← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Hegseth, beside sleepy Trump, backtracks on boasts about boat strike amid war crimes talk
00:40:07
Senator Mark Warner, ranking Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, reiterates his call for Donald Trump secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, to step down as scrutiny of whether he ordered a war crime intensifies over the U.S. blowing up boats in the Caribbean.
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App download Today we are watching what could end up being a political earthquake tonight. We'll see. I mean, it's been one hour since polls closed in the special congressional election in Tennessee, and the entire political world is watching all of these results like a hawk tonight. We certainly are. And as of now, that race is too early to call. With about half the vote in. This is a very, very tight race, just over half the vote in. And here's the thing I really need to underline. Chris just mentioned this, but it's important to keep underlining. Trump won the district Tennessee 7 by 22 points just last year. 22 points. A Democrat has absolutely no business winning here. Even a great candidate and a bunch of national Republican groups have had to spend a boatload of money that they really shouldn't have to spend in such a deep red district. Money is not unlimited in political campaigns or in national party committees, and they're spending a lot here and so are outside super PACs. So if this race is even close, which it's looking to be at a minimum, it will be a big, big, big warning sign for Trump and the Republican Party that their hold on power could be slipping very quickly. One senior House Republican told Politico today that, quote, if our victory margin is single digits, the conference may come unhinged. Well, we'll all look forward to watching that if that's the case. Now, if these early vote numbers are any indication, the conference might indeed come unhinged because they're looking very good right now for Afton Bain. And this is the first election night since those massive Democratic wins in New Jersey and Virginia last month. But even before that, in all four special House elections this year, Democrats have dramatically improved their margins over 2024, dramatically outperforming by between and 22 points. That's held true in red districts and blue districts and red states and blue states. And tonight, it might just hold true in deep red Tennessee. We'll see. Joining me now is Afton Bain, Democratic nominee in the special election in Tennessee's 7th congressional district. You must be feeling quite amazing right now, but let me just ask, I mean, votes are still rolling in, but the race right now appears to be very, very close. How are you feeling right now? I'm excited. The momentum has been on our side. We are overperforming in places where we need to be and losing less in other places. And folks are excited on the ground. They're tired of being taken advantage of. And the message of affordability has resonated across political spectrum. You know your district extremely well. You've been campaigning your heart out over the last several months. I mean, again, I'll just keep saying it. Trump won by 22 points. Where have you seen a kind of surprising surge of support for you across your district? What have you seen that's been would be surprising to people? Yeah, I think Tennesseans are fed up with the status quo. And as I've said on the campaign trail, if you're upset about the chaos in Washington and the cost of living, then I'm your candidate. And I think this is a moment in time when voters want change rather than the status quo. You ran this campaign, and you and I talked about this last Wednesday, which feels like a lifetime ago. It may feel like that to you as well, given how hard you campaigned over the weekend that was largely focused on the cost of living. You had this great ad with a mechanical bull. People should go out there and watch. You also talked about issues like the Epstein files, which have not been issues in political campaigns as much as it's been a big national story. Is there anything in particular, especially over the last couple of days, that you think really resonated the most with residents of Tennessee's 7th congressional district? Yeah. The privatization of the Tennessee Valley Authority. It is a big issue, especially with rural labor, labor union leaders in the seventh District. And President Trump is imminently trying to privatize it by installing syncofans on the board. And I've made the privatization of TVA a campaign issue, and I've talked about it in the rural communities, and I think it's really resonating with a lot of them. That's such a good example. All politics is national, sort of. We're about to talk to Ken Martin, but it's also local. And a lot of these issues that Trump. A lot of these things Trump is doing are impacting people hugely in their districts. Afton Bain, thank you so much for taking the time. I know it's been a whirlwind of a day. We're going to keep following and covering every detail of this race. Thank you again for making the time. Thank you so much. Okay. Joining me now is Ken Martin. He's of course, the chairman of the Democratic National Committee and someone who has worked to make this race as close as it's been. I keep saying this. I mean, Trump won this district by 22 points a year ago. There's a lot of results that are coming in. Afton Bain has been outperforming in early votes. We're seeing places where she's outperforming, of course, on election day votes. Talk to us a little bit about how this district became one that Democrats were able to capitalize. Obviously, you have a great candidate there, but tell us more about why and how.
- [05:36]
C
Well, first, let me just give all the thanks to Aftona Bain for running in this district, for believing that she could win and getting out there and working for it and running on the issue issues that people care about. We've seen, and you mentioned this earlier in your reporting, a huge over performance since Donald Trump was inaugurated. In every election that's been on the ballot this year in 2025, Democrats have overperformed in red districts, in blue districts and in purple districts all throughout this country. In fact, last November's elections were the most historic off year elections for the Democratic Party in our party's history. And we are overperforming at an average pace of about 16 percentage points. And you're seeing that in this district tonight. It's a plus 22%. The Republicans have spent over $4 million trying to win a district they should have won handedly. And why are we winning this district? Well, first again, you start with good candidates who are running on messages that people care about. There is a through line. Democrats, we're not very disciplined oftentimes as it relates to messaging. But guess what? This year we have been, we've been laser focused on affordability, on issues that are animating the American public around the kitchen table. Many families right now are struggling and they've been saying loud and clear in election after election, we're looking for champions. And that's what's happening in Tennessee 7 tonight. You know, I'm not going to take credit for what's happening out there.
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A
Right.
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C
But the reality is the Democratic Party under my leadership, we said we're going to contest every single race. I was down there campaigning with Afton. We spent considerable resources in the district helping her and her campaign to make sure that they can compete. Because I believe when you organize everywhere, you can win anywhere. And we've seen that throughout this year.
- [07:12]
A
The race is not called yet. Too close, too early to call. Just over 50% of the vote was in when the last time we gave a little bit of an update. And we'll keep updating people throughout the hour. But short, she may win, she may not win. But even if she doesn't win, if it's a margin that's in the single digits or what does the margin look like that you think sends a strong message to Republicans out there that they're in trouble?
- [07:33]
C
Well, you reported it just a moment ago. The Republicans are scared, they're nervous, they're shaking in their boots. They know again, if they perform, you know, single digits here, which looks likely, they may win this race again. She still has a chance to win this race. There's a lot of votes that haven't been counted here. But even if she doesn't, she comes in within single digits of a plus 22% district, a district they should have won handedly. That is a huge red flag for Republicans going into the 2026 midterm elections. Right? We only need three seats to win back the U.S. house. And I want you to think about this. You know this better than anyone, Jen. In 2005, George Bush comes out. He attacks Social Security, his numbers go into the toilet. And guess what? The next year we have a huge wave election for Democrats. We win both chambers of Congress back. No one thought there was a prayer's chance in hell. Democrats are going to win in 2006. This year, Donald Trump comes out, he attacks Medicaid, he attacks snap, he attacks Social Security. His tariffs aren't working for the American people. He's hit an all time low in terms of his popularity. He's going into an election right now where he's been losing top to bottom. He's been losing ground with the base that helped get him elected president last year. What we look at is not just wins and losses. We look at the shifts, right? And what we're seeing is a seismic shift that's been happening all year long. Latino voters who supported Donald Trump last year have swung back to us. Young voters, including young men, have swung back to Democrats. Women voters, independent voters are breaking 2 to 1 for Democrats. And the reality is, sure, part of it's our great candidates running on affordability and part of it is the fact that the American people are disgusted at what they're seeing out of this administration.
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A
I remember the 06 cycle quite well. I was at the DCCC. It was also a campaign about the culture of corruption, which is also. There's a huge parallel.
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C
That's right.
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A
Maybe it's a worse culture of corruption, I think it's safe to say. Let me ask you about just kind of what this could mean in terms of what the scope of races could look like out there. Because money is not unlimited. Although this is exciting, exciting to Democrats even if she doesn't pull off a win. What does this mean in terms of how many House races could be in play? Do you look at a much bigger map of races? How big?
- [09:46]
C
Well, look, I mean, as big as we need to, right? And what I mean by that is we need to win the majority back. You need three seats. But what this means for Hakeem Jeffries and Susan Del Benny and the DCCC now is that they can expand out the map. They have a lot more opportunities to actually win the majority than the Republicans do to keep the majority. Right. And for us right now, when we look at the fact that our over perform performances by 16 percentage points on average, that means any Republican in this country who won their congressional seat by 16 points or less is vulnerable. And guess what? We're coming after them. And we've been coming after them all year long. And as a result, like I said, this over performance is resulting in us winning in places. And even in those places where we're losing, we are cutting those margins significantly. This portends good things for the Democratic Party. But as I've said to folks, I'm optimistic, I'm confident, but I'm not complacent. And my message to Democrats right now is let's not rest on our laurels right now. Right? We have to keep doing the work. We have to get out there and keep organizing. We can win both chambers back next year. I am confident on that. But we are not going to be complacent at the DNC even tonight. And again, Afton still has a chance to win this race. Even if she doesn't, we're not going to rest on the fact that we overperformed. It's another proof point for us and it's another opportunity for us to show people throughout this country that we have the momentum behind us right now. The Democrats have had the wind at their back all year long and we've taken advantage of that and we're going to continue to do so you're going.
- [11:18]
A
To have a big board tomorrow with these Republicans who only have margins of 10, 12, 14 points. That's what I'm going to tell people is going to happen. One of the things that's been interesting, maybe surprising about her race, at least to me, is that she's run. She's running so close. We'll see what happens tonight. She's run as an unapologetic progressive on a range of issues, including on issues like the impact of ice and devastation on communities. She has had kind of a Bernie Sanders like message about, you know, billionaires and trillionaires and the impact on the country. She's not been running. She's not been sliding to the middle or sliding to be to try to model a moderate. What does that tell you about the kind of candidates that might work in different districts out there?
- [12:03]
C
Well, I've said all along, right. The reality is it takes different types of people in different spaces and places throughout the country to win. And there's no one way or one stripe of being a Democrat. Right. But what I would say is what most Americans care about right now is actually putting food on the table. Right. They want to save their health care. They want a chance to get ahead and actually build a better life for their family. They're worried about the cost of childcare. Right. And that's what Afton Bain's been focused on. And while there's all this conversation around progressive or centrists or conservative or, you know, progressive Democrats, at the end of the day, I think what Americans care most about, they don't care about those labels. They don't care about ideology. They want champions. They want someone who's going to stand up, call it for what it is, and then present ideas and solutions on how we're actually going to improve people's lives. Because at the end of the day, that's what they're looking for. Many of those same people who are now voting for Democrats voted for Donald Trump last year not because of his ideology, but because they wanted a champion. They wanted someone who was going to deliver. And he's abandoned them all to give tax breaks to the richest people in this country. He's sold working people, many people who voted for him down the road river. And those people are coming back to the Democrats because now we are standing up and we're showing them what's possible with Democrats back in charge. That's what's happening around this country. So I reject this idea of putting labels on this. The reality is the Democratic Party is the party that's fighting for your best economic chance and your future. And the Democratic Party is the party focused on affordability? Just today, Donald Trump said affordability is a hoax. Once again, he said it's a hoax.
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A
We'll talk about it. You know, I asked this question because I think it impacts the kind of candidates people recruit from the national party. And I think that playbook maybe needs to be thrown out because there's different kinds of people who can win than I think the old playbook tells us.
- [13:51]
C
Well, you know what, as you know, I didn't come here to do things the same way. And I've said we have a big tent party. There's many different ways of being a Democrat. And all of them are welcome in this party as long as they're focused on making sure we make a difference in people's lives. What that looks like in New York City is different than in Virginia and in New Jersey and in Tennessee and in California and in my home state of Minnesota. You need candidates who fit those districts who are going to stand up and fight for people. That's what we're doing.
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A
Ken Martin, I'm looking forward to seeing that bulletin board you have tomorrow. It's got to be a big bulletin board for all the people. Thank you so much for joining us.
- [14:24]
C
Thank you, Jen.
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A
All right, we have to sneak in a very quick break, but we are keeping a very close eye on the special election in Tennessee tonight. Results are continuing to come in as we speak. You can see that on the screen and about 72.9% reporting still very tight. And remember, this is a district Donald Trump won by 22 points last year. So even a single digit loss for the Democratic candidate could have it. Alarm bells ringing going off for Republicans. Congressman Ro Khanna is standing by and he joins me next. With stays under $250 a night, VRBO makes it easy to celebrate sweater weather. Book a cabin with leaf views or a home with a fire pit for nights with friends. With stays under $250 a night, find a home for your exact needs. Book now@vrbo.com find new customers on a.
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- [18:05]
D
Well, Afton ran a fabulous campaign. She's a fabulous candidate. The fact that Wasserman had to even make a call in this race says it all. I mean, this was A district that Donald Trump carried by 22 points and Hampton has come within a few points of winning. The deepest red counties in the district are ones that shifted away from the Republican to Afton. And she ran on an unabashedly economically populous agenda. She ran saying that we can't have Medicaid cuts, that we need to be expanding health care, that we need a living wage. It just shows that we can compete everywhere in this country. And I think there are 53 districts that are less red than this one. And if she can do this here, you can imagine the kind of way we could have to elect Hakeem Jeffries speaker and take back the House.
- [18:55]
A
Yeah, I saw him in the hallway. He did Chris Hazer show. He had a little pep in his step, I'm not gonna lie. So during her campaign I thought this messaging was really interesting. Cuz now is the period of time where Democrats who are in competitive races or challengers are really thinking about what they should be talking about. No question affordability is at the center of it. But she did something interesting. She tied the Epstein files with the cost of living. I mean, her perspective seemed to be that the current fight is one between the billionaire and the working class, which I think it very much is. You talk about both of these issues. What did you make of her messaging and her kind of tying the two together?
- [19:32]
D
I think it was spot on. We did a town hall together where she talked about this. I've taken to calling it an Epstein class. And by that I just mean rich and powerful people who feel the rules don't apply to them and they can get away with doing things that without considering the consequences for everyone else. Look, you have a situation in my district. Silicon Valley billionaires wealth has gone up from $3 trillion to 8. 8 trillion. $18 trillion of value. And 70% of people don't believe in the American dream. And people are tired of it. They want an economy that works for everyone. And that was Afton's message. I believe that can be the message in almost every district. Trump has lost his populism. I mean, he didn't win the presidency twice hanging out with tech billionaires and building ballrooms. And he's just lost touch with actually the populism he ran on.
- [20:24]
A
Again, just in case you're joining us here, NBC News, the NBC News decision desk projects that Matt Van Epps is going to win the 7th Congressional District in Tennessee. The special election game. It's a very, very close margin. We'll see what the final margin is when the Final results are tallied. Let me ask you, do you think, I mean, as you look to next year, one of the things that's interesting, and I was talking to Ken Martin about this a little bit, is that Democrats have been outperforming in these special elections by 15 to 20 points in some places, a little bit less in others. We're 11 months out. I mean, what do you think that tells us about where the electorate is and what do you think needs to happen between now and then not to lose the momentum on this?
- [21:09]
D
I think they're rejecting Donald Trump. They were appalled that he didn't release the Epstein files. They're appalled that he's spending all his time with billionaires. They're appalled that he didn't bring prices down on day one. They're appalled that he's got a secretary of def defense who's killing people without any justification on boats. I mean, they're appalled by ice rays that are splitting up families and engaged in cruelty. The electorate is moving towards us. One of the important things also is that, you know, Vice President Harris got the same amount of the white vote as President Obama. We ended up losing some of the Latino vote, African American vote, Asian American vote. All of those communities are coming back to us. So you can never be overconfident, Jan, as you know in politics. But I feel very, very good about a majority. I saw Hakeem Jeffries today. He feels good. He reminded me it's only halftime. We have to keep going. But look, I hope more people will take heart from what Afton did. She did something but very few people have the guts to do. She said, I'm going to run. I'm going to put my life on hold. It's 22 points that I have to overcome, but I'm going to do it. And if we can get more people inspired to run across this country, that's how we get a big wave.
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A
People watching out there. If not you, then who? Now's the time to get involved. Congressman Ro Khanna, thank you as always for joining us. We have to sneak in a very quick break, but up next, we're going to turn our attention to one of the greatest military scandals of modern times with a person who's been talking about it and sounding the alarm about it more than almost anyone else, if not more than anybody else. Senator Mark Warner is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and he joins me next.
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See site for details. Okay, we just want to keep you updated on this race out of Tennessee where, according to the NBC News Decision desk, the Republican candidate is projected to win, but where the Democratic candidate is massively overperforming in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points. And that is just one thing. Just one of the things the Trump administration does not want to be talking about right now. Maybe. Maybe we'll get a late night creek sprint of posts tonight. We'll see. I mean, despite all of the administration's efforts to shut down access and reporting by the Free Press, the Washington Post still got this scoop late last week about the first of the US Strikes in the Caribbean and the Pacific that have now killed more than 80 people. They report that Hegseth gave a spoken directive in that September 2 strike. According to one of two people with direct knowledge of the operation. The order was to kill everybody. Now, that, on its own, is very likely illegal, according to experts. But after that first strike, as commanders watched a boat burning on a live drone feed, they saw that two survivors were clinging to the smoldering wreck. So the commander overseeing the operation ordered a second strike to comply with hegseth's instructions. The two men were blown apart in the water. Now, I should note that msnow has not independently confirmed that report. But to be clear, that second strike, shooting the defenseless and shipwrecked act Wouldn't just be a war crime. It is the textbook definition of a war crime. Now, as far as hegseth himself is concerned, and how he is spinning all of this, I guess, is one way to describe it. This is what he had to say about that strike the day after it happened back in September.
- [26:24]
D
I can tell you that was definitely not artificial intelligence.
- [26:27]
B
I watched it live. We knew exactly who was in that boat. We knew exactly what they were doing, and we knew exactly who they represented.
- [26:35]
A
He watched it live. Everyone. He knew exactly who was in the boat and what was happening. He was totally in charge. I mean, that is some serious chess thumping there, Pete Pegseth. You can always tell when he elevates his voice and talks louder. That's the tell. So that was his story. Then here was Hegseth today.
- [26:54]
B
I watched that first strike live.
- [26:56]
E
As you can imagine, at the Department.
- [26:57]
B
Of War, we got a lot of things to do.
- [26:59]
D
So I didn't stick around for the.
- [27:01]
E
Hour and two hours where I whatever.
- [27:02]
A
Where all the sensitive site exploitation digitally occurs. So I moved on to my next meeting.
- [27:07]
D
I did not personally see survivors, but.
- [27:09]
A
I stand because the thing was on fire.
- [27:12]
C
It was exploded and fire, smoke, you can't see anything.
- [27:15]
B
You got digital. This is called the fog of war.
- [27:17]
D
This is what you and the press don't understand.
- [27:21]
A
I have so many questions. One of them is, what on earth was the meeting he had to go attend instead of watching this? That aside, I mean, did he watch the whole thing live or just the first strike? Did he give a verbal order to kill everybody? And is this an isolated incident or just the first one we happen to know about? Which makes me think about Signalgate, and how do we get answers to these questions? I know someone who is working very, very hard on that. The perfect person to ask. Joining me now is Senator Mark Warner of Virginia. He's the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence Committee. You have been sounding the alarm on this for months. For months, for Months, Months, months. And part of what I think is so important to remind people of is what is normal and what is not normal. And that's part of what you've been doing today. We didn't not going to play it, but Donald Trump was asked about this second strike and he said he didn't know about it, he wasn't involved with it, and that he relies on Pete. Now, I've worked for two presidents, two commanders in chief. I cannot imagine either of them ever saying something like that. You have probably overseen, done the congressional oversight on more military actions than almost anybody else. What did you make of that?
- [28:27]
E
This is the biggest crowd of wimps you've ever seen. They pound their chest. Remember when Hegseth brought all the generals and admirals in and lectured them? Best news, frankly, we've seen recently because they stayed true to the Constitution. This guy says he's going to be tough. The first hint there might be a problem, he's now trying to throw the admiral who's in charge of SOCOM under the bus. Yeah, this is the worst kind of action. And I'm going to see Admiral Bradley on Thursday. I'm going to ask him.
- [29:00]
A
You're going to meet with him on Thursday?
- [29:01]
E
I'm going to meet with him on Thursday. But, but the thing is, if this, if there was, everything was okay here. Show the whole damn video. Yeah, he said he bragged about seeing the whole video release the video. Was there one strike? Was there two? Was there three? Were there people still living? Which, as you pointed out, Chen, is against the rules of war. We should not put American soldiers, sailors, in a place where they could be violating international law and become literally liable. That is not the way the American government operates. And unfortunately we have seen this time and again from hegsep. We got the signal gate. You mentioned signal gate. When they put literally thousands of sailors, and particularly those who took strikes against Yemen in harm's way by talking about this before it took place on a non classified communications mode. This is sloppiness. This is chaos. This does not help America. And this whole effort. If they wereactually got the goods on these guys, interdict them, show the world the narco terrorists and show them the drugs as opposed to what Trump has done, which is like, let me go ahead and give another pardon to the former president of Honduras who has been convicted under American law as being a drug narco terrorist and he lets him out of jail because of the political opportunism. This is not the way America operates. I know. I hope we're going to talk about the elections in Tennessee and in Virginia. But part of this is beyond affordability, beyond the fact that we got to stand up for health care. It is the fact that most Americans don't want to see our reputation around the world besmirched. They don't want to see us as being the bad guys. They don't want to see our military put in harm's way for purposes that are not legitimate. And that is just not who we are as a people. And I think part of what is happening around the country and all kudos to our Canada, Afton and Tennessee. But I'd also point out we won 13 state house seats in Virginia, in many districts like that, because it is affordability. It is the fact that this administration has been so ridiculously bad about health care and Medicaid and now the ACA tax credits. But it is also this whole culture of corruption and this kind of, I think, bringing down America's reputation in the world. And this action in the Caribbean is beyond outrageous.
- [31:28]
A
And we will talk about your race. You just announced it was a big race today, and I want your thoughts on that. You know, Pete Hegseth seems to be just to go back to Admiral Bradley, who you're going to see on Thursday. I know you've asked for him to testify. Is that something you're going to try to make happen?
- [31:41]
E
We're going to start with him meeting with us, meeting with the Armed Services Committee. End of the day, though, everything I know about I've never met Admiral Bradley, everything I've known about him is that this has been an American hero. He's done the right things. He has supervised, you know, special operations for a long time. My fear is this guy's getting thrown under the bus the same way this administration fired the general, head of the nsa, the general that was head of the Defense Intelligence Agency, not for legitimate reasons, but for political purposes. This has never happened in America. This undermining of our intelligence community, undermining of our uniformed military. This is beyond outrageous. And I got to believe some of those voters who voted in Virginia and Tennessee, beyond affordability and healthcare, are also saying this is not who we are as a country in terms of our moral fiber and what we represent to ourselves and to the world.
- [32:35]
A
Do you buy that Secretary Hegseth walked out of the room after the first. That seems just hard, Jenna.
- [32:41]
E
I've called for this guy's resignation for months on end. If you ever got somebody that is is so beyond his ability to execute, who is Kind of a joke. And frankly, we hear from the military on a regular basis. You know, they don't respect this guy. This is, you know, here was a guy who was a Fox News commentator who's now lecturing the military about how to be real tough warriors, who now when he's finally in an incident and reviewing it as secretary of defense, not secretary or secretary of defense, cops out and tries to throw row the admiral who's actually got the local command under the bus. That is repulsive, I think, to anyone who served, regardless whether it's military or the intel community.
- [33:27]
A
It's repulsive to anyone out there. Let's talk about politics and the race. You just announced you're running for reelection. WalkWarnerva.com There you go. Check it out.
- [33:37]
E
Check it out.
- [33:38]
A
I mean, like, that was very smooth. You've been doing this a while. As you look at the Tennessee race, I mean, Nashville, it's kind of, but, but it's a very Republican district, 22 points. Trump won by. There are a lot of parts of Virginia that kind of have similarities to parts of Tennessee. What is your takeaway of that race.
- [33:53]
E
And what it means at the end of the day? You know, as Ken Martin said, it's not about labels of centrist or moderate or progressive. It's can you get stuff done for people? People want to hire us whether we actually can accomplish something, not our position. Can you get stuff that changes their life? Donald Trump promised a of lot lot. He has under delivered on affordability. He's underdelivered on groceries. He is literally taking away health care from millions of Americans. His big ugly bill took 17 million Americans on Medicaid. He's now taking millions more, 24 million potentially on these tax credits. And the thing that people I think are getting is if somebody else loses their health care and they got to go to the emergency room, that's going to drive up everybody's costs. Even if you've got private insurance. This is a bad plan. It leads to lack of affordability. And frankly, this guy's got no vision of how we go forward. One of the reasons why I'm going to ask Virginians to rehire me is because I'm a tech guy. But I think the economic dislocation that's going to come from artificial intelligence. I think at the end of the day, there's a lot of good net positive. But for the next five years, we've already got 9% recent college graduate unemployment that could go to 25% because all those starter jobs coming out of college. College are being eliminated by AI. I think the AI guys owe an obligation to help us figure out that transition and frankly, help pay for it. This whole notion, and I've been successful in business, but the whole notion that everybody at the top ought to get all the benefits of all these economic transformations is not what I think the American people are about. They want innovation. They want people to be successful. But there's got to be a sense of fair balance in this. And I think we need voices that are talking not only about affordability in health care, not only about restoring America's position in the world, but also how we're going to lead in innovation and get through this economic transformation with AI.
- [35:50]
A
Senator Mark Warren, we covered quite a span of things there.
- [35:53]
E
You didn't interrupt me that much as you used to.
- [35:55]
A
I appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining me tonight.
- [35:57]
E
Thank you, Jen.
- [35:58]
A
All right, coming up, the Republican candidate might be projected to win in this Tennessee special election, but the Democratic candidates is hugely overperforming in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points. It's worth pointing out Afton Bain ran as an unapologetic progressive. I described my next guest the same way, and I'm talking about all of it coming up next. Okay, I know everybody's felt a form of political ptsd, but actually, elections are happening. Exciting things are happening. And tonight in Tennessee, the Democratic candidate is massively overperforming in a district Donald Trump won by 22 points last year. And if someone tells Donald Trump that this Republican win is actually a huge Republican loss, you never know. He might be up late again. He might be. We'll see. I mean, just think about what happened last night. In quite a spree that began at 9pm last night and ended around midnight, Trump made nearly 160 posts lashing out at political enemies and of course, boosting fawning messages from his supporters. Obviously, that is a rate of nearly one post per minute, just to give you a sense. And then believe it or not, he started back up again shortly before 6am this morning. Now, all that social media posting in lieu of restorative sleep appear to have taken a toll on the 79 year old president. Earlier today, Trump appeared to be, shall we say, fighting to stay awake during Cabinet meeting. That's a very kind way of describing it. The manic posting, an inability to keep his eyes open would raise questions about any 80 year old, let alone the president of the United States. But that is all on top of many, many more questions. The White House is being confronted with regarding Trump's health, including why he received an MRI scan during his physical last month and why he couldn't answer reporters when asked what part of his body the skin. Yesterday, the White House tried to put the speculation around that medical visit to bed, saying that the MRI was a, quote, preventative cardiovascular checkup, an explanation that is only raising more questions. As a longtime cardiologist for former Vice President Dick Cheney told the Washington Post, an MRI or CT scan is absolutely not a part of standard preventative imaging for men of Trump's age. The doctor also pointed out that Trump did not appear to undergo similar scans when he received a physical exam last April. Now, whatever Trump may or may not be going through, health wise, it's a good thing he has access to whatever care he may need, because millions of Americans could soon find themselves not so fortunate. Trump and House Republicans have still not budged at all, really, on extending subsidies for the Affordable Care act that are set to expire at the end of this month. And if they do expire, ACA premium payments would more than double on average next year, meaning that millions of Americans would be unable to afford basic health care, let alone Trump's so called preventative MRIs. And you wonder why Democrats are doing well in elections. I don't think you have to wonder. Joining me now is Abdul EL Sayed, a Democratic candidate running for the US Senate in Michigan. He formerly served as the director of the Department of Health, Human and Veterans Services for Wayne County, Michigan. There's so many things to ask you about, including your race, including Tennessee. But let me just start. You're actually a physician. You have helped patients. You've worked in public health for years. Talk to me about your reaction to the idea of a, quote, preventative MRI.
- [39:29]
B
Yeah, MRIs are not things that people prescribe when you're just trying to figure something out. It's because you want to figure out something very specific. And to your point that you made earlier, I'm less worried about his MRI than I am worried about the people in the state of Michigan who cannot afford an MRI if they really need one. But I will say this, if you've forgotten why you need an mri, that itself suggests a certain, we'll just say cognitive deficit, which I think we will have seen in the course of his actions over the last year and we'll continue to see. So this is concerning for a lot of reasons. The leadership of our country and the fact that that poor leadership is about to send a lot of folks into a space where they can't get the MRIs that they need.
- [40:08]
A
We've been talking all night about this special election in Tennessee. Afton Bain, who ran a great campaign. We'll see what the final margins are, but, man, did she cut the margin there. It's pretty exciting. We'll keep people updated. 95% of reporting in 53.9 to 50, 45%. So in the single digits currently, as you look to that race, you're running yourself for the U.S. senate in the primary. What are your takeaways from that race and why she did?
- [40:31]
B
Well, our plus 22 district, you have a young leader with vision who did not shy away from what she thought the world ought to be like. And I think what people are looking for from their politicians is that future vision. I think so much of our politics is about the past. We want to contest what happened a year ago or five years ago or nine years ago, instead of thinking about what we want in the next five years or 10 years for us, for our kids, for the next generation. And I think she was giving us a sense of what that vision. Obviously, she was up against real obstacles, but this is what's possible in a lot of communities if we are willing to have the courage as a party to actually go out and fight for that vision and talk about it affirmatively and unite people behind. And too often, I think Democrats, we show up with our little lists and our checklists and our public policy statements that are so baked and polished around what some corporate donor wants and what we think the electorate wants that we're not here or here. We're somewhere in the middle, in another region. Afton didn't do that. She actually had the courage of her convictions. She painted a vision, and she almost came within the striking distance of actually turning some part of Tennessee blue.
- [41:41]
A
Burn the nationally distributed talking points. That's always my advice. Let me ask you, how do you think this applies to your race? You're running in a competitive primary. You're one of three candidates in that race. Why are you a better choice than the other two?
- [41:52]
B
Yeah, look, I'm not somebody who dreamed of being a US Senator. I wanted to be a doctor. And at some point, you get curious about why people get sick in the first place, and you start to think upstream. The kind of air that they breathe, the water they drink, the schools that they go to, the communities that they live in, the food that they have access to, whether or not they can walk in and see a doctor. And that's what got me into politics in the first place. I understood from the first time I ran back in 2018 that the impact of corporations buying and selling politicians to do their bidding rather than ours was the problem. I'm the only candidate in my race who's never touched a dime of corporate money. I'm also the only candidate who's running on Medicare for All, in fact, wrote the book on Medicare for All. So I'm running the kind of campaign where I am painting a vision of what we want for that future. And I'll tell you this, there was a poll that just came out today showed I'm within the margin of error of Mike Rogers. And let's be clear, it was a Republican poll. And anything that we're learning from this last election is that whatever they think about where Mike Rogers may be, Michigan is going to go a lot bluer than that. But what it also showed is that I'm performing better among independents and Republicans. And you might think that a guy named Abdul in a state like Michigan might not be able to go and compete for those kinds of votes. And what we're showing is that if you are willing to talk about, about why folks cannot afford their health care, why their hospitals in rural and suburban areas are shutting down, why groceries are so expensive, that you can actually start to attract folks around that vision, and that's exactly what we're doing in this race. And this is what this election moment needs, and that's what we're offering.
- [43:17]
A
Well, I think a lot of people out there are very excited about politics right now, or they should be because Democrats are winning in a lot of places right now, are coming very close. Jalil said, thank you so much for joining me.
- [43:27]
E
Thanks for having me.
- [43:28]
A
Okay, we've taken a very quick break.
- [43:29]
D
This is.
- [43:30]
A
There's so much going on tonight. Lawrence has Senator Adam Schiff standing by. And we'll be right back. Okay, that does it for me tonight. With stays under $250 a night, Vrbo makes it easy to celebrate sweater weather. You could book a cabin, stay with leaf views for days. Or a brownstone in a city where festivals are just a walk away away. Or a lakeside home with a fire pit for cozy nights with friends. Or if you're not a sweater person, we can call it corduroy weather, more flexible. And with stays under $250 a night, you can book a home that suits your exact needs. Book now at verbo. Com.