you support me in my campaign, val demings.com. >> you managed to get two plugs in there for the website. we appreciate it. congresswoman val demings thank you so much for joining us on this mlk. >> thank you so much, take care. >> some have called former president trump's rally in

arizona this weekend a soft launch for his 2024 campaign. there's a lot to unpack there which will get to later in the show. it is notable that one of the local candidates trump pulled up on stage, who endorsed for arizona secretary of state is a self proclaimed oath keepers who was at the capitol on january the six. that unbelievable story, after this short break. story, significantly longer when taken with fulvestrant, regardless of menopause status. verzenio + fulvestrant is for hr+, this short break her2- metastatic breast cancer diarrhea is common, may be severe, or cause dehydration or infection. at the first sign, call your doctor start an anti-diarrheal and drink fluids. before taking verzenio, tell your doctor about any fever, chills, or other signs of infection. verzenio may cause low white blood cell counts, which may cause serious infection that can lead to death. life-threatening lung inflammation can occur. tell your doctor about any new or worsening trouble breathing, cough, or chest pain. serious liver problems can happen.

symptoms include fatigue, appetite loss, stomach pain and bleeding or bruising. blood clots that can lead to death have occurred. tell your doctor if you have pain or swelling in your arms or legs, shortness of breath, chest pain, and rapid breathing or heart rate, or if you're nursing, pregnant or plan to be. every day matters. and i want more of them. ask your doctor about everyday verzenio. >> seditious conspiracy is a

very serious charge, it comes with a 20-year prison sentence if convicted. and it is a charge now leveled against 11 members of the far-right oath keepers group, including the group's leader. for their alleged roles in the insurrection. but they weren't the only oath keepers at the capitol on january 6th. take this guy, arizona state representative mark finchem. a publicly elected official. in 2014, he wrote, quote, i'm an oath keeper, committed to the exercise of limited constitutional governance. in october, propublica obtained a list of more than thirty-five thousand members of the oath keepers among the current officeholders on the list, is arizona state representative mark finchem. during the january six insurrection, he was outside the capitol. journalist nick martin found this image that appears to show finchem right in the middle of the mob, as people surge up the capitol steps. so you might think that this oath keepers was at the insurrection. would be keeping his head down, since then. trying to lay low and avoid detention. but you would be wrong.

>> ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, trump endorsed candidate for arizona secretary of state, mark finchem. >> we know it and they know it. donald trump won. with all of the evidence that we have. the arizona election should be decertified with cause, by the legislator. this is how the people can get justice. >> yes, you heard that right that was the same mark finchem who was at the capitol at january 6th speaking this weekend at donald trump's big lie filled arizona rally. yes, he is running for arizona secretary of state. where he would be in charge of the state's elections. and yes, he has the full and complete endorsement of donald j trump. elaine godfrey was at trump's rally this weekend, reporting on it for the atlantic. where she described the event as the soft launch of trump's second campaign. and tess owen is a senior

reporter at vice news, where she has been covering right wing extremism. elaine let me start with you, give me a sense of the atmosphere at trump's crazy rally. did it feel any different from the previous crazy rallies? >> yeah, thank you for having me mehdi. so it was standard in a few ways. there were red hats. there was chanting, there was pointing and booing at the press where we were sitting. but it was different in a key way. which is that i think it felt, at least to me, a lot more sinister. i talked to so many people there. and every person that i spoke with said that they did not think joe biden was the rightful president. that trump actually won and the democrats had stolen the election. and a few people went beyond that to say, they truly and deeply believe that the 2020 election will be decertified in the next couple of years and trump will be reinstated as president. and i know that we know this is true.

you read stories like this all the time. about people who believe this. but to be in a crowd surrounded by thousands, upon thousands of them, telling you the same thing, the same lies. it is really something else. and it really does not bode well. i think it felt very sinister. >> sinister indeed. tess, you have been reporting on the oath keepers organization. which is a very sinister organization. how big and widespread is this group? how surprising is it to see a trump endorsed oath keepers candidate for elected office? >> thanks for having me mehdi. in terms of membership numbers, that is difficult to say. because i almost take membership numbers quoted by the leaders with a grain of salt. they tend to inflate them to make themselves look more powerful. one key thing is, as elaine pointed out, from the arizona rally, the way to achieve legitimacy in the gop these days. is to rally behind trump's election lies. and many people rallying behind trump's election lies are

conspiracy theorists like finchem. who have ties, or even are official members of extremist groups like the oath keepers. and the oath keepers have been very successful since they were founded in 2009. in recruiting law enforcement, military and state legislators. so this has been a very troubling, sort of a troubling pattern, that i think the relationship between politics and extremism seems to have gotten stronger since january 6th, not weaker. >> yeah. we are seeing that in places like wyoming, where liz cheney is one of the people trying to replace her, is supposedly an oath keeper member as well. elaine, i want to play you a clip of trump endorsed arizona governor candidate, kerry lake, from that rally, have a listen. >> come to think of it, there are a few other people i'd like to send down to the prison right here in florence. anybody who was involved in that corrupt, shady, shoddy election of 2020. lock them up. >> you have candidates for office who are oath keepers.

you have candidates for office threatening to lock people up. you have the crowd cheering and screaming. you have the big lie. it is all pretty faschistic, is it not? we should use the f-word. >> yeah. it is scary. to stand in the crowd and hear them cheer for locking up coworkers and election officials from 2020. it was really jarring. and i cover the stuff for a living and it was still pretty unnerving to me. what do we make of that? well, i think, kerry lake is not the only one. there are so many republican candidates running this year. including mark finchem who you had mentioned. who are running, who are saying the exact same stuff. and who have a very good chance of winning in november. arizona politicians, arizona political leadership, might soon be made up of these people. and i was there on the ellipse

for the stop the steal rally ahead of january 6th, 2021. i know with this kind of rhetoric can lead to. and it leads nowhere good. >> sadly, it does tend to lead in one direction, a very dark direction. tess, last question for, you covered the stuff for a living and you know the stuff inside out, you've taken a lot of time out to really spend time getting to know these groups. covering these groups. the rest of the media has not. pre january the sixth, most people had never heard of oath keepers and proud boys. maybe because trump mentioned him. the media was very busy for 20 years looking for jihadists under every bed. did we drop the ball when it came to far-right militias? >> there was a lot of reporting around, i think in 2014 especially. i think it's not fair to blame the media for insufficient coverage. but i think there has been a sort of awakening across the board. where people have seen, on one hand, you have this extremist group whose leaders or are facing conspiracy sedition charges. and whose members were accused

of using force to block joe biden from becoming president. at the same time, the same group has recruited lawmakers as members. and the leader of the oath keepers, stewart rhodes, was at cpac in july. when the space between sedition and politics is so narrow. i think that is why it is getting so much attention now, why we have a real problem. >> yeah, you wonder whether last week's indictment will be a wake up call. let us see. ellen godfrey, tessa owen, thank you both for your reporting and coming on the show tonight, appreciate it. >> next, what will happen to the members of congress who are dodging the january six committee. while we are at it, it is the deal donald trump, will the committee ever hear from the former president, i will ask january six committee member jamie raskin next. member

jamie raskin next.

tomorrow, the house is back in session. and all eyes will be on the january six committee. so far, congress members jim

jordan and scott perry say they will not cooperate with the committee. and last week, their leaders in the house, republican kevin mccarthy says he will not testify either. which begs the question, are subpoenas on the way? while the committee zeroes in on the peripheral figures around the insurrection, what about donald trump? the man who incited the riot. well, that man is still out stalking the flames of the bigger. listen to what he had to say while endorsing a republican candidate in pennsylvania. >> we won the state. it's something that i contests, and i will continue to contests. we are up a massive amount at 10:00 in the evening. and then all of a sudden, things closed, and it reopened, and voila, look what happened. so we have to be a lot sharper the next time when it comes to counting the votes. sometimes, the vote counter it is more important than the candidate. and we can't let that ever happen again. we have to get tougher and smarter. >> the dictator that trump

appears to be quoting the, is, i could do not, joseph. who once reportedly said, i considered completely unimportant when the party will vote, or how, but what is extraordinarily important is this. who will count the votes? and how? congressman jamie raskin is a democrat from democrat who now sits on the january six committee. he joins me. now congressman, thank you for coming on the show. for people at home tonight who are worried watching trump quoting stolen, pushing the big lie, spreading white supremacist conspiracy theories at his rallies. what can you say to them about what the committee is doing to stop trump from fermenting another insurrection? how much is your committee focused on the organ grinder? >> well, let me make two points, one is that there is no surprise to me at all that donald trump's best friend in politics are totalitarian and authoritarian leaders. especially dictators like kim

jong-un. -- >> i think we may have lost congressman raskin. we were just getting in there with the dictators. we are going to take a pause. we were talking about trump in elections. we're going to take a break. see if we can resolve that issue. stay tuned, and join us after a very quick break. very quick break

>> i am back with congressman jamie raskin, congressman good to have you back. i was asking you about the focus of your committee on donald trump and you were telling me about his affinity with stalanist dictators. let us pick up there. >> yeah, it seemed like when i invoked vladimir putin, the sound went dead. but i'm going to assume that was a coincidence. it is not fox news. you look at vladimir putin, he was the head of the kgb for 15 years. that is donald trump's hero. putin said that the greatest

tragedy of the 20th century was the collapse of the soviet union. he has been wrapped up with stalinist, authoritarian, and totalitarian politics for a long time. we are getting overwhelming cooperation from people who were involved on january 6th. probably more than 90, 95% of the people we have contacted have come in freely and volunteered to cooperate. as we get closer to donald trump, we are running into that brick wall of mark meadows and steve bannon and donald trump. as we close in on the putative ringleader of all of the activity. we still have lots of ways of finding out what he was doing and what he was saying. of course, in the senate impeachment trial, i invited donald trump to come in and testify. certainly, the vast majority of americans, if they were accused of conspiring a violent insurrection against their own government, would come and testify if they hadn't done it.

but donald trump's lawyers blew that off in less time and it took him a long time to respond to the insurrection in the first place. i think it was just about two hours when we heard back from him, that no, they would not do that. why would donald trump not testify? >> you have said that the committees planned public hearings this year are going to quote, blow the roof off the house. what makes you confident that these hearings will have that effect on the american people and how do you avoid some of your republican witnesses from turning them into a circus on live tv? >> well, the first thing is that the senate impeachment trial was about one guy, donald trump and one crime, incitement to violent insurrection. the mandate of the select committee is far broader. it is much more sweeping than that. we are looking at all of the events of the day. all of the causes and what needs to be done to fortify democratic institutions in the future. we are looking at that mob riot. which surrounded a violent

insurrection of domestic violent extremists, white national groups surrounding a presidential coup. against the prop vice president and against congress. and we are going to tell the story of each dimension of this attack on american democracy. and american people have not yet seen all of the evidence laid out in this way. so we are going to have hearings for the american people. which i hope will seem somewhat like the watergate hearings did. in that they will be a daily occurrence where people can follow. unfolding the narrative. and then we are going to give america a report and give congress a report of what happened and what we need to do to strengthen our resiliency against future authoritarian attacks like this. >> and congressman, what is your committee going to do about your fellow congressman, who are not cooperating, like kevin mccarthy, or jim jordan, or scott perry. are you planning to issue subpoenas? could this happen this week, how controversial will that be?

>> well, the committee has not yet decided what to do about different levels of interference and non cooperation that we have received from various witnesses. so that is something that is going to require us to show some tactical nimbleness. we do not want to get pulled down into some wild goose chases. on the other hand. everybody has a responsibility to comply with congressional orders. when it comes to an investigation. and nobody knows that better than mark meadows, or jim jordan. people in the benghazi investigation, or any number of investigations against democratic presidents, insisted upon absolute compliance. but you know, they do not see the double standard and the hypocrisy of the position that they are acting out here. i think america does see it and it is a rather scandalous thing not to cooperate with the demand for information. and if god forbid, they were

ever to control a gavel again, they would undoubtedly go right back to saying that everybody has to cooperate with their benghazi investigations, or whatever they are going to do. >> congressman, one last question, back in 2016 on mlk day, you posted this on your facebook page, it is a photo from life magazine and it shows your mother and father in 1963 at the march on washington, second and third from the right. with their feet in the water, listening to doctor can give his i have a dream speech. talk to us briefly about this photo on that day and what it means to you. >> well there is a great moment in american history, where there was this huge outpouring on a multiracial, multi religious, multi ethnic basis. for the principle of universal rights. in american democracy. and that is a prized possession that we have those photos. my sister erica made them. got them online for all of the kids and our family. and you know, dr. king actually sent a telegram to our house.

for those that don't know what it telegram is. it is kind of like a text, but they bring it to your door. when my dad was indicted in the boston five cases, with doctor spock and dr. king said, if you are guilty of conspiracy to aid and abet, draft evasion, then i'm guilty to. that was also a very important moment in my childhood. to understand that this great moral authority, dr. king, was on the side of my father and my family. when my dad was facing many years in prison in that trial. fortunately, all of them were acquitted, or had the charges dropped. >> congressman, that is a great story. and we appreciate you coming on and telling it does today. on mlk day. thank you for your time. >> thank you for having me. >> so, chris hayes is off tonight, which is rare. but this is actually my second show of the day. because i also hosts the show streaming, every night, monday through thursday, 7 pm eastern on peacock.

i wanted to share with you something we highlighted on my show earlier tonight. the constants disingenuous and very selective use of a famous quote from dr. martin luther king's i have a dream speech. take a look. >> a funny thing happened in january 1986. the first time this country officially marked martin luther king the. or mlk day as we're doing so today. president, ronald reagan who oppose the federal holiday before signing into law marked the first official mlk day with these words. >> we are committed to a society in which all women and men have equal opportunities to succeed. so we oppose the use of quotas. we want a color blind to say the. a society in the words of dr. king judges people not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character. >> reagan was one of the first conservatives who co-opted dr. king's words for right-wing causes. in this case he used kings

words to impose employment quarters to address racial discrimination. even though the people who knew dr. king best supported him. they had affirmative action. in fact, the rhoden's 1967 book, where do we go from here? , quote, a society that has done something special against the negro for hundreds of years must now do something special for the negro. here's the thing, today, conservatives in the republic to have the night the open support for socialism and socialist stick economic policies want to pretend he wasn't a man of the left. that he wasn't a radical hosted up to a loudly critiqued but economic, justice, and inequity in america. so in enthuses -- cornell west has caused the santa claus of dr. king. and they have done so by disingenuously focusing on one line in one speech. today, republican politicians and foxholes follow and reagan's first steps and take

every chance they can to quote this one line from martin luther king junior. >> i have a dream. my four little children would one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of the character. and they do it so cynically, so shamelessly double deflect from charges of racism and to undermine any ill attempts to address systematic racism in america. or acknowledge the racist past of this country. see for yourself. >> critical race theory is a hoax. it rejects the vision of martin luther king junior. >> modern luther king is a great teacher. >> martin of the king has a dream of having a colorless society. >> he wanted his kid to be judged by the content of their character. >> -- and not by the color of their skin. >> by the content of their

character. >> -- and not by the content of those. skin >> not on the color of their skin but the content of their character. >> on the context of their character and not by the color of their skin. >> we must judge one another by the content of our character and not by the con -- color of our skin. >> that again whether it's opposing affirmative action in the 1980s, or critical race theory, republicans have the same idea. i mean, put aside the fact that it was an aspirational line. it was what king dropped might happened in america. one day at some point in the future. but not the america that we lived not the time. in america, in which he said in that same, i have a dream speech. the negro is still sadly crippled by change of discrimination. the need girl lives on the lonely island of poverty. the negro finds himself an xl in his online. put all of that aside for a moment and just think how dishonest, how ignorance, how cynical you have to be to reduce the views of a man who gave over 2500 public speeches.

give dozens upon dozens of tv news paper interviews. and would file books to reduce his views to a single out of context self serving line from the only speech of his you've even heard of. back in 1990, the attorney fed up with constant simplistic reference to nazis as a way of shutting down all of this and lying discussion came up with this not infamous result. which says, quote, as an online discussion grows longer the probability of a comparison involving nazis or hitler approaches one. so tonight, on this mlk day, i am fed up of the disingenuous and selective rhetoric from republicans, modestly quoting. and it goes like this. as a discussion of racism goes on in the public quoting mlk. ting mlk ting mlk ssional clean feel every day.

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debating voting rights

legislation. things do not look good. republicans are completely united in opposition. and democrats do not seem to have the votes to pass either bill. then there is the build back better legislation that is sweeping biden social infrastructure agenda that is being dead for nearly a month now since democratic senator, joe manchin said he will not support the bill. the backdrop to all of this is president joe biden's approval rating which has been dropping steadily. now hovering at just over 42%. joining me to talk about all of this, are two great guess ezra klein, columnist at the new york times. his latest piece is titled this presidency isn't turning out as planned. and carol anderson, chair of the african american studies at emory university. she is the author of "one person, no vote" and most recently, the second. racing guns in a fatally unequal america. thank you both for joining tonight. ezra, let me start with you.

even without build back better. ordinary americans are better off now economically. you point out in your piece that the analysis found the immediate households taking account balance was 50% higher in july 2021 than in the months before the pandemic. that's astonishing. why isn't that translating into a higher approval rating for president biden? >> it's a really striking finding. you gotta think about what the biden administration did on two levels. one, they tried to not allow the mistakes to repeat. so when they came back with the correct, and the rescue plan. they came back with the infrastructure. that was a huge thing for the country. the transfer, the child tax credit, a lot among in those bills. so you put that with the labor market and you get these numbers. very low unemployment, very high asset levels. the thing they did not anticipate is high inflation. so the danger that actually

does truly dark in the detail for next year's those transfers are not happening. they are not having another stimulus this year. right now, the child tax credit has expired. it will not be renewed. and so that happens and inflation does not come down, you are going to see people and the year worst off. and people hate that. the heat seeing gas prices that high. and it is very much obscuring. it can reveal the economic suspects that they have on the record. >> so carol anderson, the economy is in a better shape than people say this. our democracy is in a worse shape that most think it. if you are a historian, how will people look back on this moment? and especially the actions when joe manchin and kyrsten sinema are severely blocking their own party, president and the agenda across the board. >> i think we're going to see it the way that we see it normally. who basically allowed hillary to run free and launch the second world war. where they thought that they

were doing something great and magnificent and wonderful to bring peace in our time. and in fact, but they did was to unleash the demons. and so that is what manchin and sinema. doing they are blocking the end of the filibuster. blocking the votes on the voting rights act. >> while. that was certainly strong words. people just don't understand what's at stake here. and i'm glad that you are pointing out what's at stake. >> ezra, lynda johnston had to overcome an intense filibuster against the legislation. but back then, he had properties in both chambers, but he could count on some republicans backing him. you are the expert on polarization. is the only way you see joe biden overcoming any republican opposition to his agenda? and that he wished a lot of time in 2021 trying to be bipartisan? >> i don't think he wasted a lot of time. and no i don't think he's gonna overcome the republican composition. to go back on a civil rights

analogy, the really amazing thing about the civil rights act, it passes with the higher proportion of the congressional republicans moving forward. now, they told us that they had the majority. but the higher proportions vote for. it is a completely different party structure. where you have democrats of which of course needs to be one in there as a conservative recess block within the democratic party. we use the same name for the parties, they were not the same parties that they are today. then you fast forward to today. i think you have to think about what's coming next as you breaking in usable questions. one, can you most in a mansion. that looks to me like you can't. it's been that way for almost a year now. but you could keep trying. and then to, that leaves you two options. one, you need to win the number of seats necessary to make their opposition meaningless. so how do you get an additional two seats in the senate? and how do you keep a house majority for 2022? or, and i read about this in my

new york times column last, week how do you win an election to make sure the election as well administered in 2022 to at least continue having a shop at a fair election and avoiding the crack of democracy over the immediate next years when we try to build a majority and to pass the legislation we need? >> challenges, challenges, challenges. carol, it's mlk day. it's funny to have republicans praising dr. king. a self compressed socialist was supported redistribution in this country. we don't hear that part from republicans. or even any democrat for that matter. how do we properly honored dr. king's legacy with that the economic justice. we're talking about racial justice, what about economic justice that he advocated for? >> we can't, because what he saw his side in the human rights. from which was that you're civil and political rights are married to your economic rate.

that, when you talked about the poverty in his, i have a dream, speech he also talked about the right to vote. those two things go hand in hand. we must deal with it. and, america has a long history of not wanting to deal with the kind of racialized distribution. so we can have a host attack were lights got out west. but we cannot have a 40 acres in a meal because the enslaved were black people. and so they shouldn't get this. when it is the same thing when we're looking at these policies, still within health care. when we're looking at the policies dealing with economic justice. and economic unemployment. when it's racialized, it becomes socialism. it becomes something bad. something wicked. something evil. something that is un-american. >> ezra, it's amazing to hear people talk about an american policies on the economy when

mlk is one of the most popular people in the country. >> yes, socialism has been strong in this country. and we describe anything as we don't like a socialism. i enjoy it. your roof earlier. it's something i was reflecting on. one of the great injustices that we impose on economic morality of people of this country is that we believe that the confident and character -- those have never been different. we think if you're rich, or smart you're great. and then we judge them and their character because we have robbed them economically. it is injustice as we compound generation after generation. and it's grotesque. >> i mean, i am certainly not judging the republican party on the skin color. i'm judging them on their lack of character. ezra klein, carol anderson, think you both for your time tonight. appreciate it. that is all in on this monday night. i'm mehdi hassan, the rachel

maddow show starts right now. good evening rachel. >> good evening mehdi, thank you my friend. much appreciated. >> and thanks to at-home for joining us this hour. really happy to have you here. we've got a lot to get to tonight. solid on brayden. first of all, i want you to see if you notice a pattern here. i'm going to show you something. and i you notice a pattern here. i want to see if you can sense some consistency over time here. i'm going to put a date stamp in the corner of the screen so you can see when all of these happened, but see if you can pick up on the pattern among them. watch. after ascertainment has been had, that the certificates are authentic and correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors. >> after ascertainment has been had and that the certificates are correct in form, the tellers will count and make a list of the votes cast by the electors. >> after ascertainment has been made that the certificates are authentic