Massive 'No Kings' protest expected to rain on Donald Trump's (military) parade

Summary

The Rachel Maddow Show: Massive 'No Kings' Protest Expected to Rain on Donald Trump's (Military) Parade
Release Date: May 6, 2025
Host: Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

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Introduction: A Tumultuous Start to Trump's Second Term

In this episode, Rachel Maddow delves into the chaotic onset of Donald Trump's second presidential term, marked by a series of aviation disasters and systemic failures within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The discussion sets the stage for understanding the broader implications of Trump's administration on national infrastructure and public safety.

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Section 1: A Cascade of Aviation Disasters

Maddow begins by recounting a harrowing sequence of plane crashes that occurred within the first few weeks of Trump's second term:

• January 29th: A mid-air collision near Reagan National Airport resulted in 67 fatalities.
• Subsequent Days: Multiple crashes followed, including a medical transport plane in Philadelphia (6 fatalities), a United Airlines plane in Houston catching fire, and several other incidents across the country, culminating in over 50 fatalities within a month.

Notable Quote:
"At this point, we're not yet one month into Donald Trump's second term, but it just keeps going."
— Rachel Maddow [00:00]

These incidents highlight severe lapses in aviation safety and raise questions about the FAA's oversight under Trump's leadership.

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Section 2: The FAA Under Siege

Maddow scrutinizes the instability within the FAA, exacerbated by political interference:

• Elon Musk's Influence: Trump's top campaign donor publicly demanded the resignation of the FAA administrator after fines were levied against SpaceX, leading to the administrator's resignation and Trump's failure to promptly appoint a qualified replacement.
• Sean Duffy's Appointment: Trump appointed Sean Duffy, a transportation secretary with no aviation experience, whose alarming statements about potential fatalities underscored the administration's neglect of critical aviation infrastructure.

Notable Quote:
"If we don't build a brand new system, there's going to be failures and people will lose their lives."
— Sean Duffy [system's section]

The lack of a competent FAA leadership has led to systemic failures, including communication blackouts at Newark Liberty International Airport, causing extensive flight cancellations and delays.

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Section 3: Nationwide Protests and Public Outcry

The episode shifts focus to the grassroots movements rising in opposition to Trump's policies:

• Social Security Defenders: Senators and Congress members, including Bernie Sanders and Jamie Raskin, rally to protect Social Security from Trump's proposed cuts and mismanagement.

  Bernie Sanders' Stand:
  "Social Security's never missed a payment in 90 years."
  [12:39]

• Mass Protests Across the Country: From San Bruno, California, to Kalamazoo County, Michigan, thousands gather to defend Social Security and oppose Trump's immigration policies. Notable incidents include:

  • Tucson, Arizona: Protests erupted when Trump's immigration agents attempted to seize a woman and her newborn at a maternity ward.
  • Nashville, Tennessee: Mass arrests by immigration agents prompted local officials to investigate the legality of the actions.

Notable Quote:
"Senators and members of Congress ... trying to stop the confirmation ... of Trump's nominee ... to run Social Security."
— Rachel Maddow [12:39]

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Section 4: The Power of Persistent Protest

Maddow and guest Ezra Levin, co-founder of Indivisible, discuss the effectiveness of sustained, localized protests:

• Echoing Across the Nation: Repeated demonstrations have pressured Republican lawmakers to oppose Trump's initiatives, such as cutting Head Start programs and AmeriCorps, showcasing the undeniable influence of public dissent.

  Ezra Levin on Protest Impact:
  "What we are doing with mass protest ... is sending a very strong signal."
  [29:31]

• Cultural Shifts: Continuous activism has cultivated a societal environment where capitulating to Trump's demands is increasingly viewed as socially unacceptable, compelling various sectors to reconsider their stance.

Notable Quote:
"A coalition of groups ... are organizing a nationwide day of protest for June 14th. They're calling it No Kings Day."
— Rachel Maddow [27:23]

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Section 5: Trump's Planned Military Parade and the 'No Kings Day' Movement

The episode culminates in the discussion of Trump's ambition to host a grand military parade to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and his own birthday, June 14th. This planned spectacle, reminiscent of authoritarian displays, has galvanized opposition:

• Trump's Vision vs. Feasibility: Trump's desire for tanks to parade through Washington, D.C., faces logistical challenges due to their weight, leading to a scaled-down version in his first term.

• 'No Kings Day' Opposition: In response, groups like Indivisible and Social Security Works are orchestrating a nationwide protest to counteract Trump's display of power. The movement emphasizes that true power resides with the people, not in staged military might.

Notable Quote:
"Donald Trump does not own the flag. He does not own patriotism."
— Ezra Levin [27:44]

Maddow highlights the unity and collective effort driving the 'No Kings Day' protests, underscoring the democratic principle that no individual should wield absolute power.

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Section 6: Policy Pushback and Legislative Responses

Throughout the episode, Maddow examines how consistent protests have led to legislative pushback against Trump's policies:

• Reversal of Cuts: Faced with steadfast resistance, the Trump administration has rescinded its plans to eliminate Head Start programs and is facing internal opposition to cuts in AmeriCorps and LIHEAP.

• Republican Pushback: Surprisingly, some Republican lawmakers are now opposing Trump's cuts due to constituent pressure, indicating a fracturing within his support base.

Notable Quote:
"Republican members of Congress are also now realizing that they better start pushing back on Trump's plan to kill AmeriCorps."
— Rachel Maddow [33:02]

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Section 7: Closing Remarks and Future Outlook

Rachel Maddow wraps up the episode by acknowledging the resilience of protest movements and their role in holding the administration accountable. She emphasizes the importance of continued public engagement to ensure that democratic institutions and services remain protected against authoritarian impulses.

Notable Quote:
"The system is up and running. It's not a great system, but it's a system."
— Rachel Maddow [33:02]

Maddow assures listeners that the collective efforts of citizens will continue to shape the nation's trajectory, advocating for sustained activism and vigilance.

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Additional Highlights: Transition to New Hosts and Upcoming Features

The episode also includes brief segments introducing new MSNBC shows and hosts, highlighting transitions within the network's programming. Noteworthy introductions include:

• Weeknight on MSNBC: A new show featuring Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele, and Simone Sanders Townsend that airs weekdays at 7 PM ET.
• The Briefing with Jen Psaki: Announced to premiere soon, featuring former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki, signaling a continuation of in-depth political analysis.

Notable Quote:
"The Briefing with Jen Psaki ... premieres tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern."
— Rachel Maddow [37:50]

These segments underscore MSNBC's commitment to providing comprehensive coverage of political developments and fostering informed discourse.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Rachel Maddow effectively weaves a narrative that connects systemic governmental failures, particularly within aviation safety, to broader themes of authoritarianism and public resistance. Through detailed analysis and the incorporation of firsthand accounts from activists like Ezra Levin, the show paints a comprehensive picture of the challenges and responses defining Trump's second term. The anticipation of the 'No Kings Day' protest serves as a rallying call for democratic engagement, emphasizing the enduring power of collective action in safeguarding democratic institutions.

Transcript

[Rachel Maddow]

So Donald Trump was sworn in for a second term in late January, right? And then right away, a series of things started happening that were very, very, very bad. January 29th, we had a terrible mid air collision, right? Killed 67 people just outside Reagan National Airport in the Potomac river in Washington, D.C. then two days later, it was a medical transport plane that crashed in Philadelphia. Six people on board the plane were killed. One person on the ground was. Another two dozen people on the ground were injured. Then two days after that, a United Airlines plane caught fire on the tarmac in Houston. Flames seen shooting out of the wing. 104 passengers and five crew members evacuated out of that plane. Three days after that, it's a Japan Airlines plane that smashes into the tail of a Delta Airlines plane on the tarmac at SeaTac at the Seattle Tacoma Airport. Two days after that, they recover the wreckage of a small commercial plane that crashes in Alaska. All 10 people on board killed. Three days after that, one person killed as one plane smashes into another at the airport in Scottsdale, Arizona. Five days after that, two people killed in a small plane crash in Covington, Georgia. Four days after that, two people killed when two planes collide midair at an airport just northwest of Tucson, Arizona. At this point, we're not yet one month into Donald Trump's second term, but it just keeps going. February 24th, a Delta flight from Atlanta is forced to turn around and have an emergency evacuation after the cabin fills up with some kind of smoke. One day later, it's an American Airlines flight that is forced to abort its landing at once again Reagan national airport in Washington, D.C. in order to avoid colliding with another plane. Four days after that, it's a FedEx plane that lands at Newark Airport with an engine on fire. Over the next two weeks, there are 15 more people killed in nine more air crashes, including one alongside a Nashville highway that kills three children. Then we get a Delta Airlines flight smacking its wing into the Runway while It's landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Then back again at Reagan National Airport in Washington. A Delta passenger plane is preparing to take off and a military jet is preparing to land. And both of those aircraft receive emergency last second instructions to divert, divert in order to prevent yet another collision. Then it's a flight from Florida to Newark. It has to divert to Washington Dulles after a fire in the cabin. A week later, there are six members of Congress on board an American Airlines plane that clips the wing of another American Airlines plane at once again Reagan national airport in Washington, D.C. that same day, a helicopter crashes into the Hudson river in New York City, killing six people, including three children. Over the next 10 days, 21 more people are killed in seven more plane crashes. April 22. That thing you think never happens in real life happens on the tarmac at Orlando Airport. Passengers have to evacuate down the slides, just like they show you in the emergency procedures thing that the flight attendants do. They have to evacuate down the slides as their Delta flight catches fire in Orlando. And I could keep going, I'm not including all of them because we'd be here all night. But perhaps you saw this weekend that again, two passenger planes were forced to abort their landings at the very last second to avoid a collision with a U.S. army Black Hawk helicopter again at once again Reagan national airport in Washington D.C. the head of the FAA, the head of the Federal Aviation Administration is a job that is not supposed to turn over with every new president. It's one of the jobs that has a five year term because it's a technocratic job. It needs stability. It's not a particularly political position. Except now. Before the election in September, Donald Trump's top campaign donor, Elon Musk, demanded publicly that the FAA administrator must resign. He needs to resign. At that point, the FAA administrator was only about a year into his five year term. There had been no major US Plane crashes in years and years and years. But under his leadership, the FAA had issued a few hundred thousand dollars fines against Elon Musk, SpaceX. And so there's Elon Musk. He must resign. He must resign. A few weeks later, thanks in part to Elon Musk providing the largest political donation in the history of the United States, Elon Musk's candidate gets elected president. And that FAA administrator who Elon Musk had publicly hunted. He sees the writing on the wall and he resigns. And the new president, Donald Trump, doesn't even bother to name a replacement. He hasn't even bothered to put an acting official in the job of running the Federal Aviation Administration until after that mid air collision over the Potomac. He has, however, picked the husband of one of his favorite Fox News hosts, a guy who was once a contestant on the Real World on mtv, a guy with no aviation or transportation experience whatsoever. He has picked him to be his Secretary of Transportation. A man who has never run anything large and, you know, nothing against MTV at all. But it is possible this guy is in slightly over his head. He at least seems quite freaked out by the gravity of his job. We have an aging infrastructure around air traffic control. And so if we don't, if we don't build a brand new system, there's going to be failures and people will lose their lives. People will lose their lives. Says man with no experience at all who Donald Trump has put in charge of aviation safety in America. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that at a Cabinet meeting last week. He said that at a Cabinet meeting last week and it was alarming. It sparked a bunch of headlines, freaks people out when the secretary of transportation says people are going to die. When the guy says like that on camera at a Cabinet meeting, people worry. But we now know that when he said that at that Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, something really terrifying had just happened that he must have known about when he said that. But the Transportation Department at that point had not said anything about it publicly. Well, here's what we now know. That Cabinet meeting where he said people are going to die, right when he made that comment, that freaked everybody out. That Cabinet meeting was Wednesday, last week. Something had happened on Monday of last week that we now know the details of. And you might have seen some of the news around this, you might have seen some headlines over the past few days about things being really snarled at the Newark Airport in New Jersey. Hundreds of flights canceled, hundreds of flights delayed. And this isn't like a widespread thing, even though Newark is really close to at least three other major airports in New York and Philadelphia. Why is Newark Airport alone having hundreds of flights scratched and hundreds of flights delayed every day? In fact, we are eight days in now to Newark having hundreds of flights canceled, hundreds of flights delayed every single day. Eight straight days of this. What's going on? And some of this is even worse and weirder. It's not just delays and cancellations. The biggest commercial airline at Newark Airport is United. United just ended 35 of its round trip flights in and out of Newark. Those aren't just like canceled for a day or delayed for a day. United has announced they will longer fly those round trips at all. What's going on? Well, something has just happened at Newark Airport. New York Times tonight, quote, air traffic controllers temporarily lost communication with planes at Newark Liberty International Airport last week. Quote, a spokesman for the National Air Traffic Controllers association said that on April 28, which is last Monday, controllers responsible for separating and sequencing aircraft in and out of Newark Airport temporarily lost radar and communications with the aircraft under their control and were, quote, unable to see, hear or talk to those aircraft. Former head of the Air Traffic Controllers association telling New York magazine, quote, your only job as an air traffic controller is to prevent airplanes from colliding. Your number one tool to separate airplanes is talking to them via communication, via the frequencies. If those go out, you have no ability to talk to them, no real ability to discern exactly where these airplanes are. That is something that should not happen, but yet it apparently did happen last Monday at Newark Airport. Bloomberg News reporting today, quote, when radar or radio frequencies stop working, there are no fail safes, meaning controllers must simply wait for the system to come back online. Bloomberg also reporting today that following the outage at Newark Airport on Monday, quote, multiple employees were placed on trauma leave, meaning air traffic controllers were placed on trauma leave. Quote, the incident left several controllers visibly shaken with at least one person experiencing stress induced heart palpitations. And some air traffic controllers shedding tears after this incident on Monday. NBC News reporter Tom Costello reporting this weekend that one air traffic controller who handles Newark Airport airspace told him, quote, it is not a safe situation for the flying public and, quote, don't fly into Newark. Avoid Newark at all costs. The air traffic controllers, the air traffic controllers are having heart palpitations, breaking down in tears and having to take trauma leave because of what is happening in the faa. Air traffic controllers are sneaking word to reporters it is not safe. How do we get a functional government back? Air traffic controllers aren't just like a team or like a private company. That's the government, right? The whole air traffic control system is a government operation. We've got air traffic controllers losing contact, losing the ability to communicate or see any of the planes that they are actively in that moment controlling to try to stop them from smashing into one another. Just waiting until the systems come back up and hoping those planes have not hit each other while the systems were down. Having no way of knowing, breaking down in tears, having to go on trauma leave and sneaking word to reporters that this is not safe. That's our government right now. We are the greatest nation on the planet and the most important economic and military and cultural power the modern world has ever known. And it is not close. But this is our government now under these guys. I mean, this government must be working for someone, but it is not working to, I don't know, keep the planes in the sky. This was Washington, D.C. today. Senators and members of Congress and the former head of Social Security under President Biden, Martin O'Malley, rallying today in Washington, D.C. to try to defend Social Security from what Trump is doing to it. Specifically these members of Congress and these senators today rallying to try to stop the confirmation tomorrow of Trump's nominee of a Doge guy to run Social Security.

[Bernie Sanders]

They know Congress would never allow them to take that money without a fight unless they turned enough of the public against Social Security. So how do they do that? By wrecking its reputation with big lies. Big lies like illegal immigrants get benefits. They don't. They're prohibited. Big lies like there's a zombie apocalypse. There's no zombie apocalypse. Dead people do not get Social Security benefits. Big lies like it's a Ponzi scheme. Poppycock. It's not a Ponzi scheme. Bitcoin might be, but not Social Security. Social Security's never missed a payment in 90 years.

[Rachel Maddow]

What we see in Frank Bisanato is somebody who is a Doge crony. It's time this ends.

[Bernie Sanders]

We not only have to stop Social Security being cut, we have to expand it.

[Rachel Maddow]

For the first time in more than.

[Jamie Raskin]

50 years, I will be voting in favor of every American who counts on Social Security. I am a hard no on Frank Bissing.

[Ezra Levin]

No.

[Jamie Raskin]

No way. I am not in favor of handing over the keys to our Social Security administration to a man who says that he will do whatever Donald Trump wants, whatever Elon Musk wants, no matter how much it's there just to help the billionaires and to take away from those who have paid into the Social Security system for years.

[Rachel Maddow]

That was today in Washington. Members of Congress and Senators trying to protect what can still be protected of Social Security. Today in Washington, also, for the second straight week, we saw members of the clergy being arrested for peacefully praying inside the U.S. capitol Rotunda. This is the second Moral Monday's arrests of clergy members in Washington days in a row. This weekend, senior citizens and their friends rallied in San Bruno, California, to stand up for Social Security, to defend Social Security. This weekend, 2,000 people turned out in Kalamazoo County, Michigan, to protest against Trump. Stand up for Social Security. Another big crowd turned out in Battle Creek, Michigan as well. At the same time, look how many people turned out this weekend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to protest against Trump. Look how many people turned out in Olympia, Washington, this weekend to protest against Trump. There were anti Trump protests this weekend in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and in South Bend, Indiana. There were a bunch of people who turned out to protest against Trump in Toledo, Ohio, and in Newton, New Jersey, and standing out in the rain in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. I see you guys out there in Gulfport. Gulfport, Mississippi, protesting this weekend against Trump on The overpass over I90 in Gulfport and at the Tesla dealership in Pasadena, California, where they've been turning out People to protest every week and at the Tesla dealership in Manhattan and then marching downtown. Don't be a chicken in a coup. A lot of people in a lot of places this weekend stepping up specifically for immigrants. Look at this. This is Lima, Ohio, outside the offices of Republican Congressman Jim Jordan. This is a rally of Jim Jordan's constituents to support our Haitian neighbors in Ohio. People from Haiti who are here with what's called temporary protected stat. Trump is trying to rescind or shorten that. These people in Lima, Ohio this weekend saying don't do it, saying, these are our friends and neighbors who are here from Haiti and we want them to stay. People in El Paso, Texas, marched this weekend under the banner Reclaiming our Dignity and Rights. And here, this is interesting. This is Tucson, Arizona. Here you see a large number of people protesting this weekend outside the Tucson Medical center in Tucson, Arizona. That's because Trump's immigration agents a few days ago took over part of the maternity ward in Tucson, Arizona. There's been this dramatic thing at Tucson Medical center because Trump's immigration agents turned up at the maternity ward at this hospital. They were staking out the maternity ward immigration agents, Right, because they wanted to grab a woman who was literally in that hospital in Tucson giving birth. And when people in Tucson found out that Trump's immigration agents were at Tucson Medical center in the maternity unit, waiting to grab this woman as soon as she gave birth, people in Tucson sprang to her defense. They started protesting at the medical center. They're trying to stop Trump's agents from taking this woman and her brand new newborn baby. They protested this weekend in Tucson at Tucson Medical Center. The woman now has a lawyer and as the protests have continued there, she has not been shipped off somewhere. She is in Tucson, according to local news reports, with the community. They are still fighting for her in Nashville, Tennessee. A little bit of a similar situation minus the hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. Trump's immigration agents made mass arrests overnight. On Saturday night, word spread. And on Sunday, early on Sunday, people in Nashville flooded to the Department of Homeland Security office there to try to figure out who they had taken overnight Saturday night to protest against it, to try to stop these buses of people that they were trying to take away. At least some of the people there say they know that some of the people who were arrested Saturday night by immigration agents in Nashville are actually people who are in this country legally, and they don't know why they were arrested. In response to these protests at the Homeland Security facility in Nashville, Nashville's mayor now says he and his office are working to determine at least the names of who was taken in Nashville Saturday night and why. And that's just a snapshot of this weekend. That's after the huge protest that happened for May Day on Thursday, including big protests in places like San Diego and Tucson and outside the ICE immigration prison in Tacoma, Washington. But the protests, big May Day protests on Thursday were everywhere. I mean, here's Boston, Denver, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Raleigh, North Carolina, San Francisco. You want some more? You want some more? We've got more. Here is left to right, top to bottom. Atlanta, Georgia. Chicago, Illinois. Phoenix. You have that 20 bucks? Thank you. Chicago, Illinois. Phoenix, Arizona. Columbia, South Carolina. San Jose, California. Birmingham, Alabama. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They had a huge event in Philadelphia, another huge one in St. Paul, Minnesota. Seattle, Washington. Los Angeles, Baltimore, Maryland. Tuscaloosa, Alabama had a huge turnout. Hartford, Connecticut, New York, New York. Washington, D.C. lafayette, Louisiana. Las Vegas, Nevada. Tacoma, Washington. Buffalo, New York, Oakland, California. People turned out this weekend in Washington, D.C. to stand up for black history, to stand up for the National Museum of African American History. Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin turned out 10. Excuse me, turned out 2,000 people this weekend for a town hall in the New York district of a Republican congressman named Andrew Garbarino. Senator Bernie Sanders turned out 6,000 people for a rally in the district of Pennsylvania. Republican Congressman Ryan MacKenzie. The government right now is a mess. You may not like what the government is trying to do, but what they're not trying to do and is happening anyway is worse. The government right now is a mess under Donald Trump. Some of the stuff that absolutely cannot go wrong is going wrong under Donald Trump, the way he's running this government. Government is a mess, but the people are busy, busy pushing back and busy trying to fix it. The pushback has apparently caused Trump to give up on his plan of closing Head Start programs all around the country. The pushback against Trump eliminating Head Start was apparently too much for him to bear. So now the Trump administration says that it is rescinding its cuts to Head Start. Republican members of Congress are also now realizing that they better start pushing back on Trump's plan to kill AmeriCorps. Who's against AmeriCorps? Trump is getting pushback on that now from Republicans in Congress, including Jack Bergman of Michigan and Don Bacon of Nebraska, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, and at least three Republican U.S. senators. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, and Susan Collins of Maine. You're also starting to see Republican members of Congress push back now on the Trump cuts to liheap. Liheap is the program that pays for people's home heating oil. Why would you want to get rid of that? Republicans, including Susan Collins of Maine and Mike Lawlor of New York now pushing back on Trump about his cuts to LIHEAP after their own constituents pushed hard on them because of it. People push back on these things. Republican senators and members of Congress can't defend what Trump is doing. And so then they start to push back against Trump on it as well. And then Trump caves. That's what we've learned over the hundred days. That's the system. It's not a great system, but it's a system. It's not like also an air traffic control system, which apparently we don't have anymore thanks to Trump. But the system of pushing back and organizing and protesting and demanding a change in course, demanding that this thing get rerouted. That system is up and running. It is apparently pretty well oiled. It's working well. And we've got a lot more to say about that tonight. Stay with us.

[Ezra Levin]

Introducing the Weeknight on msnbc, join hosts Alicia Menendez, Michael Steele and Simone Sanders Townsend for a spirited conversation challenging each other and our leaders about the biggest issues of the day.

[Rachel Maddow]

It's about knowing what you are for.

[Jen Psaki]

Who you are for.

[Rachel Maddow]

That's what politics is about. It's engagement.

[Jen Psaki]

We are going to dive deeper into the legal side of today's breaking news.

[Ezra Levin]

The weeknight, Monday through Friday at 7pm Eastern on MSNBC.

[Michael Steele]

Citizens, since we each upgraded to Xfinity in our homes, the WI fi has been booming. It's fair to say our town has officially begun a boom town.

[Jen Psaki]

Mayor, will I be able to drop into multiplayer gaming battles with low lag?

[Michael Steele]

The lag won't be an issue, but your questionable skills may be.

[Rachel Maddow]

And what if I have hundreds of devices on the WI fi? Purely hypothetical.

[Michael Steele]

Seems like a lot, but sure, hundreds of devices all booming together with the Xfinity Gateway. Yes, friends and neighbors, with Xfinity, the WI fi is booming.

[Jen Psaki]

Restrictions apply.

[Ezra Levin]

Sir David Frost gave us an intimate look at some of the most compelling personalities of our time.

[Rachel Maddow]

What makes people tick fascinates me. You can't fake interest. You can't fake curiosity.

[Ezra Levin]

MSNBC Films presents a six part documentary series David Frost versus On the next episode, Jane Fonda.

[Jen Psaki]

The war is being escalated in the most tragic, cruel way.

[Ezra Levin]

Sunday at 9pm Eastern on MSNBC.

[Rachel Maddow]

Since the first year of his first term in office, he has wanted a parade. And not just a normal parade. He wants a military parade. After Trump in his first term saw a military parade in France for Bastille Day. He said he wanted to top that. He said he wanted something bigger than that, something more like the gigantic Death Star military parades held by countries like China and Russia and North Korea. Specifically, Trump wanted tanks. He wanted tanks upon tanks rolling down the boulevards of Washington, D.C. the issue with tanks, though, is that they weigh a ton. To be more exact, American tanks weigh like 30 to 70 tons, more or less, depending on the model, which is way too heavy to roll down the streets of Washington D.C. without destroying the streets of Washington D.C. so in his first term, Donald Trump did not get his military parade with tanks, but he did get a consolation prize. Halfway through his first term, on the 4th of July, 2019, he held what he called a Salute America in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Basically, he gave a speech, a stationary speech, and he did have tanks, but they were not tanks rolling by. They were also stationary tanks. In fact, the closest thing to a parade that day was the convoy that was required to get the tanks into position because the tanks had to be carried toward the memorial on semi trucks and then carefully rolled off the trucks onto a series of strategically placed wooden planks where they put them on little platforms so they wouldn't break anything. That was it. Tanks on semi trucks and then on little plinths. That was it. His whole first term, Trump never got the big military parade he wanted. Now, of course, he's trying again. The army now says it is planning a military parade complete with more than 6,000 soldiers. And you guessed is still unclear if those tanks will be rolling or stationary or on the back of semi trucks maybe. But the whole spectacle is set for the 250th anniversary of the founding of the US army, which also happens to be the president's own birthday, June 14th. And if that news makes you want to be somewhere, anywhere else, take heart. Something else is happening that day at more than 100 locations around the country thus far, I have a feeling there's going to be more than that. A coalition of groups, including Indivisible and Social Security works and 50 51, they are all organizing a nationwide day of protest for June 14th. They're calling it no Kings Day, as they put it on their website. Quote, donald Trump wants tanks in the street and a made for TV display of dominance for his birthday. A spectacle meant to look like strength. But real power isn't staged in Washington. It rises up everywhere else. Joining us now is Ezra Levin, co founder and co executive director of Indivisible. Ezra, it's Nice to see you this evening. Thanks very much for making time.

[Sean Duffy]

Great to see you, Rachel.

[Rachel Maddow]

So we've spent a lot of time covering sort of the character and the effect of protests of all kinds around the country. A lot of those organized through indivisible. A lot of them organized through 50, 51 and other groups. What is the basic idea, the specific idea? I guess around June 14th.

[Sean Duffy]

Look, Donald Trump wants to spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to throw himself a big fancy parade with tanks in the streets. And on one level, this is ridiculous, right? But he is doing this for a reason. This is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. He wants to project strength. He wants everybody to think that he is all powerful, that he rules the world. He doesn't. He doesn't. As we said on that website, look, real power is not in D.C. it's distributed all across the country. And what we're looking to do on no Kings Day is to say, look, Donald Trump does not own the flag. He does not own patriotism. In fact, we can all show up in opposition to a king in this country. And this isn't about any individual organization. This is about all of us. Whether you are from the faith community, whether you're a veteran, whether you're an activist, whether you're a teacher, you can be part of this. As you mentioned, there are a hundred events so far this has been up for the weekend, available to register events. I would expect over 1,000. We saw 1,100 for May Day protests. We saw over 1300 events all across the world for April 5th. Hands off. If you are watching this right now and you are thinking, well, I don't want a king in this country, good news, neither do we. And you can be part of this. Look up, see if you've got an event near you. If you don't, congratulations, you are going to be the organizer for an event in your community. We need them in rural communities. We need them in urban communities. We need them in red states and purple states and blue states. Ultimately, this comes down to all of us. We have got to do the work to show that, yes, this is a constitutional republic, and a constitutional republic has no kings.

[Rachel Maddow]

Ezra over the course of the first hundred days of Trump in office, I feel like what I saw as the effect of protests were sort of two things. First of all, because the protests weren't just one big protest, one day in Washington or one big day in New York or something like that, but because the protests were constant and happening so frequently and happening in literally every state in the country. And I'd say over time, in almost every town of any size, and some towns of no size because they happen in so many places. One of the effects was that a lot of Republican members of Congress and senators found themselves confronted by their own constituents about stuff that Trump was doing that they themselves, as elected Republicans, couldn't defend and couldn't explain and felt like they had to ultimately say, okay, I side with my constituents on this. And that drove a lot of caving in Washington in terms of what Trump was trying to do. But then the other thing that I saw happen is that I think that large numbers of protests over time, happening all over the place, created a sort of culture in which it was shameful to capitulate. And the groups, whether they're law firms or billionaires or business interests or anybody else, or Republican elected or anybody else or even Democratic elected, who are thinking about sort of cozying up to Trump, looked at this footage and looked at what was going on in these communities and looked at these large protests and felt like, you know what, what those people are asking for is probably the right side of history, and I don't feel comfortable staying on the other side of that. I felt like it created a cultural dynamic in which it was embarrassing to be siding with Trump. That's what I've been seeing, just covering this stuff in order to tell people about the news over these past hundred days. I wanted to ask for your reaction to those observations and ask, as somebody who's been involved, really right in the middle of this, if you feel like the impact has been something other than that.

[Sean Duffy]

Look, you are exactly right. What we are doing with mass protest, mass peaceful protest in communities red, blue and purple around the country is not just showing up for the sake of showing up. We're showing up to send a message to everybody else who is looking to their left and looking to their right and trying to decide, what do I do? And as you said, this is law firms, this is universities, this is businesses. People are trying to understand, is this guy for real? Is he in power forever? Do I have to adjust to this new reality permanently? Or will there be a new day, a new day of accountability that follows the Trump administration? And by showing up in mass repeatedly, month after month, week after week, day after day, in many cases, what we are doing is sending a very strong signal to those businesses, those universities, those law firms that, oh, I can't actually just cover myself today or next week because this guy's going to be out soon. He's an unpopular lame duck president. And there is going to be a future post Trump era and I'm still going to be a law firm. I'm still going to be a business. I'm still going to be a university. And I'm going to have to contend with my actions today. So the smart move stops being I'm going to cover myself today. And it becomes I've got to think about what comes next.

[Rachel Maddow]

That's right. We all should be thinking about that all the time in terms of, you know, explaining ourselves to ourselves in the mirror and to ourselves and to future generations about what we did in this moment. Ezra Levin, co founder and co executive Director of Indivisible Mr. Levin, thank you for your time tonight. I appreciate you being here.

[Sean Duffy]

Thank you, Rachel.

[Rachel Maddow]

All right. More news ahead tonight. Stay with us.

[Ezra Levin]

It's conversation. It's perspective. It's the weekend on MSNBC with three new dynamic hosts, Jonathan Capehart, Eugene Daniels and Jackie Alemani. And in the evening, it's the weekend prior time with Eamon Mohadin, Katherine Rampel, Elise Jordan and Antonia Hilton. Join them as they offer analysis on the week's most important events and set the agenda for the week ahead. The weekend at 7:00am Eastern and the weekend prime time at 6:00pm Eastern. Saturdays and Sundays on MSNBC.

[Rachel Maddow]

Here's something new. Today we learned that hackers claim to have hacked into the computer systems of the airline that operates many of Donald Trump's deportation flights. The company is called Global X. And their flights for the Trump administration include those three planeloads of men who were flown from the US To El Salvador last month, excuse me, in March. Those three flights famously were the ones that a federal judge ordered must be turned around and flown back to the United States. That's an order the Trump administration did not obey. Well, today 404 media reports that they are in contact with a hacking group that claims to have hacked into Global X and take in, among other things, their flight records and passenger manifests for all the deportation flights that Global X has operated for the Trump administration. 404 Media says as far as they can tell, the data appears to be genuine. But that's not the only major hack that 404 Media has brought to light just in the last day or so. You remember Mike Waltz, Trump national security adviser who actually accidentally added the editor of the Atlantic magazine to a Signal group chat about war plans in Yemen. You may have seen reports last week that at the Cabinet meeting at the White house on Wednesday, Mr. Waltz was caught on camera by a Reuters photographer using his personal phone or using his phone, at least at that Cabinet meeting and appearing like he was still using something that looked very much like Signal to chat with multiple high ranking government officials. The news photographer was actually able to capture the text of some of his messages on what appeared to be the Signal app that he was using during the Cabinet meeting in front of a bunch of news reporters. Now, I say it looked like the Signal app. It wasn't the original Signal app. It was a different version of Signal called Telemessage, made by a different company that appears to be considerably less secure than Signal. Sure enough, 404 Media now reports that that app, Telemessage, has also just been hacked. NBC News, meanwhile, was contacted by a different, entirely separate hacker who also claims to have hacked this Telemessage app. Telemessage has now suspended its operations, which is going to be so inconvenient for the whole Trump administration national security apparatus that was apparently using it amongst themselves. So that's all going well. Of course, Mike Waltz is no longer Trump's National Security adviser. He was fired and replaced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also simultaneously the Archivist of the United States now and the acting Administrator of usaid and now National Security Advisor as well. Which tells you just how seriously Donald Trump takes all those jobs. Right? If he thought any one of those jobs was a real job, he wouldn't give the person holding that job lots of other jobs too. In fact, not only does Donald Trump not appear to think that the job of National Security Advisor is all that big a deal, the Washington Post now reports that some senior White House officials are, quote, questioning the need for a traditional National Security Council at all. So National Security Advisor behaving the way we know Mike Waltz has National Security Advisor being fired, National Security Council, all going away. The whole White House, National Security Council, that whole apparatus, really, you guys don't see the need for it? At which point you might want somebody who worked in the White House to explain the consequences of something like that. Well, luckily your new 9:00pm Eastern host here on MSNBC, Tuesday through Friday starting tomorrow, has definitely worked in the White House and she understands these things and many others. Joining us now, I'm very pleased to say, is my colleague Jen Psaki, former White House Press Secretary. And starting tomorrow, the host of this 9pm hour here on MSNBC, the host of the Briefing with Jen Psaki here, 9pm Eastern, Tuesday to Friday. Jen, it is great to see you. Congratulations on the new gig. How are you feeling?

[Jen Psaki]

It's great to be here. I am feeling all of the feelings at once. I'm excited. I read to the depths of the Internet, which is not productive. I've listened to every podcast of every person who's gonna appear on the and I'm just excited. And I'm so delighted to be here with you tonight. You're such an inspiration to me and everybody watching. I know. And I can promise everybody I know, we'll talk about serious things that you have shined such a light in the first hundred days, Rachel, on such an important part of what's happening right now. We are gonna continue to do that. I care about the story like you care about the story. And thank you for doing that because it's been a little dose of hope and inspiration for me watching too, as I know it has been for everyone out there.

[Rachel Maddow]

Well, it's part of what I wanted to talk to you about tonight because I feel like one of the things that we have had to sort of calibrate and rebalance over the first hundred days is like, where does news happen? And I mean, forgive me for saying this about one of your successors, but the news is not really happening in the White House briefing room. Like, that's not a place where people are getting like, you can take the.

[Jen Psaki]

Room where it happens.

[Rachel Maddow]

No, it's not. Take it to the bank information and, and we're not getting news and information from the White House other than sort of proclamations and provocations and occasional scandals. A lot of what we're learning about in terms of the most important stuff for the government is happening not just not in Washington, but not on the coasts and not on the interstate. It's where the destruction of the government meets the American people. It's the messed up Social Security field office. It is the VA office where people can't get their medical appointments done without with any sort of privacy. It's the Social Security checks running late. It's the Head Start offices closing. It's Meals on Wheels being shut down. And I wanted to know how you're feeling about that, with so much White House experience in Washington, experience about how we should be thinking about the aperture of where news comes from and where trusted sources of information come from in an environment that's this toxic in your former workplace.

[Jen Psaki]

Well, I've learned a couple things from you and a number of other people who've done this for a long time. And one is you can't cover every single story every night. And so I'm not going to attempt to do that. But I think we've also learned a lot about what Donald Trump tries to do. He tries to flood the zone, but he also tries to wave the shiny ball. I don't even know if that's the right analogy, but just take in the last 24 hours. I mean, he announced he wants to reopen Alcatraz. The prompting and what motivated that? Here we are at the same time, to your point, just to keep with your theme of Social Security, what we need to be reading the fine print on. I know you are, and I will be, is what he is doing to the Social Security system and administration. It's cutting offices. He's also trying to gain access to people's private information and personal data. And so I think it's incumbent upon us to not follow the shiny ball. You always say, don't let him jerk your chain, I think is what you say, but not follow. The things he's trying to get us to pay attention to and to dig deeper into the things that he maybe doesn't want us to talk about. And Social Security and what he's doing to that is one of them. But every day you have to make choices and decisions, as you well know. I know you've been making them hard ones many days.

[Rachel Maddow]

Yeah. Jen Psaki. The new show is called the Briefing with Jen Psaki. It premieres tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern. Attendance is mandatory for everybody watching right now. Jen, as I understand it, your first guest is going to be former transportation secretary and varsity Democratic Party communicator, former presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg. I'm definitely not going to miss that. So excited for you, my friend. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here tonight and good luck tomorrow.

[Jen Psaki]

Thank you so much.

[Rachel Maddow]

Thank you.

[Jen Psaki]

Appreciate it. Great to have. Great being with you.

[Rachel Maddow]

We'll be right back. Special message for everybody in the media and political commentary who keeps calling Donald Trump a populist. When you are a baby girl that is 11 years old, you do not need 30 dolls. President Donald J. Trump, quote, I don't think that a beautiful baby girl needs that's 11 years old, needs to have 30 dolls. I think they can have three dolls or four dolls because what we were doing with China was just unbelievable. We had a trade deficit of hundreds of billions of dollars with China president telling NBC News, quote, I'm just saying they don't need to have 30 dolls. They can have three. They don't need to have 250 pencils. They can have five. Three dolls, five pencils. And you'd be grateful if you get that American child, Donald Trump told reporters on Air Force One yesterday. Quote, all I'm saying is that a young lady, a 10 year old girl, 9 year old girl, 15 year old girl, doesn't need 37 dolls. She could be very happy with two or three or four or five. So now that is how many dolls? Two or three or four or five? Who gets five dolls when some people only get two dolls? The President has recently mused publicly that he does not care if the price of cars goes up. He does not care if we have a recession. He does not care if small businesses want relief from the tariffs. He does not care if strollers cost more. He called them, you know, the thing you put the baby in. But there's more to being president than not worrying about the price of cars or causing a recession or even setting important policy on dolls and pencils. At the top of his supposedly populist agenda this week, as of today, President Donald Trump is sicing collection agencies on Americans whose student loans aren't paid up to date. This is a change from the policies of President Biden. The Trump administration as of today has sent out the first notices that the treasury is going to start taking away tax refunds and then siphoning your wages if you do not pay up on student loans. Five million Americans are in default on their student loans. Already millions more Americans are on the verge of default on their student loans. And now Trump is handing these millions of Americans over to the tender ministrations of collections agencies. You ever had a collections agency come after you? Remind me please what populism is. Somehow three dolls, five pencils and a pounding on the door from the collection agency is not how I imagined it. One last thing. I'm doing a little tiny mini book tour for my book prequel, which is out in paperback as of midnight tonight. I'm going to be in Boston on Wednesday, day after tomorrow. There's still some tickets available for that in Boston. I'm gonna be on Long Island Friday night. There are still a few tickets there as well if you'd like to go. You can find all the information and get [e-mail] prequel also tomorrow night I'm gonna be on the Late show with Stephen Colbert. And so I'll see you Colbert tomorrow. See you on the road this week. See you back here Monday night at 9pm Eastern.

[Ezra Levin]

MSNBC's Jen Psaki, host of the Brief.

[Jen Psaki]

We've never experienced a moment like this in our country and it leaves us all with a choice. Are we gonna speak out, or are we gonna be pressured into silence? I've worked for presidents. I've faced the tough questions from the press and even threats from the Kremlin. And if there's one thing I've learned, it's that you can't cower to bullies. You don't need to be hopeless. We have our voices, and I will continue using mine.

[Ezra Levin]

The briefing with Jen Psaki Tuesday through Friday at 9:00pm Eastern on MSNBC.