tv The 11th Hour With Brian Williams MSNBC February 22, 2017 11:00pm-11:31pm PST
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>> i'm not asking about today, senator. i am asking once the aca is repealed what will you do to prevent that in the future once you are -- >> although we disagree. we are americans. >> do your job! do your job! do your job! >> thank you for being here the i appreciate it. >> do your job! >> thank you. >> many of these local town halls and protests and people berating their local representative or begging to meet with their local representative, many of these you will find people following a
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good book for activism in this era called indivisible. this is definitely a do it yourself, grassroots movement. but it has been shaped, technically, tactically, in part by the next guest. ezra levin, one of co-authors of the "indivisible guide" organizing how to for rejecting the trump agenda starting with your personal member of congress. mr. levin, ezra, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> you guys knew when you wrote the book, that this recess this week was going to be a key moment in terms of people making themselves known in the size of the anti-trump sort of resistance rearing up. >> when we wrote this google doc, a google doc we don't have any idea what it was going to become. we put it online with embarrassing number of typos, hoped it would be useful to the big movement growing at the time. >> what was the basic point of the document? >> inspiration from the tea party. clear, simple. it was looking at the local defensive congressional advocacy strategy that they implemented at the ground level. and saying, look, the progressive movement right now is in a similar situation. we don't have the house, don't
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have the senate, don't have the presidency. don't have the power to set the agenda. we have power to respond. we can do that by sticking together and resisting the trump agenda at every moment. >> when you say defense, you mean don't put forward a ten-point plan for what should be america's immigration reform goals, but rather, just work on stopping what trump and republicans want to do. only work on n >> right. an important thing to do strategically. helps keep the coalition together. we would argue different than the tea party. when the tea party was doing, obstructing a popular president with a mandate to give more americans health care and save the economy from second great depression. when we are just saying no, we are saying we need to protect the most vulnerable members of society being victimized by the administration. those are the folks being attacked. they're muslims, refugees, if immigrants, poor, old, sick, elderly. people most in danger. when we say no we are protecting them. we have a moral responsibility to use every tool in the tool box to do that.
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>> one of the ways that america is sort of waking up to this -- this organizing that you have been part of, the indivisible guide has been part of, demand for townhall. you see, you know, members of congress working through the airport coming home to constituents, doing everything they can to avoid that. people, townhall, townhall, townhall, why is that such a, tip of the spear, demand? we are in the congressional recess. in congress what they call it is district work period. they call the a district work period because the members of congress are expected to go back to their districts and work. that means listening to constituents. part of the job description, members of congress go back home and listen to constituents. it is quite reasonable as the a constituent to assume i will get a chance. one-on-one to talk with my member of congress along with other of our constituents and make my voice heard. the opportunity here. the fact that so many members of
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congress are notolding townhalls, is -- amazing. they should be embarrassed abo it. i would guess every member of congress this week is holding a fund raiser. they have time for fundraisers. they don't have time for town halls. >> one of the things interesting, watch local press. local newspapers, local tv stations around the country. totally nonpartisan. don't have a dog in the fight. respond to demand for a townhall by saying, hey, yeah, wait a minute. whether or not we editorialized in favor of you. you should respond when your constituents want to meet with you. >> civics 101. this shouldn't matter whether you are on the left or right. we should be really happy that there are thousand of people standing up and saying, i'm concerned about the direction of my country and would look to talk to my elected representatives about it. go to indivisible website. type in your zip code. thousand of the events happening all across the country now. we as a group, there are groups in every single congressional district in the country. there are two, at least two in every congressional district in the country. >> seriously? >> at least two. and we are talking, the newest
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one today is in greenville, south carolina. this is in arkansas. this is in -- idaho. this is in utah. this is not just a left coast/east coast thing. this isn't just a city center thing. this is everywhere. >> when michael moore says as he did on the network tonight this will make the tea party look like preschool, does that worry you? is that your intention? are you happy to hear that? >> so, the tea party at this time eight years ago was minuscule compared to movement we are seeing today. the women's marches, sister marches the day after inauguration are larger than the tea party ever accomplished. although we are endorsing the, strategies and tactics of the tea party. what we see today instead of a vocal minority, what is apaerg to be a vocal majority that is upset with the direction of the country. >> are you worried when you see some of the -- these protests get -- very emboldened in tone. members of congress, look afraid, when they bring police presence to events. pele running from constituents saying these are dangerous
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environments that are being created. have you, do you feel like there is -- a need to draw brighter lines, or that some of these mobilizations are veering in towards, towards intimidation? >> so, if you are going to register a group on our site, you have to agree to three principles. the agenda of the trump administration need to be resisted. low bar. two, use strategies local defensive advocacy on home turf. third, model progressive values, nonviolence, being polite to staff, not spitting on them or being physically violent we saw with the tea party. i think that's incredibly important. you shouldn't spit on people. and important, it will be a more effective strategy if you engage with folks in a polite way. >> what goes next? i mean, i look at the tea party. effective. any chance for comprehensive immigration reform. boehner and leadership party wouldn't sign any deal that would allow for people to become citizens. they were good on the negative.
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you say the defensive. what is the next step? this goes for a year or two. how many years if you run a war of defense against trump, fair enough. but at what point, do you turn it into something, where something good gets done. can you do that? its that a formality? and this method? >> i don't think we should give up a bold progressive vision for the future. think that is important. if you are a grassroots activist on the ground, your power is constituent power. power to respond. and the things on the table right now, are, muslim and refugee bans. things on the table are extremist, supreme court nominee. these are things need to be reap -- resisted. >> now fams your young years as one of the co-authors of "the indivisible guide." thank you for helping us understand. appreciate it. >> now we have moved into the territory what we look to call the 11th hour, the 23rd on the calendar day, it is the time to
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thank rachel who we bam boozeled into doing an extra hour and then some of coverage. because we came up. >> come on, rachel. come on. >> now we are able to see the people who dent watch your hour tonight, because those are the people asking me on this device, what is she wearing? in addition to the rachel maddow collection of black blazers for work and leisure. let's explain it. >> american carnage. the first month of the trump administration. this is a legitimate vintage tour t-shirt from the american carnage tour which was slayer, mega death and testament in 2010. and, i feel like if our new president -- >> who among was was not there? >> going to co-omt the american carnage tour, metal band extravaganza, for the theme of his inauguration we should pay tribute to historical origins. >> this is why we say you need rest. and thank you very much for staying late with us.
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our partner, rachel maddow. thank you. we have been talking thesis statement. that is something that is happening here. some of that talk was about what happened today to senator tom cotton in arkansas. the republican incumbent senator. let's take in a little more of what happened at that town meeting. before we talk to our correspondent who was there. >> what i am asking -- is that presidents in the past have shared with us their tax returns. what would you do to help bring that about in congress to show this man's tax turns we need to know. >> this is a hotly consteder to during the election. and donald trump still won. and donald trump still, he still files a financial disclosure statement every year the way every federally elected official does. >> i mean, the former president showed his birth certificate, my god.
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i mean -- >> those were just some of the exchanges. a lot of that was carried live on cable news late this afternoon into the evening. nbc's vaughn hilliard was at the townhall tonight. he is with us from springdale, arkansas. vaughn, i said at the start of the broadcast. these are folks who are smart, angry in many cases, a lot of it about health care, not exclusively. and don't think they aren't up on the issues. how you voted. and how they, what they plan to do with your job opening if that's their choice. >> brian, i think, the point, last segment, when you were talking about indivisible. to start off, 2,200 here at springdale high school. northwestern arkansas. during the pledge of allegiance, tom cotton led, it got to the point, where it said indivisible, everybody shouted it out loud.
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it was in unison. it was loud. it really was getting to the point these were people, a lot of them tapped in through social media. saw this up in iowa as well. yesterday when up with chuck grassley, rural, rural counties here, people coming together. finding out on line. coming together. sharing questions. sharing the conversation points. and when, you know, donald trump referred to them as liberal activists. if you want to call liberal activist, chris peterson, farmer from clear lake, drove an hour to be at the townhall, or susie who drove an hour from eureka to be here today for the event. runs a nonprofit health clinic. talking liberal activists, i guess up for interpretation exactly what that means. but inside of this place, there are 2,200. who voted for trump. don't think donald trump would be wrong. one person among the group that, jeered, and did not, did not warmly receive my question to the entire group. i think it comes done to also, also the point of -- tom cotton from the state here tonight.
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he said, listen, there is 2,000 of you here. 3 million in arkansas. i representative everybody. elections have consequences. >> vaughn, a lot of people found it curious that beth iowa, republican senators, yesterday, had a tough time of it at townhall meetings. i understand you were at one of them? >> yeah, to be fair to the senators in iowa, one of the few senators that have held the town halls. we were talking difficulty you mentioned ten minutes ago. difficulty republicans have coming to their home districts. tom cotton, chuck grassley, bill cassidy, small number of republicans have gone back the they have a difficult time in what the message is to these voters. chuck grassley in iowa said, there is three, four replacement plans for, for obama care. that are on the table. left doubt and frustration among people. same thing here.
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a woman -- she stood up and said, who here has been impacted by affordable care act. and who here wants to know what the replacement plan is. everybody stood up among the crowd. there is, there is a feeling of unknown. in which these republican senators have to a point conveyed themselves. trump has given them a tough task in the congress on unable to actually come with a full plan, clear agenda. >> unbelievable scene across america. congressional districts. where senators, members of congress have come home for this break. those who aren't on a european or middle eastern fact finding trip as we always call them. congressional delegations as they're called in the trade. vaughn hilliard. thank you very much as always reporting from the brunt of it. another break for our coverage. our special two-hour block of coverage tonight as we look back at the first 30 days, give or take, of the new presidency of donald trump.
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in the business world which is to me means something much different than it used to. it used to mean, oh that'sood. now it means that's good for jobs. veryifrent. plants and factories are already starting to move back into the united states. and big league ford, general motors, so many of them. >> supposed to be one of the big league selling points for this man in the white house, as president. and that was -- that it would be good for american business. good for the american economy. that's what we are going to talk about in this segment. first to the board. steve kornacki with numbers we have been witnessing. steve. >> let's think back. around 2:00 in the morning it became clear, donald trump became elected so much uncertainty at the moment. the shocking outcome, no one had seen coming. those immediate hours overnight, the overseas markets were down.
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futures were down. there was talk that maybe there was going to be trouble in the markets. but look. a very different story has played out since then. this is the dow. since election day. draw a line there. look, every one of the little peaks a brand new record high. all sorts of records have been established. the dow at a record high right now. overall up 14%. since election day. this is the story across the board. the nasdaq same thing. draw a line on election day. look how high it is right now. look where it was in the past. undeniable growth since the election. also, the s & p 500. exact same story. it is hard to look at these charts. hard to look at that line. what's come after it. and say, there has bnt been at least some kind of trump effect here. >> thank you. stephanie rolland, the two experts join us when our focus changes at all to include business. ergo they're here tonight. i heard both of you on this subject in the past 24 hours. have they met -- expectations in this narrow focus? >> i am glad, i love if the when steve comes on with a chart. if you look back where he started in the spring of 2016,
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you will see that there was generally an upward trajectory that started to go downward in the weeks before the election it looked like donald trump was going to win, markets weren't expecting that. when he won. markets adjusted. the trajectory changed higher. a market going up to start with. once you got in the market. you have got industries, financials, banks, infrastructure companies, places that feel they will benefit from the deregulation, infrastructure spending, that donald trump is promised doing spectacularly well. much better than that 13.77%. but you got a lot of other companies that are not participating in this. the head wind the that the companies have is how much can he deregulate. how much will he build? what is going on with the strong dollar. interest rates are going to go up. many, many years since we had a recession. so i wouldn't get all that excited about it.
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yes there has been an embrace, certainly by financial stocks of donald trump. but, i warn people not to get too crazy. >> also positioning these companies to win. but they have yet to deliver. look at retail sector for example. donald trump saying, we are going to manufacture here, we are going to bring jobs back. it wasn't the obama administration that took retail factory jobs to another country. it was the consumer that said i want fast fashion. from top shop, and zara, and h/m, wal-mart, amazon. so to bring the jobs back to where? the consumer doesn't want to spend more money? >> we traded jobs off against low prices 20 years ago. 25 years ago. >> sure did. >> it's come back to bite us. and, donald trump can't, can't badger and cajole ceos into changing that. we have got to have a national conversation about it. >> i'm sorry, when its the test. are we going to know trump's promise of infrastructure spend will get
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past the obstacle of paul ryan. if he walks up against a brick wall. >> the folks who shut the government down. >> where are the new airports we were supposed to get? >> infrastructure is expensive. complicated. there are creative way to fund it. we should have the discussion. >> starting with not calling it infrastructure, calling it jobs. >> right. >> that that might have some hope. but on the manufacturing side. he, he is meeting tomorrow morning with the manufacturing ceos. one of the assignments he gave them 30 days ago is to come back and come up with a plan to, to create manufacturing jobs. there is no manufacturing crisis in america. we have been manufacturing more every year for the last 20 years. we're just doing it with fewer, fewer, fewer people. the manufacturing ceos have no incentive to do it with higher lost labor and people. >> ceos are in a tough spot. when the white house calls they're going to show up. they have realer use. border adjustment tax would be a big problem for them. remember when they show up to
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the white house, they have got another issue on the other side. their customers. their employees. and this is a very difficult time for them. >> you are bearish. what if hillary had won? i didn't see any economic program laying out there. nobody, a lot of people feel bad for hillary losing. nobody feels bad about a -- >> your taxes would have gone up. my taxes would have gone up. she did have an infrastructure plan. she did. so did obama. it didn't get through congress. sail problem. nobody's infrastructure plan gets through congress. obama had one. hillary clinton had one. bernie sanders had one. >> i don't think they thought so. >> this is without a doubt, a trump rally. when president trump promised i will cut taxes, deregulate. when bank ceos no they no longer have elizabeth warren on their shoulder saying, no, no, no. they love it. donald trump definitely gets credit for this rally. the question is how long will it last. >> you talk about this, all the time, how long can you string out the promise i will make things better for the worker and consumer. to stephanie's point how long
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does he have? >> the summer is end of the reagan opportunity. tax cuts. by the recess in august. better get it done. my question is, suppose, chuck schumer shut down with donald trump. first of all we have to have davis bacon. ever job has to be up to the local standard of labor. trump guys, go, my god. there is a lot of ways to slice down, legitimately, the actual jobs impact by insisting on democratic standard. so nothing, i watched the democrats. first thing they do is try to make sure that, d.c. deficit. money building jobs is helping pay off the local government in d.c. they have a lot of people they have to keep happy. but i would just like to see -- republicans standards for making sure the money actually gets spent properly. is there any way they can get the best of both. >> senior adviser to the the told me what would be better, they're not taking his advice on this. and not to make promises about what happens in the first 100 days to.
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coordinate a plan that gets eminput. reveal in september. debate, inclusion in the proper budgetary process. so everybody has signed on. and at least every republican has signed on. get some democrats in there. go forward with something that looks look a real plan that addresses tax reform, addresses infrastructure, and, and, these other matters. but this administration is tripping over itself to get things out so fast. that they can't get consensus. >> 50 votes in the senate. they need 60. >> 60. >> they do. >> brian, when does the rubber hit the road? president trump is straer good at delivering this daily dose of sugar to his base. he makes them feel loved. he makes them feel excited. so while we can be date how many jobs was he bringing back and did it work. we are talking about it. people out there, in the cities. >> he brings 1,000 at time. every month last year the united states organically produced 180,000 net new jobs. that's what the president, he
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has to move that number. he did by the way, he doesn't get credit for it. >> talking about facts, though, i'm talking about showmanship. >> keep reminding. >> showmanship sells. >> davis bacon/oscar meyer bacon. washington and the rest of the country. >> there you go. >> conflicts of interest. the subject we have you on our modest broadcast most of all to discuss. how are they doing? and the flip side of that question how are they getting by? how is this not blowing up? >> well, because -- the same problem you identified right after the election. that is that, we haven't yet identified who the people are with standing who can do something about all of these myriad conflict of interests. right? >> screaming some where right now. >> those two are trying, they're working hard with the groups they're working with. but of the fact is no one has gained traction on this yet. there is the trump trademark in china. there is the fact that the, the
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taxpayers are subs digs is the trump kids' travel to do business in the middle east. at some point, some one will catch the attention of a judge. there will be an injunction and ruling. then there will be traction. but for the moment, the only person with standing to do this would have been north stram, they aren't going down the road. >> stephanie, don't know how to put this. you guys have a foot in the news world and a foot in the business news world. it is interesting to hear some one say, he is going to roll back regulation. tonight, at to meetings, signs are fears, consumer end, citizen end of rolling back regulation. what's good for one -- >> extraordinary. when gary kohn, white house economic adviser stood on the lawn, he said banks are the most highly capitalized we have ever been here in the united states. but we are being held back. banks are so well capitalized because of dodd frank. and banks are doing very well.
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it's the american people, those people who lost their businesses, lost their jobs, can't get loans, so those town halls are so important because they're saying, i'm sorry, there is a disconnect here. >> thank you both. stephanie, thank you. we call on you way too often. >> our pleasure. >> to talk about the issues. this is a two-headed story certainly. >> we have two head. works out. >> it's good. it's good. >> when we come back, former secretary of defense, cia director, former white house chief of staff, former democratic member of congress, leon panetta and our discussion about what he has witnessed so far. so tell us your big idea for getting the whole country booking on choice hotels.com. four words, badda book. badda boom... let it sink in. shouldn't we say we have the lowest price? nope, badda book. badda boom. have you ever stayed with choice hotels? like at a comfort inn? yep. free waffles, can't go wrong.
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