← The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Ali Velshi: Trump's reaction to Tuesday's crushing election defeat? Basically, 'Let them eat cake'
00:41:34
Tonight on The Last Word: Donald Trump dismisses voters’ cost of living concerns. Also, the House remains out of session on day 38 of the record-setting government shutdown. Plus, the shutdown is pushing more Americans towards food insecurity. And California voters approve of a new redistricting measure. Timothy Snyder, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Sister Simone Campbell, and Erika Jones join Ali Velshi.
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- [00:00]
Ali Velshi
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- [00:21]
Nicole Wallace
Ah, DSW Earth. Place of the humble brag here. The shoes are so good, no one would ever know how little you paid if you didn't go telling everyone that is. And with never ending options for every style, mood and occasion, all at really great prices, they'll definitely give you something to brag about. So go ahead, stock up on fresh sneakers from your favorite brands or try those boots you always secretly knew you could pull off. Find the shoes that get you at prices that get your budget at DSW stores or@dsw.com let us surprise you. The last word with the biggest star on no question from election night from msnbc. At least Ali Velshi is in for Lawrence and that starts right now. Hey Ali, you did such a great job. I love the vest. But more than that, I loved you knew all the numbers. It was like you'd been doing it for years.
- [01:06]
Ali Velshi
It was, well, you know, I'm a data guy, so I actually really enjoy. People were sort of wondering why am I doing that? Jobs like I love this stuff. I love the numbers coming in. And you guys were all there with amazing analysis. And the thing that you kept on saying all night, which, which, you know, continues to blow my mind, is we had like ⅓ or 3/4 of presidential level turnout in California with nobody's name on the ballot.
- [01:28]
Nicole Wallace
Unbelievable.
- [01:29]
Ali Velshi
Not a human.
- [01:30]
Nicole Wallace
Unbelievable. And the massive margins, unbelievable.
- [01:33]
Ali Velshi
What a week indeed. It has been great spending some time with you this week and you have a great weekend.
- [01:37]
Nicole Wallace
You too. You too, Ali.
- [01:39]
Ali Velshi
We got breaking news on SNAP food benefits tonight. Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to give him an administrative stay on a federal judge's order that the administration fully fund Snap food benefits. November now moments ago, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the emergency justice on duty tonight said stayed the order pending a ruling from the appeals court, which Justice Jackson said is expected to be issued, quote, with dispatch. We will have more on Trump's snap attack later in the hour. But as we were just talking about, what a week. It's uniquely a good week for Democrats, but substantially more importantly, it was a great week for democracy and a really Bad Week for Donald Trump it's fair to say after the massive success that the Democratic Party had at the ballot boxes across the country on Tuesday night, a lot has changed. In fact, everything may have changed this week. Democratic momentum is strong and growing heading into next year's midterm elections, and the balance of power in the fight over the government shutdown has seen some tectonic shifts in the last 72 hours, with a renewed defiance from Democrats who are still demanding an extension to Obamacare subsidies to stop huge spikes in health care costs for millions of Americans. What's also remarkable is that after months of hand wringing and punditry about what kind of Democrat is the kind of Democrat to counter Donald Trump, the answer is all of them. If an alien landed on Earth on election night and saw the vastly different winning candidates who certainly have their political differences, they might be surprised to find that these candidates, Gavin Newsom and Abigail Spanberger and Zoran Mamdani and Mikey Sherrill and three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices are all part of the same political party. The lesson for Democrats from Tuesday night is despite those differences, they all have much more to agree about than to disagree about. While they may have different plans and approaches to tackling issues like the high cost of living, a sputtering economy, strengthening democracy and more, they all agree that Donald Trump doesn't have any of the answers. And voters underscored that big time. Tuesday night's election wins for Democrats also followed protests against Donald Trump and his policies that were bigger and more widespread than anything we saw during his first term in office. A recent study by the Ash center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School, taken before the no Kings protests on October 18, before that and published under the headline the Resistance Reaches into Trump country, states this quote in a new analysis. We find that protest events now occur across a wider range of US counties than we have observed since 2017. The share of counties hosting at least one anti Trump protest has risen markedly during his second term, surpassing the historic spikes observed during his first term. And the current protest movement has already reached deeper into Trump country than at almost any point during the first Trump administration. End quote. And given the choices of good candidates with a clear vision and a stark contrast at the ballot box, Tuesday night's election also proves that agency can take precedence over the inevitability that so many Americans have been feeling with Donald Trump back in office. Donald Trump's reaction to this crushing, multi state coast to coast utter and complete repudiation of his Republican Party and his policies was basically let them eat cake. Polls before Tuesday's election results and exit polls on election night showed a huge number of voters are frustrated with prices on basics, groceries, medicine, energy, rent and beyond. In response, Donald Trump keeps lying and saying that prices and inflation are going down and he just doesn't want to hear about it.
- [05:25]
Sister Simone Campbell
I don't want to hear about the.
- [05:26]
Ali Velshi
Affordability because right now we're much less.
- [05:29]
Sister Simone Campbell
We are the victors on affordability.
- [05:31]
Ali Velshi
The biggest thing is inflation. The second biggest thing is energy. Energy is way down. And what's also down? Gasoline. Also the biggest thing is inflation and it's way down. Nope, none of that is true. Absolutely none of it. CNBC reports Inflation edged higher in September amid a jump in gasoline prices and other essentials such as electricity, while President Donald Trump's tariffs put pressure on prices for physical goods such as clothing and furniture, economists said. CNN reports newly released inflation figures show that President Donald Trump was wrong when he repeatedly claimed this month that grocery prices are down or way down. They were up again last month and they've increased since the start of his presidency. Nothing Donald Trump is saying about the economy or the cost of living is true, and voters know that, and voters made Republicans pay the price. In the Atlantic, Derek Thompson writes today, Elected to be an affordability, President Trump has governed as an authoritarian dilettante. He has raised tariffs without the consultation of Congress, openly threatened comedians who make jokes about him, pardoned billionaires who gave him and his family money, arrested people without due process, overseen the unconstitutional obliteration of the federal government workforce, and with the bul bulldozing of the White House East Wing, provided an admirably vivid metaphor for his general approach to governance norms and decorum. The affordability issue, which seemed to be a rocket exploding upward 12 months ago, now looks more like a bomb to which the Republican Party finds itself tightly strapped. A bomb to which the Republican Party finds itself tightly strapped. Democrats are also holding the line as the shutdown drags into its 38th day today, and for good reason. The priority is protecting health care subsidies that without action, will spike costs for millions of Americans. But on the Senate floor today, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer challenged Republicans to end the longest shutdown in American history by supporting a one year extension of health care tax credits. Democrats are offering a very simple compromise. Democrats are ready to clear the way to quickly pass a government funding bill that includes health care affordability. Leader Thune just needs to add a clean one year extension of the ACA tax credits to the CR so that we can immediately address rising health care costs.
- [07:57]
Eric Swalwell
That's not a negotiation.
- [07:59]
Ali Velshi
It's an extension of current law, something we do all the time around here. This is a reasonable offer that reopens the government deals with health care affordability and begins a process of negotiating reforms to the ACA tax credits for the future. Now the ball is in the Republicans court. We need Republicans to just say yes reports quote Schumer's counter offer came after Democrats met privately for hours on Thursday to try and find a path forward that would unify the caucus. It's a shift from the start of the shutdown when Democrats included a permanent extension of the Obamacare subsidies in an alternative to the GOP led continuing resolution CR that passed the House. Now the Senate Majority Leader John Thune dismissed the proposal, calling it a non starter. The New York Times reports, quote after weeks of gridlock, it amounted to a major move by Democrats whose previous proposal for funding the government was tied to a permanent extension of the subsidies and a repeal of a set of deep Medicaid cuts that President Trump signed into law over the summer, among other things. Republicans almost immediately rejected the proposal out of hand. The Mr. Thune said the new offer was a sign of progress but did not bring senators, quote, anywhere close to what we need to do here. What we need to do here. What we need to do here, Senator Thune, is to get poor people and children fed with snap, get planes to fly by paying the people who make sure they can take off and land safely. Republicans could have all that instantly for the price of helping make health insurance a little more affordable for some Americans, including many who are self employed or are small businesses or small business owners or farmers, including a whole lot of Republicans who voted for Donald Trump. This is what the shutdown is about. When you think about all the things these Republicans have just rolled over on for Donald Trump. The Qatar private jet, the cryptocurrency schemes literally tearing down part of the White House. They've chosen to make a stand on denying people a little bit of help in affording health care. And they are doing that now in defiance of the American people who have spoken in protest in polls in and at the ballot box on Tuesday. To quote one victorious Democrat on Tuesday night, it's time to turn the volume up. Leading off our discussion tonight is Timothy Snyder, Chair in Modern European History and a professor of global affairs and Public policy at the University of Toronto in my hometown. He's the author of the New York Times bestsellers on Freedom and On Tyranny Tim, it is great to see you. And it's a vindication of everything you have been saying literally for the last year. Inevitability is not inevitable. You have been saying this from the beginning. Do you are the same people you were before Donald Trump got elected? And on Tuesday, Americans showed us that.
- [10:48]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah, that's. I think that's a great way of putting it. Because the only way that the other side can win is if they have that sense of inevitability. If we're frightened, if we're alone, if we don't do anything. But if we stick to our guns, whether we're the Democratic Party or whether we're the public, if we protest, if we conceptualize clearly, if we say what we want, if we show that we're not afraid, we then we will start to win. Because their project, you know, this double project of both destroying the government and making it more oppressive has all kinds of contradictions, painful contradictions which are going to reveal themselves and are revealing themselves. So it's our job to stand up and it's also our job to explain that things could just be much, much, much better than they are now.
- [11:31]
Ali Velshi
And by the way, that's the calculus that Schumer had, because the idea of a one year extension versus a permanent extension of these health care cuts after Tuesday night, Schumer's thinking, you know what, we'll run on this in the midterms. People have shown they will come out and they will vote. So a one year extension could become a permanent extension. The whole way of thinking about politics has shifted.
- [11:53]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah, I mean, that's their calculation inside their caucus that they can run on this issue and that they will win the next elections. And the reason they think they'll win the next elections is that they did much better than they thought they were going to do. And the reason they did much better than they thought they were going to do is people were paying attention and doing the work.
- [12:09]
Ali Velshi
Tim New York City had record turnout. We haven't had seen numbers like this since 1969. And that might be because of Zoran Mamdani. It might be because it was an election about the cost of, you know, the price of rent. But California had remarkable turnout for a ballot measure on which a human didn't. There was no name on the ballot. Pennsylvania had people showing up. On a judicial election, people showed up. And you've often said this, that at some point you can't deny the election, you can't deny the will of the people. If people take their Assignment seriously. I think voters took assignment very seriously on Tuesday.
- [12:42]
Timothy Snyder
I think that's exactly right. And they took it more seriously than the politicians expected them to. And they took it more seriously, you know, with all due apologies, than the media expected them to. The media is still largely reporting on this as though it were a game. And it's all about perceptions. And there's one side and there's the other side, whereas people don't see it that way. People think that things are falling apart. People recognize that things could be much better, and they're taking matters into their own hands at the ballot box. But that's a subset, as you've already said, of a lot of other things that are happening, like big protests, protests like small actions, like people caring for their neighbors.
- [13:16]
Ali Velshi
So let's talk about, about this pearl clutching that's been going on for a year, about whether Democrats should be more moderate or more progressive or centrist or whatever, whatever words you want to use. The answer does look like all of the above. People won on Tuesday night from across a pretty wide political spectrum. Abigail Spanberger and Zoran Mamdadi did not share views on a lot of things.
- [13:39]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah, I mean, number one, this is a very easy position because the other side is destroying the country.
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Ali Velshi
Right.
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Timothy Snyder
And so you start with the idea that you love your country, you want it to continue exist, and you want it to be much better, which is the second idea. We should continue to exist, and everything could be much better. And then within that notion of how things be much better, there's plenty of room for different kinds of proposals. You win with a big coalition, but a big coalition doesn't involve criticizing each other all the time. What it involves is saying your thing and listen to the person right next to you. If you do that, you can win.
- [14:14]
Ali Velshi
So you, you live in a city that obviously I grew up in and I'm very fond of, and I, when I think of Toronto, I think about pluralism. Right. The pluralism is not that you're all alike. It's not even that you're trying to be all alike or you want to be all alike or that you all have to agree with each other. But you, you understand what living together and being together means.
- [14:32]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah. I mean, in your book, there's a great story about this involving your family, which is very touching and, and also very true. Pluralism is not about homogeneity. Pluralism is not about always agreeing. Pluralism is about believing there are lots of different good things and we're going to fight for those different Good things, because the different good things are so much better than giving into this false sense that it's inevitable, that we have to lose, that the other side has to win. And the other thing about pluralism is that once you get out there and do things with other people, you realize, okay, there's a little bit of friction, there's a little bit of spark, but it's also fun. It's also enjoyable. You also learn things from other people, and that's great.
- [15:10]
Ali Velshi
One of the things that was interesting, it's why we ran the clip of Donald Trump, which, you know, people don't always want to listen to. The gas lighting is something you understand very well, right? The telling people your price of gas is lower, your price of groceries are lower. These are empirically dishonest things. Donald Trump didn't seem to care. I mean, now he's talking about affordability this week, which is what he ran on. But it is kind of wild that he just says things as if they're not checkable.
- [15:37]
Timothy Snyder
I mean, I think we have to understand here that oligarchy is its own reality. Like, it's not just that he's lying. It's. It's that. But it's also that. I mean, this is a guy who's very excited at the age of 79 that finally he gets to be wealthy. And that's the reality that he is living in. That's the most important reality for somebody like him. Right. And for somebody like Musk, who's just been given, you know, theoretically, a trillion dollars, that's a different reality. You could take that trillion dollars, divided them divided up among Americans who are on SN feed, every single one of them for 10 years. When you're trying to be rich, you're just in. It's not just that you're lying. It's that you're in this warped place, which is different. And people start to feel that after a while.
- [16:18]
Ali Velshi
Here's something interesting, by the way. SNAP averages six or seven bucks a day. There's something interesting here, and that is that the oligarchy didn't win on Tuesday night, particularly in New York. A lot of money went in to defeating Zoran Mamdani because that money goes to TV ads. Zara Mamnati worked around TV ads because the new way of communicating is to get directly to people.
- [16:40]
Eric Swalwell
Yeah.
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Timothy Snyder
I mean, this is the thing about. About Mamdani. You know, whatever you think about his policies, the man went out there and he worked hard. Like his campaign was a model small d Democratic campaign. He got people excited, ever larger groups of people excited. He did the work, he stayed on the streets. He took the criticism. He went to the debates. He did everything right. And so I think, like, that ought to be celebrated, because this is. I mean, again, whatever you think of the policies, I tend to agree with most of them. But whatever you think of the policies, he did it the right way, and that should be very encouraging for the rest of us.
- [17:16]
Ali Velshi
So, Tim, we saw October 18th. We saw those no Kings rallies that were amazing, and I know you were involved in them. Then we saw this election. How do you keep that energy up? How do you keep that pressure up? Because the tides have turned, and people have seen the tide turn. People who were depressed for 10 months have all of a sudden said, wow, I've actually got agency.
- [17:36]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah. I mean, first of all, I just think there is a direct connection. You know, you can't quantify it. But, like, the protests in Cincinnati, where I was, were much bigger than I thought they were going to be, and there were a lot more young people than I thought they were going to be. And then they have their election for mayor where the Republicans put up J.D. vance's brother, of all people, and they get hammered 82 to 18. I think there's a connection between these events as to what to do next. I think you keep protesting with an ever more positive message, with ever more clarity about the future that you want. And then in small groups, you keep acting. Whatever it is you're doing, whether it's your library, whether it's your book club, whether it's helping young people, you just keep doing that thing out in the real world, away from the digital world, keeping your mood up, recognizing that if you stick together and you just stick to it, you keep doing that thing, the conjuncture is going to come and things are going to get better.
- [18:26]
Ali Velshi
And this small things, this is important because when you look at the turnout numbers of millions of people, whether it was no Kings or the election, they weren't soccer teams. These were individuals who said, perhaps my doing something can change things. And I think that's an important point to take into consideration. Individual American citizens took this upon themselves. And now we have seen, in the course of one month, two major outcomes.
- [18:51]
Timothy Snyder
Yeah. And that's exactly how it's supposed to look. And I like what you said about oligarchy earlier and about the media. Right. It's not just Trump. It's also. There's like a heavy hand of too much money in the system, and there's a heavy hand of too much money in the media and all those things taken together, it gives us a sense that you can't actually break out. But what we've learned in the last few weeks is that you can break out. You can break out, you can tell your own story, you can do your own things and you can change the way things look and the way things feel. And this is just a start, I think.
- [19:22]
Ali Velshi
Timothy, thank you. You've single handedly kept a lot of people's spirits up in the last several years. So we always appreciate you. Tim Snyder is a professor. He's the chair in Modern European History and professor of Global affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. All right, coming up, if Republicans thought Tuesday's election was bad, just wait for the voter fury about flight cancellations in the next 20 days leading up to Thanksgiving. That's next.
- [19:47]
Nicole Wallace
I've never felt like this before. It's like you just get me. I feel like my true self with you. Does that sound crazy? And it doesn't hurt that you're gorgeous. Okay, that's it. I'm taking you home with me. I mean, you can't find shoes this good just anywhere. Find a shoe for every you from brands you love like Birkenstock, Nike, Adidas and more at your DSW store or.
- [20:15]
Ali Velshi
Dsw.Com MSNBC presents the chart topping original podcast the Best People with Nicole Wallace. This week she sits down with former White House Communications director Anthony Scaramucci. We are a beautiful, colorful mosaic of.
- [20:32]
Timothy Snyder
People and we are exactly what Lincoln said, the last, best hope for mankind.
- [20:37]
Ali Velshi
The best people with Nicole Wallace. Listen now. For early access and free listening and bonus content, subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts. Start your day with the MSNBC Daily Newsletter. Sharp insights from voices you trust, standout moments from your favorite shows, and fresh perspectives from experts shaping the news. Sign up now@msnbc.com I think it's safe to say that for most of us, flying is stressful enough. Booking the right flight, getting to the airport on time, waiting in the TSA line, not to mention the cost in a time of higher inflation. Well, the record setting Trump Republican government shutdown, which is now on day 38, is about to make air travel in America much, much worse. CNBC reports US Airlines started canceling hundreds of flights on Friday hours after the Federal Aviation Administration ordered the cuts amidst the more than month long government shutdown. Air traffic controller shortages were delaying flights at several major US Airports on Friday, including Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. San Francisco International Airport And Hartsfield Jackson International Airport in Atlanta. According to the FAA's order, the flight cuts will increase to 10% over the next week, beginning with 4% on Friday, 6% by Tuesday, 8% by Thursday, and finally 10% on November 14th, pretty close to Thanksgiving. With that 4% reduction in flights, there were around 800 flight cancellations nationwide today, thousands more delayed. Donald Trump's transportation secretary is warning that the percentage of flight cuts will only go up the longer the shutdown drags out.
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Eric Swalwell
If this shutdown doesn't end relatively soon, the consequence of that is going to be more controllers don't come to work. And then we're going to have to continue to assess the pressure in the airspace and make decisions that may again move us from 10% to 15%, maybe.
- [22:31]
Ali Velshi
To 20, maybe 20%. We'll get into that in a minute about how many planes there are in the sky. But we know from the latest NBC News polling that a majority of Americans blame Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress for this government shutdown. While a lot of Americans have felt the impact of the shutdown, many Americans have been insulated from the effects. But with 20 days until Thanksgiving and people looking forward to holiday travel, that could be about to change big time. If voters are mad now, imagine if grandma has to spend Thanksgiving alone because Republicans were just that committed to cutting people's health care subsidies, even if it means driving American air travel to a halt. Joining us now is Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California. He's a member of the House Judiciary and Homeland Security Committees. Congressman, great to see you again. Thank you for being here.
- [23:13]
Eric Swalwell
Yeah, you too. Ali, thanks for coming back.
- [23:15]
Ali Velshi
Put aside for a second the snap stuff. And the priorities of this government. Air travel is not just vacations. It is there are 10,000 flights in the air in America every day. Commerce business is done because people travel in this country.
- [23:32]
Eric Swalwell
People travel for medical reasons. People travel to see family. They go to funerals. They go to weddings. And yes, of course, our economy moves on our ability to travel. The American people are working still and Republicans are not. In fact, Mike Johnson has become a missing person. I don't know if your viewers remember what Mike Johnson looks like. He's supposed to be the speaker of the House. He's supposed to be the guy running Congress, but he's not showing up. We should probably put his job on LinkedIn, Ali, because he doesn't want to do it. But you know who we should thank? It's our TSA agents because these folks have been working for 40 days and they've not been paid. And I don't know anyone, nobody who would work 40 days and not get paid. When I go through TSA, usually, I'm mostly concerned about, you know, my belt or my bag not setting off, you know, the metal detector. And I don't notice these folks, and they're usually seen as an inconvenience. But these people are heroes right now because they show up and something's more important to them than money. It's our safety. So say thank you to them. And I'll tell you, Ali, I fly every week between Washington and California. I thanked one of them earlier this week, and I said, thanks for showing up. I want you to get paid. And the guy said to me, he said, well, at least Argentina is getting paid. I mean, that's the kind of cynicism they have. They know The President sent 40 billion to Argentina and wants these guys to work for free.
- [24:57]
Ali Velshi
So let's just talk about the $40 billion to Argentina. We got some kind of weird war ramping up with venezuela that. That 0 out of 10Americans would be interested in. But we're paying a lot of money. We're stationing troops there and aircraft carrier groups and things like that. We're doing all sorts of things, but we can't swear in an elected member of Congress from Arizona. We can't make SNAP benefits work. And we're still not going to agree to increase to keep people's health insurance benefits subsidized.
- [25:29]
Eric Swalwell
And we're building a $300 million ballroom, and the president's going to pay himself 230 million. And most Americans are just saying, hey, like, what about me? Like, I think I work hard and.
- [25:39]
Ali Velshi
My family's not politics.
- [25:41]
Eric Swalwell
That's about me.
- [25:42]
Ali Velshi
I just want to. I just want my life to work.
- [25:45]
Eric Swalwell
That's not politics. And I know the president can focus when he wants to, Ali. And I want to give him credit, because today I saw they rolled out a policy to try and bring down the cost of obesity drugs. And these go a long way to reduce, you know, kidney disease and diabetes. Imagine if he focused like that every single second and declared war on healthcare costs and grocery costs, rather than declaring war on Venezuela, Nigeria, and who the hell else he's gonna declare war on? So we know he can focus when he wants. And the American people are just saying, hey, focus on me.
- [26:18]
Ali Velshi
Yeah. And by the way, there's also a war going on against Americans, some who are citizens, some who are undocumented immigrants. But it feels like a war. Like it literally the way that. And the people and the protesters are not falling for it. They're not getting into violent confrontations with the government. But if you watch videos, you'd think they're fighting a war.
- [26:38]
Eric Swalwell
That's right. And in California this week, you know, people said enough is enough, and they're fighting back, and they're saying, we're going to defend our friends and neighbors. And if you're going to make it harder for Democrats to win the majority and hold you accountable, we're going to add five more seats in California because people, they want Donald Trump out of their homes, out of their lives, you know, and essentially out of their streets, because that's where he is right now. And so there is a movement happening. And I would be worried if I was Republicans, If I saw 7 million people go to the streets for the no Kings rally, if I saw the victories in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia and California, because, you know, people are saying enough is enough. And we have an opportunity, Ali, if we keep this momentum going, that we can win the midterms and we can cut our time in hell by half.
- [27:26]
Ali Velshi
California was wild. There wasn't a name of a person on the ballot. And you had millions and millions of people come out to vote.
- [27:34]
Eric Swalwell
It's the most we've ever seen in a special election. And by the way, Gavin Newsom has matched the president's, you know, vindictiveness with his own energy. He's a fighter and protector for the state. He stepped up for the people, and he is saying enough is enough. And he had the voters with him, almost 66% of the voters. And we're not going to go for a mad king in California. And my prediction, Ali, is a year from now, you're going to see that, you know, from Manhattan to Manhattan beach and everywhere in between.
- [28:05]
Ali Velshi
And not everybody thought the same way about it. Like, the people won elections who don't share all the same views on stuff, but they all won. What an interesting. What an interesting week. It's win. Great to see you. Thank you for being with us, Congressman.
- [28:16]
Eric Swalwell
You, too. Thanks, Ali.
- [28:17]
Ali Velshi
Congressman Eric Swalwell. All right, coming up, say it with me, Snap Food benefits also benefits Trump voters, a lot of them. And Trump's actions during the Republican government shutdown are hurting Trump voters. We'll have more on that next.
- [28:31]
Timothy Snyder
The connection between the guests on the.
- [28:33]
Ali Velshi
Show is the show.
- [28:34]
Timothy Snyder
All that we do is put together.
- [28:37]
Ali Velshi
People who are smart, people who are.
- [28:40]
Nicole Wallace
Brave, people who are honest, and lots of times people who've never met each other to have a conversation that has never happened before, but on that day.
- [28:48]
Ali Velshi
Deepens everyone's understanding about the moment in which we gather. Deadline White House With Nicole Wallace, weekdays from 4 to 6pm Eastern on MSNBC. How far will Donald Trump go to make sure people can't afford to eat? Tonight, Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to pause a federal judge's ruling order that Trump fully fund the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. SNAP immediately. In the last hour, Trump got what he wanted. No full funding. Not today. And keep in mind, food benefits are not being funded as usual. Because Republicans have chosen to die on the proverbial hill of cutting health care subsidies, they will not back down on making people pay more for health coverage. If the cost of making people pay more for health care is that some people don't eat, that's apparently fine with them. For the past week, Donald Trump has been withholding some SNAP benefits to more than 42 million Americans as the shutdown drags on. But that punishment is hurting Trump voters in states with vulnerable Republican politicians, the Boston Globe reports. Aroostook is Maine's northernmost county. It handed President Trump a 26 point win last year and is the birthplace of Susan Collins, Maine's longest serving, long serving Republican senator. About 20% of the county's roughly 67,000 residents get food stamps, surpassing the state and national rates. Aroostook highlights one political tension of the Trump voters who depend on government benefits like snap, Obamacare and Medicaid, but back candidates who tend to favor cutting them. Donald Trump campaigned on the promise that he would lower grocery prices on Day one. The reality is that food prices remain historically high. According to the Labor Department, the costs for things like coffee, bananas, lettuce, lunch meat, tomatoes have increased dramatically since Donald Trump returned to office. And today the Wall Street Journal reports that consumer sentiment how Americans feel about the economy is almost at record lows. Quote Consumers moods dropped further in November, according to a monthly survey from the University of Michigan, continuing a slide that has worsened amid persistent price increases and extended government shutdown. The reading is now just slightly above the levels that sentiment sank to amid the historic inflation that hit in 2022 during the COVID 19 pandemic, making it among the lowest results recorded in the survey's decades of history. Americans are facing down an economy with multiple pressure points since the shutdown. Cities across the country have reported a surge in demand at food pantries, while the Trump administration has shown no urgency to address the growing hunger crisis. Luckily, charities have stepped in to fill some of the void. Catholic Charities USA has Launched an emergency fundraising effort to get food to their network of pantries and soup kitchens in every region in the country. Joining us now is Sister Simone Campbell, board member of the National Catholic Reporter and former executive director of the Catholic advocacy group Network. She's also the award winning author of the book Hunger for Hope. Sister Simone, great to see you again. Thank you for being with us.
- [32:00]
Sister Simone Campbell
Oh, great to be with you on this really important issue. Thank you.
- [32:03]
Ali Velshi
Yeah. And it's crucial, I'd like to remind people, first of all, we're the richest country in the history of the world by a long shot. And snap benefits, depending on where you are in the country, range from somewhere between six to $10 a day. Right. Nobody's getting rich off of this. You can't trade them. You can't buy cigarettes with them. You can't buy alcohol with them. You can just go to the grocery. It's a gift card for a grocery store.
- [32:25]
Sister Simone Campbell
That's it. Exactly. And what many people don't realize is that they are that card. And because they're the card, what they buy is controlled. But what's even more important, I think, Ari, in the midst of all this, is the fact that people who have food on their table don't know what it is to be a desperate family, to be able to not be able to feed their. Their kids. And I met a family who's. They had a 14 year old and a 6 year old, and they were struggling so hard that even with food stamps, the parents were working, but they had to pay so much for ren. Yeah, but they went to food, or Thomas. Excuse me. Dinner every night where they could get a free meal and the kids could have seconds so they didn't have to go hungry. And their 14 year old, who had a growth spurt, desperately needed food. I don't know who we are as a nation that we think it's okay to cut their food. It's wrong.
- [33:27]
Ali Velshi
Right, Right.
- [33:28]
Eric Swalwell
And we have.
- [33:29]
Ali Velshi
We have. We got perhaps a war going on in Venezuela that we're starting. We got all sorts of things that we're able to. How do we have 42 million people who are food insecure? And I think it's important to talk about food insecurity. It doesn't mean you're starving every day. It means you don't know how tomorrow's gonna work. You don't know if your kid wants. Is having a growth spurt and needs more food, how you're gonna afford to buy that much more food. Again, we're talking about less than $10 a day for an individual, and it's relative to how big your family is. Why are we having food security discussions in 2025 in America? America?
- [34:02]
Sister Simone Campbell
Oh, we're having it because there are a large number in Congress that have no relationships with people who struggle. And this administration, we certainly know, doesn't have any relationship with people who struggle. They. They've written them off. And so I think one of the key things that we need to do in an advocacy way is make the story known. People want to say, oh, churches will take care of it. But, you know, the last time SNAP cuts were proposed, Bread for the World figured out that every synagogue, church, mosque, house of worship in the United States would have to raise an additional $700,000 to make the difference.
- [34:42]
Ali Velshi
Right. And by the way. And I'm glad that they're doing it. I'm glad that you're. I'm glad people do it. That's great. But that's not actually what our democracy should be about. These things should be adjunct. They should be extra. They should be able to offer support where government can't offer support, but we can actually do this. And part of it is this quote that I read which said, people have this weird relationship to their elected officials. They like the benefits. They depend on snap, they depend on Medicaid, they depend on subsidized health care. And yet we'll cast ballots for people who will fairly openly say that we're not that interested in that stuff.
- [35:15]
Sister Simone Campbell
I know. It's a total mystery. I was in Poetry Texas. Who knew there was a Poetry Texas?
- [35:20]
Ali Velshi
Oh, no.
- [35:21]
Sister Simone Campbell
But the group was gathered and several of the participants were on SNAP benefits, but they only told me that after the meeting because they were kind of ashamed and they didn't want their neighbors to know. And I think this element of the false idea that we should live just by ourselves, this, you know, individualism is what's at the heart of choose. I want to think better about myself individually rather than thinking it's okay to be community. We take care of each other. That's the best thing about being we. The people.
- [35:55]
Ali Velshi
People. We're losing that, but maybe we won't. And maybe telling this story will. Will.
- [36:01]
Sister Simone Campbell
Let's act.
- [36:02]
Ali Velshi
Let's. Let's act. Sister Simone, great to see you. Thank you for being with us. Sister Simone Campbell. All right, coming up.
- [36:07]
Nicole Wallace
Thank you.
- [36:07]
Ali Velshi
So on Tuesday, Democracy struck Back. That's next. It's just one question on the ballot. In an off year special election, voters in California defied expectations, turning out in extraordinary numbers to support Proposition 50 by a nearly 30 point margin. Californians voted for the ballot measure that allows the state to redraw its congressional maps that could net Democrats as many as five additional House seats. And that move was a direct response by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom to Donald Trump's urging Republicans in Texas to gerrymander their maps to rig next year's midterm elections and give Republicans five more House seats. On election night, Lawrence described how Californians understood what they were voting for. Voters are normally given a choice. This one or that one, this person or that one. Sometimes you're not crazy about either one of them. That's your choice. This time, voters were given a job. You are a legislator right here, and it's this single piece of paper is what we got. You got a California ballot. It was just one thing. You check yes or no, that's it. And it's right in there. It says, response to Texas partisan redistricting. Anybody reading it for the first time, a typical voter is not going to understand it, but they knew what the job was, and whether it took a second reading or the communication on it was so clear that they knew, I'm going in there and I'm voting yes. And we heard them say it for freedom. Democrats gave California voters the opportunity to grant their representatives the power to change the makeup of the state's legislature. That's democracy in action. It was not done without voter approval like Republicans in Texas did, and like other Republican states are planning to do. Fresh off Tuesday's redistricting wing, Governor Nat Newsom is joining Texas Democrats for a rally in Houston, telling Politico, quote, california stepped up. Now we're taking this fight across the country, helping Democrats in other states push back against Trump's election rigging, end quote. The single measure election sparked fundraising from both sides. Calmatters reports that groups not directly affiliated with any Prop 50 campaign have reported spending nearly 26 million to influence voters as of Oct. 30, more than any ballot measure in California history. Labor unions in California opposing Donald Trump's agenda also mobilized in support of Proposition 50. The Los Angeles Times reports, quote, unions representing California schoolteachers, carpenters, state workers and nurses have plowed more than $23 million into efforts to pass Proposition 50. Our next guest, the secretary treasurer of the California Teachers association, joined Democrats at a rally campaigning in favor of 50.
- [38:54]
Nicole Wallace
The majority of Americans are not with him on these vicious attacks. So what does Trump want to do? Rig the next election and steal our right to fair representation? He wants to Stack the deck to keep slashing public services, to pad the pockets of his billionaire donors. I taught my kindergarteners to be kind and to help each other, not to cheat and be a bully. Y' all five year olds get it. Why can't he? I'm here. We are ready to do whatever it takes to stop this power grab and fight back against any and all attacks on our democracy, on our students, and on public education.
- [39:33]
Ali Velshi
Joining us now, Erika Jones, an elementary school teacher in Los Angeles and secretary treasurer at the California Teachers Association. Erica, welcome to the show. Thank you for being with us.
- [39:42]
Nicole Wallace
You're welcome. Thank you for having me.
- [39:44]
Ali Velshi
Part of what Lawrence was talking about is akin to what you were talking about. This was straightforward. This was straightforward. Voters understood the assignment, even the name of the bill. It was pretty clear what you were being asked to do. This is not namby pamby. This is not Republicans versus Democrats. This is a. Someone is trying to rig the election. We're not giving up our vote. We're not giving up our agency.
- [40:06]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah, absolutely. And what a beautiful night it was just to see the voter turnout and just to be part of the whole entire campaign moving up towards it. Look, this is personal. This is personal for educators when you're going to basically sit there and not only attack our communities, attack the students we serve, make it to where they don't have food, they don't have even safety nets, it's personal for us. So as educators, we got in the fight and we got in the fight strong and we got in the fight because there's 310,000 of us across California and we reach every single community. So we got out there and we knocked on doors and we talked to voters and we explained, this is our moment. This is our moment to actually say, no, we don't like the dysfunction that's going on. No, you are not going to weaponize services for our communities. And no, we're actually going to stand up and say enough is enough.
- [40:58]
Ali Velshi
So this is interesting because you're talking about something that is broader than what was on that ballot. But it's the same thing that happened in Pennsylvania with a judicial election. It's the same thing that happened here in New York City. It's the same thing that happened in New Jersey and in Virginia. Sure, some of it was highly specific stuff in those places about cost of living living, but a lot of it was this message. We're not taking this anymore.
- [41:19]
Nicole Wallace
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think we're just. It was this moment where we actually were able to turn helplessness into hopefulness.
- [41:28]
Ali Velshi
Yep, that's right.
- [41:29]
Nicole Wallace
And I think that's why. That's why you saw everyone kind of turn out. Look, we don't need trillionaires. We don't need a $300 million ballroom. What we need smaller class sizes, fully funded public education. What we need is our communities actually not to be terrorized by ICE. What we need is for our voices in D.C. to actually be heard and not this dysfunction that's going on. So this was that one thing, that one tangible thing that as citizens, we could do.
- [41:57]
Ali Velshi
Intriguing, because all of those things you mentioned are differently motivating to different people, right? School, class size, not having snap, health insurance benefits, watching what ICE does. But for a moment at the no Kings rallies, and then again on Tuesday night, and lead up to it, you saw people saying, my specific political affiliation or priority is secondary now to my power as a voter and as a citizen to take control of my future and a better future for all of us.
- [42:29]
Nicole Wallace
Absolutely. And we've been organizing now for a couple of months. I mean, look, in last spring, we actually tried to meet with the nine representatives, Republican representatives in California. They actually refused. Some of them refused meeting with educators. And so it was just this buildup of.
- [42:45]
Sister Simone Campbell
Of.
- [42:45]
Nicole Wallace
Look, we've been trying to say, do you see us? And you keep saying you don't. So we're gonna show you. You need to.
- [42:53]
Ali Velshi
That's amazing. And it sort of puts to rest this thing that's been going on for a year amongst either Democrats or people who don't believe in Donald Trump's agenda about what we should be more of or less of. Right. Where we should be on the political spectrum. Because what you saw on Tuesday was people voting for people with different views and different priorities. The Pennsylvania election was different than the California election, different from New York, but people understood that it's all the fight for democracy.
- [43:22]
Nicole Wallace
I teach kindergarten. This was a moment where we said, we're going to actually care for people over chaos. That's what we're going to do.
- [43:28]
Ali Velshi
Perfectly said. Thank you for doing that, Erica. Erica Jones is an elementary school teacher. She's the secretary treasurer of the California Teachers Association. We appreciate all your hard work.
- [43:38]
Nicole Wallace
I appreciate you.
- [43:39]
Ali Velshi
We'll be right back. Before we go, a programming note. The Pulitzer Prize winner and my friend, the photojournalist Lindsay Addario, has put herself in danger to capture the dark realities of war many, many times. Behind the photo and the lens is a woman with a family, with children. Tomorrow I'll speak with Lindsay about her work. The competing demands of her journalism and her family and the new film from National Geographic that documents it all. Don't miss it. That's tomorrow on velshi, starting at 10am and that is tonight's last word.
- [44:11]
Eric Swalwell
Hey, everyone, it's Chris Hayes. This week on my podcast why Is this Happening? Journalist Jasper Nathaniel on his experience in the West Bank.
- [44:17]
Ali Velshi
It's not just a story of occupation violence and settler violence, but it's about.
- [44:22]
Eric Swalwell
These Americans who are not used to this.
- [44:24]
Ali Velshi
They have much more in common with you or me than they do with probably a lot of people that we see in Gaza. And they are now facing this kind of terror that they've never seen before and they're trying to figure out what to do about it.
- [44:37]
Eric Swalwell
And they've turned to the US Government.
- [44:39]
Ali Velshi
And they've been basically had the door slammed on them.
- [44:42]
Eric Swalwell
That's this week on why is this Happening? Search for why is this Happening? Wherever you're listening right now, and follow.