"40 days to go until Election Day"

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1:06Hi there, everyone. It's 4 o'clock in New York. Happy Friday. Donald Trump sprawling an unrelenting campaign to exert more and more power over our elections and how people vote has faced setback after setback in the courts. But today with less than 40 days to go until midterm election day, and with early voting already underway in a handful of states, the highest court in the land granted Donald Trump a big win. In an emergency ruling, the Supreme Court will allow the federal government to use the saved citizenship database in coordination with states to find non-citizens. Trump has long said that a major source of voter fraud comes from non-citizens voting but has yet to provide any evidence to back up that claim. Democracy Docket writes this, quote, the decision Friday marks a significant loss to voters, particularly naturalized citizens, who have been disproportionately falsely flagged as ineligible voters when states have fed their registration lists into save. The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision came down on ideological lines.

2:09The majority said that the federal government would likely suffer harm if unable to share this database. The government, they say, quote, has an obligation to respond to requests from state and local election officials seeking to verify the citizenship of voters. But in her dissent, Justice Katangi Brown-Jackson calls out the harm that the majority talks about. She writes this, quote, in my view, however, the harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the non-existent harm that the government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take. Lawful voters getting caught up in this is not a far-fetched hypothetical. Washington Post reports this, quote, the government acknowledged internally that the database could misidentify eligible voters as non-citizens and has an error rate of as high as 81 percent. What? That's according to the plaintiffs filing with the Supreme Court.

3:09Congressman Jamie Raskin, who was on this network moments after the opinion came down, condemned the Supreme Court's decision. I feel like the Supreme Court was not willing to do the right thing twice in a row. The President Trump exploded at them when they shut down his post office scheme to take over the elections and berated them and worked the refs, and now they came back with this decision. Look, this is the creation of a massive federal government database, which they've been trying to do since Doge, since Elon Musk. The Congress rejected this whole idea in the say-back. Congress has not wanted to have anything to do with this, and yet they've now allowed the federal government to set it up and allowed the states that want to opt into this to use this system. It is a threat to voting rights. Donald Trump's relentless attack on the right to vote in our country

4:09is where we begin the hour with some of our favorite experts and friends. Voting rights attorney and democracy docket founder Mark Elias is here with us, also joining us former director of the CIA, and senior national security and intelligence analyst John Brennan is back with us. He served as assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2009 to 2013, also joining us, my dear friend and colleague, senior political analyst, author of the New York Times bestseller, The Steel, host of the Runaway Country podcast Alex Wagner is here. Let me start with you, Mark Elias. I've read what you've written since the decision came down, but just put this into context in terms of what it means for voters right now. So there's two things that means for voters. One that is very obvious and one that is yet to be seen. So the one that is very obvious is that the states will now be permitted to access this faulty database,

5:09this database that was created in the Bush administration to deal with government benefits that was never intended to deal with anything involving who's eligible to vote. They will now be able to access this data and use it in ways that will almost certainly disenfranchise lawful American citizens. That's the best case of what will happen because they will do that one by one. I think the thing that is yet to be seen and which we need to be vigilant for is that I don't think Donald Trump went through all this trouble so that a state could kick off a person here and kick off a person there. I think Donald Trump went through this trouble and the administration litigated this Supreme Court because they are hoping that states will violate federal law. It will violate federal laws that dissent points out to engage in mass voter purges. Now again, I want to be clear that would violate existing federal law. But you know, I don't know. I don't put it beyond some of the election and nine governors and secretaries

6:10are stayed in a Jesus country to simply say that they don't believe that that federal law applies. And it's not just me speculating this. There is a case that is pending before the US Supreme Court that will be argued later this year that my law firm and I we represent the lead plaintiffs and one below where the Republican Party is arguing just that that this protection is quiet period doesn't actually apply to all circumstances. And so I think we need to be vigilant for that. I think we need to be prepared. I think individual voters need to be attentive to their own voter registration status. I think the media needs to stay on top of this, as you Nicole always do. And I think the legal profession needs to be ready to go to court immediately to protect voters who are as a result of this bad decision, potentially now going to be deprived of their voting rights. I mean, excuse the ignorance of this question. But non-citizen voting is a form of voter fraud.

7:11And none other than Bill Barr, lifelong conservative, right wing conservative, Brad Rathansberger, lifelong Republican, every Republican in Arizona, up and down state white office, describe voter fraud as non-existent. Why were those facts not taken into consideration by the majority in the Supreme Court? Just they didn't want to. The most remarkable thing about the Supreme Court decision, which was pointed out in the dissent, is that the plaintiffs actually brought forth individuals who said, I am an eligible U.S. citizen. And I have checked my status in the saved database, and I am flagged as a non-citizen. So a state, if my state uses this, I will be deprived of the right to vote. And in fact, the Supreme Court credited that testimony because they found that the plaintiffs have standing based on exactly that. But when it came to balance the harms, to balance the harms of voters, the evidence you just mentioned, where that voter fraud is nearly non-existent,

8:12when it came to that, they basically just said, well, the state, in this case, the Trump administration, they are harmed if their policies are not implemented. And that was just kind of like the end of the analysis. And so here's the thing. If ultimately the only thing the Supreme Court is going to ask is, will Donald Trump be unhappy and will his administration feel aggrieved if they are not able to get their way? Then honestly, lawyers like me can save a whole lot of ink on a whole lot of briefs and not bother filing them because the Trump administration is always going to say that they are harmed whenever Donald Trump's executive orders are not followed. So I think this is a really bad day for democracy. I think it's a bad day for voting rights. I think it is going to set up a permission structure for Donald Trump to lie. Even more, I expect we'll get social media posts and other things that are going to spread to Trump. That are going to spread disinformation as a result of this ruling. And I think it's going to make the fight for free and fair elections just a little bit harder,

9:12you know, as we head towards these midterms. Mark, they've gone hunting for non-citizen voting in the second term. As president, it was spearheaded by Kristine Elm, as she was still running DHS. And they found something like 0.1 to incidents of it. If it is a practice that isn't a practice, if it's a problem that doesn't exist, what is the reason to force states to push voter information through their database? Yes, so this is why I said like it depends how you view this ruling, right? The narrow view of this ruling is, you know, don't worry too much because this will flag a handful of US citizens and they'll be disenfranchised. Now that is an extraordinary position for people to take. That's somehow that is not a big deal. But I am much less optimistic than that. I think that the reason why they are doing this is because Donald Trump wants to say

10:13there are hundreds of thousands, millions of non-citizens who are voting. And he wants to use the Justice Department to threaten the state officials to adopt that line. So we've already seen that the Department of Justice has said under Donald Trump's latest executive order that they are going to prioritize the criminal investigation and prosecution of election officials. So what's going to happen here, Nicole, is that the same database is going to tell a state that you have 150,000 non-citizens voting. And that will be preposterously untrue. Some number of states, you know, let's say just call it Texas and Florida. They will gleefully adopt that and say great, we're kicking all those people off the race. Other states will say we're not adopting it and then Todd Blanche will say, okay, we're currently investigating you. At which point, local election officials will be like, well, what do I do? Do I go with what the state is saying and risk of criminal investigation or just disenfranchise voters?

11:14Finally, you know, we act as if Tina Peters and people like her are one-offs. But there are election anires in election offices throughout this country and they will misuse this database to disenfranchise voters. And so this is not, in my view, intended to just get rid of, you know, the few bad apples if those apples even exist. This is aimed to do much more than that. There was just a New York Times article I think this morning. I didn't get the exact numbers, but the headline was something like, you know, in Nevada, the Trump administration flagged 175,000 people and then it became, I think like 180 and now it's zero. Or some, I'm sure I have these numbers or maybe it was 16,000 and then 175 and then zero. But like these things get whittled down and this, there's not a lot of time to whittled down and the Trump administration is not going to let states remove names without there being a threat of criminal prosecution over there. Director Brennan, that New York Times reporting about Nevada is really interesting because it takes it out of the hypothetical and into a specific example.

12:23The Department of Homeland Security originally claimed there were 16,000 people in Nevada who could be non-citizens. And then the number as Mark just said got whittled down to 185 and then they learned that every single person on the list was a lawful citizen. I'll read you the story from the Times quote, when the Department of Homeland Security sent Nevada a list of 185 names last month that it claimed identified non-citizens who had been improperly allowed to register to vote. Stay election officials got to work on Tuesday the state sent a strongly worded rebuke to the federal government. Every single person on the list was a lawful citizen. Again, there was no evidence that any of these people had voted. They were registered and it turns out every single one of them was a lawful citizen. Well, Nicole, it's quite clear that Secretary of Homeland Security, Mark Wayne Mullin is one of the loudest and most supportive of Donald Trump's sick of fans within the cabinet and is willing to do whatever is necessary to please his boss just to make Donald Trump happy.

13:33And as Mark is pointing out, there is a clear intention of the part of this administration to do everything possible to be able to limit the number of people who may be eligible to vote, but who the Trump administration is trying to keep off of the electoral roles. And so I'll leave it to Mark and other lawyers to assess the legality of the legal implications of this. But again, it's quite clear that this is just consistent with this trend that we've seen and now we're less than 40 days before the midterm elections. But the Trump administration is going to use whatever tool or tactic or gimmick and to try to give its supporters within the federal government or in the state and local offices, the tools for these feuses they can use in order to try to change the outcome of the vote. But also I think the Supreme Court ruling is consistent with what we've seen from a conservative majority, which is to pay deference or to give Donald Trump as much support as possible in terms of his unitary executive powers and will in fact, and to give a genuine effect and allow him to go forward with this. So again, I'm thinking about what still might be in store in terms of what this administration might try to do in order to affect the midterm, but it's clear that they can see the writing on the wall that the wave of anti Trump and anti Republican party sentiment is going to be quite evident and the polls this this November.

14:55Again, I wouldn't be surprised we're going to see more and more instances of the top administration trying again to illegally and ethically and a very unprincipled and un-American way affect the outcome of the members election. Alex, you have a best selling book. Did I say that best seller? Congratulations. Thank you. On the Supreme Court, so let me ask you about politico's reporting about Justice Katanji Brown-Jackson, Politico writes a Supreme Court Justice Katanji Brown-Jackson launched in the Broadside Thursday warning that her colleagues handling of the Court's emergency and the rate risks an enormously disruptive and potentially corrosive effect on the federal judiciary. Jackson argued that the high court's willingness to grant emergency relief in cases at their earliest stages, threatens to upset the legal system's order of operations and transform the Supreme Court's role. If we're not careful, the emergency docket can and will become an end run around the standard review process. Politico also reports that over the past year and a half there has been no more prolific user of the Supreme Court's emergency docket than Donald Trump.

16:03He, well, he's found a way to outfox the court. I mean, both the court has become so deeply entrenched in partisan politics. Look no further than this decision or Thomas and Alito's dissent on the mail-in ballot decision two weeks ago. There is no even deference to the Constitution at this point. One would wonder if their copy is legible given how this court is, I'm going to say legislating. And I think Katanji Brown-Jackson understands like she's inside the house and is trying to make calls to the outside warning the American public because I think she rightfully sees Nicole that even if Mark's Doomsday scenario does not come to pass, and I'm not saying it won't, but even if it doesn't, even if this is just states checking in on voting, the narrative in the Trump years about voter fraud has proven to be lasting and pernicious and harnessing a faulty system to give faulty information about non-citizens voting is very useful to the right wing as they seek to disenfranchise vast sections of the American electorate.

17:12Likewise, creating a huge database that contains troves of very personal secure information about American citizens, including passports, drivers license and social security numbers at the exact moment that the Department of Justice is purging cyber security experts from within its ranks is the recipe for actual outside interference in this election whether directed or not by the Trump administration. I mean, look no further than the news this week we had a Republican sheriff in Riverside County, California who seized 650,000 ballots because he thought some of them had been cast fraudulently. There is the stuff Trump do does explicitly the stuff that is sanctioned by the Republican courts, and I would say the Supreme Court. And then there is this sort of the strategy that Trump accolades at the state and local level take on upon themselves to further the Trump agenda and all of those things are greatly enabled by the courts latest decision here.

18:13I guess I'm old enough to remember when the tin foil conspiracy theorists on the right would have rather, you know, had a bolt of lightning hit those tin foil hats and give over their personal data. Like how has it that it's the Trump Republican party seizing collecting hoarding and putting all in one place everyone's personal data mark. Yeah, I mean people forget that the Bush administration after 9-11 proposed that there be a standard for a national drivers license. Not that the drivers are just be the same in every state, but that they'd be a standard and that's called real ID. And you know, that was that was 25 years ago and we are still first getting real ID implemented because the conservatives in the Republican party howled like crazy. They did not want the federal government even mandating what the driver's licenses were that states use.

19:13You know, at various stages back in that era, I would be involved in conversations about a bipartisan compromise. And essentially, you know, what I would say is like, look, why don't we have the federal government just issue a voter ID to everybody. Or we agree that some existing document that is already given to everybody like a social security card becomes an ID. And it was the right wing that said, no, we do not we do not want the federal government collecting information on every American about whether or not they're eligible to vote or not. So like this is Nicole, there are few things that at this point are so bizarre. Oh, land to me that I can't wrap my head around it. This is actually one of those things because like this has been the mission of the modern Republican party is to not trust government to honestly keep us safe and protect. Because they are afraid that government is collecting some big dark database on everybody.

20:13It's bananas. Are any dollar view to stick around ahead for all of us today. Donald Trump pulling out all the stops to impress the president of China. He did all sorts of weird things from Mocking Joe Biden to showing off his construction home rentals, aka the ballroom. But little else of actual national security or economic policy. Plus later in the broadcast, Donald Trump's authoritarian impulses got the better of him this week with his assault on the free press. My dear friend and colleague Rachel Maddo joins us right here at the table on this and her upcoming must see doc. It follows the owners of a local newspaper living under a weaponized government working to silence journalists. Any of that sound familiar? We'll get to all those stories and much more when Deadland White House continues after a quick break. Don't go anywhere. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason with SUVs made to move with your rhythm.

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22:17The battle is closed. And for only $5.99 even regular juice can afford it. Like that guy. Give me that big open. Yes. The whole Angus Maximus only $5.99 is cold senior. A bill for a limited time of participating restaurants. Taxiants not included. Not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. This episode is brought to you by O'Pill. The first ever over the counter daily birth control pill available in the US. O'Pill is a daily birth control pill that's FDA approved full prescription strength and estrogen free. Plus there's no prescription needed. Finally, the days of needing a prescription for birth control are over. Take control of your health and your reproductive journey. Find O'Pill online and at most major retailers. We're back with Mark, Director Brennan and Alex. Director Brennan, connect these dots. So Trump who thinks that the only problem with AI is not with the AI creators think it is, which is the potential destruction of the human race, but a branding problem over here.

23:21A Supreme Court that just green lit the federalizing of every single voter in the country's personal identifying data. And a Trump administration hell bent on co-zing up to Russian oligarchs. How exposed are we right now? Well, please don't ask me to connect those dots because it's clearly just so indicative of Donald Trump's inability to really understand some of the magnitude of the issues that we face as a country. Whether it's on the AI front, whether it is on the Iran conflict, whether it is in Ukraine and Russia and dealing with China. And so again, Trump has a very superficial understanding of these issues. And even when he has an understanding of it, he misrepresents the facts, which is why I think we've seen a visit by President Xi Jinping of China to be a lot of pomp and circumstance, but really no content. Because I think President Xi is a very smart, calculating strategic thinker and he assesses, I think, the situation here in the United States very well.

24:24He knows that Donald Trump is reeling right now in terms of his lack of popular support. The fact that he is in trench now in a conflict in Iran that he can't get out of. And the fact that he's facing a midterm that's going to, I think, reflect just how poor his standing is in the country. So again, I think Donald Trump, maybe he intentionally decided to avoid any type of substantive conversation with President Xi because he knows he cannot engage. Substantively, with somebody who really has been on the world stage for well over a decade, understands these issues very well, including on the AI, on the technical front across the board. And so again, I think, unfortunately, it's been quite an embarrassment on that Donald Trump continues to try to tout his credentials and capabilities on these issues when really they are extremely, extremely shallow. I mean, whether it's rolling over for Xi, which was more of what I broke through for me. There was pomp and there was halibut, but there was a whole lot of rolling over Alex.

25:31The piece of it that is so, to me, catastrophic is that the Republican Party is so broken that these, the century-old tripwires of, you know, state and local control of elections. Right? Like the reason they say they didn't get involved after Trump tries to steal the 2020 election, even the ones that initially rebuked him before it became orthodoxy to say he actually won when he lost. They put it on this one-time sacred belief that elections are best-managed. It's in the Constitution, too. So I guess it wasn't really a partisan position, but that they're willing to sacrifice that principle and say yes, the federal government should put federal, state voter, state voter rolls into a federal system. It's bananas. That they're taking this now demonstrated thing, that there is no non-citizen voting, that we've had to, you know, have these investigations predicated on nothing.

26:31They turn up no non-citizens that are voting, and they're still like zombies marching over the cliff. Yeah, well, I mean, and that's happening the week that the president, as you say, is rolling over, well, what is pomp and halibut? My favorite turn of phrase this week. The president is doing nothing to address the existential literally demise of his party over the Iran War. With the one person in the world, Xi Jinping, who actually has some control over it, China's the number one buyer of Iranian oil, Chinese banks, Launder Iranian oil money, they're giving them the chemical precursors to create ballistic missiles. At the same moment that Republicans in Congress cannot seem to find a backbone to vote for an Iran War power's authorization. I mean, the party is to its own detriment. I mean, they are jumping off the cliff for him, Nicole. Like the abstract principle of democracy and election integrity is gone.

27:32Even they are willing to sacrifice even their own political survivor, survival because they are so terrified of Donald Trump. His agenda is paramount in their minds. Even if it means that they might lose control of both chambers of Congress and lose their own careers, it is astounding. And it is the one thing I think the founding fathers never envisioned. That the allegiance to the executive would be so powerful and all consuming that it would that it would cause members of that party to create commit like political and career suicide. It is a shocking turn of events to say nothing of what that does to the American project writ large in the years to come. Margolay is what is the I know everyone turns to you as though you're another entire government in country able to push back against the executive branch of government, but you usually are what is the response? What is the comeback? How do we protect democracy from today's decision? So three things number one, every citizen needs to be engaged. We need to call this out for what it is. We need to be willing to speak up. We can't be afraid.

28:37Number two, the legal profession lawyers like me, others need to be prepared to protect voters. Like we need to just have a blinders on and say we are not going to back away from the fight. We're not going to overthink the cases. We're not going to worry about what Donald Trump might do to our law firms. We're just going to protect voters. And then and then finally, you know, we live in a system that is highly decentralized where there are a lot of moving pieces to the elections. And one of the things that I think Donald Trump has has worked on in the last few months has been to try to weaponize each one of those pieces, right? So the the the mail in voting thing was like weaponizing one piece of it. This is weaponizing a different piece of it. I think we need to recognize that it is all part of one plan that it is not like he just one day had an idea about voting by mail another day. Another day had an idea about national database, you know, a faulty database and then another day at an idea at the sick Todd Blanch on this that this is a large project that the Republican party has been working on before Donald Trump that he is embraced and is going forward.

29:46It is one of the reasons why I think Alex's book, by the way, is such an important read and hope everyone buys it. But we need to understand that this comprehensive thing is something that after the elections, we can't forget. Like the day after the election, we have to continue to have this conversation. The day after the election, we have to figure out how to defeat this once and for all. Yeah, on that note, congratulations again Alex Wagner on it is like book season and making the bestseller list. Even for a superstar like yourself is a huge accomplishment. Congratulations. Mark Alias, thank you for starting us off. I know you're busy saving the country. So thank you for taking time for us. Director Brennan, we are not done with you. Please stick around for the rest of the hour with us ahead for us. The story we've started to talk about a little bit. You see some pictures on your screen of some of what we're talking about, at least the pomp part of it. Trump seemed intent on trying to humiliate himself and by extension our country on the world stage and put a communist dictator by pining for his state-run media, for example.

30:48How the largely substance-free visit is being received around the world, we'll bring you that story next. Chevy is called the heartbeat of America for a reason with SUVs made to move with your rhythm. The versatile equinox tackles your entire day. The spacious traverse fits your crew and your whole weekend and tracks spring style with value you can count on. All infused with tech that has your back. So your drive always hits the right cord. Let's do the heartbeat! Adventure awaits in a new Chevy. Right now get $500 bonus cash on select Chevy Tracks Models. Plus get 2.9% financing on all 2026 Tracks Models. Together let's drive at your Southern California Chevy dealers. Bonus cash is available on 2026 Chevy Tracks LT and active terms only. 2.9% AP offered 36 months. Monthly payment is $2904 for every $1,000 new finance. Example down payment 11%.

31:49Must finance with GM Financial. Some customers may not qualify. Not available with lease and some of their offers. Take your retail delivery by 930-26. Hey what's up guys, it's Hayley Bailey. Okay, I need to tell you about something. I just got YouTube Premium. It's got tons of awesome features like offline downloads. So I can download my favorite videos before I travel and watch them whenever I don't have Wi-Fi. Because we all know airplane Wi-Fi is the worst. I get ad free, I get back room play and there's like a ton more in there. You should try it. If you like YouTube you'll love YouTube Premium. Try it now for two months free at youtube.com slash premium. Try a eligibility varies. Terms apply, cancel anytime. That's a mouthful. This is Angus Maximus. This partner has one pound of a pound of hot. Suzy cooked to water Angus feet. It's more expensive than a quarter pounder. The burger is closed. And for only $5.99 even regular juice can afford it. Like that guy. Give me that big old burger. Yes! He holds Angus Maximus. Only $5.99 is cold senior.

32:52A bill for a limited time of participating restaurants. Tax not included. Not valid for use within a combo or in combination with any other offer or discount. It's a little bit like betting it all on a squirrel to be the human being in a giant game of chess this afternoon. American people are looking through their fingers like this at diplomatic debacle. The good news is it relates to Donald Trump's red carpet summit with Chinese president Xi's that finally we can actually see what that squirrels up to after a few bumps intentional or otherwise MSNOW CNN and Politico are back in the building on the White House complex today with their access restored thanks to a judge's order. But consider what took place in the interim Trump invited state dinner guests government officials for a rival super power to tour construction of a ballroom he openly insisted was now a national security imperative he beamed Gittily in sharing with president Xi the photo of an auto pen in place of president Joe Biden's portrait inside the White House.

33:54Even as a Wall Street Journal analysis of Iranian customs data reveals that Chinese entities have provided critical military industrial support to Tehran. Not until this afternoon did Trump tell reporters he'd even broached the issue with president Xi there was one agreement on a very hot topic from Trump social media quote like almost everyone else she seemed to like calling the poorly and inaccurately named artificial intelligence to a far more accurate and important name all caps super intelligence that would be super everyone last night agreed also and quote. Is it that we're even a top the vital national security economic interests between the U.S. and China right now what we call a joining our conversation managing editor of the bull work contributor Sam Stein director Brennan is still here. Director Brennan let me show you what Nick Burns had to say about what happened.

34:57So I think the substance of this is difficult for the United States we're not bringing tough issues to the table the president is engineering a fairly weak policy towards China letting them off the hook and last really I'd say I don't get the symbolism here if the president thinks that by going to join base Andrews by the pomp and circumstance this beautiful state dinner somehow he can flatter Xi Jinping and he will be more pliable. Xi Jinping is not a sentimental person he's pragmatic he's hard headed but he's also very cynical about the United States and he wants to overtake us in power at some point so I think the symbolism works the wrong way. What do you think director Brennan. Nick Burns I think is right on point you know in many respects Donald Trump just shows that he is much like the you know school yard bully that's willing to you know pick on other kids to the world. Smaller weaker than he is but when there are other bullies out there are people of equal or greater strength he cowers which is what he did I think he showed great weakness and I think Xi Jinping detected that by the red carpet treatment going out to Andrews all of that and so whether it's Xi Jinping of let it Putin Donald Trump does not want to get tough with them at all he would prefer to you know sit down and have state dinners and just you know show what he's doing at the White House in the ballroom or whatever else but.

36:23Again he is not able I don't think even to engage with them but also Xi Jinping who is a very very astute observer the American political scene he knows that if three public party takes a drugging in this coming election and they lose both houses of Congress or only one. He knows that Donald Trump is going to be the lamest of lame ducks and why should he make any concession at this point on any issue knowing that if he just waits a bit. He's going to be dealing with an even further weakened American president which is what I can plan a Putin and the Iranians also view Donald Trump right now. I mean so do the Republicans let me roll together Tom Tillis for you Samstein with Senator John Kennedy. Look at this reception compared to the way maybe president Zelensky has been received you go like you know it's a WTF moment it's not that Xi Jinping is coming here to learn how to become a democratic capitalist nation Xi Jinping is trying to understand how his opposition will ultimately embrace their world view.

37:27I think that the people running Iran are reptiles in their part of a colony of reptiles China North Korea Russia and as I said Iran the chief reptile the quarterback is president Xi and China. You can't trust any of them all four of them are the same it's like the same hooker in different dresses. So again don't get lost on the reptile thing we'll deal with that in a minute let me just ask you to contrast hooker. Tillis comparing the Xi pomp and circumstance to how president Zelensky was received and this is Trump's attack on the media including our outlet quote MSNC and refused to cover one of the biggest and most beautiful events to take place in many years the event was magnificent.

38:39So it's been made for television actually but because they're fake news and because they knew how good it would be they didn't want credit to be given to Trump in all caps for some reason they refused to be there this is an event with a country that magas senator Kennedy there describes as a quote hooker and put some in league with North Korea and Iran and that Tillis compares negatively to the reception given to the Ukraine. Trump has not just lost the plot in terms of advancing American interests he's lost his party on this. 100% I won't match senator Kennedy's language and use of words but I agree with the sentiment. I thought the key line in the Trump statement was made for television because this is I think what he's trying to get out of the summit not a diplomatic breakthrough or any sort of geopolitical confrontation or even push American interests he's trying to create page entry.

39:43So that's why he has US military personnel literally dust off red carpet on their knees before she gets off the plane that's why he showcases a hella pad on the south on us is that some sort of great engineering marvel it's like literally a circular piece of granite it's why he pointed to the auto pen on the wall and laughed at it in sort of this grotesque display of mocking Democrats as if we're not a unified country trying to confront China and look I mean there was plenty to work with the president of the United States. China and there's plenty to confront China and obviously the big issues are what we're doing with AI whether we can have some sort of sensible way to build up the technology that eliminating humanity which is not like a insignificant consideration. And the more serious stuff of course is what's happening in Iran where the Chinese are sharing intelligence with the Iranian officials and is being used to target US personnel. Last thing I'm just noticed you might remember a couple months ago president Trump had a big speech in the Oval Office that it was built as a monumental presidential address about election hacking and whether our vote in 2020 was hacked the primary culprit according to the speech according to Donald Trump was China.

40:55He accused China in that speech of hacking the election of 2020 now you would imagine that a president who believes that in his core would confront she when he came to United States about hacking our elections of course he did not because this isn't about all takes or diplomacy it's about pageantry for Trump. So we'll stick with that game I'll show you what what else happened on television on this issue on the other side of a short break Jimmy Kimmel weighed in there with us. Here man mal later on very thick today he wrote met president she at the plane airport. I can do a whole show on that by the way just that yesterday and he looks strong vibrant and fit better than ever. That makes one of you. During the press conference today she announced that as a gesture of goodwill he would be sending two giant pandas to the United States which is a very bad idea you know if they send Trump pandas he's definitely going to eat him he's.

42:01Did these pandas come express. Rebecca Sam and record and yeah so Trump made for TV they have a that's a TV cover the events and. Yeah and this was bound to happen because you're doing silly stuff like pretending that a helipad is a great architecture that she and I can't get over it also showing off a half inch. So I'm showing off a half inch ballroom as if that somehow looks really nice for us. This is a time for obviously serious behavior and the president had an opportunity to engage in some serious diplomacy and frankly it's desperately needed but instead we got a lot of complaints and the obviously was the point but you couldn't dismiss the symbolism to right obviously things have changed and they are continuing to change but I was just obviously struck and really a nerve to frankly when the summit or the the gathering began with the American media members of it being banished and

43:03the minds of a court order initially while Chinese state media was allowed into the production that that type of contrast is grotesque and it is right for ultimately right from mockery to by the likes of Kimmel. We director Brennan at the root it's sort of the the so what the national security level is this flagrant seemingly oblivious weakness that Trump telegraphs on the part of the entire country. He certainly does Nicole and I'm you know I keep thinking where the world's oldest democracy who wants the world's greatest democracy I don't think we are anymore. And there are some pointed out there are so many serious issues that we need to deal with both domestically and internationally from artificial intelligence to war conflict and other types of things and you know listen to Jimmy Kimmel I'm just thinking that you know as long as Donald Trump remains in the White House I think we are all stuck in a South Park cartoon with the cartoonish behavior of somebody who is so unserious so incapable and competent so corrupt so craving when we're facing all these challenges.

44:14And again like you shake my head what has happened to Republican party how are they letting this happen to our country how are they letting this happen to our citizenry to their families into the future of our democracy and it's just of course I think it's going to get worse before it gets better and again as long as they allow Donald Trump to have his way whether it be the members of the Republican members of Congress is cabinet or the conservative members of the Supreme Court I think we are destined for a lot more hurt on the coming months. Thank you for being here to talk about all of it Sam Stein thank you for joining us from Ohio today you are there for a live bullwork podcast tonight to benefit the Haitian community in Springfield for viewers who can't be there live you can still donate on the bullwork website. Director John Brennan thanks for spending the whole hour with us today after the break a congressman finding construction equipment and heavy machinery near the site of Trump's proposed triumphant arch despite a court order barring any work there will show you with the congressman learned. About the future of Trump so called victory arch next.

45:23The Trump administration appears to be plowing ahead with its deeply unpopular triumphant arch as an advisory council packed with Trump allies has ended the legally required review of what harm the project could cause to the historic and sacred sites around it. Construction crews have already been spotted at the site congressman Don Byer who represents the district where the arch would stand went there after he said constituents informed him that construction vehicles had arrived on location take a listen. constituents were calling us to saying. Something's happening. Right we had heard that was going to start until November and I've got I've got a piece of legislation that prohibits the arch so obviously very interested in knowing what they're doing. In a statement after the visit by our said that when he asked if the work was a precursor to construction of yet another vanity project they said that they quote could not answer.

46:24After the break Rachel Matto joins us don't go anywhere will be right back with Rachel. Three o'clock kids are home. You're to do list isn't done. New craft mac and cheese power Mac was made for days like this craft mac and cheese power Mac packs the same irresistible creamy cheesy flavor you love now with 17 grams of protein and six grams of fiber. Fuel's you up keeps you going because your day doesn't stop craft mac and cheese power Mac find it at your favorite retailer the best thing ever keeps getting better.