Stephen Miller In Hiding After It All Backfires, Trump's WH in Total Chaos

Summary

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IHIP News – "Stephen Miller In Hiding After It All Backfires, Trump’s WH in Total Chaos"

Date: May 31, 2026
Hosts: Jennifer Welch & Angie “Pumps” Sullivan (with guest Mehdi Hasan)

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the ongoing chaos and hypocrisy within Trump’s orbit, focusing on Stephen Miller and the reactionary right's recent meltdowns. With their signature mix of progressive fury and comedic energy, hosts Jennifer Welch and Angie "Pumps" Sullivan, joined by journalist Mehdi Hasan, cut through the noise about religious bigotry, Trumpian corruption, and MAGA's crumbling facade. They also discuss the upcoming Texas and Michigan Senate races, media spin, and how right-wing grievance politics has both weaponized and exploited social divisions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Christian Nationalism and Islamophobia in Republican Politics

[02:00–08:45]

• The episode opens with the Indiana lieutenant governor’s overt Islamophobia, likening Islam to a “demonic death cult” while professing to “love Muslims" as potential Christian converts.
• Mehdi Hasan calls out the normalization of Islamophobia and points out the irony and ignorance behind these attacks:

  "Christianity today for these people is a religion of hate... They're saying, we want to be a religion of hate. Forget... the love. Hate and hate Islam." (03:12)

• Jennifer and Mehdi discuss how evangelical Christian nationalism scapegoats minorities when failing on policy delivery—a historical pattern once aimed at Jews and Catholics, now Muslims.
• The hosts highlight the hypocrisy and political calculations behind attacks on religious minorities, noting that if similar rhetoric were used against Jews by Democrats, it would be a major scandal.
• Both agree that criticism and political weaponization of religion have little to do with theology and everything to do with in-group vs. out-group power.

2. Trump’s Cronies, Corruption, and Foreign Policy Farce

[09:48–15:24]

• Jennifer and Mehdi break down reports of Trump associates (Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner) seeking to profit from U.S.-Iran negotiations and post-war reconstruction:

  "I've not ever seen... the government that does the bombing, then sending their diplomatic negotiators, say, hey, guys, to help you rebuild, we'll come in with an investment fund to do the real estate deals." – Mehdi Hasan (11:05)

• The pair detail Kushner and Witkoff’s utter lack of qualifications for diplomacy and single-minded focus on real estate, echoing similar profiteering plans for Gaza.
• Jennifer wryly sums up:

  "These people operate as though the White House, the United States treasury, all of our interests are theirs personally." (14:38)

• Mehdi adds that this behavior typifies the Trump era's view of public office as a personal piggy bank, citing Don Jr.'s enrichment and nepotism.

3. Texas Senate Race, Ken Paxton, and “MAGA Death Cult”

[16:10–18:36]

• Jennifer denounces MAGA as an "anti family, pro pedophilia death cult," linking their policies to war, corruption, and covering for predators.
• Ken Paxton’s family scandals and soft-pedaling of child abuse are spotlighted:

  "He gave a sweetheart deal to a pedophile... The judge said, and I quote, one day. Are you kidding me?" – Mehdi Hasan (17:17)

• The hosts stress the need for Democrats to brand Republican corruption more aggressively, repeating Mehdi's central critique:

  "Every accusation is a confession." – Mehdi Hasan (18:36)

4. Right-Wing Media’s Masculinity Grievances and the Attack on James Talarico

[19:36–22:48]

• Jesse Waters and Stephen Miller’s attacks on Democratic candidate James Talarico are dissected—mocking him over masculinity tropes (“Low T. Talofrico”) and personal lifestyle.
• Jennifer highlights Waters’ own hypocrisy regarding personal conduct, and the hosts note that Talarico is reclaiming insults by producing “Talofrico” merch.
• Mehdi emphasizes that Republican attempts to brand Democrats as “weird” mirror their own insecurities and vulnerabilities, which the party failed to counter in the past.

5. Stephen Miller, Crybullying, and MAGA Victimhood

[22:58–27:36]

• Stephen and Katie Miller’s media tour lamenting attacks on Miller’s appearance and masculinity are described as peak hypocrisy.
• Mehdi calls out their "crybully" tactics:

  "They love to dish it out, but you cannot talk back to them the way they talk." (24:39)

• Jennifer dubs them "titty babies," skewering the right’s culture of aggrieved grievance and inability to practice the “personal accountability” they preach.
• Mehdi underlines his thesis for understanding GOP behavior:

  "Every accusation is a confession... Just that phrase—you've understood the Republican Party." (27:25)

6. Michigan Senate Race, AIPAC Money, and U.S.-Israel Relations

[28:15–33:50]

• Jennifer and Mehdi discuss Abdul Al Sayed’s candidacy and corporate money in Democratic primaries, reserving particular scorn for Haley Stevens and her evasiveness around AIPAC funding.
• Jennifer remarks on Stevens’ weird devotion:

  "She's also on record saying that Israel comes to her in her dreams, which is bizarre." (31:14)

• The conversation critiques the unquestioning U.S. support for Israel, the exceptionalism around criticism of Israel, and the targeting of progressive Muslim politicians by mainstream Jewish orgs even as MAGA tilts toward open anti-semitism.
• Mehdi sums up the double standard:

  "We can't have any kind of... Another problem we have with Israel is we can't talk about them like we talk about any other country." (33:40)

7. General Takeaways and Call-Outs

• Throughout, the hosts point at the absurdity of right-wing culture wars, the underlying fragility of MAGA’s self-styled “alpha males,” and the complicity of major media in stoking division and normalizing corruption.
• Jennifer wraps with a warning to Jewish Americans who ally themselves with Christian nationalists, recounting the eventual turn of bigotry against all minorities:

  "To think they're going to be safe in the hands of bigots is insane." (35:13)

• Mehdi closes noting the myopic focus of major Jewish orgs on “woke” Muslim leftists over the openly neo-Nazi drift of the under-30 Republican base.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "Christianity today for these people is a religion of hate... They're saying, we want to be a religion of hate." — Mehdi Hasan [03:12]
• "Every accusation is a confession." — Mehdi Hasan [18:36; 27:25]
• "We have pimps and hoes. The pimps are all of the corporate PACs, the corporate lobbyists. And then you have the hoes. And the ho can be either Democrats or Republicans..." — Jennifer Rubin [28:44]
• "[Talarico] is actually putting out merch and leaning into it. He's selling Talofrico T-shirts." – Mehdi Hasan [21:58]
• "They are the biggest bunch of titty babies I have ever seen from the party of personal accountability." — Jennifer Rubin [26:27]
• "To think they're going to be safe in the hands of bigots is insane." — Jennifer Rubin [35:13]
• "If we are not allowed to criticize Israel, we will not have a democracy." — Jason Stanley (quoted by Jennifer Rubin) [33:53]

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Important Timestamps

• 02:00–04:47 — Indiana Lt. Gov. Islamophobic Rant & Reaction
• 09:48–15:24 — Trump Cronies' Iran Real Estate Grift Exposed
• 16:10–18:36 — Texas MAGA Corruption, Ken Paxton and Pattern of Projection
• 19:36–22:48 — Jesse Waters' Masculinity Grievance, “Talofrico” Nickname
• 22:58–27:36 — Stephen & Katie Miller's Victim Rhetoric, Party-wide Crybullying
• 28:15–33:50 — Michigan Senate Primary, AIPAC, Double Standard on Israel-Palestine
• 33:51–35:45 — Jewish Organizations’ Focus, MAGA’s Neo-Nazi Drift
• Throughout — Running theme: "Every accusation is a confession"

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Tone & Style

The episode is rapid-fire, brash, and unapologetically progressive with irreverent humor and sharp personal asides. There is no false equivalency; Welch, Sullivan, and Hasan are united in their condemnation of right-wing hypocrisy, religious bigotry, and the normalization of corruption under Trump. They urge the left to play offense on moral clarity and corruption messaging, tearing down establishment and corporate Democrat complicity as well.

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Conclusion

For listeners eager for blunt, cathartic progressive commentary on the excesses and unraveling of MAGA politics, this episode delivers. Expect pointed humor, righteous anger, and a relentless focus on the dangers of normalized bigotry and political grifting—backed up by inside knowledge, memorable sound bites, and a call to keep pushing back, loudly.

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Transcript

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[Mehdi Hasan]

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[Jennifer Rubin]

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[Mehdi Hasan]

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[Jennifer Rubin]

I just booked my VRBO because there was a sweet wine fridge.

[Mehdi Hasan]

We all have our reasons. If you know you, VRBO terms apply. See vrbo.com trust for details. The polling shows you're the only group below Muslims, the atheists. So sorry about that.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I know I'm on a lot of prayer warrior lists. I could never forget Big Titty Brian. Did you see the size of those tweets?

[Mehdi Hasan]

I'm trying to forget it. I'm trying to forget it. Very much so. So they have the nerve to come along and say, this tweet hurt my feelings. Come on.

[Jennifer Rubin]

They're such titty babies.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I want no part of this. I've never met this woman in my life. I don't know where that came from.

[Jennifer Rubin]

She's an atheist. She's on the bottom of the list. You're in for a real treat. Mehdi Hassan is here in studio. Of course. He is the editor in chief of Zateo and proud defender of democracy. Mehdi, how are you?

[Mehdi Hasan]

Good to see you, Jen. Thanks for having me in your lovely studio in Manhattan.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Thank you. Thank you. I've been texting. When you're in New York, come by. And then, of course you did.

[Mehdi Hasan]

You're in New York. I don't know if I'd have come by if you were in Oklahoma, but I came by because you're in New York.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Fair. Fair.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Just saying. With the greatest respect to the people of Oklahoma.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Exactly. Speaking of Oklahoma, that makes me think about Christian nationalism. And Christian nationalism is quite popular in Oklahoma. And here we have the video of the lieutenant governor of Indiana and he goes on this disgusting Islamophobic tirade earlier this week. I'm going to play the clip and get your take on it.

[Lieutenant Governor of Indiana]

Giving people permission to hate again. And I know that sounds a little harsh at first, but we've. We've seen this movement to eradicate hate in our culture that is the worst thing we could do. You know, the Bible talks about how God hates certain things. And when we say we want to eradicate hate, think about this. We're actually saying we wanted to eradicate a characteristic of God. And hate is not the opposite of love. Indifference is the opposite of love. And so when I talk about this, I say, guys, we need to. In Indiana, we need to hate certain things. If radical jihadi mindset starts coming into our state, I'm going to hate it. And I'm going to hate it with everything that I am. And I'm going to call on others to hate it because I hate Islam. It's a demonic death call. Now, I love Muslims because they make great Christians. When Jesus gets a hold of them, I hate Islam.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Just so much going on in that clip.

[Haley Stevens]

Wow.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Where to begin with that guy, the lieutenant governor of Indiana. He's Islamophobic, as you say. He says he hates Islam. Demonic religion. He says he loves Muslims. I thought for a moment there we were going to get a kind of, you know, I hate the rigor, but the people are great now. The people are potential Christian converts. That's all they're good for. It's insane. And also this idea of, I mean, he sums it up right there. Christianity today for these people is a religion of hate. If I say, or you say it, we're kind of crazy liberal leftists attacking Christian. They're saying it. They're saying, we want to be a religion of hate. Forget, forget the love, forget the indifference. Hate and hate Islam. The guy wouldn't know what Islam was if it slapped him in the face. I would love to ask him three trivia questions about Islam. He wouldn't have a clue. Indiana has, I think, 60, 70,000 Muslims living in Indiana. There's probably more people in Indiana who identify as Jedi knights than as Muslims. Right? It's a very tiny minority. The idea that Islam's taken over the straight radical Islam, it's bullshit. That's being put forward not just by Christian nationalists who have a, a nationalistic theological agenda, but let's be honest, these are Republicans who are failing at their basic task of providing services to their constituents, keeping prices down, keeping people in work, keeping people safe. They failed at their job as politicians, as lawmakers. So what do they do? They scapegoat a minority. They play deflection. Used to be Jews, used to be Catholics, now it's Muslims. It's our turn. And I find it ironic that he goes on about this demonic religion and at the same time his party is lecturing everyone else about antisemitism. All I can say is that if a Democratic lieutenant governor had said Judaism is a demonic religion and Jews are only good if they're converts to Christianity, be the end of the world. Rightly so. And everyone would know the name of that Lieutenant Governor. It would be all over the news with this guy. I'm glad you played the clip because most people even on the left have really ignored it. Islamophobia has been normalized across the board. You can say shit like that about a minority community in America and get away with it.

[Jennifer Rubin]

And let's talk about. He said something interesting to me that he wanted permission to hate again, that that is a good thing. And I have known from living in an evangelical community my entire life how hateful that particular sect of Christianity is. There are beautiful Christians in the world, but this particularly organized white group of Christians, it is this hellfire, damnation rapture prepping, exclusionary religion. And they always see everybody as a potential customer. The convert of the Muslim is because then they get more in tithing because these mega churches are popped up like franchises.

[Mehdi Hasan]

It's a grift as well as.

[Jennifer Rubin]

And they have political agendas. I remember growing up in Oklahoma, Mehdi and I would drive by, there was a church right next to my high school and it would say, God wants you to vote for George H.W. bush today.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Okay?

[Jennifer Rubin]

On the church.

[Mehdi Hasan]

And they still kept their charitable status. I think the really important point you mentioned there is that this is political. So I say this as a Muslim. I spent the last 20 years, 25 years in fact will be since 9, 11, 25 years this September. I spent 25 years people asking me about Islam this, Islam that extremist religion. And what have I said to them? I said for 25 years, this is not about the religion. This is about a group of political people using religion as cover. I've seen that firsthand in my own religion. It's funny now to see Christians attacking Islam for being radical while they're behaving as Muslim radicals have behaved in the sense of using religion as cover for a political agenda. This is not a back. Jesus did not go around saying we need permission to hate again, right? Find me that verse talking about God. No one, no serious person identifies Jesus, I mean Christians, his pastor doesn't go around saying follow Jesus Christ, the great hate monger in chief. They just don't say it. So this is a political message. It is about scapegoating an enemy and out group. This is about in group versus out group. This has nothing to do with religion or theology. He doesn't even know the theology of Islam. He doesn't know, for example, that Islam reveres Jesus and his mother Mary. There's a chapter of the Quran named after Mary. They don't know this stuff. They just say it's a demonic religion.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Well, I think that we've all been propagandized in the post 911 world by the Democrats, by the Republicans, by the Christian nationalists to believe blanket statement. Muslims want to blow shit up. They want to kill themselves blowing shit up so that they can get all these virgins when they go to paradise. And you can't trust any of them. Right. So then now you have these. A big portion or a minority portion of Muslims in the United States. Some of them are in Congress now. One of them is mayor of New

[Mehdi Hasan]

York, which is really bothering people.

[Jennifer Rubin]

It's really bothering people.

[Mehdi Hasan]

See, he prayed in his arsenal, kurta, pajama. He prayed the Eid prayer this week in public, and people went nuts. This is Islamic takeover of New York. What? Doing a public prayer. You have people like Ben Shapiro saying, oh, why did AOC go to this and cover ahead. We don't expect people to wear kippah. It's not true. Donald Trump wore a kippah. And it's a good thing when you go to a synagogue, when you go to a gurdwara, when you go to a temple, when you go to a mosque, when you go to a chur church. It's a good thing to show respect to that community, Try and show some affinity with that community. That's what all politicians should do.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah. And now we have the antidote to all of this rabid, unchecked Islamophobia.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Tell me what it is you're here

[Jennifer Rubin]

talking about connecting all universal human rights, throwing not one group under the bus. Zoran is doing that, members of Congress are doing that.

[Mehdi Hasan]

And Ilhan Omar. Ilhan Omar, who they hate so much, spends much of her time, you know, oh, she's obsessed with Palestine, actually not. If you look at her, one of her biggest legislative achievements is getting like free school lunches to, like. She wants everyone to have free school lunch.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Every kid that's kind of Jesus.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Yeah, Every kid to have free school meals, including the Christian kids, the Republican kids, the conservative kids, like that. It's ironic that it's the members of Congress who are Muslim who are seen as some kind of outsiders. They're the ones trying to champion universal human rights, saying we should treat everyone equally. We shouldn't bomb anyone, whether they're Muslim, Jewish, Christian. That's the great irony.

[Jennifer Rubin]

So as an atheist, they have a lot of ire for atheists that Christian nationalists do. So if I'm shopping for religions, I see that the Muslims in office right now and in media or advocating for universal human rights, and then I see this asshole talking about wanting to make hate hate great again. And then I see the pastor of untreated Fox narcissist, untreated alcoholic and Fox narcissist Pete Hegseth, his pastor, talking about women losing the right Doug Wilson to vote. Yes. And I hear rabid Islamophobia, rabid anti black.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Imagine if a Muslim, if Zoran Mumdani came out and said women shouldn't have a right to vote. Forget the shitstorm with Mumdani, it would be, this is what all Muslims believe. But the defense secretary's own pastor, their church can say that quite openly on cnn. And they get away with it. By the way, being an atheist. That dude from Indiana hates you more than me. The polling shows you're the only group below Muslims, the atheists. So sorry about that.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I know I'm on a lot of prayer warrior lists in Oklahoma. I've been for a long time.

[Mehdi Hasan]

You give us cover, you give Muslims. We're like, we're not bottom. We're second from last.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Welch is bottom.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Atheists, we blame Welch.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Okay, moving along. Always. That goes with all the Christian nationalism is grifting, whether it's the pastors or the people who are robber barons, who know that this is the most manipulated part of the American population. This is who the NRA is able to manipulate. It's who Vladimir Putin is able to manipulate. It's who Trump was able to manipulate, for sure. And so you have Steve Witkoff, who is Donald Trump's golfing buddy, who is dumber than a box of hot rocks, who Vladimir Putin has put a shock collar on and walked all over Moscow, and another unqualified dipshit named Derek, Jared Kushner. And now we know why they're all chips in on Iran. Pop this up. Kylie at Midas Touch is reporting that Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have been an integral, who have been integral to the failed negotiations of the Iran war, have, quote, suggested promoting real estate projects in Tehran and an investment fund in the event a deal was reached.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Just. I don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's so predictable because that's who these people are. But it's also, we should never. One thing about the Trump scandals. And I say this to everyone watching, listening is, it's very easy to go, yeah, that's who they are. Surprise. I often tweet and cap surprise when one of these stories comes out. But at the same time, while we shouldn't be shocked, we should be shocked, we should also retain the capacity to be disgusted. We shouldn't normalize this shit. Right? That's the danger. Right? Those of us like you and me who follow this daily, we become kind of almost immune to it. We're like another scandal. That is crazy. Many, many countries have bombed other countries and destroyed their infrastructure. Putin is doing it right now to Ukrainian cities, but I've not ever seen, not in my lifetime. The government that does the bombing, then sending their diplomatic negotiators, say, hey, guys, to help you rebuild, we'll come in with an investment fund to do the real estate deals. They said about Gaza, do you remember Jared said, gaza, it's great beachfront property. It could be some kind of Gaza Riviera. Trump put out an AI video of himself as a gold statue him on the beach with Netanyahu. So. So they killed over 100,000 people in Gaza and then they want to build hotels and high rise apartments and condos on top of the mass graves. That's what they want to do in Gaza. The ethnic cleansing's ongoing. Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, 70%, we're going to take 70% of Gaza. I thought there was a ceasefire. I thought the war was over. He says, no, we're going to take 70% of Gaza. And then in Iran, these guys, these two people, property developers, by the way, Jared Kushner, failed property developer Nepo Baby, son of a convicted criminal who Trump pardoned, who famously blackmailed his mother. Let's not forget that story. Yeah, just his dad's. His dad got hired a hooker to sleep with his brother in law. I think it was to blackmail him. And then Chris Christie put him in prison and all of that stuff. And Jared defended him. He's now the ambassador to France. Thank you for that vote, Cory Booker. So on Jared and Wyckoff, they're completely unqualified. I'm so glad you used that word. He sent them to do the negotiating with the Iranians. They, NBC News did a really interesting piece where they didn't just speak to kind of the negotiators, but they spoke to nuclear experts who say everything that Jared and Steve Witkoff said in that meeting with the Iranians was just wrong. And they didn't take any Nuclear experts with them. Obama negotiated the Iran deal by sending Ernest Moniz, his energy secretary, who also happens to be a nuclear physics expert at mit. He sent him to do the negotiating. Trump sent these two, as you put it, dipshit. They went and the Iranians were stunned that these guys didn't have any clue about uranium enrichment. They didn't have any clue about the technical details of the plants. They didn't have any clue about the Tehran medical research facility that became a big center of the negotiation. They don't have a clue. They got everything wrong. NBC News lists all the things they got wrong. They went and interviewed actual nuclear experts, said they were wrong, and that's who he sent.

[Jennifer Rubin]

It's stunning, because now they're saying this would reportedly be part of a proposed reconstruction fund, not to be confused with the new slush fund, in which Iran has demanded 300 billion from the US to compensate for damages from US strikes. I remember Fox News going apeshit bananas about the money, the funds that were frozen, which was like 2 billion.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I think it was less than 2 billion.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Now we're up to 300 billion on top of all the subsidies we give.

[Mehdi Hasan]

But it makes sense, though, doesn't it? Because if you're Trump and Witkoff and Kushner and you go, hold on, we have to give them 300 billion or let them take whatever it Is, their own 300 billion, wherever that money is coming from. But if our friends get a cut as part of the deal, then why not, right? They don't care about the American interest. They care about their own interests. They care about their own bottom lines. So it makes sense. It fits in with what he's doing on the Mall, what he's doing with the reflecting pool, what he's doing with the ballroom. Give your friends no bid contracts. Let pay them more than they need to out of the taxpayer. This actually makes sense. It just totally fits the Trump vision, which is, all right, we get kickbacks totally.

[Jennifer Rubin]

And I think these people operate as though the White House, the United States treasury, all of our interests are theirs personally.

[Mehdi Hasan]

And piggy banks.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah, it's theirs personally. There's no sense of representation or taking great fiduciary care of the citizens of the country.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Oh, it's. We've got a few years in office. Let's just get as much out of it as we can. You're seeing it with Don Jr. Now, whose net wealth has gone from the millions to billions. He just has a company that the Department of Defense was told, I think it was a Rare Earth Mining company that, that his company took a stake in. He says he had nothing to do with it, but apparently, I think reporting from ProPublica, I think it was this week saying that they got a call, the Pentagon got a call from the White House saying you need to give a big loan, hundreds of million dollars in loans to this company.

[Jennifer Rubin]

And these are the people that want to bring back meritocracy.

[Mehdi Hasan]

These are people who said we need to eliminate waste and fraud in government. So we're gonna shut down soup kitchens in Sudan, we're gonna leave behind vulnerable girls in Afghanistan, we're gonna screw over people with HIV in Africa that we can't afford. But if Trump's pals need a no bid contract to redo a reflecting pool by the Lincoln Memorial, that we can afford this, we can afford subsidies to the Trump kids, we can afford.

[Jennifer Rubin]

You know what I say every day on my podcast as an atheist, that maga, per my observation, is an anti family, pro pedophilia death cult. Their policies always lead to war, always lead to financial destruction, always lead to defending pedophiles or the pedophiles themselves.

[Mehdi Hasan]

What's the best Senate candidate in Texas right now? Yes, he literally epitomous. Say your phrase again. What is maga?

[Jennifer Rubin]

What is maga? Anti family, pro pedophilia death cult.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Okay, so let's just take Ken Paxton, the Texas Senate candidate.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Family. Let's talk about his family now.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Cheated on his wife. His wife tweeted that she's getting divorced for biblical reasons. She says he cheated on her. If you look at the impeachment that he went through, they said he was impeached by his own party, by the way, not Democrats. I mean, Democrats voted, but the majority of Republicans voted to impeach him. Apparently the donor who he allegedly got his mistress a job with, they set up an Uber account in some third name so that he could take Ubers and go see his mistress and no one would know all this dodgy stuff that he of course, denies. But he got impeached for a lot of this stuff. Anti family values. This is the great Christian conservative. Cheated on his wife. You said pro pedophilia. He gave a sweetheart deal to a pedophile to a guy who spent years abusing a child, and he offered him a one day in prison plea deal. One day in prison, and he knocked it down from felony to misdemeanor. To be fair, there had been a mistrial. So he tried to do a settlement, which is fair as ag, but he offered him one day in prison, the judge said, and I quote, one day. Are you kidding me? And upped it to 60 days. So a guy got two months in prison and he's not on a sex offenders list. How's that for pro pedophile?

[Jennifer Rubin]

It's true. And then all of their policies lead to death. They always start wars.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Republicans opposes health care in Texas.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah. Opposes health care. The dismantling of USAID for all of these pro life. It always happens. My whole entire life. Republicans are pathological liars, Mehdi. They go in and say, we're such great businessmen. We're so good with the economy. We're so concerned about the national deficit. We love the troops. We love national security. It's all lies. The whole entire thing is built on lies. And the Democrats have got to start playing offense and branding it as such.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Well, I'm glad James Talarico is going on the offense. His first ad that he put out this week is about the sweetheart deal for the pedophile. They need to make this guy. Well, they need to make the story of Paxton well known. John Cornyn tried it during the primaries. It didn't work. But that was the MAGA base you hope. With the Texas population as a whole, which isn't as right wing as people think it is, they want you to believe that it's a pure red state. I spent a lot of time in Texas. I have family in Texas. They need to make that story known. Right. That has to be front and center of their campaign. Imagine if it was the reverse. And I would add to your point about the lies. I think five words define the Republican Party. Every accusation is a confession.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Totally.

[Mehdi Hasan]

And that is the key. Whatever they say is what they're guilty of. Right. So when they say, oh, the Democrats are gonna. They're bad fiscal responsibility. They raise the deficit. Actually, the presidents who have been worse for the deficit are Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Donald Trump term one, Donald Trump term two. When they say, oh, you know, we're the party of police. They're the people who pardoned hundreds of people who attacked the police on January 6, 2021, who are now dismantling the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Everything. They say, oh, the Democrats are going to be the party of war. We saw what Donald Trump has done. Kamala Harris is going to attack Iran. He attacked Iran. Just go down the list, you know, oh, Democrats. What was QAnon? The entire QAnon conspiracy theory was that the liberals Hillary Clinton and Humar Ambideen are running a pedophile ring from A basement of a pizza parlor in Washington D.C. there's a cabal of liberal elite pedophiles running the world. Well, they got it half right. There is a cabal of pedophiles protected by politicians. A politician who did most to protect them was Donald J. Trump. Right. So this is the hypocrisy. It is. Every accusation is a confession.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Totally. Okay, so you bring up James Talarico and this is really breaking the alpha males. And I say that in quotations. Listener alpha males. Over at Fox News, Jesse Waters is really unraveling right now. Play the clip and cheese.

[Jesse Waters]

I have questions that I'd like local reporters to ask. Low T. Talofrico, Does James Talarico even own a gun? Is James Talarico a Cowboys fan? A Houston Texans fan? Does he even know the spurs are playing tonight? Has Talarico ever been to a football game? Or is he more of a World cup guy?

[Mehdi Hasan]

Wait, what does that mean?

[Jesse Waters]

Sorry, I like the World Cup. Does Talarika own a truck? Does he believe in premarital sex?

[Mehdi Hasan]

Jesse, you wrote that down.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Jesse Waters had an affair on his wife. And so let me just say.

[Mehdi Hasan]

With a colleague at Fox. With a colleague, he proudly bragged about slashing her tires so that she would be forced to get a lift with him.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Exactly. And so I just.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Emily Van.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I want us to. Exactly. I want us to play offense at all times on this stuff. Because the only thing I've ever heard about James Talarico that's even somewhat like eyebrow raising is that he followed some only fans accounts of women. So that shows me that this guy's a red blooded heterosexual. But I do want to bring up to the the panel here at Fox News. I do want to bring up this image right here. Failed drag queen J.D. vance. That's the vice president, that's the name

[Mehdi Hasan]

he's going by these days.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah, he's changed his name three times, changes religion three times. America's biggest prostitute bought in Persia by Peter Thiel, who has now fled to Argentina like all Nazis do. And then I want to bring this picture to your attention. This is of course Big Titty Brian, who said this is the husband of dog and goat killer Christy.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I actually forgot who that was. So I'm glad that you. Big problems. Well, also, they flood the zone with. There's so many scandals. Come on, we're only human. Even you and I, who do this for a living cannot keep track of every possible scam.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I could never forget Big Titty Brian. Did you see the size of the table.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I'm trying to forget it. I'm trying to forget it very much so. I'm trying to go back to Jesse Waters and his hypocrisy. Yeah, it's not just Jesse, of course, Stephen Miller. They're all going nuts about James Talarico. By the way, Talofrico, number one, is a great name. Just give him that.

[Jennifer Rubin]

It's pretty good.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Yeah, he's actually putting out merch and leaning into it. He's selling Talofrico T shirts.

[Jennifer Rubin]

James is.

[Mehdi Hasan]

He is.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Oh, I love that.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I would just remind Democrats when Tim Waltz was picked as a vice presidential candidate. Kamala Harris. He was picked partly because he had gone viral calling Republicans weird. And Republicans got really mad. Trump got really mad that they were getting called weird. And then he got put on the ticket, and then they stopped calling Republicans weird. And I'm still annoyed about that.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Me, too.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Because it is actually a very powerful line of attack. Because they are weirdos. Donald Trump is a weirdo. JD Vance is a weirdo. RFK Jr is a big weirdo. They're all weirdos. So I don't understand why the Democrats dropped that line of attack. The Republicans now realize the value of it and they're trying to tar and brand James Talario. If they pull it off, they win. I mean, let's just be clear. This is a very hard race for James Tallarico to win. Democrats not won statewide in Texas for decades. It's going to be very hard. And if they succeed, you know, they've got a lot of money. They're gonna throw a lot of money at him. They're already doing this bullshit about, oh, he's a vegan, he's this, He's. That he's a transgender. According to Stephen Miller.

[McDonald's Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I mean, the idea that Stephen Miller is confident enough to throw out insults about other men's appearances. This is a man who colored his head in before he went on to.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yes, yes, Gender affirming care. I wanna play a clip. You brought up Stephen Miller. I wanna bring up a clip of Stephen Miller attacking Talarico. And then I wanna remind everybody that Katie Miller has stage five me constantly that everybody's calling Stephen Miller an ugly fuck, which objectively he is.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Well, the Democrats did do that. Let's give credit.

[Jennifer Rubin]

They're proud of them. And the girl went on Midas Touch. And she.

[Mehdi Hasan]

They said, she's now getting doxed. Poor thing.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Why did you. Why did you call him that? She said, because Stephen Miller is an ugly fuck. And I'm like, yes, fight that hard.

[Mehdi Hasan]

And your bonus time at the Democratic Party.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah. Here's Stephen Miller on Fox.

[Jesse Waters]

When Talarico goes in for a blood test, when he gets a physical, blood doesn't come out. Instead, soy milk comes out. This, this man has less testosterone than Jasmine Crockett. It is a mind boggling choice. They would choose a person to run for that office who looks like he doesn't belong in the Senate, but in a cabaret show.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Okay, first of all, I haven't seen Jesse Waters as happy as he is when he's in the presence of whom Jesse Waters coined this. He calls Stephen Miller a sexual matador. The gay vibes, the hom social stuff that I see from these men on Fox is really. And in the MAGA regime is really. Yes, it's really interesting to me because I, I have two lesbians here that work for me. A gay man that works for me. I'm a straight woman. None of us walk in here and talk about our sexuality or femininity or masculinity or effeminity ever. We just.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Because you don't work at Fox.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Right. And so let's just talk about Stephen Miller and Katie Miller.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I mean, she's having a meltdown, as you say. She went immediately running on Fox and TV to comply. You know what she said? She said, this is the kind of thing that leads to political violence. It leads to someone doing a shooting at the White House Correspondent's dinner. These people are cry bullies, right? They love to dish it out, but you cannot talk back to them the way they talk. So Donald Trump can say to a reporter, you're ugly. Hush, piggy. He can say horrifically racist, sexist things. Stephen Miller can say the entire Democratic Party, he called them a domestic extremist organization last year. He said, they're not a political party, they're a domestic extremist organization. Position that doesn't incite hate, that doesn't incite violence. But if you say shut up, you ugly fuck, or whatever it was the Democrats said, that means there's gonna be a violent attack on Steven and Katie Miller. Remember, they lied about their house being threatened. They completely exaggerated what was said. It was kind of mild stuff. I can't remember the exact phrase. But there was an investigation done with the police report of what was happened. Completely bullshitted by Katie Miller and Steve Miller to move out of their house in Arlington. They're always playing victim, right? They love to dish it out, these fascists. They love to demonize every minority. He's Been doing it since he was in. We've got it on tape. We've got Latino friends of his who said, he told us, I can't talk to you anymore because of who you are. I can't be friends with you anymore in high school. So this is who he's been for years. And now they have the nerve to play victim when they are running a government that is killing American citizens in the street, that is rounding up brown and black people who are American citizens. And then let's not even ask questions about what they're doing to undocumented people in those camps. So they have the nerve to come along and say, this tweet hurt my feelings. Come on.

[Jennifer Rubin]

They're such. We have this saying in the South. They're such titty babies. I mean, they just sit and whine and you know when you think about all of the whining that comes out

[Mehdi Hasan]

and then they have to say, cry more if we get upset about something.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah, it's this trickle down crybaby shit from Trump all the way down to Stephen Miller, all the way down to Katie Miller. They are the biggest bunch of titty babies I have ever seen from the party of personal accountability.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Again, every accusation is a confession. They say the Democrats are fragile, the Democrats are snowflakes, the Democrats need safe spaces. But it's them who go around and say, well, this comedian made fun of me, so I must eject him from the airwaves. Remember the night that Stephen Colbert had his last show? Donald Trump put out an AI video of him picking up Colbert and putting him in the trash to make it clear that yes, he, Donald Trump, the President of the United States, got rid of this late night comedian for mocking him. So you really want to give us lectures about free speech? About having thick skins, about having a sense of humor? Remember when Elon Musk went to CPAC and said her comedy's legal again? And then he represses and shadow bans people who he doesn't like. He just unfollowed some right wing troll sycophant of his who dared to say one thing he didn't like, unfollowed him. So these people are thin skinned, crybaby hypocrites. Every accusation is a confession. Just have those words, all of your politics. You don't need to read the op ed pages of the Times and the Washington Post. You don't need to read Politico to understand American politics. Just that phrase, every accusation is a confession. You've understood the Republican Party.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I agree. It's not that deep. What we're dealing with is not deep. It is a failed, pathetic playbook and history is not going to be kind to the Katie Miller's of the world. Which by the way, speaking of safe spaces, Stephen and Katie Miller live on a military base. And I think Donald Trump's whole bunker is just his, you know, security blanket because he cannot handle the idea of what happened to him in 2020. He can't, he can't handle it. But I want to move, yeah, the ballroom, his bunker. I want to move on to the Michigan Senate race. I have had Abdul Al Sayed on the podcast twice. He came here. I'm very impressed with the other candidates on. I have not.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Have you tried? No, I tried and they wouldn't come on. Valerie McMora won't come on. Even though I've interviewed before at Ms. Now, it's very interesting what's going on in that race with that three way split.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah, I like Abdul. I, I'm totally endorsing Abdul. I'll say it, I love him a lot. I think he speaks for universal human rights. He doesn't take corporate money. Because I think we can boil down a lot of politics right now that we can apply this in a bipartisan way. You have pimps and hoes. The pimps are all of the corporate PACs, the corporate lobbyists. And then you have the hoes. And the ho can be either Democrats or Republicans, bipartisan, like Democratic. Hoes that we would have would be like Kristen Gillibrand, Corey Booker, etc. And so one of the hoes in this race would be Haley Stevens. And nobody go crazy about a woman calling another woman. I mean this metaphorically. Do not wet them.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I want no part of this. I've never met this woman in my life. I don't know where that came from.

[Jennifer Rubin]

She's an atheist. She's on the bottom of the list. Okay. Haley Stevens was asked about aipac funneling millions of donations into her campaign. And this is how she answered the question.

[Haley Stevens]

Hiding anything from voters. I'm not breaking FEC laws. I, you know, by any stretch of the means. In fact, I'm compliant with the FEC laws. And you know what, what's going on here? So maybe that's something on the.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Trying to see whether.

[Haley Stevens]

And also Chad, you know that individual, individual contract. No, I'm not. Okay. No, I, Look, I. You're asking me why are you, why would you ask me that question?

[Mehdi Hasan]

First of all, I'm asking because they're your opponents are me are gonna like hanging as one of their big issues they're going to try to use against you here in the next three months

[Haley Stevens]

in paid communications or just when they're out there talking. Yeah, and why do you think they're doing that?

[Mehdi Hasan]

Trying to tap into some anti Israel sediment in the Democratic.

[Haley Stevens]

You think it's foreign policy? Yeah, look, I think we should talk about foreign policy.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Why would APAC back me? Why would they want to give me money?

[Jennifer Rubin]

I mean, what is going on?

[Mehdi Hasan]

First of all, aside from a horrible politics. She's a horrible candidate.

[Jennifer Rubin]

She's got terrible.

[Mehdi Hasan]

She's got no charisma, no humor, no person. I actually quite like Mallory McMurra. Politics aside, I think she's a great communicator. I first came across her like everyone else when she was a state rep and she gave a really barnstorming speech in the State House against maga. I had her on my show at msnbc. But this person, Haley Stevens, I mean, AIPAC backed her pretty openly against Andy Levin who she defeated in a primary sitting when I think their seats got merged and they were both sitting Congress members. If memory serves me correctly, he's actually a rabbi, Right. He's a Jewish congressman who's a rabbi in his synagogue but dared to criticize Israel. So AIPAC had to take him out. He's been very open about this, what happened to him this time around. They know they're unpopular so they're funneling money to us with all sorts of front groups. They never say who they are, they always say our candidates. What? But they don't actually openly campaign for them and put out pro Israel ads cuz they know they're toxic. So she has to hide this stuff. Even though, by the way, she's also on record saying that Israel comes to her in her dreams, which is bizarre.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I think it's fair to say it's weird as shit.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Why do American politicians talk about Israel in this way? And it's so funny because people say to me, as a lefty critic of Israel, oh, you're obsessed with Israel, Mayor, the Haslan's always attacking Israel. Why are the left obsessed with Israel? We're not the ones obsessed with Israel. If you stop talking about it the way you did and stop giving them some much money, we would not talk about them. Right? I mean, why don't they often say, why don't you talk about Sudan or what's happening here and there? It's like. But our politicians aren't as intimately involved. Like I've never heard a candidate running for office who says, belgium comes to me in my dreams. Right. Tanzania comes to me in my dreams. They don't do it. They just say it about Israel. Ted Cruz said it to Tucker Carson, that famous interview. He said, my goal to become a senator was to stand up for Israel. What we don't. It sounds like normal because we're so used to. But you would say it's insane if somebody in the Michigan Senate race said, I'm running for Senate in Michigan because someone needs to stand up for Burkino Faso. Right. It just sound insane. Or Germany. So this whole kind of bringing a foreign government, foreign state into our politics, giving them weapons and money, you've made it the issue. Don't come and tell us, why are you obsessed with Israel? It's you guys doing it. We're reacting.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I completely agree. I think it's also that we fund Israel without questions, with impunity. We fund this. And then when you find out that Israel has killed 260 journalists and then at the one time they say we're a great democracy also we murder journalists. It's bullshit that you cannot be both of those things. And there's no accountability. They kill little kids and murder little kids. Now it's being unveiled that they are covering up rape. We all saw the video of.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Well, the UN has put them on a blacklist of countries just this week which they've gone nuts about. The United Nations. Oh, yes, this is the same blacklist that the Israelis managed to get Hamas onto. And it was a good blacklist when Hamas was on it, but once they got added to it, now it's an anti Semitic blacklist from the UN and they want nothing to do with the un. The UN have actual investigations. You know, everyone went nuts about Nick Kristof's investigation about the rape in. Yes, well, the UN has now put out a report showing multiple testimonies from men, women and children, children about sexual assault, rape, gang rape. It's there, but everyone's an anti Semite and this is the problem. We can't have any kind of. Another problem we have with Israel is we can't talk about them like we talk about any other country. I'm allowed to say that Russia bombs hospitals in Kyiv and no one says, oh, you anti Russian racist. They accept that I'm criticizing a foreign nation for breaking human rights conventions. But we can't talk about Israel in that way. Again, they say, the supporters of Israel that you and I, we're picking on Israel. We're holding it to a different. I don't want to hold Israel to a different stand. I want to hold Israel to the same standard we hold every other country. That's all I ask for.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Yeah. And Jason Stanley, who is a former professor at Yale now in Toronto, is a very good friend of mine, the Tao contributor. He's. He's awesome. He comes on my podcast, but he texted me, I don't know, a month or two ago, and he said, jennifer, I need to come on, because if we are not allowed to criticize Israel, we will not have a democracy. Jason Stanley is a Jewish man whose father was a hidden child in Germany, and he cares deeply about all forms of bigotry. And again, you cannot advocate for, like, there was a protest at the mayor's house here in New York City, and these people seem to think, okay, we're against bigotry. You know, stop anti Semitism while they're saying, go back to Uganda and deport Mamdani. And here's the problem. As a white woman who has lived in a maga Republican dominated space my entire life, you will not be special to these people. They have apocalyptic dreams for Jewish people. And it is get in your places before Jesus comes down and sends you to hell for all eternity with the atheist and the Muslims. That is their plan for you. And all of the jokes, the Jew them down and all of that shit exists everywhere. It exists everywhere. So to think they're going to be safe in the hands of bigots is insane.

[Mehdi Hasan]

I agree. I mean, morality and consistency aside, it makes no sense from a Jewish perspective. It befuddles me that major Jewish American organizations spend so much time attacking Mamdani and Abdul Al Sayed. People who go out of their way to talk about universal human rights, racial equality. Meanwhile, they give a pass to a Republican party which under the age of 30 is going full neo Nazi right now.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Totally. And let's talk about Elon Musk with the back to back Sig Heils who is constantly re gramming Nazis and are retweeting Nazis and all this crazy shit.

[Mehdi Hasan]

So it's fine.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Jonathan Greenblatt crickets on all of that, but my God, we're going to have a zoron watch. It is nuts. Mehdi, thank you.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Thank you so much.

[Jennifer Rubin]

You're one of my favorites.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Always feels cathartic to talk with you, Jen.

[Jennifer Rubin]

I know. It's therapy.

[Mehdi Hasan]

It's therapy. That's what it is. First time we met, we said that every time.

[Jennifer Rubin]

Every time. All right, thanks, Maddie.

[Mehdi Hasan]

Thank you.