BONUS: Ari Melber & Dylan Ratigan on Iran War, Wall Street & Molly Jong-Fast Fact-Checks Donald Trump’s Biggest Promises

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Beat with Ari Melber
Episode Title: BONUS: Ari Melber & Dylan Ratigan on Iran War, Wall Street & Molly Jong-Fast Fact-Checks Donald Trump’s Biggest Promises
Date: March 30, 2026
Host: Ari Melber
Guests: Dylan Ratigan, Molly Jong-Fast

---

Episode Overview

This bonus episode of The Beat with Ari Melber dives deep into pressing issues in U.S. politics and economics, featuring candid conversations with financial expert Dylan Ratigan and journalist Molly Jong-Fast. The main themes include systemic economic inequality, the ethics and implications of the U.S.-Iran war, and a sharp fact-check of Donald Trump’s second-term promises versus his actual record. The tone is open, incisive, and at times personal, with Melber, Ratigan, and Jong-Fast offering both analysis and reflection rooted in their professional experiences.

---

Key Segments & Timestamps

1. Is the System Rigged? – Ari Melber & Dylan Ratigan

[00:48 – 04:08]

• Theme: Economic inequality in America; how the rules of the system benefit the wealthy and asset-holders, while “punishing” wage earners through the tax code.
• Ratigan’s Core Argument:
  • The tax system is the primary lever rigging the economy, rewarding those who inherit or own assets and penalizing those who earn:

    "No one is punished more than somebody who works hard and has a high-paying job. Those people need to be taxed into oblivion, which is how the current American system is set up." – Dylan Ratigan [01:40]

  • Ownership and inheritance are taxed least, labor income most.
  • It's not just Wall Street; it's a government system heavily influenced by wealthy interests:

    "The government controls the tax code...the Wall Street guys and the billionaires have an outsized interest on that tax code." – Ari Melber [03:23]
    "They control the government." – Dylan Ratigan [03:26]

2. Escalating Wars & Ethics – The Iran Conflict and Changing Technologies

[04:08 – 09:40]

• Theme: The U.S.–Iran war, proliferation of drone warfare, decline in responsible political decision-making around war, and the dangers of remote-controlled violence.
• Key Insights:
  • Ratigan draws historical parallels (Napoleon vs. modern warfare) and raises alarms about the indiscriminate use of technology in war:

    "One of the great benefits of a constant barrage of aerial bombardment on Kiev... has been the optimization of the production of highly functional flying exploding drones for a very small price...I would put it equivalent... to nuclear weapons." – Dylan Ratigan [05:05; 05:31]

  • Modern leaders are more disconnected from the consequences of war, enabling higher-risk decisions.
  • Ratigan’s ethical stance:

    "Indiscriminate aerial bombardment of cities that kills women and children cannot be considered an acceptable conflict resolution mechanism. Full stop." – Dylan Ratigan [09:27]

• Ari’s Reflection:
  • Draws on Lord of the Flies metaphor to highlight the lack of global self-governance and recurring cycles of violence.

3. Personal Reflections: Journalism, Media, and Finding a Voice

[09:40 – 14:26]

• Theme: Ratigan reflects on his evolution as a journalist and broadcaster, moving from a neutral “information synthesizer” to a pointed commentator post-financial crisis.
• Memorable Story:
  • Ratigan’s first show at age 27; at first, he simply tried to digest and transmit information for viewers, not to express a personal viewpoint.
  • The 2008 financial crisis was a turning point, revealing the systemic protection of the wealthy and catalyzing his critical voice:

    "I was sort of subservient to the information...I considered myself to be a translator...not a prosecutor of a point of view." – Dylan Ratigan [11:12; 11:39] "I didn't come to a sense of a point of view until I was 35." – Dylan Ratigan [13:15]

• Guiding Principle: Inspired by Mike Bloomberg:

  "You work for the reader or the viewer...Your job is to get from the guest the most interesting information you can get, whether it's in a broadcast environment...or as a writer. You work for the person watching or reading." – Dylan Ratigan [13:59]

4. Lightning Round: Fixing the System and Advice for Listeners

[14:26 – 15:33]

• How to Fix the System?

  "Ranked choice voting and open primaries." – Dylan Ratigan [14:43]

• Optimism About the Future:

  "People are amazing and they want to live in a beautiful world." – Dylan Ratigan [15:01]

• Life Advice:

  "Every time your mind has a reflex to criticize you, yourself, internally or someone else, use that as a signal to be 1% kinder to yourself and whoever's standing closest to you, whether you know them or not." – Dylan Ratigan [15:18]

---

5. Fact-Checking Trump’s Second-Term Promises – Ari Melber, Molly Jong-Fast & Dylan Ratigan

[15:33 – 26:05]

• Theme: Reviewing President Trump’s track record versus his campaign vows, especially regarding the Iran war, economic issues, and transparency promises (e.g., Epstein files).
• Key Points:
  • Trump’s unpopularity is historic; his signature promises have mostly been broken, some entirely reversed.
  • Example:
    • On Iran, Trump campaigned against “forever wars,” yet now the administration is engaged in a new intervention with no clear plan or public rationale.

      "This is like a bonkers level of broken promises." – Ari Melber [17:36]
      "What Donald Trump always did...he would say stuff that he couldn't possibly do...instead, what's happened is he's done the actual opposite." – Molly Jong-Fast [18:35]

    • Bombing Iran was predictable in escalating costs—oil and gas prices soared after the Straits of Hormuz were disrupted (a scenario any expert foresaw).
  • Molly critiques the lack of communication and coalition-building for the Iran action:

    "This is an administration that never even tried to sell the Iran war. Right. They didn't even try." – Molly Jong-Fast [21:37]

  • Unlike previous Republican presidents, Trump failed to secure allies before acting.
• Memorable Moments:
  • Ari lampoons the lack of planning with a brunch analogy:

    "Well, it's war. It's not brunch where like four people meet up and you're like, why are we here?" – Ari Melber [22:19]

  • Molly underscores second-order effects—civilian deaths, supply chain chaos, and economic harm—plus Trump’s apparent public begging for international help after the fact.

---

6. Audience Engagement and Reflections on Public Life – Ari Melber & Molly Jong-Fast

[26:27 – 29:35]

• Theme: The human side of cable news; how appearing on TV and being part of MSNOW has changed Molly’s experience and interaction with audiences.
• Key Insights:
  • Molly feels embraced by viewers, receiving appreciation for her intelligence and “counterintuitive” takes.
  • Both Melber and Jong-Fast note that viewers want to connect with the people behind the news, not just the facts:

    "People aren't watching the news...people are watching people." – Steve Friedman, referenced by Ari Melber [29:20]

  • Interaction with the audience includes personal questions, requests for more rap references (in Melber’s case), and general curiosity about the personalities off-camera.

---

Notable Quotes

• On the Economic System:
  "Working hard and making money is something that we explicitly tax as high as possible. And you and inheriting money and owning things, we tax as low as possible, which couldn't be more un-American." – Dylan Ratigan [02:39]

• On War and Technology:
  "A new technology that allows you to rain down these drones in a way that did not exist until the last couple of years because of the war in Ukraine." – Dylan Ratigan [07:37]

• On Trump’s Broken Promises:
  "When you look at the forever wars issue, this is an administration that never even tried to sell the Iran war. Right. They didn't even try. And that was sort of, I think, jarring to a lot of the MAGA base." – Molly Jong-Fast [21:37]

---

Conclusion

This episode pulls no punches: Melber, Ratigan, and Jong-Fast combine sobering analysis with candid personal insights. Ratigan exposes the structural biases at the heart of American economics, paints a stark picture of the dangers of today’s remote, consequence-free warfare, and calls for both systemic reform and basic empathy in personal conduct. Molly Jong-Fast offers a sharp, factual critique of Trump’s record, connecting policy failures to real-world suffering and political backlash. The tone is urgent but accessible, making this a valuable listen—or read—for anyone seeking clarity amidst political and economic turmoil.

Transcript

[Ari Melber]

Avoiding your unfinished home projects because you're not sure where to start.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Thumbtack knows homes, so you don't have to. Don't know the difference between matte paint, finish and satin or what that clunking

[Ari Melber]

sound from your dryer is. With thumbtack, you don't have to be a home pro, you just have to hire one. You can hire top rated pros, see price estimates and read reviews all on the app Download.

[Commercial Announcer]

Today, Tyler Redick and Chumba Casino, a winning combination. Another checkered flag for Tyler Reddick in 23xi racing, this time at Cota in the Chumba Casino. Toyota Camry wins this season. Talk about a lucky streak. Chumba Casino, proud partner of Tyler Redick and 2311 Racing play for free at chumbacasino.com let's Chumba no purchase necessary. VGW Group voidware prohibited by law. CTNC's 21 plus, sponsored by Chumba Casino

[Ari Melber]

Is the whole system rigged? The economic system, the way we live in the country today? And why are we at war with Iran? Is war even an acceptable way to carry out U.S. interests when we have so many options and so much power? And other big questions. That's what I want to get into right now with someone who I can call an old friend.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Nice to see you, pal. Great to see you.

[Ari Melber]

Dylan Ratigan is a CNBC veteran. He's a financial expert. He was at Bloomberg. He's doing a lot of interesting CEO stuff. And on this B side segment, I like to get, you know, casual. We got a little more time. You were just on the TV show, but now we're here in the studio. Let's just start with Big Picture. We'll get into the news, but if someone's watching this right now, in 2026 or a year from now, or even three years from now, Big Picture is the system, the economic system, especially for young people coming up today in America, is it rigged?

[Dylan Ratigan]

Yes. Why? Multiple mechanisms. I mean, the primary mechanism is the tax code, okay? And so the tax code is controlled by the political interests that have the money to create prohibitively high taxes for people who work for money and relatively low taxes for people that own assets. And so in the United States, the primary, primary rigging of the system is to the benefit of those who inherit or own assets at the expense of those who work to generate income. No one is punished more than somebody who works hard and has a high paying job. Those people need to be taxed into oblivion, which is how the current American system is set up.

[Ari Melber]

So a young person today comes into this workforce, they could be 18, could be 22 maybe coming out of community college or college and they're being taxed like this at a point in their life when they most need to build up at least some safety nest egg and get to compounding. And you're saying the system's not letting them do that while what, what happens with the rich?

[Dylan Ratigan]

Well, the people that own things pay little much lower taxes. And the worst thing you can do is if you're one of those 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 year olds and you hit the big time and then you become a media executive or a fashion executive or a finance executive or a marketing executive and you start making more and more and more money. That money is taxed the most aggressively of any money in the world, rather than the. In other words, working hard and making money is something that we explicitly tax as high as possible. And you and inheriting money and owning things, we tax as low as possible, which couldn't be more un American.

[Ari Melber]

And you sound like a Wall street critic, rightfully so. But you.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I don't know if that Wall street critic. I'm a government critic.

[Ari Melber]

The system, I mean, look at the Wall street guy.

[Dylan Ratigan]

The government controls the tax code, but

[Ari Melber]

the Wall street guys and the billionaires have an outsized interest on that tax code.

[Dylan Ratigan]

They control the government.

[Ari Melber]

Right. So here's what I was.

[Dylan Ratigan]

The rigging, here's where I was going with. That's how it works.

[Ari Melber]

Yet you've seen this on the inside.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I mean you don't have to. It's pretty much pretty transparent.

[Ari Melber]

I know, but you are an insider heretic in a way.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I mean heretic is such a strong word.

[Ari Melber]

Bloomberg, cnbc, dealing with the politicians like I do in my job. You've been inside it and you're over here.

[Dylan Ratigan]

No, but I also left the business when I know as I bore witness

[Ari Melber]

to the, to the horror, it not mean more that you can say this is bullshit. Not looking outside and they say you're just mad you don't get to come in here. But actually from the inside, you were like in there talking to the CEO.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I was inside. I was inside and I was like, I got to get the hell out of here.

[Ari Melber]

Okay, next topic. You look up and you say, okay, some terrible things are unavoidable. That's life. Some things are debatable. After 9 11, there was a range of debate about how the US should respond. But a lot of people, especially in New York, but really a lot of people said doing nothing was not acceptable. And then you debate the options. Then you have things where you look up and you go, united States, with all the problems we have right now, started a war in Iran. And if you're counting, 20 countries have been implicated. You got tankers on fire, you got a hard line regime, at least as of this moment in Iran, that replaced a hardline regime that had someone who was 86. He wasn't going to be around forever. What are we doing there? I know you feel strongly.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I do feel strongly.

[Ari Melber]

So

[Dylan Ratigan]

a couple things.

[Ari Melber]

One,

[Dylan Ratigan]

one of the great benefits of a constant barrage of aerial bombardment on Kiev over the last four years has been the optimization of the production of highly functional flying exploding drones for a very small price, which didn't exist four years ago.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And that is a substantial technological change in warfare.

[Ari Melber]

Okay.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I would put it equivalent in terms of its application, although it's different to nuclear weapons. The reason that I say that is once I introduce the possibility of setting up a quiver of 10,000 drones and teeing them off on any city in the world where I can basically just take your iPhone and initiate a weather pattern that instead of a blizzard warning or a wind warning or a tornado warning, it's a drone warning and we'll probably be okay. But maybe a giant flying Volkswagen bus full of explosives will fly through the building and kill everybody. Like that is an unnecessary additional risk. I also think, and I mentioned this on your show, that Napoleon gets a lot of credit for at least going with his strongest men and himself to go ask to talk to the people in charge of the situation as opposed to people that have a disagreement using remote control, launching of this new technology at women and children, which is for me fundamentally unacceptable.

[Ari Melber]

And there's political science that backs that up, that the closer the cost of war is correlated with the decision makers of war, the less excessive, random, high risk war you have, which is why the draft was a big issue in this country and we've seen that elsewhere. And it is, it's a, it's a fun. You're saying something also fundamental when you think about, you know, lots changing things are changing faster than they used to. There's an accelerated change function in our tools, our technology, our media, now of course, AI. And as that accelerates, you're talking about, and this is what. It's hard to even get your arms around it in like a most forums because then you start to sound a little.

[Dylan Ratigan]

But just think about like this, where, what conflict in the world is it appropriate to resolve via indiscriminate aerial bombardment of women and children.

[Ari Melber]

Right. They're killing.

[Dylan Ratigan]

So you can tell me Iran is the most evil, dastardly regime in the history of the world. Okay, accepted. Terrible, terrible, terrible. Or you can go down the list. Pick your.

[Ari Melber]

Pick the devil.

[Dylan Ratigan]

But whether you're somebody living in an apartment in Kiev, whether you're somebody living in an apartment in Tel Aviv, in Tehran, in Dubai, in Kuwait City, could easily be New York, can easily be Milan, could easily be London, could easily be San Francisco, can easily be Tokyo. My whole point is you've now introduced a new technology that allows you to rain down these drones in a way that did not exist until the last couple of years because of the war in Ukraine.

[Ari Melber]

You know, at the ease of the access of. And the cost and the ease of technological barbarism.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Yes.

[Ari Melber]

Did you read Lord of the Flies? I did not.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I did not.

[Ari Melber]

Well, I have a spoiler. I mean now anyone watching this, if you haven't read it and you're going to read it, spoiler. But you basically have the thing where these kids get shipwrecked and in a short amount of time they start fighting and eventually like killing each other and then they're rescued. And you sort of say, oh, these kids, like they went, you know, crazy. Yeah, they're their kids, but they went to. Became totally barbaric. And when they're rescued, they, they take them off the island. There's this, there's a whole bunch of plots to it, but. And the adults at, in the book at the end are being, are saying this is why they need supervision. I mean, you just can't have these kids without rules and a little bit of understanding of consequences, respect for each other. Giving this little. I'm paraphrasing. And then as it widens out in the story, you see that it's the 1940s and they were rescued by a warship. And the captain's giving this kind of speech. While in organized rule of law societies there is less violent crime as opposed to a thousand years ago. That is actually true at the global level, as you just elucidated, there is not less violence. There's all this type of violence because at the global level, we are like just kids resorting often quickly to violence. And you sort of look at that and you say there's got to be a better way.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And also, well, not only got a better, it's unacceptable. Indiscriminate aerial bombardment of cities that kills women and children cannot be considered an acceptable conflict resolution mechanism. Full stop.

[Ari Melber]

All Right. Now that you're chaser. And then we're done, and then we're out of here. Dylan Ratigan. I met this guy when I was practicing law, and he would have me on his TV show. And it was like 15 years ago, remember?

[Dylan Ratigan]

I think it was longer.

[Ari Melber]

Okay. And you.

[Dylan Ratigan]

So I don't really remember. No, I remember.

[Ari Melber]

And you've had an interesting story. Career. This is how he really talks. Like, this is how he talks. Fair.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I mean, how do I talk?

[Ari Melber]

You don't know how you talk?

[Dylan Ratigan]

I mean, do I talk in a way that I talk?

[Ari Melber]

Yes. I mean, it's. Why, before you had career, before you were on tv. Yeah. But yes, you speak with an intensity and acuity.

[Dylan Ratigan]

A precision.

[Ari Melber]

A precision and a passion.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Definitely a passion.

[Ari Melber]

So what I like to do here. This is the B side. This is my little extra. Okay. How'd you say.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Is there a moment when the B side becomes the A side?

[Ari Melber]

Never. And we can talk about.

[Dylan Ratigan]

That's a different.

[Ari Melber]

But before. Before I let you divert me. My question is for you, please. How'd you feel going from. You were young and you're in, you know, the financial space then, you're on a financial TV show, do this thing now, you got a little life perspective. How'd that feel for you? Do you. Did you like developing your voice that way? How do you feel? Media has changed so much, but you've had this whole career, and I just was.

[Dylan Ratigan]

How do I think it would change my interest people? I don't understand the question.

[Ari Melber]

How did you feel getting your voice, getting your show at a young age?

[Dylan Ratigan]

How did I feel?

[Ari Melber]

And how do you look at it now?

[Dylan Ratigan]

So I would say I was so young. How old were you? I was. I was a host of my first television program when I was 27 at Bloomberg.

[Ari Melber]

Wow, that is young. Okay.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And.

[Ari Melber]

And people are looking at you like

[Dylan Ratigan]

you're the adult every morning.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah.

[Dylan Ratigan]

For two hours. And that sort of went from 20. That went for 13 years between 27 and 40. And I would say sort of. I was sort of subservient to the information for that would say from 27 to 35. Where I didn't consider myself to have a voice so much as I considered myself to be a translator or a transmission device to assimilate information and synthesize it in a way that was useful for people.

[Ari Melber]

I'm gonna let you continue. But you're saying you.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I didn't view myself as a prosecutor of a point of view.

[Ari Melber]

You were. You were using a skill to present

[Dylan Ratigan]

Listening and reading comprehension.

[Ari Melber]

Okay. And. And then something. And then what happened?

[Dylan Ratigan]

And then the financial crisis happened when I was 35 and I was hosting Fast Money.

[Molly John Fast]

And.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And at that point, I'd had, you know, 15 years experience, eight years experience as a host, but 15 years experience, including the time at Bloomberg before running corporate finance and all the more sort of a job job kind of things. Kind of like your legal career, I guess. Not that this is not a job, but it's not really a job. Come on. And so. You know what I'm saying? You know what I'm saying.

[Ari Melber]

I mean, I so disagree, but I won't let you continue.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I mean, it's not a law anyway. And so I find it harder than.

[Ari Melber]

When I find it harder than my law practice. Yeah, but go on. Okay.

[Dylan Ratigan]

So when the financial crisis happened, it was so obvious to me that the solution was so clearly one that was a restoration of capital requirements, clawback of bonuses, penalty for the board, penalty for the CEO. Like, it's not that the. It's not that some of the other wrongs that were pointed out were not wrong, that people shouldn't have borrowed the money, all those things. But they still. It was a. It's a Chris Rock thing, selective outrage, you know, and they use that selective outrage to sort of for political purposes. And then they completely protected the wealthy class.

[Ari Melber]

And it. And, and it was the biggest thing. It's not like a pet issue where someone has a side thing and they've thought all about it and you're like, I don't know. This was the biggest thing. And it, it capsized the economy and it hurt so many people.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And you're saying it was foundational by point of view.

[Ari Melber]

And it was.

[Dylan Ratigan]

They were available from cnbc. I mean, the reason that I left cnbc, you didn't think you could do

[Ari Melber]

it within the system.

[Dylan Ratigan]

I knew that I couldn't. Yeah. And to Phil Griffin's credit, who was the CEO at this network at the time.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah.

[Dylan Ratigan]

He said, well, if you want to give them hell, come over here. Which, you know, had its own sort of wrinkles to it, ultimately. But to answer your question, I didn't come to a. Having a sense of a point of view until I was 35, although I would say my first and still organizing principle to this day. And I think you have this as well, actually, very much. It's why I appreciate you. Is Mike Bloomberg, very early on I was probably 23 or 24 years old, said, remember, when you work here, you don't work for me. And you don't work for any of the ad sponsors. You work for the reader or the viewer.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah.

[Dylan Ratigan]

So your job is to not make the guest feel better or your job is not to make the owner feel happy. Your job is to get from the guest the most interesting information you can get, whether it's in a broadcast environment like you work in now, or as a writer. You work for the person watching or reading.

[Ari Melber]

Right.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And that was and still exists? Pretty much, yeah.

[Ari Melber]

That goes a lot to. What is your foundation?

[Dylan Ratigan]

What are you trying to do? What is this?

[Ari Melber]

All right. Lightning round is how we close three questions in a sentence or less. The way to fix the system is.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Ranked choice voting and open primaries.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. He also ran for Congress. You want to talk about the whole bio? I'm optimistic about the future because

[Dylan Ratigan]

people are amazing and they want to live in a beautiful world.

[Ari Melber]

And one thing someone out there could do if they want to get out there and do something, could be what you did, could be something else. But your advice, because you've done some things, your advice in a sentence,

[Dylan Ratigan]

every time your mind has a reflex to criticize you, yourself, internally or someone else, use that as a Signal to be 1% kinder to yourself and whoever's standing closest to you, whether you know them or not.

[Ari Melber]

Donald Trump's war in Iran is not going great in the third week. The tankers are on fire. Iran is holding down its plans for the long term. And he just had a top. Trump had a top official resigned basically in protest, saying he can't in good conscience support this war. So we got a lot going on. I'm Ari Melbourne, news anchor, journalist. This is the B side. I'm on the news set, but we're going to get in a little deeper. I'm going to have Molly John Fast join us, and I just want to set up the conversation we're going to have. Molly's great, and so I think it's going to be interesting to hear her perspective. Here is the facts as we know them. Donald Trump is the least popular president in his second term that we've ever seen. Another way to say that is if he were any less popular, he might not have gotten reelected. Usually second term is where presidents have done enough to win people over and they're in, of course, the second round. Here, it's kind of the opposite. There was a break, there was Covid. People may have forgotten what Trump was like. And according to the public, again, if you just look at the polling, they're less happy with him than any President this early in a second term. There's also just a general rejection of the things that he claim to do and he's failing to do. And so we have the economic malaise and that mood writ large, which is really different than politics. But, of course, economics is always an undercurrent here. So if you look at the overall polling, you say, okay, he's very unpopular. If you look specifically at bringing prices down, you see 80% of the country. That's a lot of agreement, says affordability hasn't gotten better under Trump. And so that's one example. The forever wars. Starting new interventions in wars is another example. But today I actually want to broaden out. We have a little extra time in this sort of format. And I'm going to bring in Molly to say, well, how many of these vows did he blow through and how much does that matter for the politics in the moment?

[Dylan Ratigan]

We're in.

[Ari Melber]

Welcome. Thank you. John Fast. How you doing?

[Molly John Fast]

Thanks for having me. Nice to see you.

[Dylan Ratigan]

Great to have you.

[Ari Melber]

We're in the place. We do tv. Yes. This is the B side. So we get into it. We made a list. I like showing my work.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah.

[Ari Melber]

I wanted to add Tim, because it's very cool to have a list, as you know.

[Molly John Fast]

Yes.

[Ari Melber]

News is about what's new. We look at the story of the day. Some of the stories today I mentioned are Iran. Right. A type of risk of a forever war that Trump absolutely campaigned against doing. But then there's more. And so I want to get your thought, big picture, and then I'm going to read through some of these, because anyone can start with what they like or don't like. Maybe you like this politician, maybe you like that politician. But this level, this is like a bonkers level of broken promises. You know, George Bush, it was like no new taxes. That was like the one. And then he did a new tax and people were mad about that. There's so many. And on the one hand, it's not a shocker if you followed politics, that Trump lies a lot. People who like Trump are like, oh, yeah, we're in on it. And then you have an Epstein or something and they don't feel in on it. Trump's critics and journalists and factual people know he lies a lot. But this goes beyond lying. So your thoughts, big picture on that, Because Epstein, Iran, prices. A lot of what we're living through right now is not just, oh, you're, you're struggling to govern. It's like this is all the stuff you promised not to do.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah. I mean, it's almost as if, you know, it's funny because like, politicians lie. They do on the left, on the right, they lie. But what Donald Trump always did, and it worked for him really well, was he would say stuff that he couldn't possibly do. Right, Right. Like I'm going to make eggs cheaper, or even the bacon, the weave, I'm going to, you know, he'd do this thing about how he's going to make bacon cheaper. Right. Big and cheaper. And it was ultimately undoable. Right. Inflation is very hard for presidents to reverse, but instead, what's happened is he's done the actual opposite. So, for example, bombing Iran, you knew that the Straits of Hormuth would be implicated. Right. Anyone who's read a book knew that that was their ace in the hall.

[Ari Melber]

Read an article.

[Molly John Fast]

Right. If you would start. If you were going to start bombing them, that was going to be the thing that they would clamp down on. And that would aff. 20% of all oil and gas. Ergo, that would mean that oil and gas would get more expensive because 20% of it would be offline. And that's with so many of these promises. You see, it's not that he didn't keep them, it's that he actually did the opposite.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. Doing the opposite, which is like you're making a point that failing to get the thing done is one level. Right. Going and doing the opposite, like, proactively is worse. And so we broke this down in two terms. I'm just going to read through some of these because it is striking that in the first term, he had some vows and he seemed to try to do some of them. So just. And everyone will remember these. But again, a lot's happened. There's overlapping because it's the same president at two different terms. But first term, big ones were Build the wall. No.

[Molly John Fast]

Build the wall. Feels like. By the way, that feels like.

[Ari Melber]

Does that bring you back? Obama can't repeal. No.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah.

[Ari Melber]

But then tax cuts. Yeah. Travel ban. Yes. Narrowed in the courts. A little. Conservative judges. Yeah. Big time. Right. National infrastructure. No. That's first term. And again, this is separate from whether you like or oppose those ideas. But there's to be that effort. Yeah. When you get to second term. And I'll let you respond to this, but we. This is again, just a list. Big picture, deport criminals are only the bad guys. No, no. Try to do hardline immigration. Yes. So you can call that mixed. Drain the swamp. No. This is documented. Pretty much the most corruption. We've never Had a president with this many side hustles.

[Molly John Fast]

Right.

[Ari Melber]

Reform dei. Yes. Tariffs. Yes. But then failed because they've been paused in the courts. Then end Russia, Ukraine, quickly. No. Stop forever wars. No. And he is starting new interventions.

[Molly John Fast]

So the opposite.

[Ari Melber]

Right. Epstein files released. No. He fought it all year. Then congress passed it over a veto proof majority and lower prices. No. And that's just some. But when you look at the second term, you say it seems like he's not even trying to look like he's doing any of the things he promised.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah. And I think when you look at the forever wars issue, this is an administration that never even tried to sell the Iran war. Right. They didn't even try. And that was sort of, I think, jarring to a lot of the MAGA base. Like there wasn't even a sort of like a little bit of a low key, like, here's why we're doing it. There was just nothing like this was our idea, we wanted to do it. And later they came out and they sort of tried to explain why. You had Marco say Israel. You had reporting that said maybe Saudi Arabia wanted it, but none of this was like, why it's good for America. And if you're the America first president, you should at least try to make some kind of case as to why you would do this for America.

[Ari Melber]

Well, it's war. It's not brunch where like four people meet up and you're like, why are we here? I thought you wanted to be. No, I don't even like this place. Well, I thought, I thought Julie wanted. No, you realize you all ended up somewhere. Nobody picked it. This is war. And so to your point, yes, they haven't defined that. And then you look at this and you say there are laws of gravity. Trump got fewer votes in 16, they got shellacked in the blue wave in 18, and then he lost in 20. Covid Biden Harris, you had a whole unusual period of events and he comes back and wins. And I noticed if you've seen this in a lot of different places, people, the shockwave of 16 weirdly repeated in 24 people say, oh my God. So he won. So that must mean xyz. That must mean he has this big support and had he governed differently, who knows? But now you're here and you say every big thing, from prices, which people care about, to forever wars, which people are learning about and they're seeing the gas spike to Epstein files, all the big things. He's not doing it. How much do you think that drags them down going into the midterms. Which is different than saying you're incompetent.

[Molly John Fast]

Right.

[Ari Melber]

Or you didn't achieve your goals.

[Molly John Fast]

Right.

[Ari Melber]

This is sort of like I saw a TikTok where somebody was making fun of it and they showed like, it had like making fun of a maga podcaster. And the person was being like, I don't understand, like, so he's never meant any of it. And if you're a critic, you're like, duh. Yeah, but actually that's what happens in politics. Not everyone's into it. Like, do you think this matters going forward?

[Molly John Fast]

Well, and also, remember where he grew his coalition, young people, the manosphere people. And then the question is, is Joe Rogan doing that because he's having an awakening, or is Joe Rogan doing that because he sees that his base is like, what?

[Ari Melber]

Right. Thermometer or thermostat.

[Molly John Fast]

Right. And I think that's really important. But also, look, I, I'm, I'm back to war is not brunch. That is, by the way, put that on my. Because it's really important. But. And then you have the question of the second.

[Ari Melber]

And brunch is not war.

[Molly John Fast]

That's certainly true. Those are both getting a tape. No. Anyway, I kid, but I think the question when you look at this is the second order effects too, because you have maybe troops coming in, you have these cities around Iran who, where they're being bombed. You have the death of, of civilians, a few civilians, but still that's death.

[Ari Melber]

Oh, yeah.

[Molly John Fast]

And I think. And then. So you have things more expensive, you have supply chain issues besides that, like fertilizer, all sorts of other things go through the street too. And I just think that you really, it shows a real lack of planning. And by the way, you have these press conferences where Donald Trump is saying, like, he's begging other countries for help.

[Ari Melber]

Well, that was, that's really week three.

[Molly John Fast]

Right.

[Ari Melber]

Because in the first two weeks they made a big point of basically two countries taking out all this material. And the intellig in the military, we've had a lot of guests who say, hey, military is really effective because look at what they can do. And that's true.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah.

[Ari Melber]

But killing is easier than winning.

[Molly John Fast]

Right?

[Ari Melber]

And so, so you have a Pentagon that can kill. Right. And then you say, okay, well, you got the new leader, you got the replacements, you got this country. And now you go, oh, you need help, you need allies on the, on the economic front and the trade front and the shipping routes. And Trump goes out, we'll call them and beg them now. And it's like, but you didn't involve them three weeks ago. It's very much like Fisher Price, like my first geopolitical challenge. And you're like, yeah, this was foreseeable.

[Molly John Fast]

Right.

[Ari Melber]

And again, if people say, oh, well, that's his emotion, that's his ego, you're like, okay, but this isn't a debate. Like, this isn't like, oh, Trump will be Trump. Those are words. No, we've got American soldiers dying and more at risk as long as we're in this. So if you could save American lives by having done a little policy planning, you should have.

[Molly John Fast]

And, and also like the other Republicans who got us into Gulf War one and Gulf War two, both did that. I mean, you may not be fans of theirs, but they went to Europe and they went to, you know, Bush 2 had the coalition of the willing. It wasn't everybody, but they got a few people in there. And remember, this is Donald Trump who recently was saying he was going to go into Greenland.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah. I wanted to lighten up before we get out of here. How have you felt being you've been embraced by the msnow audience? Five years ago, you weren't on all the time. Now you're on all the time. Do you have any way that that affects you? While you think about this, I'm going to give you a token of our appreciation.

[Molly John Fast]

Oh, good.

[Ari Melber]

You've seen the white lighters on the show, maybe. Yes, we like lighters on the Beat. Yes. We now have a limited edition Zippo. And Molly, while you think about wanting to share with people, like how it's been, because I know you meet the viewers are on the other side of this, whichever platform. YouTube, TV, TikTok, social, TikTok. I'm sure people come up to you, right?

[Molly John Fast]

Yes.

[Ari Melber]

So I'm curious how that's affected you, how you're feeling about that you're out and about. I'm just curious. People sometimes are interested in that. Before I let you out of here. And as you see, it says the Beat.

[Molly John Fast]

So cool. And you filled it up already.

[Ari Melber]

Yeah, amazing. In fact, here on the Beat Team, my colleague Mariah filled it up for you. So you can thank both of us. But this is.

[Molly John Fast]

Thank you. Well, an already filled lighter with a fancy lighter. That's amazing. I love my MSNBC family. I really do. And I, you know, it's some of the best people, really smart.

[Ari Melber]

What's the most common thing you get if somebody comes up to you? What are you hearing?

[Molly John Fast]

They like me.

[Dylan Ratigan]

And it's just something nice, like, they like you. That's it?

[Ari Melber]

Nothing else?

[Molly John Fast]

No. Well, they'll say, you know, you always say something smart and a little counterintuitive.

[Ari Melber]

Oh.

[Molly John Fast]

And I really listen and get questions.

[Ari Melber]

Are there any questions you get?

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah, I. You know, then sometimes they ask me about you, and I say, I wasn't

[Ari Melber]

official, but it's true, because people ask me, are we going to be okay? Is democracy going to survive? I get that. You get that.

[Molly John Fast]

But I also get like, tell me about Ari. And I was. And I was.

[Ari Melber]

I know. By the way, I didn't know that this wasn't where we were going. Like, oh, I love our respect.

[Molly John Fast]

I don't know. Are you much younger than. I think you're like a year younger than I am. But I am always like, oh, you

[Ari Melber]

know, I always thought you were 10 years younger than me. Oh, what I did there. So they. And then do you get, like.

[Molly John Fast]

I get requests.

[Ari Melber]

Hey, do some. I'll tell you what I get. Some of you guys have said, oh, you dropped this, you dropped that. You need to drop more cool mode. D. You need to drop this other artist. Like, it's like, I'm getting requests. And I'm like, well, I don't. It's sort of organic. But sure, I'll keep. I'll keep cool Modi in mind.

[Dylan Ratigan]

You don't.

[Ari Melber]

Yes.

[Molly John Fast]

No, I don't get any rap requests, but I do get. I do get, you know, asked about how people are and what's it like and what, you know, this one's like. Or that one.

[Ari Melber]

The person. Steve Friedman taught me news. He used to run the Today show. And when we started, I was, like, still learning. And I was like, so trying to, you know, you want to do the job? Well, it was really serious. And he's like, we get it, you know. Yeah, it's fine to be serious. He goes, but people aren't watching the news. Yeah, I thought. Well, then he goes, people are watching people.

[Molly John Fast]

Yeah.

[Ari Melber]

Be factual. Be responsible. There are people. So you can be yourself within that. And the fact that someone's asking you, oh, how. Who's. Whatever. What's. Lawrence. Lawrence this week? What's Lawrence up to? What's he thinking about that? Yeah, because it's all that. So I think that's good. We gotta go. We gotta go. Cause we got other stuff together.

[Molly John Fast]

We got the show.

[Ari Melber]

Molly Johangfast is here. You can always subscribe on our YouTube and put your questions for Molly in the comments.

[Commercial Announcer]

Snoring gasping during sleep Feeling fatigued? Wake up to Zepbound Tirzepatide, the first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity. Zeb Bound is an injectable prescription medicine that may help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea and obesity to improve their osa. Zebound should be used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity. Zepbound is Approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5 or 15mg injection. Zetbound contains Tirzepatide and should not be used with other Tirzepatide containing products, products or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepbound is safe and effective for use in children. Do not share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take Zepbound if allergic to it or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach pain or a serious allergic reaction. Severe side effects may include inflamed pancreas or gallbladder problems. Tell Tell your doctor if you experience vision changes, depression or suicidal thoughts before scheduled procedures with anesthesia. If you're nursing pregnant, plan to be or taking birth control pills. Taking Zepbound with a sulfonylurea or insulin may cause low blood sugar. Side effects include nausea, diarrhea and vomiting, which can cause dehydration and worsen kidney problems. Talk to your doctor. Call 1-800-545-5979 or visit zepbound.lilly.com Zepbound and its delivery device base and QuickPen are registered trademarks owned or licensed by Eli Lilly and Company. Its subsidiaries or affiliates.