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tv   All In With Chris Hayes  MSNBC  September 10, 2018 5:00pm-6:01pm PDT

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from him. his detachment from reality. bob woodward's book is going to be the best seller for many weeks. the news is it gives the country maybe enough information to save us from the worst. and that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. all-in with chris hayes starts right now. >> tonight on "all in" live from michigan. >> i love mitchigan. >> one of the three states that put trump over the top prepares itself for november 6 as a white house under siege bats lz the woodward book. >> some of the things trump did and does jeopardize the real national security the insider top ed. >> should all officials take a lie detector test and would you take one there? >> i would take it in a heartbeat. >> not to mention the owe boom a campaign. >> this is not normal. >> when all in america, 57 days out begins right now.
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good evening from michigan. i'm chris hayes coming to you from connor o'neal's pub here in ann arbor. we are live. [ cheers and applause ] >> we are live 57 days, most i am important midterm election. one of the key states that went for donald trump. we're here to talk to voters and candidates about what's driving them to the polls in the mid terms. namely donald trump. much more ahead. over the last week something seems to have shifted in the conversation about the president. in the wake of "the new york times" op-ed about a senior administration official, bob woodward's going behind the scenes at the white house. pollsters, lawmakers and the press are discussing the president's fitness for the office he holds. according to woodward, the public has fully to grasp the danger we are facing. >> here's the problem. this has not been treated seriously enough. and the things -- some of the
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things trump did and does jeopardize the real national security. this country does some things in the intelligence world which are so important to protect the country. they are astonishing. they are secret access programs and he jeopardizes them. >> the president is by all accounts enraged woodward's book and the op-ed. every time he tweets the president only seems to substantiate accounts of his unhinged behavior. it's not just the tweets. former aide omarosa manigault newman released a new audio recording which she says was recorded nearly a year after the election. the audio, she says, is the president barging into a meeting to rant about hillary clinton. >> i think hillary is getting killed now with russia, the real russia story is hillary and collusion.
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somebody told me, hope, you told me it was $9 million they spent on -- >> closer to six. >> yeah, someone just said, she's far worse for the country than we thought -- >> you see, nobody knows who spent it. i heard it was 9. i heard it was 5.7, then it was nine. in this business they trace it. close to 9 million. the reason is you don't have to give any papers. it's illegal from a campaign standpoint, financing standpoint. the whole russia thing seems to have turned around. what do you think, sarah? >> absolutely. >> latest news cycle appears to be taking a toll according to polling analyst. there have been eight live poles in the last few weeks showing the president's approval rating in some cases falling to 40%.
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i'm joined by anita kumar, correspondent for mcclatchy. the white house is positioned on the woodwork seems to be that the press is obsessed with it but they want to talk about it all the time. >> there is no person obsessed about bob woodward's book and the op-ed than donald j. trump. as axios first reported and the daily beast can confirm, the president has privately fuming about his former senior aids and officials, his top economics advising reporter and robert porter, the staff secretary, both of whom apparently served as big sources for the bob woodward book. this is another instance of the president of the united states, four members of his inner sickle, at least according to the president of the united
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states, turning on him. it's sending him into a advertise i >> someone reported the staff in the white house is working hard to focus the president's attention on the hurricane bearing down on the carolina coast which his grave obsession has been with the woodward book and the op-ed. >> yes, the white house staff is in a balancing act. they want to and they need to because he's the president of the united states, okay, we were understand you are you're upset about this. you want to know who wrote the op-ed, you want to know more about the woodward book. at the same time they want to move it so things are moving forward. looking ford to the mid terms, other thing. they have to appease him a little bit and move the ball forward that's why you haven't seen an investigation. the president talked about there should be a investigation and he thinks the department of justice should do that. we haven't heard an announcement about that. i've heard from inside the white
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house there is not a big action, the president wanting to know this. >> when she was pressed to name one law that was broken to start the investigation, she obviously couldn't name one. >> yeah, and this is yet another chapter in the long book and saga of how seemingly the entirety of the white house or the very least its powerful influential and messaging coms operation is wrapped around amplifying and placating the very specific grievances and public feuds of president donald trump. which hamstrings them. if the president goes off the rails and says something wildly untrue, they have to wrap their messaging operation around it and work from that scratch. and there is no other way they can really do their jobs. >> anita, you know, i think
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anyone who has ben bernanke paying careful attention and trust the reports that come from the white house, sort of has a sense how president has been -- his phone call with the president, the tape from omarosa, what is clear is he is precisely the same way behind closed doors that he is on twitter. there's no sort of secret version of him. >> right. i've heard actually a lot of people observe that, that what we see is when we ged with him. the aides during the campaign and at the white house actually have said that. what you see is what you get with this president. we see him on twitter we see him when he gives his rally species he likes so much. that's what we're seeing with omarosa's book and tapes and
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that's what they're saying. >> there is a political standing which is that his base won't leave him no matter what, which ignores there are marginal voters, there are persuadable folks. the margins matter. it does appear the last few weeks have hurt his standing with the american electoral. i wonder if the white house recognizes that. >> oh, they absolutely recognize it. and the place where that fear manifests itself most palpably in trump's west wing operation is his political operation, such as john dee step yo their main job is to see the 28 mid terms right now, the reason the democrats could very well take back the house if not the senate this year is because of a grand antipathy towards donald trump and how that is absolutely galvanizing and energizing the democratic as it rant been for many years. so despite all the blufter and
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pr and how they are be sweating the 2018 mid terms, you can bet they are fearing a slaughter. blood bath comes up frequently when you can talk to these people inside the house. thank you for your time. >> thank you. >> for more on the book and what it means, staff writer for slate. and chris lou former cabinet secretary under president obama. you read and review the book. the thesis was if you think adults are in charge behind the scenes, we're screwed. >> yeah. i amanda that's the take away from me what type of president this is, what is revealed on twitter every day.
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the adults in the room, john kelly, james mattis, secretary of defense, are for reasons not really protecting us. i think there are a number of different reasons why that's the case. one is that in the case of someone like kelly, he agrees with the president, done a lot of things. he doesn't seem to particularly like immigrants or the media. in the case of someone like mattis, he i think is probably much more serious and adult person than the president. but has no reading of the president and how to constrict his behavior in case he -- you come away from the book feeling like there is nobody out there protecting us. >> part of the problem, chris, you worked in the white house and the obama administration. the president is going to be the president. this idea that's emerged as articulated in the op-ed and articulated by sources of bob woodward, this group of people be a sort of rubber room to
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insulate us from whatever manic fits the commander in chief has, that he still is the president of the united states. there is no replacing that. well, that's exactly right, you know, dup has never been frtly good in this case it would serve him well to do that. every of every day he continues to tweet and harp on bob woodward. it's a self-afflicted wound. and even when heing talks about the economy, he got the numbers all wrong. he tweeted earlier today the unemployment rate is the lowehit it's been. higher than in 2006. even fox news did a fact check on him. if you want to know about the chaos in white house, you look at the tweets, you look at the omarosa tapes, this is a person who rambles, jumps from topic to
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topic, who has a disregard from the truth, and embraces conspiracy theories. you have staffers like sarah sanders who are enabling him. >> isaac, a lot of people are waiting for the other shoe to droop in terms of crisis, in terms of some big cataclysm. what do you say to people, well, look, the economy is doing pretty well, and things are humming along. maybe it's a comport himself in various ways as in these documents and we're still standing. >> yes, we're definite it nifty still standing. some bad things have happened. things have happened that are unacceptable. i think the american government chugs along and things get dealt with in some manner. but, again, you know, you look at the response to puerto rico,
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to the hurricane there. the number of people who died. bad things are happening. i mean, yes, the country is not going to collapse on itself, but, you know, this is not a good situation. >> and, chris, the puerto rico is -- 3,000 people were left to die under this president's watch. there has been no sustained investigation. there is a hurricane called florence that could be the worst to hit that area. now is the time for some type of presidential focus. >> right, government is hard. it's a simple blocking and tackling when you have a natural disaster like a hurricane. and what you saw in puerto rico is that when you have a president who has an inattention to details, who doesn't understand the mechanics of government, he fails. he even failed to the optics. remember when he went down to puerto rico, he's lobbing the paper towels into the crowd. he is applauding the fact that only a couple piece died.
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it was worse than what katrina was. this is a president who doesn't understand his role at this period of time is to bring the country together, to understand the mechanics of how government works and protect the american people. and that's dangerous. i thought that recording omarosa manigault newman played of crashing a coms meeting to vent about hillary is a microcosm of where his attention is. isaac and chris, great to have you both. we are in michigan, a surprise state that went for donald trump in 2016. a report on the people who went from not voting last cycle to running for office this year. we'll talk to the woman who wants to replace the republican governor rick snyder. and michigan ders.
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why the places president obama is choosing to campaign is it just as interesting as what he said. i'll explain after this. ♪ i put a spell on you ♪ yeah, because you're mine ♪ with chase atms serena can now grab cash on the go, all with the tap of her phone. ♪ stop the things you do no card? no problem. life, lived serena's way. chase, make more of what's yours. (seriously, that's what we call tit. officially.all a huge drag. and we covered it. talk to farmers. we know a thing or two because we've seen a thing or two.
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where there is a vacuum in our democracy, when we are not participating, we're not paying attention, when we're not stepping up, other voices fill the void. but the good news is in two months we have a chance to restore some sanity in our politics. [ cheers and applause ] we have the chance to flip the house of representatives and make sure the real checks and balances in washington -- >> day after unloading on donald trump by name and accusing
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republicans of, quote, bending over backwards to protect the president, barack obama took the stage over the weekend in orange county, california. a accomplice that's long been a republican star power. he hoped to flip the seats in competitive house races. at least one member of the trump administration has had enough with president obama's unusual campaign push. >> it was disappointing to see president obama break with the tradition of former presidents and become so political and roll out the same tired arguments that he and liberals have made over the last eight years. >> more about the obama campaign to take the house i'm joined by dave wasser man, editor of the cook political report, and dave belcher. the president enters the fray in illinois. the first place he goes is the
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uncontested places in orange county, which is unthinkable for a whole bunch of reasons. what do you think it says that's the first place he went? >> chris, there are two groups of voters up for grabs in the mid terms. one is hillary republicans who came into the fold recently to vote for hillary because they were turned off by trump. and then trump democrats who are mainly in the midwest, voted for obama twice then voted for trump because they did not like hillary clinton. he kicked off his campaign in orange because he lost orange county twice, whereas hillary clinton won it. i think where he can be most helpful is in those trump democratic districts where he can go in and talk about the economy and health care in a way where hillary clinton wasn't credible in 2016. >> but i think, cornell, the choice of orange county used to be as rock ribd right wing which is trending towards the
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democrats clinton tear i had a lot of those seats. it's the way political changes have changed in terms of popularity verizon wireless v y popularity versus the popularity -- >> when you look at the way independent moderate voters and especially college-educated women are breaking away from the republicans, i would add two groups to that group also. that would be young people as well as minority voters who we saw pull back from the elections in 2016 and sit home or vote third-party. obama is someone who can bring that energy and speak to those people, those groups in a way that no other democrat can because, chris, we talked about this before, if democrats have the 2010, the midterm 2010, 2014 ee lancaster ral, it's not going to be a good year.
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if we see an electorate younger more diverse, it's going to be a good year. obama can speak to that. he speaks to the moderate middle swath of the electorate. obama won back to back majorities. a lot of that was winning moderate voters. he won by 16 votes in 2012. >> dave, we've been watching president trump go to these red states he won by 20, 30 points and campaign for the republican candidate in senate, west virginia, dakota, montana. it strikes me there are democrats up for grabs. if you're the incumbent there, barba barbara comstock in virginia. you don't want president obama to campaign for you. >> the speeches he is giving in twrorn an faces obama voters largely state home.
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he can get those swing voters who wish obama was president. those swing voters don't care about omarosa or the op-ed or many things talked about frequently on this network. they still care about health care premiums and their take home pay. i can i think where obama excels is is in talking about how republican legislation can impact voters directly. >> and i think to dave's point, there were seven candidates at that rally. not a single one an incumbent politician which is a fascinating thing we're seeing in a lot of people running for office for the first time. generally those messages out. they are about health care premiums and take home pay. >> if you look at where they're
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spending their dollars it's around health care. that is an issue front and center for a lot of these middle class, suburban voters. their premium is going up. it's a clear contrast with democrats who want to build and expand and reform the aca and republicans have been voting to repeal it. i can tell you it's a message i've tested a couple times. for democratss it' hard to meet that message. donald trump is doing all the damage we need all by himself. >> yeah, no one has to run ads about that, dave wasser man and dave belcher. thank you for joining us. we have a lot more from the irish pub here in ann arbor, michigan. a judge ruled he must go under oath about his sexual assault of a former apprentice contestant. this is a very big deal and what we could learn next.
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all right. we are back here. kwonner o'neal's pub ann arbor, mit michigan. in the era of donald trump, the me too movement reached the highest levels of politics and entertainment. colliding because the defendant is the president of the united states. a kortdsing to a recent court filing, president trump will pro supplied written answers under oath in a suit brought against
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him by summer zervos. he said she was lying when he tried to ngoepe her and kiss gr a contest tent ant show. les moonves stepped down after a second wave of allegations against him according to new yorkers ronan farrow. spanning three decades beginning in the 1980s. nbc news has not independently confirmed the allegations. the appalling action sakes in this article are untrue. i had consensual relations with the three women and i never used my career. from the eastern district of michigan who lives here in ann arbor, it's good to see you. [ cheers and applause ] >> i felt like this story, you
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know, it was one of these stories in another news environment would be huge page 1 news. the president of the united states is agreeing to answer questions under oath in a civil suit. >> it might get a shrug because of all the other things going on. legally i think it's really incredibly significant. there's been all this talk about whether a sitting president can be indicted. but we've had decisions now that a sitting president can be sued in a civil case. we had the clinton versus jones case way back in the federal context. in the zervos case now. a ruling that a case can go forward in a civil context. now we see the president actually answering questions. the judge ordersed him to sit for a deposition. this might be an effort, the agreement to answer the questions to circumventing sitting for the deposition. look, i've provided you with written answers. therefore you don't need my deposition. it's a much more controlled environment when you write the written answers. the lawyer can help you and help you draft it and avoid problems. >> the whole concern that keeps being articulated by everyone
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close to the president, sometimes on the record in public, is you can't let him talk because he lies whenever he talks. so you've got to help us out here and let us let him give written answers. >> it sounds like he's lawyers think he's a human perjury trap. when they're involved, they can sit with him, write the answers, make sure they're consistent with other things that have been written in the case. and that's why i think robert mummer would much prefer to have him live and ultimately the attorneys would want to have him live. you can ask follow-up questions which is incredibly important. they'll continue to fight for the deposition. >> i want to bring in "the new york times" investigative reporter who filed breakthrough investigative pieces in the me too movement and the president. megan, you've been following the case. it's interesting here this is a defamation case. it's not the sort of underlying conduct, but the president kunling out akun coming out and saying this woman
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is a lawyer. >> that's right. one of the interesting things about a defamation case, she was able to file this and meet sort of within the confines of the statute of limitations. so she's filed a defamation lawsuit against the president saying he inflicted harm on her when he called her and actually other women who stepped forward with accusations of sexual misconduct against him during the presidential race liars, fabricators, and in her case he said he never even met her at the hotel where she alleges that the sexual misconduct took place. and so, you know, this is a way by filing this lawsuit, a defamation lawsuit, it keeps these underlying allegations of sexual misconduct alive. and it actually, you know, as this sort of new decision that came out on friday, this agreement that they're going to move forward with, written answers under oath. it will continue to be a major
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legal rat's nest for the president moving forward. >> i thought about this in the passage of the woodward book, megan. i want you to respond to it. the the presideis is the preside woodward book. he said, you have to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women. if you admit culpability, you're dead. you didn't come out with guns blazing. you didn't challenge them. you have to challenge them, push back hard and deny anything said about you, never admit. that's what he did when your stories came out in "the new york times." >> that's right. it's important to point out that these women who stepped forward with allegations against the president during the presidential race did so after the access hollywood tape was released in which he was caught on tape bragging in his own words about sexually assaulting women. and so, you know, after that there were more than ten women who came forward and said those
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weren't just words. the president did that to me in encounters stretching back decades. these women didn't know each other. there's no evidence this was coordinated or politically motivated. but the president did what he described in the woodward book, guns blazing, accused all women being lawyers. threaten to sue reporters lick me who reported on these allegations. in an interesting turn of events, it was the accusers who turned around and said, no, i'm going to sue you for calling me a liar. >> finally, on les moonves news, cbs, one of the things incredibly damning, first there were employment and business consequences. he's fired from miramax. then civil suits, criminal, he's arrested and charged criminally. some of the things being described in moonves if they did happen, is sexual criminal assault. what do you think it is broadly
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speaking? >> different places have different statutes of limitations. depending how long ago, there may or may not be civil trials. where president trump gets himself into trouble is the aggressive denial. that's what led to the defamation lawsuit and he freshened the he -- moonves denied these l civil cases. he could he expose himself to a civil suit. >> appreciate it. [ applause ] >> much to get to here in ann arbor michigan including original reporting with our very own and beloved tremaine lee. we want to talk to the woman who wants to replace the governor in this state. connor o'neal, what they're thinking about 57 days out. [ applause ] who would have thought,
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so let's kick it off with this year's 51 candidates live in our parade of states. >> in a state with 84% of freshwater and none for residents to drink, i am miss michigan. >> in case you missed that, that was miss michigan taking her moment of introduction at the miss america pageant. [ applause ] >> to call out the still ongoing water crisis in her home state. a lot of important stories happening in the great lakes state which is why we're coming to you live from michigan tonight and tomorrow. and wednesday i'll be hosting a special hour with film maker michael moore in flint, his hometown. voters fired up after not casting a ballot in the 2016 election. moore's anticipated movie, fahrenheit 11/9. >> how did this happen? >> the american dream. is dead. stop. resist it.
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>> the president's houpowers he are beyond question. >> ladies and gentlemen, the last president of the united states. >> so, tune in tomorrow night for another live show from the great state of michigan and wednesday night 8:00 p.m. eastern for "all in america" in trump country. i get it all the time.
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and we use this information in partnership with first responders and california's emergency response systems. to learn more about the community wildfire safety program and how you can help keep your home and community safe, visit pge.com/wildfiresafety we are live in michigan at connor o'neal's. in flint tomorrow with michael moore. michigan was one of the key battle grounds for 2016 where donald trump narrowly won the state, in part, because of people who didn't vote in the presidential election or even vote at all. our own trymaine lee talked to someone who went to someone not voting years ago to being a candidate in a local race this year. >> if you pull my name up, i've been a registered democrat all my life. first time i voted was in 1992.
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i was so excited to vote for bill clinton because i was born in arkansas as well. i think voting is important. your vote is so important, you just can't give it away. >> in 2016, you didn't vote? >> for the presidential election, i had such a bad taste in my mouth about the whole entire thing. i razz literally disgusted. and i'm not going to lie. i was supporting hillary two years before she made the decision. but during the election, they did come to flint and they made flint a lot of promises. and the promises haven't been fulfilled. >> so donald trump wins during the campaign. you mentioned talking about infrastructure plan, help save flint. >> he came for that one photo op and he hasn't mentioned flint. he's been in office two years now. i think flint should have been the poster child for infrastructure. >> pipe eople, in light of the
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crisis, have they been able to organize politically to change the problems in the first place? >> we have to put ourselves in positions in seats to affect regular folk who knows what it's like to sit in a line three hours waiting for water. you don't have a choice. you don't have a nickel in your house. this midterm, especially for the city of flint in genesee county is one of the most important mid terms we've had in decades. i'm hoping that with that being said, that this can put that fire back under, not just the young folk. just folk in general. >> are you considering running or are you running? >> i'm definitely running. i am on the ballot for november. yes, it's way out of my lane and league. >> what position? >> county commissioner second district. it's about do you know your
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county. you can't even listen to what the folks and business owners need. it may not benefit you personally, but if it benefits the masses i think you'll be blessed with the things that fall in place. >> we're back here with trymaine lee out in michigan doing field reporting. there is so much attention on the trump obama voter, swing voter. if you look at michigan, folks who didn't vote who are voting are a big piece of the mathematical bubble. >> i heard one of two things consistently. one is me don't trust local politicians. they don't believe anything they say. the city was poisoned, they feel it was covered up. they feel abandoned by democrats and republicans. they've been a ban dodded for corporate interests. they put profit over people. we know there is a have i sort of cynical undertaking by the trump campaign to suppress the vote, right? essentially to send the message,
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it's all corrupt, it's all fixed. and clearly that mess sedgwick did work in some cases. >> it resonates in day to day life. especially where people were poisoned. that footage taken last week. there are still cars that wraparound the highway for water and canned foods and nobody is trying to protect them. but feels /i hate to use the word resilience. someone told me resilience is not a natural state. people of flint are so resilient. they're organizing around the vote. people like gina said if we want to make a change we have to be that change. i want to talk to the folks. one of the things we've seen the last eight years, huge turnout in 2008, 2012, much more diminished, 2014. >> you're a law sunt? >> that's correct. >> how would you say your level of engagement is from 1 to 10?
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>> 10 now. [ applause ] >> and has that been the case in the past or do you feel like the last two years has sort of clarified for you the importance of these kinds of elections? >> well, i was from a traditionally blue state. so moving to michigan to come to school -- and once trump was elected i decided i was coming to law school. i was working as a barista before. i got in law school and i got in here and got involved. >> do you feel it gave you a sense of mission? >> absolutely. >> what's your name? >> maggie turner. >> what is your 1 to 10 midterm engagement? >> 20. >> 20. [ applause ] >> i know a lot of organizers and one of the things they'll say is it can be really hard. you cold call and say i want you to knock on some doors. most people are, you know, i'm busy. what's your level of engagement, the way you think about these
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midterm elections. >> there is a level of emergency unlike anything i felt the last couple of years. law students are getting people to register to vote, getting them to canvas, serve as neutral poll watchers. >> had you done that stuff before? >> i hadn't. >> what has been surprising or interesting to you starting to do that work and engage with people at that level? >> just seeing the energy around the elections and seeing people react and step up to the plate and the community around that. >> there is an interesting community here. you living over here. you were saying before you wanted to talk to me. don't act surprised now. what's your name? >> linda maloney. >> carol harris. >> so, how active are you right now or how focused are you on the mid terms? >> well, we've both been focused on the whole thing since donald trump took office. we marched in washington, d.c. >> for the women's march? we've been doing lots of things,
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right letters, and yelling at our kids to vote. >> is that something you've always done or is there an intensity post 2016 so, you pro going to be on the ballot in november. just went to learn how to register people to vote. learned about turbo vote.org, which is a competition that colleges are doing to register kids to vote. yeah, just very excited to be helping. but we've got to get people out to vote. >> this is the big question for the midterms, right, is who shows up, which electorate. thank you, all. i think it's a snapshot. obviously, i wouldn't call this a scientifically represented sample. we'll be back with the gubernatorial candidate in the state of michigan in just a few seconds. today... back pain can't win. now introducing aleve back and muscle pain.
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on a day chock full of bad polling news for the president, the white house is desperately touting the latest numbers on the economy, which to be fair look pretty good. economic growth, low unemployment, inflation in check, but with the sinking presidential popularity, is that really what matters to most voters this year? for the answer to that question, former member of the president's council of economic advisers, the chief economist of the department of labor every president obama betty si stevenson, and the democratic
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nominee for governor. nice to have you. i watch 50 minutes of the local news. i saw four rga ads against you that basically made this case. obviously, michigan had a really rough -- got hit by the recession. and basically the case goes, things are bad, we've gotten so much better. we can't go back if you elect gretchen witmer. >> they're tired of government that doesn't work for us. we've got roads that are falling apart. we've got communities that can't drink their water. our education system that used to be envy of the world is now in the bottom ten of our country. it's lot because betsy devos' policies have been here for a lot long they're tonight previous country has seen. >> you have rick snyder in 2010 was extreme austerity, big tax cuts and austerity. and the emergency manager was part of that system. it sounds like what you're calling for is more spending.
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more investments in public goods. >> listen, we're all paying more. we're paying more to fix our cars. we're paying to buy bottled water. we're paying to hire tutors for our kids. we're paying under republicans. we're just doing it in a way that doesn't fix the problem. i offer a real plan for michigan ganders. where other people come to for opportunity again. that's the great legacy of the state. and today's families deserve no less. >> the economy, it's very interesting to watch the white house try to get traction on the economy, and i understand why they do. every president, right? 3.9% unemployment, pretty robust growth you're, saying look, i did this, i did this. why can't i get credit? do you think the numbers are what they appear or worse? >> well, i think first of all, it's hard to give him credit when what we're talking about is a continuation of a very long period of expansion that began under president obama. we haven't seen any sort of uptick or improvement. we're just seeing more of the
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same. the same is good, but he was on a great glide path. and there was one problem when he came to office is we weren't get anything wage growth. he hasn't solved that problem. workers are not seeing wage growth. last month wage growth was zero, real wage growth. the wages went up the exact same amount as the prices. >> it's so funny because i had someone on the show touted the 2.9% wage growth, and i got an e-mail immediately saying that was nominal. inflation went up 3%. it was zero in real dollar terms. >> right. you know what the white house is now saying? that's because you're thinking about the prices of consumer goods like food and energy and housing. let's use the prices that businesses face. they're not going up by very much. if we use those prices, then wages are going up. >> do you think that folks in michigan, when you're out campaigning, how did they describe their economic situation in terms of where they are in this recovery? do they feel safer or do they feel still squeezed? >> i think they feel squeezed. we have seen -- i have met so
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many families who haven't had income, change in their income in ten years, a raise in ten years. i meet people that are working a couple of minimum wage jobs and cannot make ends meet. no one should be working full time and living in poverty. and that's what we have in a lot of communities. on top of it, you see lack of paths to high wage skills, whether it's unaffordable higher education or it is a two-year degree that eludes them or lack of an opportunity to get into a skilled trade. you can make a good living right here in michigan in all paths, but we've got to open them up. and that's what i think levels the playing field that we're missing. >> one way in which you could imperil, right you talked about the glide path. there is things you could do if you really wanted to blow it up. and there is some fear the president would do that with the trade war, the tariffs. obviously there is a lot of aluminum steel that comes into this state to make a lot of stuff. what effect do you see from that so far? and why hasn't the effect been bigger? >> so we haven't seen big
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effects yet, but when i talk to business owners, they say they're starting to feel it. the question will be whether it starts showing up in real people's pockets and jobs before the election or after. but we're on a path where that's causing some problems. there is no way that raising tariffs is going to do anything except for hurt regular people because it's going to cause the prices to go up. we know it's a little bit of what we're starting to see circumstances that your position as someone focused on michigan what has been happening in the trade front. >> i mean, michigan workers can compete with anyone on the planet, but we've got to have a level playing field. and this theory that you can set international policy via tweet is just plain dumb. whether you're a farmer in michigan or an automaker or someone who is in that industry, we're all paying a price for this will any nilly approach. well need a comprehensive approach that exports michigan
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goods, not michigan jofnlts. >> we'll see how much your t feud with your neighbors in the north intensifies. gretchen witmer, running for governor here on the democratic ticket, thank you very much. [ applause ] >> that is "all in" this evening. "the rachel maddow show" starts right now. good evening. >> good evening, chris. i love you in room of real live americans. it's very exciting. you're at my best, friends. >> they all send their best. >> hi, guys. that was excellent. i love that thanks to you at home for joining us this hour. happy that you are with us tonight. hurricane florence was upgraded to a category 3 hurricane earlier today, and then within an hour, it was upgraded from a category 3 to a category 4 storm. this is a big one, and it really does look like it is aimed right at the american east coast. the governor of south carolina, henry mcmaster has already ordered the evacuation of about on