other people were on stage. >> even for somebody like you who knows how to on the stage, is it something entirely different to be alone up there for a show? >> i don't feel alone because i have the audience. the audien. have done that because i didn't know how to be myself, now i have grown into a woman who is every single day learning more and more about myself, so to be able to share that on a stage feels like a gift.>> that does it for us, we will be back tomorrow to kick off a brand- new week of morning joe. i'm so excited. monday, tuesday, wednesday, thursday, friday, four hours per day. until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend. your weekend good morning, it is sunday,

may 19th, i'm alicia menendez in new york, with symone sanders-townsend and michael steele in washington, d.c. this morning, the compass braces for protest, plus donald trump addressed the nra convention, between the usual, there was a not so well threat to execute the city president. plus, it could be the final week of trumps criminal trial in new york, a big question, will the defendant take the stand? grab your coffee, settle in, welcome to the weekend. safety is of course a priority for many voters and yesterday donald trump cozied up to the extreme gun lobby,

accepting the endorsement at the annual meeting in dallas, in another hard to follow address, he painted a dystopian version of america, urging gun owners to vote because their safety is on the line. he used the event to rattle off his lies about president biden but he added this new twist. >> he is a manchurian candidate, he has accepted money from china, from russia, from ukraine, from everywhere. if that were a republican, he would have been given the electric chair, they would have brought back the death penalty. >> a reminder, in case you needed one, a political candidate alluding to the execution of a sitting president in front of the most prominent organization of gun owners, definitely not normal. joining us now, sarah matthews, she testified publicly during the january 6 committee hearings. good morning.>> so, that was

normal, sarah, just a day at the nra. look, okay, so trump is a liar, we know that. the projection around biden spending, taking money from russia and all these places, we know that. but, when you are standing in front of a group like the nra, when you are standing in front of a group that has very strong views about this administration, the biden administration and donald trump for that matter, what is the signaling, from inside the bubble a little bit with trump, what is the signaling that is going on, is it as blatant as making a comment about executing a president or is it something more or less, is it just trump standing there running his mouth? >> i think he knows this

audience are people that are a part of his space, so he's going to say things like this where it is going to rile them up and get them excited. i think he knows that in his mind, he thinks it is a joke where he's joking about he needs the electric chair but you shouldn't be talking about that with anyone in general, especially not the sitting president. and i think he does it because he wants to get a reaction out of them and thinks it'll be entertaining. but i think he doesn't care about how his rhetoric has gotten increasingly erratic and he has this culture of political violence. it is concerning when we are looking at it, but it follows this pattern we have seen from the 2024 campaign thus far. >> how should we react when we hear this because there is this tendency for hair on fire moments when trump says crazy stuff like this. but, we know to your point,

that a lot of it is just stoking his base, less interested in our reaction, although they love it, how should people generally react outside of trump world when they hear this?>> i'm going with your comment, with my hair on fire, every single time.>> i think it is sad because we have normalized this rhetoric with trump. some americans don't even think twice when he makes these comments because they are so conditioned and used them talking like this. but this is not normal, we should not have the republican candidate for president making jokes about executing the current sitting u.s. president. but with trump, i think that people just brush it off and dismiss them, but i think that we really need to take him at his word, not necessarily saying that he actually thinks joe biden needs the electric chair but when we are looking at the broader array of language that he is using, the types of things he saying within his campaign, thinking about his comments about how immigrants are poisoning the blood of america, how he wants to weapon eyes the doj, to

enact revenge on his political enemies, he need -- we need to take him seriously. >> i'm going off of what you are telling me, you know my husband tells me i should not assume or infer, i need to ask questions, and listen, i'm listening to donald trump and what i'm hearing from him isn't that concerning and i don't think you should rush over to the comments about projection. we know because of the democrats on the house oversight committee that donald trump did take money from saudi arabia, from china, while he was president. i mean, i'm looking for the cause, i must have lost it.>> just drew a line through it in the constitution. >> so it is absolute projection because they felt that he was the one receiving money from foreign entities, joe biden and the vice president, they just put out the taxes and i think you can take a look, i don't

think i see any chinese money there. but there is counterprogramming that was happening around the nra and the dnc had this mobile board that was circling the convention for hours, some headlines said trump should get over it. by rolling stone, trump gives into the nra, pushing facebook ads straight from the nra playbook. these billboards circled the convention center for eight hours saturday to contrast that meeting. and i think that counterprogramming to remind people what donald trump has said is important and you have the vice president who put out this statement on donald trump's appearance that reminded us that he opposed comments about common sense gun safety measures, but our number one problem about children, this is where he decided to go,

the actual nra is not what it used to be but the culture has permeated the republican party apparatus. and a time when guns are the number one killer of our kids. >> i thought his comments were honestly very out of step with where the majority of americans are at, during his speech, he bragged about doing nothing. he said, in the four years that i was in office, we did nothing, there was a lot of pressure and i did nothing, that is not something to brag about. i think it is like 80% and percent -- 87% support a background check, they are bipartisan forms that we can take to make change on this. but he so worried about catering to the gun lobby because he knows that he needs their money and he's desperate for money in this campaign. and as we know, he is going to say things that will appeal to them and make them happy and keep them happy.>> sarah, i just want to add to everything

that was laid out, the timing of this speech, it is less than a week before the anniversary of the shooting at uvalde, texas, there were also pieces of this speech dion specifically the appeals to gun owners that underscore the authoritarian fascist rhetoric we have heard from the former president, there was a joke, again, always contextualized as a joke about being a third term president, he said fdr was beautiful, had a beautiful patrician voice, he was there for 16 years, he was four term. i don't know, are we going to be considered three term or two term, you tell me. again, this joke, we have sat here with experts on authoritarianism and they said when he makes those jokes, believe him, we should stop talking about a second trump term in office because he may be looking at it as an

indefinite tenure of power. do you think that is true?>> i think we need to be taking him at his word and taking literally when he's making these kinds of jokes, saying that there could be a third term, or saying he's going to be a dictator on day one, we shouldn't just normalize these things and dismiss them, so i do believe he probably would like the idea of being able to stay in office and that underscore so much who he's going to pick for his vice president and the importance the of that, who's going to be his vp candidate because if he were to be successful and win in november and there comes a time where he wants to maybe run again, i think these things we need to be considering and be very worried about.>> sarah, stick with us because we still want to talk to you about what could be the final week of the criminal trial in new york and later, danny thompson at the

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so, tomorrow, michael cohen returns to the stand in cross- examination , if the defense does not call witnesses, closing arguments could start as soon as tuesday.

the criminal trial is proving to be a litmus test for the so- called party of law and order. one by one, republican leaders are spilled into court, showing their loyalty to trump and since americans can't see the testimony for themselves or even hear it, they can spill whatever they claimed to have witnessed, attacking the justice system in the process.>> there was something that the former president said in his nra speech last night related to this trial and that was his talk about the gag order, again it is early in the morning, we are not going to make our viewers listen to that, but he did say i'm able to talk about things although i do have a gag order, i can talk about the things i want to talk about because what i talk about is just on the surface because if i go in, they want to put me in jail if i talk. can you believe they want to put me in jail if i say the

truth, which is not how a gag order works, this is him not being able to attack the family, but instead, as we saw last week, he has republican members of congress traveling to new york to do his bidding for him, that is not particularly surprising. i wonder if you believe there is anything anyone can do to dissuade the red brigade from carrying this. >> i think these folks know they are showing up to be there to defend him and they are doing it because they want to impress him and get his approval, we know that donald trump was upset that the first couple weeks of the trial that nobody was there defending him, that there were these crowds outside the courthouse rallying around him. then, they started having these republican lawmakers show up and show support for him, it is a way that he can almost get around gag order. he can have these surrogates almost for his campaign, and say things that he can't say.

as we know, he can attack the prosecutor and the judge, what he's not allowed to do is attack the witnesses and he is not allowed to attack the family members of those of the court. so, having these people show up, it is a way that they can defend him and it is beneficial to donald trump and his campaign since he is essentially having a campaign from the courthouse but also a litmus test for the folks that want to secure the vp slot or a position in a potential second trump administration. >> this is the thing for me, and actually, susan glazer in the new yorker nailed it, she noted on thursday, for trump, the visual is always the thing and the spectacle bears all the hallmarks of his orchestration. these guys will follow me anyway. the message is that there is no detail to embarrassing or grotesque to shake their faith. that's the part for me and i

think a lot of folks out here, you sit here and think, at what point is the -- as a congressman do you take your dignity and shove it. you take the respect you have amassed as an elected official and shred it. for a man who literally within 30 seconds of saying hello to you to turn on you. what is it inside that you saw that helps you understand this is cray-cray-town, these people are out of their minds because there is this infection that has taken hold. help me understand, he is sitting here and saying, he will follow me anywhere, fifth avenue, that is just the beginning of what donald trump can get away with. i don't understand this. help us figure it out.

>> i think these republican lawmakers know that donald trump has such a hold on the republican party so they are concerned with making sure they are on his good side and his good favor because they don't want him to come after them and be a target. they will debase themselves and embarrass themselves in order to be on his good side and make him happy. you look at somebody like ted cruz for example, donald trump attacked the looks of his wife and he still out there as one of his most staunch supporters. it's just sad honestly when i look at these republicans, who i once admired, i look at folks like elise to phonic and tim scott who are held in such high regard and kind of heroes of mine over the republican party way back when, but watching them debase themselves because they want power so desperately and want to impress donald trump. it's really sad but it follows this trend we are seeing and i think we are going to see more people show up at the courthouse when they are back in court this week and will continue.>> you know, you are a

republican and you have served in the trump white house and has now said, look, that is a bridge too far for me, we need to get back on track for democracy. you are not, what do they like to say, a rhino, i feel like you are like myself, i grew up, i worked campaigns, i wanted to come to washington, d.c. and i wanted to work in the white house. but you broke with the party and i feel like there are more republicans out there like you, except they have not exhibited the courage that you have. so what do you say to the people, the chairman and i talk about it all the time, they pick up the phone and say oh, my goodness, i can't believe he said this, but they will be out there comparing the talking points of donald trump.

so, what is your message to those folks that have yet to muster up the courage that you had, people, like tim scott, they don't have an ounce of the courage that you have had. >> that is really kind of you to say and it is quite disappointing when i consider that. i look at the people who have been the most vocal and spoken out and it is folks like myself and cassidy hutchinson and these are young women, i mean, cassidy and i were at the very beginnings of our careers when we made the decision to break. and that is going to have an impact on us moving forward, we might not be able to work and go to republican politics again, but i made that decision because i knew it was the right thing to do. at the end of the day, you have to look at yourself and hold yourself accountable to a higher standard and i would just never put aside my dignity

and my integrity just to defend donald trump when we saw the things he did at the end of his ministration where he was the first president to not go along with a peaceful transfer of power, trying to overturn election and spread conspiracy theories because he couldn't accept the fact that he lost, and helped incite the insurrection of the capital. and i just wish they would grow a backbone and a spine and just know that they want to say these things publicly and we need to create a permission structure in which they can so that is why i think it is so important for republicans like myself and others to be out there saying these things, to show that it is okay to go against donald trump. and you know what, some things are more important than having a career in politics or power. i know what my priorities are and i think that those folks may come to regret the decisions that they have made. liz cheney said it best, one day donald trump will be long gone but, these folks are just dishonorable and it will remain.>> i raise my coffee to

that, there you go, thank you sarah for coming here and we hope you come back. less than an hour before commencement begins at morehouse college where president biden is set to speak. bennie thompson is here to talk about why it is such an important moment for the president. and if you missed it, saturday night live gave its take on the press conferences.>> i don't like being in court because they say very mean things about me while i'm trying to sleep, but i love being out here in the hallway outside court, daring the judge to imprison me. he gave me a gag order, i said that sounds like a challenge on rupaul. on rupaul ic cit and unforgettable scenery with viking. unpack once, and get closer to iconic landmarks, local life, and cultural treasures.

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it is a pivotal moment for hundreds of students forging their place in the world as they graduate today from the historic morehouse college, it is also a pivotal moment for president john -- joe biden who will deliver the speech. this all comes as biden's campaign navigates warning signs about the widespread support from black voters that helped propel him to the white house in 2020. joining us now is a democratic congressman from mississippi, bennie thompson and it is my understanding that you have some thoughts about this speech.>> well, i do, thank you so much for having me. it is good seeing everybody on the screen. well, you know the thing about the speech today, all joe biden has to do is say what he has done over the last three years plus that have significantly altered the trajectory of historically black colleges, he's not a stranger. he knows the concerns of the

black community in general, but more specifically, for his background, he has been very helpful to the program, the administration has made a difference. he helped get all of our colleges through covid, he has targeted money specifically to help the underfunding of historically black colleges. so his message at morehouse, just say what i've been doing the last three years. so i'm excited about it, morehouse as you know is one of the more prestigious, not the only one, hbcus in the country, a lot of my grudge -- friends graduated from morehouse. so, it is interesting and it is important for him to be there for a moment that we have now.

>> so, this is an interesting juxtaposition of both history, morehouse being the institute it is and current events, and that combination for a number of students has led them to express their concerns about the presidents visit, for example, nbc news reporting, white house sending officials to morehouse to address concerns ahead of biden's speech, and during that meeting with public engagement, some of the students were expecting their concerns about the president overshadowing their graduation. okay, that's kind of what happens when a president shows up, they are in the room. but also some students were worried in particular about the controversy surrounding the president's policy towards israel. and his handling of the war in gaza. how do you think the president should navigate that space?

you can send your advanced team on engagement all you want at the end of the day it is going to be what the president says in that moment to the students who will be sitting there with those concerns right in front of their minds.>> well, michael, i look at 50 years ago, when bennie thompson was a student, there were a lot of issues going around our graduation at that time. so, i think the president, this is his moment. he has to make sure that his message resonates with the young folk, as they say in the country, young people are thinking about world issues, when most students are graduating from college, they want to know, when i have a job? will i be able to do the things like what i've been going to

school my whole life on, they are interested in world affairs, that is a good thing, but also, you know, we have a great country. our young people, if they have issues, they should not be muffled to the point of not discussing them. so i encourage that. this is the presidents moment, he can do with this audience what he should do. talk about his record, talk about why he is doing things, and you know, it's not like a trump speech. you know, a trump speech is unofficial, it is just who he is. i look at the black folk behind him, it's the same folk, so what the president has to do, as i said, this is his moment. at morehouse, as you know,

recently got a medical school, we are short on doctors all around this country especially in the minority community. he needs to talk about his investment in education, the fact that he was the main proponent of affordable care and vice president and that legacy lives on, but to this point. so, you have to just run and speak on your record and when you do that, people will get it. if you try to gloss over and say we don't need anything like that, that is not who we are as a country, and i think it is so important for us to just stick to the record.>> speaking of speeches, i want you to take a listen of part of president biden's speech last night in atlanta, georgia.>> my opponent is not a good loser, but he is a loser. honest to god, i think that our

democracy is really on the line. listen to the things he said, i asked him what happened, is he going to accept a loss, and he said it depends, then he said if he loses, it is going to be a bloodbath.>> to that point, the president saying he is a loser, not a good loser, you have republicans in congress, tweeting a picture of him listening to the former president at the courthouse on friday and tweeting, standing back and standing by mr. president, i just wonder how much it alarms you that your republican colleagues are echoing the language of the proud bullies of january 6 in advance of this presidential election. >> it bothers me quite a bit, as you know, i chaired the january 6 led committee and so much of the language that i'm hearing now was the kind of

language that got us into that mess on january 6th. when donald trump says he wants to be a dictator for a day, when he says that the individuals that we have prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law are somehow hostages. we have to be very careful, those are warning signs, and there are a lot of people out here who will follow donald trump to the bitter end, but following him is not a good thing because he's not a proponent of democracy, he wants donald trump to be the order of the day, so we have to push back in this area of opportunity. the president is right, he can't even say if i lose then the people have spoken. and this democracy, as you know, has stood firm on the fact that the people make choices and when they make

choices, with their vote, then within reason, it is over, within reason, there is recount, and then you are done. but you can't accept it.>> you know, i'm struck, i'm always struck by donald trump's comments frankly and those of matt gaetz and others who are echoing his, as alicia rightfully noted this morning, you were on the homeland security committee, what, within reason, what is the intelligent assessment saying, are you concerned, has this rhetoric revealed itself to be potentially dangerous as of late? are there any signs we should be looking out for?>> well, within reason, i can tell you that domestic terrorism is a

present danger in this country, that former president trumps language is a incubating factor to and there are so many people around this country who are radicalized online through social media and other things, that we have to have all hands on deck at all times. monitoring a lot of these things just to make sure the fbi and other organizations are looking at it, but i can say with absolute certainty that things are different. that when you are hearing things the president said at the nra convention yesterday, those things are very troubling and individuals hearing that, that's kind of, matt gaetz is

trying to stay out of the ethics and everything else he is dealing with, but the matt gaetz's of the world are not helpful. if you have sworn to take oath to support the constitution of this country, you are obligated to do that, you should not incite your constituents in your district or the country, like they are doing. so i'm very concerned, and as time goes on, i'm concerned for the conventions that are coming up this summer, i'm concerned for the orderly process of elections. i want to make sure that the debates that go forth, that they have agreed to, that those debates are orderly structured, i'm not sure that even donald trump can operate within a structured debate setting. i look back on some of his earlier debates and he was

horrible. he was ill mannered, just absolutely unhinged. and that's who he is. so we will wait and see how the debates pan out, whether he says he will debate or he will try to muddy the water by trying to bring a third candidate in. >> you sound very similar to what the chairman has told me, that he does have the same concerns and doesn't even think donald trump will show up. we will wait and see. bennie thompson, as always, thank you very much for your time this morning. commencement at morehouse is scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. eastern, you can see the folks on the video, we will be monitoring this throughout the morning. in the next hour, pramila jayapal joins the table, we'll talk about the latest controversy surrounding this report and follow our show on

social media, our handle is at the weekend, msnbc. weekend, msnc s . learn how at tedhelp.com.

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big things can happen. i'm struck by something that the former president said during his speech at the nra, he said gun owners don't vote, it is so crazy, if they should, i would think they would vote more than any other group and it's just the opposite, they don't vote and they have to get out and vote. as you know, it is very hard to fact check the ramblings of a person that does not speak in full or coherent sentences, our producers did the best that they could, they found a poll from 2023 that said 66% of republican voters surveyed say that they or somebody in their

household owns a gun, they have a lot of exit polls from north carolina and texas in 22, more than 50% of those people are coming out, it is rubbish.>> the man just says stuff, donald trump is total stream of consciousness, whatever comes up here comes out here and it is not connected to anything. so the fact that he would make that statement tells you how little he knows about his own base and the fact that a significant portion of the very base that turned out in 16 and 20 and every election in between are gun owners. so yes, they do. the nra as a collective body, i mean i guess not, because they are not organized that way. but, individual members within the organization to vote. so again, it just speaks to donald trump trying to use a moment to twist people and not surround something that he knows, well actually doesn't know anything about, but they believe to be true because we don't vote, so we have to go

vote, that is the goal, but they are already voting. but, you know, you take it for what it's worth.>> such a juxtaposition between what we heard from donald trump yesterday and we heard from president biden yesterday in that campaign stop that we played. and what the young men at morehouse are going to hear from president biden this morning, i'm interested in how this speech is going to shake out, how the commencement address goes along, much has been made that this is a high- stakes campaign stop and i think it is a high-stakes speech because of where the campaign finds itself in the calendar, we are less than six months from election day, less than four months from when people start voting in michigan, the last week is september, early volk -- voting starts. it is not a campaign speech, so i just think it is really important to center the graduates, because these are

the same graduates that did not get a high school graduation in 2020 because of covid. all of those graduating this year, these are the same students who spent their senior years in covid-19. and i think it is important to remember that should be the focus. obviously joe biden has to meet the moment and i think he will pay >> i think he will, a lot has been made about some of the students who are questioning him coming there under the circumstances in gaza, et cetera, but a president has got to go in moments like this and use these platforms to have a broader conversation with the country, not just with the graduates. and in fact, linking the graduates to the future of the country because they are the generation now that will emerge into leadership as they graduate institutions like morehouse. and take up their civic responsibility as well as their

public opportunities, to improve the country. so, it is high-stakes, but in one sense, it is what a president would typically do and i think we will hear what the president will not so much typically say, but in important ways.>> we heard about all of the morehouse alums, a number of mayors across the country, maybe a future president of the united states is sitting in that audience today hearing from the current president.>> and keeping our attention on georgia, how the state became an election battleground, you are watching the weekend. the wd

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warnock about the changing in the south, and that race with doug jones, and he was elected years ago, it was because of the organizing work inks to groups like yours on the ground going to various spaces and places literally moving people to the polls, galvanizing their interest. talk about the change that you have seen in georgia specifically and across the south, just over the last 10 years.>> thank you for having me. you know, we always talk about the new south, and you heard her talking about it in the video clip and certainly there is a new energy in the south, going back to that alabama race and as we would travel around the south after 2017, every state we went to, tennessee, georgia, everybody said how can we do that here? well, we wound up doing it in

georgia, so at the end of the day there's a lot of energy but there's also a lot of concerns because what we know is there's always a backlash to our progress. that's exactly what we have seen as our voting power has increased and mobilization has increased, we have also seen an increase in voter suppression, that isn't just something that happened after the 2020 election, it is still going on. georgia just passed another voter suppression bill on top of the one that was passed in 2021 which we talked about in the documentary. so the battle continues, we need everybody from all voters to the media, to elected officials all the way up to the white house to recognize that this is not over.>> on that point, and i think that is an excellent point, you have the legislative response to black empowerment, and in this generation, it is a very different type of empowerment that we saw in the 60s and a different narrative, and different forms, but then you also have that backlash, within

the community itself, and i give you cardi b, who is very well-known, and says you know what, i'm not voting in this presidential election, that belies the narrative, it takes the energy out of the story that you are telling about this emerging new south, the power of black voices and votes, pushing back up against the system but then you have individuals within our community saying i'm not voting, how do you reconcile that and what do you say to those out there that are looking at the selection and just flaking out because one is old and the other is crazy. >> you know, cardi b , you have a bunch of others to go along with, but at the end of the day they do reflect a sentiment of some part of the community, particularly of i don't know

what has been done, i don't know if i'm going to vote, so it's not something that we can just dismiss. it is something we have to address, you ask me what i say and what we say a lot of times when we see that, you know what, i hear you, i feel you, i do this work every day and there are days that i wake up and i don't know if i'm feeling this. so, the first thing we do is to affirm that the frustration of folks is real. it is their lived experience, it's not just something that is made up. but after we do that, now we are in a dialogue because we have just treated them like they are crazy or lazy, now we are in a dialogue and we can just take the conversation forward, to show them what has been done, to show them why it is and how this voting process is connected to what it is that you want in your life for yourself, your family, your community. when we can connect the dots, we have seen it, we have seen people change their attitudes but it takes a certain kind of

dialogue in order for that to take place and it takes a voting framework so they can actually have their passions become power.>> i've got about 30 seconds left, what do you say to an organizer in another state that is watching and says how do we become the next georgia? >> a couple things, it takes a lot of work and a lot of conversations with a lot of folks in the communities, the folks that are closest on the ground, they know how to get this done. the second thing is, don't get frustrated or allow other people to become victims of your own success, because of what we have done in georgia, people say voting suppression must not be that bad, they ignore the fact that warnock lost against somebody that didn't even live in the state, it should not be that close. the battle is not over, we need everybody again from the states to the white house to recognize that this battle is not over and we need to prioritize it in this election cycle.>> a great

message and if i may be so bold, a great blazer, thank you for being here with us. you can watch battleground georgia tonight at 9:00 p.m. on msnbc. we have another hour straight ahead, we have anthony coley, and kristy greenberg, that is all coming up on the weekend. td boring does. boring makes vacations happen, early retirements possible, and startups start up. because it's smart, dependable, and steady. all words you want from your bank. for nearly 160 years, pnc bank has been brilliantly boring so you can be happily fulfilled... which is pretty un-boring if you think about it.

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