← Deadline: White House
Deadline: White House
“A clean sweep”
00:45:01
Nicolle Wallace on the sweeping wins for Democrats in elections across the nation.
Loading summary
Transcript91 lines
- [00:00]
A
Deadline. White House is brought to you by Progressive, where drivers who save by switching save nearly $750 on average. Plus auto customers qualify for an average of 7 discounts. Quote now@progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates national average 12 month savings of $744 by new customers surveyed who save with Progressive between June 2022 and May 2023. Potential savings will vary. Discounts not available in all states and situations. MSNBC presents the chart topping original podcast the Best People with Nicole Wallace. This week she sits down with Pod Save America hosts Jon Favreau and Tommy Vitor.
- [00:42]
B
To get people's attention nationally, you do.
- [00:44]
C
Need charismatic leaders and I worry that we don't quite have that yet.
- [00:48]
D
Or at least no one's broken through in a big way.
- [00:51]
A
The best people with Nicole Wallace listen now. For early access ad free listening and bonus content, subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts.
- [01:10]
B
Hi there everyone. Happy Wednesday. It's four o'clock in New York. A clean sweep. Happy clean sweep. Millions of Americans from sea to shining sea, delivering a crystal clear and decisive blow and rebuke to Donald J. Trump, electing Democrats in multiple states statewide races by blowout margins in some cases, and approving a ballot measure that puts Democrats in the driver's seat in position to potentially retake the house in the 2026 midterms. Despite Republican efforts to gerrymander the congressional maps, voters in California came out in stunning numbers, delivering a stinging blow to Trump's efforts to rig the game in his favor as his political standing continues to sink lower and lower by the day with the American people. Prop 50 passed by double digit margins. More than 8 million people voted. That number is set to grow as the ballots continue to be counted. Now Democrats could net up to five seats, neutralizing the gerrymander by Republicans in Texas that kicked off this nationwide redistricting battle. And in California, where John Heilman pointed out yesterday rather astutely that nothing was on the ballot, no people were on the ballot, no candidate was there driving out the vote. It was just this idea, this thing, Prop 50 voters came out for that thing in record numbers to send a message to Donald Trump. Here's California's Governor Gavin Newsom.
- [02:38]
E
We're proud of the work that the people of the state of California did tonight to send a powerful message to an historic president. Donald Trump is an historic president. He is the most historically unpopular president in modern history in every critical category. Donald Trump is underwater. He promised to make us healthier. He promised to make us wealthier. We're sicker and poorer, and he fundamentally understands that. Why else, why else would he call Greg Abbott saying he's entitled to five seats? Why else is he trying to rig the midterm elections before one single vote is even cast? He understands his position at this moment in the United States of America. One thing he never counted on, though, was the state of California. Instead of agonizing over the state of our nation, we organized in an unprecedented way, in a 90 day sprint. People from all over the United States of America contributed their voices and their support for this initiative. We stood tall and we stood firm in response to Donald Trump's recklessness. And tonight, after poking the bear, this bear roared with an unprecedented turnout in a special election with an extraordinary result.
- [04:18]
B
The margin was so big and the turnout so dramatic that it might be easy to forget or lose sight of the fact that that extraordinary result was far from a sure thing. Politico reports that early polling showed opposition to redrawing the maps ahead of last night. And it seeded doubt among Democrats about whether they would succeed at all. From that report, quote, the outlook was anything but certain. Back when Democrats were still clinging to the hope that they could bluff their way out of a precarious and costly redistricting arms race, the sobering initial poll was a fork in the road moment for Newsom and his political inner circle. Perhaps some on the team suggested getting voter approval was too heavy of a lift. Nevertheless, they plowed ahead, building up a daunting cash advantage, unifying a bruised party and galvanizing voters around an anti Trump message. All in a matter of here's more from Governor Gavin Newsom.
- [05:16]
E
As we speak, people are still in line. People waiting up three hours to cast their vote to send a message to Donald Trump. No crowns, no thrones, no kings. Our state of mind was resolute. Our state of mind was resolved to stand firm and to stand tall, to not be intimidated, to not be humiliated, to not fall prey to cynicism, to not fall prey to fear and the anxiety of someone that believes in only one thing. Shock and awe. To intimidate and exhaust us. But we're seeing all across this country, 7 million people strong, standing up not just for themselves, but for each other and for these enduring and historic principles of our Founding Fathers. And I'll end on that. Next year is the 250th anniversary of the best of Roman Republic, the best of Greek democracy. This fundamental notion of a system of checks and balances, a popular sovereignty, the rule of law, Mr. President, the rule of law, not the rule of dawn. And I hope it's dawning on people the sobriety of this moment. What's at stake tonight, as I said, is an extraordinary moment for our party. But again, it's an extraordinary moment affirming those principles. Our founding fathers did not live and die to see the kind of vandalism to this republic and our democracy that Donald Trump is trying to perpetuate.
- [07:01]
B
The pro democracy coalition delivering defeat after defeat for Donald Trump and Republicans in ways that will resonate in the months and perhaps years ahead, is where we start today. With me at the table, MSNBC's Alicia Menendez. Also joining us, Puck News senior political columnist, MSNBC national affairs analyst John Heilman and MSNBC senior national political correspondent Jacob Sobroff is back with us. Jacob, I started this hour with you and Alicia. You were on those lines with voters 4 o'. Clock. I left this set some, I don't know, eight, nine hours later. I won't complain though, because Alicia Ship was longer than mine and you were still online with those voters. Just tell me the story of Prop 50 last night.
- [07:44]
D
As a matter of fact, Nicole, even after the polls closed and after I left that event where Gavin Newsom gave those remarks that you just played at 9:15pm an hour and 15 minutes after the polls were closed, that line continued to stretch halfway around the block and people didn't get out of line. I talked to a senior advisor to Governor Gavin Newsom just minutes ago and obviously they're ecstatic. They're ecstatic by the turnout that you're looking at on the left hand side of your screen. And what they say is their people, the Democrats stayed till the end of the game. Trump scared his voters away and they left at halftime, particularly as it relates to Latino voters. And if you look at places like Imperial county, the flip between and that's a large Latino county on the border with Mexico here in California. The flip between Kamala Harris voters and Prop 50 voters is one that is giving them a huge, enormous amount of encouragement. And you know, you heard Gavin Newsom say this was a 90 day campaign. Remember where it started? It started in Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles, where Greg Bevino showed up outside of Gavin Newsom's rally, the head of the Patrol division of the Border Patrol in tactical gear in order to terrorize, intimidate and scare away pretty much a who's who of California politicians from announcing this initiative. Of course, that's not what they say. They were doing. But Gavin Newsom says that's exactly what they were doing. And it had the opposite effect. Latinos turned out, Democrats turned out. I've never seen an off year election in my 10 plus years at MSNBC that felt like the way yesterday did here in California.
- [09:16]
B
Let me ask you a question about the temptation to separate out, even for today's newscast. Right. We're going to talk in the next block about the ICE video that Gavin Newsom's office sent you while you were online covering Prop 50. Maybe we disaggregate these things at our own peril. I mean, if you look at Trump's numbers, numbers on immigration, California voters, by margins of 64% to 12%, think that Trump's actions on immigration have gone too far. Seven million people turned out in the country for no kings rallies. Prop 50 passed. I think two to one is the best way to describe its margin. But importantly, Republicans sort of gave up. They stopped trying to raise money, they stopped trying to turn out the vote. And Newsom himself said, we have enough money for our side. Don't send any more. What is it that voters are experiencing that tie all these things together? Trump's overreach, the rigging of the maps and the. What we're seeing with our own eyes in terms of the ICE violence really being carried out in communities.
- [10:26]
D
Even after January 6th, even after the first Trump presidency, when I would walk on lines places all around the country and all of the swing states, democracy was never, ever the first thing that people brought up. Words like freedom, words like, you know, standing up for my children and our future in this country. People would talk about the economy, people would talk about the local kitchen table, pocketbook issues everywhere I go. It's why we do that series, what matters that we did here, election after election. Because despite the things that we would talk about, despite the things that people in Washington and New York and maybe sometimes here in la would say they were sort of the big picture intellectual issues, the fading of democracy, the rise of autocracy. That's not what people would talk about. That is what people were talking about last night on the line outside of the California Museum, across the street from the office of Governor Gavin Newsom in the state Capitol of Sacramento. And according to David Noriega, my colleague who was here in Los Angeles and other reports all through California, that's what was front of mind for everybody. Everybody felt like their hold on their lives in an existential way was slipping away because of what we have seen, not just on the streets here in Los Angeles. But what I've seen myself in Chicago, what we've seen in Portland, all of those cities that Gavin Newsom brought up last night, when all of that started here in the summer of 2025, all of the politicians here were saying this is a petri dish. Karen Bass, in particular, the mayor of Los Angeles. What is happening on these streets is not just about immigration. It is about the President of the United States taking power away from you and your life and your ability to live and make decisions for yourself. And I think I've never seen so many young people in line the way that they were. Everybody's got the ability, if you're a registered voter, to have a mail in ballot. Yet so many people showed up to hang out, to talk to each other, to eat pizza, and in their own words, stand up for the future of the American Democratic project last night.
- [12:26]
B
So the, the thing about authoritarianism, Alicia, is it cannot exist in that petri dish when people have agency. Right? So. And it cannot exist and people don't have agency when they're isolated. So all of the things that are bulwarks against what are some really sizable steps toward authoritarianism that Trump has made that we've all covered here were delivered a decisive blow. It's this engagement that you and Jacob both covered yesterday out in places where people were voting and they turned out in record numbers for off year elections. It is doing it in a connective way, right. Going and turning out in person and having that experience of seeing other people voting and sort of feeling like the tide could be turned if everyone did their part. And then it's having some real data. Right? I mean, the margins are the story as much as the results.
- [13:27]
F
The margins are the story. Who it is that turned out, voters who hadn't turned out in 20 that came around this time, I want to sort of sew together Jacob's reporting out of California and my reporting about Latinos out of New Jersey, because I think sort of one of the big questions going into last night was, are voters going to be voting tracking with Trump approval disapproval or is it going to be more local issues that are really factoring into their vote? And for me, given the beat that I was on, are Latinos going to go along with that wave? And I think what you saw last night was, yes, voters were very much tracked with what they think about what Donald Trump has done over the past 10 months of this second term. And Latinos very much buoyed those numbers everywhere from New Jersey to California, where you had 71% of Latinos voting for Prop 50. That is higher than the overall rate of Californians, which was 64%. Now, you take that and you can just make that about last night. But it's also about the map. As we head into midterms, of the 40 tier one House seats, 21 of those seats have at least a 10% Latino electorate. So if all of a sudden the map is better for Democrats, better for democracy because of Latinos, the fact that you have so many more of these seats in play, in part also buoyed by the map that is coming out of California, then there is a renewed opportunity for Democrats. And I think part of what they're going to have to contend with is why did you see voters who sat out 20, 24, who were coming out in this election? Who were they? Why did they sit out? And what is motivating them now and how do they make an investment? Like, we talk a lot about the messaging, and the messaging is important. I'm a former comms person. I love the messaging. But it is also those organizers who were on the ground from day one building actual relationships that did not feel transactional, such that when election time rolls around, it's not a new face at your door. It is someone who has been talking to you all year about the price of rent and the price of electricity, the things you are most concerned about in your own life, in your own community. That's part of the investment the Democrats are going to have to continue to make.
- [15:43]
B
And how much is it message, organizing relationships, as opposed to just restored credibility? Because everything that Democrats and Kamala Harris and the DNC and anyone on the side against Trump has to pass.
- [15:59]
F
I don't know. Do you know? I mean, I did not get a sense yesterday because it felt like all of the above. It felt like the messaging was very focused on affordability and the things that matter most to people. And I know your pain points. And then the organizing was in place, the infrastructure had to be in place. And then to your point, yeah, there's a sense that you're actually fighting. I'm in this fight, you're in this fight, and we're in this fight together. But I don't know about you, I couldn't pinpoint one as being the determinant factor.
- [16:23]
C
Neither could I.
- [16:24]
B
But I think the fact that the lived experience of the economy, I mean, I think Obama's closing message over the weekend in New Jersey and Virginia was so salient, because if he says, is your life better today than it was nine Months ago, ask yourself this question. And his whole riff was about the gilded Oval Office and the wrecking ball. But the fundamental question in politics may not be a new one. Are you better off than you were nine months ago? And based on people's feelings about the economy, the resounding answer is no.
- [16:53]
C
Well, right. And I think, you know, it is the perennial question in politics. Right. But it's also amplified by 10, 20, 30 times by how central that message was to Trump's 2024 campaign. You worked on a campaign in 2004 where that was not the central issue. And so after George Bush, George W. Bush got reelected, the questions of are you better off, those were the national security frame and took precedence there. But, but not even more than normally the economy's, except rare exceptions like that. It's always central. But it was. So the thing that Donald Trump beat Democrats over the head with for two solid years. And not only are things not better, but he is doing things that are relatively easy to explain, either on a substantive or a symbolic level, that are at odds with that, where it's like whether it's the things that Obama was pointing to, which are things where this guy, your grocery prices are just the size they always were while he tears down the East Wing to build himself this Putinesque ballroom, or the substantive questions around tariffs and how tariffs are actually doing what they're doing to prices. When you decide to make the main thing the main thing, and then you not only don't solve the main thing, but you make the main thing worse. And you do it in an egregious flagrant, almost kind of throwing it in your face way. Trump has it. You know, it's going to leave a mark, it's going to bite you on the other side. And that's what happened I think yesterday.
- [18:25]
B
Among many other things, I gave you credit for making this point early in Jacob's reporting along the line that people were online in their own words to do their civic duty to defend democracy because it was their right. There's this sense that while we have this right, people are going to exercise it. And, and Prop 50 was an idea. It wasn't a person, it wasn't a candidate. It had some star studded endorsers and validators. You made that point yesterday, including Obama and Newsom and Jasmine Crockett and others. But it was an idea. And it was an idea that Californians themselves have rejected a few years ago, twice. Right. So just talk about the power of this idea and this story that Newsom told With some high level assists from Obama, certainly. But a story he told in 90 days that won with this margin.
- [19:13]
C
Not just an idea, but a procedural idea. And a procedural idea with a funny.
- [19:18]
B
Name in response to a thing that happened a few states over.
- [19:21]
C
Yes, that happened in other states. You're talking about gerrymandering or is it redistricting? What's the difference between those two things for normal people, Like, I don't know what the difference is, but what is that they don't know how the lines are drawn. None of this makes any sense to them. I think that, I've said that I think that this is a huge boon. This is important on multiple levels. It's going to help Democrats take control of the House. If they do take control of the House, this will be one of the key things. It's emboldened these other Democratic governors in other states to take on the same redistricting challenge. And it obviously has boosted Gavin Newsom, who took a big gamble, took a big risk and it paid off. There's another way on that third point in which what was so impressive about what was on display here was for the reasons that we just laid out, this is a hard thing to do. And the skill I got to take my hat off. The skill and savvy of the people around Gavin Newsom from start to finish, he is showing people in different ways that he is ready to run for president and ready to play this game at the highest level. And you think California politics is always the highest level. You will know the name Pete Wilson, who people once thought could be the Republican nominee as soon as he got out there on the field, or Ron DeSantis. But Pete Wilson, California successful governor of California, ran for president in 1996 and got nowhere. Gavin Newsom at the beginning of this process lined up in like 36 hours. Everybody in the California legislature on the Democratic side, everyone in the California congressional delegation, all of the stakeholders, Latinos, black groups, everybody in the state to get behind this, all of the different safeguards, the trigger. If they don't do it, we won't do it. The time limit, it's only going to go to the next census. All the things to try to set the stage for how they could make California voters find this palatable. And then they executed day after day after day from a position where this was probably a little bit of an underdog initiative to winning by 2 to 1 margin. That is like political strategy, tactics and execution at a very high level with a lot on the line.
- [21:24]
B
And there are not a lot of example, well, there are none right. Of a 90 day effort that successful.
- [21:30]
C
They did it really fast.
- [21:32]
B
It sort of inspires an argument about whether all elections should be only 90 days. But I want to show you what he's doing with some of that, that political capital because he's now, you know, this morning moving to calling on other states to do the same thing. Now that he's written this playbook. I'll show you what that looked like. No one's going anywhere. We'll show you that when we come back. Also, head on the very same day, millions of people in California signaled their clear disapproval in their rebuke of Donald Trump. The cruel tactics of his ICE agents still show no signs of slowing down or changing. We'll show you how his mass deportation plan is endangering families, including families with US Citizens while his administration pushes ahead without any accountability. Plus, besides the anti Trump, anti authoritarian, no kings message that came through yesterday, voters also delivered a booming message for affordability. The other big winners ran on that and delivered a decisive, cohesive message for the Democratic Party. We'll get to all of that ahead and later in the show, first the voters and now, I don't know, maybe the justices will let you decide. Trump's signature legislative priority of imposing tariffs nearly across the entire globe faced some skepticism from the Supreme Court today. I know, I know, I can hear you groaning from here, but we'll show it to you. We'll get to all that and more when Deadline White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.
- [22:59]
A
MSNBC presents the chart topping original podcast the Best People with Nicole Wallace. This week she sit down with former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci.
- [23:10]
D
We are a beautiful, colorful mosaic of.
- [23:14]
E
People and we are exactly what Lincoln.
- [23:16]
D
Said, the last best hope for mankind.
- [23:18]
A
The Best people with Nicole Wallace. Listen now for early access, ad free listening and bonus content. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad free listening and bonus content to all of MSNBC's original podcasts including the chart topping series the Best People with Nicole Wallace, why is this Happening? Main justice and more. Plus new episodes of all your favorite MSNBC shows ad free and ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddows original series, Ultra Bagman and Deja News. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts. Start your day with the MSNBC Daily Newsletter. Each morning, read sharp insights from the voices you trust. Catch standout moments from your favorite favorite shows.
- [24:09]
B
The second Trump administration has gone to unprecedented lengths to radically transform America.
- [24:14]
A
Stay up to speed with our latest podcasts and documentaries and get fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. It's everything you love about MSNBC delivered to your inbox. Sign up now@msnbc.com.
- [24:31]
E
So my call tonight, in the spirit of Whitman, we talked about the powerful play goes on. We all must contribute a verse. And so we need, we need the state of Virginia, we need the state of Maryland, we need our friends in New York, in Illinois, in Colorado. We need to see other states with the remarkable leaders that have been doing remarkable things. Meet this moment head on as well, to recognize what we're up against in 2026. And let me make this crystal clear. We can de facto end Donald Trump's presidency as we know it the minute Speaker Jeffries gets sworn in as speaker of the House of Representatives. It is all on the line, A bright line in 2026.
- [25:32]
B
Jacob I was so struck by that, because when he said, fight fire with fire, it was a line delivered with the same emphasis that he ended that speech with. It is all on the line. I heard come out of voters mouths the things that Gavin Newsom said at this event 90 days ago when he announced Prop 50. There is a call and response that Gavin Newsom, dare I say, is the only Democrat I've seen in the last nine months display. And it may be happening other places. I just haven't seen it on display. But he has an ability to drive a message and to appear in enough places and maybe is backed by enough earned and paid media messages in his state. And when he says it's all on the line, I wonder if that's the next message he's seeking to drive and whether that's a national one.
- [26:21]
D
I think there's no doubt about it. You asked me a question yesterday when I was outside of that California museum about sort of the boldness of the messaging and the strength with which he was taking it to Donald Trump and whether or not that that was motivating him. And I think it's unquestionable. And the conversation had largely surrounded the social media, I think, and sort of the national conversation, how he's trolling Donald Trump and fighting fire with fire in that respect. But he is taking everything that Donald Trump is doing, including including the immigration raids that took place in California yesterday and turning them back around and using them to get people out and to the polls. And the one that specifically I'm thinking about is the one that he himself, the governor of California, was Sitting watching this broadcast yesterday, and sent a text to my cell phone with a video of a raid from Los Angeles, which I think we have at Cypress Park Home Depot. I've talked to you from that very Home Depot before. It's around the corner from my house. Look at inside this car, they took a US Citizen father out and left, left a toddler in the backseat. Two heavily armed Border Patrol agents got in that car and drove the child and the vehicle away. Homeland Security says that that father had a pistol in the car, threw rocks at law enforcement, yet he was later released and the child was returned to the family. Lawyers are saying if there was anything to that story, why didn't they take the kid and lock the father up? And Gavin Newsom wrote to me, I am shaking. He's sick. I'm sick. Our country is sick. And so what he's doing, I think, is taking these particular flashpoints and laying them bare for the whole country to see now and saying, if you think that this is limited to Cypress Park Home Depot in Los Angeles on a consequential election day for the United States of America, just wait until it comes to your front door.
- [28:09]
B
The video is so disturbing on every level, and I don't know what your views have to be about mass deportations, to think it's all right to drive away in a car with someone, Someone else's car with someone else's toddler in it. But I don't think we saw anything surface in enthusiasm for Donald Trump that suggests that this was a line a majority of people want crossed. I mean, what is the. What exists, Jacob, to suss out or hold anyone accountable for what transpired or what seems to transpire in that video?
- [28:47]
D
Well, I think that that is the question. Where's the standard operating procedure? In what world is it okay for heavily armed tactical agents to get into a vehicle with weapons, their faces covered with masks? Where are the social workers? Where are the licensed clinical professionals to take care of children in that type of a situation? If you're going to go pick off US Citizens running errands, ostensibly at a Home Depot, who happen to be in the vicinity of a day laborer center, what won't you do? What won't you do? And who will hold you accountable? And that's the question that Gavin Newsom is asking. That's the reason it's the second time he's told me that he literally ends up physically shaking after watching some of these videos, is so adamant to share these particular stories with the rest of the American public. Because I think what he believes is that those who are going to hold accountable Donald Trump and his militarized troops on the streets of the United States of America are the people who stood in line outside the California Museum last night. The people who were in New Jersey and in Virginia and in New York City and in 2026, as he said in that clip that you played all across America, as the House of Representatives is on the left line.
- [29:59]
B
You know, Newsom's unapologetic sort of moral clarity around immigration is. It's not singular. JB Pritzker is similarly on offense around questions of immigration, but the entire Democratic Party is not. Why is that the case?
- [30:18]
F
Well, let me just say to your point about Pritzker, there was reporting today that on the north side of Chicago, there were armed ICE agents going into a private daycare and detaining one of the teachers. There were reports that they did not have a warrant. Like, this isn't just happening in isolation in California. It is happening coast to coast. And you are right to call out Pritzkers as one of the people who understands this. I don't know what stops someone from having the moral clarity or bravery to say, this is not who we are as a nation, or at least to say, this is not what he promised you. He promised you he was going to go after criminals. And what you're watching is moms and dads be pulled from their cars without explanation or without reason. And you are seeing US Citizens, citizens very often getting swept up in this mix. And on top of that, I mean, if you are not a brave politician, right, if you need the political will in order to do and say the right thing, it is there. To your point, you did not see, I mean, given, I get that we're talking about Virginia and New Jersey, but you did not see some big anti immigrant wing come out and drive the vote. To the contrary, what you saw is that even though in polling, which is deeply imperfect, people never say, this is my top issue. This is my burning issue. Yeah. If you can't pay the rent and you can't pay your electricity bill, then you cite that as your top issue. But I talked to so many. I talked to one woman yesterday, Nicole. Her husband was in the hospital. She's about my age. She's about your age. Her husband had just had a stroke.
- [31:38]
B
You were younger than me.
- [31:39]
F
Okay, Potato, potato. She left the hospital. She left her husband's side because she said, I can't watch people in my community get ripped off of the streets. This isn't who we are as a country. So the political case is there, the moral case is there. It is time to get on board. Because I think history is going to look unkindly, not just on the people who were aggressively anti immigrant and thought Stephen Miller was doing the right thing, but the people who were not brave enough to call him out.
- [32:07]
B
It is a stunning moment. And I wonder how you stitch together the no Kings protests, the drumbeat, the steady production of unapologetically violent ice, disappearances of American citizens included in their ranks, and the results lost.
- [32:27]
C
How do you stitch them together? Well, I guess you stitch them together by.
- [32:33]
B
Or do you. I mean, I'm not. I don't want to force them all together. They're sort of dots that we see before us, but we consume a lot of news.
- [32:40]
F
Can I stitch one thing together?
- [32:41]
B
Sure.
- [32:41]
F
I think it is an opportunity for state and local leaders to look at what happened. Because on an issue like immigration, it's really. I mean, it's a federal issue and it's easy to see it that way. But there was a strong message to folks in Virginia and New Jersey. You got to shore up your counties, you got to shore up your cities. Cities. You gotta make sure that you are the final line of defense here.
- [32:58]
C
I think that we have gotten in this habit of saying that Trump in the campaign, that he kind of was a bait and switch, that he kind of said, we're going to get rid of, we're just going to deport the most dangerous criminals. And that people got convinced that that was all he was saying. It's not really true. I mean, he said a lot of things in the campaign. He talked about numbers of deporting as many as 20 million people. He sometimes would, sometimes I say 12 million. The mass deportation signs at the convention, which we do cite, sometimes. Do people think that mass deportation meant that we were just going to. That Trump was just going to try to deport egregious criminals? I think he sent mixed messages. And one of the things that people, because they're decent, kind of assumed was, well, you know, he's going to end up. He'll be constrained in some way. He'll end up on the low end because that will be popular. And trying to deport 20 million people is going to be massively unreasonable, popular, and it's gonna generate these horrific images that we're seeing. And what I think everyone didn't have a sense of was just the moral cravenness and monstrousness, not just of Trump, but of people around him who were driving this policy, because it is, I don't wanna. Trump is the president of the United States. He's responsible for these policies. But, you know, listen to Stephen Miller. Listen to some of the people who are the most active advocates of this. It is scary. And I think maybe it was beyond a lot of people's ability to comprehend that that is where. And that's why we're all having such a hard time processing it now because the consequences of it are kind of obvious. If you try to deport 20 million people, of course you're going to have these horrible images like that toddler in the car. It's a good way. Nothing good about any of this except that it is clarifying and it is a wake up call to everybody that this is where we are. And as Gavin Newsom was saying right now, this is what's on the line.
- [34:49]
B
Exactly. Jacob, thank you so much for coming back. I know you had a late night. Thank you. Coming back and leading. I can't talk. You can come off.
- [34:57]
F
It's three hours earlier.
- [35:00]
B
I know, I know. But he was up later to make up for it. Thank you so much for starting us off today, my friend.
- [35:05]
D
Thanks.
- [35:06]
B
After the break, how are the other big wins? Last night will help shape the future and the message and the mojo and the vibes of the Democratic Party heading into next year and beyond. Much, much more ahead when we come back. Don't go anywhere today. The connection between the guests on the show is the show. All that we do is put together people who are smart, people who are brave, people who are honest and lots of times people who've never met each other to have a conversation that has never happened before. But on that day deepens everyone's understanding about the moment in which we gather.
- [35:46]
A
Deadline White House with Nicole Wallace, weekdays from 4 to 6pm Eastern on MSNBC.
- [35:57]
F
As the president is backing away from.
- [35:59]
B
This ideal, cutting snap, ripping away health.
- [36:01]
F
Care, terminating gateway, we here in New.
- [36:06]
B
Jersey are bound to fight for a.
- [36:08]
D
Different future for our children.
- [36:13]
F
You all chose leadership that will focus relentlessly on what matters most. Lowering costs, keeping our communities safe and strengthening our economy for every Virginia.
- [36:31]
C
For as long as we can remember.
- [36:33]
E
The working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the.
- [36:38]
F
Well connected that power does not belong in their hands. Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it.
- [36:50]
C
The future is in our hands.
- [36:56]
B
It was a huge night for Democrats. As we said, the margins are of the story. They all won, but the margins were stunning. And while they seem very different on paper, one is a former naval officer and federal prosecutor, another former CIA officer and a former housing counselor, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America. But last night, they were united in their overwhelming victories by their relentless focus on affordability in their campaigns. I want to bring into our coverage managing editor of the Bulwark, MSNBC contributor Sam Stein. Felicia and Don are still here. Sam, your thoughts to these big wins last night in Virginia, New Jersey and New York City?
- [37:39]
G
Well, I mean, they're just mammoth wins right across the board. We're talking about margins that Democrats on their most optimistic day would have loved. And yet they got them. And as you note, they got them from a variety of different directions. Right. You have sort of moderates here. You have Mamdani, who's obviously not a moderate. You have state, state races in Mississippi and Georgia. So not just bluish states, but swing states and even red states. You obviously have the redistricting battles, which is not just in California that matters, but because of the margins in Virginia. You're very likely to see redistricting in that state that will net Democrats two to three seats. And I think there's sort of a unifying theory of the case. It's that one, Trump is deeply unpopular in ways that I think people don't fully grasp, even though the polling data shows that he's unpopular. And two, is that all these candidates, to a degree, did focus on affordability. They focused on Costa Goods, the economics of the moment, and whether they were a Democratic socialist or a former fighter pilot turned moderate Democrat. That was the main theme, and it worked up and down the ballot. So a smashing success night for Democrats. And as we've talked to them throughout the day today and late last night, they are now looking at, you know, new possibilities for the map in 2026 because of this formula.
- [39:01]
B
Sam, you've got a heavy assist in what is either Donald Trump's ignorance or lies. I'm not going to play it, but I want to read you his answer to Norah o' Donnell when she asks about the thing that Donald Trump ran on, which was, quote, lowering the prices of the grocery. Maybe he didn't realize we bought plural groceries. Maybe that's the problem. But Nora says people, people who are not invested in the stock market. And he says, sure. But Nora says they've seen their grocery prices go up. Inflation, Trump, quote, no, you're wrong. They went up under Biden. He's been president. He won a year ago. He's been president for nine months. And even Donald Trump conceded during the transition between his victory, which was one Standing in front of melting groceries at Bedminster and a news conference taken by every network, including this one, where he prom that everything behind him would go down, everything has gone up. So it is either saying something that he knows isn't true or the quality of information making its way to him being told things that aren't true. Either way, the results last night show that the lived experience has gotten to the American people in a way that either debunks Trump's lies or renders them irrelevant to the political equation. How do you see that proceeding over the next 12 months ahead of the middle terms?
- [40:25]
G
I think it's the lived experience thing that you're talking about, right? I mean, you can BS your way through a lot of stuff. You can spin, you can, you know, use channels of disinformation or misinformation to your advantage. But at some point in time, people do buy groceries and they go into the grocery store and they recognize that the prices haven't gone down. And in some cases they gone up. We know this because this happened with Joe Biden, right? Like, people live the experience. No matter what the Biden White House was telling them, they knew that the prices were not going down as fast as they wanted them to go down. Now, in this particular case, there's an added element here, which is you have a president saying, no, don't believe your own eyes. But also you have a president who's simultaneously building a new ballroom for himself, gilded, a gold crusted White House Oval Office for himself, that has a great Gatsby party on Halloween with women dancing in martini men, big martini glasses. And there is a real disconnect. Now, I don't know if every voter saw these images and said, you know what, I'm going to vote for the Democrats. But I do know that those images didn't help. They created a terrible contrast. And nor did it help that Donald Trump is presiding over a government shutdown. And finally, I will just say one other thing. What worked very well for Donald Trump in 2024 was that he was able to use culture war issues as a way edge. In addition to going after Joe Biden on issues of inflation, he was able to say, look, the border is open, the cities are filled with crime, transgender rights are run amok, things and things and things like that. Now, when you're in power, those cultural issues aren't. You can't use them as effectively as a wedge issue anymore. And we saw that in Virginia, for instance, and even in New Jersey to a degree. So those aren't as disposal. And on top of that, he can't spin away the issues of inflation.
- [42:15]
B
I mean, the only thing I would. It's not eventually the price every. In my house, we buy groceries every day. The grocery online, I buy groceries. A lot of people are buying groceries, like, four or five days a week. And whoever you voted for and for whatever rationale you cast that vote, you are like, smacked in the face with the price of everything every day. I want to talk about the smashing of the glass ceilings that took place. I have to sneak in a break before we do that. We'll be right back. On the other side.
- [42:53]
F
It'S the people.
- [42:55]
B
The people that have left the biggest mark.
- [42:58]
F
The little girls who come up to.
- [43:00]
B
Me to say that they're going to.
- [43:01]
F
Be a governor or they're going to be a president.
- [43:07]
B
It reminds me of my own belief.
- [43:09]
F
That anything was possible. Just a few minutes ago, Adam said to our daughters, your mom's going to be the governor of Virginia. And I can guarantee those words have never been spoken in Virginia ever before. It's a big deal that the girls and the young women I have met along the campaign trail now know with certainty that they can achieve anything. It's a big deal to the women older than I am who forged the path in dreams, hard work, and in a belief that change and progress would be possible so that so many of us could follow in their footsteps.
- [44:14]
B
We're back. Alicia, Mikey Sherrill and Abigail Spamberger had whopping wins last night. So whatever the chatter was about, particularly Mikey Sherrill's campaign, which was a lot of hand wringing, that was all inaccurate and it may have been well intentioned.
- [44:30]
F
But it was wrong.
- [44:32]
B
Her numbers were stunning. Her performance last night was fantastic, and that Spamberger speech was one for the ages. Are we any closer to seeing women candidates? Clearly, I don't know.
- [44:50]
F
What I do know is that all that hand wringing, it's amazing how message discipline for a man is being too scripted for a woman. Like, there's still dealing with nonsense and double standards like that. I think they're both interesting, too, because they do have these national security backgrounds and they are moms of four and three, respectively, which sort of subverts gender expectations and creates this really complex profile of both. Like, I understand where you're coming from and don't mess with me. I can keep you safe. There was another gender dynamic that I thought was really interesting coming out of the exit polls. And my husband is a data science nerd, but he has given me Permission to talk about exit poll polls this one time only, which is you saw young men coming out for both Democratic female candidates and that is a big deal given this sort of swing that you have been seeing among young men towards the conservative movement. And at the same time there was still a whopping gender gap in both states. There was 25 points between where Gen Z women were and where Gen Z men was. And I think as the Democratic Party moves to forward, I would almost like put aside this question of the gender of the candidate and focus more on what is happening in the electorate between young women and young men.
- [46:04]
B
Sam, these were fantastic victory speeches. They all are. Mondavi too. I was making my way from the studio to home so I watched some of that in replay. But the sort of contagious vibes of all the winning. How long do those last do you think?
- [46:22]
F
Think?
- [46:25]
G
I don't know. I honestly don't know. Certainly Democrats feel really giddy about what happened last night. You can see a future in which they feel like the map is expanded where candidates see possibilities that didn't exist before. Where a D +8 electorate actually opens up real chances for the Senate. That's contagious, right? If you're talking about contagious, that's the way it's going to go. There's be special elections between now and then. There always are. But obviously everything comes down to the mid terms and if this climate holds, and that's a real question, but if this climate holds, that could end up being, you know, something that even redistricting by Republicans cannot overcome. That could in theory be something where Democrats do net the Senate. They would need to get to 51 seats. So that's, that's what you're talking about this morning, the night after what we just saw.
- [47:16]
B
It's stunning. It's just a stunning reversal in sort of the fate and what we think works and what we understand that voters will sort of take in and process. From a complicated narrative around Prop 50 to women candidates to a dynamic outsider in New York city. Just stunning.
- [47:34]
C
74 governors in the history of Virginia. 74. She's the 75th first woman. Patrick Henry, 1776. She's the first one in 74 men before you got the first woman.
- [47:45]
B
It's awesome.
- [47:46]
D
Incredible. Incredible.
- [47:47]
B
Sam Stein, Alicia Menendez, John Halman, thank you guys so much for being here for prophecy me up without enough sleep. Up next, a big case at the Supreme Court today on Donald Trump's tariff regime. Another big hour news ahead. Don't go anywhere. There's a big change coming to this network. We will still seek the truth. We will still follow the story. The big change, the only change, is our new name. Same mission, new name.
- [48:12]
A
MSNBC becomes Ms. Now. November 15th.