MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript: Interview with Jeff Merkley

Interview

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SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): It`s great to be with you, Rachel.

MADDOW: I think that our audience and the American people pretty broadly understand why this is such a big priority for you and for the Democrats right now, particularly when we look at what`s happening in Republican- controlled states around the country, the big lie on the Republican side that it was somehow election fraud that explained why President Trump lost his reelection bid. This crackdown on voting rights is like nothing we`ve seen in a generation.

The question, though, is whether or not you have a plan to get to it President Biden`s desk. Do you?

MERKLEY: Absolutely, Rachel. And by the way, what you`re describing in Arizona, that madness, there is method to that madness. It is designed to keep the voter fraud argument going both to change the laws in the states and to stop this bill in the Senate.

So what is our plan? Our plan is pretty simple. It`s based on the fact that Republican voters and Democratic voters across the country support these core principles. So we`ve been reaching out to local election officials and to secretary of states of both parties to say how do we make this work in your state? And they`ve given us a lot of on-the-ground advice. So we`ve been making adjustments on early voting and the timelines for implementing key provisions and making the ballot tracking software be done federally rather than locally.

And so we`re working with those Republicans across the country to say this makes sense. We want to stop gerrymandering, which corrupts the vision of equal representation. We want to stop billionaires from buying elections, and we want to defend the freedom and right of every citizen to be able to vote.

And so, it`s based -- this strategy is based on let`s defend these core principles of our constitution that resonate deeply with Democrats and with Republicans across this country.

MADDOW: I think that you`re exactly right that the Arizona shenanigans with this recount is designed to keep alive among Republicans this idea that there is something wrong with the security of the vote and that the most important thing should be that we should make it harder for people to vote because somehow too many people are voting and we have to be suspicious of it. Their deliberate slowness in Arizona, their effort to spread that kind of a road show to Georgia, Michigan, even New Hampshire, any other place they can spread it to I think is designed to keep that narrative alive.

I struggled covering this in the news with whether or not to keep talking about what they`re doing because I feel like to a certain extent, we`re helping them promote that idea just by covering what they`re doing.

On the other hand, I feel like they`ve been effective at persuading Republican voters that there was something wrong with the election and the security of the ballot must be sort of cranked down on in a way that impedes voting rights. How do you balance those two considerations?

MERKLEY: Well, they have been really, really effective, and partly because of what Trump referred to as the Trump media. You know, that media glow that surrounds so many of his supporters. So all they`re hearing night and day is the republic version of the world.

But at the same time, those same Republicans support the principles of this bill. And I think for us to not talk about it is to -- is to fail to do justice to how important this is to the future of our country because the reason the Republican establishment in the Senate is opposing this is because that their power stems from a corrupted voting process, from the gerrymandering, from the dark money, from the voter suppression, and they want to maintain it, even though their citizens, out there across America say they want us to restore and protect the right to vote.

And so if we don`t talk about it, we fail to convey what a tremendously perilous moment this is because if we fail to protect the election process, then we have failed to defend the core foundation for the vision of government of by and for the people. And it means that the Republican goals, whether it`s packing the courts with federalist corporate members or its tax for the richest Americans, those things get done by the simplest majority because Republicans change the rules while the things that we`re fighting for ordinary families on health care, housing, education, good paying jobs and equality act and environmental protection, those things we fail on because they will keep the people from being able to vote who are fighting for those fundamental goals.

So, are we going to veer out completely away from this vision that our nation was founded on or as Lincoln summarized, of, by and for the people, and just be a corrupted republic that works for the powerful? Whether or not we pass this bill is a huge pivot point for the direction of America.

MADDOW: Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley, lead sponsor of the For the People Act, which is going to have a big high profile day tomorrow when it is marked up in the Senate -- sir, thank you for your time tonight. Keep us apprised. I know this is a --

MERKLEY: Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: -- this is an important step in this fight, but it`s a long fight.

Thanks, Senator.

MERKLEY: Thanks.

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