Democratic Senator (4:06)

In terms of is there anything positive to come out of it?

Republican Senator (4:09)

Yes.

Democratic Senator (4:09)

I mean the destruction of these facilities is a positive in the sense that it will set back Iran's program. And look, this is a nefarious regime that is the preeminent state sponsor of terror. It should have never been pursuing a nuclear program. But it is very possible. And I think we have to anticipate Iran now kicks out any inspectors, it leaves the non proliferation treaty. And if it wasn't in a sprint for a bomb, it is now going to engage in a sprint for the bomb. So a lot of uncertain. Finally, this was not constitutional, was not lawful in the absence of a declaration by Congress. And so the administration should have come to Congress. We will have a vote on a war powers resolution. But there's a reason to bring this to Congress and it is you want the Congress bought in. You want the American people bought in on an action this substantial that could lead to a major outbreak of war.

Political Commentator (5:08)

And now contrast that to Ron Johnson, maga, Republican senator from Wisconsin who says that he doesn't care that he didn't get notice about the strikes, even though Congress is supposed to have notice of the strikes. Play this clip.

Republican Senator (5:22)

Well, I don't know how anybody could have been surprised at this. I think President Trump certainly telegraphed it. He said he was going to make his decision a couple of weeks. I certainly understand why President Trump would not share that information. With the Democrats in Congress. And again, the operational security is just so crucial to protect our servicemen and women. I didn't need notice. I've been saying for over a week it'll be the president's decision. I will support that decision because we cannot allow Iran, the largest state sponsor of terror, to become a nuclear power. And that's they wanted to be right.

Political Commentator (5:54)

Now, let me bring in my interview with Nicole Wallace. You're not going to want to miss this. I think she lays it all out so perfectly. Here, play this clip.

Nicole Wallace (6:03)

I'm joined by Nicole Wallace, host of MSNBC's Deadline White House and the new MSNBC podcast the Best People with Nicole Wallace. Me and my brothers will be appearing on that podcast. It drops on Monday. Nicole, such an honor to have you here on the Midas Touch Network. Great to see you.

Nicole Wallace (6:22)

It's such a privilege. I've listened to so many of your podcasts and to be on one is a treat.

Nicole Wallace (6:28)

I, I want to talk about normalcy now. One of the things you highlight on the Best People, although I'm not necessarily sure how normal me and my brothers are. But navigating, navigating these very abnormal times like you've covered wars before as a reporter, one of the most solemn obligations as the president, as a commander in chief is war powers and dealing with war and communicating to the public about what that means and, you know, putting troops on the ground, what that means in terms of our military commitments. And Americans are obviously very uneasy when it comes to war. We need to understand what's happening. As someone who's covered this, as a legend in the field, what are you, what's your response?

Nicole Wallace (7:21)

You know, I've really tried to come into the second Trump presidency as a newly curious student of Trump. And at best, he is a guy doing a bit right. And this bit that he does in front of the people that he's using as props is this bit of American president at war. And what's so tragic and what I can't out of my own mental slideshow is Donald Trump standing with John Kelly at Arlington, incapable of comprehending why someone would fight and die for their own country. And so if you go to the most basic thing that his job is really about, it's about being the commander in chief sitting atop the chain of command of the greatest military in the world, full of men and women who, who love this country so much they would die for it. It makes most people cry, even if it's not the choice they make to Trump. It's something in his own telling, he can't get his brain around. Didn't want to go and visit veterans of World War I when he was in France. Believes that people who are captured are losers and suckers. Believes that people who are injured in the line of duty shouldn't be seen in military events. All that reporting has been done by the Atlantic and other place. And so to hear him do his bit about it is trivializing the gravest part of the job. But to think about him actually in this capacity as the country's only commander in chief is tragic. It's really one of the most tragic parts of having him back as president.

Nicole Wallace (9:05)

You know, and he is doing this bit that is directed at a certain audience and really a certain audience only here in the United States because it's the bit does that the shtick doesn't work internationally and we live in a globalized world. So when you start to say, oh, Xi Jinping called me. And he, he begged me and said, and said, is this embarrassing that I'm giving you a call, Donald? And I said to Xi Jinping, this is not an embarrassing thing. I'm glad you called me. And then Xi Jinping's like, that never happened. I'm not calling you. What in the world are you even talking about? Or when Donald Trump goes, I negotiated the ceasefire between India and Pakistan. I did it. I mediate it. And Modi's like, you didn't. You had nothing to do with what are you talking about? And let's, and by the way, let's, let's have a meeting in the G7 to talk about it. I mean, you had all these countries that had very important meetings with Donald Trump lined up for Tuesday, the second day of the G7. Anthony Albanese in Australia, because they have to figure out what the heck is happening with Aukus, the Australia, uk, US Trilateral deal. And Trump doesn't even know what Aukus stands for. Trump just doesn't show up on Tuesday, screws Modi, he screws Albinisi, he screws President Claudia Sheinbaum. And all of these people.

Nicole Wallace (10:27)

All of them, yeah.

Nicole Wallace (10:28)

And they're all just moving beyond him, though. Like his bit, though, is causing, I think, people to, to move away from America right now. That's what I'm seeing.

Nicole Wallace (10:36)

Well, and listen, I, I worked for a president who became unpopular in a very different way than Trump did, but unpopular all the same. And it had at its genesis, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the thing that made the American people so unhappy and uncomfortable was one, the tragedy and the reality of war. Two, the predicates for particularly the Iraq war. But three, being isolated on the world stage. Americans hate being ice. Americans hate going it alone. And what you just articulated is American isolationism by design. Trump has designed an America that is totally apart from all of our allies by walking away from the greatest alliance, the greatest peacekeeping alliance, the world in human history, NATO. And I think the idea that he is opting out of America's alliances, which men and women fought and died for, is very discomforting to a vast majority of Americans.

Nicole Wallace (11:41)

There's a lot of propaganda right now happening in the US it feels sometimes in our coverage here like we're living in North Korea with some of the stuff that I see out there. And whether it's independent media or the growth of digital media, I think is playing a major part in filling a void. I know that you're leaning heavily into doing more things on digital. The launch of the podcast the Best People, you know, was also kind of part of that effort to not just have the audience engage with you on the incredible show you do on msnbc, to meet people on these other kind of growing platforms. Can you, can you speak to how you see the evolution of the media right now and kind of how, how you're adapting in that environment to get out this truthful information to the people?

Nicole Wallace (12:35)

So I, you know, a big sports house, my son plays baseball, my husband's covered baseball. We're big baseball fans and sometimes we sit with the scouts and there are always scouts from other teams scouting the competition. And I think the pro democracy side in the mainstream media, legacy media, stopped scouting the threats to democracy, they thought they were above them. And I think the attraction that certainly your audience and mine has to the content that we put out that holds, that calls a lie a lie that says bullshit, when bullshit's the only word that accurately describes the nonsense coming out of a MAGA politician, you have to understand what the other side is doing to beat them at the ballot box. And I went and spent some time with folks close to Obama right after the election and he said none of the conversations about who we're going to be when we grow up matter if you don't, if you can't win, if you can't appeal to majority of Americans. And so I think scouting what the anti democratic, the threats to democracy, scouting what they've done with content, how they've made disinformation and misinformation feel like a club people want to be a part of, is an imperative lesson. And the Community you guys have created is, I think, the, the first answer. It's the front line. You're so quick. You watch Fox News, you have a dispassionate takedown of that, which is absolute nonsense and disinformation. And then you get to the truth and you do it in a way that is so sticky. People come to you. They come to you all day. They come to you for breaking news. They come to you when they know you have new content. And I think that's the model. That's how you win the future. That's how you keep the country a democracy.

Nicole Wallace (14:21)

Talk to us about the types of guests you're gonna have on the best people. Obviously, we're on it on. But who are you looking to have on the show and what sets this podcast apart from other podcasts that are out there?

Nicole Wallace (14:35)

Well, first, I would say I'm learning, so I'm open to suggestions, but they're a group of people that I think if you get to do what we get to do, you get to talk to our listeners and our audiences, you have to make sure that you're still growing and cracking your mind open. So I love talking to Doc Rivers about. He lived in a battleground state. He leads men, he leads some of the most elite athletes in the country, and he knows a lot about leadership. And I think there's something completely transferable between leadership in sports and leadership in a civic context. So I talked to Doc this week. It's also the last week of a very exciting final series in the NBA. I talked to Sarah Jessica Parker, who is known for the iconic character Carrie Bradshaw, someone she's played for three decades. But she cares so deeply about literacy and libraries and Social Security. And she grew up, you know, she would say, not wanting for anything, but really benefiting from things that were made available to everyone through public libraries, through benefit systems. And so she's very, very cognizant of how reckless the Trump, entire Trump cabinet is and how they talk about all those things. I talked to Rachel Maddow, who's my north star professionally, my friend, and my colleague Kara Swisher, who's so smart about this space. And really I feel like I ask the most advice of people like Kara and you and your brothers, because this is where I think if you study where autocratic movements have failed, they fail when the pro democracy side bands together and realizes that they're stronger together. We are not in competition with one another. It is our job in this moment. If we care about the country and we care about the democracy, to lift each other up, just to learn best practices from one another. From the content you create, I'm totally inspired to go back to watching Fox News. From the conversations you have with your brothers, I realize that people really want to hear you work things out with people you know and trust where you can maybe debate and argue, but you all want the same things for the country. So I think the podcast is about some of the best people I've come across, some of the best content I've consumed and really trying to learn out loud.

Nicole Wallace (16:57)

You know, there's actually a lot in common that the country has. When you think about it, there's about 65 to 70% of the country agrees on actually most things. So it's like, how did we get here? Most people want common sense gun reform. Most people support women's reproductive rights. Most people support having a job that pays wages with dignity. Most people. You go down the list of all of these. Most people do want there to be a border that's a strong border, but believe that there should be paths to citizenship of people who are working hard and don't want to see people disappearing off the street. And people hate to see masked individuals walking around neighborhoods and going into Home Depot parking lots and restaurants, disappearing human beings off the streets. And, you know, you see videos like this. The LA Times put this one together. I want to show you because right now, as we're doing this interview, there are masked federal agents and people who are deputized by them as well, who we don't even know who the hell they are, wearing masks out of a horror movie, going into businesses in America, here in California and across the country.

Political Commentator (18:13)

Doing stuff like this.

Nicole Wallace (18:14)

Here, I'll show you this first. And arresting American citizens here.

Political Commentator (18:16)

Let's play this. Several people were running upwards Wilton's place. I informed him that ICE agents were around the area. They were aware of that. And then that's when an SUV pulled up, came out.

Nicole Wallace (18:34)

Two agents tackled down a individual with no questions.

Political Commentator (18:40)

They placed his face into the dirt, physically apprehended him.

Nicole Wallace (18:46)

You know, there.

Political Commentator (18:47)

Nicole, they're.

Nicole Wallace (18:48)

They're going after street vendors in, like, L. A. Like the people who are selling the hot dogs by the Home Depot, and. And the people who are selling the fruit. You know, they had masked agents in front of Dodger Stadium, and the Dodgers wouldn't let them in. And then they acted like they were just hanging out at Dodger Stadium. And I look at that and I go. I go, that's wrong. I said, I don't care what political party you are, like, that's wrong.

Nicole Wallace (19:12)

Yeah. Nobody wants that. And I think that the success that the MAGA movement had and turning people against people in this country illegally is a completely overblown mandate. It's not what people wanted. People wanted illegal people in this country illegally who had committed crimes, who had received due process, who were adjudicated criminals to be sent out of our country. Nobody was asked if they wanted masked law enforcement people throwing sitting senators to the ground, let alone people who've been racially profiled. I mean, the racial profiling, because it's such an obvious piece of it, maybe doesn't get as much attention as it deserves. But imagine the terror of being brown in America right now. Even if you're a child, you are subject to being hunted. I mean, that video you just played with someone being hunted on the streets of an American city for. We're not aware of any crime that they committed. Right. There's no. There's no. I mean, but the whole tenant of law enforcement is you're not even allowed to pull someone over unless you have probable cause that a crime was committed. It is now probable cause to hunt someone down while wearing a mask and potentially wrestle them to their stomach on the ground and then handcuff them without any knowledge of their status. They have no knowledge of that person's immigration status. None. So I think that people. I want to believe that nobody wants this. It is possible that other than Stephen Miller, there are some people in the MAGA movement that want this. But this is not what Trump campaigned on, and this is not what his mandate extends to.

Nicole Wallace (20:54)

And finally, Nicole, last weekend, we saw those massive no Kings protests and its juxtaposition to Donald Trump's disastrous dictator parade. And I think the split screen you saw there of millions and millions of Americans peacefully protesting for freedom and for the love of this country. And then that miserable, sulking, inconsolable Donald Trump upset that the military parade was a disaster and knowing what was really showing up. I got to get your take on all that.

Nicole Wallace (21:27)

I saw. I saw a few minutes of Jon Stewart, and he had some audio of a tank squeaking. And I just thought that's. That encapsulates it, right? We're showing the world that our tanks squeak. And I don't know if it was real or not, but look, I think it's sad for the military that Trump has made them so partisan, that a parade is turned into something that is only about Trump. And I think that there. There are two victims here. I mean, one is, is the integrity of the military, which should never be impugned by any president. And Trump has sort of crossed red line after red line after red line and thrust them into the middle of his narcissistic politics and policies and designs by having them parade through the streets of D.C. on the 79th birthday. The other is from the ridiculous to the sublime. I mean, the protests were amazing. And to have that kind of turnout on the morning of a terrifying political assassination in Minnesota was stunning. I mean, just stunning that people understood it was a reality to be targeted for murder based on your political beliefs. And they went out in the millions and millions and millions and millions in cities and states, from the bluest parts of our country to the reddest parts of our country is absolutely stunning and inspiring. And it gives me hope.

Nicole Wallace (22:51)

Well, it gives me hope that we've got people like you out there who are delivering the news. And I love that you're expanding now into the podcast space with the best people with Nicole Wallace. I'm glad to be considered one of those.

Nicole Wallace (23:04)

Oh, I loved talking to all three of you. I love you guys are the. I mean, in the way you guys kind of jump in and. And finish each other's sentences. I have two sisters and I called them. I'm like, we have to do something together. These guys are so cute. People love you guys so much. And I felt so lucky to get.

Nicole Wallace (23:20)

To talk to all of you, the Midas sisters. I mean, I'll have to have some talks with some of the folks at msnbc, see if there can be a collab along those. How great would that be if you did the Midas brother version with you and your two sisters would be incredible with you guys.

Nicole Wallace (23:39)

That would be fun. We'll have to find an occasion. Maybe. Maybe the next All Kings. No Kings March.

Nicole Wallace (23:45)

We gotta do that. Nicole Wallace, host of MSNBC's Deadline White House and the new MSNBC podcast the Best People with Nicole Wallace. And our episode drops on Monday, wherever podcasts are available. And I know the video will drop also on the MSNBC YouTube page. Thanks, Nicole.

Nicole Wallace (24:01)

Thank you so much.

Nicole Wallace (24:02)

And everybody. Hit subscribe and let's get to 6 million subscribers. The truth is more important than ever. Check out our new Truth over lies collection@store.midas touch.com All 100% US USA Union made.

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