← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Devastating poll shows Trump's base crumbling
00:41:44
White voters without a college education have been a core component of Donald Trump's base and key to putting him in the White House. But a new poll from CNN shows that group now disapproves of Trump more than approves by 8 percentage points. One insight in the poll is that Americans by a wide margin thing Trump is focused on the wrong priorities. Jen Psaki takes a closer look.
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- [00:00]
Jenna
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Stephanie Ruhle
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- [00:08]
Jenna
The choice is simple. Pick up a pack today.
- [00:12]
Monday.com Announcer
Angelsoft Soft and strong simple. This is a Monday.com ad. The same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built in AI scaling your work from day one. The samemonday.com with an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free.
- [00:31]
Jenna
Tonight, Donald Trump is in a full freaking spiral, even by his standards, because the United States is conducting a new round of airstrikes in Iran as Donald Trump pledges the country deeper into a war he has no idea how to get out of. A key vote plan for tomorrow on Trump's nominee for Attorney general has been officially postponed because Republican senators haven't been properly assured that his slush fund is dead for good. And Trump is now openly feuding with the Senate Majority Leader who just clapped back at Trump for using a, quote, different form of math. I love that kind of trolling. It's amazing on the votes, of course, required to pass his voter suppression bill that he is completely obsessed with. Now Donald Trump is once again losing control of key Republicans in Congress. Clearly he is once again losing control of his war of choice with Iran. And it's all happening at the same time time that he is losing control of his base. I mean, do you remember 10 years ago when Trump started to win the first Republican primaries? There was one group of voters he decided to acknowledge in the most insulting way possible.
- [01:39]
Josh Turek
We won with poorly educated. I love the poorly educated.
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Jenna
He loves the poorly educated. The man has such a way with words. And now what I think Trump was trying to brag about there was his performance with voters who did not have a college degree. And despite the pejorative way he chose to describe them, those voters would end up being key to his electoral victories going forward for quite some time. Especially non college educated white voters. I mean, Trump really overperformed with them. In 2016, he won 66% of non college educated white voters. In 2020, he won 67% of them. And in 2024, he won 66% of them. Non college educated white voters have always been a key part of Trump's voting constituency. That's probably why everybody's so obsessed about talking about this voting bloc all the time. Which is why the latest polling on Trump's approval rating should be freaking people out over at the White House. Because according to a new CNN poll just released today, Trump is underwater with white voters without a college degree. And for the first time ever, Trump, that deficit is outside the margin of error. That is a huge freaking deal. Democrats haven't won a majority of white voters without a college degree since Jimmy Carter in 1976. And now Trump is losing that key demographic by eight points. It is part of the reason Trump's overall disapproval rating in that poll is at 66%, the worst disapproval rating he's ever received in that poll across both of his terms. And there's one particular question in this poll that I think goes a very long way toward explaining why Trump is so unpopular right now. Does Donald Trump have the right priorities for this country? And as you can see on your screen There, only 27% of Americans think Trump's priorities are right. Well, a full 73% of Americans think Trump does not have the right priorities, that he hasn't paid attention to the country's most important problems. He's a whopping 46 points underwater on this issue. And it doesn't exactly take a seasoned political mind or strategist to figure out why. I mean, just consider what the man has prioritized since becoming president. There's his hyper focus on various DC Construction projects, from his ballroom to his arch to the reflection pool. I mean, it seems like every day we get a new one of these weird looking projects, often in various shades of gold, that he's rolling out, that he's super focused and obsessed about. And just today, Trump unveiled another one, the renovation of Washington Dulles International Airport, which he has apparently been focusing on for months. And according to CBS News, hefty tabletop models were taken back and forth to the White House multiple times for the president's perusal. And his edits to plans for the terminal transport, buses, parking lot location, baggage handling system, underground trains and general airport aesthetic. He's really in the weeds on this one. In other words, Trump has spent the last several months taking time out of his day as president to micromanage an airport renovation. And that's, I mean, it's hardly the only ridiculous Trump priority we've learned about in the past week. Today we learn that Trump is seeking another $10 million of taxpayer money to pay for his bungled Freedom 250 Fourth of July celebration. That news comes as he is preparing to host another Freedom 250 event next month. A Grand Prix track race around the National Mall. Just what struggling Americans need, another very special sporting event here in the nation's capital. Forever the very special boy to celebrate. Him and his policy priorities aren't really any Better. Apart from his unpopular war in Iran and his unpopular trade war, Trump's administration has been primarily focused on things like, you know, putting disclaimers outside the Smithsonian's American History Museum, you know, to warn people that this history they're about to see might be too woke. On Capitol Hill, Trump has focused the bulk of his energies in recent weeks on a pointless fight with his own party, Senate majority leader over his demand that Congress pass a voter suppression bill that would do nothing but cause chaos ahead of the next election. And just today, Trump spent his morning ranting about his six year old grievances with Dr. Anthony Fauci, while his party spent the day questioning Fauci as part of their never ending crusade to blame him for the COVID 19 pandemic. I'm going to have there's lots to say about this and I'm going to have more to say about that later in the hour. But speaking of Trump's old grudges, this week we also got new details about the extraordinary amount of energy Trump has put into his attempt to prosecute the former FBI Director James Comey over an instant Instagram post of some seashells on a beach that spelled out the numbers 8,000, 647. Every time I say it, it just seems as ridiculous as it is. In a series of court filings late yesterday, Comey's defense team cited government documents revealing that the Trump administration went to extraordinary lengths to try to prove that the photo of those seashells actually represented a threat of violence. Trump's DOJ was so desperate, they turned to a notorious former mob boss as a sort of character witness, I guess. To validate their theory of the case, they interviewed Salvatore Gravano, better known as Sammy the Bull. There you can see him. There you go, right there on your screen. Who, according to the filing, was involved in the murder of at least 19 people to get him to vouch for their claim that 86 was mob slang for murder. Now, this filing also sheds new light on Trump's obsession with the Comey case. Because in May of last year, as Trump was flying home on Air Force One after a trip to the Middle east, he was apparently demanding real time updates of the Secret Service's interview with James Comey from earlier that same day. That's according to this new court filing. And just for context here, cuz I do really think this helps put this all into one big storyline here. The other things that he should have been focused on at that time include a lot of things. I mean, this flight on May 16th of last year coincided with some pretty bad economic news. For example, it was the day after Walmart warned it was going to have to raise prices as a result of Trump's disastrous tariffs. And it was the same day that Moody's downgraded the country's credit rating for the first time in more than 100 years. And yet, amidst all that, amidst all of that, Trump was focused on James Comey and some seashells. Is it really any wonder the American people think Trump is focused on the wrong issues? He's always laser focused on his own pet projects, his own pet grievances, his own personal enrichment. And perhaps the best example we have of that right now is the debacle playing out on Capitol Hill over one of Trump's most unpopular obsessions. Right now, Senate Republicans are trying to push through the nomination of Trump's personal attorney, Todd Blanche, to be the permanent Attorney general. But a pair of outgoing Republican senators, Thom Tillis and John Cornyn, are threatening to tank the Judiciary Committee's vote on that nomination. They want Todd Blanche to agree in writing that he will not move forward with Trump's bogus court settlement, creating a slush fund on the taxpayer's dime to reward Trump's allies like the violent insurrectionists who raided the US Capitol. They also want to narrow the part of that corrupt deal that granted Trump broad immunity for ongoing IRS audits. But Tech Blanche has so far refused to agree to those conditions in writing, probably because his boss did not want him to. And he's happy to say something verbally and then go back on his promise. And those two Republican senators, at least as of now, are standing their ground. Here was John Cornyn earlier today. We've heard from them.
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Adam Schiff
It's just that they refused to commit to writing what he testified to under oath. And it's not a big ask. We're trying to help them get this solved, but they refuse to accept our or help.
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Jenna
All of this has put Trump's allies on Capitol Hill in an incredibly awkward position as they weigh whether or not to move forward with a vote to advance Blanche's nomination. I mean, just listen to Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley dodging questions about it earlier this evening.
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Josh Turek
Mr. Chairman, will the hearing be delayed? Will the vote be delayed tomorrow?
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Troy Jackson
We are working on getting a solution.
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Adam Schiff
You think you'll make it?
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Jenna
We are working on getting a solution. Were you guys discussing that meeting?
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Adam Schiff
Will you be meeting with Mr. Bly again today?
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Jenna
We are working on getting a solution. Any commitments on the vote tomorrow?
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Barack Obama
At this point, thanks.
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Adam Schiff
We're working on getting a solution.
- [10:36]
Jenna
That's called message discipline. I guess you could call it that. They are working on getting a solution. I don't know if you heard that. Now, earlier tonight, we learned that the DOJ has sent a response to Cornyn and Tillis to try to end the standup, but that obviously has not satisfied the two holdouts because Republicans have now officially postponed the vote on Blanche's nomination. All of this is happening because the president and his allies have refused to give up on Trump's most toxic priorities, even when their own voters are begging them to do just that. Joining me now is Senator Adam Schiff, Democrat from California and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. It's great to see you.
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Adam Schiff
Good to see you.
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Jenna
Okay, we just got news before we came on air that the Judiciary, the Justice Department sent a new response to Senators Tillis and Cornyn. Then we got news that the vote has officially been postponed. Anything? We don't know that you know. And what do you make of all of this?
- [11:26]
Adam Schiff
I don't have anything beyond that. I think it's positive. I just hope that these two senators, and particularly Senator Cornyn don't settle for too little. This settlement, this bogus settlement that came from the president essentially suing himself, waiting till he was president, then suing the IRS for $10 billion so that he could get the IRS and the DOJ to agree to some incredibly wonderful, generous terms that he, his family, their associates, their businesses, their subsidiaries, et cetera, would all be immune from audit examination for anything that went before the signing of that document. This is to a guy who was a known tax cheater, so hugely valuable, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars. That's just part of it. The other part is the slush fund for the cop beaters. And here's the deal. They're already paying off some of the president's supporters using the judgment fund. They've already paid off Michael Flynn. They really don't need a special slush fund to do it. And I would hope these senators recognize that and that they will insist on protections against using other department funds to pay off the president's cronies. And as for that tax settlement, that should be shredded, the court has already found this was a collusive agreement, and no amount of narrowing should be able to rescue that deal.
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Jenna
There's no question they could go farther. I mean, they've been focused to your point on the IRS settlement, just really modifying the audit portion of it, which certainly is also outrageous and saves the Trump family A great deal of money. Why do you think? I mean we have seen Epstein survivors on the Hill. That is outrageous too. Todd Blanche's handling of that. There are a lot of that they could pick apart. Why this? What do you make of that?
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Adam Schiff
You know, it's a good question. I think the comp beater fund was just offensive to them at a different level. And the more they looked at the tax thing, the more they recognized it was some really ugly self dealing. But that should bother them. But so too should the fact that Blanche and the department are using that department to go after the President's enemies. To the preposterous degree of indicting James Comey over a bunch of seashells, to the dangerous degree of going after my Senate colleagues for putting out a video the president didn't like. That kind of abuse. Should alarm them as much as anything they've seen and of course we don't hear a peep from them about that.
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Jenna
It would be significant obviously if Todd Blanche didn't get through the Judiciary Committee. I don't want to. That would be significant. We don't know that that will happen yet. But as of right now it's postponed. He would still be the deputy attorney General. He could still be the acting attorney general. Trump could decide not to nominate someone to I guess. I mean he could choose that, I suppose. Why is it so important to block this confirmation from him being formally confirmed as the attorney General as opposed to acting? What should people understand about that?
- [14:26]
Adam Schiff
I think people should understand that the President has been able to engage in so much over the top corruption because the Senate and the House are not acting as a check on his power the way the founders contemplated. The significance of essentially defeating this high level nominee is that the Congress is in a way back to doing its institutional job in rejecting purely unqualified people or people who should be disqualified for abusing the positions they already have. So it's an important statement that Congress is not willing to roll over for this president on everything. Will it matter in terms of the conduct of the department if Blanche has given carte blanche as the acting ag? It may functionally be very similar, but I think it sends an important message, sets an important precedent, maybe emboldens the Senate to go beyond this decision and in other respects reject the insupportable.
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Jenna
It should feel good to play a better role in history books in moments we should say. You mentioned James Comey. I just went through some of the news we learned today from filings, I should say from his team. We learned today that the U.S. secret Service was surveilling James Comey, something a Secret Service supervisor warned was legally questionable. That is generous. We knew, of course we knew Trump was obsessed with Comey and that he was ready to cross lines. You're one of the people he's also obsessed with. The surveillance, though, by the Secret Service does feel like it crosses a new kind of line. What do you make of that?
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Adam Schiff
Well, this is a perfect segue from our conversation about Blanche, because here they, in these internal communications are saying mid level. People are saying we should not do this. This is not going to look well when it reaches the sunlight. And they do it anyway. They use these emergency authorities to do it anyway. And remember, we've got senators on the Judiciary Committee who are just irate that their telephone toll records were subpoenaed during the Jack Smith investigation. And by the way, for good reason. They're just incensed about that. But, oh, they're okay with a improper emergency authority used to surveil a former FBI director because he's on the president's enemies list. That's okay. So I think there are some common threads here. These internal records and just the facial invalidity of the indictment, I think are going to get this case thrown out. Like the last bogus case against James Comey was thrown out. But I also think in terms of another case where the Justice Department subpoenaed the records of reporters who wrote that story about the safety problems with the Qatari jet, that part of why they may have decided to withdraw those subpoenas is the judge in that case was asking to see the internal DOJ communications. So I don't think the Justice Department wanted to turn those over. They're probably just as embarrassing as what they had to turn over in the Comey case. And given that Jay Clayton, who was up for confirmation for the Director of National Intelligence, approved those subpoenas and testified under oath that they followed normal procedures. If those internal documents show otherwise, he would have had a real problem, and he still will have a real problem.
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Jenna
The other detail I wanted to ask you about, giving your background as a prosecutor, I mean, we also learned that the DOJ allegedly tried to use the notorious gangster Sammy the Bull as a witness to prove that 86 means to kill, which he would not corroborate. This, to me, strikes me as something that would be written into a movie about politics that somebody would strike because it just doesn't seem real. I mean, level set for us on this.
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Adam Schiff
That is definitely hit the cutting room floor material. So Much of this is beyond contemplation for any self respecting prosecutor. I can't imagine any self respecting prosecutor bringing a Seychelles case to begin with. But even so, who had the brilliant idea of trying to get some mobster as some kind of an expert witness, character witness? It's so absurd that it just strikes you what a flagrant abuse this is when you're going to that kind of extremity to try to prop up a Seychelles case. So the judiciary has gotten a lot more partisan. I don't know what this judge will do, but it seems like a pretty clear case for dismissal.
- [19:13]
Jenna
I didn't have Sammy the Bull on my bingo card this week. Maybe I should have. Senator Adam Schiff, thank you as always for being here.
- [19:20]
Adam Schiff
Thank you.
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Jenna
Okay, coming up, Barack Obama just made one of his first big endorsements of this midterm cycle. Believe me, he doesn't do this lightly, throwing his support behind former Paralympian and Iowa Senate nominee Josh Turek. And of course, he did it on a basketball court. It's probably his favorite ad he's been a part of, including his own. Josh Turek is here in studio for an exclusive interview to talk about that endorsement and his plans to win Iowa when we come back.
- [19:50]
Monday.com Announcer
This is a Monday.com ad, the same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built in AI scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.comwith an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free.
- [20:05]
Stephanie Ruhle
You better eat your Wheaties today because there's a lot of news to cover. Money time for the business. All eyes on the new Fed chair. The economic fallout from the war is a temporary power. The president is now a major crypto industry operator. Is this White House for sale?
- [20:21]
Adam Schiff
Politics?
- [20:21]
Stephanie Ruhle
Is there an energy to respond to this aggressive gerrymandering? It has never been more important to be informed and engaged.
- [20:28]
Josh Turek
Money Power Politics with Stephanie rule, weekdays at 9am Eastern on Ms. Now.
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Jenna
Okay, everyone. The last time Democrats won an election for statewide federal office In Iowa was 14 years ago. And you may recognize the winning candidate because in 2012, President Barack Obama won reelection thanks in part to the Hawkeye State. In fact, I can tell you it is the state that really launched his presidential campaign in many, many ways when he won the caucus. Now, since then, Iowa has gone from being moderately purple to leaning more and more red. But now the pendulum may be swinging back because Josh Turek, a former Paralympian and Iowa's Democratic nominee for U.S. senate, has a real shot at winning this November. And today, Josh Shirk received his, I think, his biggest endorsement yet.
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Josh Turek
Ball again. Who's got next?
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Barack Obama
I got it. You ready for me, Josh?
- [21:43]
Josh Turek
I'm ready.
- [21:44]
Barack Obama
Let's go. We playing horse or what?
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Josh Turek
We're playing Iowa.
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Barack Obama
I know a little something about winning Iowa.
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Josh Turek
Now. Here we go.
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Barack Obama
We ready?
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Josh Turek
You know when it's in.
- [21:53]
Barack Obama
Come on. I'm not going to just give it away.
- [21:55]
Josh Turek
All right.
- [21:57]
Barack Obama
That thing is silky smooth.
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Josh Turek
Thousands of hours of practice.
- [22:00]
Barack Obama
You were the shooter.
- [22:01]
Josh Turek
Four time Paralympian, two time gold medalist, back to back gold medals.
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Barack Obama
Okay, I told you, I'm not just going to give it away to you. You got to earn this thing.
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Josh Turek
We'll back up a little bit. All right.
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Barack Obama
See, this is just going to put some pressure on it. Let's see if the bank's open. Oh, bank was closed.
- [22:20]
Josh Turek
I wasn't gonna let you win.
- [22:21]
Barack Obama
Well. Oh, I've seen enough. Not only did I get whooped, but you've got here a man of character, somebody who knows how to win. Now the ball's in your court, Iowa. Let's make sure that we send Josh Turek to the United States Senate.
- [22:41]
Jenna
Joining me now for his first interview since being endorsed by Barack Obama's Josh Turek, the Democratic nominee for U.S. senate. First of all, that brought me back. I spent both campaign cycles traveling with Barack Obama. He used to play basketball on election day for good luck. The man loves basketball more than most things. Let me start by just asking you about the endorsement because he is pretty selective about who he goes out and endorses. How did that come to be?
- [23:08]
Josh Turek
I'm honestly not sure. I had sat down with David Axelrod, chatted with him in Chicago. I believe he reached out to President Obama, said, we've got an unbelievable candidate here from Iowa that we can win this thing. We can flip the Senate. And it came about, and honestly, I'll give him credit. He was not giving that game away. He was a great shooter. He missed his first shot, and after that, he rolled off about 15 to 20 in a row.
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Jenna
Oh, okay. And you couldn't all see them in the commercials. I think he's going to probably appreciate you giving him some extra credit for how he did that.
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Josh Turek
And I said it at the end. I was genuinely impressed. As somebody that has spent a lot of my adult life in there shooting, he's a good shooter. We're both lefties as well.
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Jenna
There you go. I know from spending a lot of time with him, he has a lot of good political advice. Obviously, you're the person who's the nominee there. You know what the people of Iowa need. Did he give you any advice that stuck with you?
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Josh Turek
He said listen, actively listen. And the other thing that he said to me was make sure that you're going out to all 99 counties, every single rural community, small community, mid sized community. And that's what we're doing. And everywhere we're going, all across Iowa, urban areas, rural areas, we're hearing the same things. Iowans are hurting. They're struggling. They're struggling just to keep food on the table, a roof above their head. They're ready to have somebody that's actually gonna be there to represent them, to represent the workers. And the middle class is being hollowed out because Iowans are suffering.
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Jenna
Yeah, I know they are. And I know it has one of the highest cancer rates in the country. Rural farmers are struggling. People are being hit by these tariffs. All things I know you talk about. And I wanna talk about all of that. I just wanna ask you first about the reaction from a spokesperson for Ashley Hinson, who of course everybody watching knows is your Republican opponent. The spokesperson responded to the endorsement by saying, another liberal endorses Josh. Shocking. I mean, I think that's their best attempt at dismissing this, like it doesn't matter. What'd you make of that?
- [25:05]
Josh Turek
I think they know exactly what we know, which is everywhere that we're going, all across Iowa, we're getting independents, we're getting moderate Republicans that are looking around at a state that they no longer recognize. This is a state that is seeing our economy contract. We're basically dead last for every healthcare metric, the Medicaid cuts that Ashley Hinson has voted for. She's voted four times in favor of the tariffs which have now we lead the nation in foreign foreclosures six times. She's voted in favor of continuing the war in Iran. Iowans are ready for change. She knows it. The polls are showing it. And we're ready to win this thing. We got 97 days to change the state and change the country.
- [25:43]
Jenna
Well, I want to turn to the rising. You talked about the rising cost of living in health care and the top two. Those are the top two issues, of course, for Iowans, according to, I should note, a Fox News poll. And there's been some news this week about this because yesterday the Trump administration announced it is ending Biden era subsidies that helped keep costs down for Medicare drug coverage. Seniors who will see their premiums go up next year will be notified in the fall right before the election. Which seems like frankly, insane politics to me. But more importantly, it's very bad policy. Iowa has an aging population. What is the impact of something like that gonna be on the people of Iowa?
- [26:20]
Josh Turek
It's gonna be dramatic because we're already in a healthcare crisis. I mean, we're already leading the nation in cancer rates because of the big, beautiful bill. We're looking at 110,000 Iowans losing their healthcare, losing ACA subsidies. We're looking at 119,000 Iowans seeing their healthcare premiums double or triple just since Ashley Hinson's been elected. We've closed over 300 more healthcare clinics than we've opened. It's decimating Iowans. Iowans recognize that the health care system is fundamentally broken and they're ready to have somebody in the US Senate like myself that is gonna go out there and actually fight for them for affordable healthcare and affordable pharmaceuticals, a livable wage and affordable housing.
- [26:57]
Jenna
If you're elected, there's gonna be a lot. You could be in the Senate majority, possibly. There's a lot that will be on the plates of Congress and the expectation of holding Trump accountable and accountability for members of his cabinet, but also a lot that people in the state want you to do. What's the first on your agenda? What's the first thing you'd want to focus on and how would you do it?
- [27:20]
Josh Turek
It is. It's going to be looking out for the middle class, it's going to be looking out for workers. I think the very first bill I'm going to sponsor is a dignity and work bill. Raise the minimum wage federally, do away with 14C certificates. This allows a for profit business to pay someone just due to a disability a sub minimum wage and pass the pro act as well. Make sure we've got collective bargaining rights back to every single one of our workers. But I'm deeply, deeply committed to ensuring that every single American, every Iowan, has access to affordable and accessible healthcare and would love to see us arrive at something like a public option.
- [27:53]
Jenna
One of the things that we've seen across the country is that voters are looking for change. They're looking for change from current leadership. They're looking for change. Washington is extremely unpopular right now. I don't have to tell you that. As you think about coming here, would you be supporting Chuck Schumer for leader?
- [28:12]
Josh Turek
I'm not trying to measure the drapes yet. Honestly, if I'm able to be able to get up here and be elected to the US Senate, I'll sit down with whoever's running for leadership. And I'll ask them a few questions. I'll say, what are you going to do for Iowa? What are you going to do for Iowans? What are you going to do for the middle class? I'm a common sense prey populist. The issues that I care about, driving private equity out of housing and health care, making sure that we're addressing corruption, campaign finance reform, banning members of Congress from owning and trading stock because my opponent, Ashley Henson, 10 times more wealthy just in six years of being up here in D.C. and whoever gives me the best answer to that question, that's honestly who I'm going to support.
- [28:51]
Jenna
All right. That's not a yes. That's not a no. Josh Turek, thanks for being here. I know you got some time left on the campaign trail. I appreciate you taking time.
- [28:58]
Josh Turek
Absolutely. Thanks for being here. And if anyone wants to join us, turekforiowa.com, we can change the state and we can change this country together.
- [29:04]
Adam Schiff
All right.
- [29:05]
Jenna
Thank you again. Okay. I should tell you that the newly minted nominee for Turkish U.S. senate in Maine, he could become Josh True colleague. We'll see. Troy Jackson is going to be here at the table in just a few minutes as well. This is a part of an effort to introduce you all to the people who could be representing many people in this country. Coming, coming in a couple of months from now. But first, a circus hearing with Dr. Anthony Fauci. His lawyer was kicked out. A Fox News host showed up and it only got crazier from there. I'll talk about it when we come back.
- [29:41]
Monday.com Announcer
This is a Monday.com ad, the same Monday.com designed for every team. The same Monday.com with built in AI scaling your work from day one. The same Monday.comwith an easy and intuitive setup. Go to Monday.com and try it for free.
- [29:56]
Adam Schiff
Hey, everyone, it's Chris Hayes.
- [29:57]
Jenna
This week on my podcast, why is this Happening?
- [29:59]
Adam Schiff
What really happened with the border during the Biden administration?
- [30:02]
Chris Hayes
Asylum at the border needs to be changed. And that was part of the legislation supported by President Biden. And that's what got killed by Donald Trump because he wanted the crisis to live for political benefit. So what has happened is there are many fewer migrants presenting themselves at the border. The Supreme Court just basically shut that down and allowed the administration to do what it wants.
- [30:24]
Jenna
That's this week on why is this Happening? Search for why is this happening?
- [30:27]
Adam Schiff
Wherever you're listening right now.
- [30:28]
Jenna
And follow. Today, Republicans in the Senate held a hearing that was supposedly on the origins of COVID 19. But in reality, what it ended up being was a chance for Republicans to try to vilify Dr. Anthony Fauci. The whole thing was an intentional circus. I mean, at one point, Senator Rand Paul made a big fuss about kicking Fauci's lawyer out of the room. Fox news host Laura Ingraham was in the audience. For some reason, it was all theater. It was a big old show that Republicans put on to please the conspiracy theorists in their base. Despite the fact that the majority of what Republicans spent their time talking about today has already been debunked over and over again, Senator Ron Johnson took his time to hold up a big stack of papers saying that there were proof that the drug ivermectin was a good treatment for Covid. As the Journal of the American Medical association puts it, well designed research studies agree that ivermectin is not an effective way to treat or prevent COVID 19 senators also scolded Fauci for not pushing the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine for Covid. As the Mayo Clinic puts it, clinical trials have shown that the drug gave some people serious heart problems, did not effectively treat Covid, and did not effectively prevent Covid. And all of these conspiracies mentioned in the Senate today have already been debunked many, many times. But Republicans in the Senate were still pushing them anyway, while simultaneously calling the safe and effective COVID vaccine experimental gene therapy and pushing their favorite insane conspiracy theory, that Dr. Fauci somehow started Covid himself. That it was Dr. Fauci who killed millions of people. It was all ridiculous. It was all a circus. And a number of Republicans were making fools of themselves left and right. But amidst all of this grandstanding, and there was a lot and total buffoonery, there was one guy whose theatrics stood out most of all. Take a listen to how overly dramatic Republican Ohio senator Bernie Marino got when pressing Dr. Fauci about recommending that people wear masks. Now, fair warning, the senator uses some very colorful language here, but we still wanted to play it for you. Who the fuck do you think you were for doing that? Again, everyone that was about wearing masks, face masks during the height of COVID Now, what makes Senator Moreno's grandstanding here stand out from all the other grandstanding we saw today is the fact that while Moreno was so performatively mad at Dr. Fauci, he has been all but silent about this. Back in May, we learned that Senator Moreno's daughter, Emily Moreno, was accusing her ex husband, current Republican Congressman Max Miller of domestic abuse. While Miller has denied all allegations, Emily Moreno has said that Miller did things like scalded her chest and stomach by throwing hot water from a skillet at her body, held a gun to her head, pushed her against a wall and hit her head, and fractured their daughter's collarbone and bruised her shoulder. According to court documents, their daughter at one point told Ms. Moreno, quote, Daddy kill you. Now, again, Congressman Miller denies those allegations, and an investigation found insufficient evidence of a crime. But those are allegations made by Senator Moreno's own daughter about herself and his granddaughter. And just wait till you hear how publicly outraged Senator Moreno has been about the alleged abuse of his daughter and. And granddaughter. Oh, wait, there is nothing to play, because he has not been publicly outraged at all. In May, he called it a private, personal matter, and a spokesperson said, quote, we will not litigate these matters in the media. Compare those restrained statements about his daughter and granddaughter's alleged abuser, a sitting member of Congress, to how Moreno was accosting Fauci today.
- [34:33]
Adam Schiff
Will you apologize?
- [34:36]
Jenna
Just apologize to the people who you
- [34:40]
Adam Schiff
harmed through your actions.
- [34:43]
Jenna
Will you say, do you have the dignity to just say you're sorry? Why isn't he that publicly fired up about his daughter's alleged abuser? Well, I can't. Blissfully, I can't read Senator Moreno's mind, but it certainly feels like there's a whole lot of politics at play here. I mean, Moreno gets points from his base for needlessly attacking Fauci, but the man, his own daughter has said abused her and his granddaughter, Max Miller. He's a Republican, and his race looks tight. Internal polling by Democrats Show Miller just 1 percentage point ahead of his Democratic challenger in a district that Trump won by double digits in 2024. Which is probably why it's not just Senator Moreno staying quiet here. Max Miller met Senator Moreno's daughter while working on Marco Rubio's 2015 presidential campaign. Haven't heard a peep from that guy either. Max Miller used to work for President Trump. Trump attended his wedding. Trump campaigned for him, calling him an incredible patriot who he knows very well. But we haven't heard a peep from Trump on those allegations either. Of course we haven't, but that is the expectation from most members of the Republican Party these days. Miller is literally one of three Republican members of Congress facing allegations from women ranging from abuse to assault to sexual harassment. All of them deny those allegations, but all of them are still. Still on the ticket, and all of them still seem to have the support fully of the Republican Party. Meanwhile, Graham Platner is no longer the nominee for Senate in Maine after sexual assault allegations emerged about him. Allegations I should note he denies. Last week, a man named Troy Jackson earned the Democratic Party of Maine's nomination. He now has just a few months to introduce himself to the country, reintroduce himself to the people of Maine, and make his case for why they should vote for him over Republican Susan Collins in the fall. Troy Jackson is here in studio and he joins me to talk about all of it next. Probably noticed that this year Democrats have on more than one occasion done the riskier kind of thing and difficult thing of pushing out candidates who are no longer fit to run. Take, for example, the race for governor in California. The early leader, former Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell, dropped out and resigned from Congress amid pressure after numerous women came forward with disturbing allegations of sexual abuse and assault. Allegations I would note he denied. What followed was a lot of hand wringing. But now that the dust has settled, the decision to pressure Swalwell out looks like it was not only the morally right one, but the politically right one, too. Democrat Javier Becerra recently had his largest polling margin over Republican senior Steve Hilton. And of course, Democrats have had to do a similar swap in Maine, replacing scandal plague Graham Platner with Troy Jackson. And just days after locking in the nomination, a recent poll showed Jackson with a slight edge over incumbent Republican Senator Susan Collins. It's been a whirlwind, I know, but joining me now is Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson. Thank you for being here.
- [37:43]
Troy Jackson
Well, thank you for having me, Jenna. I really appreciate it.
- [37:45]
Jenna
So let me start by asking you this. I mean, we know everybody out there has seen Susan Collins argument in this race. She's held the seat for a long time. She's the Appropriations Chair in the Senate, which holds a lot of power and in turn is able to bring back a lot of money. We've all seen that. What is the best argument about why you are the better candidate to represent the people of Maine?
- [38:04]
Troy Jackson
Well, I think, you know, I'm a fifth generation logger from northern Maine. You know, I'm someone that's been fighting in the maine legislature for 20 years for everyday working class people and delivering on that. And at the same time, Senator Collins has been in D.C. giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in this country. You know, hurting our health care system, taking away health care. You know, in Maine, we are in crisis and, you know, our hospitals, birthing centers are closing. And so I think for me, it's Been about making sure that everyday Mainers have somebody in their corner, as opposed to Senator Collins, who's fighting to, you know, help Donald Trump, you know, kill the government.
- [38:49]
Jenna
One of the central arguments I know you've made, others have made against Susan Collins is that she was the key vote to confir Brett Kavanaugh, which resulted in overturning Roe v. Wade. Is that still central to your campaign and how you want to run against her?
- [39:05]
Troy Jackson
I definitely think that's a big part of it. I mean, but also, you know, the tariffs that we have in Maine, like I said, the big bogus bill that she voted for that gave all those tax cuts on the back of our health care system. I mean, people are struggling across Maine. And, you know, I would say that a big part of it was because of her votes with Donald Trump. You know, being the chair of Appropriations is powerful. You know, I've appointed three chairs in the state of Maine. I mean, I know what an Appropriations chair can do when they want to stop something. And she's not been willing to do that. She's not actually been willing to use her power to help Maynard and it's going to come back and bite her this November.
- [39:42]
Jenna
Yeah, she has. It sounds like it's part of your argument she hasn't been using her power. I ask this because, and I think I was in politics for a long time. I think people don't always get as much grace as they should get in terms of changing their positions and views. And you've talked about this, that you changed your position on abortion rights. You said it became more clear to you that abortion access was health care from talking to doctors to women and community members again. And I think people can change views, and you changed it some time ago. What are the arguments that made you change your view on that particular issue?
- [40:14]
Troy Jackson
Yeah, well, I mean, you know, I just had a lot of conversations with people I trusted. You know, women that had, you know, had to go through these issues, doctors, you know, community members that I trusted. And again, like you said, I mean, I've always been someone that believes in health care for everyone. And, you know, abortion access is health care. And when I became, when I started to understand that, I understood I was wrong. And, you know, I've been fighting to, you know, make up for that ever since. I mean, we've passed some of the most progressive reproductive rights in Maine. While Susan Collins was taking away access in Maine, we were making it easier. I've made sure that low income women in Maine can get health care, abortion Access through Maine care. So, I mean, I was wrong. I'm really proud of my record over the last decade or so of fighting really hard for access.
- [41:08]
Jenna
You just have kind of read a little bit. You don't even have to be from Maine. If you read a little bit of Maine Press, you know that you and Maine Governor Janet Mills, you've had some disagreements at times. Probably par for the course at times, given the roles you've served in today. She said Susan Collins was vulnerable and that she should be defeated. But she didn't endorse you. I don't. What is the deal? Why? What is the deal with that?
- [41:29]
Troy Jackson
Well, I mean, again, me and Senator. Excuse me, me and Janet have worked on abortion access. I mean, she was the one that put the bill in for that, you know, progressive reproductive. She asked me to co sponsor it. We've worked on, you know, child care, we've worked on free school meals. We worked on all kinds of different things. So, I mean, I'm not concerned about that. I mean, we're going to work together to, you know, beat Susan, make Maine have a better government than it has right now, the whole country. And. And I'm, you know, excited to work with anyone that's actually going to help us win this race.
- [42:06]
Jenna
Yeah, Frank, to be honest, I kind of am surprised she didn't. I mean, because she's known you for a long time. Obviously the stakes are incredibly high. She said she hasn't talked to you yet, but she's known you for years. Have you reached out to her, talk to her about this race?
- [42:18]
Troy Jackson
You know, I mean, I've reached out to a lot of people. I mean, again, I just got the nomination Saturday, you know, went home, had a whole bunch of, you know, stuff I had to do. And so, and there's just been so many things that's, you know, been coming at me. So, I mean, again, I will talk to the governor. I know. I mean, I know what Governor Mills has fought for. I know what she cares about. I know that she wants to win this race. And so I feel very comfortable that we'll make sure that, you know, she's helping us do that.
- [42:47]
Jenna
You met with Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer this morning. First, you've said in the past you wouldn't support him for leader. Has anything changed about that after meeting with him?
- [42:57]
Troy Jackson
No. I mean, it was good meeting again. We talked about issues that we both believed in, healthcare for all, you know, fighting for working class people. It was interesting to me how much he, you know, was appreciative of labor. I'm in five labor unions, so I mean, nothing's changed. But I definitely appreciated his willingness to help me win this race.
- [43:18]
Jenna
Troy Jackson, it's been a whirlwind, I know, and you've got a long road ahead, but I think people are so uplifted that the fact that you're up in these polls. Thank you so much for being here. Appreciate it.
- [43:28]
Troy Jackson
Thank you. Jacksonformain.com all right.
- [43:30]
Jenna
There you go. Gotta get that in. Okay, we have to take a quick break, but Lawrence has Texas Senate nominee James Talarico standing by. It's quite a Senate night for for all of you. We'll be right back. That does it for me tonight. You can catch the show Tuesday through Friday at 9pm Eastern on Ms. Now. And don't forget to follow the show on Blue sky, Instagram and TikTok.
- [43:51]
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- [44:17]
Adam Schiff
Prices and participation vary while supplies last
- [44:19]
Josh Turek
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- [44:20]
Adam Schiff
Tax extra.