← The Rachel Maddow Show
The Rachel Maddow Show
Fresh from scandal over group chat attack plans, Hegseth's conduct opens him to ridicule
00:42:28
Rachel Maddow looks at a string of bizarre headlines about Donald Trump's secretary of defense, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth, whose insistence on surrounding himself with close family while acting in his official capacity speaks poorly of his professionalism.
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- [00:01]
Rachel Maddow
Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts New episodes of all your favorite MSNBC shows now ad free plus ad free listening to all of Rachel Maddow's original series, Ultra Bagman and Deja News and all MSNBC original podcasts are available ad free and with bonus content including why Is this Happening? Felshey Band Book Club and more. Subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts.
- [00:30]
Chris Hayes
Really happy to have you here. Happy Monday. Something is happening right now, right this second in Washington in the Senate, and this is a bit of a surprise. At 7pm Eastern tonight, Democratic Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey started talking on the floor of the Senate and I think to the surprise of all his colleagues, he soon made clear that he is not intending to stop talking tonight.
- [01:02]
Pramila Jayapal
Tonight I rise with the intention of getting in some good trouble. I rise with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I rise tonight because I believe sincerely that our country is in crisis. Republicans as well as Democrats are talking to me about what they feel is a sense of dread about a growing crisis or what they about what is going wrong. That bedrock commitments in our country that both sides rely on, that people from all backgrounds rely on, those bedrock commitments are being broken. Unnecessary hardships are being borne by Americans of all backgrounds and institutions which are special in America, which are precious, which are unique in our country, are being recklessly, and I would say even unconstitutionally affected, attacked, even shattered. In just 71 days, the president of the United States has inflicted so much harm on Americans, safety, financial stability, the core foundations of our democracy and even our aspirations as a people for from our highest offices, a sense of common decency. These are not normal times in America and they should not be treated as such.
- [02:39]
Chris Hayes
Again, this does not appear to be a normal speech in the United States Senate ongoing right now in Washington. Senator Cory Booker has taken over the Senate floor tonight and is saying that he does not intend to relinquish the floor. He intends to, as he said it, disrupt the normal business of the United States Senate. He says, quote, for as long as I am physically able, and he is a fit and able man. So I don't know how long that means he's going to be there. The last thing that Senator Booker was involved in that was anything like this was nearly a decade ago when Senator Chris Murphy, you may remember this, held the floor for 15 hours. This was in protest of gun violence. It was right after the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016. Senator Cory Booker actually supported him for those 15 hours and participated in part of that filibuster. That 15 hour plus filibuster succeeded nine years ago in forcing the Senate to allow some votes on some gun safety laws. The following year, 2017, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley held the floor for more than 15 hours, protesting Republicans effectively steal stealing a seat on the United States Supreme Court when they would not allow confirmation proceedings to go ahead for President Obama's nominee, Merrick Garland. And they instead essentially held that seat open until Donald Trump could put a Republican nominee on the bench instead. In terms of the record here, the longest filibuster in American history was 1957. Radical segregationist Strom Thurmond held the Senate floor for 24 hours and 18 minutes, all to block the passage of a civil rights bill. I do not know if Senator Cory Booker intends to try to go that long. I don't know if it's humanly possible to do that without sitting down, without taking a bathroom break. I think Senator Thurmond did take a bathroom break, but Senators now would not be allowed to do that. That said, 24 hours is almost humanly impossible. Senator Cory Booker started tonight at 7pm Eastern Time. He said, I rise tonight with the intention of disrupting the normal business of the United States Senate for as long as I am physically able. I do not know how long Senator Cory Booker is going to be out there, but it looks like he is intending to be there for the long haul. So we will have eyes on that all night. We've got Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, former chair of the Progressive Caucus, who's going to be joining us in just a moment, checking in on what's going on with Senator Booker over the course of the night. We'll check in on what's going on to the reaction, with the reaction to what he's doing there. Eyes on that over the course of the night. Tonight, of course, it is only US Senators who can hold the floor of the US Senate. But in the past few days, we've seen thousands of Americans hold down a little patch of sidewalk somewhere near their local Tesla dealership. Literally thousands of Americans this weekend put the phone down, got offline, put on their sturdy shoes and went out to a Tesla dealership somewhere near them. There were hundreds of protests this weekend at Tesla showrooms and dealerships, all against the billionaire owner of Tesla, who of course purchased himself a US Presidential election this fall and who has since busied himself with the apparently exhilarating task of destroying the US Government. These protests this Weekend in Columbus, Ohio, in New York City. I've been showing you, but they really were. I mean, look at these. These were protests against President Trump's top campaign donor in Detroit, Michigan, and Washington, D.C. and Seattle and New Orleans and Brooklyn, New York. There were protests against Elon Musk, against the man who bought Donald Trump the presidency, in Savannah, Georgia, and Mesa, Arizona, and Jacksonville, Florida, and El Paso, Texas, Buffalo, New York, Berkeley, California. This was some of the signs in Claremont Florid, just west of Orlando. Unplug unelected. Elon, quit buying elections. This was a good one. Call your representatives repeatedly. This one, Sorry to dorks everywhere. I am one of you. But fascist dork kind of works as a sign. Also, this one. Perfume smells good. Musk stinks. Forgive me on this one. I don't mean for this to be an ad hominem attack on the way Mr. Musk smells. I have no idea how he smells. I just wanted to point out, though, that from places as disparate as Florida and also Mount Kisco, New York, the theme of Elon Musk being a stinker is kind of turning out to be a thing. At these protests, musk is the scent of corruption. This was Akron, Ohio this weekend. We love the usa, not oligarchy. Also, Doge stands for D O G E. Deranged oligarchs get everything. This was Pasadena, California. Don't test drive fascism. This was Cathedral City, California. Dogs hate Doge. They call Cathedral City Cat City. So you know you were going to see some annoyed dogs at this protest. This was Rockville, Maryland. America is trapped in a burning Tesla. And also this sign, sort of made to look like a highway sign. Trump and Musk look out for billionaires. Who's looking out for you? San Jose, California. Your Tesla paid for fascism. San Francisco handmade. I sold my Tesla. Also, this One goes from 0 to 1939 in 3 seconds. Tesla the Swastikar in Vallejo, California. Doge D O G E equals Department of Greed and Evil. Here's one from Texas. The left side of your screen here, this is a sign we saw a week or so ago at an anti elon Musk protest in Austin, Texas. You might remember this one. Porsche fast. Ferrari faster. Tesla fascist. But now look, this is on the right side of your screen. Also Austin, Texas, this past weekend. Different person update to the sign. Nascar equals fast. Formula One equals faster. Trump and Musk equal fascist. The protest at the Manhattan Tesla dealership in New York. Look at this. Particularly big and particularly dramatic. Just brought this corner of New York City to a stop. People also brought tombstones and laid down in front of the dealership in a die in against what Trump and Musk are doing to the American government and to the country. But these protests really were everywhere, not just in big cities and not just big ones. I mean, look at these protests against Musk and Trump in Chesterfield, Missouri and Kalamazoo, Michigan, Norfolk, Virginia, Rockville, Maryland, like I mentioned before, Tigard, Oregon, West Covina, California. Even on top of the many, many, many protests against Trump's top campaign donor that we saw at Tesla dealerships this weekend, and it does seem like there were hundreds of them, there were still yet more protests against Trump and masks like this big one in Kansas City, Missouri on Saturday. People in Kansas City marched about a mile from downtown Kansas City to Union Station. Then they masked at the lawn of the National World War I Museum and Memorial the same day in Salt Lake City, Utah. People stood up for the trans community at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake City on Saturday. On Sunday, there was a really big look at this really big show of strength and support for immigrants and against Trump. This was Dallas, Texas. Marchers started at the Cathedral of Our lady of Guadalupe. They marched to Dallas City Hall. There were angry and fired up town halls this weekend. These were town halls done by Republican Congresswoman Victoria Spart. She held two town halls in her district on Friday night and then again on Saturday during the day. In both cases, she had absolutely full houses in Indiana, hundreds of people inside and even hundreds of people who couldn't get in, who protested outside. In all cases, Victoria Spartz's constituents just gave her nothing but the hardest of hard times for her professed support for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. That said, you know, she's definitely hearing what people are saying to her. Congresswoman Spartz told her constituents at these events this weekend that she understood they were were, quote, frustrated, quote, very frustrated with Elon Musk in particular. She admitted that the Signal group text national security debacle, in her words, is, quote, actually very bad. Again, a Republican congressman having to admit that as her constituents would not let up on her about it. The following day, Sunday, also in Indiana, of all places, yet more upset constituents flooded an empty seat town hall which they held for their Republican member of Congress, Jim Barrett. Unlike Victoria Spartz, Jim Baird will not actually agree to meet with his constituents who are equally mad at him. So his constituents held an overstuffed town hall in Lafayette, Indiana this weekend without Congressman Baird in attendance. So Americans are doing stuff. And in Large numbers and in disparate places. And the pushback that you see not just in blue states, but in red states, and not just in blue districts, but in red districts, all of these protests, you are seeing the town halls, you are seeing all the yowling that the American people are doing against Trump and Musk and what they're doing. You never know exactly what effect that's going to have, that's going to have and where. Right. You can see this pushback creating pressure against them. Right. Creating self consciousness among the Republicans who have to try to defend what they're doing and see how their constituents feel about it. But you never know exactly where it's going to pay off. That said, you know, the calendar says it's spring, and if you are looking for green shoots, they really are everywhere. Consider this inadvertently hilarious press release from the Trump administration. This was flagged by journalist Judd Legum at Popular Information, who has been all over what the Trump administration administration has been doing to Social Security in particular. You know how we here have been covering for a few weeks now, how Trump has published a list of dozens of Social Security field offices that he was going to close all around the country. Once that list was published, as you might expect, people just revolted over his plans to do that. Well, now look at this. Now the Trump administration says they are, quote, correcting the record about Social Security office closings, insisting that you might have received some inaccurate information about those Social Security office closures. They're insisting now that they never had plans to close those offices at all. Yeah, you crazy Americans, you crazy old people, where did you hear that we were going to be closing Social Security offices? We definitely never published this very detailed list of dozens of Social Security offices that we were going to close. And then, oh, when the blowback and the pushback against us doing that knocked us on our butts, we definitely just didn't decide to pretend that it wasn't us and that we'd never said that. Their efforts to dismantle the Social Security Agency are as dangerous as anything else they are doing in this country. Especially because the people who will be most negatively affected by their dismantling and undermining of the Social Security Agency are the people who most who most need the support that they get from Social Security and who have the fewest resources to try to make up for it if these guys screw it up. It's profoundly dangerous what they are doing. And that's why you're seeing not only old people and disabled people who get Social Security revolting You're seeing every American with a drop of empathy in their soul revolting over that. Because to do something that irresponsible and cruelty to a population to whom we owe so much, and that is by definition in need of what that agency provides them and potentially frail or unable to advocate for themselves when they are hurt by what this administration is doing. Yeah, there's going to be pushback with you guys messing with Social Security now that there has been pushback that they can't handle. They're just pretending that they weren't attacking Social Security at all. Nice try. The Signal group texting about war plans. That scandal is also continuing to blow up even though they keep trying to pretend either it didn't happen or it's over. Now the Wall Street Journal reporting this weekend that this apparently was not the first time that Trump National Security Adviser Michael Waltz had convened a group of Trump Cabinet officials in a group chat on this commercial texting app. Quoting from the Wall Street Journal this weekend, quote, two U.S. officials also said that Waltz had created and hosted multiple other sensitive national security conversations on Signal with Cabinet members, including separate threads on brokering peace between Russia and Ukraine, as well as other military operations. Sources, quote, declined to address if any classified information was posted in those chats. So, yeah, this thing isn't going away. Wait till we find out what all the other ones were. And then there's Pete Hegseth, the Fox News weekend host who Donald Trump appointed to lead the Defense Department. In recent days, we have learned that Pete Hegseth not only posted a detailed timeline of a forthcoming military strike to that group chat on Signal, which inadvertently included a reporter. Pete Hegseth also, according to the Wall Street Journal, quote, brought his wife, a former Fox News producer, to two meetings with foreign military counterparts where sensitive information was discussed. The meetings included the Ukraine Defense contact group at NATO, a closed door meeting of that group, more than 50 countries represented there, and also a very sensitive meeting with the British defense secretary. Ptegseth has been bringing his wife to these meetings. Does she have a security clearance? This is the same wife. You may recall who Mr. Hegseth brought with him to his meetings with US senators ahead of his confirmation process for this job. That, of course, made it socially awkward for those senators to ask him at those meetings about the rape allegations that he had faced in California and his alleged serial infidelity and problems with drinking on the job. He has denied the rape allegations in California and of course, he was never charged in conjunction with those allegations. That said, the Associated Press is also now reporting on the strange circumstance that has arisen at the Pentagon in Mr. Hegseth's short time there, in which not only is he bringing his wife to sensitive meetings with foreign military leaders, but he's also somehow got himself into a situation where his baby brother, his younger brother Phil, has also ended up on the plane to Guantanamo with Pete Hegseth, and also on the plane last week to Hawaii. What is his little brother doing there? Good question. Based on Phil Hegseth's publicly available resume, his past experience includes founding his own podcast production company. Okay, so naturally it makes sense that he's now paid by the US Taxpayers to go everywhere with his brother, the Defense Secretary, who has assured us that he definitely won't drink on the job anymore and who apparently thinks it's okay to bring his wife to NATO meetings. This follows Mr. Hegseth also giving a Naval officers commission to his personal lawyer and telling him that now he's personal lawyer will now be in charge of reforming all lawyering in the US Military. He's just named him an officer. This, of course, follows Pete Hegseth's fantastically expensive and honestly strange decisions to send not one, but two US Navy destroyers to hover around the US Border doing nothing. Also to use US Military planes to fly handfuls of people around the world in the most expensive possible version of how to do a deportation flight. The New York Times reporting tonight that Hegseth's failed gambit to stand up a US Military role at Guantanamo specifically to make it look like Guantanamo has something to do with with Trump's deportations. That gambit has thus far cost taxpayers about $40 million in its first month. Now, this whole Guantanamo thing is a plan that has essentially been scrapped now, but only after Pete Hegseth moved nearly 1,000 U.S. troops there and then back and had them sent up a tent city and then kind of dismantled it. Because these guys don't forget government efficiency can't allow old people to call the Social Security office anymore. But hey, we gotta save money. Pete Hegseth needs to fuel up the C17s to fly like five guys around so they can make TikTok videos about how tough they are. See my tattoos tomorrow. Pete Hegseth, in his infinite wisdom, has decided to visit the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. We don't know if he'll bring his little brother or his wife, but we'll see. Per his orders, the US Naval Academy is apparently scrambling to get books out of the library before he gets there. Books like a biography of Jackie Robinson, that's got to be out of there, I guess, before Pete Hegseth gets to the Naval Academy because it so offends him because, you know, he's really focused on lethality. Where's my brother? Can my wife sit behind me at the meeting with the defense secretary from the other country? So there's a lot going on tonight. The financial markets have just completed their worst quarter in years, born almost exclusively out of the expectation that Donald Trump is going to announce yet more economically disastrous tariffs this week. On Wednesday, the attacks on higher education continue now. Harvard University has moved into Trump's crosshairs as the universities have not yet figured out how to band together to resist these attacks from the administration. And so they're still picking them off one by one. That said, law firms have started to figure that out as well. Law firms have now started to figure out in a big way that they ought to stick together rather than Trump allowing them to pick off law firms and lawyers one by one in a big turnaround from the way things were going with big law firms just last week. We're now seeing law firms stand up and say they are banding together to stop Trump from his attacks on the legal profession. We're going to be talking about that in days ahead here this week on the show. I think that is something that's likely to be hugely consequential not only for the overall fight for democracy, but for how we are seeing the Trump administration try to make maneuver in the legal landscape they have created for themselves over this past 71 days. So, like I said, there's a lot going on. But right now, tonight, we are watching Senator Cory Booker holding the floor for what looks like it might be an all night filibuster against Donald Trump and the actions of his administration thus far. We've got eyes on that tonight as that continues to unfold live. We've got eyes on the big Wisconsin Supreme Court election and the two big Florida congressional elections tomorrow. We've got a live update on those coming up. Plus, we've got Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal joining us live. Got so much to get to tonight. Busy night. Stay with us.
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Pramila Jayapal
And stabilized his mental health because of his prescription drugs, but then stopped being able to afford them, started skimping on the drugs, had a mental health crisis, lost his job and his whole life destabilized just because of not.
- [23:58]
Rachel Maddow
MSNBC PRESENTS MAIN justice. Each week on their podcast, veteran lawyers Andrew Weissman and Mary McCord break down the latest developments inside the Trump administration's Department of Justice.
- [24:10]
Ben Wickler
The administration doesn't necessarily want to be.
- [24:13]
Chris Hayes
Questioned on any of its policy.
- [24:14]
Michael Waltz
I think what we are seeing is Project 2025 in action. This is it coming to fruition.
- [24:21]
Rachel Maddow
Main justice subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad, free listening and bonus content. The first 100 days bills are passed, executive orders are signed and presidencies are defined. And for Donald Trump's first 100 days, Rachel Maddow is on MSNBC five nights a week.
- [24:41]
Chris Hayes
Now is the time, so we're gonna do it.
- [24:43]
Rachel Maddow
Providing her unique insight and analysis during this critical time.
- [24:47]
Chris Hayes
How do we strategically align ourselves to this moment of information, this moment of transition in our country?
- [24:53]
Rachel Maddow
The Rachel Maddow show weeknights at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC. Stay up to date on the biggest issues of the day with the MSNBC Daily Newsletter. Each morning you'll get analysis by experts you trust, video highlights from your favorite shows.
- [25:09]
Chris Hayes
I do think it's worth being very clear eyed, very realistic about what's going on here.
- [25:14]
Rachel Maddow
Previews of our podcasts and documentaries, plus written perspectives from the newsmakers themselves, all sent directly to your inbox each morning. Get the best of MSNBC all in one place. Sign up for msnbc daily@msnbc.com.
- [25:32]
Pramila Jayapal
Tesla takedowns popped up across the country and here in West Washington. Linwood University Village, Sodo, South Lake, Union, Fife, Bellevue and beyond.
- [25:44]
Chris Hayes
All the way from from Linwood down to Vancouver, Washington, we just rocked it today.
- [25:49]
Pramila Jayapal
It was a great day at the U Village protest.
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Ben Wickler
I am so proud to represent you.
- [25:54]
Pramila Jayapal
Representative Pramila Jayapal was among those to address the demonstrators.
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Ben Wickler
Musk and the Department of Greed and Evil. That's what Doge is. The Department of Greed and Evil have got to go.
- [26:07]
Chris Hayes
In Washington state this weekend, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal did turn up at an anti Elon Musk, anti Trump Tesla takedown rally in her district in Seattle. There were hundreds of these all over the country this weekend. In the midst of this rising tide of Americans who are angry and fearful about what's happening in Trump's second term in office, Americans increasingly willing to stand up and do something about it. Congresswoman Jayapal has also started hosting events that are designed to teach the strategy and tactics of nonviolent resistance and protest. These movements have sort of taken off on their own. She's getting specific for how to do training, practical training on how these things work, how they stay nonviolent, and how they can be most strategically effective. She's calling them Resistance Labs. The first one Was a week and a half ago, Congressman Jayapal told a local radio station, quote, we thought we'd have a couple hundred people. We had 850 people sign up. We had to stop people from registering because we didn't know if we had room. In the end, a crowd of about 500 people packed the building for that first in person training. They ended up having to turn people away because they couldn't fit them in.
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Ben Wickler
It appears that the Trump administration is willing to ignore judicial decisions. And so, so that brings us to you in this room. It brings us to the people. That is really the bulwark, the wall against the crumbling of democracy. There's really no other savior or option than the people.
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Chris Hayes
This weekend, Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal decided she would hold a follow up, a second so called Resistance Lab. The Congresswoman says more than 1500 people took up, took part in the follow up event this weekend. Not just people who are constituents, not just people from Washington state. She says it was 1500 people in 31 different states. Joining us now is Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal, Democrat from the great state of Washington. Congresswoman, it's really nice to see you. Thanks very much for being here.
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Ben Wickler
Thank you for having me.
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Chris Hayes
Rachel, help me understand this idea of the Resistance Lab and what you're talking about in practical terms at these events.
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Ben Wickler
Yeah, I mean, what we decided is that we really need to help Americans understand what happens when democracies fall, when dictators take over. We've been pretty complacent in America. We haven't had to really deal with this in any real way. And now I think people need to understand what are the lessons from other countries. And working with experts who have studied democratic backsliding in countries around the world and the resistance movements that emerge to take on that democratic backsliding, we've developed a curriculum where we help people understand. How do you go after the pillars of support, not necessarily the person at the top, but the pillars of support that allow that person to continue to have power. And how do you shift allies from being sort of passive opponents to being active supporters of taking down a dictatorship? And so it's been very practical. It's been very hands on. We've taken the principles of Dr. King's, the six principles of nonviolent resistance that is threaded throughout. And we're going to have a second training that goes deeper into what happens if you are trying to do nonviolent protest, but others are coming and instituting violence on you. Think of church basements across Selma, right Rachel, all the training that went into preparing people, and at the end of the day, we are plugging people in both to actions that are happening right now in their locale that they can get engaged in, but also preparing them for the moments that will come of coordinated resistance, whether it's distributed action or mass action that people need to be ready for. And we're increasing the understanding, which also increases the ability for people to think about taking more risk, perhaps than they might have otherwise, because that level of risk tolerance goes up based on how severe people think things are. So we're really readying us for those big moments that we hope don't come, but certainly look like that is the direction that we're headed.
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Chris Hayes
I feel like this is a really important categorical shift that you're talking about. I feel like over these last 71 days and into the transition, a lot of what we've seen, a lot of the organizing that we've seen has essentially been consciousness raising about how bad it is, about what is at stake, about how people are being hurt, about what is dangerous, hurtful, potentially irreversible, about what's happening. It's all been sounding the alarm, are talking about here and what these trainings are about. Sort of assume that people get that, but now need to talk about in practical terms. Well, what's the most effective way to respond to that? It's not necessarily that people need to know the latest bad thing that Trump is doing. People have now heard enough and they understand enough about what the risk is here that it's time to get practical about what to do. In response, I want to ask, given that sort of curriculum that you're describing, how replicable is it? Is this something that has to happen in person? Is this something that can happen in large format settings? Is this something that should only happen in small groups? What's the means of transmitting this curriculum and its lessons?
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Ben Wickler
Yeah, that's the other thing. We have created modules so it can be replicated. I'm offering it, of course, to my colleagues here in Congress. But we're also really testing this model. The first one was in person, as you said. The second one on Sunday was delivered virtually, but we encouraged people to actually host house parties and zoom into it from the house party, because the breakout sessions, there's actually a breakout session, believe it or not, with hundreds and, you know, over thousands of people. We can do these breakout sessions. And they're important because people have to test their analysis, they have to test their ideas. And there have been some fabulous ideas coming forward, given the frameworks that we're offering. So we offer frameworks of how to think about what actions are most effective. We offer examples of those, we offer specific tactics. But we encourage people to be creative about the principle of what they're trying to achieve and then how to best achieve it. So the breakouts are important. We can deliver the whole training in mass without those breakouts. But I'm also finding, Rachel, that people really do want to be in community with other people and they want to be talking to others. And being able to play off of others is very, very useful. So we are perfecting the technology on what can allow us to have thousands of people on beyond the current technology that we have access to. And we're doing it in person. We're also trying to figure out, since we have 31 states and by the way, two countries, Austria and Canada, were also on the zoom, the training that we did on. But we're trying to figure out now how to take the people in different states. Right. We had people in Idaho calling in, how do we take all the Idaho people and group them together? And we're encouraging people to sign up for the next resistance lab training because we're going to keep doing these and to get people in their community involved because that sense of community also helps to create kind of a bigger coordinated resistance and the sense of safety for people to be able to do things in big numbers. So we're really excited. This has just been literally two weeks in the making, but we have an amazing curriculum. It is replicable and we're super excited to spread it as far as we can go. And people can go to pramillaforcongress.com to sign up.
- [34:13]
Chris Hayes
When's the next one? When's the date? Oh, you still got me. I've lost her. Congresswoman, can you hear me? I said when is the next. When's the date of the next one?
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Ben Wickler
I think it's going to be in two weeks. We haven't quite said it yet, but if you sign up right now, you will get an email. And I should mention we have a resistance rapid response email list that sends out weekly to dos for people as well as a reading list to continue to deepen people's understanding.
- [34:48]
Chris Hayes
Congresswoman Vermila Jayapal, thank you for your time. We'll be on this. We're going to cover the next one when it happens. Appreciate it. Thank you. All right, more news ahead. Stay with us.
- [35:01]
Rachel Maddow
MSNBC presents Main justice each week on their podcast, veteran lawyers Andrew Weissman and Mary McCord break down the latest developments inside the Trump administration's Department of Justice.
- [35:13]
Ben Wickler
The administration doesn't necessarily want to be.
- [35:15]
Chris Hayes
Questioned on any of its policy.
- [35:17]
Michael Waltz
I think what we are seeing is Project 2025 in action. This is it coming to fruition.
- [35:24]
Rachel Maddow
Main justice subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple Podcasts for ad, free listening and bonus content. MSNBC presents a new original podcast hosted by Jen Psaki. Each week she and her guests explore how the Democratic Party is facing this political moment and where it's headed next.
- [35:42]
Chris Hayes
There's probably both messaging and politics, but as you look to kind of where the Democratic Party is, do you think it's more a messaging issue, more a policy issue?
- [35:53]
Rachel Maddow
The Blueprint with Jen Psaki subscribe to MSNBC Premium on Apple podcasts for ad, free listening and bonus content.
- [36:03]
Chris Hayes
Tomorrow, the congressional seats that were vacated by Florida Republican Congressmen Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz will have their new occupants decided at the ballot box and special elections. Boy, those guys turned out to be great choices for Trump, right, huh? Those are the kinds of safe red seats that Republicans really shouldn't even have to campaign for. Gates won that seat in November by 32 points. Mike Waltz won that seat in November by 33 points. These seats shouldn't be competitive on paper, but despite that, Democrats are making a run for it in both of those districts, making Republicans fight for those seats, which itself is fascinating. So we'll be watching what happens in those Florida congressional elections tomorrow with great interest. But the legitimate toss up race tomorrow is of course happening in Wisconsin in the swing state that was closer than any other state in the country in last year's presidential election. Tomorrow is a race for a seat on Wisconsin's Supreme Court. It will dictate control of the highest court and arguably the nation's most competitive battleground that will substantively affect everything from abortion rights to gerrymandering to voting rights. Everything could potentially have a huge impact on, for example, the next presidential election. This is also the first statewide race we have had since Donald Trump came back into office. It has been the most expensive judicial race in history already, and the outcome is anybody's guess. Joining us now is Ben Wickler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. Ben, I know you have not slept in more than a month roughly. Tell us how you're feeling about this race heading into tomorrow.
- [37:45]
Michael Waltz
I am fired up. I'm fired up because across Wisconsin we've seen this extraordinary outpouring of regular folks finding time to knock on doors day after day after day, making Phone calls to everyone they know and people that they don't know. We've doubled our own spring organizing. Whoops. Spring organizing records in support of Susan Crawford, who's the kind of public servant that Elon Musk is trying to drum out of public service nationwide. She's a prosecutor. She served in state government as a, as a lawyer. She represented Planned Parenthood in a case called Planned Parenthood versus Brad Shimmel. Brad Schimmel's the Republican back candidate in this race. And what we've seen is a surge in early voting, a surge in grassroots donating, all the things that you need up against the world's richest man who's trying to buy this election on the other side. So we don't know what's going to happen. What we know is people have shown up in a massive, massive way. And the energy that's unleashed, I think could transform this election.
- [38:42]
Chris Hayes
When I saw the news at the end of last week that the President's top campaign donor, Mr. Musk, was planning on coming to Wisconsin to personally campaign for Mr. Schimmel in this race, I thought, wow, that's got to be good news for the Democrats. I thought that's got to be to bring the guy who has poured more money into this than is imaginable in a judicial race, to bring in somebody who's got a, a double digit underwater approval rating in this country, who a lot of people in this country feel like is taking over the US Government in absolutely the worst possibly imaginable terms. I imagine that has to actually kind of energize the other side in Wisconsin. That said, fans of Elon Musk and Donald Trump are probably excited to see him campaign this weekend as well. How do you think that all played out?
- [39:33]
Michael Waltz
Well, this is exactly the question. So Elon Musk has put in about $26 million. That's more than any person has ever put into any judicial election anywhere in American history. The ads that he's funding all over Wisconsin are ads about Donald Trump saying that Brad Schimmel will advance Trump's agenda. You have to vote for Brad Schimmel if you want to make sure that Trump can do the things he's trying to do. Their goal is to energize the mega base. It's to turn. It's not to persuade anyone, it's to turn out more Trump voters to turn out for Brad Schimmel. Now, the other side of that coin is that so many people, frankly, of all politics, especially Democrats, but independents, some Republicans feel like we are in a Moment of crisis, a national emergency in which this unelected mega billionaire is shredding Social Security, the Veterans Administration, the rule of law, they're trying to impeach judges federally. And here he is reaching into Wisconsin to try to buy our judicial system. And so this is a chance to fight back against that. And that has energized people. Brad Schimmel, there's a problem that Elon Musk trying to buy Brad Schimmel is the kind of corrupt mega politician he's selling. But voters have a chance to reject all of that, all that transactional extremist politics that we're seeing. And if we win, if the, the supporters of Susan Crawford are able to turn out at such a high level that Susan Crawford is the deciding vote on the state Supreme Court after this, it will show nationwide that no amount of money that Musk can pour in can overcome the fury that he's ignited through his and Donald Trump's attacks on the, the, the basis of middle class prosp, this country, the fundamental guarantees that our country is supposed to honor to people who serve our country in uniform, that the pushback can actually be more powerful than the attacks themselves. And in a moment of great darkness in this country, I think that that's a light that needs to be shined, shown. And I think in Wisconsin, voters are feeling the energy to actually bring that kind of light in this bleak night nationwide.
- [41:25]
Chris Hayes
Ben Wickler, chair of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, I know that you are in the throes of it. I know that. We'll be back here covering those results as they come in tomorrow night. Good luck to you, sir. Thanks for being with us.
- [41:37]
Michael Waltz
Thanks so much.
- [41:37]
Chris Hayes
All right, we'll be right back.
- [41:38]
Rachel Maddow
Stay with us.
- [41:43]
Chris Hayes
Update for you. A couple of weeks ago, we covered closely the story of a little agency, an independent nonprofit in Washington called the Institute of Peace. The so called DOGE outfit run by President Trump's top campaign donor, literally forced their way into this agency in an operation that reportedly involved the FBI, the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service and a private security firm. Bizarrely, the U.S. attorney's office in Washington, D.C. also threatened the leaders of this Institute of Peace, threatened them with criminal investigation and criminal prosecution. They ultimately called in Washington's Metropolitan Police Force who then physically evicted the staff of the institute and handed the headquarters over to Elon Musk, so called DOGE Team. That is how they got inside. Well now, new developments. Late Friday night, these people working for Trump's campaign donor Elon Musk, they tried to fire basically all of the employees of this institute, two or three hundred people, all fired in the wee hours on Friday night. The Washington Post reports that the termination notices that went out late on Friday night were, quote, riddled with mistakes, including misspellings of employees names, a misspelling of the institute's title, and a misspelling of the month of April. I mean, February maybe, but they can't spell April and they're in charge of destroying the American government. Can't our cartoonish villains at least be grown ups? How about May? Could you guys spell May? The thing that has always made this story even weirder and wilder than it already obviously is is that the US Institute of Peace isn't like part of the Executive branch. It's an independent nonprofit created by Congress over 40 years ago. It's largely funded by its own private endowment. The people who work there aren't federal government employees. The US Institute of Peace owns its own headquarters and controls the land the building sits on. But apparently now Donald Trump and his top campaign donor are trying to steal that building. Seriously. Included in a court filing tonight is this letter from the 28 year old Dogebro who has been installed as the ostensible new head of this institute, offering to give the institute's headquarters building to the General Services Administration, which is like the federal government's landlord. In my capacity as president of the United States Institute of Peace, says Child, I write to request that the General Services Administration accept transfer of excess property of the United States Institute of Peace. I have determined that USIP no longer needs the property. The institute's ousted leaders have asked a federal judge today to stop Doge and the Trump administration from stealing their building. Federal judge in Washington D.C. has scheduled a hearing on this for tomorrow morning. These guys have done some crazy stuff, but this is bananas. Watch this space. I have news. I have news that will make you happy. You know how Lawrence said he was going away for a week and then that week elapsed and he still didn't come back? He was gone for a whole nother week. That ends tomorrow. Lawrence is back tomorrow.
- [45:21]
Ben Wickler
Yay.
- [45:22]
Chris Hayes
He was under the weather. He had an infection, but he's all better. He's gonna be back tomorrow. I told you you would be happy to hear it. It's very exciting.
- [45:29]
Rachel Maddow
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