← The Briefing with Jen Psaki
The Briefing with Jen Psaki
Trump is losing control of the Senate (even some 'bootlickers')
00:41:26
Donald Trump's avalanche of unpopular ideas and failures has Republican senators livid and turning against him. Even senators who have distinguished themselves as enthusiastic suck-ups to Trump are voicing concerns about Trump's slush fund and the hardships Trump's economy is imposing on the American people.
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- [00:00]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today. Those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs, with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text MSNOW to 511-511-Text MSNOW to 511-51-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [00:31]
Michael
Folks knew the colonel approved of his new honey, Chili crisp and Jalapeno ranch sauces the moment he tasted them and said, that's right. No notes, just absolute silence. Turns out some flavors don't need explaining, they just need dipping. It's saucy season at KFC with new honey, Chili Crisp and Jalapeno Ranch. Get dipping with a boneless bucket today.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Prices and participation vary.
- [01:00]
Michael
Let's start with a very simple, straightforward question for Donald Trump, shall we? Are you losing control of the Senate, Mr. President?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Are you losing control of the Senate, son?
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Michael
Are you losing control of the Senate?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Senate Republican? I don't know. I really don't know.
- [01:21]
Michael
Well, I know. And the answer is yes. Losing. Going. Gone. Donald Trump is absolutely losing control, folks, and the Senate knows it. Literally, at the same moment Trump was answering the question in the Oval Office, his acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche was on Capitol Hill trying to convince Republican senators that Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund is actually a great idea. He even sent along a little one page fact sheet before he got there. And get this, the document included a note saying that Republican senators themselves could apply to receive a little cash. Y' all get a little piece of this too. In other words, Trump and his attorney general seemed to be dangling the idea of a financial payoff for a few senators ahead of that meeting. But despite that little carve out, this slush fund is so politically toxic that even Republicans want nothing to do with it. Multiple news outlets are now reporting that the 90 minute meeting between Blanche and Senate Republicans was a complete disaster. Punchbowl News called it incredibly tense and hostile. CNN called it a Republican revolt, and Semaphore reports that the meeting was described as an absolute shit show by two people briefed on it. And that's saying something. According to Punchbowl, more than 20 Republican senators spoke out against the president's slush fund. So folks, when was the last time you heard 20 Republicans say anything to oppose Donald Trump or what he's done? Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski told Politico that the White House had dropped a bomb on Senate Republicans. Republican Senator Susan Collins told CNN she could not support it. Republican Senator Bill Cassidy said he could not see, quote, any legal precedent for the fund. Republican Senator John Curtis told the Wall Street Journal, I don't like the fund at all. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. Mitch McConnell said in a statement, quote, so the nation's top law enforcement official is asking for a slush fund to pay people who assault cops. Utterly stupid, morally wrong. Take your pick, maga. Senator Johnson had tough words for the President as well, telling cnn, somebody described it as a galactic blunder, and I think that's probably true. And even Trump's number one bootlicker, Senator Lindsey Graham, God bless him, couldn't bring himself to get fully on board. He told Politico, Conceptually, I understand what Trump's trying to do. I don't know. I think we need to ask more questions, end quote. When Lindsey Graham has questions, you've got problems. And then there was this from Republican Senator Tom Tillis.
- [04:19]
Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
I think it's stupid on stilts.
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Michael
Why?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Because it will invariably put us in a position where your taxpayer dollars and my taxpayer dollars could potentially compensate someone who assaulted a police officer, admitted their guilt, got convicted, got pardoned, and now
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Political Commentator / Ad Voice
we're going to pay them for that.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
That's absurd. The American people are going to reject this out of hand. When you take money from me to give to a purpose that I vehemently disagree with, that's tyranny.
- [04:53]
Michael
Well, I guess we finally reached the point where a sitting Senate Republican is ready to call this tyranny. Better late than never, I guess. And look, we don't know exactly what Todd Blanche said to those senators to make them so upset about all of this, but what we do know is that when he talks about the whole thing publicly, it's not that very convincing. Would you be okay with people who were convicted of hurting police getting taxpayer money? Just to be clear, people that hurt
- [05:27]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
police get money all the time.
- [05:29]
Michael
Wouldn't the average taxpay respond and say, okay, but why is that? Now my problem?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Why do my tax dollars now need
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Roe Weight Loss Medication Announcer
to go to people who are upset
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Michael
about their involvement in investigations?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
I do not think the American people have issues with that. To the contrary, I think they do want their tax dollars spent on things like that.
- [05:49]
Michael
People who've hurt police get money all the time. Taxpayers want their money to be spent on this. No wonder Senate Republicans left the meeting so pissed off. This whole thing was so bad that Republicans actually canceled the vote for their big funding bill and skipped town, which means no funding, at least for now, for Trump's ICE agents or for his big beautiful ballroom. And Donald Trump has no one to blame but Donald Trump. Joining me now is Senator Richard Blumenthal. He's a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Senator, so stupid on stilts. Utterly stupid. I love the fact that they are using stupid because I use that a lot to describe what they're doing over there. Morally wrong. What the heck happened in the Senate today.
- [06:43]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
Stupid, but also sick because after all, some of this money was going to go to the insurrectionists who assaulted and contributed to the deaths of Capitol Police, defending the transfer of power peacefully and the vote. And also two potential child molesters, six of them who were pardoned after they had been convicted of assaulting the Capitol. And let's be real, Michael, there wasn't some resurgence of moral conviction here. Republicans felt and knew they were going to have to vote on amendments like I offered yesterday in the Homeland Security Committee, which would have barred those kind of payments to police assaulters and child molesters and to members of the Senate who also could have applied under the document that blanch submitted to the Senate majority. So there is no putting lipstick on this pig. There's no way that guardrails or other kind of safeguards can be imposed here. And they knew they were going to be held accountable. And that is one of the main reasons, if not the reason they revolted as they did, because tonight, literally, as you and I are speaking here, they would have been voting on those amendments as part of a reconciliation bill that was necessary because Donald Trump was insisting on that additional money for ice and we opposed it without reforms that we are insisting is necessary. And that's why they had to resort to reconciliation.
- [08:35]
Michael
So, Senator, you know, we all know this. This pig is ugly enough. And there's no amount of lipstick that's going to make it look better. We know that. But you need to help me square something here because as we just let in here in this conversation, Senate Republicans took the backstroke away from this. And their words have said a lot about what they think, or at least what they want to project to the American people. But you just made the point where you offered an amendment this week that would specifically prohibit payouts for riders who were convicted of assaulting law enforcement. And yet these self same senators, sir, rejected that amendment. So help us understand how these two things go together, because you don't get to reject that amendment yesterday and today go in front of a bunch of cameras and tell people how angry you are and how morally reprehensible this grab, this grift from this administration is.
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Senator Richard Blumenthal
Well, what they did, Michael, was to resort to a procedural gimmick where they said my amendment was out of order on the bill because it hadn't been approved by the Senate Budget Committee. They couldn't have resorted to that political gimmick on the floor tonight. But they will have to figure out some other kind of gimmick. We're going to continue to fight, and they're going to continue to. To have to somehow evade or avoid a vote on a thug fund, which is not only embarrassing and politically toxic, but think of it for a moment. What this slut fund would do is reward people who committed political violence. It's the violence that makes it so dark and. And dangerous as an incentive for future violence. And so the kind of absolutely morally repugnant aspect of it is also topped by a very, very perilous course of rewarding and incentive violence.
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Michael
You know, Senator, you know, Trump in this town, everybody knows it's no secret he's. He's really good at inflating his ego and his sense of righteousness and how right he and all that. But I get the feeling with this attempt by both he and Blanch today, trying to pull a Hail Mary here by sending this letter to GOP senators ahead of time saying that they could potentially apply for the funds themselves. Y' all get a little piece of the grift if you play the game the right way. Do you think that made the fund more appealing to any of your colleagues or less?
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Senator Richard Blumenthal
I think it made it embarrassing. You know, they had rewarded themselves in a prior bill in the sense of making funds available and giving themselves the right to sue, and it became an issue embarrassing to them. But I think that Trump may have taken the Republicans in the Senate a ballroom too far. The ballroom itself was absolutely abhorrent to them because it's so deeply unpopular and they didn't want to vote on it. And behind the scenes, I will tell you, a number of my Republican colleagues told me they were absolutely delighted that the parliamentarian declared that it couldn't be part of the reconciliation package, and now Trump was forcing them to vote on something that would actually potentially doom them this November. And again, I talked to Republican colleagues who said that there was just no way they were going to vote for it, even before Blanche came to talk to them. So you and I have been talking over these years about whether Republicans would finally stand up and speak out and develop or grow A spine. Well, it seems like this kind of vote, putting them on the spot, demanding accountability, may have finally caused them to break with the president, at least on these reconciliation issues where they have to vote on a Thug Fund that has no standards, gives the president complete power over a commission which can dish out this money to political allies and friends of the president.
- [13:18]
Michael
So I was going to say, Senator, I love the Thug fund thing. I think that that's got a little bit of a ring to it. But it also talks, you know, gets us to the point where we realize Republicans failed to deliver on the ballroom funding. Four Republicans voted to advance a war powers resolution to end his war of choice in Iran. There's also the issue of Republicans who he primaried and now have nothing to lo. And this is what I'm gonna be looking for. How does a Cassidy or a Massie in the House and others who feel a little bit more free take advantage of the disarray in the Republican caucus right now to advance saner policies or move away from stupid or do you just see this getting worse?
- [14:14]
Senator Richard Blumenthal
I think there is a real opening here for, dare I say, statesmanship, for profiles and courage using the S word.
- [14:22]
Michael
Oh,
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Senator Richard Blumenthal
and I am hopeful that after they have been liberated, albeit by defeat at the primaries and the possibility of some kind of closing argument here for retiring senators, whether it's Tillis or Cassidy or others, I think there's a real possibility for conscience to be demonstrated. And I know we've said it again and again and again, but now is the time. And there are other remedies too. The possibility of legislation like these amendments that we're offering, the possibility even of clawing back some of this money into, if there is a Democratic administration, the possibility that one or both houses of Congress, in the event that we take control over them, could bring a lawsuit to stop it. These kinds of possible avenues of remedy and redress are there apart from what Republican colleagues do. But there is also the opening for a real conscience driven action.
- [15:40]
Michael
Senator Richard Blumenthal. I'm liking all of that, Senator. I think all of that's on the list. Thank you as always for being with us, folks. Coming up, how do we actually stop the rampant corruption we're seeing from this administration? Well, our friend Andrew Weissman has a few ideas and he joins me here at the table. When we come back.
- [16:06]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years, that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms, but progress isn't guaranteed. Today. Those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom From Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs with we the people. Visit FFRF US MSNOW or text MSNOW to 511511. Text Ms. Now to 511511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [16:35]
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- [17:06]
Tax Relief Advocates Announcer
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- [18:14]
Michael
So I kind of imagine that one of the most enjoyable things about serving in Donald Trump's Justice Department is that once you've sold your soul to enact the President's will, you then have to go out there and defend yourself. We already told you about how Todd Blanche blew it with Senate Republicans today. But take a look at how the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York tried to apply lipstick, remember that lipstick, to this slush fund pig.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
I don't think we're going to be talking about this issue in a week because the American people are going to
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Mark McKinnon
say, look, they leaked his tax returns.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
They tried to name and shame him.
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Mark McKinnon
They tried to destroy him.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Okay, we resolved that
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Michael
it may be just me. I don't think that's going to age. Well, you let me know what you think. Given that some very unsavory MAGA allies are already lining up to submit their claims to get some of that cash, including, as expected, those criminally charged for January 6th. Yeah, I don't think so. Individuals who were sentenced for invading the Capitol, for example, who pled guilty to assaulting police officers, you know who they are. Who are found guilty of seditious conspiracy and who helped Trump push his election lies and overturned the 2020 election. I don't think it's going to go away, folks. Heck, even disgraced former Congressman Jorge Santos wants in on the action. And some of the potential claims being talked about well, don't even appear to fit even the extremely broad criteria in this settlement. J.D. vance, name checked Tina Peters as someone deserving money. She's the county clerk who's in jail for her role in an election security breach. But she was convicted on state charges in Colorado, not federal charges. There's also the right wing outlet One America News, which reportedly looking to recoup some money after settling defamation lawsuits related to false claims about the 2020 election. But those were civil lawsuits that had nothing to do with federal government. Who's going to tell them no? Donald Trump? Who's actually going to decide which people deserve the cash and who don't? Well, we just learned that one of those people might be a close ally of Ed Martin, the current U.S. pardon attorney and former defense lawyer and advocate for January 6th rioters. And we all know Trump is probably going to call the shots himself. That's the bottom line. Look, the slush fund is looking more like the scheme critics warned it would be. You know it and I know, but it's also facing stiff resistance. Trump and his Justice Department will not only need to fight through Congress, but also through the courts to implement. So helping us unpack all of this, and I'm so excited to have him here, is Andrew Weissman. He's the former general counsel at the FBI and he's the author of the new book Liars how to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America. Welcome. Congratulations.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Thank you.
- [21:30]
Michael
The book is right here. I love it. There it is. It's all good. Yes, There it is. Congrats on that. Good to have you here, man. So I really, I'm going to need some help here because the one thing about this case, unlike a lot of others, is the gnarly thing called standing. Who actually has the ability to go into a court and have the legal standing to have a judge not kick it out.
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Senator Richard Blumenthal
Right.
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Michael
Et cetera.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
So this is a real problem in our law. In my view, every single taxpayer is being robbed. This is total theft. And let's just take one step back. It's not how the fund is being allocated that's already a problem. But let's go one step back. This money belongs to taxpayers. This is not a settlement agreement. This case should never, ever have been brought.
- [22:32]
Michael
Can you clarify what a settlement agreement is versus what this is?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Yes. So a settlement agreement is when you have two parties who are adverse to each other and they have different views, and the parties get together and they say, okay, you know, you have an argument, I have an argument, and you sort of work out what the agreement should be. Donald Trump, as he himself said, is on both sides of this. He is settling with himself. It is just. This is basically just saying, see, I'd like to go into the treasury, the coffers of the United States government of taxpayer money, and I think I'll take a billion. No, no, I'll take 2 billion. No, no, no, let's make it 1.776. That sounds good. I'll just take it. The lawsuit was a fig leaf. And you know how we know that this lawsuit was brought after the time limit when a claim had to be made within two years, this was made after that. So you know what the amount of money is that he was owed if this actually was adjudicated was zero. Zero. So I don't do math in public. Zero. Less than 1.776 billion.
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Mark McKinnon
Yeah.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
So you already have a problem in just. I understand why people are concerned about how the money would be spent, but I really think it's important for people to focus on this. Money should never be used at all in the first place.
- [23:56]
Michael
So to that point, then let's say all the stupid happens, right? And we get to the point where Trump does this thing, November happens, Democrats take the House, do they then have the ability to come?
- [24:12]
Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Yes. So this is the problem in this country. Even though every taxpayer now would be hurt, in my view, and would should be able to complain about it, because they can say, wait a second, my money is being used and I think it's theft, and I want to prove it. There's no such thing in this country as taxpayers standing. They don't want to open the doors. And there's floodgates to everyone saying, well, I just don't like how my money is being used. And the same way if there's election fraud or what I write about somebody lying to you about ballots, they don't want to say. Every voter can complain about that, but it's a reason to vote. Because Congress can do something now. And as you know, they may, they may not. But if the Democrats are in control, or the Democrats or with enough people of conscience who are Republicans or independents, they can both bring a lawsuit. And then, because you know who has the power of the purse, Congress, they can put an end to this. So they can just say, no way. You don't even get the money. We're going to ban that. Congress has so many levers of power, and they're not.
- [25:21]
Michael
Here's the part that I think irks so many Americans more so now than it may have a year ago or two years, certainly during the Biden administration, where the only thing they seem to be fixated on was the price of eggs. Now they're fixated on more than the eggs. It's everything else that's come together is this overwhelming sense that the real weaponization of our government has been against the. When you look at the countless number of citizens who've been caught up in this, you were actually named in an executive order that Trump signed last March targeting a law firm that you worked for. That sounded like weaponization of government against you. Yes.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
What do you think the chances are
- [26:06]
Michael
you're gonna get a little piece of that something something?
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
So what do you think the chances are that this weaponization fund is gonna be paying out money to me to drown power?
- [26:16]
Michael
That's where I go. That's right. Comey and others ex.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
That, by the way, will be the subject of litigation when they do this, to say viewpoints are what we're going to consider that we're going to say this person was weaponized in that. That will be a subject of litigation if this goes forward, I'd like to see this stopped in the nipped in the bud, because this is really creating an army of people who are told, you have no criminal liability because we pardoned you and we're now going to reward you. Not only do you get out of jail, but we're going to pay you. And this is completely outside of the Justice Department. I mean, this is all sort of happening just with Donald Trump saying, I am going to decide who goes into jail, who goes out of jail, and I'm gonna decide how much money they get, even though they've committed criminal acts.
- [27:08]
Michael
So before I let you go, I got you and the book at the table, which I mean, so in the book you write about the problem of politicians ability to knowing lie to voters and someone who is a recovering politician, I've always found that to be the most offensive part when I saw my fellow politicians out there doing that. But you talk about that this new thing, it's not a new thing but seems to be an enhanced thing that a lot more politicians think they can just lie to voters and get away with it. Talk about some of the solutions you're coming up with.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
So here's a really simple way to understand this truth in advertising. It's like we, we require truth in advertising when you buy a prescription. We require it when you go testify before Congress, the leaders of Enron, who I helped prosecute. If you lie about the stock price in Enron and you say it's a really healthy company and you know it's not, you can go to jail for that. You can be sued for that.
- [28:13]
Michael
Trouble for, you know, talking about how much more stuff was than it was,
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
you know, you know how he got in trouble for something that was proved to be false was when Eugene Carroll sued him twice and won in defamation laws. Just like Rudy Giuliani, same thing. All of those are lies that people can have to go to court. They have to prove it. They have to have the facts. We're not talking about opinions. We're not talking about something that's a mistake. Politicians have been completely exempted from that. And that's what I talk about, which is why there shouldn't be a system where if you can show that somebody intentionally lied, there aren't the same consequences that we impose for everyone else.
- [28:55]
Michael
All right, the book is Liars Kingdom and the author is none other than Andrew Weissman. Thank you my friend being here.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Thank you, Michael.
- [29:02]
Michael
Coming up, Republicans just can't stop throwing haymakers at each other down in Texas. And every time they do, Democrats chance of turning that state blue get just a little bit better. We're going to talk about it when we get back.
- [29:19]
Freedom From Religion Foundation Announcer
America is an idea. For 250 years that idea has helped expand our rights and our freedoms. But progress isn't guaranteed. Today those founding principles are being challenged by efforts to mix religion and government. The Freedom from Religion foundation is working to protect the Constitution and keep power where it belongs with we the people. Visit FFRF.com or text Ms. Now to 511-511-Text Ms. Now to 511-511 and keep state and church separate. Text fees may apply.
- [29:50]
Tax Relief Advocates Announcer
We've all heard those scary IRS radio ads that try to frighten you into calling. But Tax Relief Advocates is different. If you owe the IRS $5,000, $50,000 or even $500,000, TRA has a solution. It doesn't matter if you're in your car or at work or with your kids. No matter where you are, visit tra.com don't lose hope. TRA could reduce or even eliminate what you owe. Their passion is taxes and helping people and businesses fix IRS problems. They have over a thousand five star Google reviews and an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. You no longer need to fear the irs. Generous tax relief programs are available now to give you a fresh start. So don't wait. Simply visit tra.com that's tra.com or call 800-583-6428. Once again, that's 800-583-6428. Tax relief advocates real solutions for real people.
- [30:48]
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- [31:24]
Michael
So if you were to look at Texas Attorney General Kim Paxton's new ad, you would think the Republican primary for Senate in Texas was already over.
- [31:34]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
President Trump has made his choice for Senate. Trump gives his complete and total endorsement
- [31:39]
Michael
to America First Patriot. Ken Paxton riding high on that complete and total endorsement from Trump. Paxton, his campaign and the super PAC that supports him have all come out publicly to say they will no longer run attack ads against Paxton's primary opponent, Senator John Cornyn. Super PAC that supports Paxton has already shifted gears, in fact started attacking the Democratic candidate, James Talarico as if next week's primary runoff, which he still has to go through with Cornyn, has already been decided. And to be honest, given Trump's endorsement and pax's lead in the polls, he's probably right. Senator Cornyn. Ah, Senator Cornyn. He's not going down without a fight. Today a reporter asked Cornyn if he was also going to stop running attack ads in the primary. Well, this is what he said. You know, Judgment Day is coming for
- [32:39]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
Ken Paxton, maybe in more ways than one.
- [32:43]
Michael
But the election on May 26 is the first time he will actually have
- [32:47]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
been held accountable for all of his misdeeds.
- [32:52]
Michael
I'll take that as a no. On Tuesday, Republican voters in Texas will finally put this Cornyn Paxton infighting to an end. But until then, it looks like the fight will still be vicious. And I mean vicious. Check out this ad that Cornyn's team put up just yesterday.
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Political Commentator / Ad Voice
While in office, Ken Paxton's net worth increased by up to 7,000%. How the hell hell is that even possible? Crooked Ken is now worth up to 12 million bucks. He owns 11 homes, claiming three of them as his primary residence. Well, we know Ken Paxton cheats. Just ask the mother of his children.
- [33:38]
Michael
Snap. Tell us how you really feel.
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Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Ooh.
- [33:42]
Michael
Now, the question is, after months of running ads like that, how much damage is all of this infighting in the primaries going to do to Republican chances in November? Well, to help us kind of sort through all the crazy is Chuck Rocha, senior advisor to James Talarico Senate campaign, and my buddy Mark McKinnon, who I've not seen in a long time, but it's good to see him, former advisor to George W. Bush and John McCain. Folks, we brought the big hats from Texas up in here tonight, so we are ready to rock and roll. Mark, you know, you and I have been in enough battles and primaries and trying to navigate the party into various positions to be successful. How much of all of this prim infighting right now is actually going to stick in November? Will the two sides sort of find reconciliation and turn their ire on Talarico? Or do you sense, like I do, that this may run a little bit deeper than it has in most races?
- [34:41]
Mark McKinnon
Hi, Michael. It's great to see you again. The. The bigger problem here is that either way, if Paxton wins or Cornyn wins after all of this, they will have spent down considerable resources that should be spent in states that should be much closer. Republican Senate rates should not even be close. In Texas, the last Democrat that was elected statewide was Ann Richards, who I worked for in 35 years ago. So, you know, and I. Every. Every cycle, I get people coming to me, folks from the media saying, oh, is this the cycle? Is this the cycle? And I'm the guy that always taps the brakes, but this might be the one. James Talarico is an extraordinary, extraordinarily talented individual. Let's just dial back the clock quickly to 2018. In that Senate race, you had a very talented guy and Beto o' Rourke running against Ted Cruz. And Beto came within two points. So think about that. James Talarico is going to be more popular than Beto was. And I guarantee you that Ken Paxton's gonna be way more unpopular than Ted Cruz was.
- [35:51]
Michael
Yeah, you know, it's interesting, Chuck, Mark makes such a good point about the trend line there. In fact, both in presidential and Senate races, the margins have shrunk between what Republicans get are getting and what Democrats are getting. You now have Ken Paxton turning his full attention to Talarico for. For potentially a reason, because their turnal numbers may be telling them that there's some weakness there for Paxton. He's out there calling Talarico too weird, too weak, too woke. All right, there you go for Texas. So what do you make of that strategy and how do you think, based off of what Mark just said, Talarico is responding or should respond to all of this?
- [36:37]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
Well, first, let's take a step back. Let's think about what you were saying about the Republicans going at each other. Mark's an old politico like I am in the. The first thing that you do when you have opposition in your own primaries, you think of the you go and you ask the public what's their biggest, weakest link. And they've both exposed that for each other. And here's the tacticians part that folks at home forget. They've been running hundreds of millions of dollars worth of advertising on TV and digital that is not just targeted to primary Republican voters. It's going to everybody in Texas. They've already done part of the jobs for every candidate in Texas by saying, guess what we really suck at? And this is a big vulnerability for us on each other without Democrats having to spend a dime that went to a general voting population. So Talarico or any other candidate should be staying focused on their message and delivering results for Texas working families. Because just like Mark, I worked for Ann Richards back in the day too. And back in that day, just like in 2018, thick things cost a lot less than they cost right now. And that's the biggest difference between that election and this election.
- [37:47]
Michael
Mark, obviously Trump's endorsement, it is what it is. It's got cachet among the MAGA community, the faithful there. It's obviously going to help Paxton in next week's primary runoff. But after that, and I think this is important piece here, what does that endorsement do in a general election and how much does it allow for the Cornyn supporters to make nice and do the our thing even though MAGA's just kicked their behind?
- [38:23]
Mark McKinnon
Well, Michael, I mean, this just testifies to how much of a Vanity project. This is for Trump and how. This is about his own ego and about loyalty more than political smarts. Everybody knows, except for Donald Trump, that John Cornyn will be a much better general election candidate it he's out of central casting. You know, he looks like John Connolly, the old Texan from Houston. You know, he's got a bearing of John Wayne. He's perfect. Now, I think that Talarico might have given him a pretty good run, but he's definitely got a. Paxton is just a much, much weaker candidate. So the fact that Trump would endorse somebody who's going to be a weaker candidate in the long run, it's just. It's just everybody in the United States Senator is a Republican. You know this. Michael, they're saying, what are we doing? We have to spend money now in all these other states where we shouldn't, you know, where we need it, where we really need it. And now we have to spend it in Texas.
- [39:21]
Michael
You know, Chuck, I love the way Mark framed that, because Talarico is a little bit out of central casting as well, in that he's a really good fit for Democrats in a state like Texas. He's got that crossover appeal. He's got that, you know, God and country vibe that works very strong and very well in the state. How do you see the Trump factor in this race in the general? And what does it say to you that based off what Mark just said, Talarico could actually cut through in a way that we've not seen since Ann Richards.
- [39:55]
Political Commentator / Ad Voice
Republicans have had total control of Texas for over 31 years. And currently, when we get into summer and it gets too hot, we can't keep the lights on in Corpus Christi. They're running out of drinking water. They are shutting down schools in north and east Texas where I went to school. Texas is turning into a disaster for working families. And I think that's the piece that James Talarico is uniquely qualified to go speak to those concerns. And he ain't 80 years old and been in Congress or in the Senate all of his life. He's a fresh face with new ideas, saying, look, Democrat, Republican, Independent, there's a place for you in this campaign. No, perfect. No party is perfect. But if you speak to folks about the concerns of their everyday lives, why does things cost so much and why am I not making more money? And you can solve a lot of folks problems.
- [40:41]
Michael
Yes, you can. CHUCK Rocca, Mark McKinnon, thank you both. Next time, fellas, I'm bringing my hat so we can do this thing the right way, baby. Let's do it. Thank you both. Coming up, folks, we're going to show you some numbers that Donald Trump, really well, he just doesn't want you to see them. We'll be right back. Here are some numbers that might help explain the Republican revolt we saw today in Congress. A new Fox News poll has Trump's approval rating among Republican voters at 80%. Now, okay, 80 sounds like a big number, but it's an all time low for Donald Trump. 77% of voters in that same poll say the economy is in bad shape. And 71% disapprove of how Trump is handling the economy. And it's no wonder, given the average price of a gallon of gas. Guess What? It hit $4.56. $4.56 today, a new record high since the start of Trump's war with Iran. Joining me now is Pennsylvania Congressman Brendan Boyle. He's the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee. So I suspect, sir, you know a little something, something about numbers and prices in gas. I want to get your thoughts on why you think your Republican colleagues in the Senate, in the House have just basically bolted for Memorial Day. There's like, okay, we out of here. All right. And what does that say to you? Instead of taking the time to vote on a bill that would push back on what Trump is trying to do on immigration enforcement, push back on settling some questions around the economy, all of this.
- [42:34]
Tax Relief Advocates Announcer
That.
- [42:35]
Congressman Brendan Boyle
So just imagine that you are one of the two dozen or so vulnerable House Republicans facing the electorate this fall. You're facing an electorate that gives Donald Trump a rating in the high 20s in terms of his handling of the economy. You're facing an electorate in which the consumer confidence level is the lowest ever recorded for a poll that goes back to 1952. And you're facing an electorate really angry that suddenly gas prices have jumped more than 50% in two months. And what are you going to vote on this week until it was yanked? A bill that spends more on ICE and cbp, starting off at a record level and increasing that more. Nothing for affordability, Nothing to help families afford these rising costs. Oh, yeah. But you are going to also add a billion dollars of taxpayer money for a big ballroom and another, almost $2 billion in a slush fund for common criminals who attack police officers on January 6. You can understand the skittishness of a number of my House Republican colleagues because that is a terrible bill that you would then be voting for and expect to vote for and then face the electorate just Fall.
- [43:51]
Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
Yeah.
- [43:51]
Michael
I don't want to get you in the business of psychoanalyzing your Republican colleagues across the aisle, but. But it does say something, though. You know, how the body works and how the members respond to external stimuli, you know, which means angry voters, frustrated voters, polls that show that they're getting blamed. They can't offload this to the Democrats and say it's your fault. You're the reason why they keep trying, though. Every committee, they bring up Biden for Joe Biden. I mean, brother's done more out of office than he did in office.
- [44:26]
Congressman Brendan Boyle
If it was a drinking game and you, you had to take a drink every time they'll mention Biden, you'd be dead.
- [44:32]
Michael
You'd be dead. So what does this say to you then, as you're looking at this landscape, about the ability for the Democrats to really do some incredibly important things politically with voters in swing states like yours, Pennsylvania, and what we were just talking about with our two high hats in Texas down that way.
- [44:56]
Congressman Brendan Boyle
I definitely don't have one of those hats. As a Philly guy, I'm wearing one of those cowboy hats. Let's take a step back for a second. This is a midterm election. Every midterm election is a choice or, excuse me, is a referendum, not a choice. This is going to be a referendum on a president who, as I mentioned before, has some of the lowest unpopularity ratings. I talked about his rating specifically in the economy. If you just look at his overall rating, we're now at the lowest level since George W. Bush at the height of the Great Recession. That's how unpopular this president is. People are really angry. I just look at the midterm dynamic in almost every midterm election. Something like, I think it's 30 of the last 32 midterm elections. The party in power has lost seats. Then you add to it the historic lack of popularity of this administration and his party. They know what's coming. It is going to be like 2018, a blue wave, but perhaps even greater
- [45:57]
Michael
blue wave. Oh, here we go. It's starting. Just riding that wave, Congressman Brendan Boyle. Thank you so much, my friend. Appreciate it.
- [46:04]
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Thank you.
- [46:05]
Michael
All right, folks, we gotta take a quick break, but Lawrence has Senator Alex Padilla standing by. We're going to get to that. We'll be right back.
- [46:15]
Todd Blanche / U.S. Attorney / Legal Expert
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 America
- [46:25]
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