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The Rachel Maddow Show
'How is it possible that you have this job?': RFK Jr.'s incompetence becomes too glaring to overlook
00:43:19
From his cluelessness about critical cuts made to his agency, to his celebration of dangerous quackery, Robert. F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump's HHS secretary, is distinguishing himself as not only incompetent but dangerously so, leading a department with lives at stake. Rachel Maddow reports.
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- [00:00]
USAA Representative
Auto insurance can all seem the same until it comes time to use it. So don't get stuck paying more for less coverage. Switch to USAA auto insurance and you could start saving money in no time. Get a quote Today restrictions apply.
- [00:13]
Rachel Maddow
USAA Thumbtack presents the ins and outs of caring for your home out indecision, overthinking, second guessing every choice you make in plans and guides that make it easy to get home projects done out beige un beig knowing what to do, when to do it and who to hire. Start caring for your home with confidence. Download thumbtack Today it is Friday. It feels like this week has been about 100 days long. Admit it, but we have made it to Friday and I'm very glad that you are here with us tonight. There's so much to cover. But you know, because it's Friday, would you mind just indulging me for a second if I just started with something that has been stuck in my crawl? I know it's Friday. Tonight's going to be a little weird. Forgive me. Here it comes. You might remember a couple of days ago we reported on the results of a new national poll from Quinnipiac. You might remember some of the details. Trump underwater and his overall approval rating by 12 points. Trump underwater on his handling of the economy by 15 points. Americans saying that Trump's tariff gamble will cause immediate harm to the US economy by a 50 point margin saying what he's doing will hurt the US economy. You might remember we covered that Quinnipiac poll a couple of days ago. But Quinnipiac also had a couple of questions at the end of that poll that we didn't cover when we did it the other night. But they've been gnawing at me a little bit ever since. And the first one was this quote. As you may know, the editor of the Atlantic magazine was accidentally added to a group text chat on the messaging service Signal, where plans to launch airstrikes against a rebel group in Yemen were discussed. The chat included President Trump's national security adviser, the defense secretary, the vice president. Question is this. This is the polling question. How serious a problem do you think it is that the messaging service Signal was used to discuss these plans? Well, the proportion of Americans who said it was not a Serious problem was 22%. The proportion of Americans who said it was a somewhat serious or very Serious problem was 74%. So by a 52 point margin, Americans think that whole Signal thing was a big fricking. And indeed, in any other presidency, that would be the scandal that resulted in all the resignations. Right? That would be the end. And this administration, that's like one of 50 scandals of roughly that size in this past month alone. But, you know, nobody got fired for it, and nobody resigned, nobody got dinged. There were no consequences at all. And the American people disagree with that. The American people think at least somebody should have been fired for that signal thing, which was a big deal. This is from that Quinnipiac poll. Do you think someone in the Trump administration should lose their job over the Signal group chat incident or not? Yes, somebody should have lost their job over that says 61% of the American public, 31% say no. But that means by a 30 point margin, the American people this week are like, wow, hey, yeah, that was a big deal and somebody should have been fired for that. But no one was fired for that. Now, though, a new CBS News report gives us a little window into what it's like at the upper, upper, upper, upper echelons of this administration and what a tight ship they're running up there on their communications, especially with the people at the very, very top of the United States government. This is from CBS News. On March 3, several days before Atlantic magazine editor Jeffrey Goldberg was mistakenly added to a group chat with top Trump national security advisers, retired Lt. Gen. H.R. mcMaster received an unexpected call on his personal cell phone. It was from the White House, and he was instructed by the voice on the other end of the line to stand by for the President of the United States. McMaster had served as national security adviser during President Trump's first term. He was surprised to hear from Mr. Trump at call, but Trump opened the call by saying Henry before launching into conversation. It was then that General McMaster knew this familiar voice was indeed Donald Trump. But he also realized something else. Trump had not intended to call him at all. General McMaster goes by HR short for Herbert Raymond, not Henry. McMaster then said into the phone, Mr. President, this is HR McMaster. Trump responded by saying, why the f would I talk to HR McMaster? Quote? The call was brief. Two sources telling CBS News that the president had actually intended to call South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, not his former national security advisor, who he hates, H.R. mcMaster, quote. It is unclear who bears responsibility for dialing the wrong McMaster and putting him directly on the phone with the President of the United States. That said, the White House communication director did respond to CBS News by giving them a statement caustically criticizing HR McMaster, as if any of this was his fault. So this is just a few days Before Trump's new national security adviser put a journalist on a group text chat about the down to the minute details of forthcoming US Military plans. Just a few days before that, Trump himself called up HR McMaster when he was trying to call a totally different guy named McMaster. And when the guy he actually called interrupted and said, Mr. President, I'm H.R. mcMaster, the president responded by saying, oh, why would I want to talk to you, sir? You called me. Can I give you another. I'm sorry, it's Friday. I have worn through my filter. I just cannot even with this being the government of the United States of America. But let me. Let me just give you one more. All right. This is also this week, you may recall that Trump appointed a pro wrestling executive named Linda to be the Secretary of education. Linda McMahon. Right? Turning out to be a weird job because both she and Donald Trump say that her job as Secretary of Education is to shut down the Department of Education. Kind of a strange job. Still, though, Linda McMahon, Trump's education secretary, found time in her busy schedule to go to a conference this week, a conference on artificial intelligence. An American Education. It's a whole conference about AI. Artificial intelligence. AI, that's what we call it, right? AI. AI. Unless you're Trump's education secretary, in case that abbreviation AI Turns out. That's a really hard one.
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Linda McMahon
I heard, I think it was a letter or report that I heard this morning. I wish I could remember the source, but that there is a school system that's going to start making sure that first graders or even pre Ks have A1 teaching every year starting that far down in the grades. And that's a wonderful thing.
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Rachel Maddow
See the other people on stage with her going, she's the Secretary of Education. She's talking. Wait, what are we talking about here?
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Linda McMahon
Or that first graders or even pre Ks have A1 teaching, you know, every year, starting, you know, that far down in the grades. And that's just a. That's a wonderful thing. Kids are sponges. They just absorb everything. And so wasn't all that long ago that it's. We're going to have Internet in our schools.
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Rachel Maddow
Whoo.
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Linda McMahon
Now, okay, let's do CA1. And how. And how can that be helpful?
- [08:26]
Rachel Maddow
Now, I myself, I love me some A1. It's tangy, really brings out the best in a steak or whatever. But A one, I mean, it's. It's not like an education term of art, like K12 or something, right? Or. Or pre K, you know what I mean? Like, A one is a whole different thing.
- [08:53]
Linda McMahon
In our schools now. Okay, let's do see a 1. And how. And how can that be helpful?
- [09:00]
Rachel Maddow
How can that be helpful? How can that be helpful? So this is like. This is an anagram that you spell out. It's not like NASA where you don't say N, A, S, A. You just like, pronounce the anagram as if it's a word. This is the whole anagram spelled out. It's artificial intelligence. A and then I AI and she cannot spell that. So now we've got tangy, salty A1 in all the schools. And that will somehow be facilitated by abolishing the U. S. Department of Education, which, you know, it'll be delicious. I'm just. I. I mean, I can't. Everything they're doing is so terrible. I'm sorry. We're going to be talking tonight about Social Security. We now know that one of the reasons apparently, that they are tanking Social Security and destroying that agency and making it unusable and no longer functional for the people who depend on Social Security every month is apparently because they're stripping it down for parts. While Social Security recipients have not been able to get through to Social Security either on the phone or, or online or in person, and people are starting to miss Social Security checks, and they're firing thousands of people who work at Social Security. Social Security Agency has also reportedly converted the data systems from the Social Security Agency to be used as a way to target immigrants. So we can't get people their checks anymore. But Social Security administration data systems are being used to target immigrants by having the Social Security system declare immigrant dead in order to mess with them and make it impossible for them to live. I mean, that's a, that's a thing that they're doing. In the Mahmoud Khalil case, the Trump administration has now admitted they have put in writing that the US Government under Donald Trump believes it has the right to target individual people and expel them from this country, not just on the basis of their speech, of the things they say, but of things they might say someday or even that they might just secretly believe or that they might in the future believe. Trump's Secretary of State, Margaret Rubio now claims that he has the right to expel people living in the United States legally. He has the right to expel people who are legally here to make it illegal for them to stay based on, quote, past current or expected beliefs, statements or associations that are otherwise lawful. Expected beliefs or statements. They're saying they can tell in advance that at some point in the future, you are going to hold a belief that they do not like, and that is enough for the government to arrest you and put you in an immigration prison indefinitely before eventually maybe flying you to some other country. Expected beliefs and expected statements, things you have not yet said, will be used against you. We've got news today that the Trump administration is planning on closing down the National Severe Storms Laboratory, which studies storms like tornadoes, and planning on closing down every other research lab and research office at NOAA and the National Weather Service. And it is seemingly because they do not understand the noun climate. They do not understand that the word climate sometimes just means the weather, doesn't always mean climate change. But because of the close association of the word weather and climate, they're planning on shutting down all weather research because they don't understand what the basic nouns involved are. Okay, and then there's Health and Human Services, run by Donald Trump's handpicked secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Have fired 10,000 people from the nation's health agencies in the last couple of weeks. They have cut billions and billions and billions of dollars in health research and health programs. But apparently somebody forgot to tell Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. That that's what he. You proposed more than $11 billion in cuts to local and state programs addressing things like infectious disease, mental health, addiction, and childhood vaccination. Did you personally approve those cuts? I'm not familiar with those cuts. You know, I mean, there's. We'd have to go.
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Alex Lawson
We'd have to go.
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Rachel Maddow
There's like more than 50 pages of, you know, of cuts that I actually went through were mainly DEI cuts, which the president were a lot. But I'll give you, for example, about $750,000 of a university of Michigan grant into adolescent diabetes was cut. Did you know that? I didn't know that. And that's something that we'll look at. I'm not familiar with those cuts. I'm not familiar with those cuts. Those cuts are mainly DEI cuts. We cut infectious disease and mental health and addiction. That sounds like a terrible idea. We cut adolescent diabetes stuff. Well, that's something that will. Will look at. I thought these were all DEI cuts. As of today, all of the full time employees at the Vessel Sanitation Program at the CDC are off the job. Every full time employee. What's the Vessel Sanitation Program? It's the thing that fights noroviruses on cruise ships. At least a dozen outbreaks have been documented on cruise ships so far this year, sickening dozens or even Hundreds of people at each one of those outbreaks. All of the full time employees at CDC's Vessel Sanitation Program are now off the job. Those are all DEI cuts are cruises Gay, because it's cruising. I mean, what do you, how does that work? How is it possible you have this job? But while Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Claims to know nothing about the massive cuts he has made at the various agencies he runs. Or maybe it wasn't him. Hey, if it wasn't you, who did them, One thing he does claim to be very engaged on is the ongoing measles outbreak in West Texas. Right. One of the worst measles outbreaks this country has seen in decades. In fact, Canada this week personally visited the epicenter of the outbreak. He attended the funeral of an 8 year old child who's died of measles. There a second kid that this measles outbreak has killed. Kennedy then posted to social media photos of him visiting with the families who lost children to the measles as well as two of the doctors who had been treating them. He called those doctors extraordinary healers. He claimed they had treated and healed some 300 measles stricken children using steroids and an antibiotic. One of those doctors had touted the same steroid as a cure for COVID 19. He said he had realized the steroids life saving potential. Thanks to divine intervention. He discovered that this steroid was a cure for COVID 19. He said, quote, while I was asleep, an answer to prayer came to me. Well, he thinks it cures COVID 19. He now also thinks it cures measles. It's the same medication. I don't know if it was the same dream or whatever, but it's basically an asthma inhaler that he says cures Covid and cures measles. And not to state the obvious, but asthma inhalers do not cure COVID 19 or the measles. Dr. Paul Offit is director of the Vaccine Education center at Children's Hospital Philadelphia. He tells NBC News that in fact steroids should not be given early in the course of a viral infection like measles. Measles. Because steroids inhibit the immune system. Quote that's not what you want to do. Your immune system works for you to fight measles. But the I think that inhaled steroids from an asthma inhaler cure Covid and cure the measles. That's one of the two doctors our nation's health secretary is endorsing for his miracle working in this out of control measles outbreak. The other doctor he's endorsing is a sort of rising star in the anti vaccine movement who says mass infection with measles of the kind that we're seeing in this out of control outbreak in Texas is, quote, God's version of measles immunization. From an NBC news report this week, Dr. Ben Edwards, a conventionally trained doctor who has shifted to promoting natural remedies and prayer, has been operating a makeshift clinic in Seminole, Texas, offering children unproven treatments, including, according to a video posted by an anti vaccine group, while he himself said he was sick with measles. So just. I know I've just said the word measles a lot, but just focus in on this for a second. What I'm saying here is actually what you think you heard. This is a doctor who advises against the measles vaccine and who is promoting these quack treatments. There is no treatment for measles. Right. There's supportive care so that you hopefully don't die from it. But there's no cure for measles. Antibiotics and steroids aren't a cure for measles, but he's saying they're not promoting vaccination, instead promoting these quack treatments. And he is treating patients in this largely unvaccinated community in Texas, and he is doing so while he himself has. The measles Activists from RFK Jr. S Anti Vaccine group, the one that he founded, went to this doctor's makeshift clinic in the middle of this measles outbreak. And standing there in his clinic where he was seeing patients and their families, he told them on camera that he himself was in the midst of a measles infection. How are you feeling? Touching measles yourself? Yeah, I was pretty achy yesterday. Yeah. Did you ever not have measles as a child? No, I had MMR. How many MMRs do you have? I'd have to go back and look. Quite a few. Yeah. That doesn't work then, does it? No, apparently not.
- [19:10]
Linda McMahon
Just wear off.
- [19:11]
Rachel Maddow
But you're feeling all right today? I'm better, yeah. It just spots here or on your body as well? Just my face. Yesterday afternoon I was achy. Friday afternoon, achy started. And yesterday's pretty achy. Little mild fever spots came in the afternoon. Today I woke up feeling good. So, mild case. You're an amazing human being. You should know that. Thank God for you.
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Alex Lawson
I know.
- [19:36]
Rachel Maddow
We don't want to keep you up with your people. Just doing what any doctor should be doing. Just doing what any doctor should be doing. Again, that's a video from RFK Jr. S Anti Vaccine group that he founded. I'll tell you, this is what the CDC says about the contagiousness of measles. The CDC is an agency now run by RFK Jr. But if you ask them what about the contagiousness of measles, they will tell you, quote, if you have measles, up to 90% of the people close to you who are not immune will also become infected. You can spread measles to others from four days before through four days after the rash appears. So there is this doctor in Texas who has active measles infection, who has spots on his face. He has just come down with a rash. He says the day before he is asking people in this highly unvaccinated community to bring themselves and their family members in to see him while he himself has just sprung his own measles rash. So you've got a guy who is basically a drinking fountain of measles in that very vulnerable community that is at the center of that outbreak. Dr. Edwards declined comment to NBC News. But our nation's new Health and Human Services secretary, he says that that Texas doctor, those two Texas doctors are quote, extraordinary healers. This is unfolding as Secretary Kennedy has forced out the nation's top vaccine regulator. You may recall that when Dr. Peter Marks quit a couple of weeks ago, he submitted a resignation letter that called out what he called RFK's misinformation and lies. In an interview with the Associated press this week, Dr. Mar was more specific about the reason he left. There was a confrontation, quote, shortly before he was forced to resign. The nation's top vaccine regulator says he refused to grant Health Secretary Kennedy's team unrestricted access to a tightly held vaccine safety database. Fearing that the information might be manipulated or even deleted. Dr. Marks agreed to give Kennedy's associates the ability to read thousands of reports of potential vaccine related issues sent to the government's vaccine adverse event reporting system. But he would not allow them to directly edit the data. Mark's telling the Associated Press, quote, why wouldn't we? Because frankly, we don't trust them. He said, using a profanity, he said, quote, they'd write it over or erase the whole database. So the nation's top vaccine expert says he was pushed out of the US Government because he was trying to stop RFK and his allies from corrupting the nation's database on vaccine safety. And now at an all for show cabinet meeting in the White House this week, RFK told the cameras and told President Trump that he's going to announce to the nation the cause of autism by September of this year. Now that he's pushed out the vaccine expert and gotten access to the vaccine safety database. Oh, and put an anti vaccine crank in charge of the quote, unquote, study he's going to do on the totally repeatedly debunked supposed link between vaccines and autism. Huh. I wonder what he's going to say causes autism. As for Kennedy's claim that he is going to have this whole autism thing sorted out in just a few months, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network says in a statement that it, quote, demonstrates his disregard for scientific studies as, quote, real science does not move at that speed. They add, quote, when top officials spread misinformation about autism, autistic people suffer. And the top vaccine regulator is not the only top health official Kennedy's fired. When I spoke last week with former FDA commissioner David Kessler, Dr. Kessler said that among the people Trump and RFK have just fired was the doctor who very well may have saved Donald Trump's life. When Donald Trump got Covid during his first term.
- [23:34]
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Remember that night that he was taken by helicopter to Walter Reed, he was having difficulty breathing. He had Covid. He was very sick. He was given two monoclonal antibodies. He referenced those as miracles. There were cures. All of a sudden, he got better. I mean, he could have died. But for those drugs Dr. Peter Stein's office approved, made available those drugs to the president and to thousands of others. Peter Stein was fired, was let go. I don't think the president knows that. Someone needs to walk into the Oval office and say, Mr. President, we just fired the person who may have saved your life.
- [24:30]
Rachel Maddow
Dr. Peter Stein, the guy who very well might have saved Donald Trump's life with those miracle cures, the real ones, monoclonal antibodies. He's one of about 10,000 people that Trump and Robert F. Kennedy have fired at the nation's health agencies. But, you know, don't worry. RFK said a few days ago that a whole bunch of those people were fired by mistake. They're all going to be hired back. It was all a big misunderstanding. You might remember this, right? RFK told reporters, quote, personnel that should not have been cut were cut. We're reinstating them. And that was always the plan. Part of the at doge, we talked about this from the beginning, is we're going to do 80% cuts, but 20% of those are going to have to be reinstated because we'll make mistakes. Well, that was always the plan. Kennedy said that the elimination of the CDC's entire lead poisoning prevention and surveillance branch was among the mistakes. So you might have seen the coverage of that a few days ago, Right? Oh, Kennedy admits we cut the whole lead poisoning prevention office. Ooh. By mistake. That sounds bad. That was a mistake. It was a mistake, but it was also part of the plan. Those are the kinds of people we'll be getting back. Did you assume that meant that those people were coming back? This is the part where the big narrator voice comes in and says they did not get those folks back. RFK Jr. Said HHS would rehire thousands of fired workers. That wasn't true. A person familiar with the department's plans tells Politico that HHS has no intention of reinstating any significant number of the staffers fired, despite Kendall Kennedy's assertion that some had only mistakenly been cut. Kennedy's vow to rehire workers, quote, surprised White House and HHS officials. Because there were no such rehiring plans, the employees are not expected to be rehired. Instead, it became the latest disheartening episode for a workforce that had held out hope that some cuts would be reversed. So they're not bringing it back. As for the people who do remain at hhs, now, how are things going for them? Quote, RFK warned Food and Drug Administration staff about the influence of the deep state on the agency. In an all hands meeting today, Friday, where he also made off color comments about children with developmental disabilities, FDA employees gathered at the agency's headquarters for a viewing party to watch the FDA commissioner and HHS secretary, who spoke from a separate room in the same building. The meeting quickly turned to warnings of the deep state and the influence of the CIA. According to audio and transcripts obtained by Bloomberg News, Kennedy told HHS staff, quote, the deep state is real. He said the fda, like other agencies, became captured by the industries they're supposed to regulate. He said the agency turned away dissidents and people who touted alternative medicines, like, say, people who discover miraculous cures for pandemics in their dreams and then it turns out they think it's the cure to everything. Or people who say that instead of the historic public health victory that we've had off mass measles vaccination, we should instead go with God's version of measles immunization, which is just everybody gets measles. People like, you know, the guys who set up clinics for unvaccinated measles patients and their families and then treat them while they themselves are infected. With measles, one of the most contagious viruses on the planet. Yeah, for too long such people have been turned away by America's health agencies. But not anymore, apparently. Now they get to destroy the US Government's health agencies and take over themselves. It's Friday. There's a ton to get to. I know, but Lord have mercy, stay with us.
- [28:28]
USAA Representative
Auto insurance can all seem the same until it comes time to use it. So don't get stuck paying more for less coverage. Switch to USAA Auto insurance and you could start saving money in no time. Get a quote today. Restrictions apply.
- [28:40]
Capella University Representative
Usaa Earn a business degree on your terms at Capella University. Our Flexpath format is available in select programs and lets you learn on your schedule. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more at Capella. Edu.
- [28:59]
Rachel Maddow
Hey guys, have you heard of Gold Belly? It's this amazing site where they ship the most iconic famous foods from restaurants across the country anywhere nationwide. I've never found a more perfect gift than food. They ship Chicago deep dish pizza, New York bagels, Maine lobster rolls, and even Ina Garten's famous cakes. So if you're looking for a gift for the food lover in your head to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code gift. Here's a sign of life. Today we saw a sign of life in terms of somebody fighting back for people who really need somebody to fight back for them. You might remember we reported this week on something happening in Arizona. The State Attorney General's office in Arizona created this simple, easy to use online one page form for anybody in Arizona who's having trouble with their Social Security. You can use this form to tell the state Attorney General's office about the trouble you're having with Social Security. That means that what you're going through is documented. It means the Attorney General's office can potentially act on that information. It's possible you might be able to get some help. Bottom line, you are not in this alone. Your state wants to try to help. Great. We had Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays here on the show earlier this week and she walked us through it. I wondered on the air when I was talking with her if any other states were trying this same kind of thing. We didn't know of any that night. We have since looked this week and we could not find any other state or any other entity really doing anything else like that. But today, good news. That changed today. Michigan's Attorney General Dana Nessel launched her own page it's an online web form for people who live in Michigan to report the disruptions that they are experiencing in trying to get their Social Security benefits or contact the agency. So that means Michigan and Arizona are now both doing this. And that is good news on that front today. Honestly, if the federal government is failing here, every state should try to step up and help elderly and disabled people in their states with this problem. Right? For now, we've got two blue states. We've got Arizona and Michigan. Democratic officials in both of those states stepping up to try to help. Good. Now for the bad news. In addition to the thousands of people who have been fired from Social Security field offices across the country and from the Social Security Administration in Washington, Wired magazine reports today that at the Social Security Administration, quote, the regional office workforce will soon be cut by roughly 87%. 87% on top of what they've already done, an 87% cut in the workforce at Social Security's regional offices. At a time when Social Security customer service is already absolutely collapsing. Right. I mean, why are Arizona and Michigan attorneys general standing up, stepping up to try to help people in their state? It's because the administration, the Trump administration is collapsing Social Security. All of these news reports are just from the past week. The New York Times, quote, just a mess. Staff cuts, rush changes and anxiety at Social Security. Wall Street Journal hours in line, cutoff calls, accessing Social Security in the era of Doge. The Washington Post Social Security website keeps crashing as DOGE demands cuts to it staff. Business Insider, AARP sounds the alarm on Social Security's startling and sudden decline in customer service. I mean, all over the country we're seeing example after example after example of people going to Social Security to try to solve a routine problem. And there are more and more and more routine problems as the agency collapses. But when people try to sort these things out, they're being met with just a Kafkaesque nightmare again. Just this week, the LA Times sent reporters down to local Social Security field offices in Southern California. At one office, they found a 60 year old woman, Camilla Sosa, who, quote, said she waited on hold over the phone for about two hours on Friday. She had not received a letter from Social Security that she needs to allow her to open a new bank account. She wasn't able to get a straight answer about why an agency, employer, excuse me, an agency employee told her that without an appointment, she would have to wait for three hours. Oh, no, that's so long. She said she decided to leave and try again another day. Social Security employees handed out a flyer with a phone number and a QR code that people could scan with their phones to make an appointment. But the website kept returning an error message. At another office, quote, security guards did not allow anyone inside the building without an appointment. One woman leaning on a walker approached the doors after getting out of an Uber. She said she had an appointment. The security guard looked at her paperwork and said her appointment was for a phone call and someone from the agency was scheduled to call her. We don't have anything for you here right now, the guard said. Someone who understands what all this means and what potential interventions are possible joins us here next. Stay with us.
- [34:10]
USAA Representative
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- [34:26]
Capella University Representative
Imagine what's possible in your business career when learning doesn't get in the way of life. At Capella University, our game changing flexpath learning format is available in select business programs and lets you learn at a time and pace that works for you. That means you don't have to put your life on hold while earning your business degree. Instead, enjoy learning your way and earn your degree without missing a beat. A different future is closer than you think with Capella University. Learn more@capella.edu oh my God, it's the coolest thing ever. Hey guys, have you heard of Goldbelly? Well, check this out. It's this amazing site where they ship the most iconic famous foods from rustic restaurants across the country, anywhere nationwide. I've never found a more perfect gift than food. They ship Chicago deep dish pizza, New York bagels, Maine lobster rolls, and even Ina Garten's famous cakes. Seriously. So if you're looking for a gift for the food lover in your Life, head to goldbelly.com and get 20% off your first order with promo code Gift.
- [35:31]
Rachel Maddow
This is from the Los Angeles Times. When Veronica Sanchez called a Social Security hotline Thursday, she waited two hours before her call was abruptly disconnected. On Friday, she was on hold for six hours and still did not get through to anyone. For Ms. Sanchez, the stakes are high. If she does not obtain a medical letter from the agency by April 15, her parents risk losing about $2,500 a month in medical care. That said, even if Sanchez shows up in person to contact the agency, she's not likely to speak to an agent. Field offices are no longer accepting walk appointments. If Sanchez did not reach someone from Social Security this week, she worried her parents, particularly her mother, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis so severe she struggles to hold a coffee cup. She worries they could end up in the hospital. Sanchez described her parents situation to the LA Times like this, quote, if they don't have the caregiver that's coming by to monitor their sugar in the morning to do the blood pressure readings, she says, quote, I don't even want to think about the worst case scenario. They will definitely be in a very, very bad situation. Joining us now is Alex Lawson, executive director of the nonprofit Social Security works. Mr. Lawson, thanks very much for being with us tonight. I really appreciate it.
- [36:43]
Alex Lawson
Thanks for having me.
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Rachel Maddow
So we've been following what we can about what the Trump administration is doing to the Social Security administration. We've also been following these anecdotal and journalistic reports about what's happening when real people are running into regular kinds of problems that they would usually sort out by contacting the agency. And it does feel like anecdotally again, it feels like things are in free fall. I wanted to just sort of gut check that with you as somebody who watches this agency closely.
- [37:12]
Alex Lawson
Yeah. For 15 years, you know, I've said, you know, have confidence your checks are going to get into your hands. For 90 years, Social Security turns 90 this year. For 90 years, through war and peace, through boom and bomb trust, through health and pandemic, not a single payment has been missed. But months after this billionaire gets in there, that's changed, Rachel. And I wish I had a better answer for people, but I don't. This is going to the end in checks, not going out, the money that we have earned not getting into our hands. And I believe strongly that that's the point. Point. The cuts they've made have no other rhyme or reason except to literally destroy the system.
- [38:04]
Rachel Maddow
We reported this week on the attorney general's office in Arizona led by Chris Mays, and now today on the attorney general's office in Michigan led by Dana Nestle, both setting up online, one page, very simple web hubs, basically individual forms online where people who are having trouble in those states accessing their Social Security benefits or contacting the agency, they can at least report it to their state attorney general's office. So the attorney general's office can document it so they can potentially act on that information, potentially so they can get those people some help. I feel like that's good news because somebody's trying and because they've got the resources of a government agency behind them. And people can't fix these problems on their own. What else is happening to try to help people out, to try to remedy some of the failures that we're seeing because of what Trump's doing to this agency.
- [38:52]
Alex Lawson
So the truth is that unfortunately, people are going to have to take it upon themselves to protect themselves at this point. It's great that the attorneys general in Arizona and Michigan are doing something, but, you know, you've seen Republicans in Congress, they're complicit in this. They're allowing Elon Musk and Donald Trump to destroy the Social Security administration. So we're advising people to make sure they have a hard copy of their benefit, their Social Security file, it says their wage history and importantly what their benefit is. Have a hard copy of that. Because we're not sure if the online, the digital is going to be there after these Doge goons are done with their chainsawing. We also advise people to get in contact with the constituent services staff in their federal elected representatives offices, both their senators and their representative. Now, this is the constituent services side. And get a phone number, get an email, let them know that you're worried about you or your loved one's benefits and want to be able to be in contact with them if a penny is missing or if it's late or if it doesn't show up at all. And most importantly, I think is look for the most vulnerable in your community and in whatever network you're in, a church, a book, group, whatever it is, understand that Social Security is a system that relies on us. It's there for us, but it does care for the most vulnerable. Like 102-year-old, right. Or somebody who has faced a life changing illness or injury and can no longer work due to disability. Make sure that these folks are not alone. Because a missed check for some people is a death sentence. A missed check for some people is going to mean that they are out on the street. So we have to come together and understand that when this catastrophic failure happens, and I believe it will, there's no indication that they're trying to fix things, just accelerate it. 73 million people rely on Social Security. Imagine the chaos that will come when those checks don't go out. Rachel, it is going to be a scenario that's hard to imagine how catastrophic it'll be.
- [41:20]
Rachel Maddow
So much attention in the media on this, on the big dollar things that have been happening around tariffs and the national economy right now, I think as much or more attention needs to be paid to the small dollar question of those individual monthly checks going to the some of the most vulnerable people in the country. This is deadly stuff. Alex Lawson, executive director of the nonprofit Social Security Works. We'll have you back soon. We'd love to keep talking about this.
- [41:43]
Alex Lawson
Thanks so much.
- [41:45]
Rachel Maddow
All right, we'll be right back. One of the weirdest stories we covered this weird week was about Trump's new deputy FBI director, tough guy P podcaster Dan Bongino. Unlike previous deputy directors of the FBI, for some reason, Mr. Bongino is going to have bodyguards protecting him day and night, 24 hours a day. Other deputy directors of the FBI have never had this, but he's going to have full time protection, which could require as many as 20 agents. NBC News reporting. Quote, the previous deputy FBI director was assigned a single agent part time to accompany him to certain events. But the new deputy director, the tough guy podcast host with the arms, he apparently will have bodyguards following him at all times, including inside secure FBI facilities, which, yes, includes FBI headquarters in Washington. They will also be watching him while he's sleeping around the clock watching Dan for some reason. But it turns out Dan is not alone. We're paying for more inexplicable bodies cards. If you are lucky enough to still have a local paper where you live, I hope you subscribe. If so, you may have seen headlines this week about your beloved local library or local museum. Headlines like this Mississippi libraries face cuts due to executive order or public libraries in Georgia brace for federal cuts or federal cuts leave Rochester museums scrambling to fund major projects. This one in Wisconsin. Small Wisconsin libraries may be hit hard as Trump targets federal funding in the Northwest. Federal funding pulled from Washington state libraries. Among the library operations that Trump is going after are the operations at the Washington Talking Book and Braille Library in Seattle. Yeah. Remember when Donald Trump campaigned for president at those big rallies when he would yell and promise that he was going to close all the local libraries. Yeah. Shut down the. Remember when he campaigned on that? Yeah, me neither. But that is the news this week because that's what he's doing. The Trump administration abruptly terminating all federal funding for museums and libraries all across the country. So as they're doing that, you should know that this is the guy. Hi. Who Donald Trump put in charge of gutting the federal institute that provides funding for local libraries and museums. And the Trump administration likes to give multiple jobs to the same people. And so this one guy in charge of cutting off all libraries in the country has also been given the job of deputy secretary of labor and in that capacity, he has now decided that the Labor Department must pay for him to have a round the clock, 24 hour a day security detail. Him too. As Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo reports, when this guy first asked for a security detail, the only things he could point to to justify the security detail were, quote, weird looks he felt he was getting from people around the department. Also, an email from another department sent to a mutual acquaintance calling him a toady who was unqualified for his job despite the fact that that was his claimed reason for needing bodyguards. That was apparently enough. He was provided, quote, with a security detail for a little more than a week. Then, though the Department of Labor was not staffed to provide him with an ongoing full time security detail. That led to the Department of Labor advertising eight new positions at its Division of Protective Operations for a rough total of about $2 million a year. Most or all of this is entirely for the purpose of protecting this one guy. So with all the tens and hundreds of thousands of people being laid off from their federal government jobs, you know, park rangers, cancer researchers, people who answer the phone at Social Security, we can afford an extra $2 million a year. So this one guy can get a security detail while he goes around cutting funding off from local museums and libraries and playing the number two job in the Labor Department because, you know, efficiency. All right, that's going to do it for me tonight. I will see you again Monday and every night next week at 9:00pm Eastern here on MSNBC. Thanks for being with us this week. It was a year, but we'll do it all again next week.
- [46:22]
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