Transcript
A (0:00)
Subscribe to MSNow Premium on Apple Podcasts for early access, ad free listening and bonus content to all of MSNOW'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 msnow shows. Ad free and ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, including Rachel Maddow Presents Burn order. Subscribe to MSNow Premium on Apple Podcasts.
B (0:34)
So when Donald Trump called up and said, give me five more seats in Texas, it is sadly no surprise that they all just said, yes, sir. And that's fundamentally what's been behind the Republican effort to rig the midterms of subservience to Donald Trump while they ignore their constituents back home. But we're seeing the American people fight back. Voters from California to Virginia and everywhere in between won't let Republicans cheat their way into holding on to power. Hi again, Everybody. It's now five o'clock in New York. In subtle yet essential ways, the events of the last 24 hours have had the effect of moving the dial on the first half of the single sentence that defines Donald Trump's midterm calculus from if all else fails to when all else fails, the second half of that sentence remains unchanged. That is, when all else fails, you steal it. Understand, Trump is in the midst of a political free fall. In all available public polling we share with you in the last hour, just one third of Americans approve the job he's doing as president. That's according to the Associated Press. So much for any attempt to try to win fair and square in the midterms. Trump's effort to rig the 2026 elections ahead of time to stack the deck has also backfired spectacularly. After California redid their maps, VA voters yesterday handed him another loss on that approach. All this while he struggles to resolve a war with Iran that he started. So when we look at what tools Trump has left, we know because he's saying that out loud, too. It's exactly what he's telegraphed over the last few months. An autocratic takeover of our election system. And we should prepare ourselves from what is clearly his next move calls for federal agents at polling places, laws that would disenfranchise voters jammed through Congress, and an acceleration of political prosecutions with a desired effect of intimidating anyone that would stand up against any of those measures. So here's where the hard work of democracy actually comes in. It wasn't done in California. It wasn't done last night in Virginia. And it doesn't take a fortune teller to protect the American people from what Trump's about to do. It takes doing the things that need to be done. Even though it's scary, it takes a different kind of courage. It takes advocates for our democracy fighting tooth and nail against what Donald Trump has told us he's going to do next. One such advocate, Mark Elias, reflected on the results in Virginia. This way, quote, the road ahead is still filled with challenges. Republicans still have cards to play. Most importantly, Donald Trump is desperate and willing to do anything to keep power. But at least for a little while, we can celebrate the victory in Virginia and offer thanks to everyone from the voters to the lawyers to the activists and the politicians who made it possible. That is where we begin the hour with voting rights attorney and founder of Democracy docket Mark Elias. Tell me how we take these wins and we take the sort of. I guess I think about it as like the end of the beginning and prepare for the next phase.
