← The Beat with Ari Melber
The Beat with Ari Melber
Trump’s Secret Flight Ruse Exposed as Corruption Fears Spread
00:41:19
Evidence of President Trump’s autocratic ambitions is mounting. MS NOW’s Ari Melber examines allegations of corruption involving Trump and is joined by acclaimed novelist Gary Shteyngart and Josh Marshall, founder and editor-in-chief of Talking Points Memo.
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- [00:00]
Ari Melber
Thanks for joining our first ever support group for puppies. By show of pause, who's eaten a computer cable called a dongle?
- [00:06]
Jay Komindori
I ate a dongle before we had lemonade. Pet insurance. So to avoid a vet bill, they
- [00:10]
Ari Melber
waited for me to poop the dongle. You pooped a dongle? I pooped a dongle. You pooped a dongle. I pooped a dongle. I pooped a USB stick.
- [00:20]
Gary Steingart
Yeah, but he pooped a dongle with lemonade.
- [00:23]
Ari Melber
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- [00:28]
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- [01:00]
Ari Melber
Welcome to the Beat. I'm Ari Melber and we are going to cue the music. It's another election night in America. We're three months out to the midterms, and that means we are going to keep having these primaries. Voters heading the polls in six states. Alabama, Connecticut, Minnesota, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin. We're going to start getting results in an hour. And the Democratic hopes here are growing based on evidence because. Because we don't just have polls anymore. We have the early turnout. We have prominent elections forecaster Nate Silver, who now sees an 87% chance of Dems taking the House 57% for the Senate, meaning more likely than not. That is quite a shift from the last election when it seemed that Trump had the wind at his back. Cook Political report looks at Ohio as going from likely to Republican to toss up because of those six serious domestic abuse allegations facing Republican Max Miller. He has denied all of the allegations. In Texas, there's polling that shows the Democrat James Tilrico is now leading the MAGA candidate Ken Paxton there. It is within the margin of error. And then you have Tomi Lahren over at Fox saying something that either she believes or that she thinks her audience might believe, that Republicans have fumbled the economy. They've failed dismally. The party, the Grand Old Party, she says, has become a, quote, utter embarrassment. Now Trump is facing a real lesson on the problems at the war front. Remember back in the George Bush era, Ari Fleischer, who was the spokesperson during the other very controversial Iraq war, that of course set the predicate the reason why Trump had run against exactly this type of Middle east engagement. Ari Fleischer criticizing Trump on Iran.
- [02:52]
Jay Komindori
That's why this has become so dizzying. And the bigger problem is it leaves
- [02:55]
Ari Melber
it up to Iran to determine America's next move.
- [02:57]
Jay Komindori
If Iran attacks our ships, then we'll go back in. If Iran doesn't, we won't. It's getting hard to keep up with
- [03:03]
Ari Melber
what our motives are here and what
- [03:05]
Jay Komindori
our end game is here.
- [03:09]
Ari Melber
As for the current endgame politically, when you look at the midterms, well, there are clear signs about what voters do when they're unhappy with this kind of war. In the 2006 midterms, Democrats took back the House and Senate. It was memorably described as a thumping by then President Bush. That was his way of acknowledging a big loss. The current president does not acknowledge loss. He lies about it. He sows misinformation and distrust. And as we've seen recently, he tries to fund support, pardon even violent attacks on the election outcome. So if there is a thumping, don't expect this president to acknowledge it. Now, as for what we're watching tonight, Democratic primaries in Wisconsin and Minnesota have progressives against what are considered the more typical or establishment Democrats. That is a kind of contrast we're seeing in increasing places that really matters because some of these liberal candidates who might have been seen as perhaps unelectable or beyond the fray a decade ago, are now not only electable, they're winning their primaries. How they do in the general is the big question. But on the Republican side, there's Mike Lindell, the controversial MyPillow CEO who lies about elections and has cozied up to that sort of conspiracy wing of the MAGA party. He wants to get the nomination for governor in Minnesota. The broader story is Republicans are facing an economic rise reckoning and a very energized Democratic set of candidates. With that in mind, we want to start off our election night coverage tonight with Jay Komindori, who's an Obama campaign veteran, and Elisa elman, who's a U.S. army veteran, worked at the VA and found herself sort of more in the fray than she might have counted on or planned for because of Elon Musk's brief but controversial tenure at the so called Doge program which led to those layoffs. She is now the Democratic Candidate taking on a Republican incumbent in the Buffalo area. Welcome to both of you. Che, your view on what more and more evidence and forecasters see as not only an uphill battle for Republicans in these midterms, but facing a potential rout.
- [05:17]
Jay Komindori
Yeah, and I think that the 2006 example is very, very important here. What happened in 2006 is Democrats won the House, they won the Senate, and the Bush era was effectively over. And then in 08, the Obama era began. I think we're setting ourselves up for the same thing. And keep in mind, I'm not being overly optimistic or Pollyanna like SpongeBob SquarePants or spouting off really super hopeful things that are pie in the sky. This is very real. If Democrats win the Senate, that means that they will win states that Trump has won by over 10 points. That will mean that they have won rural voters, they will have won all kinds of moderate votes, voters center right voters that they had not won before. It will be the beginnings of a major realignment in American politics, and I think the odds of that happening have greatly increased.
- [06:16]
Ari Melber
Yeah, it's interesting to hear you say that, Jay. I mean, we're a long way out, and now you're projecting sort of more than one election in a row. But there is a momentum to these things, and the Trump economy is clear. It's almost impossible to argue people out of how bad it's gone for him this summer. I want to show you even the mixed messaging from the administration on that. Take a, take a look at who they say the economy is owned by.
- [06:41]
Jay Komindori
Biden's economic disastrous, you know, reign. Biden's price prices that we're still dealing with. It's Biden's disastrous economic record.
- [06:53]
Ari Melber
There are prices that we're still dealing with in the Biden administration.
- [06:56]
Elisa Elman
Congressman, do you think that's a winning message to just say it's not our fault? And 18 months in, is it not Trump's economy yet?
- [07:04]
Ari Melber
You know, President Trump was certainly left
- [07:06]
Jay Komindori
with a mess to clean up.
- [07:07]
Gary Steingart
You said you inherited a mess from
- [07:08]
Ari Melber
President Biden when it comes to the economy. But at what point is it on you? At what point are we in the Trump economy?
- [07:14]
Donald Trump
Oh, I'd say we're there now,
- [07:18]
Ari Melber
Jay.
- [07:20]
Donald Trump
Yeah.
- [07:20]
Jay Komindori
I mean, I think very much the bill has come due here on Donald Trump. Donald Trump has gotten everything he has wanted. He has twice gotten full control of the US Government. What problem has he solved? Everything is worse. The economy is worse. Your ability to afford healthcare, housing, college, that's all worse. Now climate change Worse the deficit, Worse our standing in the world. Worse the position of our military, which we are now losing lives in the Middle east because of something Donald Trump has done. It's all become much worse. The only thing that has improved is Donald Trump's bank account. That has really improved. He is now a multi billionaire a few times over because of being President of the United States.
- [08:07]
Ari Melber
Elisa, what do you see both in not only your own race, but in what Democrats are arguing in these midterms?
- [08:15]
Elisa Elman
Well, there's definitely been a massive shift in how people are. I mean, last year we were doing parades during the summer and people were flipping us off and threatening to punch us in the face. And this year we're getting tears. People are screaming for the Democratic Party as, as we're going out into rural New York, which may surprise you, is very, very rural and very reflective of the nation and our rural areas. People understand what's in their wallet. You know, when it comes down to it, you can only lie for so long.
- [08:52]
Gary Steingart
Yeah.
- [08:53]
Ari Melber
You know, you look at the generic stuff and you mentioned sort of being in a, outside of an urban area in any state in America. A lot of times it's, it's voters who are thinking about daily life, you know, jobs, economy, schools, and, and not necessarily political junkies, unlike, say, Che or myself or all the great, you know, addicted news consumers who might watch the program. And, and so people tune in more as you get closer. I want to show you list of the, the generic ballots. We see where you got plus 5, plus 8, plus 11. Economist YouGov little closer. What are the issues that you hear? Voters caring about, meaning what they bring up with you or what might account for what looks like a widening gap here.
- [09:46]
Elisa Elman
The cost of things. It's affecting everyone, even people who are on the higher end of the middle class. You know, I, I live in a pretty poor region. The median income here is $41,000 a year. And people are really hurting when your electric bill is $750 a month and that's more than your mortgage. There's no spinning that. There's no spinning that. Yeah, people want solution, you know, they want to see.
- [10:17]
Ari Melber
No, go ahead. I didn't mean to jump in.
- [10:19]
Elisa Elman
And not every, you know, I mean, it's, it's really easy to sit in an ivory tower and call every solution proposed socialism. But ultimately, people don't care what you call it as long as the money stays in their wallet.
- [10:34]
Ari Melber
Right. Yeah, I hear that. Che. Tonight there's a bunch of races and we'll be following that, you know, through the night with all of our colleagues and tomorrow, there's a theme that of course is getting more attraction in sort of Washington or political circles, which is, well, are Democrats continuing to go for whoever the more progressive, bold, loud candidate is? Of course, it's a chicken and egg thing. In coverage, we can point to a lot of places where the traditional incumbent, whatever word you want to use, sometimes establishment person, is also just becoming the nominee again. But at least in some of these high profile cases. Che, what do you see there? And do you think the lesson is only ideological, which is somehow how DC Boils it down, or does also have to do with, as you've pointed out before, generational change, energy, just new faces and ideas.
- [11:25]
Jay Komindori
Yeah, I mean, it's not ideological at all. I mean, look at, like Roy Cooper, look at Jon Ossoff, look at Mary Paltola in Alaska. You know, these are fairly moderate candidates who are doing extremely well. What they have is they have the energy and the ability to communicate and the willingness to fight Donald Trump when, you know, when the establishment runs, candidates who are not particularly good, who cannot communicate effectively, who do not offer the kind of change the voters are looking for. And it's not an ideological change. It's not that our voters have read the Communist Manifesto and then gone to the polls. What they're looking for is somebody with the energy and the enthusiasm to fight Donald Trump and make a positive change in their lives.
- [12:18]
Ari Melber
Yeah, really interesting as we're here on primary day. Che and Alyssa, thanks to both of you. Also, I want to tell everyone we've extended an invite to this candidate's opponent, Republican Congresswoman Claudia Tenney, to also join us on the beat. So that's an open invite. And again, thanks for both of your time tonight. Later, by the end of the hour, we'll be fact checking some of the vaccine misinfo as Donald Trump walks away from his many claims that vaccines are good. That's how he ended the first one term. We have the receipts also, Mom, Donnie going on offense.
- [12:53]
Mamdani
You can fight for the people that the right has left behind. And you can do it by asking yourself what are the challenges they face and then asking your team, how can we deliver on those things.
- [13:05]
Ari Melber
But next we turn to some extraordinary reporting about a high level ruse designed to protect the President, which is a good thing. But that also involved Trump sneaking into this catering car, lying to reporters and further questions and heat on him for his potentially unsafe gifted jet. This is a story you really have to get into the details to believe that's coming up along with Gary Steingart and Josh Marshall. I'm back with you in 90 seconds. You're great at protecting your data, but lots of places could still expose you to identity theft.
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- [14:37]
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- [15:12]
Ari Melber
When you look at what's happening in our country, when people often say this isn't normal, let's not pretend it's normal or when does it end? There is a through line in all of this and it is anti democracy and autocracy. And that is something we've all discussed. There's various experts. You can get into it piece by piece, detail by detail, or you can broaden out. Right now we've got some really great guests lined up in our view, we booked them. But I want to talk to you about some extraordinary reporting and some of what we're dealing with on that through line that relates to autocracy. Let's start with the corruption that is not only not normal, but is exactly the kind of thing that has sent other officials to jail. There are legal reasons why the President is a little different but it is not a criticism of Donald Trump, but rather a legal fact when I tell you that some of what I am about to list off is exactly what would land him in jail if he were a judge or a member of Congress. There's a crypto dealing that is vast self enrichment, dwarfing any money he's made, not only in the private sector, say, in the year before he came into office, but obviously his presidential salary. There is a rank effort at government insider trading where Trump admits this is not an allegation. They admit they want to charge up to $100,000. So certain people, not you, but other people, can get early access to what he does with your tax dollars in your name. In our public interest government, he wants to sell that to the highest bidder so they can do what with it? Well, who knows? Trade on it, enrich themselves, deal with foreign governments, who knows? But it is a blatant insider trading scheme. Then there's the diamond encrusted bling from a Belgian company that Trump received after exempting gemstones from his tariffs. That would look like the kind of illegal quid pro quo bribe that would get most officials in trouble. Indeed, there is a Democratic senator who is in prison right now for taking gold bars and doing other corruption. And that's wrong. And we cover that story extensively on this broadcast as well as across the channel. But of course, it's not just about party. We are talking about a corruption on a grand scale much, much grander by Trump than what that individual sits in prison for right now. And then you have Trump, of course, buying these shares in public companies and then using his office to promote them.
- [17:41]
Donald Trump
Go out and buy a Dell computer. They make a great product. They're not looking for any publicity. He committed to 200 Boeings. I told this to Boeing and General Electric. We're going to go the General Electric engines, which are great. Apple, a great company, Oracle, will be building a $14 billion worth of cloud computing and AI infrastructure in the kingdom. I didn't know that, David. We have to talk to your father about that.
- [18:08]
Ari Melber
Now, what is the Trump side of the story here? Well, on some of these issues, they have a kind of defense. They will say that Trump is not personally involved in placing those trades and that the president is always a kind of booster for American companies. That Trump might be a more voluble style and, you know, names the company or the executive. But then other presidents do this. Well, that's a defense that only goes so far because if that were the only thing we were talking about, then you might want to give him some benefit of the doubt or say who knows. But we're not in a who knows situation. We are in the autocratic kleptocracy, corruption phase of this sort of no holds bar, anything goes second term where Trump blatantly sells, as I mentioned, the announcements of the government and self enriches by billions of dollars of crypto and then takes a plane from a foreign company, Qatar, giving this gifted jet to Trump. And that's at the center of the new scandal I mentioned that you really got to hear the details on because Trump was flying on that new plane to Turkey last month for the NATO summit. And then when he was scheduled to return to the US he made a switch to what was the former Air Force One amid all of these security concerns about the gifted jet. So one, there's the corruption question. The Constitution bars these kind of foreign gifts. Trump is just breaking that and seeing if he can get away with it in a future government. Maybe they will research and investigate it, maybe they'll try to claw it back. But that's one. But two, there's the security concerns because the Times and other outlets have reported that the jet is not up to Paris. And then something odd happened on that trip I mentioned. This is from Washington Post reporting that Trump, under Secret Service guidance, had to secretly flee the original Air Force One because Iran was credibly deemed to be a threat, a potential attack or assassination of some sort. Here's how that news broke
- [20:05]
Gary Steingart
a secret
- [20:06]
Elisa Elman
flight, a catering truck and a nation
- [20:08]
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kept in the dark.
- [20:09]
Elisa Elman
Trump boarding Air Force One from one side and then secretly exiting on the
- [20:13]
LifeLock/Argenics Advertiser
other into a catering truck. That truck then transported the president to
- [20:18]
Elisa Elman
a smaller plane parked beside the main jet and Trump flew to the UK on that one. All while the press was unaware they
- [20:26]
LifeLock/Argenics Advertiser
weren't on the same flight with the president.
- [20:28]
Mamdani
They used this ruse with the lug
- [20:29]
Ari Melber
the cart there in Turkey.
- [20:31]
Elisa Elman
This is a president that's actively deceiving the public, number one. And as many critics are pointing out, putting the lives of unwitting Americans, everyone on board Air Force One in real danger.
- [20:44]
Ari Melber
The jet problems are real. The security precaution which you can see on your cam and the the isolated sort of circle there is right out of a spy movie. They're basically smuggling the president out in a catering truck as all of the journalists who report on these things and are supposed to have a skeptical eye are nearby. But this went to a whole nother level. The public kept in the dark. The Times was reporting that the journalists on the plane had become something of a decoy. And news outlets were effectively tricked into reporting on Trump's travel that day based on the misleading information from the White House. One of the differences between, say, the government lying to you and the press reporting for you is that when we get new information, we update and correct. That's part of what's going on in this story. Now, the Times called this an elaborate deception that purposely misled the reporters, and this wouldn't be the first time. Now, before I go further, I want to tell you one other thing. Anything the Secret Service does to try to protect the life of the president or its other protectees is generally valid under law. It is their job. And that can include deception in the same way that when you report on the CIA and spies, well, any spy stationed abroad is in an ongoing act of deception. Calling a spy a liar is not so much a criticism as an observation. But once they have secured the safety of the protectees, ongoing lies here are a problem. Now, for context, the service, which is of course supposed to be nonpartisan, operates to protect the president, whoever it is. And in the past, Clinton, Bush, and Obama have all done secret flights and visits which involve some level of subterfuge during at least the period of danger. And yet the White House isn't really in the clear here, even though I'm being very careful to say that the Secret Service actions to protect the president and the protectees are valid and usually good. But then after this whole thing was cleared and they're not in that danger, you had the ongoing not only lies about this and attacks on reporters, but then the potential abuse of power. Remember what I said about all of the corruption running together and all the autocracy. Trump demanding the DOJ go after not only those reporters involved in covering some of the questions about the jet security, but also their family members. The Times is reporting about safety that in any other presidency would not lead to this kind of harassment, potentially illegal, that can be tested in court. This hostility to the free press, even when it's reporting on how to keep the government safe. This wasn't exactly some random weird story. This was about whether the jet that the president might go on should be safer. This kind of attack is a hallmark of autocrats.
- [23:32]
Donald Trump
Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men. They call him a strong man. He's a tough person, smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. I want to thank China, President Xi, I was with him, and I want to thank Vladimir Putin. Reporters asked me if I thought President Putin was smart. I said. Of course he's smart. I got along with Putin, let me tell you. I got along with him really well.
- [24:00]
Ari Melber
This has been a theme for a long time and Donald Trump doesn't need to be in some secret cozy deal with all of these autocrats to muse about wanting to govern like them. He's admitted it, wanting to wield their kind of absolute power however far it goes, crushing the opposition, destroying freedom of speech, overriding elections. You don't win and the corruption is not a bug, it's not a sidebar. It is over the long haul. How these things work Putin did not start out as rich as he was. Neither did his friends. And so the abuse of government power extended not only to holding government power, like going after elections in the free press, but ultimately towards undercutting the economy and having a full kleptocracy where only the winners win as picked by the government and everyone else loses in that system. So what can we learn not only from how that has happened in Russia, but how to thwart it if it is not too late in America? We have the perfect guests to get into this, including a critic of Putin and Trump, Russian based Russian born novelist Gary Steingart, I should say, and Josh Marshall. Next
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Ari Melber
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- [26:52]
Donald Trump
Viktor Orban, one of the most respected men. They call him a strong man. He's a, he's a tough person, smart. Prime Minister of Hungary. I want to thank China, President Xi, I was with him and I want to thank Vladimir Putin. Reporters asked me if I thought President Putin was smart. I said, of course he's smart. I got along with Putin, let me tell you. I got along with him really well.
- [27:18]
Ari Melber
Trump's Putin esque corruption and autocratic dreams here are under scrutiny with a lot of stories colliding. Tonight, I'm joined by the acclaimed novelist Gary Steingart, who's written extensively about his native Russia autocracy and related issues. His latest novel is Vera or Faith. And journalist Josh Marshall, founder and editor in chief of Talking Points Memo. Gary, I'm wondering what parallels you see here, because a simple or ahistorical view would think that someone who wants power would abuse power to hold power, but very quickly it turns into wanting a lot of money too.
- [27:54]
Gary Steingart
It's kind of incredible because I don't think we're doing, obviously the comparison to Vladimir Putin. You wouldn't even do corruption this openly in a country like Russia. You would not do that brazen, obvious level of corruption. This is like old school, I don't know, 17th century. The king is always right and takes whatever he wants. Levels of corruption. I mean, nobody crimes like this. IDI Amin didn't crime like this. Because even corruption, if you wanna do it properly, takes skill. To me, the great image of all this. As a novelist, I of course look for images. It's this airport catering cart, truck. This whole thing happened obviously because of the corruption with the Qatari jets. But I love the image of our president forced into this small, sad space. He's this bigger than life character who's actually, in so many ways, he's so small. And it's such a great metaphor for this presidency. And it comes right on the heels of the Reflecting Pool debacle, which is another instance of corruption. It's another great metaphor.
- [28:53]
Ari Melber
Well, let me slow you down. We're. Let me slow you down. We've got eyes on that truck there from July 8th. And you're making the point that a novelist would make that there is a comparison, an allegory here of someone who claims to be so powerful but Actually must be scurrying around, sneaking into this small space and going after journalist family members as if he doesn't have better priorities. All because he's angry that people are writing critically but accurately about this jet he insisted on taking as a lavish, potentially unconstitutional gift. Gary?
- [29:30]
Gary Steingart
Yeah, it's absolutely incredible. His corruption got him into this, into this catering truck. If it wasn't for him accepting this Qatari jet, none of this would be happening. But it's also incompetence. We also forget just how incompetent these corrupt autocrats are. It's the same thing with Putin and the war he started in Ukraine. Now he can't, even when he visits a lot of the places he visits, it's not even him, it's a body double, which often looks absolutely ridiculous. So these corrupt autocrats, they put themselves into that catering truck, they squeeze themselves into these ridiculous places where they shouldn't be. It's really just a combination of both stupidity and evil. And that's what satire is. Satire is stupidity and evil colliding in great ways.
- [30:13]
Ari Melber
Josh?
- [30:15]
Josh Marshall
Well, I'm a little upset with Gary for stealing all the good points before
- [30:20]
Ari Melber
I got a chance to get at
- [30:21]
Josh Marshall
it, but I couldn't agree more. I was thinking about today, so, so many of the stories that make up all of the sort of the news content that we're in the midst right now, they are the knock on effects, the downstream effects of these instances, either of cupidity or grandiosity from six months ago or a year ago. I almost guarantee you the reason that the White House went after those New York Times reporters on a case where, you know, sometimes when there is at least some strong national security nexus, you'll get some of that even in a normal presidency. But there's a very garden variety article, and I almost guarantee you they went after them because they knew this food cart story, which Gary captures perfectly about the imagery, he seems so silly and petty and diminished and pathetic. Right. That they knew that was out there.
- [31:23]
Ari Melber
Well, let me jump in, Josh. I'll let you finish. But yeah, the, the, the abuse at the doj, which is a scandal in its own right, what you call this knock on or second order effect was actually even by Trump's standards, a little hard to decipher in the moment. I mean, we know about his enemies list, but he's going after reporters, family members. We covered that at the time. The conversation you, you're having, we had earlier today with some of my, my news colleagues and producers where we said we, you know, we use the question format because we don't have it. Dead to rights. But I said, is this why he was so exercising, going after reporters, family members? Because he knew then that what the public didn't know and what Gary so artfully wrote up in a, you know, a verbal novel for us, and a prologue here that I hope makes it into one of your future books of the mightiest man in the world, you know, hiding out and hoping no one knows that that's what it took. Even though, of course, we all encourage safety. Josh, your thoughts?
- [32:19]
Josh Marshall
Yeah, no, I mean, you know, you have this. And again, as you say, the reflecting pool, you know, that you have. We know that initial, you know, vandalism case fell apart. There was an article, and I believe the Journal today, that the White House wants them to go after the guy again because Trump cannot let go of the idea of this vandalism, which, again, every. We've all known from the beginning is just absurd, right? It's just not even, like, really physically possible, especially in such a surveilled setting. But why did he go after this, what, 40 years ago? It's always kind of funny to me. His epithet is Olympic canoeist, right? This kind of strange Homeric kind of thing, going after him again. Why does Trump care about this? Because it messed up his original lie when he couldn't admit that he tried to, you know, put a make. Make the reflecting pool into a swimming pool bottom and tried to do it in three weeks, and it fell apart, and he couldn't admit that he'd screwed that up.
- [33:23]
Ari Melber
So that. That meant they had to do the.
- [33:26]
Josh Marshall
The. The sabotage, the vandalism story, and then that meant they had to do this absurd prosecution. So, again, so much of what we're dealing with are these, you know, going back to these things, which are all based on a presidency that, again, is based on grandiosity and cupidity. I mean, you know, one thing that people. I don't think it's a huge risk, but they got this from the royal family of Qatar. Qatar's sort of, you know, brand in that region is that they're close to Iran, they're close to the Saudi, kind of close to everybody. They're the intermediary. Right? The idea, if Iran is your regional adversary, the idea that you would get a gift plane. We just had the Odyssey movie, right? That you get a gift plane from a government that is actually fairly close
- [34:17]
Ari Melber
with the Iranian government is insane. Right?
- [34:20]
Josh Marshall
He's just all these crazy things that
- [34:22]
Ari Melber
pile up on each other now. Josh, The Odyssey movie that is an adaptation, you know.
- [34:27]
Josh Marshall
Yeah, well, you know, I hear you, I hear you.
- [34:30]
Ari Melber
But, you know, Gary, that's a. Gary, that was a joke about, you know, reading the Odyssey.
- [34:38]
Josh Marshall
I was waiting for the novelist to come in. I was waiting for you to catch me there, Gary.
- [34:42]
Ari Melber
Right. Well, really, I'm out of my element here, but Gary, Putin famously tried on somebody's championship ring and then mused about keeping it with the energy and the power. Even that story is a little overdone. The classic story of the autocrat or king saying, I could do it, what I could do to you. It means I could take stuff. And then I always hear those kind of stories and think, you got all the power in the country that you rule, and your thought is to take a ring or go gilded. Or as the New Yorker wrote this week, one of their pieces, you know, Trump wants to redo D.C. to look like Paris. Basically, all of that is grist for Obama and Larry David. Gary, I want you to speak on any of this on the other side, but take a look.
- [35:28]
Gary Steingart
Yeah.
- [35:29]
Ari Melber
Nice job on the recreation. Even after the apples. It's fantastic. Although I do want to point out there's no gold sign on the outside that says Oval Office. I can't believe I didn't think of that, Kerry.
- [35:47]
Gary Steingart
Yeah, I mean, look, these are very sad, lonely boys. Trump and Putin, something in their life did not go wrong. Somebody didn't love them enough, and they are trying to, you know, fill that hole with something. But I think, look, we can all wait for the end of this to come. And I really do want a camera to be present when all those golden details and tchotchkes are taken out of the Oval Office off of the walls of the White House. Maybe the triumphal arch gets blown up like the statue of Stalin when they all came down in 1956. A real cleansing would be so refreshing. But at least I will say, and I can't believe I'm defending Putin vis a vis Trump. But Putin actually is able to dive many leagues under the sea and fetch a Greek amphora they put there for him to find. He can actually ride a horseback and shoot a bear. But Trump, again, just to create the context of him in that little cart. This is not even bear worthy or diver worthy material. This is just really sad, sad overweight man in a small truck scenario. So I think we really need a pallet cleanser when this is over. I'm so glad we have screwdrivers and can take off all that gilded stuff and hopefully tear down some of the other monstrosity building and.
- [37:10]
Ari Melber
Well, I appreciate your poetic license, Gary, because you kind of give us that view while I have you running over on time. So with a minute left, do you also see this rising bigotry and hate that runs with the autocratic instinct? Because we're seeing in America right now an increase in anti Semitism, also an increase in Islamophobia this week with certain things that I wasn't even, we're not even going to quote on this program at the same time that we have at least a group of people in the country who say, well, it's their way or the highway and others are less than citizens or less than human.
- [37:47]
Gary Steingart
Oh, absolutely. And I think this is, I think in the authoritarian right wing playbook, sometimes even in the authoritarian left wing playbook, this always comes up. There's always the need for a scapegoat. And the scapegoats are, you know, it's amazing actually to see Janine Pierrot who was such a part of this hate machine and all of a sudden she gets called out onto the rug for the reflecting pool. And the reflecting pool is also, along with that cart, it is the most beautiful image. This Narcissus looks down into the pool. He wants to see his own reflection, but all he can see is his own incompetence and his own corruption in hiring the worst group of people to fix the pool. It's again, I want this to be over so badly. But while it's happening, as somebody who writes about, as a Soviet born citizen, it's like being back there again and having it right present right in front of me all over again.
- [38:41]
Ari Melber
Which means something coming from you, Gary and Josh. We wanted to convene this as kind of the bigger combo. And I appreciate both of you walking us through it. When we come back, a fact check. For RFK and Democrats studying the Mamdani playbook, It's another primary day and Democrats are especially interested in who their voters are more excited about. There's been this sort of intramural debate. I mentioned it briefly with Jake Omendori. And you think about someone like the mayor of New York City, a big position by all accounts. And the current mayor, mom, Donnie, came out of nowhere, I mean, had no name ID three years ago and now is one of the biggest Democrats in the country. Even Trump speaks nicely about him as a kind of a reference to how popular he seems to be now. He's been on the job about six months and he has been doing something that reminds you how he is different than many elected Democrats because in Washington, after they win, I could just tell you from a straight up media perspective, they become harder to book sometimes and they certainly stick to what is their comfort lane. But Mamdani, like aoc, uses the Internet, talks to untraditional media, digital podcasts. And we want to remind you, if you've been watching maybe traditional television, we're happy about that. But politics is evolving and changing. You can watch us, and on this program, we'll keep you abreast of everything else going on, including a summer media blitz where he's been talking to all kinds of traditional and untraditional interviews.
- [40:20]
Mamdani
This, to me, is part of what it means to actually go out into the city that you serve and make sure that you're reaching out to the New Yorkers who you serve. It was never about one office. It was about one movement for working people. We talk about the cost of living crisis. Every New Yorker experiences it right? But it is not evenly experienced. And black New Yorkers have borne the brunt of this crisis. We have to have an understanding of the impacts of class and we have to have an understanding of the impacts of race. You for the people that the right has left behind.
- [40:49]
Ari Melber
This has been a really, really legendary year for New York. There's only one place to be and it's New York City. Mamdani not exactly resting on his laurels or assuming everybody already knows who he is and his ideas. He's getting himself out there and you saw the range from New York Times and Ms. Now to digital only platforms. And he's also advocating for progressives.
- [41:15]
Jay Komindori
How has it been thus far?
- [41:16]
Mamdani
It's been six months of putting our city on a path to universal childcare, saving parents more than $20,000 a year for each two year old that enrolls into this program. We have returned tens of millions of dollars to tenants who were taken advantage of by their landlords and paving 175,000 potholes across the city at the same time. We've done all of this while delivering the lowest recorded number of murders and shootings in New York City history. The more you're in politics, the more you're told this is just simply how it is. And to me, I just never think that's a good enough answer.
- [41:50]
Ari Melber
Channeling his version of change, it was a winning argument in New York. Mamdani is one of the faces of the progressive movement now. And the follow along effect is in the midterms. He's endorsed candidates who are doing well while also punching back against his many critics. Are there criticisms that bother you? Are there ones you laughed on? You know, the city tweeted out during the heat wave, put your thermostats to
- [42:20]
Donald Trump
78, and immediately Ted Cruz from Texas
- [42:23]
Ari Melber
is like social the warmth of collectivism.
- [42:26]
Mamdani
I took offense when they came for socialist icon Rudy Giuliani's energy policy. I said, you say what you want about me. It is easy when there is this much noise to tell yourself that all of it is exactly that. Tune it all out. But that's also what it will leave you in an echo chamber. You cannot have it, that you are only surrounded by people who agree with you.
- [42:55]
Ari Melber
That's a fair point and one that all the politicians have to keep in mind because change moves fast. And if you're an incumbent, chances are there's a lot of people who disagree with you, no matter what party you're in right now. When we come back, the fact check for rfk. Donald Trump is urging you to get vaccinated. He says vaccines work. They're good, and they'll help improve the safety and health of our country. Everything I just told you is true, at least according to Donald Trump's longstanding position for years during his first term. Indeed, could be easy to forget now. But if you don't remember anything else, remember that he was promising that Operation Warp Speed would quickly deliver Covid vaccines and help Americans. Things were so different back then. He was giving out an award to none other than Dr. Anthony Fauci for Operation Warp Speed for vaccines. He urged everyone to get their recommended vaccines. He touted them, I should say touted the measles vaccine. That's where he stood. They have to get the shot.
- [44:17]
Donald Trump
The vaccinations are so important. This is really going around now.
- [44:21]
Ari Melber
They have to get their shot.
- [44:23]
Donald Trump
The vaccine will be safe and it will be effective.
- [44:26]
LifeLock/Argenics Advertiser
Would you recommend to our audience that they get the vaccine then?
- [44:31]
Donald Trump
I would. I would recommend it. And I would recommend it to a lot of people that don't want to get it. And a lot of those people voted for me, frankly.
- [44:42]
Ari Melber
Trump recommends getting vaccinated, including the people who don't want to get it, including his own voters. That's where he stood. And that is essential. When you look at this new executive order which tries to undermine childhood vaccine recommendations, there's a backlash from doctors, health experts, White House advisors. Trump is backtracking, apparently, because he has seen that what he said then he can no longer fight against. His base has turned increasingly against vaccines and Maybe people like RFK Jr that he put in power are calling some of these shots more than him.
- [45:19]
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