Topic: Maya Angelou

An excerpt from Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" describes a religious taboo against using the phrase "by the way." According to the text, the phrase was viewed as taking the Lord's name in vain because "Jesus is the way." The etymology of the phrase is debated, contrasting the literary anecdote with historical directional usage.

Kamala Harris claimed Donald Trump said he could "shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and get away with it." Fact-checkers noted that Trump's actual 2016 quote was that he "wouldn't lose any voters" if he committed such an act. The distinction highlights a difference between legal immunity and voter loyalty.

Hillary Clinton responds to Donald Trump's comments in a follow-up segment with Rachel Maddow, calling his rhetoric "outrageous and dangerous." Clinton invokes a Maya Angelou quote—"when someone shows you who they are, believe them"—to characterize the entire Republican platform. The hosts argue that Clinton is successfully making the election about women's rights and the future of the Supreme Court.