LEADER JEFFRIES ON MS NOW:”DONALD TRUMP DOESN’T GIVE A DAMNABOUT THE QUALITY OF LIFEOF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE”

Today, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries appeared on MS NOW's PoliticsNation, where he highlighted the contrast between the extreme MAGA Republicans, who continue to visit chaos, cruelty and corruption on the country, and Democrats, who are fighting hard to make life better for hardworking American taxpayers.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Joining me now is the Democratic Leader in the House, the Congressman from Brooklyn, Hakeem Jeffries. Thank you for joining us again tonight on PoliticsNation, Mr. Leader. Let's start with the spending bill. The package contains $70 billion in funding for ICE and Border Patrol that Democrats shut down the government for 43 days to block, demanding reforms that Republicans promised to consider, but never did. Money for Trump's ballroom was stripped out in the Senate, but there's no language in there to formally stop President Trump from setting up a so-called government weaponization slush fund, an idea he has floated, but now claims he will not follow through on. What kind of reception is this legislation going to receive from you and your Democratic colleagues?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, great to be with you, Rev. House Democrats are going to strongly oppose this $70 billion reckless Republican budget bill because we believe that taxpayer dollars should be used to make life more affordable for the American people in an environment where the Trump economy is crashing in real time, the cost of living is out of control, gas prices have skyrocketed as a result of this reckless and costly war of choice and Donald Trump wants to spend $70 billion in taxpayer money to continue to unleash masked and untrained ICE agents on law-abiding immigrant families, and in some cases, brutally target or kill American citizens.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, we mentioned in the open, some Republican Congresspeople are breaking with Trump's foreign policy, casting votes against his Iran War and in favor for more aid to Ukraine. This is happening even as Trump has been successful picking off pretty much any Republican that dares to defy him in the primaries. Now that many of those primary contests are over, do you expect resistance from Trump to grow inside the GOP and are Democrats looking for ways to take advantage of these divisions?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, I certainly think the closer that we get to the general election, the more likely you're going to see more independence from House Republicans who are in jeopardy of losing their seats. Now, over the last several months, House Democrats have repeatedly advanced bills to the Floor over the objection of Donald Trump and Mike Johnson, the Speaker, in areas like extending the Affordable Care Act tax credits for three years so that more than 20 million people would be able to afford to go see a doctor when they need one, we did that successfully. We were able to push back against a Trump executive order that wiped away collective bargaining rights for more than a million different federal employees. We were able to restore Temporary Protected Status for Haitian migrants. We did that with Democratic support, joined by a handful of Republicans and, of course, most recently, on the Floor this week, over the objection of Donald Trump and Mike Johnson again, we were able to pass a War Powers Resolution to try to end this reckless war of choice that Donald Trump has gotten us into in Iran, and at the same period of time, to try to impose sanctions on Donald Trump's buddies over in Russia, starting with Vladimir Putin and the oligarchs connected to the Kremlin.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, with Republicans divided and public opinion turning against them, we would appear to be poised for a massive Democratic wave election, were it not for Republicans' efforts to suppress the vote and change the maps in order to cling to power. We saw that effort get a clear boost from the conservative Supreme Court's ruling this week, citing the colorblind Constitution, while allowing Alabama to go back to using an old electoral map previously ruled to be racially discriminatory. The text of the decision suggests the high court sees only a limited role in overseeing state electoral policies now that it has gutted Voting Rights Act protections. What's the impact of all of this, in your view, and how will Democrats overcome it?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we're going to take back control of the House of Representatives. We'll need to flip about six or eight seats at the end of the day when it comes to this upcoming midterm election. And as House Democrats, we'll continue to make our case to the American people that we're fighting to lower the high cost of living, to fix our broken healthcare system and to clean up the corruption that's out of control in Washington, D.C., of course, including the Trump cartel, which continues to try to run the largest pay-to-play scheme in the history of the country. This Supreme Court decision was particularly outrageous because it overturned a decision by a three-judge panel in Alabama that declared the map that Republicans were trying to use as racially discriminatory and in violation not just of the Voting Rights Act, but of the Fourteenth Amendment. Those three judges were appointed by Donald Trump in two instances, and in the other instance by Ronald Reagan. And yet, this court ignores the facts, ignores the law, ignores the Constitution, because Supreme Court right-wing justices have become basically functional operatives for the Republican Party. That all said-we believe we're on track to winning control of the House of Representatives. We're going to make our case to the people. We need an overwhelming, overwhelming electoral response from people all across the country, and we're seeing signs of that as we travel America.

REV. AL SHARPTON: So it's going to come down to turnout in many of these areas. Staying with redistricting, you and the Congressional Black Caucus have joined the call for Black athletes to boycott SEC schools as a way to call out Southern states for their erasure of Black political representation. What can you tell us about how this effort and other efforts are going? And what have you heard from young athletes and from people in these states saying that it's time to penalize people that would in ways redraw lines that are racially set up?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Yeah, I stood with Derrick Johnson, the NAACP, the civil rights community and the Congressional Black Caucus in support of this effort to make it clear if there's going to be no electoral participation for African American communities-because the Supreme Court, in gutting the Voting Rights Act, has unleashed these Jim Crow-like tactics that Republicans in Southern states immediately seized upon to try to rip away the opportunity for African American communities to elect the candidates of their choice-if there's going to be no electoral participation in these states, there should be no athletic participation at the same period of time. And there are a lot of options for young African American athletes. I know these are personal choices, but as you know, Rev., and you've worked with a lot of the athletes throughout the years, throughout the decades, who have stepped into the social and racial justice space, we see this as a Muhammad Ali moment. It's a Jackie Robinson moment. It's a Bill Russell moment.

REV. AL SHARPTON: And we hope they will step up and and do that and as we rally people-you joining us August 28th, Martin Luther King III and Arndrea King and I with a March on Washington. We have to keep rallying people. But let's stick with sports a minute. The Knicks are up 2-0 in the Finals and it's the first appearance in nearly 30 years. President Trump plans to attend game three at the Garden on Monday, maybe even game four. You've said he should stay home and let New Yorkers enjoy the game in peace. I want to play an exchange the President had with a Bloomberg reporter about why many fans won't be able to experience the series the way he will. Take a listen.

RECORDING OF REPORTER: What do you think that the game you're going to, the cheapest price for the game that you're going to is $8,000? Everyday Americans can't afford these sporting events.

RECORDING OF DONALD TRUMP: Well, I know, but they can watch it on television. It's sort of semi-free to watch it on television, but that's the way life goes.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Now, I had Spike Lee here last week. I have friends that have tickets. I may or may not go to the third or fourth game, but to act like it's nothing expensive, these tickets, the Knicks are hot tickets, obviously, but the President doesn't seem very concerned about why so many things feel out of reach for working Americans right now. Does he seem like there's any empathy there at all?

LEADER JEFFRIES: There's zero empathy, and he's repeatedly made clear he doesn't give a damn about the well-being, the quality of life or the personal finances, as he indicates, he didn't give a damn about the personal finances of the American people and he continues to lean in to that particular narrative and listen, the economy is broken. The cost of living is out of control. He's ripping healthcare away from the American people. He's got us into this reckless and costly failed war of choice in the Middle East. And he wants to inject himself, parachute in to Madison Square Garden, where Knicks fans are trying to enjoy this moment in peace after 27 years of not being in the NBA Finals.

REV. AL SHARPTON: Finally, Leader Jeffries, we are about to speak with your New Jersey colleague, Congresswoman LaMonica McIver next. I know you were both able to enter the Delaney ICE Center-detention center in Newark last week to conduct oversight and place some pressure on Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to address the situation during the hearings this week. Last night, there were new clashes between demonstrators and private prison employees outside the facility after the city pulled back their police presence there. What needs to happen inside and outside Delaney Hall, in your view?

LEADER JEFFRIES: Well, we need Delaney Hall to be closed. It is not a facility that operates consistent with American values. We believe that immigration enforcement should be fair, just and humane. As Representative McIver, who's been leading this effort, has forcefully articulated, the conditions inside Delaney Hall are abhorrent. And in talking to people who've been detained there, in some instances, for months, that was clear to me. The reality is you have insufficient nutrition, you have insufficient medical assistance, insufficient and unsanitary living conditions. And it's because, I believe, that this facility, like many others, is a for-profit facility. And so, corners seem to be cut in order to maximize profits, and that's not the type of country that we should live in. And look, on the outside, we want to continue to urge people to peacefully demonstrate and protest, exercise your First Amendment rights as they exist, in terms of freedom of expression and freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, but, you know, do that in a manner that doesn't allow for the other side of the aisle to try to distract from the conditions that exist that we're trying to change.

REV. AL SHARPTON: And that's all it will do if you play into their hands, that the cause should stand for itself, because it's a just cause, in my opinion. Thank you, Democratic Leader of the House, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries.

Full interview can be watched here.