← The Beat with Ari Melber
The Beat with Ari Melber
Dems Sweep as Voters Take MAGA To School
00:42:01
MSNBC’s Ari Melber analyzes Democrats’ 2025 election sweep and the growing ripple effects across U.S. politics.
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- [00:00]
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Ari Melber
Welcome to the beat everyone. I'm Ari Melber. We are tracking this Democratic sweep which began pretty early on Tuesday night, but it's been sinking in now quickly. Democrats winning double digit blowouts that cannot be spun away here on planet earth in reality. And while Donald Trump has led a party that has at times lied and denied about its own election losses in the past, sometimes so unlawfully that allies ultimately paid out hundreds of millions of dollars for their election lies, this sweep that began Tuesday is so clear and decisive that MAGA leaders are not trying that route. Instead, they're facing the voter's rebuke as they sift through the wreckage. And Republican politicians like Ted Cruz clearly know their party will face this similar electorate in one year. And he also knows something very simple. Winning campaigns tend to address voters realities which right now are very negative on maga. Rather than denying those realities.
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Megyn Kelly
How are you feeling this morning? Like, yeah, I can relate.
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Ari Melber
Look, last night was a disaster.
- [01:58]
Megyn Kelly
Last night was a total and complete disaster.
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Ari Melber
It was an electoral blowout. The results in New Jersey were disastrous. The results in Virginia were terrible.
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Megyn Kelly
The margins are so large and Republicans lost across the board everywhere, in every race, there's really no good news.
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Ari Melber
You destroyed. You destroyed the Republican Party for a generation.
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Megyn Kelly
The Republicans like to lose. They enjoy losing.
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Ari Melber
Republicans did not have a good day. So anyone who says, well, not really that, but no, it was bad.
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Megyn Kelly
Republicans don't know how to win. They don't know who to run. They don't know what to do when he's not. When daddy's not there to fly them across the finish line.
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Ari Melber
I don't think it was good for Republican.
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Megyn Kelly
The Republican Party needs to get it together asap.
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Ari Melber
Get your blank together, quote, unquote. Because they don't know what to do when daddy's not there. Quote, unquote. There you have it. The emphasis, though, in whatever colorful language you hear on the right is facing their troubling reality in order to change it while they still have a chance. Republicans are not just concerned that they lost those couple states or the races we've told you about. They're concerned about something much larger, something national, something that could wipe them out in future election or elections, plural. They are worried that these trends are real and will continue and wipe them out in Congress. The Republican Party, remember, as I showed you earlier, is defending this tiny narrow margin. That's all they got out of Trump on the ballot last year. He did win by a point and a half. But over in the House, he won so narrowly. And they've since hemorrhaged further in special elections. They can only afford to lose two seats. And this week they lost races by double digits. Some Republican partisans first were trying to deflect sort of on Tuesday night a little bit. Wednesday morning we heard this. They would argue that those governors races were in blue leaning states. Well, that talking point didn't have a very long half life. It has now died by Thursday because the data comes in and people take a minute to sift through it. And the headlines you see that we go through on TV in the newspaper underneath those headlines is a lot more data and we will synthesize it for you. But it shows that basically Republicans have a big problem and that Democrats are doing much better with voters than they did just one year ago, specifically with the voters that decide national races. Democrats winning with dramatic gains among the people who have drifted back to the Republican Party last year. And that includes, as Axios points out, black, Latino and young voters. Dems also won a majority of women voters and nearly half the men who voted. Okay, so you take half plus more than half. Well, that's everybody. Okay. But it also is important because it cuts into the gender gap that had hurt them last year. Megyn Kelly talks about whether the Republicans have their quote daddy. That's the way she phrased it. Well, without their quote daddy, as she would put it, or without, as I would put it, the president on the ballot, they have a gender gap that's going the other way. Now, the other thing that we saw was while there were some select races, like I told you about the race in Mississippi, local races, the other thing about anything statewide is it matters more than a House district or a special election. We've had, remember, everyone said, oh, this week is the first big set of races, but we've had some other races across this year, but they were in specific districts. Districts, as you know, are drawn. We have these debates about gerrymandering and redistricting. It's a small pocket. When you get statewide data, though, that's a whole other thing. And the night of, we're telling you about the winds, we tell you double digits. But as the days go on, everyone, the politicos, the data nerds, the journalists, everyone starts going in. And statewide races give you a ton more information. And they explain why someone like Ted Cruz is so panicked because here's some statewide information. Almost every single county in Virginia went more blue. This is one of those charts. It's a little wonky, right? It's not as dramatic as a red, blue map of the whole country, but the arrows that are blue are good news for the Democrats. And in a different year like last year, we would have had a lot more red arrows and it would have been a balance. What you see here, if you don't want to call it a blue wave, you can call it a blue shift in that state. In just about every county, you can see those shifts across the terrain. They say numbers don't lie well in electoral politics. Maps don't lie either. Now, if this map were replicated in other states or around the country, next year, it would be lights out for MAGA and the Republicans in the midterms. That's if the trends hold. Now. White House Republican veteran Karl Rove notes that the voters decisions Tuesday were certainly a result of their disapproval of Trump. Several people close to him had been saying privately, the warning signs are everywhere. Axios reports in their behind the curtain coverage. Before the election, polls showed a clear, consistent backlash against almost everything Trump is doing. Politico reporting it bluntly. Trump enters his lame duck era. Oh, snap. If the term lame duck is familiar. We have reported on the perils of lame duck Trump on this program on the beat for weeks. And the reason we've reported on that is based on the evidence, there were signs that, that he was fading. There were signs that Republicans, including we saw Steve Bannon, were nervous about this. And there were signs in the way that our constitutional system works. Much as Donald Trump might not like it, there will be no third term. It's unconstitutional. So he is a lame duck who's not going to be on the ballot again. And our Constitution breaks up all of these different races on purpose. So Senators serve a longer term than the president. They serve these six year terms, which means they are incentivized to look at their own job security and careers for what politics will be doing, not just this week or in the midterms, but in the years ahead beyond this term of this lame duck president. And what they're seeing, from Ted Cruz to Megyn Kelly to Steve Bannon to everyone I showed you, is it's going down and it may not have bottomed out yet. Then there are Trump's broken vows. He didn't campaign on masked ICE agents. He talked about going and getting criminal immigrants, but he didn't campaign on masked ICE agents or troops in the street or a lot of the other stuff he's been doing. It's only been a year, but it's almost forgettable that he spent last year and the home stretch, September, October and this ending month of November promising to get prices under control to fight inflation. And a year in voters think he failed. Grocery price is even jumping NPR reports that frustrates consumers. You can't hide that. You can't spin that. Gas prices just as high as they were about a year ago. Trump is out making false statements about all that, and I'm not airing those in this report. But even his rush to mislead on those topics tells you those topics are important. And he wants to change the narrative around the truth that high prices matter. And the mass ICE agents and the federal troops, with all the attention they get, they don't make people think the prices are lower. I told you numbers don't lie. I showed you where the prices are. Now back to why they don't lie. 71% of people say they're spending more on groceries and utilities than a year ago. By definition, that includes a ton of people who voted for Donald Trump last year. 59%, more specifically blame him for the rising prices. Remember, he came in at about 49, 50%, 59% blame him for the prices. They lose the midterms, if that number is even 52 or 53 nationwide, against Republican policies a year from this week. Now, when Trump saw that Republicans lost, he bemoaned the shutdown. And we're now seeing growing delays, lines at the airports that grinds on Trump administration planning to further reduce flights by about 10% at the major airports in the country. Utility bill prices may go up further. Federal funding's on hold for a $4 billion program that helps people pay heating bills. And when you look at how they want to play the shutdown, Trump was trying to only release a minority, if any, of the food aid, so more people might go hungry. Well, late news late in the day today, a federal judge rebuking Trump, ordering them to fully fund those benefits, at least for this month. MAGA leaders who thought they were on the rise or they had some new permanent alignment, who thought Democrats were going to continue to shut down, who thought even that the autocratic efforts by Trump to censor and change how people learn about the news, from gas prices to mass agents who thought that they could silence or scare the comics, cancel some shows, buy some media, and all of that would change the fundamentals, to say nothing of the law firms and universities. Well, here we are a year later, and suddenly they're learning a Ferris Bueller rule over at the Trump White House and beyond. Life moves pretty fast. Yep, I said it before and I'll say it again.
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Riley Herbst
Life moves pretty fast.
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Ari Melber
You don't stop and look around once in a while. You could miss it. Oh, yeah, life moves fast. The young Mr. Bueller may have been talking about appreciating what's going on and why sometimes you got to take a day off and enjoy yourself. Well, right now, Democrats look like they're going to be taking a lot of days on because they have a new formula and blueprint that even the biggest MAGA voices say could wipe them out sooner rather than later. We'll be back with our guests. And you, I'll be back with you in just 90 seconds.
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Senator Ed Markey
The Democrats swept all the major races across.
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Ari Melber
For fun, let's just say for Trump.
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Senator Ed Markey
It was a huge kick in the ballroom.
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Ari Melber
You know what I'm saying? That's today. Democrats are walking around with a spring in their step like a divorced mom in her 40s whose new haircut just got her carted at two different bars. That's the vibe Late night on the election results. We're joined by Molly Dong Fast from the New York Times and MSNBC analyst and host of the Fast Politics podcast, Talk about Life moves pretty fast.
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Molly Jong-Fast
Yes, it does.
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Ari Melber
You see, that's right. It all fits in. I mentioned the talking points that died quickly this week because there was a little, you know, stutter step in politics. Sometimes people say, well, you know, you want to act like you're winning at the end. You want to act like if you lost, it wasn't that bad. That's not what Megyn Kelly and Ted Cruz are saying. They're acknowledging this is a problem they gotta fix for their party.
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Molly Jong-Fast
They got shellacked. You know, it's funny. Cuz I was in New Jersey covering the Mikey Cheryl race and I was talking to a national political reporter who was saying, well, you know, the polls are tightening, she's just not an effective candidate. And I said, well, the polls show her up 7 to 10 points. So where are the. But you did see some like, and you see this with sort of these Republican, more Republican leaning pollsters. Sometimes they'll flood with junk polls. And some of the polls had her up just one point or two points. Now you'll remember in New Jersey, Harris won by six, Cheryl added seven points to that, winning the state by 13.
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Ari Melber
Yeah, and look, polls are a prediction about who's going to turn out. So if you have a national approval poll, I always remind people, and we don't show a lot of these horse race polls because we don't find them to be very reliable. If you have a national approval poll of all Americans, then you have a relatively small margin of error. And you're saying Americans are against, for example, this current president, he's mired below 40. As soon as you start polling the state of Virginia and then you say, let's sample it, meaning change the numbers for who we think will turn out. Now you're basically in a statistical prediction. It's not the same as someone making it up, but it ain't, like I said, a pure poll. And so you're pointing out that the reason Democrats here were undercredited in those polls was most pollsters didn't think that youth turnout and, and some of the other women turnout, et cetera, would be as high.
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Molly Jong-Fast
Yeah, and the youth turnout. And I think this is really important because when we talk about the New York mayors, there's a, he has a huge youth coalition, but when you look at actually Virginia and New Jersey, we had that too. We had a lot of youth turnout. And the story of the night of course is we spent so much time focusing on, on young men and young men going to the right and, and, but young women are a force to be reckoned with and they do not like Donald J. Trump.
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Ari Melber
They don't like Trump. People don't like the Trump second term. And that's quoting the numbers we showed. And then you have this sort of reaction thing. You know, Trump has been under polled in the past, but boy, when there's a mistake, he sues the pollster. People freak out. You look up three months later and on your algorithm you still got people complaining about it as if he was wronged by this poll. Are we going to have three months of that for these Democrats, because they were under polled.
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Molly Jong-Fast
Right. Well, and I also think it's important to realize, like, Donald Trump came in like he had some kind of huge mandate and he started doing stuff that was. Remember, he ran, he said, I'm going to make things cheaper. I'm going to run on affordability. I mean, that was his message. Bacon. Remember the weave? He would do this weave on bacon. And what did he.
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Ari Melber
We love the weave.
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Molly Jong-Fast
Right, the weave. And. But what did he do? He came in and he put tariffs on, which made everything more expensive. And then, I mean, and it was like. And just from there, he went on to, you know, bombing boats in the Caribbean. These are things nobody wanted from him. You know, he had said he was gonna run on affordability. And I think that, you know, then demolishing the East Wing, you know, didn't help. Didn't help.
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Senator Ed Markey
Didn't help.
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Ari Melber
Hang with me. I wanna bring in, for the Washington perspective here, Democratic Senator Ed Markey from Massachusetts. Good evening. How are you?
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Senator Ed Markey
Great to see you. Thank you.
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Ari Melber
Great to have you. How is this playing in Congress? In our, in our report tonight, we showed that it's a big if and a year is a long time, but Republicans seem panicked that if these trends from Tuesday held, they would be wiped out in Congress.
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Senator Ed Markey
They would be totally wiped out. We would not only win the House of Representatives overwhelmingly, we could very well win the United States Senate as well. That's what happened on Tuesday night. There's a complete underestimation by the experts of how angry the American people are right now. Their health care prices are skyrocketing, their electricity prices are skyrocketing. The price of food is skyrocketing, the price of clothing is skyrocketing. People went to the ballot box, but they voted with their pocketbook. These are kitchen table issues. And Donald Trump and his economic policy were completely repudiated on Tuesday night across the country, across all demographics and across all of expert opinion that just did not see this happening. And so, yes, this is a preview of coming attractions for the Republican Party if they refuse to come back and talk about healthcare, talk about affordability, talk about the issues that the American people really care about. And so far, what Donald Trump is saying is we have to talk about affordability more. That's what he said yesterday. Yeah, he's talking the talk, but they're not walking the walk. And the people can see that. And that's how they voted on Tuesday night.
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Ari Melber
Yeah. And affordability is sort of the big stuff. The macroeconomics there's also just straight up what the government can do. And we saw what voters kind of wanted on that. This is now going to be the longest shutdown ever. He was fighting, the president was fighting to have more hunger, not less, to have food insecurity rather than food security. He's now lost this court battle. I have a headline could change cuz people know there's appeals. But a federal judge ordering Trump to fully fund the food benefits and rebuking the administration for trying to basically partial do partial benefits. What do you see as the outlook on the shutdown? And what do you say to your Democratic colleagues who might waver because Trump himself seems to think it hurt them on Tuesday?
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Senator Ed Markey
So you are right. A federal district court judge in Rhode island ruled today that Donald Trump must feed the 42 million Americans who need the snap benefits. And Trump so far has been refusing to do that. If you kick him in the heart, you're going to break your toe. The same thing is true on health care that was completely repudiated on Tuesday night, the healthcare policy of Donald Trump. There are 22 million Americans who are going to lose their health care coverage or see dramatic 25, 50, 75% increase in their health care premiums that they have to pay without the tax credits that are still out there. With Republicans refusing to negotiate. On the House of Representatives under Republican leadership, they've been in a witness protection program for six weeks now. They refuse to even come to Washington to talk about this health care crisis that's looming. I talked to a man in Natick, Massachusetts on Saturday. Right now he pays $30,000 for his drug coverage, for his cancer. He will pay $300,000 a year if the Republicans don't come back to Washington. And there's 22 million other Americans just like him. So that's what they're facing right now, anger across the board because of the Republicans refusal to deal with the real issues that affect real people in their kitchens.
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Ari Melber
So, Senator, you sound committed. You sou and from what I could tell, these are a bunch of the topics you want to talk about tonight. This is the beat. So sometimes we ask politicians about topics they don't want to talk about. But your leader, Chuck Schumer never endorsed the Democratic candidate in New York City. You know, that's unusual. That candidate is now mayor elect and changed the turnout model. Young voters, highest turnout in the city since 1969. We know it's a big ten and people disagree. But what do you say to Chuck Schumer and the parts of the Democratic establishment at this point who seem to be resisting what is part of the process. In other words, you might disagree with him on a bunch of issues, but if a candidate wins the primary, they're the nominee, then they become mayor elect. And it seems like Schumer and perhaps others, you tell us, are kind of behind the step of the voters here. Does that need to be sort of right sized?
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Senator Ed Markey
Well, I endorsed Mayor Elect Mondame myself. Sure, I congratulate him on his victory back in the primary, and I've endorsed him in the general election.
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Ari Melber
But do you think your leader was.
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Senator Ed Markey
I'm all on board. But you think your leader. And I will say this.
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Ari Melber
Do you think Chuck Schumer. I'll refine it. Do you think Chuck Schumer was out of step?
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Senator Ed Markey
Look, we're united. The Democratic caucus is united. We're taking on the Republicans on health care, on affordability, on the tariffs, on electricity prices. On every one of these issues, we are united. We are taking it to them. And when John Thune brings that vote out tomorrow morning to open up the government without dealing with the health care crisis, we are going to vote no. Once again, we are united in our opposition to Trump Atomics. Okay. Trump Economics. We have.
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Ari Melber
I want to get to terrorists.
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Senator Ed Markey
Before.
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Ari Melber
We run out of time. I have to say fact check. I don't think Chuck Schumer and the mayor elect are united and they're from the same state. And that's gotten some attention. I mean, this isn't a media thing. That's like a real thing. But we got your answer on that. Before I lose you, I know that you and others are fired up about the tariffs. I want to play what sounded like skeptical questioning. Take a listen of the Trump plan in the Supreme Court. We have never applied it to foreign affairs. But this is a tariff. This is a tax.
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Molly Jong-Fast
It is a.
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Ari Melber
It is a. If I may, it's a foreign facing regulation of foreign commerce. The vehicle is imposition of taxes on Americans. And that has always been the core power of Congress. What would prohibit Congress from just abdicating all responsibility to regulate foreign commerce? For that matter, declare war to the president. So in the minute, we have left your views on that hearing and is the White House wrong? Is this a tax? Is it, Is it a bad idea at this point?
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Senator Ed Markey
A revolution began in Massachusetts 250 years ago. And what the colonists were saying was, no taxation without representation. We want to have a vote. We want our congressmen, our senators to have a vote. We don't want King George deciding what the tea tax is, what the stamp tax is. So that was the revolution and we are now having a latter day revolution against Donald Trump's attempt to illegally usurp power from the Congress to tax. And I was over there in the Supreme Court yesterday, I sat there. The arch eyebrows of some of the Republican nominated justices, they were going so high, they were hitting the ceiling, their arched eyebrows. So the skepticism towards the Republican solicitor General was absolute. No, this is a tariff, is a tax. Only Congress can impose taxes and Donald Trump does not have the legal right to do so. So he should be ready to get a kick in the behind from the Supreme Court because it's arriving in the very near future.
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Ari Melber
Yeah. Senator Markey, on more than one topic, thanks for joining us tonight.
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Senator Ed Markey
Great to be with you.
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Ari Melber
Thank you. Yeah, absolutely appreciate it. Molly Jong fast stays with me. We turn to Nancy Pelosi's historic career as she finally takes a bow. Best speakers the House of Representatives have ever had. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that's by the end of the hour. But up next, we turn to that same friction, that excitement, call it even attention that you saw with the senator there. This man, he may not be the face of the Democratic Party, but he's the mayor elect of New York, one of the youngest politicians in the country to lead a city. We're going to talk about him and his playbook for young voters that could help the Dems in the midterms next.
- [25:21]
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- [26:19]
Commercial Narrator
President Trump continues implementing his ambitious agenda. Follow along with MSNBC's newest newsletter, Project 47. You'll get weekly updates sent straight to your inbox with expert analysis on the administration's latest actions and how they're affecting the American people.
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DSW Advertiser
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- [26:49]
Ari Melber
Tonight's theme, his life comes at you fast, but I and I don't know about you, but I gotta tell you, I am old enough to remember not only last November when we heard about young men and Latinos and this realignment for Trump, but then we start hearing about it for month after month. And some of it was valid because Democrats had clearly lost a step. And usually across most of American history, young people do lean a little more left and right. But the economics, the other things that were going on, a lot of it looks different a year later. And it's clear that young people and even young men are not signing up with everything MAGA has to offer. Look at the shift. New York City is, of course, a liberal place, but young voters turned out in droves. Not only for now, Mayor Elect Mamdani, but they turned out in higher numbers, meaning they changed the entire electorate and made it a higher turnout race. That's something that Trump benefited from once upon a time. But Democrats might adopt the playbook, his rise buoyed by a savvy campaign. It was cultural, it was online, and it was always pretty, authentically speaking, inclusively, to include the younger generation. Hey guys, it's Tuesday. Please sign up to canvas. We are doing a scavenger hunt across New York City tomorrow, freezing your rent.
- [28:14]
Senator Ed Markey
As the next mayor of New York City.
- [28:16]
Ari Melber
Let's plunge into the detail. It's not just a question of who's on the ballot, but what's on the ballot. Take the most expensive city in the.
- [28:24]
Senator Ed Markey
United States of America and make it affordable.
- [28:26]
Ari Melber
If you're a young New Yorker, it's easy to feel like your voice doesn't matter. Politicians don't take you or your concerns seriously. And to quote another young man who was at least a young man once upon a time, the times, they are a changin. So for folks watching those videos saying, I don't know why he's jumping in the water or the polar bear thing or other things, that's fine. It's not necessarily for everyone. There are still traditional debates, traditional TV interviews. Mr. Mamdani did plenty of those. But there are also now other ways to communicate. And the Times reports on that. Because this campaign faced Gen Z loneliness, these young people Whether they like it or not, are often, quote, addicted to their screens, also strapped for cash, spiritually on moored, socially stunted by the Pam pandemic. Young New Yorkers needed a reason to get out of the house. They found it in this mayoral run. And they write the social buoyancy of his campaign wasn't just for show. Young people turned up and voted the final weekend of early voting, seeing nearly 100,000 voters under 35. And the votes mattered. Early election polling shows 78%. I mean, that is bananas. Of people in their 20s voted for Mom Donnie. And again, a point we showed you earlier in the week. Cuomo, who has a history in Democratic politics and with this city of New York and the state of New York, of course, he still won all voters over 45. There are other years where the turnout universe is more older voters. And in a year like that, Cuomo might have won. That's an important point that has still not fully sunk in. We were just talking about this with a Democratic senator who backed Mamdani, even though the Democratic leader, Schumer, in his home state of New York, never did. And there may be many reasons that they disagree on many things, but I don't think they disagree on the fact that Democrats will need more voters to turn out than did a year ago. So if you compare the Harris coalition nationally to what happened on Tuesday, not just in New York, but in the other states, well, Democrats want this week's version. Young voters turned out for those Democrats in New Jersey and Virginia as well. And many of those, of course, are more moderate and have less baggage rhetorically than the New York mayor. Elect these younger voters, whether you call them 20 somethings or gen Z or soon to be Gen Alpha, many of them just like you, if you happen to be older than them or just like the young Bob Dylan I mentioned many of them, however they communicate and how much tech they have, you'll find a lot of them are concerned about the exact same things that other people and sometimes other liberals have been throughout the years.
- [31:04]
Molly Jong-Fast
I'm here to represent the younger generation.
- [31:06]
Rachel Jonfaza
Be out here, vote, you know, practice your rights.
- [31:09]
Ari Melber
Rent is too high and it's just.
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Molly Jong-Fast
Like everything costs way too much these days.
- [31:15]
Rachel Jonfaza
I'm first generation and honestly, like everything, it's just not. It's just not right.
- [31:21]
Ari Melber
I'm hopeful for Zauran's campaign. There's pain and anxiety out there and there's also hope. Now there's a Gen Z reporter, Rachel Jonfaza, who notes that Mamdani, like Trump last year did resonate with some young voters because in a world that feels broken, young people want something to vote for, not just against. To resonate with Gen Z, you need a clear vision for the future. If this election proves anything, it's that listening and truly understanding where your community is at is key. Rachel, that writer I just quoted, joins us next, along with Molly Zhang. Fast. We'll be right back.
- [31:58]
Senator Ed Markey
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- [32:53]
Ari Melber
Is coming to this network, but we're still going to be having conversations about the issues that define us as a country. The only thing changing is our name.
- [33:01]
Senator Ed Markey
Same mission, new name.
- [33:02]
Commercial Narrator
MSNBC becomes Ms. Now. November 15th.
- [33:08]
Rachel Jonfaza
Young people are struggling.
- [33:10]
Ari Melber
Young people in particular are just unsettled.
- [33:12]
Rachel Jonfaza
When you start talking about free things in the economy and affordability, it doesn't really matter who you are or if they actually understand the systems that are behind those promises.
- [33:20]
Ari Melber
If they don't get what they want from one, then they are going to swivel and they will turn and they will vote for the other party.
- [33:24]
Rachel Jonfaza
I think Republicans need to lean in on that. We need tangible change for young people, otherwise we're going to lose them.
- [33:30]
Ari Melber
I think that there are some warning signs here for young voters for 2026, even 2028, depending on the performance of the Trump administration. Young voters up for grabs. We're back with Molly Zhang, Fast and Rachel John Faza, researcher and writer who focuses on the youth's culture and politics and does the research firm the up and Up. She's the founder of that online publication. Welcome.
- [33:51]
Rachel Jonfaza
Thank you for having me.
- [33:52]
Ari Melber
What happened?
- [33:54]
Rachel Jonfaza
So when you look at the data from the Exit polls from Tuesday night. My glaring takeaway is that the story of the night was young women. And on the whole, young voters. Yes, back to the Democratic candidates. But we know that this gender divide exists, and Democrats did perform better with young men than they had in 2024. But the margin by how much young women supported the Democratic candidates as compared to young men is stark. That's my main takeaway.
- [34:21]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because we spent so much time with these, like, young men going to Trump, and the story of, like, young men going to Trump and Trump did. And I was watching that montage before, and I was thinking about, like, the things Trump promised young voters. Remember, he did sneakers, right? He did crypto, he went on podcasts, and he worked at McDonald's. So it wasn't like he promised them deliverables in any kind of way. I mean, I guess he said he would make things cheaper. But I do think the affordability message resonates, especially in a country that has so much inflation.
- [34:56]
Ari Melber
Well, and in fairness, he did promise them gold sneakers. You just had to buy them.
- [35:00]
Molly Jong-Fast
Right.
- [35:00]
Ari Melber
As with so many Trump promises. I want to show the headlines, though. I take your point on women, and Democrats have historically done better there. But young men did go towards Trump in 24. And maybe, as I mentioned, maybe it was overhyped, but you had the manosphere, you had the podcasts, why Gen Z embraced Trump. They were talking about it months later. That's a March headline from the Journal. You turn to these races, and again, not just in New York City, where it was 67%, so that was especially high, but the Democrats in these other states, this is a majority of male voters under 30.
- [35:35]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yeah.
- [35:36]
Rachel Jonfaza
So I've written these headlines about young men and Trump, and this was a very real thing in the 2024 election. But I hold listening sessions with groups of young people across the country. And what I'm hearing from young men is that they're really frustrated by their economic situation right now. They were also frustrated by it in 2024. And at the time, Trump promised that he was going to fix the economy and make it better. And, you know, we're here, we are now a year later, and that's not the case. And so I think, really, the story of Tuesday, beyond the fact that young women showed up in these strikingly strong margins, is that across the board, young people are feeling really pressed economically. They're struggling with affordability, rent. They're looking at the job market. They're being told that AI is coming for their jobs and they're really scared and they're looking for answers. And the Democratic candidates ran on that across the board here in New York City, but also in New Jersey and Virginia too. And it worked. And anyone, any candidate who's looking to resonate with young people should take a learning from that for 20, 26 and 28.
- [36:36]
Ari Melber
So that's what they're going through. And if anything, that relates heavily to other age brackets as well.
- [36:41]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yep.
- [36:42]
Ari Melber
Then there's how they perceive life. We know they're. They came up as this so called digital generation. They're on their phones more, they're using traditional media less. Where does that figure it? Because we can't ignore that Trump in his way and Mamdani in his way, both authentic seem to. I mean, I say authentically, I don't. It's hard to say a reality star is authentic, but. But he was consistent and he got a lot of Internet traction. Trump did. And here you see the person popping up isn't just some old school populist. It's someone who, as we just showed in our setup, was quite adept at the screens that are their home base.
- [37:22]
Rachel Jonfaza
Yep. I actually think there are a lot of similarities between the campaign that Trump ran and the campaign that Mamdani ran. And I've written about this a bit, but they are both promising at the end of the day to make life better for young people. And you mentioned the various ways in which they're doing it. Similar to Trump, Zaramdani went on every show he went on, took every opportunity to connect with all people but young people in particular. And he was willing to have the conversations. He went on some of the same podcasts that Trump is like the flagrant podcast, and he was great on it. And he delivered a masterclass in traversing the digital ecosystem.
- [37:52]
Ari Melber
So let me jump in because Trump likes that there's evidence that he would rather be doing interviews than work. A lot of Democrats were very hesitant, and in 24, it was considered a big deal when Harris even dabbled in a friendly young podcast, which so what? But they didn't really get her out in the other ones. And as you say, mom, Donnie, to his credit, engaged all kinds of folks. He also did Fox News, some folks may remember. Do you think that Democrats should heed his example? Because that would involve changing the sort of D.C. schumer, Harris axes 100%.
- [38:29]
Rachel Jonfaza
The number one thing young people want is to feel like they're talking to a human being who can relate to them, who can sit across a table and Have a real conversation or a couch, if it's a podcast or, you know, just like, like film a normal video on their phone. And a lot of times the Democrats have come off as very rehearsed, very staged, very scripted. And that's not what Gen Z is used to. Gen Z is used to really off the cuff. We. This. I talk about how there's two Gen Z's, Gen Z 1.0 and 2.0 split by how old you were.
- [38:55]
Ari Melber
There's always a 2.0.
- [38:58]
Molly Jong-Fast
It's us.
- [38:59]
Rachel Jonfaza
But Gen Z 2.0 grew up with TikTok. And TikTok is. The point is that it's off the cuff. It's. It's clips, it's pithy, it's punchy. There's specific language that's used on it. And if you're not, if you don't know how to do that, if you're not using it in a way that is authentically you, you're not going to resonate. And they don't have to try to use the language that Gen Z uses. They have to just be themselves, but be on the platforms for Gen Z.
- [39:21]
Ari Melber
No, you. I don't think echoing language you don't know how to use is very effective in any room, let alone in politics. Molly did have a question that she was sort of embarrassed to ask, so she wanted me to ask it on her behalf.
- [39:31]
Rachel Jonfaza
Okay.
- [39:32]
Ari Melber
Molly wanted to ask you, when it's all said and done, did the Mom Donnie campaign slap?
- [39:39]
Rachel Jonfaza
Yeah.
- [39:39]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yes. I always am asking about things slapping and I am always a little embarrassed. So I'm glad you.
- [39:45]
Ari Melber
So then she had a follow up in journalism that's quite common. And then she wanted to know, was it lit?
- [39:51]
Rachel Jonfaza
Well, I think maybe that word is not used as much anymore.
- [39:54]
Ari Melber
So Molly.
- [39:55]
Senator Ed Markey
So that's out.
- [39:56]
Ari Melber
So lit is over.
- [39:57]
Molly Jong-Fast
However, I'm modeling what word is used. Would you say glazed?
- [40:03]
Ari Melber
No, that's different.
- [40:07]
Rachel Jonfaza
No, I don't, I don't.
- [40:10]
Molly Jong-Fast
Are we embarrassed? No.
- [40:12]
Rachel Jonfaza
I mean, the word of last year was Riz. You could say that Mamdani has Riz.
- [40:15]
Ari Melber
But that's kind of more. We don't want to romanticize him. No, per se. I mean, that's.
- [40:19]
Rachel Jonfaza
It's not romanticizing that he has, but it has.
- [40:22]
Molly Jong-Fast
He's like.
- [40:22]
Rachel Jonfaza
He has a charismatic guy.
- [40:23]
Ari Melber
All right, I got one. I got one. I heard that the polling was, was high enough it could reach like 6, 7. Do you get that one?
- [40:34]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yes, I do. Because I have.
- [40:35]
Ari Melber
Hold on, Rachel. Now you have to stand up and say that Was. That's not lame. Yeah, go ahead, do it.
- [40:41]
Rachel Jonfaza
No, no.
- [40:42]
Ari Melber
Go do it. You're not gonna do it.
- [40:46]
Molly Jong-Fast
But look, I know we're old.
- [40:47]
Rachel Jonfaza
No, you're not. I think that everyone just like in trying to use the language that, that you think Gen Z uses, like everyone. This is not a monolithic generation. Everyone talks a different way. What people want to see is what feels real and authentic. And it's not some canned. This is what you're supposed to say to resonate with Gen Z. Here's a meme.
- [41:05]
Ari Melber
And you're not on this show all the time. But also. I was joking.
- [41:09]
Molly Jong-Fast
He was joking and he is hilarious. But also.
- [41:12]
Ari Melber
Well, you don't have to go that far. I tell a lot of bad jokes.
- [41:15]
Molly Jong-Fast
I find him funny. But what you're saying is really important. It's something that Ari and I talk all the time about, which is the. It's all we talk about is the veepification of. Of speech. We need politicians, especially Democratic politicians, to speak English sentence.
- [41:30]
Ari Melber
Look, I'm going to. Just because it's television, we don't know who got it or didn't. I was doing a meta commentary.
- [41:36]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yes.
- [41:36]
Ari Melber
On that.
- [41:37]
Molly Jong-Fast
Yes, Correct.
- [41:38]
Ari Melber
But when it is authentic to the person, it's great. Yes. And one thing we notice not only about his campaign, but several of the winners, they went out and did their thing.
- [41:48]
Senator Ed Markey
Right.
- [41:49]
Ari Melber
So if you're a woman veteran and you're tapping that and explaining why that people are like, oh, okay, I learned about. I respect that. And that sounds very different than. I mean, I hadn't seen anyone jump in the freezing cold water and do the polar bear swim. If you can pull it off, it's. It's arresting. Now we're out of time. Molly, Rachel, thanks to both of you. We'll be right back.
- [42:08]
Molly Jong-Fast
Thank you. I will not be seeking reelection to Congress with a grateful heart. I look, look forward to my final year of service as your proud Representative, Nancy Pelosi.
- [42:22]
Ari Melber
Making it official there, the former speaker says she will not run for office again. She was the first female speaker of the House in the history of the United States, taking up that position in 2007. And then she won the gavel back in 2019 when Democrats took the majority. And over four decades, she made her mark in many ways.
- [42:45]
Molly Jong-Fast
In January, Nancy Pelosi will become the.
- [42:48]
Ari Melber
Most powerful woman in America.
- [42:51]
Molly Jong-Fast
She will assume office as the first.
- [42:53]
Ari Melber
Ever female speaker of the House.
- [42:56]
Molly Jong-Fast
Today, with the passage of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay act, the bill is passed.
- [43:01]
Senator Ed Markey
One of the best speakers the House.
- [43:03]
Ari Melber
Of Representatives have ever had. Speaker Nancy Palacio. Democrats in Congress sending President Biden a critical win.
- [43:11]
Molly Jong-Fast
The motion is adopted, capping a string of legislative victories.
- [43:17]
Ari Melber
You definitely are the most effective speaker we've ever had.
- [43:20]
Molly Jong-Fast
The hours come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus.
- [43:24]
Ari Melber
Remember, Democrats in Washington aren't known for always saluting their leaders. They often kind of eat their own. What you heard in those brief quotes there was repeated a lot. Many saw Pelosi as uniquely able to not only lead the party, but evolve. And so while her tenure would have been historic with the Obama era alone, when Trump came along, she was seen as someone who could not only go toe to toe, but meme for meme. There are the videos of her putting on her sunglasses after walking out of the White House, bringing the energy. There was a clip that launched so many more memes because as you know, in the Internet, people take the glasses. Or the way she seemed to ferociously clap at him with a hint of petty. And then, as if outdoing her own Internet resonance, she lets you know exactly what she thought of the speech as prepared ripping it as she stood behind the President. There was also her challenging Trump in real day to day work at the White House. That's beyond the memes and the symbolism. She fought him on women's rights, on human rights, on immigration, on healthcare. She mixed the type of necessary communication we were just discussing earlier in the program. That matters in an Internet culture with real hardcore political and policy strength. Pelosi's departure also is something of a sea change. There's been a lot of talk about a changing of the guard. Three of the four politicians known from the now very famous New Yorker cover about aging politicians who are at their walkers but staying in office. You'll notice three of them have now officially stepped aside. The one in the back, well, he just got a rejection from the voters, but he remains our elderly elected president. President. We'll be right back. Thanks for joining.
- [45:25]
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