Rep. Joe Kennedy, III: I’m Not Running For President | AM Joy | MSNBC

and to all the dreamers watching tonight, let me be absolutely clear what a bad thing is, they knew it, the res Doria for you we are not going anywhere, you are part of our history, we will fight for you and we will not will. walk away Congressman Joseph Kennedy made a point of speaking directly to the Dreamers when he delivered the Democratic response to Trump's State of the Union, but with the threat of another government shutdown looming and no sign of progress on an immigration deal, well , the Democrats stand their ground. Well, you'll join me now to talk about Massachusetts Congressman Joseph Kennedy, the third.

Thank you, congressman, good morning, doctor, keep me very well. I saw him posing with his good luck charm. everyone is fine. I could use some more sleep, but you can't sleep in 18 years. I'm just telling you that my kids have grown up, so apparently yes. You accepted last week one of the least sought after jobs in politics and that is Forgive the State of the Union response as it always goes wrong one way or another. It wasn't something that I was anticipating or hoping in any way, but I was honored that Leader Pelosi and Senator Schumer thought that it could deliver a message that I think Democrats can get behind and that residents encourage that words have become difficult and i've learned the hard lesson but sometimes less lipstick is more if your wife gave you the business for it but it wasn't if a lot of other people did a lot of people did a lot of people did but she also got a lot of compliments on another theory, among other things, for speaking directly to the dreamers, etc., and the fact that the leadership chose you to give that answer means that at least some people in the Democratic Party in the Democratic world think of you as a leader party potential and a potential candidate, so is it a categorical no to 20/20 or is it something you are considering?

It's not something that I'm considering, look, I think what's really important for Democrats right now is how we obviously restock and rebuild from a very disappointing election in 2016 is that we took some time to understand exactly what happened, why a number of people who have traditionally come back to the Democratic Party didn't come back this time and to have confidence in the people we have under our tent there are a lot of leaders there younger leaders newer leaders not just in Congress but across the country that I think they have something to contribute an offer and look we want to be one big tent party but that means providing opportunities for all kinds of people from all kinds of backgrounds and demographics to be able to come out and give it a go and obviously I was honored that give me one, well let's talk about some of the problems that Democrats face because the party base is one of the big ones.

The complaints are that there is no fight in the Democratic Party. They tend to withdraw on issues that are important, so the last shutdown happened. It was very brief. the hostage situation they were in, but now we're at another looming deadline Thursday, the other body of his tonight in the United States Senate, this is what Senate Leader Mitch McConnell had to say about if the daca DREAM Act issue could produce another shutdown listen to a tool i think it has clearly been removed i don't think we will see you threaten to shut down the government again over this issue one of my favorite old kentucky country sayings is that there is no education and the second kick of a mule so I think there will be a new level of seriousness here and trying to solve these issues if the democrats are prepared for that tool not to be removed and shut down the government again on Dhaka look Joey, let's make a book on all necessities follow your own advice republicans have control of the presidency house and senate more than that the issue of daca is coming up because

president

trump decided to end the protections put in place by the President Obama, you can try to send a message like all of them.

I want, it's just not true to try to say, hey, this is an issue that the Democrats bring up, I think this is a party that, as I tried to articulate on Tuesday, wants to make sure that we stand up for everyone, anyone who wants to be able to believe that they can contribute to our country that they can be part of the American dream, especially for people who were brought here as children through no fault of their own why are we trying to hold our government or other politics hostage to try to protect those children this shouldn't this shouldn't even be an election the fact that mr.

McConnell took pride in that last one during the last shutdown to say it was a choice between providing health care to poor children and pregnant or dreaming mothers, that's a false choice I totally reject, especially after passing a tax cut of 1, 5 trillion dollars. that predominantly goes to the wealthy, he is cynical, he is not american and they should know better, let's go to the man who put us in this situation by rescinding daca because I think it's important to remind people that it was Donald Trump who made that decision the good one, here he is talking about what he believes are the responsibilities of the democrats in regards to reaching a deal for the dreamers listen i think we are trying to make a deal let's see but the democrats really i think they don't. they want to make a deal and think about it they've given up on daca and that's supposed to be theirs it's ours because it's us dealing with daca not them so we'll see what happens their thoughts so the democrats even be negotiating with Donald Trump at this point, look, I think the Democrats obviously have to negotiate with the

president

of the United States.

I think the president of the United States has to decide if he really wants to solve this problem or not. He is the owner because he also created it. as you and many others pointed out and when we were in this crisis two or three weeks ago, the president of the United States would tell one person one position another person another position and another person another position and then try to negotiate when it was like negotiating as Senator Schumer said that with Jell-O you can't pin down someone and have a good faith discussion with someone, keep changing the goalposts and changing their positions what is the framework that the president in the White House has presented towards the Capitol that he knows as a it's not a start, it's not going anywhere and I think if they were serious about this they would pause for a second, acknowledge that there was a framework under President Obama that passed the Senate with a majority veto that we had the votes in the House that Chairman Boehner wouldn't allow to go to the Joint Assembly there are votes to pass a DREAM Act or something similar in the House today if we could get the bill through the Assembly The Republican leadership has to stop blocking.

That's one of the most frustrating things about all of this and particularly my last two years in Washington. There are strong bipartisan solutions to a wide variety of challenges we face. We can't get the Republican leadership to give us a chance to have a vote, put a clean DREAM Act on the floor, it will pass and I hope that Chairman Goodlatte who oversees this committee and of course Speaker Ryan finally have the means to give that bill a chance to actually see the floor. it will be a challenge obviously the right is totally against that much of your base i have to ask you one more question before we let you go of course your family holds a very important place in the lore of history American we are in. the 50th anniversary of the assassination of his grandfather Robert Kennedy Robert F.

Kennedy and I want to play you a clip that is particularly resonant because it is also the 50th anniversary of the assassination of dr. Martin Luther King Jr. i'm going to play that clip for you and i'm a question on the other side for those of you who are black and our attempt to fail is filled with hate and distrust of the injustice of such an act against all white people i would just say i can also feel in my own heart the same kind of feeling that i had a member of my family killed but he was killed by a white man but we have to make an effort in america we have to make an effort to understand to go further or go Beyond these rather difficult times, as far as Congressman, you know that your grandfather obviously had a unique ability to speak across many demographics to the kind of heart of the American people. if he had become president of the United States, that is part of the reason so much affection and burden is placed upon him, sir, in your own mind, what, what, in your mind, is your grandfather's legacy What do you want the Americans to take away? look glee your kind of skit that clip one of his most accented speeches obviously improvised following the death of Martin Luther King jr. look, my family means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.

I think what I'm trying to get out of the contribution that my grandfather made was an acknowledgment that the government should see its people listen to our people recognize that there are challenges that do face every family that faces every community that faces our country but that in the root of it all as a person and the human touch and the commonalities that we share if we stand together and come together as a community as a country is Anna Barry out there that we can't break down and I think she was able to talk about some of those commonalities that they actually persisted even in the midst of a very tumultuous time and then in the 1960s, Congressman Kennedy, thank you very much for being here. and sadly sir you have to expect to be asked several more times if he plans to run in 2020 you won't be able to get over your flat masking thank you so much for your time thank you joe thank you have a great time. the day is fine and paul ryan review and thoose in the 20th century creates an epic twitter blunder which is as follows hi i'm chris hayes from

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