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- [00:00]
A
Hey everybody, it's Rachel Maddow here. Forgive me popping into your feed like this, but I wanted to tell you that more than a dozen of us from Ms. Now are going to be in Texas on Saturday, September 26th. I'm going to be there. Lawrence O' Donnell will be there. So will Jen Psaki and Stephanie Rule and Ali Velshi and Chris Hayes and Jacob Soboroff and Simone Sanders Townsend and, and, and a whole bunch of us are all going to be there in Texas. Tickets start at just over 30 bucks each. It's in Arlington, just outside Dallas. There's a ton to do there. If you come, you'll get to meet all of us. You'll also get to meet every all these other great people from our great msnow community. We'd love to see you. And if you buy a ticket to the Texas event, you will get access to our new MSNow membership free for a year. We're really excited about it. It launches later this summer. You'll be able to talk with me, talk with some of the other hosts. But tickets for Texas are on sale now. You can learn more @ms. Now together. Hope to see you in Texas.
- [01:02]
B
Hi there everyone. It's 4 o' clock in the EAS. It is a five alarm political fire for Donald Trump and his MAGA Republican Party as poll after poll after poll shows Trump reaching new lows seemingly by the day and bringing his party down with him. It appears to be driven by the dumpster fire of an economy. In the telling of voters, the pollster Nate Silver has found that Trump's aggregated polling is near rock bottom. Just 38% approving of his job performance on average and a record 58% of all Americans on average disapproving of Donald J. Trump. That is the lowest that anyone has reached at this point in their term since the year 1946. Not surprisingly, those new lows are driven by voters anger and frustration with Donald Trump's economic record. Trump is underwater 28 points on his handling of the economy, wants a strong suit for him. Just 33% approve. An eye popping 43% underwater on his handling of inflation, which is 26% approving. In the face of these historic lows, Trump hit the road to try to, we surmise, improve his standing with voters somehow on this issue of the economy. Here's how Trump tried to do that last night in Vegas trying to make the case for his historically unpopular economic performance. Watch.
- [02:27]
C
And when gasoline, when oil goes down, we may have to send it up again. I used to say that tariffs are my favorite word. I love tariffs. They're my favorite word in the dictionary. Tariff. I love tariffs. Right. I call them Democrats because their policies are so dumb. Dumb. You exchange the E with the U and nobody knows that dumb doesn't have a B. We inherited a terrible mess. I inherited a mess from Obama. I saw polls today on television say Donald Trump polls on the economy aren't good. The economy is the greatest economy we've ever had by far. The economy aren't good. They're fake polls, just like fake writers.
- [03:13]
B
The economy is the best economy we've had by far. To prove it to you, I'm going to switch the E to a U in the word Democrats. Okay. Bring it on, I guess, is the response. Spoken like a president who might be about to lose his TV time. He wasn't done there, though. This was a remarkable speech. Take a look at the whole thing if you have an extra, I don't know, hour and a half to kill. He went on to tell the crowd gathered there to see him and listen to his word games. Letter swaps in Las Vegas, Nevada, that if they do nothing else, they must vote for Michael Whatley for governor. He was really specific about that. Now, two problems. Whatley is not running for governor. Whatley is running for Senate. Whatley is not running for Senate in Nevada. He is running for Senate, not governor, in the state of North Carolina, which happens to be 2,000 miles away from where Donald Trump was last night. And yes, everyone misspeaks, including me. But Donald Trump told the crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada, to vote for Whatley for governor twice. Two times. Donald Trump telling voters to trust him and not their own eyes or ears or wallets, even as his base turns away from him, is where we begin today with Democratic strategist Liz Smith. She's an advisor for majority Democrats and the bench. Also back with us, my friend and colleague, senior political analyst, host of the Runaway country podcast, author of the substack how the hell Alex Wagner is back. Wags, I've missed you. I'm glad you're back with us. I know you've been podcasting and busy, busy doing all your own things. But so much has happened and I try not to watch a lot of Trump content live. I sort of need to know what I'm getting into. It's actually how I read thrillers as well. I need to know how they end these days. But this was amazing. And I sort of think maybe we should all go offline someday and, like, watch one of these speeches together and just stop every time he says something wrong, crazy, deranged or politically damaging. Cuz he did all of that over and over again last night.
- [05:31]
D
I'd rather like go get a joint colonoscopy with you than watch Trump speeches in my free time with you. But having said that, I also try and avoid them, but the one last night was a real humdinger. First of all, when you are the president and you are on the campaign trail and you are stumping for someone else, like the one thing you're supposed to do is get the name of the candidate right, and the fact that he's stumping for someone 2,000 miles away tells you all you need to know about Trump's mental state and his intellectual acuity. The other piece of it that I think is really interesting is Las Vegas tourism is down by, I think, almost double digits because foreign tourists, including Canadians, Mexicans and Europeans are not going to this strip. Why aren't they going? Could it be that Donald Trump has decimated our relationship with European allies and Canadians has taken retributive economic measures and all those tourists are like, why would I go to the United States? Why would I go to Las Vegas? I mean, the idea that somehow Lombardo, who's the, you know, Republican recognitorial candidate in this race, is pointing to Trump's stewardship of the economy as something to wrap his arms around. Very questionable political strategy in a state like Nevada, to say nothing of the fact that once Trump gets up there, he can't even remember who he's dumping for. So, yeah, like, all of these data points like events like last night go a long way in showing why, as Nate Silver points out in his column today on Substack, he's underwater on issues where he used to be healthily in the net positive. I think he's dropped like, I think I wrote down the number here. On the economy, he went from a positive 0.7.3 approval rating to a net negative 28.8 rating. I mean, that is just hemorrhaging support on the issue that keeps you in, in office. So good luck to all the Republicans whose names Trump can't remember who he's going on the campaign trail for
- [07:21]
B
this, this person who actually is a Republican governor spoke. So I don't know why Whatley was in his brain, but I really am curious, Liz, if you think he didn't know, let me show you the guy. This is the Republican governor of Nevada.
- [07:37]
C
Quite often when the press and the media runs them down, they think about you know, he's taking care of his billionaire friends. But those billionaire friends provide jobs. And unless you take care of them, those jobs are absent.
- [08:01]
B
So first of all, MAGA has gone from make America great again to warm fuzzies for all the billionaires. Quote, take care of them. That's the new message. But do you think he didn't know who that was or do you think he didn't know where he was? Like, why do you think two times he calls out the Senate candidate in North Carolina?
- [08:19]
E
Well, I think Whatley had a pretty bad day yesterday. It turned out that he had called for getting rid of fema. So maybe that's why he was on the brain. But can we just go back to what Lombardo said? That's sort of comment that you usually get from like a fundraiser that leaks. Instead, he just went out and said that just in front of all the media, in front of a big crowd and sort of giving away what the Republicans priorities are. But I want to go back to one thing that Alex said that was really smart was talking about how the tourism industry in Nevada has been hit hard by Trump's policies. And that's how I think Democrats are going to be able to win this argument. Not just by saying, okay, Trump is bad, but talking about the local impacts and things that they would do differently. You mentioned I'm advisor to groups like the Bench and Majority Democrats. And at the Bench, what we do is we find oftentimes first time candidates, people who have a lot of experience in their communities who can speak uniquely to the things going on, not in like legislative speak that we all know Democrats often fall into. And when Bobby Polito in South Texas goes out and talks about the affordability crisis, he talks about how ICE rates are raising prices. He goes with the South Texas builders and says these ICE raids are creating labor shortages that are raising home prices. Average home price per House by 10 to $20,000. We have people like Jamie Yeager, a farmer and a small businessman who talks about USDA cuts, how they cut, you know, a big contract he had to give homegrown beef to local schools. And how the Trump's policies, Trump administration's policies are waging war on family farmers. And I think having that sort of perspective where we can criticize Trump but also talk about the local effects of this and how it's hitting people at home is really, really important.
- [10:20]
B
The other thing, Alex, is you, there are really skilled politicians, I think, like what Liz is talking about, but you can sort of be a middling politician and Just roll down your window at a gas station and talk to people. I mean, this is what Trump voters are saying. To our colleague Alex Tab. I was hoping that gas was gonna go down so I could do something. You know, you can't do anything with gas prices and you just can't. You can't afford to breathe at this point. I can get laid off tomorrow. Then I'm pretty much homeless.
- [10:58]
F
Cause, you know, you can't save now.
- [11:00]
B
No, I'm good on Trump. That's all I got to say.
- [11:05]
F
What does it feel like to be living in these conditions right now, in these economic conditions right now?
- [11:11]
B
Hurt, very hurt. I try to do. Sorry I cried. I try to do a lot for my kids, and I can't do much.
- [11:23]
F
If you could send a message to the president right now, what would you tell him?
- [11:26]
B
He needs to look out for the American people instead of himself.
- [11:30]
F
Put us first. Does America feel great again?
- [11:33]
B
No, not at all, Alex. I find it tragic that Trump doesn't care about the economic plight of. Let's just stipulate he's never cared about people that didn't vote for him, but even the people that voted for him. That he doesn't care about the economic pain of people that voted for him is a tragedy. And it provides an opportunity for Democratic candidates who have an ear to the ground, who understands this real pain. But it should be a wake up call for it shouldn't matter what party you're in when people are in tears, asked about how they're affording life and gas.
- [12:14]
D
Yeah, that mother with the two kids at the gas station is just wrenching. Right? I mean, you can feel the anguish and like the concern she must have on her day to day just being able to afford doctor's appointments or hamburger meat or gas. And that is the essence of why people are giving Trump such low ratings on the economy and are feeling so much anguish, I think directed, to be honest, at both parties, because this issue has been ignored for years now. But like, you know, the Donald Trump never cared about the poor and working class. He cared about them only so far as they were politically expeditious for him that they gave him. They formed some part of his unswerving MAGA base that like, rode with him come hell or high water. And now he's seeing a real break between him and white, rural, in some cases suburban voters who were once part of his core group of supporters who've had enough. Like that guy said, I'm good. I like, I'm done, I'm done. Filling my plate up at the Trump buffet because it all tastes like crap. And, you know, like, the reality is that while Trump has worn the mantle of someone who cares about the working class, it is hard. He's up there with Governor Lombardo and he applauds the lines like, you know, Trump cares about billionaires because he cares about billionaires. His goal in office has been to amass the most amount of power possible and to turn a profit. And on that, he's executed quite well. You know, he's made $2 billion in his first year in office. That's the goal, is to help billionaires make more money and become, I don't know, trillionaires. That's the essence of what Trump is about. He's a malignant narcissist who cares about profit above all else, and especially and specifically profit that serves him, his allies, and his family members. The price of gas doesn't matter to Donald Trump. It only matters to the people who, you know, thus far are in the crosshairs of the desperation in the American economy.
- [14:04]
B
72% of Americans disapprove of the experience of the price of gas and blame Trump squarely for the price of gas buying. I guess the Trump argument that it's worth it to achieve an aim, I can't explain to you in Iran. And 80% say that this bad economy will either stay the same or get worse. How do Democrats speak directly and specifically, incredibly, to 80% of Americans right now? Liz?
- [14:34]
E
Yeah, so I think some of the examples I provided before being concrete, talking about how this is affecting your local community. But I also think that there's something to what you and Alex are talking about, this sort of lack of empathy that is coming from Trump here. And, you know, you can sort of argue with inflation stats, you can't argue with the price of gas. Right. Because people see it every day, every week, when they go to fill up their tank. But Democrats do have an opportunity to go to people, you know, people who are either Republicans or maybe independents, Democrats, who voted for Trump last time and say, look, I understand that you voted for Donald Trump last night last time. I understand we might not agree on every issue, but one thing I understand is the pain that you're feeling right now, the pain you feel when you're filling up your pump, when you're paying your electricity bill, when you're paying your mortgage. And I might not get everything perfect. I might not agree with you on everything, but I will work every day to lower your costs. And I think providing that sort of empathy, that understanding and also just permission to say we might disagree on some other issues. It gives Democrats an opportunity when it feels like the Republicans are just sort of falling in line behind Donald Trump and doing the same sort of bluster and gaslighting on all these really, really bad economic stats that we're seeing.
- [16:11]
B
Let me show you what conservative radio host Eric Erickson said about at least one Democrat's ability to listen to and respond to voters in his state.
- [16:24]
F
You talk to farmers in South Georgia, they can get him on the phone, they can get his staff on the phone.
- [16:29]
A
They can get help.
- [16:30]
F
You talk to Republicans in Houston county, very Republican part of the state. They know they can reach out to Ossoff. And he doesn't care that they're Republican. If they need something, he's going to get it done.
- [16:43]
B
So I would cut that into a commercial. That is right wing radio host Eric Erickson talking about how Senator Ossoff is a senator for all Georgians, how Republicans and Democrats, no litmus test to serving their needs, which, yeah, in this day and age, that makes him stand out. I mean, that is not what Trump believes. That is not how Trump has directed his government to govern. That is not terrorism. Funds aren't going to blue states if Trump has his way. Neither is disaster relief if Trump has his way. And here you have a right wing radio host attesting to the fact that that is not the way of Senator Jon Ossoff. Alex?
- [17:28]
D
Yeah, I mean, that's like the job of being a good senator. Right. And I think the most successful leaders that we have in American politics are the ones who are most who maintain and strengthen the ties they have to their constituents. And you know, I covered Ossoff when he was still a candidate on the ground in Georgia and he relentlessly on message talking about the issues that Georgians care about. And that has extended very much into his career in the Senate. I mean, you see him on national television sometimes, but, you know, that's a concerted effort to it's a donor push more than it is an ability to talk to his people, because when he needs to talk to his people, he talks to them in Georgia. And I think that that's both a testament to his desire to actually serve them and also his understanding that, like, being tenacious on the part of Georgians is what he's supposed to be doing in the Senate. And I will say, you know, one of the reasons Susan Collins is so difficult to defeat is because she is relentlessly focused on Mainers. And I will say to the, you know, to the demise of our democracy in many cases occasions. But she, she has a very good record locally and people kind of ask like why has she proven to be so difficult to defeat? That's the essence of it. Donald Trump couldn't care less. He has no idea what's happening with the American people. He is politic the federal government and weaponized it not against just his allies but against blue states in which many of his people actually reside. I mean he does the counter to the prevailing wisdom that to be a successful politician you keep the poly, the people at the root of what you do each and every day.
- [19:01]
B
Such a stunning contrast. And then when you hear it coming out of the mouth of right wing radio host, all the more stunning. All right, no one's going anywhere. When we come back, there'll be more. Michigan Democrat Mallory McMurral will join our conversation on getting her party together on one unified mission. With less than 90 days to go ahead of the midterms to put his check on Donald Trump. Plus the attacks and now the contempt of Congress referral. Rand Paul leading the obsessed charge against Dr. Anthony Fauci. How he and some of Fauci's most vocal critics are benefiting financially by attacking him. We'll get to that ahead. And later in the broadcast, Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth reportedly had a little spat was over the war in Iran specifically who knew what about the size of our munition supply. Trump in a non denial denial threatening to imprison people for reporting on a meeting he says never happened. All those stories and much more when Deadly White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.
- [20:04]
G
There's a lot of news to cover. Money, the economic fallout from the war, Is it temporary power? Is this White House for sale?
- [20:12]
H
Politics.
- [20:12]
G
What is your message to the country right now?
- [20:14]
H
Money, power politics. With Stephanie rule, weekdays at 9am Eastern
- [20:18]
B
on Ms. Now, what issues motivated you
- [20:22]
D
in this election specifically?
- [20:25]
I
Well, prices way too high. Yes, yes, that, that's one. And just, well, everything going on right now, we just need, we just need to come together. We just need every, everybody, we need everybody to vote no matter who you vote for. And we just need to come together and get the prices down, get stop fighting foreign wars. And we just need to rein in this administration a little bit more.
- [21:05]
B
That's our colleague Ali Vitale. She's talking to Michigan voters who said that the economy was the main driver in their decisions as to who they voted for in Tuesday's Michigan primary. I want to bring into Our coverage, Democratic Michigan State Senator Mallory McMurrow. She ran for the U.S. senate. She endorsed Dr. Abdul El Sayed yesterday after he emerged as the nominee. You were on the ballot and a lot of people voted for you, and this was a razor thin election. I wondered just how that felt. Just take me through sort of what election night felt like for you.
- [21:43]
F
Yeah, you know, it was surprising in a lot of ways. I think a lot of people looked at polls and they looked at trajectories and they looked at how things were going in Michigan and had made up their mind about what was about to happen in Michigan. And if there's anything that is consistent about Michigan, you never have any idea what's gonna happen in Michigan. But as I left the Democratic Party unity breakfast this morning, one of the things that I shared there and that I take away from what happened on Tuesday is there was all this talk about which direction is the Democratic Party going? Are we going more progressive? Is it outsiders? Is it establishment? Is it experience? The results told me that Michiganders rejected that premise entirely. And we decided to grow the party. The turnout was amazing. We set record turnout in the governor's race as an example. There were 900,000 voters who came out to vote in the Republican primary. There were 1.5 million voters who came out and voted in the Democratic primary. Two thirds of votes in the primary went to Democrats. And if we're able to hold on to that energy, that enthusiasm as we head into November, we will elect Abdullah Sayed to be our next senator. We will elect Jocelyn Benson to be our next governor. We will win all of the swing congressional districts and we will take an overwhelming majority in the state House, in the state Senate, and be the blueprint for where the Democratic Party needs to go. It's not left or center or directional. It's get bigger. This is how we grow. This is how we win. We saw that there were a lot of growing pains in this process. When you're growing, are growing pains. But this morning felt good. We are united and we're going to go and win big in November.
- [23:35]
B
You have a great political mind and sense. I mean, you have to be aware of the national conversation. I'll read you some of the New York Times reporting. Quote, moderate Democrats prepare for war against an ascendant left. The embattled establishment of the Democratic Party searched furiously for a political reset after Dr. Abdul El Sayed his progressive victory in Michigan handed the party's long dominant moderate wing its most painful defeat of the year. The head of this group, Jonathan Cowan is quoted as saying, we're preparing for the next war that is coming. They plan to spend $15 million between now and 2028 to discredit Democratic socialism. The story goes on to say this, quote, their fear, Dr. El Sayed is paving the way for a progressive to seize the party's presidential nomination in 2028 and then go on to lose the general election. What do you think of that analysis?
- [24:29]
F
Michiganders cannot afford for there to be a Democratic Party war right now. And politics is not a game. It's not. I want to give a lot of credit to Abdul, who reached out to me after I dropped out of this race and we had some hard conversations, but good conversations and we found a shared why in our daughters. He is the dad of two girls. I've got a daughter myself. And if we stick to the basics of what unites us, wanting a better life for our kids and a better state for our kids and you know, two of the top things he ran on in his message were money out of politics, money back in your pocket. That's a pretty unifying message. And if we are really serious about building a big tent Democratic Party, we may have different ideas of how to get there. But you look at the contrast in a state like Michigan where just days ago Donald Trump came into our state and you had all of the Republicans on stage with him. You had John James, who is now the gubernatorial nominee on the Republican side, who introduced Donald Trump as the three time winner of Michigan. That's disqualifying. It is a flat out lie. It is promoting the president's lies about these elections, these conspiracy theories that is not only wildly disrespectful to Michiganders, but frankly, dangerous Congress to clerks, to election workers, to people who were doing the job of facilitating our elections. Then you've got Mike Rogers who on that same stage said that the most important job for the next senator from Michigan is to have somebody who doesn't obstruct the President's agenda. So I stood again with Democrats this morning and the stakes could not be clearer. It's not Democrats versus Republicans. It's Michigan versus maga. That's it. That's the fight that we are fighting. And if we do this and we do it successfully, then we learn how Democrats can grow this party where it's not about factions and it's not about fighting each other. It's about bringing everybody into a big tent where we can argue, we can fight and we can come out the other side and we can win.
- [26:46]
B
Well, arguably no one would benefit more from the big tent than the Democratic establishment. Why did they, to a person, line up against the person who Michigan ultimately chose in the Democratic primary?
- [26:59]
F
I just want to celebrate what Michigan has done within the last 48 hours. You know, I made a commitment before the election that however the election went, I was going to immediately endorse the nominee in the Senate race, show up at their event. Now, in pure Michigan fashion, the race was called too late for me to physically go to an event, but I stood with Abdul at his press conference yesterday morning. And Governor Whitmer endorsed Haley Stevens. Congresswoman Stevens endorsed. She stood alongside Abdul this morning, hugged him, talk about his qualifications. We are showing what it looks like when progressives, establishment, experienced outsiders, all come together and recognize that we can have family fights. That's okay. And we're going to figure out how to grow and we're going to go through tough conversations and challenges. But at this moment, when we have a president in the Oval Office who doesn't care about this country, he cares about patting his own pockets and supporting his own family and building his wealth. What, $4 billion that we know of, that he's earned since taking this presidency or taken since taking this presidency again, building a billion dollar ballroom. The only way we win is together. And I have never been prouder to be a Michigan Democrat because we're showing that it doesn't have to be hard. We don't have to tear each other down. We can lock arms and we can take our country back.
- [28:34]
B
I hear you. I would join you in making all those criticisms of Donald Trump, but. But I just want to give voice to the people who feel the same way you do about Donald Trump and have these concerns. This is also from the New York Times Today about Dr. El Sayed. Quote, he embraced people in positions that strategists say carry political peril in a moderate state like Michigan. Dr. El Sayed has campaigned with Hasan Piker, the Marxist streamer, who. Who critics say has stoked anti Semitic sentiment, a charge he denies throughout his campaign. Dr. El Sayed has called Israel's government, quote, evil and its actions in Gaza, quote, a genocide. And he supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Do you agree with him on those positions?
- [29:26]
F
We have healing to do. We do. You know, I said publicly.
- [29:31]
B
Do you agree with those statements?
- [29:34]
F
I agree that we've got to win in November and we are never going to agree with each other on everything. There's a reason that I was in this race. I believed that I had the ability to Offer the best of hopefully both sides, establishment and progressive. There wasn't a path for me this time. And that's okay. At our Democratic Party convention a few months back, there was an attendee who screamed an anti Semitic slur in my husband's face with my five year old daughter. I am not saying that this work is easy. It's not. It's not easy. But the stakes are too high for us to be relitigating the differences we have between each other. I don't think any single Democrat in Michigan believes that ICE should continue to get the funding that it receives, period. We've seen too much damage. I don't believe any single Democrat in Michigan wants to take your health care away, wants to cut SNAP benefits, wants to rip away Social Security or voting rights. We don't. We agree on so many things. The nuances of how we do that and how we get there are to be debated. But the contrast between anything that our now nominee has said and what Mike Rogers says and what Donald Trump says and what John James says are night and day. So we need to put people in place into these offices, people who will be responsible for confirming or not confirming the next Supreme Court justice pick if there's an opening on a court, the. A decision that will impact not only the next few years, but potentially the rest of my life and my daughter's life. Those are the stakes. And we are going to disagree, and we should. But we can't lose sight of the stakes. Not in a state like Michigan and not in this country.
- [31:37]
B
And just at a personal level, from your personal meetings, I mean, what was it that made you comfortable enough to very publicly endorse, as you said, someone with whom you have personal differences? And what would you say to other people who are not comfortable yet doing what you've done, throwing their support behind him? All of or not all, but a lot of establishment Democrats who aren't where you already are. Yeah.
- [32:06]
F
Look, first I want to point to the ticket that we have now. It is Abdul Al Said, it's Jocelyn Benson. It's Garland Gilchrist, our current Lieutenant Governor, who's our Secretary of State nominee. It's Ellie Savitt running for Attorney General. We have the most diverse ticket that we've ever had in Michigan, not just by ethnicity and gender and background, but also by flavor of Democrat. So what I hope is that people look at the entire ticket and the entire team. I hope that everyone can find themselves in our Democratic Party. Even if there is one candidate or a particular view that you don't disagree with because no single office holder can do this work alone. We are a team. We work as a team at every single level. And in a lot of the conversations that I've been having, you know, where I felt so comfortable was, you know, it's simple. It's not just politics. It's when I stepped back, I got a phone call from him almost right away and he asked for feedback and he asked what it was like running together over the last year and a half, what went well, what didn't, what hurt. And then we just talked about our families. And I know that he comes from a good place and cares deeply about the future of our state. And those values that we share make me comfortable. And it knows that there is a willingness to have those conversations when we have a debate. And that's what I'm looking for in any elected official that you're willing to listen and you're willing to take in feedback and that you take seriously the responsibility, not just of your own views, but representing for us all, 10 million people in one of the most diverse states in the country.
- [33:58]
B
State Senator Mallory McMurraw, we really appreciate getting to talk to you any day in any news cycle. But thank you especially for taking some time to talk to us today about all this. I appreciate you.
- [34:11]
F
Thanks, Nicole.
- [34:13]
B
Coming up next for us, Senator Rand Paul continuing his dark obsession with Dr. Anthony Fauci. But those attacks aren't just a political obsession. They may also be motivated by the grift, by money. We'll explain next.
- [34:32]
G
You better eat your Wheaties today because there's a lot of news to cover.
- [34:35]
H
Money.
- [34:36]
G
Time for the business. All eyes on the new Fed chair. The economic fallout from the war is a temporary power. The president is now a major crypto, crypto industry operator. Is this White House for sale?
- [34:47]
H
Politics?
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G
Is there an energy to respond to this aggressive gerrymandering? It has never been more important to be informed and engaged.
- [34:55]
H
Money Power Politics with Stephanie rule, weekdays at 9am Eastern on Ms. Now,
- [35:03]
C
given Senator Paul's obvious obsession with calling for my prosecution, the only conclusion I can reach is that the sole reason he is calling me before this committee is to get me to say something, anything that could vindicate his repeated public pledges that I end up, in his words, quote, behind bars, unquote.
- [35:36]
B
That was last week. Dr. Anthony Fauci refused to take the bait from Republicans, specifically Republican Senator and ophthalmologist Rand Paul, who remains darkly, deeply obsessed with Fauci. And as Fauci said, they're trying to Entrap him. Fauci, of course, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the chief medical advisor to seven different presidents. And let's not forget, it was Fauci who was thrown in to rescue the country from Donald Trump. Trump's response to Covid, which was messy and incompetent at best. But today, Rand Paul led Republicans in voting to hold Fauci in contempt for what happened that day, for invoking his Fifth Amendment right not to answer their ridiculous questions, which were sort of questions disguised or abuse disguised as questions. And it turns out Rand Paul's loud and serious obsession with Fauci could also be a profit center for Rand Paul. New York Times reports this. Rand Paul, Donald Trump's health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. And even Kennedy's son have all published critical books about Dr. Fauci, whose sales may have gotten a boost from the negative public attention the men have helped generate against Fauci. And just a few hours after that hearing, RFK Jr took to social media to plug his book. And here he was on Fox News later that same day.
- [37:01]
C
I wrote a book about Anthony Fauci in 2021. It sold 1.4 million copies. It was the most heavily censored book. And many of the things that Anthony Fauci took the fifth on today were questions that I had raised in that
- [37:24]
B
back with Liz and Alex. Dark obsession is the only thing I think to say on sort of family friendly television. But Fauci lives deep inside all of their heads absolutely rent free. And it's not just a sort of politically ridiculous obsession or story. There are. He will have security for the rest of his time on this planet. Alex Bow too? Well, yeah.
- [37:52]
D
I mean, after in many doing his best to save millions and millions of American lives. I think every. It's amazing to me that people have this like memory lapse that Donald Trump was president in 2020. Donald Trump expedited the COVID 19 vaccine development. Donald Trump on January 19, 2021, gave Anthony Fauci a presidential commendation. I mean, it's like reality has escaped collective memory here. What is happening in these hearings with Rand Paul and RFK Jr. Is basically like a Senate hearing being turned into a QVC pitch for book sales. I mean, the Foushee obsession is, yes, like the worst kind of brainworm, no pun intended, when you're talking about rfk, but also a sales pitch for them to move units, move books. They're all still getting royalties from these books. And every time you mention Fauci you know, another book is sold. It's part of the broader grift that happens inside this administration where self enrichment is key. And it's why Don Jr. S wealth has exploded sixfold since his father took office again in a second term. The reality is, you know, independent of Foushee, what this administration is doing is making pretty darn sure that nobody is going to ever want to serve in public life in a key role ever again. If the, if the, you know, the purge of the deep state isn't enough for you, if the weaponization of the federal government against people who dare go to Trump isn't enough for you, you can look forward to a career like Anthony Fauci's. Whereas you point out, Nicole, he's going to have to have security for the rest of his life and has become very much a poster child of for treason for some certain section of this country. I mean, what an indictment of public service. And I do worry, in the same way that Trump's ridiculous overtures about seizing Greenland and his disastrous war in Iran have forever afraid America's ties to the global community. I really worry about what these weaponized attacks on people like Fauci will do to the recruitment and hiring of talented individuals for our federal government where we need them.
- [39:54]
E
Yeah.
- [39:55]
B
And I don't think, Liz, it's detached from the first conversation we had about the economy. I mean, this is what Republicans are doing. Instead of dealing with the price of groceries, the price of gas, or this unauthorized war in Iran, they are menacing Tony Fauci about a global pandemic that arose in 2019. They are refusing to condemn Donald Trump's lies about 2020. And I think this week, Trump stirred the pot on the 2016 election. I mean, there is no one. Politics are usually one on the future. No one's even living in the present. They're going along with Donald Trump's obsession with the very distant past.
- [40:35]
E
Yes. And I want to piggyback on something that Alex said, which is that the grift seems very ingrained in this administration and its allies, and I agree with that. But it goes even a step further. You know, first of all, for RFK Jr. The grift is nothing new. During the pandemic, he and his organization, Children's Health Defense, were the biggest, or one of the biggest super spreaders of misinformation online. And as a result, tax records showed that they profited handsomely from that to the tunes of millions of millions of dollars. So this is sort of old hat for him. But the thing that's worse about this is, whereas, you know, you see with some of these guys, it's just like, grab the money while you can, and when the administration's done, okay, they'll be richer, and that's it. And that's really bad because no one should be going into government to get rich. It's more sinister with RFK Jr because this isn't just about getting himself rich. What he's doing is pushing medical misinformation that will have a very long tail. You know, it will take root in communities. Parents will pass it down to their kids, and that's how medical misinformation spreads, and that's how people die. And that's how. And it. Do you know how hard it is to disentangle this type of medical misinformation once it takes roots in people? So to me, it's not even just about the grift. It's about the public harm, the public health harm he is doing while getting himself rich.
- [42:21]
B
Yeah, I mean, grift. It's like all Trump stories, Alex. Like, the words we used to use were enough for the things that used to happen, but because the things are now, like operational theft and. And lying. I mean, to operationalize disinformation about vaccines from inside the government needs a new set of words, because it's really not happened before.
- [42:43]
D
Well, yeah, I don't think we have had a president that has operationalized, who has lied to the American public and arguably caused death in the American public for political expedia, for political expediency. Like, we cannot forget the way the sort of denialism around the spread of the COVID 19 pandemic, then the stoking misinformation around the vaccine again, that Donald Trump's administration developed, and the fact that half those people had the vaccinations themselves. The willful betrayal of the American public, not just ethically, but in terms of their own mortality, is a level of depravity I don't think we have ever seen. And so, you know, in context with the earlier conversation we were having, Nicole, like, of course, Donald Trump doesn't care about the economics of the American working class. He doesn't care if they live or die. It's only when it comes home to be politically disadvantageous that he even tips his hat in the direction of caring.
- [43:51]
B
Yeah, it's all about the ratings. I mean, and I guess what's interesting to me from afar, having sort of covered the movement, the political movement behind Trump for a decade now, is how did he convince them that he did care when all he ever really felt a reflection of was the stock market performance and his poll numbers on the question of the economy. He never felt or cared about anyone's lived experience. All right, no one's going anywhere. After the break, I want to tell you about an update to embattled congressman and accused domestic abuser Max Miller and those growing calls for him to resign. That's next, An update to a story we've been following here all week. Ohio Republican Senator John Husted has called on Congressman Max Miller to step down from office and to end his bid for reelection. Houston has resisted doing so after days of being pressed on the issue in the wake of allegations that Max Miller physically abused his ex wife and their two year old daughter, allegations that Max Miller denies. Houston posted this statement in part on X quote, anyone who commits domestic violence is not fit to serve in Congress. The House Ethics Committee should thoroughly investigate any credible allegations and any member found to have committed domestic violence should resign from Congress immediately. Houston joins a rather small handful of Republican senators. They do include include Ohio's other senator, Bernie Moreno, who's the father of Miller's ex wife and the grandfather of Miller's two year old daughter. Terrible story. We'll stay on top of that. Liz Smith and Alex Wagner, thank you both so much for spending the hour with me. After the break, Trump standing by his man today at the Pentagon and calling the reporting on his fight with Hegseth, quote, treasonous. We'll dig into who's blaming who for what when it comes to Trump's very unpopular war in Iran. When the next hour of deadline White House starts after a very short break. Stay with us.
- [45:57]
H
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