let's remember who doctor king was writing a letter to. he was not try to get to the , he was writing that letter to liberal, white preachers who were asking them to slow down. so yes, absolutely. this is the moral issue of our time for this generation. >> i could not have two better people to talk about it. thank you for joining us. eddie glaude is a professor in the department of african american studies at princeton university and a contributor and analyst and author of the new book, we are the leaders we have been looking for. karen attiah is a columnist with the washington post and adjunct lecturer at columbia university. thanks to both of you. coming up, donald trump on trial and the campaign trail. why he is dipping his plans for a second term as president. plus, why one more six-week abortion ban could have an outsized impact on the south and i would hints at more trouble to come. plus, jeannette walls joins me to discuss the glass castle, her important memoir of

resilience and redemption on the band book club. another hour of "velshi" begins right now. right now. good morning to you, it is saturday, may the fourth. week three has wrapped in the first criminal trial of donald trump. the republican party's twice impeached for four times impacted presumptive presidential nominee. he is the first former president to find himself facing a criminal trial and the possibility of spending time in jail. even though he's in this precarious position right now he continues to be the same abrasive man he has always been, someone who thinks the rules don't apply to him. on tuesday, the judge presiding over his criminal trial, judge juan merchan, ruled trump has violated his gag order nine times so far. he ordered the former president to pay a total fine of $9000.00 and if necessary, he would

impose a cursory tory punishment. trump could face more consequences as soon as next week. in addition to that ruling, another hearing was scheduled, was held this week regarding a second set of apparent violations of the gag order. trump's cavalier attitude toward the law was evident outside the courtroom as well . on wednesday, the former president held rallies in the battleground states of wisconsin and michigan, the first rallies he's held since his trial began in mid april. in his speeches, he called judge juan merchan "quite crooked," and repeated his allegations that president biden has weapon the justice department against him. in wisconsin, trump gave an eyebrow raising interview to "the milwaukee journal sentinel," during which he refused to commit to accepting the result of the upcoming election. "if everything is honest, i would gladly accept the results here it if it's not, you have to fight for the right of the

country." it's the same sort of noncommittal answer he gave up leading up to the 2020 election. four years later, he continues to lie about the outcome of the election in wisconsin, despite the fact that multiple reviews have confirmed the legitimacy of those election results. as "the milwaukee journal sentinel" points out "results have been confirmed in dane and milwaukee counties that trump paid for." court rulings of nonpartisan state audit and a study by the conservative legal firm wisconsin institute of law and liberty, among other analyses." in addition to that, time magazine also published a must- read interview with trump this week reviewing the policies and actions that he would implement in a possible second term. the profile highlights his radical plan to expand the powers of the presidency in order to bypass bureaucratic red tape and other safeguards that could prevent him from enacting some of his most

divisive and draconian plans. those plans include building migrant detention camps and deployed in the military at the border and inland. he also said he would be willing to fire a u.s. attorney who is not willing to carry out his wishes, a break from the tradition of independence granted to law enforcement. trump tested the limits of that during his first term. he is also considering pardoning hundreds of supporters who have been convicted of january 6 related crimes and has pledged to activate the national guard at his discretion to help cities combat crime. that is not legal, by the way. contrary to what some may think, the former president is not an anomaly in american politics. while he may be unmatched in terms of his narcissism, trump is not a novel idea. the movement he ushered in is in line with the republican party southern strategy, a long- term plan developed in response to the civil rights movement that sought to exploit white southerners racial anxieties.

it was a plan richard nixon leaned into for his political campaigns and his presidency. he used the phrase "silent majority," to refer to the white southerners he was trying to court. in his call for client order was a dog whistle, accusing the protests and marches in the 1970s. ronald reagan capitalized on the same racial fears when he invoked the defamatory trope of the welfare queen, a derogatory term that depicted poor minorities in negative stereotypes. if any of that sounds familiar, it is because trumpism picks up right where they left off. it is something the former president acknowledged in his time interview, remarking he believes "there is a definite antiwhite feeling in this country." the southern strategy was an overwhelming success for republicans. it resulted in a major political realignment that saw white southerners shift from being democrats to being

republicans and it transformed the south into a republican stronghold. it may be an uncomfortable truth but the gop succeeded because they tapped into an anti-liberal ideology that has always been a part of america's politics and it remains true to this day. joining me now is norm hornstein, senior fellow emeritus at the american enterprise institute, cohost of the "words matter" podcast, author of "one nation after trump." we turn to you when we want to talk about context and history in congress. by definition, you've been following it for so long that you understand the context that occurred in the 60s and 70s and the 80s. as it relates to some of these liberal pushes that we are seeing now. >> even more, this goes back to the 1930s. the rush limbaugh of his time, and isolationist, racism and anti-semitism that was infected in the republican party, fought off by the mainstream for a

long time. as you know, that began to change in the 1960s. it changed with the cold water movement and with nixon and really trump is a culmination of that. i have to say, though, that we are seeing a lot of republicans now, like elise stefanik and speaker mike johnson decried it as medicine. these are the same people who said nothing when donald trump fjted a and kanye west, and open anti-semite. what we have seen this week, this interview with donald trump is stunning to me. most dictators, whether it is hitler or vladimir putin or erdogan, they don't signal in advance , or , they try to cushion it and soften it until they are elected. trump is right out there telling us he's going to be a vicious dictator, 12 million people or more put in, they call them detention camps, i

call them concentration camps before trying to remove them. having women tenancies monitored by the state. and, he's doing that because, basically, he knows he can get away with it. nobody much except you and a few others are paying close attention. >> this is why this continues to be such an important discussion. it is interesting that you named erdogan and orban. media is controlled and things like trump is talking about doing starts to happen and democracy starts to away. the "time," interview you talk about lays out an alarming picture of a second trump term central to this plant is a push to give more powers to the executive branch. now, people don't seem to mind that, norm, when your guy is in the executive branch but it actually contend to be anti- democratic. >> and, we know what some of the plans are. the so-called schedule f, where you can basically move career

civil servants and replace them with flunkies. we know that project 2025 out of the heritage foundation in close connection with the trump campaign is building a country, an army of trump loyalist. we also know other things this week. people talking, including his former chief of staff, about how trump casually would say with people he didn't like we could execute them. and, shrugging that off. he didn't really believe it. that is what bill barr had said. but, we know he said he will invoke the insurrection act, bring out the military to take on protesters. and, if that happens, we are going to see legend as well, something he has not shied away from. but, most of our media just shrugged at this. this is just donald trump. i don't see a lot of front-page stories on this. boy, if joe biden set even a quarter of this, it would be defcon 1 for everybody. >> i will remind our viewers, this is the a block of our show

because we happen to think this is remarkably important. it becomes difficult because people say why is your hair on fire about the stuff? it is a simple thing called democracy. it is one of the things that we do have to get people to understand. you can be as conservative or as liberal as you would like in this country and it is worth debating all of those ideas and where you think, where you feel minimum wage should be and what you think about universal health care and labor unions but right now, the discussion is about actual democratic freedoms that, once surrendered, become very hard to win back to >> we have got to get the focus on this continuously because the reality is, we lose our democracy if donald trump wins. we cannot let this just passed by. we have to have summons on democracy. we have to focus on the reality that in trump's first time, there were at least a few people like that secretary mark esper, to a degree like the chief of staff john kelly, and

certainly some others, who tried to put at least some limits on what he wanted to do. trump has made it clear that he's not going to be mr. nice guy next time around. the people he will bring in are steve miller, steve bannon, roger stone, the michael flynn's, radical fanatics who will do away with every freedom that we cherished in this country. and, if we treat this as a typical election, two candidates running, just to focus on the horserace, which is what i see too much in our mainstream medium, then we are going to be facing horrible consequences. >> you know, you work for the american enterprise institute, which is thought to be a conservative think tank. you work with a lot of conservatives, many of them we have on our show, by the way. you wrote a piece for the washington post, you wrote it with thomas mann in 2012 and the piece was titled let's just say it, the republicans are the problem, in which you called

the gop, i'm quoting here, "an insurgent outlier in american politics." in 2012. today, that could have been written yesterday. the republican party right now is an insurgent outlier in american politics. although, it is one set to take power again in congress and in the white house. >> you know, over more than five decades, i worked with hundreds of republicans in congress and in the executive branch, people who were, in many cases, significantly more conservative than i. but, who cared about the country, wanted to solve problems, believed in institutions, believed in the rule of law. that began to slip away before donald trump. he was an accelerant of this process. i get challenged sometimes by republicans especially in office that i want to destroy the republican party. i want to save a party that should be a problem-solving party. but, it has gone so far from its roots and the troubling reality is that even without

trump, you look at not just the freedom caucus people in congress, by the way, the citadel soiling itself by having nancy mace, who is one of the worst trump followers as it's commencement speaker. you look at the party now into the next generation, the people in the school boards and the state legislatures and the party positions, they make the freedom caucus people look mild by comparison. it is a long-term project, if we can save our democracy in november, to try to restore a legitimate two-party system. we can't operate with one party and one cold. >> i know there are people watching this i would say fine, if the republican party burns itself to the ground. it is not healthy to not have two competitive parties discussing matters of great import to everybody in the country on a regular basis.

norm ornstein, thanks as always, my friend. norm ornstein is a senior fellow emeritus, cohost of "words matter," and is the author of "one nation after trump." coming up, the six-week abortion ban in florida has gone into effect. according to our next guest, it is only the beginning of a dangerous new front in the war on women's health. 54 years ago today, national guardsmen fired gunshots into a crowd of student protesters at kent state. they killed 4 and wounded 9. looking back and learning from that part of our history. today's velshi banned book club is remarkable look and nuanced storytelling. it is also painfully true. we are talking about jeannette walls's memoir "the glass castle." castle." get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ chris counahan for leaffilter— the permanent gutter solution that protects your home in so many ways,

it takes more than one chris to explain it. but together, i think we've got the job covered. like leaffilter's has your gutters covered. protecting you from getting up on this thing to clean out your gutters ever again. and you know how else leaffilter protects your home? with our lifetime transferable no clogs warranty. we'd be glad to come out for a free no-hassle inspection. to schedule your free inspection, call 833-leaffilter today or visit leaffilter.com

(♪♪) when life spells heartburn... how do you spell relief? r-o-l-a-i-d-s rolaids' dual-active formula begins to neutralize acid on contact. r-o-l-a-i-d-s spells relief.

you've got xfinity wifi at home. take it on the go with xfinity mobile. customers now get exclusive access to wifi speed up to a gig in millions of locations. plus, buy one unlimited line and get one free. that's like getting two unlimited lines for twenty dollars a month each for a year. so, ditch the other guys and switch today. buy one line of unlimited, get one free for a year with xfinity mobile! plus, save even more and get an eligible 5g phone on us! visit xfinitymobile.com today. a u.s. congressman has been charged in a broad corruption scheme.

the longtime democratic texas congresswoman henry cuellar and his wife were indicted by the justice department on charges of burglary and money laundering. the 54 page complaint alleges between 2014 and 2021, henry cuellar and his wife accepted $600,000.00 in bribes from 2 foreign entities, and oil and gas company owned by the government of azerbaijan and a bank in mexico. the indictment alleges henry cuellar launched to wield his power as a u.s. congress and advocate for the bank and for the azerbaijan oil company. the doj says henry cuellar promised the oil company he would influence u.s. policy in relation to azerbaijan long- standing war with armenia. he is accused of inserting two azerbaijan language and education and committee reports and he gave a speech favoring azerbaijan on the house floor, leading prosecutors to charge him with acting as a foreign agent. henry cuellar and his wife maintain their innocence be joining me now is nbc news

capitol hill correspondent majority, good morning. thank you for joining us. what is the reaction there? >> reporter: the capitol is used to, at this point, lawmakers unfortunately being charged with foreign influence schemes. i would be remiss not to point out the similar it is that we see, although the cases are different, with what is happening with senator bob menendez, who was the chair of the foreign relations committee in the senate. in this case, you have henry cuellar, who was the head of a subcommittee in the homeland security house committee. he has taken leave from that committee as announced by the democratic leader, hakeem jeffries, who set a statement, "of course, like any american, congressman henry cuellar is entitled to his day in court and assumption of innocence. pursuant to a houston aquatic caucus rule, henry cuellar will take leave as ranking member of the homeland security appropriations subcommittee while the investigation is ongoing. henry cuellar has maintained his innocence . two years ago,

in 2022, he was up against a primary challenger, jessica cisneros, a more progressive democrat. many have said that henry cuellar is moderate, he is, for example, post certain changes when it comes to abortion protections that democrats wanted to pass in congress. he narrowly won that election by just over half a percentage point. that is after the fbi had raided his home in connection with this investigation that we know now he was charged with. in addition, henry cuellar was the cochair of the azerbaijan caucus on capitol hill. all the similarities we are seeing between henry cuellar and bob menendez . henry cuellar saying he's not going to step down and still presumably running for reelection in the fall. >> julie, thank you for your reporting. julie tsirkin and the united states congress. post roe america is looking more like the handmaid's tale is in red states, including a six-week abortion ban in florida. i will speak with someone who has been warning us about this for years about what life is like in antiabortion regimes in america today and how the fight

continues. continues.

nothing dims my light like a migraine. with nurtec odt, i found relief. the only migraine medication that helps treat and prevent, all in one. to those with migraine, i see you. for the acute treatment of migraine with or without aura and the preventive treatment of episodic migraine in adults. don't take if allergic to nurtec odt. allergic reactions can occur, even days after using. most common side effects were nausea, indigestion, and stomach pain. it's time we all shine. talk to a healthcare provider about nurtec odt from pfizer.

because of donald trump, more than 20 states have abortion ban's. more than 20 trump abortion ban's. and, today, this very day, at the stroke of midnight, another trump abortion ban went into effect here in florida. >> vice president kamala harris in florida on wednesday hours after the states near total ban on abortion went into effect. we six-week ban in effect in florida is as good as a total ban. according to data compiled by the national institute for health, women, on average, realize they are pregnant at

5.5 weeks of gestation, which means if you are the average woman, a six-week ban would give you about two or three days to make an appointment with a doctor, see the doctor, wait the required 24 hours florida law requires until a second appointment, get the second appointment, and get an abortion. the wait time at most abortion clinics in florida make that an impossibility. many women do not even know they are pregnant at that point. florida has the third largest population in the country. until a few days ago, one of the highest rates of abortion in the nation. part of that is because until just three days ago, florida was one of the last places in the southeast where a person could get an abortion at all. now, depending on how advanced your pregnancy is, people seeking an abortion in the south may have to travel as far as virginia or kansas to get the care that they need. as bad as this map looks, as bad as this reality already is for millions and millions of people, abortion advocates have long warned that this may just be the beginning. in "slate," mary sigler walked through what may be to come in the crusade against

reproductive rights. "the history of six-week bans like florida suggest this will not be the stopping point for the antiabortion movement. six-week bans were designed to be a stopgap in the fight for fetal personhood and fetal personhood, which establishes that the word "person" in a law or constitution applies to fetuses and embryos, could have applications not only for abortion but also for ivf and perhaps for common contraceptives. that may be just what is coming next in florida. while florida voters will have the chance to vote on abortion access this november when the florida supreme court allowed the measure on the ballot, the conservative justices signaled their approval of the idea of constitutional state person hood, which has already invited interest in a potential fetal personhood bill in florida. conservative groups led by the heritage foundation have already proposed the idea that in the 1870s era comstock act,

which banned obscenity, is in fact a total ban on abortion at the national level. the same groups have repeatedly backed bills that push for fetal personhood. donald trump has not said whether or not he would back the enforcement of comstock as a total abortion ban but in an interview with "time magazine," he suggested he would let states decide whether or not the government should be allowed to track menstrual cycles, to track menstrual cycles. and, to punish women for obtaining abortions. he has used that liquid before. so far in florida, maryland, new york and most likely in south dakota and missouri, voters will be deciding whether or not to expand the right to abortion at some level. you should trump win a second term, we are almost guaranteed and excellent ration of the nightmare already upon us. we already know what that dystopia looks like because in

almost half the country, it is already here. it looks like an abortion bounty law in texas, it looks like forcing women to travel hundreds of miles across multiple states in order to get an abortion. it looks like doctors moving out of their home states en masse because they can't practice medicine in good faith anymore. it looks like women being airlifted to a state that is legally allowed to give them the care they need in order to save their health. this, this is just the beginning. joining me now is mary sigler, law professor and historian at uc davis law school and author of "roe, the history of a national obsession." jessica, it is important to point this out because people thought the worst of it was when, mary, i'm sorry, people thought the worst of it when roe fell, this was going to the state, states will do whatever they want to do. you argue, and many others have

argued, not even close. these are still trial balloons. >> absolutely. we know that the antiabortion movement mobilized to have a nationwide ban, ideally through the constitution or the interpretation of the constitution through the supreme court. so we have the possibility of the comstock act in the near term. we have the possibility of fetal personhood down the line and both of those, i think, in cheverly on who is in the white house in 2024. >> in your piece in "slate," from this week, you write about the history of six-week bans and you point out there is an absolute and direct line from the concept of a six-week ban to the idea of fetal personhood. you write the woman who came up with the six-week ban "argued a six-week ban would be a perfect step toward personhood because they could dramatize claims about the injustice and inhumanity of abortion and rolled and ultrasound machine and legislative hearings to permit unborn children to testify." tell me about this. >> the idea of a six-week ban was created when roe was the law and the idea was to move the line from viability, which is what roe had established much much earlier such that most abortions would be banned

and also to convince people in using the six-week line that fetuses were rights holding persons, by dramatizing the idea that there was a heartbeat, that, as janet folger reported, the architect of the slots expand, the heartbeat is a universal sign of life, that anyone with a heartbeat is deserving of rights. so, this was always sort of a step toward the idea that all fetuses at all times are always rights holding persons and not just when florida says so but because the u.s. constitution says so. this was not intended to be kind of like a once and for all compromise where the gop would sort of get a six-week ban and say our work here is done. this was always designed to support a more sweeping nationwide ban. >> you write in "slate," antiabortion groups in florida and elsewhere argue abortion laws like the ballot initiative voters will consider in

november violate the state and federal constitution by denying fetal rights. what does that mean? i just mentioned a handful of states that may have abortion access on the ballot in november. >> there are two ways this could go. in the longer term, the ultimate goal for the antiabortion movement is to have the conservative supreme court say that fetuses are persons under our 14th amendment of the federal constitution and that therefore if voters want to secure reproductive rights in the state constitutions, the federal constitution stops them. the federal constitution sets the state rates you have created violate the federal constitution. that is not likely in the near term. in the near-term, you are seeing antiabortion groups looking for openings in state supreme court's, ways to expand on the ruling we saw in alabama about ivf in february. the florida supreme court has signaled it may be one of those places. if the ballot initiative in florida fails, for example, you are likely to see antiabortion groups are doing the florida constitution treats fetuses as

rights holding persons. you might see that argument if the ballot initiative passes, essentially the argument that this right to life for fetuses trump's any production created by voters. i'm not sure that would work but i think you will see that argument even if the ballot initiative passes. fetal personhood is looming out of there as a way to override the will of the voters , even when ballot initiatives pass. >> mary, in response to donald trump's interview that appeared in "time magazine," you tweeted this, "the argument that trump let states to their own thing reach differently when framed as letting red states monitor pregnancies and prosecute offenders, and ill-defined category that trump suggests is broader than doctors." tell me more about that. >> i think trump was intending to say states rights as a way out of this impossible situation republicans have put themselves in, essentially to say, you know, if you elect me,

it is not going to make a difference when it comes to abortion. it will be no different than if joe biden were in office because the state will do whatever they are going to do anyway. then you realize when he said in this he seems to have no actual bottom-line concern about anything states would do. is talking about things states haven't proclaimed an interest in doing yet and saying it would be perfectly fine if states did in fact criminally punished women extensively and to monitor pregnancies. i think number one, you realize that trump would have absolutely no compunction about letting states do anything. number two, it is not even clear trump's commitment to states rights runs very deep. as mentioned earlier , he's not actually committed to or rejected the idea that the comstock act is a nationwide ban. if you are for states rights, it should be easy to say i would never enforce the comstock act as a nationwide ban . that is the opposite of letting each state to do their thing. he has had the opportunity to make that statement for months now and has declined to do it. i think that raises a lot of

important questions of its own. >> mary, you have written and posted a lot of important material this week that we talked about. i can't get past the fact that we continue to discuss monitoring women's menstrual cycles, as we decide on our politics this year. mary, thanks again for being with us and all your work. mary sigler, law professor and historian at the uc davis law school. the author of "roe, the history of a national obsession." coming up, featuring a contemporary classic that is so beloved that numerous members of the velshi banned book club is in disbelief anyone would try to and or challenge this book. the work in question is "the glass castle," by jeannette walls. this memoir spent eight years on the new york times best seller list. it has been translated into 31 languages and was adapted into a feature film. >> hard to believe one day this will all be ours. >> she may not look like much but wait until you see what i have in mind. come on.

we are going to tear all this down and replace it with your game room. ping-pong, pool. >> trampoline. >> trampoline goes right over there and all these walls are gone, replace with glass, glass. this could stay. >> doesn't that look lovely ? yellow stands for happiness and creativity. >> this place doesn't have running water or electricity. >> ignored her, she was born without a vision. out a vision. s of weightlessly smooth hair that frizz can't beat. new tresemmé keratin smooth collection. [cars honking] i'm a guy who lost a bet. and my dignity. get out of the way! as if watching my team lose wasn't punishment enough. what are you looking at huh... it's a one speed. hahaha. hahaha. and if you have cut rate car insurance, odds are you'll be paying for that yourself. so, get allstate and be better protected from mayhem...

like me. hey, i'm walking here! wanna know a secret? more than just my armpits stink. facts. that's why i use secret whole body deodorant for clinically proven odor protection everywhere. so i smell great all day, all hike, and all night. secret whole body deodorant.

we all need fiber for our digestive health, but less than 10% of us get enough each day. good thing metamucil gummies are an easy way to get prebiotic, plant-based fiber. with the same amount of fiber as 2 cups of broccoli. metamucil gummies. the easy way to get your daily fiber. when it comes to your wellness routine, the details are the difference. dove men body wash, with plant based moisturizers in harmony with our bodies for healthier feeling skin.

all these details add up to something greater. new dove men plant powered body wash. (♪♪) (♪♪) try dietary supplements from voltaren, for healthy joints. 54 years ago today, national guardsmen were sent to kent state university in ohio to stop antiwar protests. what happened next would shake the nation. when president richard nixon and instead the united states would widen the war in vietnam and invade cambodia, college campuses across the country erupted in protest. a rally was planned for may

4th, 1970 at kent state university officials had different plans. nbc news has the story of kent state 54 years on. >> the united states should withdraw its troops from vietnam. >> people are dying in cambodia and vietnam. >> we aren't going to work on your farm no more. >> i have concluded that the time has come for action. >> reporter: the year was 1970. president nixon had just announced a new offensive in vietnam and at kent state, students protesting the war were enraged. the school's rotc building was set on fire and protesters found themselves face to face with the ohio national guard called in to keep the peace. then may 4th, tensions reached a boiling point. students clashing with guardsmen, the general ordering soldiers to lock and load their

weapons. a large crowd forced soldiers to retreat and some guardsmen opened fire. >> i was fairly close to the national guardsmen when they turned and fired. >> reporter: joe: was a kent state junior at the time. >> i never thought they would fire, i never thought there was a reason to fire. clearly they did. i didn't know how many other people were hit at that point. >> reporter: less than 100 feet away was a freshman dean taylor. >> i was surrounded by a group of students who were down looking at me and one guy came to me and said don't. >> reporter: he had a bullet lodged in his spine. >> it took more than 10 minutes for the ambulance to get there. >> reporter: dean would never walk again and four of his classmates died that day. >> what happened in ohio was a national shock at the death of four young people has numbed all of us. >> reporter: have a century later, dean and joe find themselves watching and worrying about a new generation of campus movements today. >> i am concerned that this

will escalate to the point that it did in 1970. cheered by students taking this action. i hope they understand what they are getting themselves into. >> reporter: while the tragedy at kent state echoes as a cautionary lesson for law enforcement, joe and dean what young people today to remember this advice. >> you have to know what the outcomes could potentially be and be prepared for them. >> know what you are protesting, know why you are protesting. don't be afraid of the consequences. >> still to come on velshi, i call to order today's meeting of the velshi band book club. today's feature, "the glass castle," a story of redemption, survival, abuse and love. jeannette walls joins me next. , symptom improvement, and reduced flare—ups. breztri won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. it is not for asthma.

tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. don't take breztri more than prescribed. breztri may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ask your doctor about breztri. when you purchase a pair of bombas socks, tees, or underwear, you also donate one to someone facing homelessness. one purchased equals one donated. 100 million donations and counting. visit bombas.com and get 20% off your first order. my frequent heartburn had me taking antacid after antacid all day long but with prilosec otc just one pill a day blocks heartburn for a full 24 hours. for one and done heartburn relief, prilosec otc. one pill a day, 24 hours, zero heartburn.

[music playing] tiffany: my daughter is mila. she is 19 months old. she is a little ray of sunshine. one of the happiest babies you'll probably ever meet. [giggles] children with down syndrome typically have a higher risk for developing acute myeloid leukemia, or just leukemia in general. and here we are. marlo thomas: st. jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases. tiffany: she was referred to st. jude at 11 months. they knew what to do as soon as they got her diagnosis.

they already had her treatment plan drawn out. and they were like, this is what we're going to do. this is how long it's going to take. this is how long in between. this place is like a family to us now. like, i can't say enough how grateful we are to be here. medical bills are always a big thing to everybody because everybody knows that anything medical is going to be expensive. we have received no bills since being at st. jude. we have paid for nothing. marlo thomas: thanks to generous donors like you, families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the lifesaving research and treatment that these kids need now and in the future. join with your credit or debit card right now, and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. tiffany: anybody and everybody that contributes anything

to this place, no matter if it's a big business or just the grandmother that donates once a month, they are changing people's lives. and that's a big deal. [music playing] author jeannette walls earliest memory is of being on fire. jeannette walls, her parents and three siblings lived in a trailer park in the southern arizona desert. she was three years old and was wearing a and two while cooking hot dogs for her family. her mother was busy painting her latest artwork. she wasn't able to cook. jeannette walls caught fire,

bringing her , her ribs, her chest badly. after six weeks in hospital with extensive skin grafts, her father takes her home against the doctor's advice to "a few days after law and dad brought me home, i took myself some hot dogs . i was hungry, law was at work on a painting and no one was there to fix them for me. good for you, law said, you have to get right back in the saddle. you can't live in fear of something as basic as a fire." so begins the "the glass castle," a memoir by jeannette walls and today's feature for the velshi banned book club. using vivid description's of moment so emotionally fraught and shocking, you would be forgiven for thinking that they are fiction. "the glass castle," is a master class in thought-provoking the more. "the glass castle," chronicles jeannette walls's dysfunctional childhood, which was uprooted again and again at the whims of her parents. yet, where jeannette walls

could depict her parents as one- sided abusers, she doesn't, writing instead with new ones, depth, and most powerfully, with love. her father was a billing man who, when sober, ignited his children's imagination and love of learning. her mother was a free-spirited artist and self-proclaimed excitement addict who believed everyone deserves compassion. rex and rosemary grappled with severe mental health issues and left their children to fend for themselves. jeannette walls and her siblings faced bullying, hunger, homelessness, and sexual abuse. her amazing ability to convey the ugliest, darkest parts of life with the most beautiful, precious moments make "the glass castle," immensely and sometimes surprisingly readable. initially published in 2005, "the glass castle," spent eight years on "the new york times" best sellers list. it has won numerous awards, it is so popular and such a contemporary classic that we received message after message from you, members of the velshi banned book club incredulous that it had been removed from

libraries or classrooms anywhere. but, it has, again and again. the most common reason to remove "the glass castle" the very real depiction of sexual assault and "disturbing material". here is a dispatch from marshfield, wisconsin high school in 2017. "a formal complaint was lodged by a local parent offended by the presence of profanity in the book, which includes passages that reference sexual assault. in the context of the book, the discussion takes place within a poverty- stricken, alcohol abuse and family. the. told the school board that students at marshfield school "deserve better." they should choose books that "inspire our children to greatness." inspire our children to greatness. they deserve better. "the glass castle," opens with the clumps of jeannette walls's

life as a successful gossip columnist here in " new york city. she graduated from barnard college before making a life as a writer for new york magazine, esquire, and msnbc. i appreciate jeannette walls starting "the glass castle," this way, through the relentless moments of abuse and neglect that punctured her childhood, her life as an adult is a light at the end of the tunnel. "the glass castle," is a story of perseverance, it is a story of survival. that will inspire children who read it to greatness. right after the break, i will be joined by the remarkable jeannette walls, the author of "the glass castle." tle." we need to scale with customer demand... in real time. (jen) so we partner with verizon. their solution for us? a private 5g network. (ella) we now get more control of production, efficiencies, and greater agility. (marquis) with a custom private 5g network.

our customers get what they want, when they want it. (jen) now we're even smarter and ready for what's next. (vo) achieve enterprise intelligence. it's your vision, it's your verizon. (restaurant noise) [announcer] introducing allison's plaque psoriasis. she thinks her flaky gray patches are all people see. otezla is the #1 prescribed pill to treat plaque psoriasis. allison! over here! otezla can help you get clearer skin and reduce itching and flaking. with no routine blood tests required. doctors have been prescribing otezla for over a decade. otezla is also approved to treat psoriatic arthritis. don't use otezla if you're allergic to it. serious allergic reactions can happen. otezla may cause severe diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting. some people taking otezla had depression, suicidal thoughts or weight loss. upper respiratory tract infection and headache may occur. ♪♪

[announcer] with clearer skin girls' day out is a good day out. live in the moment. ask your doctor about otezla. sometimes jonah wrestles with falling asleep... ...so he takes zzzquil. the world's #1 sleep aid brand. and wakes up feeling like himself. get the rest to be your best with non-habit forming zzzquil. ♪ ♪ business. it's not a nine-to-five f proposition.l. it's all day and into the night. it's all the things that keep this world turning. the go-tos that keep us going. the places we cheer. and check in. they all choose the advanced network solutions and round the clock partnership from comcast business. see why comcast business powers more small businesses than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today.

today's meeting of the velshi banned book club is underway. i'm thrilled to be joined by jeannette walls, the award winning author of many books, including "hang the moon," and today's feature, "the glass

castle". i want to start by talking about the genre of your memoir, telling your story, especially one as emotionally fraught as yours is . it is courageous. talk to me about how you got to the point of being able to write this down. >> i was terrified. i didn't think anybody would get it. i thought i would be ridiculed and that people would look down on me and the opposite has happened. i cannot tell you the number of people who have come forward and said your story is a little bit like mine. the details are different but we have a lot in common. and, it goes to show you the power of storytelling. there are so many people out there with these complicated backgrounds who hide them, who think it is a source of shame. and once you start talking about it, hatred is contagious and so is fear but so is honesty. so is one ability. once you start telling your story, it is very empowering. >> may i explore that for a moment? the idea of honesty and affordability, to convert things that our culture has us grow up to think are things we should be ashamed of and things

that we should be proud of for that we can build our careers on or can inspire others with, tell me what happens? when the shame goes away, what does it become? >> everything in life is a blessing and a curse and very often these things that we dislike about the results, it is the best thing we have going for us. i am a scrapper, i had a tough childhood, or white trash and i went to such great lengths to hide it. once i came clean about it, i was able to tap into this complicated past of mine and to be honest. addressing these kids where this has been banned, it is the same thing. these kids are walking around with shame, fear, they are hiding who they are. and, it just breaks my heart that this book is being banned in schools. so many teachers come forward

and say this is one of the most valuable teaching tools i've ever encountered. kids who think they hate reading recognize themselves in your story and they are reading ahead and come to me and say are there other books like this out there. i thought i hated reading but now i understand that i just need to find hooks about people like myself. and there are kids who might be dealing with issues of addiction and violence at home and they realize, you know, here is somebody else who has been through it. she not only survived. i had one young woman say i know you survived but you stand up on the state and are proud of who you are, how did you get there? that is what i want to teach these kids. just because you encountered these complicated things in your past that in no way makes you less of a person. you are a fighter. you have the ability to endure. don't be ashamed of these things you went through.

put it to work for you. >> a teacher has just posted on social media, a teacher from eastern washington state, ali velshi is going to beat me with this interview with jeannette walls, is one of the best books i've read and it is unavailable to my students. free the books." you were afraid people wouldn't like your book for certain reasons that didn't turn out to be true. people adored it and grew from it and learn from it. people didn't want to be in it for expressions of things about , for the fact that they wouldn't think that a story like yours is actually inspirational. >> i banked these people to come talk to me about this. i get it. people want to protect children, i get that. we all want what is best for the children. but, i would argue the way to protect children is not to put them in a bubble and pretend that these bad things don't exist but rather to give them the tools to deal with the complications and ugliness that

life often presents us and that many of these kids are already dealing with and let them discuss these issues in the safe place of their classroom. it was banned in a well-to-do suburb in dallas. one parent objected to it and the other parents and the teachers and god bless them, the students got together and said we need to know about people like this. we have so many privileges, we need to know who are those homeless people and why don't they take care of their families? they got the book back and one of those kids hung back and thanked me because a relative was behaving inappropriately with this person and i would argue it is not just for kids who have dysfunctional families. a lot of people need to deal with these issues and hide them and discussing a book like "the glass castle" and the issues of

abuse and substance abuse, it is very empowering to these kids to understand i'm not the only one going through it. this is how somebody else dealt with it. >> let's talk about the title. it is called "the glass castle". we played a clip from the 2017 adaptation. it is called "the glass castle" for what your father said he would build once he had enough money. before you leave for new york, you confront your father about the dream, saying that hands trembled as he unrolled different blueprints. he had drawn frontal views, side views and aerial views of the glass castle. he had drawn the interior of rooms and label them and specify their dimensions down to the inches in his precise blocky handwriting. i stared at the plans. dad, i said, you will never build the class castle." that is a heartbreaking scene. talk to me about that moment and then naming the book after it. >> to me, the glass castle was about hope. that was an alcoholic, he was a

dreamer, he was also brilliant. when times got tough, he would pull up the blueprints and he never did build it. but, i leave that in taking out those blueprints and discussing the science and math of it, he was educating us but, more importantly, it was his way of saying you deserve something better than what you have right now. and, you will have it one day. i believe that that is what "the glass castle" is about. it is about poverty and the issues i dealt with but it is also about hope and about making a life for yourself and even though dad never did build a glass castle, he gave us the tools to build our own. primary among those tools was reading. i cannot remember not knowing how to read. our house was always filled with books. i think that education is the great equalizer. getting books into kids hands that tell them how they can change their circumstances is tremendous. and, it, my story, my raggedy

little poor white trash story, if i can help someone who is in despair, doesn't see hope, then that is why we tell our stories. >> and, we know, we know from the response we've had from viewers that does help, the responses i'm getting right now on social media. jeannette walls, thank you for what you've done. the award-winning author of numerous books, including "hang the moon," and today's feature , "the glass castle". my new book "small acts of courage," comes out this tuesday, may 7th. i'm hitting a few cities to discuss it. the book tour comes out with my lunch in philadelphia on may 7th. i will be in washington, d.c. on may 8, alta moore on may 9th. i will end the week in new york city on may 10th. there will be more events across the country the week after. i will keep you posted on social media. i hope to see you there. that does it for me. thank you for watching. stay right where you