← The Joy Reid Show
Loading summary
Transcript63 lines
- [00:06]
Joy Reid
Okay. Good evening, good evening, Good evening, everybody. Welcome to the Joy Reed show live from beautiful Martha's Vineyard. Big ups, big ups, big ups to all of our team TJRS members. Ronald Martin, what's up, Black Ralph. What's up? Hello to all of the chat and to everybody who's listening on Spotify, also listening on YouTube and on Substack. We love that you all are here. And yes, we are here as well. I want to remind you all that on Friday of this week we have a special program coming up exposing the frankly, weird, scary, Handmaid's Tale style nightmare that pregnant women in Virginia are facing at Liberty University at this home where they are being compelled to be if they are pregnant. It is really a fascinating and really, truly frightening story. You do not want to miss it. That is the same bat time, same bat channel, 7:00pm Eastern Standard Time on Friday. So please tune in for that now. Meanwhile, today, I would like you to listen to Donald Trump this week talking about the brown workers that his regime is deporting and detaining. It is, let's just say it is very telling. Here he is back to their country.
- [01:30]
Donald Trump
With a pass back in legally. And we're doing things that are, that are very difficult to do and very complex, but it works really well. We're sending them back and then they're schooling, they're learning, they're coming in, they're coming in legally. We have a lot of that going on, but we're taking care of our farmers. We can't let our farmers not have anybody. You know, these are very, these people there. You can't replace them very easily. You know, people that live in the inner city are not doing that work. They're just not doing that work. And they've tried, we've tried, everybody tried. They don't do it. These people do it naturally. Naturally. I said, what happens if they get it to a farmer the other day? What happens if they get a bad back? He said, they don't get a bad back, sir, because if they get a bad back, they die. I said, that's interesting, isn't it? You know, these are very, in many ways, they're very, very special people. Okay, go ahead.
- [02:27]
Joy Reid
You could see the right wing media person trying to interrupt him thinking, oh God, this is not going well. Because what he was saying is actually, let's unpack it for a moment. I believe what he is saying is that the brown people who are being deported and detained by ICE by his masked agents are natural born field workers. Something about them makes Them natural born field slaves. I think that's what he's saying. He's saying they're very special that way, but that the inner cities, the inner city people, which given the fact that Trump is 79 years old and comes from a certain generation, means black people are just not doing the work. They're just not in the fields anymore. They're not coming into the field doesn't come naturally to them anymore. Okay, so just to be clear, if you are a MAGA voter who supported Trump in order to see millions and millions of non white migrants deported, he just told you that the violent, militarized, masked ICE deportations that he and Stephen Miller and Christy Noeman, Tom Homan, are staging on camera to entertain and appease you are temporary. He intends to bring the deportees right on back here soon, somehow to get them to want to come back because they make the perfect nearly slave labor. They never complain, they don't get a bad back. And besides, the inner cities, the blacks, they just won't pull their weight in the fields anymore. So we need them, huh? Well done, MAGA voters, I think. And as Cheryl and Eiffel explained on Monday, Trump with all of these explanations and trying to sort of explain his way out of tariffs and pretend the economy is great and making up all and walking around on the roof of the White House weirdly, and part of it is probably a bit of senility, but the other part of it is Trump clearly knows and recognizes that he is failing not just his own voters, but the country. I want you to take a look at a new poll out of the University of Massachusetts which shows Donald Trump underwater, completely underwater. If you look at his numbers from a couple of months ago, he had a 44% approval rating. It's now down to 38. It is a low for him in either of his terms in office. He's also underwater with men. His approval with men is the lowest it's been at any time in either of his terms as president. And he's not just underwater on the economy overall or on tariffs. He's also underwater on immigration. We have a poll number here that shows in on all of the different issues, whether it's the economy, whether it's civil rights, whether it's inflation, whether it's jobs, even immigration. He is underwater. He doesn't have even a 50% approval rating on anything. He's in the 30s and the 40s on everything, including jobs, which is critical to getting yourself reelected. He's not up for reelection at least yet. He says he's going to run in 2028, but to getting his party to stay in power. He knows he's underwater. That is clear. And so a desperate Donald Trump, who clearly does not want to give up all the perks and all the grifting and all the money that he's getting out of being president and who is clearly terrified that he could finally face accountability from a real Congress rather than the pretend one that he's got now. I didn't even get into the Epstein files where he's also underwater. And more people believe that he's the one hiding the Epstein files even than Pam Bondi, who's hiding the Epstein files. Who's hiding that information? Is it Mike Johnson? Only 47% of people say it's him. Is it the FBI? 49% of the people say it's Cash Patel. Is it Pam Bondi? 59% say it's Pam Bondi hiding the Epstein files. Only 16% say it's congressional Democrats. Donald Trump has tried that gambit. It ain't working. 81% say it's Trump himself. Even his own voters, his own podcast bros, are beginning to believe he's the one hiding the Epstein files. Trump is underwater on everything. And I think the fear that he could actually face repercussions and actually have to take accountability from a real Congress, if they came in, they could release the Epstein files. There's all sorts of things that could happen. He's afraid. And so Donald Trump is trying to get himself right before these midterms when he may have to face the consequences of the things he's done to this country. And so he's actually gotten something that he demanded back in 2020, after he lost the election to Joe Biden. At that time, Donald Trump went to the Secretary of State in Georgia and the Governor of Georgia and said, I just need you to find me 11,000 some odd votes so that he wouldn't have to admit that he lost Georgia and lost the election to Joe Biden. He rang up the Secretary of State and said, find me 11,000 some odd votes. Well, neither the Georgia Secretary of State nor the Georgia Governor, Brian Kemp, were willing to give him the 11,000 votes. Maybe they had just too much dignity to comply. Even as Republicans, they're like, too much dignity, too much self respect. We're not going to do that. But not so the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, who was asked a couple of months ago by Donald Trump to just fined him five congressional seats so that Republicans won't lose the house in the 2026 midterms, which could again lead to Trump getting his allowance cut off, getting maybe impeached a third time, who knows? And unlike Republicans in Georgia, though, Texas Democrats, Greg Abbott, led by Greg Abbott, the governor, they were more than willing to comply. Here is Representative Jasmine Crockett. This was four days ago, Jasmine Crockett, explaining what the Texas Democrats did.
- [08:32]
Jasmine Crockett
For.
- [08:33]
Aisha Davis
The last four years. They said, no, these are great maps. They're race neutral. Don't do anything to change them. We want to keep them. And then all of a sudden they said, never mind, we want to change the maps. They're terrible. And they're wrong. And they're citing this case that came out in 2024 from the 5th Circuit. But the reality is that we just went through the trial and that wasn't even but a month ago, and the state still had the same position. So they are twisting themselves into a pretzel to appease this wannabe Hitler that we have in the White House. But I think he's actually creating a bigger problem. I think people now first of all understand what gerrymandering looks like and why it's so problematic. I think people are finally waking up to the fact that Texas is a majority minority state. So when we say that it's not really a red state, but we just are a voter suppressed voter apathy and underinvested state, people now are starting to understand that, especially when the only way that he could get these seats with was by depressing the voices of black and brown people in this majority minority state.
- [09:32]
Joy Reid
We, we have another piece of video, one more piece of video. This is also Jasmine Crockett, and she's explaining specifically what was asked of Greg Abbott and what he did. This is Jasmine Crockett, I believe. Jasmine Crockett.
- [09:43]
Aisha Davis
I don't think that it's an accident that Donald Trump picked up the phone, called down to Texas, told Abbott what he was going to do, and, and like a small, ridiculous child, he just fell in order. I don't think any of that was an accident. But what I can tell you is that we will not be an accident. We, the people of Texas, will be very intentional about making sure that they hear us, about making sure that we call them out for what they're doing. This is racist, what they are doing. Let me hear you. Instead of coming up with policies that will help all people, no matter what their ethnic background, they have decided, never mind, we want to dilute the voices of black and brown. Well, I got news for you. In this state, the Majority is black, brown and Asian. Weather will not sit idly by while a wannabe dictator decides that he's going to silence us.
- [10:51]
Joy Reid
So I want you to know, and you need to understand that Jasmine Crocketts is one of the district seats, one of the House seats that they are attempting to mess with in Texas. Representative Al Green, who we had on the show on Monday, his seat is another seat they're trying to merge. There's a gentleman named Representative Castro. They're trying to merge his seat. It is black and brown seats as well as an empty seat which was held by Sylvester Turner, the former mayor of Houston. That seat, which is empty because Mr. Turner passed away, they're trying to mess with that seat. The seats are black and brown seats. And so Texas Democrats have said, you know what? We're not going to unlet you do it without a fight. Texas Democrats have left the state. And I say left, not fled. They left the state because they're not fleeing out of fear of Greg Abbott. They are leaving to deny Governor Abbott a court forum. They have left for states like Illinois and Massachusetts. And of course, many in the mainstream media are treating them as fleers rather than fighters because that is the preferred narrow narrative that Donald Trump wants. Right. But this isn't a flight. This is a fight. Let me let you listen to a CBS interview that is pretty telling in the way the question is framed. Take a listen. You know that Republicans in the state, Republicans out of the state, look at what you guys are doing and thinking you're running away from the fight.
- [12:16]
Jasmine Crockett
You're running away from your jobs by not being in Austin today.
- [12:20]
Unnamed Interviewer
Yeah. No. Abandoning your job is going to Cancun in the middle of a deadly freeze.
- [12:25]
Jasmine Crockett
Right.
- [12:25]
Unnamed Interviewer
Abandoning your job is cutting health care when people need access. Abandoning your job is cutting public education when we already have one of the worst education systems in the nation. What we are doing is the fundamental protection by our founding fathers in the Texas constitution that says the minority party has the opportunity to break quorum when you know that the majority has really gone off the rails. The fact that Texas Republicans are willing to sell their soul, sell out their state, and sell out the American people to serve the interest of Donald Trump and give him five seats at a time where we know he is afraid of voters voting on his policies next November. In 2026, when Donald Trump called Georgia Republicans and said, I just need you to find me 11,000 votes, they said, no, sir, that's a step too far. But when he called Texas Republicans and said, I need you to steal me five seats. They said this July work for you. Well, it doesn't work for us as Texas Democrats. This is not just about our voters. It's about the nation. And it's important for people to know they have threatened us personally. They have threatened our arrest, they have threatened our jobs, they have threatened us. The solution is if we show up today at 3 o' clock and sit and be quiet, then we get to keep ours. But it kills the voice of everybody in this country. And so we won't, we won't sit and shut up to have them shut up the voices of voters.
- [13:55]
Joy Reid
Joining me now is Texas State Representative Aisha Davis, who proudly represents the 109th state House district in southern Dallas County. Representative Davis, thank you so much for being here.
- [14:08]
Jasmine Crockett
Thank you so much for having me.
- [14:10]
Joy Reid
Thank you. Let's start with the fact that you are in Illinois. You are among the Texas state Democrats were in Illinois. There was a bomb threat today that occurred where you all were staying. Can you give us an update on what happened with that?
- [14:27]
Jasmine Crockett
Absolutely. There was a threat made against our safety this morning, but we are safe and secure. I'm actually not shocked that it happened because when you look at the violent rhetoric that's being spewed by our governor, our attorney general and the president of this country, the they're inciting people to turn to means of violence. I've seen posts telling people to bring us back to Texas dead or alive. So I'm not shocked. This is happening because of the rhetoric that they are setting out to people to tell us that we are escaping our duty and we're not doing the right thing. But we are here fighting for the people of Texas and the people around this entire country. And it's no coincidence that it happened on today, the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights act, when violence was used to intimidate people when it came to voting. And now we see this violence being inflicted because we're standing up for people and their right to vote and the right to vote for the person who represents the communities they come from. So, yeah, we are safe and secure. Thank you so much to the governor of Illinois for making sure of that. But I am quite sure more and more people are getting excited by that violent rhetoric being spewed.
- [15:39]
Joy Reid
And thank you for reminding us that Today is the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights act, which was passed. Monday, was the anniversary of it passing the United States Senate, which, as you said, they had to get past what would have been a filibuster by Dixiecrats, Southern Democrats. And now what you're seeing is a Southern state attempting to erase essentially five majority minority Democratic seats. They're not just five Democratic seats. They're five seats that are mainly held by Democrats of color. When this special session was announced, did the governor of Texas make it clear that the purpose was to eliminate the seats, or did they couch it in what we're now hearing? They're saying no, no. This is also about those seats being violations of the Voting Rights act themselves.
- [16:31]
Jasmine Crockett
So on July 4th, we had historic flooding in Texas. Over 100 Texans died because of the flooding. They didn't have good emergency systems, and we definitely didn't have a good response to those. And we actually had bills that would have fixed some of those problems, but because they were introduced by Democrats, they were killed by Republicans. So the special session should have been about making sure that those people had the resources they need to be able to continue even though they had been through this devastation. But instead, the very first thing that we started talking about was this redistricting. And before we even saw any bills about the flooding, we had bills about the redistricting. Now, we didn't see a map, but we did get a lot of word about it. They were having meetings about it. So instead of focusing on what Texans needed, we diverted everything to what Trump wanted.
- [17:23]
Joy Reid
And so, to be clear, because they're trying to use the fact that flooding was going to be discussed in the special session to accuse you, the Democrats, of abandoning Texans in lieu of trying to ameliorate the flood, your response to that would be what?
- [17:41]
Jasmine Crockett
We had several hearings on redistricting before we even touched the flooding. The flooding bill wasn't even introduced until we started to leave the state. And then they started to use that. No, we have to deal with flooding. We have to deal with education. But none of that had been introduced by the time we left. And even when the speaker talked about breaking quorum and things, the one thing he said was he would do whatever it takes to get us back so that we can vote on redistricting. He did not mention any other bills because no other bills had been filed or discussed by that point. So this is all about redistricting, not about what Texans need.
- [18:19]
Joy Reid
Let's talk about some of the threats that the governor has made. He has claimed that he would have you arrested. Now, I think those who have Googled the law in Texas know that you cannot be arrested for breaking quorum. It is not illegal to. To leave the state. I mean, we do not have fugitive slave acts yet. You can leave your state without being arrested. But they're now attempting to federalize this attempt to drag you all back to the state of Texas. By doing what? They're trying to get the feds to essentially arrest you. And what's the premise for that?
- [18:54]
Jasmine Crockett
So during the last war break in 2021, one of the intimidation tactics that was introduced by Republicans was just a rule that the sergeant in arms could go out and get any person that broke Horm moving forward. So sergeant at arms and Texas Department of Public Safety have been going to our offices, driving by our homes, seeing if we're there. But there is some legal policy to get us back if we were in the state of Texas. Now, our attorney general and our governor has called on Trump to, to enact the FBI. And even in Trump's own words, he said, hey, I might have to get the FBI involved with this. So now we have federal agencies who are being tied because they're saying that they can also bring us back to Texas. So right now, you know, they're making up rules as they go. We should not legally, we cannot be pulled back into Texas by any federal entity because of a policy that we have in our house. But, but again, they're making up rules as they go. I wouldn't be shocked if they tried it, right?
- [19:58]
Joy Reid
I mean, Ted Cruz left your state during historic flooding, historic heat waves, during times when the state was in jeopardy. No one tried to go to Mexico and get Ted Cruz. You can leave your state, even if it is literal abandonment in the case of Ted Cruz. But for them to say that Democrats just for breaking quorum, that seems to me a pretty big stretch of attempt, an attempt at federal law. They're also trying to say that you all are being fined, right? You're being fined $500 a day, every single day.
- [20:30]
Jasmine Crockett
And you know what? Even with the, with Cruz even going to Mexico, our attorney general that has been threatening us, he's not even in the country. He's enjoying vacation somewhere else. So it's very, very interesting how they always find ways to, that we're doing all these criminal things that they've done themselves.
- [20:47]
Joy Reid
Interesting. So with these $500 fines that you all are being forced to pay, the new threat is if you fundraise to pay those fines rather than paying them out of pocket, they apparently are going to try to charge you all with bribery. How does that work?
- [21:02]
Jasmine Crockett
They are trying to find some kind of way to get us arrested and bring us back. So now they are reaching out and drawing all kind of straws to figure out something. And the newest thing is saying, yes, it's bribery. If anyone wants to donate money to us for this cause, when every policy and every law we looked at has said everything is okay, the $500 a day fine, we are figuring out ways to see if that's even legal for them to assess that to us. So that's just an intimidation tactic that's being used to try to prevent people from supporting this. A lot of people all across the country are cheering us on, saying they want to support us. And, and this is a way to make sure they try to deplete us of resources and try to give us no choice but to go back to Texas. But we are very resilient and willing to do whatever it takes.
- [21:51]
Joy Reid
And how many of you out of the members are out of state at this point?
- [21:58]
Jasmine Crockett
The overwhelming majority of us. I think it's only less than a handful of people who actually remained in the state. We have a couple of Democrats who have actually gone to the floor. They. They're there doing the work that we need them to do, but the overwhelming majority of us are not there in Texas.
- [22:16]
Joy Reid
Have you spoken with any of your colleagues on the other side on the Republican Party who are in any way uncomfortable with these tactics to try to force, I guess, a super majority into the United States House and presumably in the state House as well?
- [22:34]
Jasmine Crockett
No, I have not. And I want to share. We were looking at public school vouchers during this regular legislative session, and we had a couple of folks on the other side of the aisle that they were like, no, we want to make sure our public schools are fully funded. The morning of the floor hearing, we got a call. Well, the Republicans got a call from President Trump, and he pretty much told them, you need to go ahead and make sure that vouchers pass. And on that day, every single Republican supported it, except for two. So because this is something that's coming directly from President Trump himself, I don't think that we're going to have too many Republicans in the Texas House who are going to be willing to fight against it, no matter how they feel about it.
- [23:13]
Joy Reid
Do they ever stand up to Trump? Have you ever seen your colleagues on the other side stand up to this man?
- [23:19]
Jasmine Crockett
No, I have maybe one, maybe two that are willing to put communities first. But the overwhelming majority, nearly all of them, are excited whenever he has something to say. Trump does nothing more than endorse them.
- [23:33]
Joy Reid
And.
- [23:34]
Jasmine Crockett
And they think they've done something special and magical and they think they're friends. So, no, I do not think that I will have enough folks on the other side of the aisle to stand up to this. But I can say a lot of folks don't agree with it, and they really do think we should be focusing on flooding, education and everything else that's really important to Texans.
- [23:52]
Joy Reid
Do you support efforts by states like New York? Governor Hochul has said New York was going to look at doing the same thing, gerrymandering Republicans out of their seats in New York. California has said they are going to look at it. Illinois is already very gerrymandered for the Democrats, but they're looking at maybe even making it more extreme. Do you support those efforts?
- [24:13]
Jasmine Crockett
Look, if we're going to play this game by their rules, we need to play it and win. And so if they're trying to put a whole bunch of folks in our congressional body that makes the decisions for this country, we need to make sure we have someone there to counter the evil that they're trying to do. So I wholeheartedly support making sure that we have a voice and we have representation in Congress. If that's what they got to do to make sure that we have a playing field there, that's what they got to do. But we, you know, Democrats are typically the ones who are playing nice and playing by the rules. But look, this time the gloves are off. The gloves are off, and this is for the democracy of this country. So like I said, we got to do what we got to do to make sure we have some folks in Congress that are actually speaking up for the people.
- [25:00]
Joy Reid
Can you talk about the support that you're getting in the state of Illinois? What has the Governor, Governor Pritzker, J.B. pritzker, done to support you?
- [25:08]
Jasmine Crockett
He's been very, very supportive, making sure we had somewhere secure to be. A lot of us don't know the lay of the land out here in Illinois. And then again, when the bomb threat happened this morning, he made sure that we were safe and secure. So just making sure that we have somewhere we can be with all of these threats coming in. That's one of the most important things, threats to our safety, threats to our family safety. We have folks basically trying to hunt us down at this point. So he has been extremely helpful in making sure we stay safe.
- [25:39]
Joy Reid
I mean, can you just unpack that for a moment? I mean, we're talking about the year of our Lord 2025. And you have people who get, no, they don't get paid a salary from Trump. They get Nothing from him other than, I guess, the visceral enjoyment of watching him do his speech, stupid dance on top of the White House, or watching people get rounded up at Disneyland parking lot. They just sort of enjoy Trump viscerally. They don't work for Trump. They don't make any money from being Trump supporters. Nothing that they get personally from it. What do you make of the idea that people are willing to try, as you said, to hunt you all down, to try to drag you back, as you said, quote, dead or alive, just so that Trump can get a thing he wants? What is that about?
- [26:22]
Jasmine Crockett
You know, he empowers people to feel special. And the way that they're willing to do it is by doing whatever it is that he says that they should do. So if that requires violence, if that requires racial intimidation, whatever it is he says to do, they'll do it. And I don't understand why. Because there is no benefit. Because when you look at what he's doing for the people, these are some of the people that are taking the hits the hardest. People that are losing resources, that are losing job opportunities. They're not immune from this because they're white. So because they are doing it, it blows my mind that people are really following him when he doesn't care about the caliber of people, the communities they come from. Those are not the people that he's trying to protect and trying to enhance. He only cares about the billionaires. So it's a means to get celebrated by people that they feel follow this rhetoric and they are really following this violence that is being incited.
- [27:23]
Joy Reid
Can we talk about some of the specific policies that, you know, this current Congress that has been very supine, very obedient to Trump. One of the things they've done is eviscerate Medicaid. How is that going to impact your district?
- [27:38]
Jasmine Crockett
So I have southwest Dallas county, we do have Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett as our congressional representation. But when you look at what they've done to the map, they've actually taken out most of our economic drivers. They've taken out the airport, they've taken out downtown from our district. So they've tried to just basically strip us from a lot of the money and resources that kept our district, you know, very, very happy and healthy for all of our families. So what I see is a lot of those, a lot of the map proposals that I saw, they take away economic drivers, they take away voters, they try to make sure that there's only a small amount of representation of color coming from Texas, even Though we have the highest number of Africa Americans in the entire country. So because we have strong people like Representative Jasmine Crockett, like Representative Al Green, like the late Sheila Jackson Lee, they're trying to take away those seats, strip that voice, and make sure that they can get away with whatever Trump wants to get away with.
- [28:39]
Joy Reid
Would you say it's accurate? I mean, I frequently call Texas an apartheid state because it is a majority non white state where people of color have very little actual power other than there are some of the best and most vocal representatives in the country. Jasmine Crockett, Representative Castro, Joaquin Castro, the brother. The two Castro brothers are like lots of really fantastic, better overwork. There are a lot of really great voices, some of the strongest in the country. But actual power, they try to really keep it out of the hands of black and brown people. Would you think it's accurate to call Texas essentially an apartheid state?
- [29:15]
Jasmine Crockett
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We're definitely getting there. You know, just trying to figure out each and every legislative session there's attempts to strip voting rights away. This session was, was just like the others. So this is tactics that's been happening for generations, trying to take away the voice, take away the vote, make sure that power stays within a certain entity and try to make sure that no one else takes any of the those resources are power away. This is the same game we've seen over and over in Texas, but you have folks that are willing to stand against it.
- [29:48]
Joy Reid
What are you willing to do? How long are you all willing to stay out of Texas?
- [29:52]
Jasmine Crockett
However long it takes. We have all prepared to be here for weeks, but we are prepared to be here for however long it takes.
- [30:02]
Joy Reid
And when does the special session officially end?
- [30:05]
Jasmine Crockett
August 19th.
- [30:07]
Joy Reid
So if August 19th, if we get to August 20th and you all have not returned, what will happen to that special session?
- [30:13]
Jasmine Crockett
The special session will officially die. But again, they make up rules as they go. I am 100% sure another special session will be called, that this map redistricting plan will come up again, and then we'll have to move on forward and fighting it once again. But they are not going to lay down to this just because it cannot lay down to something Trump wants. So I can guarantee you after the session ends on the 19th, they'll immediately start conversations about calling another special session. We'll have 30 more days to try to get this done. We'll be fighting for 30 more days against it.
- [30:46]
Joy Reid
Do you see an instance where yourself and your colleagues will go back to Texas and try some other way to fight it rather than leaving, you know.
- [30:56]
Jasmine Crockett
There are a lot of lawsuits we've been talking about because all of this stuff they're doing is illegal. So if the map does pass, then we start to have some legal remedies or some, some legal things we're going to try to do. But if the map does pass some kind of way, then, you know, we're, we do have some conversations in place about what we can legally do to make sure that our voice isn't disenfranchised for all the people of color around Texas. But we're trying to avoid everything we can from getting to that place where the map does pass.
- [31:27]
Joy Reid
What would you want people to do to support you, to support you and your fellow Democrats?
- [31:32]
Jasmine Crockett
I would definitely say keep the word going about this fight. You know, for every time you hear someone say that we ran counter that what we're fighting, because that's exactly what we're doing. We're fighting for democracy. We are fighting for. People definitely would love support. We are here. We're away from our families. So any type of prayers, any type of financial support, just shooting out the word about what's happening, all of those right now are very, very needed. Like I said, we have members who have brought their children here. This fight is just that important. So all of those forms of support are greatly needed and greatly appreciated.
- [32:13]
Joy Reid
And what has been the message that you've gotten, if any, from the national Democratic Party?
- [32:19]
Jasmine Crockett
They've been very, very supportive. Again, this is not just about Texas. It's about the democracy of this entire country. So we've had everyone from the Congressional Black Caucus to Congressional Progressive Caucus to, you know, dccc. A lot of folks have reached out to have conversations with us because this is so important, what we're doing, and just to know that we have support from different entities as we go through all of this.
- [32:43]
Joy Reid
Have you all heard from the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, or from the Senate Minority Leader, Chuck Schumer?
- [32:52]
Jasmine Crockett
Yes, Leader Jeffries did come to Texas and he cheered us on and he talked to us and he talked to us about how this is our Edmund Pettus Bridge moment and how we do have the support of congressional members and how he's in constant conversations with our Democratic House cheerleader and making sure that we know that he has our back and that's meant so much to us. So, yes, he's taken time to come down to Texas. We've been on several calls with him and other leaders from Congress, and we've had folks to come down and visit and talk with us. But, yes, this fight is very important.
- [33:29]
Joy Reid
One of the things that Representative Crockett has said is that the other thing that Texas Democrats need to be prepared to do is to win these seats, even if they are with redrawn. Is that something that you feel the Texas Democratic Party is ready to do?
- [33:43]
Jasmine Crockett
Oh, yes. And that is one thing we're calling on the national Democratic Party to make sure we help with. Because when it comes to Texas, you know, it's so red that it's usually like, okay, if we spend money here, it might not be, you know, the best bang for our buck, but it's so important to invest in Texas. We do have the capacity to flip seats. When we had Beto in 2018, we were able to galvanize people and flip a lot of seats from House seats to the State Board of Education. And that continued even into our local seats, making sure we had folks elected who are really for the people. So it's so important that we maintain that energy. People are seeing what's happening now, and I'm hoping that translates to votes in the voter box when it comes to election season. But we have a lot of people who are not happy with what's going on with President Trump and him demanding all of this and Abbott and requesting that we're brought back and not really looking at why we're even gone in the first place. It's a lot of people who are unhappy about what they're doing, and that's going to really, really make some differences when it comes to the next election.
- [34:48]
Joy Reid
Right. And I think that it is true that Democrats writ large do not spend in the South. They tend to ignore the Southern races because they think that they're unwinnable. They just presume that they actually can't win there. What would you say to those who have kept their coffers closed and have not spent in Texas before? Because it does seem like, well, now might be the time.
- [35:16]
Jasmine Crockett
I think that plays a part of why we're here now. It was the feeling that we can get away with whatever we want in Texas. It was a feeling that there wouldn't be national folks coming down to help us. And Trump can say something, our governor can get it done, and nobody's going to be there to stop anything. So now that we have, and in 2021, when the cornbreak happened, there was national support, but the way folks are stepping in now is very different from last time. So now we have a lot of support. We have a lot of media support. We have a lot of communications. We have people who are very invested in this, and that has definitely made all the difference in this fight.
- [35:59]
Joy Reid
Yeah, I think the DCCC needs to rethink its map because Texas, as you said, is a state with the largest number of African Americans in the entire country. It is one of the largest caches of Latino votes. And I think after what Donald Trump has done to brown people around this country, even those who his family supported him, it should be at least an open door for Democrats to come in and start to talk with that community, the AAPI community. Nobody's getting helped. I'm sorry. White Americans are not exactly winning either in terms of tariffs and what they're doing to rural voters, et cetera. What do you think is needed in the Democrats messaging when they talk to Texas voters that would be different from what they've done before? Yeah, it. Aisha Davis, State Representative Aisha Davis of the 109th district, I'm sure your district is very proud of you. I guess my exit question to you is, how are you personally doing? How are you holding up? And you've already said what you'd like to see people do to support your fellow Democrats. But, you know, what do you all need most of all from people who want to get in this fight, which I do think honestly is the most important fight that we're having in the country right now. I'm sure. I'm sure it. I think I can echo that. There's a lot of people who are very proud of you. The chat is loving you. You're doing God's work here. We do need to see a fight. And I'm telling you, Texas Democrats are built different. You all fight in a different way. You all fight more forthrightly, and I think people really do appreciate it. State Representative Aisha Davis, thank you so much. Thank you very much. Well, there you have it, everyone. We are seeing a true battle, not just for Texas, but for democracy in this country. And the only way we're going to keep it is if we fight for it in a real and vigorous way. There's no point in trying to negotiate with the other side. They're not here to negotiate. They're here to win. And they've decided. Donald Trump has decided that the only way he can stay in power, the only way that he can continue to have unlimited funds roll into his bank account, the only way he can continue to steal from the American people, the only way he can continue to raid the coffers for his own enrichment, for his family's enrichment for his son's enrichment. He's putting money in his own pockets and taking it from you. And the only way that he can keep doing that and get away with doing it is by holding on to the House of Representatives and the United States Senate. Because the reality is the House could stop him. The Senate could stop him. The House could literally cut off the funds. They could cut off the funds to ice, they could cut off the funds to Israel, they could cut off the funds to all of the things he's doing. They could stop the crypto scams, they could shut that down. Hell, they could impeach him again. Now, I don't think impeaching him is a useful use of their time, because presidents don't get convicted in the United States. They get impeached, sure, but they don't get convicted. But they can impeach him again. If they just wanted to mess with him, they could do that, too. But they won't do it. They won't release the Epstein files. They could do that as well. That they won't do any of it, because they've all decided that they're getting something out of letting Trump destroy the country. There's something in it for them. We need to start thinking about what is it these members of Congress are getting for being obedient to Trump? What are they getting in return for taking the knee? What are they getting in return for letting him destroy the country, destroy it with tariffs, destroy it through ice? They're destroying the economy. Our tourism economy is done. They are destroying the United States. And what are they getting in return? Why are they allowing him to do it? Because they could stop him. And at this point, we can think about why they're doing it. We can try to psychoanalyze these people. We can try to figure out what it is that they're getting in return. But the most important thing we have to do while we're trying to figure it out is we need to remove them from power. Republicans have shown that they are not responsible with power. They're not willing to be responsible to the American people. They will take your Medicaid, they will take your rural hospitals. They're going to try to take your post office and privatize it. They're going to try to destroy the environment, let AI plants be built all over the country to pollute your water, to pollute your air. They're literally willing to let billionaires run roughshod over the entire country. And they're not going to stop. There's nothing you can do to try to negotiate with them. You can appeal to their Christianity. That is not going to work. And even if you want to do that, while you're doing that, you need to remove them from power. You have to cut them off from power. And the only way to do that is in 2026 to replace this Congress, this House of Representatives, this House Speaker, Mike Johnson, with a different one. And I understand that the Democrats are not perfect and that they could be a lot better, but they sure couldn't be worse than this. And we need to also make sure that we're thinking about what kinds of Democrats we want to put in, not the kind that we have now that are not willing to fight, that want to do bipartisanship and want to play fair and want to play a different game than is being played against them. We need to really think hard about how to accumulate power for people who are willing to use it, to accumulate power for people who are willing to wield it against each other. Him, because his party is not willing to use power to stop him or even to slow him down. Who are they protecting? Who are they helping? Why are they withholding information from the American people about a serial pedophile? Why are they doing that? These are the questions I think we need to be asking. Who is complicit in that? Why is Donald Trump holding that information back? Why are they allowing Peter Thiel to unleash a surveillance state on us? What are they getting in return for allowing Peter Thiel to do that? It's good questions, and I think we need to ask them. But while we're asking those questions, there is no point in allowing them to continue to wield that power without even a speed bump. And the speed bump that we could put in the way of Donald Trump and in the way of his autocracy and in the way.