georgia changed who counts the votes. georgia republicans were ultimately bullied by trump and trump supporters to do exactly what he would have had them do last november. i wonder what you make, what is your analysis of the lack of what representative crockett describes, the lack of the fire in the belly? >> well, first of all, nicolle, you and i have been talking about this for months. >> yeah. >> and just for the sake of anybody who hasn't heard already, right, the issue here is not about voter id or about passing around water in lines or any of these other points. the only issue is this issue. that is the nightmare scenario. it is not only the nightmare scenario though, it is the intended scenario of everyone who is pushing these kinds of laws, that they understand -- >> exactly. >> -- that where the real power here resides is in administration of elections, and if administration of elections was run in a partisan way that the outcome of 2020 would have been exactly what donald trump would have wanted. the election wo

attorneys in georgia being pushed out or resigning. there's been a lot of news reporting about what was happening, but what does this really unlock for congress, which at most turns have been stymied from this kind of access? >> i mean in some ways this is all a bit ridiculous because the president said all of this stuff out loud. he said it all. he said it before the election, after he lost the election, in the period of time before it was certified, right before the certification, and then afterwards. even in his statements more recently about what barr did and didn't do, what the justice department did or didn't do. so all of this stuff is out there in the public. this is very similar to a lot of things that we have seen in the trump era where the president says something out loud and then we as reporters go and find out that he was saying and doing the same thing behind the scenes. in a normal presidency the president wouldn't have said any of these things and we would have to go find out what actually happened in private. but thes

in georgia it is about to come true. republicans are moving closer to taking control of elections in the state's most populous county. we will dig deeper into that story next. >>> plus, would we rather end the pandemic or stay loyal to our political tribes regardless of the number of lives that will be lost? for republicans the answer increasingly seems to be curtain number two. >>> infrastructure week was the butt of jokes for four long years under the ex-president. maybe that's why he has tried and fail to sabotage this president's successful bipartisan infrastructure deal. "deadline: white house" continues after a quick break. don't go anywhere. e. ike i'm just wasting time. that's why td ameritrade designed a first-of-its-kind, personalized education center. oh. their award-winning content is tailored to fit your investing goals and interests. and it learns with you, so as you become smarter, so do its recommendations. so it's like my streaming service. well except now you're binge learning. see how you can become a

but the danger in fast growing states like texas and georgia is they're not only growing and are more diverse and diverse in ways that benefit democrats. a bunch of those 52% or 53% districts could flip to democrats by the end of the decade. on the plus side republicans will have the benefit of more data and technology and be able to draw perhaps more pernicious gerrymanders. they can only plan for it and that's the danger of all of this. they will have a tough choice in many places. go for the gusto and try to maximize seats and give up a few seats to shore up other seats. >> xochytl, you have known as an observer of politics, as a practitioner, that the suburbs are changing. this is not actually news. but given the demographic realities we're talking about, how does that then shape how democrats approach 2022 and beyond? >> well, i think democrats learned in the last election they have to talk to voters everywhere and you have to start organizing now. and in the suburbs as you are talking about, they are more diverse. you must have those conversations. just not the october right bef

seats if this georgia law had been in place. i mean they see, to eli and ari's point, they seem clear-eyed about the threat. if you could just pick up on ari's point that today's speech was really the first time that the rhetoric and the bully pulpit seemed in line with, commensurate to the threat they're facing. i'd like to know what you think the appropriate next steps are on both these paths, the public -- i don't know, public relations, public education, whatever you want to call it and the behind-the-scenes action to have federal voting rights legislation passed by this congress ahead of the midterms, because i think what everyone agrees on is that this supreme court, when you've got justice alito trotting out the word voter fraud, which wasn't a thing. if he had bill barr's phone number, bill barr could have told him so. you have no guarantee that the legal path and democrats say they plan to sue more states for their laws. but there's no guarantee that, one, it will be successful or, two, that it will be speedy. >> we hav

georgia's ra fell warnock at a senate hearing in georgia. senate democrats today took their push for voting rights legislation to the state that was ground zero for voting restrictions inspired by donald trump's big lie of a stolen election, hearing from people affected by georgia's sweeping new voting law. as "the new york times" reports, their real aim is to sway a debate more than 500 miles away in washington where democrats are trying to revive a stalled elections overhaul in the senate to make it easier to vote and offset many of the changes republicans have pushed through in states like georgia. joining us now is blit cal reporter for the atlanta constitution. good to see you, greg. i will start with you. you were at the hearings today. what was the energy like in the room? i know republicans didn't even attend, but was it people mostly giving testimonials, was it people giving suggestions for improvement? what did we actually hear at the hearings today in atlanta? >> yeah, as you mentioned republicans essentially boycotted the hearing

from arizona to missouri to nebraska to georgia. i mean we could tell -- to texas. we see this happening. it is a concerted effort. it is an all-out effort on the part of the republican party. i think what you have been saying over the course of these many weeks, nikole, you have been sounding the alarm, you have been trying to tell folk that we are in serious danger, that democracy is in serious danger. i think it is time for president biden to go on the offensive. i think he needs to give a speech about not the state of the union but the state of american democracy from the oval office, to set the terms of the debate, to bring the fight to these people, because the stakes are that high. we keep seeing democrats on their heels while republicans are attacking at every front, on every front. it seems to me, given what we have described, what you have described, what we know, democrats have to go aggressive, and if they don't we need to start asking questions why. >> okay. i want to throw out everything i was going to ask you guys. let's talk about this. what does tha

in georgia some election boards have been restructured. you see women of color, democrats, removed from county boards. and these are the places the actual election decisions are made where hours are set, where decisions on where precinct locations will go. and this fear that everything that held the line after president trump tried to overturn the results whether it was in michigan standing up against trying to block the certification, whether it was in detroit where they stopped poll watchers from gaining access, tried to stop counting or overturn results there were these checks that made sure our election held and the big fear right now is when you look at a lot of these bills and what's been passed and what has become a new law in these different states that may look like a dress rehearsal and some of the checks have been removed. a big fear is if those checks are removed what's to say they could be stopped again? >> yeah, yamiche, that's the thing. if democratic leaders are not angry enough that they are being systematically and openly

nevada, arizona, florida, georgia, tennessee, michigan, iowa, oklahoma. some of these deep red states where there were no questions of fraud but they're just going along to get along. on this question of shaking up the debate, letters from companies after baseball moved the all-star game, there wasn't much noise coming from companies, but i wonder if you think there's something shifting underneath this debate, eugene? >> i think there is. there is a through line and everyone is so shocked by what happened on january 6th and they're looking in washington that the states took the big lie and these lawmakers started making laws because of that. you look in texas, texas people had no complaints about what actually happened in texas, how the election was actually run. georgia, the same thing. michigan, the same thing. the people who do the work. the secretaries of state, republican and democrat, have had no issues saying this was an election that was free and fair and the president in office right now is the rightful winner of that election. i think what you'r

the all-star game was played in colorado instead of georgia. this isn't inside the beltway. the white house points to polls that don't show voting rights on the radar, but you come to the mid-terms and the republicans don't need a lot of help winning and they're going to get a lot of help. 22 states have already passed laws to make it harder for voters who traditionally vote for democratic candidates, not republican candidates, to vote. i mean is the -- i mean the republicans sort of chalking this up to a win? are they checking this off their to-do list ahead of the mid-terms? >> yeah, nicolle, i think it is an issue galvanizing for republican voters, we have seen it time and time again. but as you know, the white house and the biden administration and the president is under estimating what a key moment and priority it should be for him. i believe as was said on your show this week, biden was elected in part was for his ability to be able to whip votes in congress. he talked non-step on the campaign trail about his ability to negotiate with republicans and level with people

the georgia law was not yet on the books. the supreme court had not yet been gunning for section two. it is a very urgent and different playing field, battleground now for these folks. i don't know if you were paying attention, but i certainly heard her saying that, you know, they're prepared to potentially get arrested, potentially flee the state to defend voting rights in texas and to defend this democracy. so, you know, what i hear from so many activists, so many organizers, people like latosha who were standing with representative crockett and her colleagues in texas, saying it is time for democrats at the state and federal level to put it all on the line to preserve this democracy and really protect the voters that are really being specifically targeted for what they did in record numbers in the middle of a pandemic in november and in january again in georgia. if i can say one more thing about this. >> please. >> it is not enough for you and i to be talking about the reality that election -- voter suppression is masquera

we saw what stacey abrams was able to accomplish in georgia. ultimately, voting and elections are run at the state and local level. it has to be a wake-up call to folks in the state to make sure they are doing what they need to do at their state and local level to have elected officials that are not going to suppress your vote, that are not going to vote for legislation that makes it more difficult to vote, and that you have people there that are doing what they're supposed to do to protect the vote. but at the same time there should be also national, national outcry, to neal's point, because what republicans are doing is absolutely despicable. unfortunately, michael, you and i know this all too well, it is not new. it is just out there in the open now. they are out there saying the quiet parts out loud. when you were rnc chairman you knew what some of the voter suppression efforts were going on out there, and you were trying really hard to make sure those sort of untoward things didn't happen and it was a challenge back then. but now because o

and on top of all of that in georgia, arizona and nevada, candidates who believe the election was stolen are challenging the secretaries of state who stood up for the 2020 election results. it's a crisis that endangers the democratic majorities in the house and senate and the prospect of future democratic candidates winning the white house. and over on the delusional right of american politics republicans are still working to undo joe biden's legitimate verified win in the 2020 election. the ex-president calling on arizona to decertify joe biden's win there. after a briefing to the state senate on the so-called election audit that was filled with so much misinformation, so many falsehoods, that maricopa county supervisors were forced to fact check it publicly on twitter. the unfortunate success of the gop's voter suppression drive as it collides with stalled democratic action is where we start today. the reverendal sharpton is here, host of msnbc's "politics nation" and president of the national action network. also, clint watts, former consultant to the fbi counterterrorism division and