← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
How to Lose a Country in 100 Days: Trump's Weak Poll Numbers
00:41:16
Jen Psaki reflects on the tumultuous and chaotic first 100 days of Donald Trump’s presidency, as the country faces so many crises of his own making. Senator Adam Schiff returns to discuss the recent polling showing low approval ratings on nearly every issue, from the economy to the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case. They later discuss the Acting US Attorney for Washington DC, Ed Martin, who is awaiting senate confirmation and what Democrats like Schiff are doing to slow the process down. Representative Brittany Petterson joins Jen to analyze the hypocritical policy proposals the White House is considering to incentivize women to have more kids. And finally, Jen previews her new primetime show, “The Briefing with Jen Psaki,” which premieres on May 6th.
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- [00:00]
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- [01:01]
Host 1
Okay, this week we will hit the 100 day mark of Donald Trump's presidency. If you can't believe how quickly time has flown by, that's not at all how I feel. But if that's how you feel, don't worry everyone. There are only 1,361 days to go of this journey. Now. The first 100 days, though, is often the high watermark of a presidency. You're fresh off a political win. You have momentum. You can finally try to implement the plans you talked about on the campaign trail. You're still in a sort of honeymoon phase of your presidency. For most presidents, it's a time when the American people are most willing to extend some definitive the doubt of what you're going to do. But as we approach the end of Trump's first hundred days, it seems he was pretty quick to squander whatever goodwill he came in with. And that's not just me saying, I mean poll after poll after poll, and I literally mean there's so many of them, is making that all perfectly clear. There was a new NBC News poll out just this morning that shows Trump's favorability is at just 45%. Now, Fox News poll put his approval a point lower at 44%, which, by the way, is the lowest rating that Fox has ever measured for any president at this point in their term. And those weren't even the worst numbers Trump saw this week. A Washington Post ABC News poll showed his approval rating at just 39%. And then there are the numbers on the specific issues. And this is where I think it gets very interesting. Like these from the New York Times. Trump's underwater by 4 points on immigration, an issue that typically had been his strength. He's underwater by 8 points on managing the federal government, underwater by 11 points on trade, by 12 points on the economy by 14 points on foreign conflicts, underwater by 21 points on his handling of the war between Russia and Ukraine. And he's underwater by 21 points on his handling of the case involving Kilmaro Brega Garcia. And I think what we're seeing here very clearly is just how badly Donald Trump overplayed his hand. Part of the reason he overplayed his hand is because of his completely warped view of what the outcome in November meant. When you might remember. In the weeks and months following the election, Donald Trump and his allies claimed he had a historic mandate to basically do whatever he wanted.
- [03:18]
Donald Trump
America has given us an unprecedented, powerful mandate. They're just upset, they're desperate, they're humiliated, they're embarrassed.
- [03:29]
Host 1
But Donald Trump has a mandate. The president elect, clearly buoyed by his.
- [03:33]
Donald Trump
Victory, telling me in our conversation today.
- [03:35]
Host 1
That he believes he has a, quote, mandate.
- [03:37]
Donald Trump
Donald Trump has a mandate. He has the greatest presidential mandate probably.
- [03:42]
Host 1
Since Reagan in 1984.
- [03:44]
Donald Trump
The presidential election of November 5th was a mandate like has not been seen in many decades.
- [03:54]
Host 1
No. No matter how many times he or people around him say it, he didn't even win a majority of the vote. And that is just a fact. And yet Donald Trump thought he had a mandate to start a trade war, thought he had a mandate to pick people like Pete Hegseth for his cabinet to oversee the Defense Department. He thought he had managed to effectively kidnap legal residents and ship them off to foreign prisons, but he never did. And now in poll after poll after poll, the American people are basically telling the president that they are not okay with any of this. I mean, in that New York Times poll that I mentioned, by a wide margin, voters think Trump has simply gone too far. 66% of voters across the country, two thirds of the electorate, describe Trump's first term in office for this first this hundred days as chaotic. And 59% described it as scary. So, too far. Chaotic, scary. Not the words you want, your first hundred days, by the way, but it all sounds kind of right. It's not hard to see why the public feels that way either, especially since the country is now facing so many crises of Trump's own making. I mean, just consider his delusional trade policy. Trump promised that punishing tariffs would force countries like China to negotiate better deals, and yet China was basically called his bluff. In an interview with Time magazine this week, Trump claimed that his administration was in talks with China, even saying that President Xi had called him personally, but in a pretty embarrassing twist, to be honest, China said that actually, no, negotiators have not. Those haven't taken place, and no talks are underway. They effectively suggested that Trump was misleading the public. So it seems pretty clear Trump has gotten the results. He hasn't gotten the results he was hoping for. And that may explain why he was so vague late this week when he was pressed for more details on all of it. Mr. President, you said that you have spoken to President Xi. When did that happen? China says it hasn't happened.
- [05:53]
Donald Trump
I spoke to him numerous times.
- [05:55]
Host 1
You said you spoke with President Xi. Have you spoken to him since the tariffs? When did you last.
- [06:00]
Donald Trump
I don't want to. I don't want to comment on that, but I've spoken to him many times. Time magazine that President Xi called you. When did that happen and what did you. I'll let you know at the appropriate time. Let's see if we can make a deal.
- [06:14]
Host 1
I mean, it's all a little awkward to watch, but it's also not a one off. I mean, it's the latest in a series of reality checks for this administration when it comes to their on again, off again tariffs. That also includes warnings from senior executives from Target and Walmart and other large American retailers that consumers would see price surges and empty shelves for some imported goods within a few weeks. So given the economic uncertainty that Trump is seemingly single handedly creating, it's no surprise most Americans think he has gone too far. But the chaos is, of course, again, it's a feature, it's not a bug, it's not a one off. I mean, just consider the dysfunction at the Pentagon, thanks to, of course, Trump's hand picked Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth. We already know Hegseth showed a complete lack of judgment when he shared the plans for a pending military strike on on the commercial messaging app Signal. But now, new reporting this week reveals that he created even more security vulnerabilities. The Associated Press reported that Hegseth had a personal Internet connection installed in his office so that he could bypass the Pentagon's security protections to use Signal on his personal computer. The New York Times also revealed that Hegseth's personal phone number, the same one that he used for all those Signal chats, was publicly available on the Internet. I mean, it's pretty clear that this storyline isn't exactly getting any better for Hegseth. But it's also about the way he's handled himself since all this news came to light. Two officials familiar with the situation. Tell NBC News. Hegseth's behavior has become erratic and he seems increasingly insecure about his job and standing in the administration, leading him to frequently reinforce to staff that he can't allow himself to be fired. Based on how he defended himself earlier this week in a visit to his old stomping grounds at Fox and Friends, erratic seems, well, fairly accurate.
- [08:04]
Donald Trump
I look at war plans every single day. What was shared over signal then and now, however you characterize it, was informal, unclassified coordinations for media coordination and other things. When you dismiss people who you believe are leaking classified information. And again, why would it surprise anybody, Brian, if those very same people keep leaking to the very same reporters whatever information they think they can have to try to sabotage the agenda of the president or the secretary. So once a leaker, always a leaker. Often a leaker. Disgruntled former employees are peddling things to try to save their ass. We haven't backed down. See, here's the thing. A lot of people come to Washington and they just play the game and you'd punch their ticket and get along to go along and, you know, start doing Meet the Press and going to the Council on Foreign Relations and spending time with all the new cocktail sipping crowd. That's not why I'm here. I'm here because President Trump asked me to bring war fighting back to the Pentagon every single day. That is our focus.
- [09:08]
Host 1
He often thinks when he talks louder that people are going to listen to him more. I've noticed this is a trend, but I mean, that's the kind of unhinged and accusatory behavior that's not just a bad look for the secretary of Defense. It obviously is. It's also a distraction from the work he should be doing. The Pentagon does a lot. And it's a disservice, of course, to the men and women who serve. They deserve steady leadership at the Pentagon. So given all the disarray at the Department of Defense, is it, I mean, really any wonder that a majority of Americans view this administration as being chaotic? It seems chaotic. He seemed chaotic in that interview. So this administration is in some deep holes right now, obviously across the government. When Donald Trump is in a hole, his instinct is often to keep digging. When it seems like he's pushed too far, he will almost always try to push things even farther. And that's exactly what we're seeing right now on Donald Trump's signature issue, immigration. Sure. Lots of Americans voted for this guy. Some, many did because they thought he would secure the border but what we've seen is something entirely different. Instead, we've seen his administration mistakenly ship a Maryland man with protected status to El Salvador and then refuse to bring him back. Instead, we're hearing Trump muse aloud about shipping American citizens to foreign prisons. Instead, we're seeing headlines about a Trump appointed judge saying a two year old American citizen was just deported with no meaningful due process. Instead, we're seeing headlines about a judge being arrested for allegedly obstructing immigration agents. The bad news is he's trying a lot of scuff. That is scary. And he is. The bad news is there is incompetence and chaos across the federal government. I mean, clearly. But as we approach the end of this first hundred days, the good news is the American people seem to be paying attention to what's happening and they do not seem to like what they see. I wonder why. Senator Adam Schiff is standing by here in studio and he's going to join me to talk about all of it in just 90 seconds.
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- [12:37]
Host 1
Here with me now, as promised, is Senator Adam Schiff of California. Senator, it's good to see you. There's quite a bit going on right now, so I want to talk to you about all of it. I just want to start with the polls, because they're pretty consistent and Trump is underwater on a number of issues. My theory I just talked through this is that part of that is his misread of what he called a mandate and just this massive overreach in a number of areas. But how do you see it?
- [13:02]
Advertiser 2
I think that's exactly right. He's claiming that he had this huge mandate, which of course he didn't have. But more than that, they keep saying that he's just following through on his promises, but in fact, he's not. His main promise was he was going to improve the economy, he was going to bring prices down. Of course, everything he has done has been contradictory to that. The tariff wars have just driven inflationary pressures even higher. American families are struggling even more. So, really, the central promise he has reneged on, and now he's doing all these other things that he never promised during the campaign. In fact, to the degree that they were written about during the campaign in Project 2025, he tried to run away and disavow them. So he doesn't have a mandate to do what he's doing. And I think it's reflected in the already enormous voter dissatisfaction in his first hundred days.
- [13:53]
Host 1
Yeah, no, I mean, people are just starting to feel the tariffs. They're going to feel them a lot more, which I imagine is going to be worse for him. We'll see what he does. One of the numbers, or some of the sets of numbers that were very interesting to me were around immigration. And one of the ones that stuck out to me was the approval rating for his handling of the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, which is very interesting because a lot of people, I feel like there was some commentary saying we shouldn't talk about it or it shouldn't be front and center, but only 31% of people have approved of his handling of that, which is, I think, very telling. What's interesting, though, about him, and I mentioned this, too, though, is that when things like that are clear in the polling, he still goes a step farther. I mean, he arrested a judge, Judge Hannah Duggan in Milwaukee this week. He had arrested a former judge in New Mexico this week in it feels a little Bit like he's still escalating on the immigration front even when the polling is telling you something different. But what are you seeing about his actions out there?
- [14:49]
Advertiser 2
Yeah, I was struck by that in the polling too. There were a couple of things that leapt out at me. One was just how poor his numbers were in the handling of that case. Because you're right, there were some saying this is a distraction, we shouldn't go there. But this is to me the tip of the spear in terms of his violation of the rule of law, basically ignoring a court order to facilitate the return of El Grego Garcia, Kilmar Goberrego Garcia, who was by their own admission, deported in error. And so the fact that his numbers are so terrible on that means, you know, the public is understanding the case, finds it important, doesn't agree with what the President is doing in that case, I think, and others, including now we're learning about him deporting or the Administration Deporting a 4 year old with stage 4 cancer without giving the family a chance to keep that kid here. US Citizen get the necessary treatment. The other number that really stood out to me though was by a 2 to 1 margin, 50 to 21 people think that he has made their economic circumstances worse rather than better. Those are really damning numbers. But even more broadly on immigration, what concerns me gravely because now they're using courthouses as a fulcrum for immigration policy. They're using the IRS to enforce immigration policy. They're taking people's appointments with immigration to turn around and deport them. Even when people go to get their citizenship, take their citizenship oath, what that's going to mean is fewer undocumented people willing to go to court. And most of the time when undocumented people go to court, they're not the defendant, they're the victim or they're the witness. So they're not going to participate in the justice system. Why file your taxes if they're going to use your taxes against you to deport you? So it's going to mean a lot of people aren't going to be paying their taxes that would normally be paying taxes. People aren't going to show up for their immigration appointments because they'll fear they're going to be used to just grab them instead of whatever process they're in. So it's going to mean millions of people going deeper into the shadows, which is not in the interest of law enforcement or tax collection or society. So in the bigger picture, I think it's a real mistake.
- [17:23]
Host 1
I've never thought about it exactly that way. It's interesting how it deters people from participating in aspects of the system. Paying taxes and again, going to courts when. When they need to be defended themselves. The arrest of the judge in Wisconsin, again, not isolated, felt jarring. I know that we should be jarred by too many things these days. Do you think, I mean, you've done the studying of Donald Trump for a long time. Is that to scare people, to deter judges from doing what their job is? What do you think the motivation is behind that?
- [17:57]
Advertiser 2
I think it is. You know, in a normal, rational world, you would have immigration authorities work with a courthouse and decide, okay, how do we work together or how do we at least not interfere with what each other are doing? You wouldn't have the kind of confrontation and arrest that we saw. But the administration relishes this. They relish the opportunity to go after judges. They relish the opportunity to try to intimidate and shock people. They talk, you know, just gleefully about impeaching judges they disagree with. So it is part of a broader assault on the rule of law, a broader effort to intimidate. They're intimidating the universities, they're intimidating the law firms, they're intimidating corporations, forcing them to come hat in hand begging for exemptions from tariffs. And now they're trying to intimidate the judiciary as well.
- [18:49]
Host 1
No question. I want to ask you, I mean, you were the lead impeachment manager, of course, as we all know, for Trump's first impeachment trial, we all followed it very closely. You were on the January 6th committee. I know this is maybe not your favorite topic, but one of your colleagues, Senator Jon Ossoff, said at a town hall that Donald Trump should be impeached, basically saying his conduct this term has, quote, already exceeded any prior standard for impeachment. I mean, you know, the legal justification, obviously, a lot of what he's done is horrific. But what do you think? Has it exceeded that far?
- [19:20]
Advertiser 2
Well, I really think we should not be talking about impeachment. We should keep our sole focus on protecting our institutions, the rule of law, and winning the midterms. What we should be really trying to do is not just make the case against Donald Trump right now in terms of the midterms and retaking the House and Senate, but also making the case for ourselves. I don't think it's enough, even though he's doing this terrible job, to rely on presidential self destruction. The thing that poll did not indicate is what are the Democrats numbers?
- [19:55]
Host 1
Yes.
- [19:55]
Advertiser 2
And so I think we need to be focused on our own numbers as well and making the case for how we would be better stewards of the economy, how we would not engage in this reckless tariff policy. You know, seeing today the treasury secretary say their tariff strategy is strategic uncertainty. What the hell is that?
- [20:15]
Host 1
What is that? I don't know.
- [20:17]
Advertiser 2
With tariffs, you want to be certain, you want to have some certainty, some predictability. Uncertainty is the worst. But I would love to see Democrats out there advancing our own big ideas. For me, it would be a housing boom. I'd love to see in the same way Eisenhower built highways and roadways, the Democratic Party be the party of building housing, massive new amounts of housing to bring housing costs down and address homelessness and expand Medicare. Ideas like this, that I think we need to be out there raising our own profile and positives with the public.
- [20:55]
Host 1
I think a lot of people are happy to hear that. And that's one of the issues that probably hasn't gotten enough attention. We're going to take a very quick break. Senator Adam Schiff is sticking around. I do have to ask you about one of the most dangerous people in Trump world who lots of people have never heard of. Some people have heard of him. You know a lot about him. I think you know who I'm talking about. We'll do that when we come back after the break.
- [21:16]
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- [22:18]
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- [22:54]
Host 1
So there are 93 U.S. attorney offices across the country, and they are all important, but one of the most important is the U.S. attorney's office here in Washington, D.C. and right now, that very important office is occupied by Donald Trump's handpicked guy named Ed Martin. He has zero experience as a prosecutor, but he was also a longtime Republican operative and a MAGA true believer. And so, sure, U.S. attorney for Washington, D.C. why not? It's 2025 in the Trump administration, everyone. And when Ed Martin got this job, he got right to work. He demoted a number of lawyers who worked on the January 6 cases to entry level positions. He tried to freeze the bank assets of a Biden administration grant initiative, despite not having evidence of a crime, that of the criminal division in his office decided to resign rather than go along with all this. And just this week, Ed Martin threatened the nonprofit status of Wikipedia, accusing it of propaganda. And those accusations are all pretty rich, I mean, given the recent revelation that from 2016 to 2024, Ed Martin was a frequent guest for actual Russian propaganda channels, RT and Sputnik. But Ed Martin is one of those guys where surprises like that should not be surprising. I mean, in 2020, he helped organize Stop the Steal protests to push Trump's election lies. He was actually in Washington on January 6, and he took this picture, this picture that I'm showing you right outside the Capitol and compared the scene to Mardi Gras. Later, Martin served as a defense attorney and advocate for January 6th defendants. And one of the rioters that he praised was this man. Yes, that guy you can see right there, who photographed himself posing as Adolf Hitler. Timothy Hale Cucinelli, the Justice Department that Martin now works for, said in court documents that this man is an avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer. And yet, just last summer, during an event supporting the January 6th rioters at Trump's Bedminster property, Martin gave him an award and called him an amazing man and an amazing leader. Well, this week, as Martin awaits possible Senate confirmation, he apologized for his association with this guy and claimed he didn't know the full extent of this very problematic history. That is very hard to believe. And now this claim is, of course, being undercut by Martin's own videos and podcasts, which the Washington Post dug up this week. And in some of those videos, Ed Martin says Hale Cucinelli was slurred and smeared by anti Semitism allegations. He even went as far as to call him a friend.
- [25:21]
Advertiser 3
And so Tim Hale is an extraordinary guy.
- [25:24]
Host 1
I've gotten to know him really well.
- [25:25]
Advertiser 3
I'd say we're friends over the last few years, and especially in the last months since he's been out of jail, since he's been out of prison, gotten to see him, see him work, see his writings, all these kinds of things. Extraordinary guy.
- [25:37]
Host 1
Again, I mean, the Justice Department describes the guy Ed Martin was just talking about in that clip there, as an avowed white supremacist and Nazi sympathizer. Ed Martin's interim appointment ends on May 20. He still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, and it's not hard to see why. Senator Adam Schiff has been trying his very best to slow that process down. Senator Adam Schiff is still with me here at the table. I wanted to talk about him because I think there's so much going on right now. There's so many nominations. I know people have heard of him, but you have spent a lot of time helping educate people on him. I just went through some of the things about Ed Martin, but I was saying to you during the break, I couldn't even cover all of it. What did I miss? And why are you so concerned, as a former prosecutor yourself, about someone like him being in this particular position?
- [26:22]
Advertiser 2
I think a lot of people are familiar, of course, with the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, and all the destructive actions of the department. But this guy is in many ways the tip of the spear. He is the acting U.S. attorney, arguably one of the most important U.S. attorney's offices in the country, because in the District of Columbia, he is responsible not just for prosecuting federal crimes, as all US Attorneys are, but also in prosecuting what would normally be state crimes. So he has kind of double duty in this very large U.S. attorney's office. He was picked, like a lot of Trump people are picked, because he was a stop the steal lawyer. So if you are the most aggressive in the big lie, then you are at the very top of Donald Trump's list for a appointment for something. So this guy with no prosecutorial experience, whose only experience is defending other January 6th criminals, is picked to be the top law enforcement officer in the District of Columbia, or at least the top federal prosecutor there. And what characterizes his service? Well, he becomes acting U.S. attorney. He moves to dismiss the case against some of his own January 6 clients. And to represent people on both sides of the same prosecution is a patent violation of all the ethics of the profession. So, not surprisingly, there is a complaint against him with the Bar Association. But he has also tried to use the Justice Department as a cudgel to go after the president's enemies or to threaten prosecution of his pet causes. And so in one case, this environmental fund established by the Inflation Reduction act that funds sustainable energy projects, he doesn't want that money to go out. The administration doesn't want that money to go out. And so he tells a prosecutor in his office, write to the bank that's holding this money and say either they or this fund are under criminal investigation because we don't want those grants to go out as they supposed to by law. And the prosecutor says, I can't do that. There's no evidence to support a criminal investigation. She refuses, she's fired or forced out. And you have this whole course of unethical conduct. You have him shilling for Nazi admirers and white supremacists. You have him lying to the committee, failing to disclose all kinds of appearances on Russian propaganda. So in very many ways, characteristic Trump appointment, dangerous person who should never get confirmed for anything. Dick Durbin is leading the effort in the Judiciary Committee to stop this nomination. I've also put a hold on him, and I hope we can. I think the Republicans on the committee, too, the more they learn about him, the more shocked they are. Whether they'll actually vote that way remains to be seen.
- [29:18]
Host 1
Yeah, that is. I mean, it's an education, as you learn. And for me, too, as you read more and more about individuals like him, putting a hold means you can slow down the process because they will have to go through more steps of the process. I guess it's also, if Republicans are concerned, they can stop it earlier than that. Let me ask you, there was this great political headline, I thought it was great, this piece about you where you said the headline was how Adam Schiff is bringing House vibes to the Senate, which I think I know what that the House is a little scrappier, a little bit more aggressive, typically, than the Senate that the Senate often prides themselves on. We're always going to find ways to work together in a bipartisan manner, and there are ways to do that. Some of your colleagues in the Senate disagree and don't want the House vibes, as they've said, brought to the Senate. What do you make of that and why do you think that, as I read it, a more aggressive approach to opposing Donald Trump as opposed to doing things how they've always been done is important right now.
- [30:13]
Advertiser 2
Well, I like to think that our freshman class, which is largely House members, are bringing the best of the House to the Senate. That is a willingness to fight and fight hard and make the case in no uncertain terms both against this president and the dangerous things he's doing. I don't want to bring the kind of vile performance art that you see of the Marjorie Taylor Greene's and whatever. I don't want to bring that to the Senate. And I also want to preserve the ability to work together with others. My first bill is a bipartisan bill with a Republican from Montana. But our class is determined not to be wallflowers. We're going to be out there fighting to protect our democracy and the rule of law, and we're willing to fight in new and tough ways to make that happen. So in that respect, I think we add a lot of value to the Senate.
- [31:05]
Host 1
Some might call it house vibes. House vibes to the Senate doesn't sound like it's the worst thing. Senator Adam Schiff, thank you so much for being here today. I know we covered the gamut of lots of topics. Thank you for staying longer as well. I really appreciate you talking, taking the time.
- [31:18]
Advertiser 2
My pleasure.
- [31:19]
Host 1
Okay, coming up, more to talk about. Donald Trump and J.D. vance are fielding ideas that would encourage women to have more children. And yes, the whole thing is just a little creepy. I'm going to get into more specifics and explain it all when we take after we take a quick break.
- [31:37]
Advertiser 1
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Advertiser 4
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Advertiser 3
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- [33:13]
Host 1
Okay, so if there is One thing that J.D. vance has been consistent about over the years, it's the completely weird way he talks about women having kids. We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by.
- [33:28]
Donald Trump
A bunch of childless cat ladies.
- [33:30]
Host 1
When you go to the polls in.
- [33:31]
Donald Trump
This country as a parent, you should have more power.
- [33:36]
Host 1
You should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic.
- [33:40]
Donald Trump
Republic than people who don't have kids. We think babies are good, and we think babies are good because we're not sociopaths. So let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America.
- [33:52]
Host 1
I mean, there's a lot of strange stuff, fact in there. Clearly. Now, not to be outdone, here's Donald Trump. Just last month, the women, between the.
- [34:03]
Donald Trump
Fertilization and all of the other things that we're talking about, it's going to be. It's going to be great. I'll be known as the fertilization president. That. That's okay. That's not bad. That's not bad. I've. I've been called. I've been called much worse.
- [34:19]
Host 1
I mean, leave it to Trump to make the word fertilization just sound extremely creepy. Like, ugh. But somehow this has all just gotten even more odd from there. I mean, according to new reporting from the New York Times, the White House is soliciting actual ideas for persuading women to have more children. Now, I love kids. I have two of my own. They're great. I'm a big kid promoter. But I just want to walk through some of these ideas because it is hard to imagine they are designed by anyone who actually understands the challenges facing parents, like reserving 30% of Fulbright scholarships for applicants who are married or have children. Now, I mean, that sounds great, but probably isn't the most practical thing for many families or new parents who just pick up and kind of move abroad and study for a year. Now here's another giving a $5,000 cash baby bonus to every American mother after delivery. Again, sounds nice, but unfortunately that's an incredibly small fraction of what it costs to raise a child. And by the way, the child tax credit, which Congress failed to extend just a few years ago, would be far more helpful, far more consistently to most families. Here's another funding programs that educate women on their menstrual cycles, in part so that they can better understand when they're ovulating and be able to conceive. I mean, consult with your doctor about that, of course. But the government running a program like that honestly sounds like something straight out of the Handmaid's Tale. And here's perhaps my favorite among many good bestowing a quote, National Medal of Motherhood to mothers with six or more children. Okay, as if some sort of strange bureaucratic trophy is just going to push people over the edge to have six kids instead of five kids. They just want the trophy. Now, while the White House mulls over these proposals and others and whatever the status of that is, some members of the administration have already started enacting policies that promote bigger families, like, say, Transportation Secretary John Duffy, who is pledging to prioritize transportation funding in areas with higher than average birth and marriage rates. So I guess if you're single or just decide not to have kids, no trains or buses for you. That's the Duffy approach to all of this. Now, all of this begs kind of an important question. If the administration really wants bigger families so bad they want more kids, then why are they making things so hard to support a family right now? I mean, you're so obsessed with people having more kids, then why would you freeze tens of millions of dollars in family planning funding, which is causing clinics around the country to close? Or why would you try to eliminate funding for Head Start, which would cut early education for more than half a million of our country's neediest children and childcare for their families, too? If you're so wildly pro kid, as they say, then why would you call for government cuts that experts say aren't achievable without hitting Medicaid, which, by the way, covers nearly half of all children and more than 40% of births and ensures one out of three children diagnosed with cancer in the United States? Why would you do that? Or why would you dismantle the Department of education or Title 1 funding if you want to be known as the fertilization president. Ick. By the way, why would you slash fertility and maternal health programs, programs that help people compare IVF clinics and monitor safety and fertility? Why would you do that? As Colorado Congressman Brittany Petterson put it, Trump wants women to have more babies but refuses to enact paid family leave, affordable child care, access to reproductive care or maternal health investments. No, thank you. Women and families deserve better. Congresswoman Petterson is standing by and she joins me live after a quick break. Republicans love to talk about being pro family. I was just talking about this. But when given the choice between policies that actually help families or chasing some of the most bizarre ideas inspired by Project 2025, like handing out national medals of motherhood say it's kind of clear where their priorities lie. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Brittany Petterson of Colorado. It's great to see you, Congresswoman. Thank you so much for joining me. I wanted to, I mean, some of these proposals, it's great to see you. Some of these proposals I just mentioned are almost cartoonish. I don't know how else to describe them. I mean, menstrual cycle education classes, again, discuss it with your doctor. The government running it sounds very creepy to me. Medals for moms with six kids. I mean, it's all a little jarring. But one of the most things I want to do, a positive note here because one of the really remarkable things about your parental proxy voting resolution was how much bipartisan support you attracted. I mean, you worked, you tried to work in a bipartisan way. You made some progress on that. Do Republicans you talk to in the hallways think these proposals are as bizarre as we think they are?
- [39:18]
Congresswoman Brittany Petterson
Well, I look forward to having those conversations next week when we're back. But they are absolutely bizarre. They're out of touch. These proposals are a slap in the face to women. We aren't choosing. So many people aren't choosing to not start a family because they don't know how it works. It's because, you know, child care is unaffordable. They're barely able to get by as it is to provide a roof over their head. So many students are graduating and living in their parents basement because they're unable to actually start building their lives because things are so unaffordable. And the Trump administration is making that even worse. So $5,000 is not going to be an incentive to have a baby. That's, that's barely three months of childcare.
- [40:02]
Host 1
No kidding. I mean, I also mentioned, but I want to ask you what I missed Here. I mean, the child tax credit, which would be something that families can benefit from every year instead of one time, would be a far better choice here. Obviously, funding Head Start, making sure the Department of education and Title 1 funding is supported maternal health clinics. There's so many ways. But what am I missing? You've thought about this a lot. That's front center for you and your colleagues in terms of actually helping people have more kids if they want to have more kids.
- [40:35]
Congresswoman Brittany Petterson
Well, you hit it on all of the policies that we've really failed on in the United States. We are way behind the rest of the world in terms of our support for families. So if we want to make it so that people aren't worried about how they're going to be able to afford having a baby, let's talk about increasing access to child care. That is one of the biggest hits. I mean, right now I'm on the wait list. I don't have child care until this summer. And I'm one of the lucky ones. I'm not in a child care desert, and our family is able to afford it while so many are not. And this is when families are the most vulnerable because it's earlier on in their careers and it's more expensive on average than college tuition. So when you think about that hit early on and they're decimating the funding like you've already talked about, talked about for Head Start. There's places throughout rural Colorado that I just visited where they said they're going to have to close their preschool program if they cut this funding. And they're taking away health care for 40% of pregnant women who rely on Medicaid to fund to support their pregnancies. And the kids that rely on Medicaid for health care, I mean, they are making it more difficult every single day for families instead of actually making it so we feel like we can start families and that we'll be able to support them.
- [41:49]
Host 1
I think some people will be surprised to hear you're on a waiting list. Childcare around here in so many places is really. There are waiting lists everywhere. It's hard to find. You get on waiting lists before you even are pregnant. Let me ask you, you've highlighted the issue of pink tariffs, which refers to tariffs on women's products. And this is an area I think people don't always think about. I mean, as I was reading about this and the coverage of it, women's clothes often have higher tariffs, even underwear. I think it's true. It could cost over $2 billion a year. And you introd legislation called the Pink Tariff Study act to make the Treasury Department investigate how tariffs are driving up costs for women. I mentioned a couple of the areas, but for people who weren't aware of this, I wasn't. What are the areas that women are being affected by specifically as it relates to tariffs?
- [42:39]
Congresswoman Brittany Petterson
So we're paying on average, on all of the supplies that we rely on. As women, we're actually paying more than men, which I was surprised to learn as well. I didn't know that until I was in Congress. So this bill would actually just have them study this and come back with an overall recommendation of kind of what is happening right now, how women are paying more and making sure that we're leveling the playing field. But, you know, not only are we paid less, we work, you know, we're paid significantly less than our male colleagues for doing the same job. We're paying more in the supplies that we need as women. And then we usually take on a significant burden of childcare. And we saw that with the pandemic where two women to every male were dropping out of the workforce because of inadequate access to childcare. Not everyone is as lucky as I am to have a supportive partner. Just want to give my husband a shout out.
- [43:35]
Host 1
Same here. Let me ask you, you mentioned. I know Congress has been out. They're coming back. Time flies or doesn't fly, I guess. And thank you for reminding us all of that. Again, you tried to work in a bipartisan way to get this proxy voting bill passed. You worked with some Republicans. Are there any other areas that you think there is space to potentially do that? And is that something you're thinking about as you come back to Congress?
- [44:04]
Congresswoman Brittany Petterson
Yeah, you know, I think one thing that that's happened over decades that I think is incredibly just negative consequences for Congress and our ability to work together is the consolidation of power with leadership. And what was really exciting about when we worked in a bipartisan way to bypass leadership and Speaker Johnson from shutting us down, is that we were actually willing to come together as members of Congress to say no. The majority of us, the overwhelming majority, think that this is good policy. And if you're not going to bring it to the floor, we're going to force it to a vote. And so I think that the greatest threat that it posed, because only five in the last 25 years have passed, I think that the greatest threat it posed was actually that when we realize our power and we come together and work together, that he. That leadership starts to lose the things that they rely on to hold a grip on their caucus. And so, you know, I look forward to continuing to work across the aisle when I can find common ground, when I talk to people about what's happening at the federal level and some of Trump's priorities and the impacts it's going to have in their communities. They are worried we're seeing today that Trump is now the least popular since modern times, since we've actually began polling with the first hundred days. And so, you know, they're going to have severe consequences in the general election if they're unwilling to stand up and fight right now.
- [45:29]
Host 1
No question about it. We will see. Congresswoman Brittany Patterson, thank you so much. And we'll be right back. Okay. As some of you may know, Starting on Tuesday, May 6, we are moving to 9pm Eastern Time, four nights a week, Tuesday through Friday. I hope you mark your calendars because we have a lot of exciting things we're planning and thinking about. And we really do hope you'll join us for the first episode of the briefing on May 6. But that also means that this is our last Sunday show before that new adventure starts. And I just wanted to take a moment to really thank all of you for watching and sitting down with us with a cup of coffee every Sunday at noon. I also wanted to thank everyone who's made this show possible. I know I'm the one you see out here every Sunday, but I do definitely do not do this by myself. There's an entire team of people whose ideas and writing and technical expertise literally make the show possible. It wouldn't be happening at all without them. There are people who've worked long hours and missed birthday parties and weddings and all sorts of life events to bring you the news and make sense of the week. And they're not only incredibly good at what they do, they definitely are. They're all deeply good human beings and I am so grateful to have been on this journey with them over the last two years on Sunday afternoons. So thank you to all of them and thank you to all of you. We'll see you tomorrow night at 8pm Eastern for one less Monday night show.
- [46:49]
Advertiser 1
Work management platforms. Ugh. Endless onboarding, IT bottlenecks, admin requests. But what if things were different? Monday.com is different. No lengthy onboarding, beautiful reports in minutes, custom workflows you can build on your own, easy to use prompt, free AI. Huh. Turns out you can love a work management platform. Monday.com the first work platform you'll love to use.