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00:02Good evening and welcome to Politics Nation. Tonight's lead, Living History.
00:19On the first night of Black History Month, America finds itself embroiled in a new struggle
00:27to preserve and protect our basic civil rights. In Minnesota and across the nation, we've seen
00:34scenes reminiscent of the 1960s as thousands of Americans turn out for mass demonstrations
00:42and sit-ins to protest the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Meantime, in Georgia,
00:49our democracy itself is under threat after the FBI seized ballots and voter data from
00:56the 2020 election, prompting new concerns about what this president might do ahead of the upcoming
01:04midterm elections. As new special election results tonight suggest Trump and the Republicans could
01:11be facing a massive rebuke from voters who fear the country is headed in an increasingly dark
01:18and dangerous direction. Let's begin in Minnesota, where the Trump administration has also demanded
01:26the state's voter rolls amidst their surge in immigration enforcement in Minneapolis.
01:34Joining me now is Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon. Secretary Simon, thank you for joining us.
01:42After federal immigration agents shot and killed an American citizen in Minneapolis for the second
01:51time this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a letter to Minnesota Governor Tim Walsh that outlined what
01:58she described as three simple steps to, quote, bring back law and order, end quote, end quote, end the chaos
02:07in Minnesota. Her final step, however, seemed to have little to do with immigration or the state's fraud
02:16scandals as the DOJ has requested access to Minnesota's voter rolls. Now, Secretary, I know you said that
02:25you will not hand over voter data to the Trump administration, but can you elaborate on your position
02:31and why do you think the White House is pressing for this now and tying it to immigration enforcement?
02:40I have to say, Reverend Al, it's a mystery, and it's really, really troubling to many people. Keep in mind,
02:46this letter from Attorney General Bondi came just hours after the second person, the second American
02:52citizen, was gunned down by federal agents within as many weeks. Why this was tied to the chaos in
02:59Minnesota that came with the federal agents, I don't know. It doesn't have anything certainly directly
03:04to do with immigration or boots on the ground or levels of force or anything like that. And I worry
03:11that it's tied to something bigger. I worry that it's tied to an overall attempt to denigrate
03:17people's confidence in our election system in the run-up to 2026. We know that in Minnesota
03:23and most of the rest of the country, our elections are fair and accurate and honest and secure. We obey
03:28and comply with federal law. But why this was connected so soon to that issue, I'm not sure I
03:35can tell you. Now, have you been in contact with officials from Georgia and other secretaries
03:41of state about this and its implications for the midterms? Is there a potential plan
03:48to respond or combat any possibility of election interference?
03:53Yes. In fact, just this past week, I was with colleagues at a national conference of secretaries
03:58of state, bipartisan. We talked about this. And I have to tell you that at this point,
04:04it would be irresponsible of us as secretaries of state not to plan for the possibility of some
04:11federal interference, direct or indirect. It's not necessarily prediction. It's a precaution.
04:16So what have we done already? We have actively worked with other states. We have actively worked
04:21with federal partners and, of course, within Minnesota to game out or plan these potential
04:27scenarios of federal interference. I hope they don't happen. I'm not ready at this point to
04:32predict it will happen, but it would be irresponsible, just like we plan for a weather event or a power
04:37outage or a bomb threat. We have to plan for this. It's sad in 2026 that this is on the
04:42list of things
04:43we have to plan for, but we have to be realistic and we have to be safe.
04:46Now, five-year-old Liam Ramos and his father, Adrian, are back in Minneapolis after being
04:54released from a Texas detention facility where they were held for over a week. Texas Democratic
05:01Congressman Julian Castro escorted them back home to the suburbs after they were taken to Texas by
05:14immigration agents. Now, meanwhile, on Saturday, a Minnesota federal judge declined to order a halt to the
05:21immigration enforcement crackdown in Minneapolis, despite the lawsuit by state officials outlining the
05:29federal agents' widespread civil rights abuses. However, Minneapolis residents continue to organize and resist this
05:38last weekend, including a sit-in in at least 19 target stores to demand action against immigration enforcement.
05:46Secretary, from your point of view, what's the mood in your state right now?
05:51Well, it continues to be grim and heavy. However, I am so proud of us. The way that we have
05:59stood up. Not just that we've stood up, but the way we have.
06:02It's overwhelmingly nonviolent. Huge shows of force in below zero temperatures. And we have shown a way out of this
06:09for a lot of communities that may be facing this in the coming months.
06:13And I have to say years, which is massive but peaceful protest and making sure we have folks out there
06:20with cell phones. I mean, recording, bearing witness, showing the rest of the world what's going on, showing people that
06:26this isn't about some list of the worst of the worst.
06:29If it were only that, it would have massive support. But it's not that. It's a random, cruel dragnet with
06:36seemingly out-of-control tactics way too often.
06:38And I think people are using their ears, their eyes, and their common sense all over the country, and they're
06:44arriving at the same conclusion.
06:46So we're still bracing. We're still under this sort of onslaught. But I think the people of Minnesota have really
06:52shown the way through.
06:53You do it in a peaceful way. You do it in a massive outpouring. And that's what attracts the hearts
06:58and minds of Americans.
06:59Now, Trump announced on his social media on Saturday that he has instructed the DHS to not intervene in protests
07:09occurring in cities led by Democrats, unless local authorities ask for federal help.
07:16However, in the same post, he also says that he has instructed immigration enforcement to, quote,
07:23be very forceful while protecting government property. He even threatened using the military on protesters, saying federal officers would be,
07:34quote,
07:36extremely powerful and tough, end of quote. Now, this language seemingly contradicts de-escalation efforts.
07:43What should the public be watching for in the weeks to come?
07:48They should be watching for overreaction and overkill. And that's what we've seen so far.
07:53And what I think would be really refreshing and a way to not just talk about, but to show that
07:59there's de-escalation is to show some restraint,
08:02to not turn things up to the highest level of volume and to the most extreme tactics right away.
08:08That's what our law enforcement does within the state.
08:11That's what police are trained to do. And that's what these federal personnel should be doing as well.
08:18It would be more productive for everybody if they would show some restraint, if we could see people from Washington
08:26not labeling everyday moms and dads
08:28with whistles and cell phones as domestic terrorists or rioters or agitators or the like.
08:34These are people who are trying to bear witness. They're trying to make sure that people are conducting themselves the
08:40way they should from the federal level.
08:41That's what's happening. But the words from up on high mischaracterizing the situation and the overkill tactics help no one.
08:50So we'd like to see action in that sense. Let's make sure that force is a last resort, not a
08:56first resort.
08:58All right, Secretary of State Steve Simon of Minnesota. Thank you for being with us.
09:03Let's turn now to Georgia. Congresswoman Nakeema Williams, a Democrat.
09:09Thank you for being with us here tonight, Congresswoman.
09:13We have a lot to talk about, but I have to start.
09:16So much for now.
09:18I have to start with the partial government shutdown now underway.
09:23House Speaker Johnson is saying today he expects the resolution to end the shutdown will pass by Tuesday.
09:31Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries was on this program last night saying Democrats will not be helping him pass that measure.
09:40What should we be expecting when Congress returns to work tomorrow?
09:45So I think what you heard from my future speaker, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, is absolutely correct.
09:51House Democrats will not stand by and supply votes for a DHS funding bill, Reverend Al, where we are seeing
09:59citizens, human beings, regardless of their citizenship, being gunned down and killed in the streets of our country.
10:06We're seeing children being detained.
10:08We're seeing our communities being terrorized and House Democrats stand on the side of the American people who are demanding
10:16accountability from DHS and ICE.
10:19And so as long as this bill stands as it is, I am a strong no vote as well as
10:25our House Democratic leadership.
10:26And we're not going to supply the votes for them to continue to terrorize our communities.
10:30This means that there might be a Republican force, partial government shutdown because they refuse to even negotiate and make
10:39any conditions relevant to keeping our communities safe.
10:44ICE is making our communities less safe, Reverend Al, and the entire country is seeing this.
10:49You can't do this in our face, play in our face and tell us we're not seeing what so many
10:53of us are witnessing.
10:54And so enough is enough.
10:57Now, let's talk about the ballots that were seized by Trump's FBI in Fulton County, Georgia last week.
11:04We don't know where they are or what the administration intends to do with them.
11:09We also don't know why Trump's director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbitt, was there.
11:16The chairman of County Board of Commissioners was on the program last night.
11:21I want to play for you why he thinks this is happening right now.
11:28I think this is a distraction.
11:30I think it's intimidation.
11:31I think it's serving to discourage people from voting.
11:35Even our co-workers.
11:36That's why I went there to make sure that our workers were safe because you recall the two women that
11:41Rudy Giuliani intimidated.
11:45They won a judgment against him.
11:46So that has a chilling effect.
11:48And I think that's what this is all about.
11:50If you really peel it back and get to the bottom of what they're after, it's not about 2020 anymore.
11:56It's about 2026 and 2028.
12:00What are your thoughts, Congresswoman?
12:02You represent part of Fulton County.
12:06Absolutely.
12:06I vote here in Fulton County, Reverend Al.
12:08And I saw all of this playing out in the 2020 election.
12:12And the first thing we need to make clear is Donald Trump, he lost this election.
12:16And it's been adjudicated.
12:17And the judicial process has told us 63 times what we all know to be true, that Donald Trump lost
12:24the 2020 election.
12:25So, yeah, he still has hurt feelings and he's still dealing with this.
12:29But we need to be looking forward.
12:31What are they going to do with these ballots?
12:33We no longer maintain the control of custody of these ballots.
12:37And these are original documents.
12:38So, we saw in Minnesota where they told them if they just turn over the documents from 2020, then they
12:45might let up on what is happening with ICE.
12:47This is our American government terrorizing a county municipality.
12:52And so, going into our county, an FBI raid, a criminal indictment, like, coming in.
12:59They couldn't get a judge here in Georgia.
13:01So, they found a judge in Missouri to sign the warrant for them to come in.
13:06We—I've led an FBI oversight letter in my congressional authority asking questions, demanding answers.
13:14What are they trying to answer by taking these documents?
13:17Where did they take them?
13:19Where would they end up?
13:20What are you going to do with this information?
13:21This is highly sensitive information.
13:23And as we are looking at early voting starting in our midterm elections right here in Fulton County in April,
13:30Reverend Al, this is right around the corner.
13:32What is happening with this very delicate elections information that they have stolen from our Fulton County Board of Elections?
13:41Now, the commissioner also told us yesterday that leading up to the Fulton County raid, he's heard rumors that arrests
13:49of Georgia officials could be coming.
13:51Are you concerned Trump may have more in store for Georgia?
13:56And how are lawmakers and public officials preparing for that possibility?
14:02Reverend Al, I don't think we can say that anything is not possible under this administration.
14:08Donald Trump has shown us that he will do whatever it is to try and get his way.
14:12As elected officials, we need to make sure that we are standing strong and finding a way to get in
14:17the way to protect our democracy, protect our elections, and stand up for the American people.
14:22Reverend Al, if he is sending a warrant to my home, you will be hearing from me because I'm not
14:29standing down in the face of this man who is trying to terrorize our communities, trying to steal our elections,
14:35refusing to stand up for what he saw.
14:37He lost this election, Reverend Al.
14:39So if you hear about an election warrant sent to my house, I'll be waiting for you to come and
14:43stand with me, Reverend Al, because I'm not standing down to this man.
14:46Now, if Trump is trying to resurrect the big lie going into the midterms, it's probably because he senses accountability
14:55is coming.
14:56In Texas today, Democrats are celebrating a special election shocker, a nearly 15-point victory in a state senate district
15:07that went for Trump by 17 points in 2024.
15:12And by the way, the Republican candidate outspent the victorious Democrat by nearly 10-to-1, according to data compiled
15:21by Transparency USA.
15:24How do you explain that?
15:26I mean, Americans are paying attention.
15:28They know that they were lied to during the 2024 election.
15:32Donald Trump said that he was going to lower our costs and make sure that our economy was back on
15:37track.
15:37And he's done the exact opposite.
15:39Our costs have raised.
15:40We've seen when we go in the grocery store, the prices are higher.
15:44Look at our health care costs.
15:46Here in my county, Fulton County alone, people have seen their health care premiums quadruple because of Donald Trump and
15:52his Republican Party.
15:53Americans have had enough.
15:55They're standing up.
15:56They're letting their voice be heard at the ballot box.
15:59That 20-point swing in Texas sounds like a Senator Jasmine Crockett to me, Reverend Al.
16:06Now, today, I'm out of time, but I have to ask you this.
16:10Today's the first day of Black History Month 2026, at a time when around the country, Trump and some of
16:18the governors have tried to take away black history out of the schools, out of being recognized on national parks
16:25on certain holidays.
16:27You sit in a historic seat as one who has now the hold of that baton, the mantle on your
16:36shoulders.
16:36How do you see Black History Month 2026?
16:39And how should we be observing it?
16:42Black History Month 2026, for me, Reverend Al, just like we just came off of Martin Luther King Day and
16:48sitting here in Atlanta, the birthplace of Dr. King, in the seat held by Congressman Lewis.
16:52Congressman Lewis told us that our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, or a month, but
16:58it's the struggle of a lifetime.
17:00And each generation has an obligation to do our part.
17:03This Black History Month, we need to all be renewed in doing our part, Reverend Al, because our struggle is
17:09the struggle of a lifetime.
17:10I love it.
17:12We don't need to just read Black History.
17:14We need to continue making some.
17:16That's right.
17:16Congresswoman Nakeema Williams, thank you for being with us.
17:19Still ahead, we're in the middle of a partial government shutdown.
17:24Maryland Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester will join us with the latest on when the government will reopen and where things
17:31stand for demands for reform to ICE and to DHS.
17:38And later, preserving and protecting Black History under Trump 2.0.
17:44Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Eugene Robinson joins us later on Politics Nation.
17:59Welcome back to Politics Nation.
18:02Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson says a vote to end the partial government shutdown could take until Tuesday.
18:11Last night, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said on this show that the speaker should not expect any Democratic support
18:20as this caucus demands significant reforms for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
18:29In terms of the legislation that's going to be in front of the House on Monday, we need a full
18:34and complete debate.
18:35And what I've made clear to House Republicans is that they cannot simply move forward with legislation taking a my
18:44way or the highway approach in the absence of House Democrats convening, which we're going to do tomorrow, and having
18:50a discussion about the appropriate way forward.
18:54Joining me now, U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester Democrat of Delaware, thank you for being with us, Senator.
19:02What's your view from the Senate on where things stand?
19:11Well, Reverend Al, as you shared, we are now in a partial government shutdown.
19:18And from the Senate's perspective, we just voted on Friday.
19:24And really what was put before us, different from the House, where in the House they had the opportunity to
19:30vote on five funding bills that will support the hard work that we have done for our constituents
19:37throughout this past deliberations for our budget and also separating out the Department of Homeland Security's bill so that we
19:46could vote separately on that.
19:47In the Senate, we did not get that option.
19:50And so for us, we had our vote.
19:54It now goes to the House.
19:55And you've heard what our leader, Hakeem Jeffries, has said, that for all of us as Democrats, whether you are
20:03in the House or whether you are in the Senate,
20:05we are united that ICE is broken, we are united that there has to be a sense of urgency in
20:13terms of real reforms and that there's no time to waste.
20:18And we are also united in the fact that there's a real trust deficit with our Republican colleagues.
20:25I mean, the reality is we saw this during the health care fight.
20:29They said, we want to fix it.
20:32We'll work with you.
20:32And here we are today in the midst of a new year with no real fixes to health care.
20:40And so, again, I think what you will see in the next week, again, is a real deliberate conversation about
20:47what could those and what should those reforms look like.
20:51And again, as Democrats, we feel this is unconscionable that you would have secret roaring police in this country and
21:00that you would see a little boy like Liam.
21:03I can't get I can't get I can't get I can't get this five year old's face out of my
21:07mind.
21:08A little boy with a rabbit hat and a backpack being taken away from his state to a detention facility
21:16or an older gentleman that I saw being whisked out of his house in Chicago with his shirt open in
21:23the freezing cold.
21:25A ICU nurse from for the VA being shot down as well as a mother of three.
21:35Are these individuals, are these the ones that are making us less safe as a country in this moment?
21:42It is ice that's making us less safe as a country.
21:45I want to get to a five year old Liam in a minute, but I want to ask you this.
21:50The Senate approved a measure to fund DHS for two weeks, giving Congress time to negotiate on ice restrictions.
21:58Leader Jeffries laid out some of those proposed restrictions last night on the show, unmasking ice agents, mandatory body cameras,
22:08mandatory judicial warrants before ice agents can detain people.
22:12As you look at this two week negotiating period, what are the most important reforms Democrats should pursue?
22:20And how do you make sure that your time isn't wasted without any significant concessions from from Republicans?
22:30Well, I think Leader Jeffries, you know, hit on many of the major points.
22:35And again, we have a a real unity on those kinds of things that, you know, right now what we're
22:42seeing are these folks that are not identified.
22:45You don't even know who they are as they're coming up to.
22:48They might not even be ice the way they are doing this operation.
22:52So making sure that there are real warrants and that they're not just going into people's homes and bringing them
22:58out.
22:59That's important.
23:01You know, again, we talked about some of the other kinds of things that we'd like to see.
23:06For example, a standard basic standards and law, you know, for law enforcement that we see in state and local
23:14levels.
23:14There are standards and codes of conduct.
23:17They're not applying by these.
23:20The these kinds of things are just basic.
23:23And again, as I said, warrants, judicial warrants versus just having some administrative warrant.
23:29There are some these are foundational things.
23:31I'm even concerned about the surveillance nature of what they're doing to Americans.
23:37The fact that they're using meta glasses and recording us and then using that information afterwards to put us on
23:44lists.
23:45That's that is that's that's not the country that we're supposed to be.
23:50And, you know, when you tie it to what is coming in the elections, that all of these pieces are
23:58fitting together.
23:59And it's incumbent upon us not just in the House and the Senate, but the people.
24:04And that's why seeing what is happening across this country where people are rising up and saying enough is enough.
24:10That's the thing.
24:11That's the pressure that I think our Republican colleagues really need to make these common sense reforms.
24:16And let me just say one other thing.
24:18This is not the first time in our history where we have taken a look at an agency and said
24:22this is not meeting the mission.
24:26You could look at the Department of Justice during Watergate.
24:29You could look at this Department of Homeland Security.
24:32This is after the result of 9-11.
24:35And so, again, this agency is broken.
24:38It needs to be ripped down to the studs and start all over again to make sure that we really
24:44are doing what is in the best interest of this country.
24:48And our safety.
24:49Let me pivot for a moment to the Epstein files.
24:53And what the Justice Department says was the final batch to be released this past Friday.
24:59Though it's still not everything the DOJ promised more than a month after a congressional deadline.
25:06Tonight, many members of Congress are not happy with what they consider to be a lack of transparency from DOJ
25:15calling to see files in full and without heavy redactions.
25:21Senator, if this is the final word from the administration on Epstein, how do Democrats make sure this story doesn't
25:29go away?
25:31Well, you know, first of all, let's start with the victims.
25:35This process and how they have operated.
25:39Now, mind you, they said this president said they were going to release them has just caused more damage and
25:46trauma to probably so many of the individuals, the survivors who have who have made it through this.
25:53So that's number one, to keep them top of mind.
25:58Number two, you know, the reality is for us, our whole goal as Democrats is about accountability.
26:05We've seen with this president that he is used to not being held accountable.
26:11And so I can tell you that we will not let up.
26:15We will not let up on pushing for transparency, on pushing for justice for those individuals who have gone through
26:24all of this.
26:24And you will see the drumbeat will continue and it will continue all the way into the election.
26:29Staying with that, Trump's announced his pick to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell in May, former Fed Governor Kevin Walsh,
26:39whose name popped up in the last batch of Epstein files.
26:44There's no evidence of any wrongdoing, but Walsh's father-in-law is a longtime Trump ally and mega donor who's
26:54pushed the president on taking over Greenland.
26:57All of this considered, how much scrutiny can Walsh expect to face from Senate Democrats?
27:05Well, you know, I serve on the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, and he will have to come before
27:14our committee during the nomination process.
27:17We have not seen any paperwork or anything like that.
27:21But what I can say is the Federal Reserve Board is critical to not only our economy, but to the
27:28global economy.
27:29And what this administration has done by way of really politicizing these organizations and trying to claw back the independence
27:41of organizations like this really will have an impact on what we say in these hearings and how we actually
27:50have this process.
27:52You know, you look at how the president has gone after Jerome Powell, after Lisa Cook, who also a Federal
27:59Reserve Board member.
28:01And we know that the role of the Federal Reserve Board is really about making sure that we have low
28:09unemployment, make sure that we have interest rates at a place that makes sure that we have a strong economy.
28:15And so we on the committee, the Democrats on the committee, as well as our whole caucus, will be looking
28:22at this because, again, it has major implications for not only this country, but for the world.
28:29All right. I'm out of time. I'm going to have to leave it there.
28:32Thank you for being with us, Senator Lisa.
28:34You remember, Reverend Al, just remember LBR from Delaware.
28:41And as we celebrate Black History Month, I just want to make sure everybody also recognizes there was a time
28:47when they didn't even teach it.
28:49They didn't teach it to us in school, but we made sure whether it's community centers, churches, wherever, even when
28:55people tried to erase us, we stayed strong and we kept the drumbeat going.
28:59And so I want to also end by saying happy Black History Month and stay strong.
29:03And thank you, LBR from Rochester, for reminding every, for LBR from Delaware, for reminding us about Black History again,
29:15as I open the show with that.
29:16Thank you for being with us.
29:18Just ahead, rising up for our heritage as the administration takes a literal crowbar to Black History.
29:31A house divided against itself cannot stand.
29:36Abraham Lincoln was paraphrasing the Bible when he uttered those words while running for Senate in 1858.
29:44They continue to ring true as our nation stands at a crossroads at the start of Black History Month 2026.
29:54Since returning to office for his second term a year ago, President Trump has torn open a rupture in our
30:03nation between what he and his supporters believe they can do under the guise of law and order and what
30:11many Americans believe is morally right.
30:14He has divided our country with mass deportations, with his dismantling of civil rights infrastructure that Dr. Martin Luther King
30:24Jr. and others fought so hard to build.
30:27And with his undermining of confidence in our elections, the one institution that makes all of our other rights possible.
30:36All of this is shocking and upsetting, but none of it is new.
30:42They represent a continuation, an escalation of the internal battle that has raged in this country from the very beginning.
30:51That's why it's no surprise that while Trump has tried to divide our country, he has also sought to erase
30:58Black history by banning it from high school textbooks,
31:02by removing it from government websites, by literally taking a crowbar to a slavery exhibit at the president's house in
31:11Philadelphia just over a week ago.
31:13Trump fears black history because it represents the road map to a more perfect union for everyone.
31:21The America we were promised by the founders that has not yet been fully realized.
31:28A country where all men are created equal and endowed by their creator with unalienable rights to life, liberty and
31:37the pursuit of happiness.
31:38So many of us dream of that nation.
31:40Unfortunately, many others fear it.
31:44If we ever want to get there, we all need to rise up and protect our Black history, no matter
31:50the cost.
31:57Welcome back to Politics Nation on MS Now.
32:01The Bible says there's nothing new under the sun.
32:05And as President Trump plunges our country into a new civil rights crisis with his mass deportation, our long history
32:14of struggle could help light the way forward.
32:18Joining me now, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and MS Now political analyst, Eugene Robinson.
32:25His brand new book, Freedom Lost, Freedom Won, A Personal History of America, comes out this Tuesday.
32:32Eugene, we're going to get to the core of your book in a minute, but the themes of it are
32:38intensely relevant to what's happening in the country right now.
32:42Martin Luther King once said the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
32:48But we sometimes forget there are peaks and valleys along the journey.
32:53With that in mind, how do you frame what's happening right now in our larger historical narrative about the country?
33:02It's a valley.
33:03Good evening, Rev.
33:05It is.
33:06This is one of those moments.
33:08Again and again and again and again, we have seen these moments when African Americans and other marginalized groups fight
33:20and struggle and often die to win a greater measure of the freedom
33:26and opportunity that America promises, and then it is taken away, it is curtailed, it is pushed back, and the
33:42struggle has to begin anew and has to be reinforced and it's time for another push.
33:51And we're definitely in one of those moments.
33:55I mean, I do not think it is an accident that we see the election of the first black president
34:03of the United States, Barack Obama,
34:05followed immediately by the election of Donald Trump and the rise of this MAGA coalition that wants to take us
34:14back to a past
34:17when the country did not celebrate its diversity, when the country did not offer that freedom and opportunity to as
34:28many people as it should.
34:32Now, today is the start of Black History Month.
34:36Earlier, we were discussing how Trump has literally taken a crowbar to slavery exhibits
34:42and has eroded the civil liberties black people have fought for for decades.
34:48Talk about the importance of protecting and preserving black history from Trump.
34:54What can the average American do?
34:57Well, first of all, this will not succeed.
35:01This attempt to erase black history will not succeed because the history is the history.
35:07And in fact, over decades, a lot of this history was not really known.
35:16A lot of it had to be rediscovered.
35:18But we know it now and we have recovered it.
35:21And it will live on whether or not this administration does ridiculous things like taking down a sign about slavery
35:33at the presidential center,
35:35which is just absurd, as if it didn't happen.
35:39It happened.
35:40We know it happened.
35:42And it's also so counterproductive.
35:46It's ridiculous because African-American history is American history, period.
35:53This country would not be the same country without the presence and the contributions and the work and the brains
36:05and without black Americans.
36:09It simply would not be the same country.
36:13It's one thick strand of the braided history of this nation.
36:19And so to say you're going to erase black history is really to say that you're not going to know
36:28American history.
36:30And that that cannot that cannot succeed, cannot be allowed to succeed.
36:37And I don't think it will be allowed to succeed.
36:40As a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist yourself, you've tried to help us understand our democracy through the written words.
36:49Journalist and journalism is now under threat, evidenced by the arrest of journalists like Don Lemon and Georgia Fort.
36:57And the raid on the home of a Washington Post reporter.
37:02What are your thoughts on this?
37:04Well, I've been a journalist my entire adult life and and I've never seen this.
37:11I've never seen an attack on not just on reporters.
37:17Nixon had his enemies list and he hated the press.
37:20And a lot of presidents have have not liked reporters in general or specific reporters.
37:28But there hasn't been a president, certainly in my lifetime, who has tried to attack journalism.
37:37The act of journalism.
37:38Don Lemon was covering a protest.
37:42Don Lemon and and and Ms. Fort were covering a protest.
37:48That's what we do.
37:49That's why they were in that church.
37:52And the notion that you can be arrested for that is a direct assault on on the First Amendment.
38:00You know, it was Thomas Jefferson who said, you know, given a choice of government without newspapers or newspapers without
38:08the government,
38:09I would choose the latter because he knew how important it is.
38:14The public's right to know what is what is happening, what is going on, especially what its government is doing,
38:21is supreme.
38:22And that's why it's protected in the First Amendment.
38:26And this was, I think, designed to have a chilling effect on journalists, and it cannot be allowed to.
38:32I need to ask you this, Eugene.
38:34Your latest book, Freedom Lost, Freedom One, is intensely personal, focusing on America's racial history through the lens of your
38:43own family history,
38:45starting with your great grandfather's freedom from enslavement and threading its way to your story today.
38:53Why did you write this now, and what do you want readers to take away from it?
38:59You know, I wrote this book.
39:02I grew up in the house that my great grandfather built, and he was a sort of Reconstruction-era success
39:09story in South Carolina.
39:11And so he was a prominent Republican Party official, and, you know, he gave speeches.
39:18He had letters, financial documents, and everything.
39:21And he was a pack rat.
39:22He kept everything in the house.
39:23So I had this unusually detailed paper trail about my family.
39:30And then his father, the father of the man you see on the screen, was named Henry Fordham.
39:38And he, my great-great-grandfather, in Charleston, South Carolina, was enslaved, was sold to a plantation owner in 1829,
39:50was sold again to a businessman in 1848, and managed to buy his own freedom in 1851, before the Civil
39:58War.
39:58And because of this circumstance, I realized that I had a sort of long paper trail that many African Americans
40:12don't have,
40:13because we simply weren't counted.
40:15We weren't accounted for, but some free African Americans were.
40:22And so I always had this material, why did I do it now?
40:29Because of that cycle we were talking about.
40:32Because we are in one of those moments when progress, there's an attempt to reverse progress that had been made.
40:42And I realized, looking back over all this material, that that had happened again and again and again,
40:48most famously, Reconstruction, and then Jim Crow.
40:52But there were other examples of when it happened before.
40:56And I thought that that whole history then became relevant to what's happening right now.
41:03It is really very important.
41:05I know I found my great-grandfather was a slave in Edgefield, South Carolina.
41:10Eugene Robinson, thank you for being with us.
41:13The book, Freedom Lost, Freedom to Won, A Personal History of America.
41:18Available everywhere books are sold starting Tuesday.
41:29That does it for me.
41:31Thanks for watching.
41:31I'll see you back here next weekend at 5 p.m. Eastern.
41:35The weekend primetime starts after a short break.
41:39We'll see you back.
41:40We'll see you back.
41:41We'll see you back in the月.
41:41Bye bye.
41:42Bye bye.
41:44Bye bye.
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