January 23, 2019

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was talking about the effect of the government shutdown on working people.

Mika Scarborough shut him off. "The easy part is covering the suffering. We understand the suffering that is happening clearly and we will continue to do so. The question for you is, how can Democrats come up with a solution. You already said what Mitch McConnell should do, what can Democrats do to bring this to an end?"

Because it's their fault, right, Mika?

"We continue to offer -- we obviously support strong border security," Sen. Brown said. "We are sickened by what's happened at the border with children taken away from their parents. We understand technology and more border agents and helicopters and all can keep our borders safe, but the choice is either give President Trump the $5 billion, knowing it will encourage him to do it again, and we'll have a worse problem the next time or after that."

(See, Mika? It's like sleep training. You have to let the baby cry it out or it won't work!)

"Or we can continue to organize in our communities to put pressure on Republican senators. This generation of Republican senators is not going to go down in history as having the strongest, most vibrant backbones of any in U.S. history. They have to stand up. Corey Gardner started, understanding he's in a state in a difficult election. And others are understanding this from their TSA agents.

"One thing almost never talked about, the federal contractors who prepare the food at federal buildings who make $12-15 an hour, they're totally forgotten, they've lost their jobs and you know they're now going to payday lenders and that downward spiral that will cost them maybe eviction in the end," he said.

"When we reopen the government, they haven't been taken care of in the past and Senator Smith from Minnesota and I are working on. We can't continue to operate the government this way."

Willie Geist tried to use Mitt Romney as proof Republicans are now siding with Trump.

REPORTER: Is there any discussion about getting something with your colleagues to get 67 votes, enough to override a presidential veto. Under Article 1, you are a co-equal branch.

ROMNEY: No question. I think it's extremely unlikely that Republicans would say we're not going follow the president's lead on this. Who knows what happens a long, long time from now. I think Republicans will say, the president is negotiating in our behalf. we will try to work with the White House and not against the White House.

"What do you do with that?" Geist said. "You have somebody not moving off their $5 billion figure and it looks like the moderates you might be able to work with are moving towards his position. There's no point of overlap here. It appears from people not getting their paychecks, there's no way through this."

Sen. Brown said "of course" Romney would say that.

"Senator Romney took real hits inside his caucus for showing a shred of courage in his first day in office when he spoke out. So I think he feels a little burned by his colleagues talking to him, and I heard some of those conversations. We're not saying we're going from three Republicans to 25 to have a veto. I think it's a question of there's a pressure point and tipping point and the public blames them and blames all of us, I get that. Maybe they can find a way to get Mexico to pay for it, the promise the right wing seems to have forgotten," Sen. Brown said.

"What do you say to those workers, on Friday coming up to missing a second paycheck, into our second month of the shutdown. when they ask you what the hell is going on, what do you say to them?" Geist asked.

"Overwhelmingly, the workers I talked to, nobody has had a harsh word for me and they're all frustrated and share their stories and mostly all angry at the president that he's and that the country doesn't support -- and we know the president is about dividing things and preaching things and preaching phony populism while the White House looks like a retreat for Wall Street executives and cares only about those issues. I've heard about the announced closing of the Lordstown auto plant and even people who voted for him are beginning to see he's betrayed workers. That's sticking to him. He understands that. Then, we begin to get somewhere."

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