GOP leaders sound the alarm on Texas Senate race

0:00Hey everybody, it's Rachel Maddo here. I wanted to tell you that more than a dozen of us from MSNOW are going to be in Texas on Saturday, September 26th. I'm going to be there. Lauren Soudon will be there, so will Jen Saki. A whole bunch of us are all going to be there in Texas. Tickets started just over 30 bucks each. And if you buy a ticket, you will get access to our new MSNOW membership free for a year. Tickets for Texas are on sale now. You can learn more at ms.nail slash together. Hope to see you in Texas. And you know, we have a guy named Kent Paxton. And some people don't like the way he dresses or some people don't like the way he interviews or talks. But you know the one thing about him? He was the best attorney general in this country for the last 10 years or more. The most effective, the hardest working, he was the best attorney general in the United States. And so I don't care about an interview and I don't care about the way he dresses.

1:04We're going to go to Texas and work for Kent Paxton who's a great guy. I mean, so Kent Paxton, you might not like the way he dresses. And I say this, it's so insulting to him, but I might as well say it. You might not like the way he looks. You might not love his look. You might not love his television interviews. But he was the best attorney general in the country perhaps. He was one of the best in the entire country. And that speaks a lot louder than the shoot he's wearing that doesn't look so great. President Trump redefining the backhanded compliment talking about Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton trying his best to endorse a guy whose look he doesn't really approve of. We'll explain why there is a Texas-sized freak out among some Republicans ahead of the midterms. Comes as many Republican candidates are telling Politico this morning they will not attend the president's midterm convention in Dallas next week in part because they're busy campaigning and they have to pay 25 grand a pop just to show up. Plus, Treasury Secretary Scott Besant is blaming Ukraine for high gas prices here in the

2:09United States. We'll show you his new comment. Good morning, welcome to Morning Joe. It is Thursday, September 3rd. I'm Willie Geiss with us the co-host of our 8 AM hour staff writer at the Atlantic, Jonathan Lamir, senior writer at the dispatch and calmness of Bloomberg opinion, David Drucker, contributing writer to the Atlantic Eugene Robinson and co-host of the weekend and Washington reporter for MS now, Jackie Alamani. Good morning to you all. It's dive right in with that dinner last night. President Trump hosted in the Rose Garden. He just saw a part of it for a group of Republican lawmakers facing tough election fights this fall. Some of the guests included Congressman Michael Lawler of New York, Congressman Mike Collins of Georgia who's running for Senate. Congresswoman Ashley Hinson of Iowa also running for the Senate several dozen others. It comes as many Republicans have pressed the President to use his massive war chest in some of those competitive races. At the dinner, President Trump pledged to spend time campaigning in battleground states. All the way to November 3rd and beyond, we're going to be helping you.

3:10I'm going to be going around and doing a lot of speeches. I think I helped Darlene quite a bit. We went down to South Carolina made a speech and it worked. So we're going to take that little, that final 30 days. You don't want to go too much before that because people forget. But we're going to take that final 30 days, Mr. Speaker. So I'm relying on you guys to give me some names where I say, is either tied, or you're winning by a little bit? Or you're losing by a little bit? In some cases, you can be losing by a lot and we'll bring you over the line. But mostly it's if you're close and we'll get, I think we'll get all those people elected. I'm going to have to work. One of those places where it's very close is Texas. A growing number of Republicans are voicing concern about that closely watched Senate race between Republican Ken Paxson and Democrat James Talleriko. A race MSNOW's election desk currently considers a toss up. Here's some of what Republican Senator Ted Cruz and Republican strategist Carl Rove had

4:13to say. Yeah, look, Texas is a very serious fight and I'm very worried about it. Virtually all the public polling shows Talleriko leading typically one to two points, but ahead a little bit more broadly. And this is a Texas problem, but it's a problem in every one of the states we talked about. The left is energized. They're pissed off. They hate Donald Trump. They are showing up on the right. Look, some of some folks on the right are demoralized or dispirited or angry or fighting back and forth. Both conservatives and just common sense normal people stay home. And the radicals in zealots show up in big numbers. That's how you get a terrible election and end up instead of 53 Republicans with 45 Republicans in the Senate. Paxson, remember the week leading up to the 4th of July, he was in Washington the week before the 4th of July on that weekend. No fundraiser that I can find. And then on Tuesday, he was seen leaving for Iceland with his latest girlfriend.

5:16And then the two of them spent the 4th of July celebrating in London, England. Now look, we have London Texas. It's out in the West Texas. Not a big town. But if he wanted to go to London, he should have gone to London, Texas rather than London, England. Time is running out. If the president wants to have Paxson win, he needs to be tossing a lot of money Paxson's way so that ads can be run. He did to pick Calarico as far left winger as far left winger as he is. If not, Pat Calarico is going to run the message of my opponent is the most corrupt politician in Texas history all the way to the victory line. That's Carl Rove talking there who knows Texas politics very, very well. Jonathan Lemire so much to talk through there. Let's start with the president of the United States who can't really bring himself to say something nice about Ken Paxson just attacking his delivery, his campaign stump speech, the way he looks, the clothes he wears. He was though the best attorney general in the history of the country. That's at the core of the problem actually as Carl Rove gets to there that he's among the most corrupt attorneys general in the history of the country.

6:20How deeply concerned are Republicans actually about this race? Well, Rove, you heard I'm urging President Trump to spend some money on behalf of Paxson in Texas. I suspect that Trump would earmark those funds for a new war. I think that seems to you, a Trump is very clear about it. It's classic Trump tell that oh, many people are saying, I don't know. Some people might very clearly Donald Trump, some interview said this guy's outfit is terrible and that his color has opinion of him forever. But yes, I mean, Republicans are the ones who try to impeach Paxson in Texas. He is, Tyler Eko is a talented political figure. No doubt. But Texas is still Texas. It's still lean red. It's been the white whale for Democrats forever. This race is closed. Yes, Tyler Eko, but more because of Paxson's flaws. And it is going to take some money. There are Texas is an extremely expensive state. It's huge. There's major media markets. It will take a real push. And I think we are seeing the alarm being sounded. Ted Cruz has been saying this for a few weeks now. And other Texas lawmakers as well, other colleagues in the Senate who partially informed

7:20because they're still so upset that John Cornygant pushed out. They also say, look, this is a problem. And I also want to highlight something else, Cruz said there. He's like, what the margin is now, he gives 53 Republicans now, but it could get down to 45. There is a growing sentiment that an election like this, which could be a wave year. If it breaks one way, it breaks big that way. And Democrats certainly aren't going to get ahead of themselves. They aren't going to start celebrating. But there is a scenario we have seen this happen in cycles before. We're just the national moment is such where one party grabs it. The public is angry at the party in power and it swings wildly one way. And Republicans are starting to get alarmed that they could be looking at that. And that alarmed David Drucker's spilling out into public. We've seen Senate Majority Leader John Thune go on TV. We've seen him go to the Oval Office pleading for Donald Trump to intervene in this race in Texas. He's sitting on that $400 million war chest with Maggie Inc. A couple hundred million more and other fundraising as well. They're saying, we've got to start this now. It's a huge state. We need your money. We need your support. I believe David, you said a month ago, correct me if I'm wrong, that Ken Paxton was the

8:21most corrupt politician you've ever covered. You can check me on that and mend that if you'd like to. But how concerned do you find Republicans to be about him? No fact check needed there, Willie. I've been saying that for months and Republicans are very concerned. I mean, going back to Ken Paxton's victory in the runoff, Republicans made it very clear to me, both operatives and otherwise, that they weren't going to expend a dime on this state. They wanted John Cornyn because as bad as this cycle is guys, as bad as it is for Republicans, if John Cornyn's the nominee, the race might be close, but it wouldn't be in doubt and Republicans wouldn't have to spend a dime. But they've got so many priorities, including in states that are naturally competitive, that what they've told the president is you wanted Ken Paxton, you broke it, you bought it. And because he has the money, additionally, they're like, you can spend. And so far, they've wasted a summer, meaning the president's team, and I doubt that this

9:24is their decision. I tend to think it's his decision. I think they've wasted a summer where they could have defined James Talarico more succinctly and more clearly for voters because even though the polling in Texas looks difficult for Ken Paxton, he still has a natural edge because of the way that state tends to vote. And so we're watching the suburbs, we're watching the Rio Grande Valley in those border counties that are majority Hispanic, that the president flipped and went Republican for the first time in a century. But Ted Cruz is right and he's been through this before and so he knows what he's talking about. And Dave, why is the president not listening to John Thune and Ted Cruz and the laundry list of other Republicans pleading for him to get involved? Why is he sitting on almost a billion dollars of money that could be very beneficial to these candidates in tight races? Well, because he doesn't listen to people that tell him that he's the problem. And of course, nobody's really telling him he's the problem, but they're kind of telling him he's the problem.

10:25And the president even after a mid-term, this thing is, it's so funny, right? But as many presidents do, but this one in particular, believes his own press and believes that he's invulnerable. And to a degree, I understand it because Trump ended back in the White House as a matter of pure politics after January 6th and everything, you just wouldn't think that would happen. But he has proven as an incumbent to be vulnerable and to be human, if you will, to not be tough one. But he never believes that. And he hates to part with money in any event. He raised this money. It's his, he said that in interviews. He has said, it's my money, I can do what I want with it. And so this is why many Republicans I've been talking for the past six months or so have been very skeptical about whether he's one going to invest the money and two, invest it properly in terms of timing and the price that outside groups have to pay for ads, which is of course, as you know, more than candidates.

11:25And to that point about the president being the problem, a new survey of more than 70 Republican candidates and party members reveals, most either do not plan to attend or undecided on next week's Republican midterm convention in Dallas, headlined by President Trump and being called by some Trump of Paloza. Politico reached out to a number of Republicans ahead of that event, 45, telling the outlet, they will skip the convention, citing scheduling conflicts, personal obligations or discomfort with the fact they have to pay $25,000 for the right to attend. Politico reports some other vulnerable Republicans are steering far clear of the gathering. Reportly nickname Trump of Paloza, as I said, due to concerns about associating closely with the president amid his slipping approval rating. So Jackie, other than the president of the United States, who is this convention for exactly? Well, that's a really great question. There are a number of lawmakers who are in competitive districts who have opted out, as you just

12:27noted, people like Congressman Tom Barrett of Michigan. I think we're going to see a lot of other lawmakers who fit a similar profile, similarly opt out. I think that's the last night to see people like Mike Lawler, so visibly present at the Rose Garden. But I think that's part of the situation that lawmakers are facing right now when they're waiting for this money that the president and his allies have promised to be dispersed to actually come their way, because they do need it at the end of the day. And so they've sort of got to play along. But I think when you're looking to something like this convention, which seems to be a bit of an organizational mess and lacking in terms of the purpose that it's serving, you are going to see people more freely decide that actually the best strategy here is not to go along with Trump's plan to make this election, either a referendum on him or about himself, and rather run a more individual race, especially as we're getting closer and closer.

13:27And Trump is running out of time as Ali noted in the previous hour, to actually operationally carry out spending the money in a real and serious and strategic way, just in terms of even things as simple as reserving that air time. But Gina, why do you think they're holding this convention? Well, this is convention fourth for Donald Trump. Yeah, I mean, maybe it also is singularly to save Ken Paxson, because that is going to be the person that finally turns Texas blue. And that's an embarrassing stain on his right hand. Extremely embarrassing, because we've been here so many times before. It is Lucy in the football. And I remember Pedro Rourke and others have been close. But I didn't hire a polster or a rock. That's the reason that this closed. So, but no, I mean, look, we all know what Trump's going to do, right? This is going to give this some thumb speech and talk about how wonderful he is.

14:30And the reason so many Republicans aren't coming is, you know, they don't want to be seen saying, I'm for the Iran War. I'm for $4,000 gas. I'm for a ballroom at the White House as opposed to anything that might be affecting you as opposed to affordability as opposed to the issues that are going to matter. And so the purpose of this aside from, you know, glorification of Donald Trump is to try to gin up some enthusiasm among Texas Republicans if you can do that. It's a Republican state. But I don't know if they can do that. We'll see if they can do that this year. It hasn't been there so far. John, the candidates who were asked to go to this convention are saying, no, no, we need money from you to win our races. I don't need to come here, get off the campaign trail and pay you 25 grand a pop to be at this convention whose purpose is unclear to most of these Republicans.

15:32Yeah, I mean, Trump wants to be about himself for reasons of ego, but there is at least some thought that the idea, if people close to him say, look, Trump voters often don't turn out when his name is not on the ballot. So they're trying to make this about himself. He's trying to nationalize his election, not only is it with this convention where he's going to speak both nights, but also because of they want the magma money they're are going to spend. They said they might they want the ads to focus on Trump about defense, defensive Trump's record. They think that will work. The problem with that, of course, is American people are aware of Donald Trump's record and they don't like it. He's approving his approval rating as a historic low. So this is a problem. Republicans are growing really antsy. They don't like the idea of coming off of the trail for a couple of days, but really, I guess the save in grace is because there are fears from Republicans that they're going to be spotted at this convention. The cameras will go on them and there will be that much, you know, an easy campaign that for Democrats to tie them that much closer to Trump. If there's footage of them like clapping and cheering while Trump is talking, is it probably no one's going to watch this convention anyway? In part because it goes up against the one thing all Americans care about, the NFL opener,

16:35the two games that the kickoff are Wednesday and Thursday nights, the exact same nights of this convention. The audience is only going to be so big. They didn't see that coming. You got a super bowl rematch on Wednesday and another great game on Thursday. I was speaking to an aide recently. There is some anger in the White House now. This was scheduled and that was a blind spot. They did not realize it. Now of course, far too late to change. David Drucker, one of your new columns for Bloomberg is titled Trump's popularity has reached a critical point. What do you mean when you say it's critical now? Well, the president's poll numbers are troubling for Republicans, right? He's in around 40% or so and he's been that way for several months. And it's a situation now as we hit Labor Day that becomes very entrenched, right? I mean, I tend to think after 25 years of doing this that if you're not turning things around by the time we hit the end of June, that Labor Day really doesn't matter because opinions are hardened, particularly in the kind of media environment wherein where everybody is just bombarded with ads and news about politics going back to the beginning of the election

17:39year. But the two things that are hurting President Trump the most, and I think this is why this has become such a concern for him and for the GOP, is one the Iran war continues, right? And that is the thing, number one, that has spike gas prices, perpetuated inflation. And it's also something that the American people broadly have never warmed to. And the president hasn't done a good job of explaining it, but they've just never warmed to it and it continues unabated as we are now in September. Number two, when I was talking to pollsters for this column, another Republicans, what they were explaining to me is that a key part of the president's coalition is really souring on him. And that is what we like to think of as the normy Republicans, right? That's the term we use. The Magda Republicans are there, the people that think of themselves as Trump first and Republican second, they're sticking with them. Their numbers are solid. But for Republicans who have supported Trump because they are Republicans or because they

18:45don't like the alternative, these are the sorts of people that may not turn out in the midterm elections. And that is the sort of thing that the president is having a hard time holding on to let him turn in around. Not appearing to do much to help either. He's going to lean in. He wants us to be about him. As we've been talking this morning, we had some breaking news coming into us. The pioneering activist and feminist, Gloria Steinem has died at the age of 92. According to her official social media page, Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City surrounded by some of the many who loved her. Steinem of course, a leading voice for second wave feminism during the 1960s, advocating for social justice, reproductive freedom, domestic violence prevention, and gender equality. She died on Tuesday. We will have much more on the life and legacy of Gloria Steinem coming up in just a moment. Also ahead, we'll get to the latest in the Iran War amid new reports, Defense Secretary Pete Hegzith is quietly extending troop deployments to the Middle East into 2027.

19:48Plus, what former Army Secretary Dan Driscoll had to say in a farewell message on his last day at the Pentagon. As we go to break, a look at the Traveler's forecast this morning from Acque Weather's Bernie Reino. Bernie has a look out there. Willie, it's a steamy and stormy Thursday across the Mid-Atlantic states and parts on the Northeast Boston. Some rain this morning, New York City, Philadelphia, then a drenching thunderstorm this afternoon. Watch out for some strong thunderstorms around Washington DC. Just hot in Chicago. How about 100 in St. Louis? New Storm around Dallas today because of tropical rainstorm at WARD and some drenching thunderstorms in the Florida Peninsula. It stays dry in Atlanta and Charlotte today, but there are the delays of Miami. Do your city in Philadelphia. They hope you make the best decisions and be more in the know-download. The Acque Weather Up today.

20:53For me, being a part of this place has always been about the people, not about the politics. From the field to the studio, Jacob is finding the heart of the story, connect with Jacob Soberov. We can set 10 a.m. Eastern on MS now. The Kuwaiti Army says this morning it was under attack by missile and drone strikes from Iran as back and forth strikes between Washington and Tehran resumed earlier this week. This after President Trump again repeated to reporters yesterday, hostilities will not last in his words too long. Recent resumption of U.S. strikes in Iran have sent oil prices back up to $95 a barrel. How long will this renewed campaign go for? And also, given what you've said about having destroyed the Iranian military, what is

21:54there still left to strike in life? We have controlled and we are controlling the Hormor Strait. We are bringing lots of boats out every day with millions of barrels of oil. We are, for the most part, doing it without trouble. Every once in a while they shoot a drone and knock it down. But we have control of very strong control. As you know by now, that's categorically untrue. The Strait is not wide open. There's a trickle of ships coming through in a true social post yesterday, the President suggested renaming the Strait of Hormuz the Trump Strait, insisting it's open and under U.S. control. Despite his continued claims, only a handful of ships are making the passage every day Iran regularly attacking vessels in the Strait. This week a Saudi shipping company said two Filipino sailors were killed in an attack as their vessel transit at the Strait of Hormuz. It all comes as a Wall Street Journal reports. Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth is quietly extending troop deployments and a sign the conflict

22:56could drag well into next year. That's according to people familiar with the matter. The journal goes on to report, U.S. officials have said Trump is privately having discussions with senior aides about whether to just declare the Iran war over. Including Trump has said he favors that idea. The officials say Trump also tells aides he believes sticking with economic pressure will eventually force the regime either to dismantle its nuclear program or to collapse John. He's wanted to turn the page on this for several months and just make it go away. He can't do that. He hopes the economic pressure will help. But what would it look like to just declare the war over and walk away? You're certainly right that he wants this to be done. I reported the Trump was born with the war back in May. Here we are in early September. I mean, I think what I've heard is that, yes, he's eager to move beyond this. There is a sense that the straight of Hormuz, despite his claims, there is acknowledgement within the administration. It's not actually open. There's a little more oil game through today than it was a few weeks ago. Yes, but it's still not a lot. They need to have the straight more open than it is now.

23:57But if they do that, that might be enough for Trump actually to say this is over, we win. We'll turn the page. And that's a problem for many in the region. It's a problem for America's foreign policy strategy writ large because it would still leave Iran with at least some sublims of control of the straight of Hormuz. It potentially still a lot. At the very least, they know they can close it at any time. It does nothing to affect regime change. That's not going to happen. In fact, the hard leaders in Tehran seem to be, have only tightened their grip on power. And it doesn't address the Iran nuclear issue, which was allegedly this was all about. At minimum, it kicks the can down the road. And there's been reporting from a number of places that Iran is trying to ramp up construction sites around the nation, leaving some to believe they may dip back in as you try to accelerate the program to try to thinking that that might be the only deterrent from another war down the road. So this would be a disaster just to walk away from it. Even if for Trump, it might have some short term, you know, political impact because it takes the war out of the headlines for all ahead of the midterms and it gives, it would give the economic pressure some more time.

24:57And Iran should have no interest in reopening the straight. That's the lever they have that they can pull the know and change the global economy. Treasure Secretary Scott Bessent was on Fox News yesterday, partly blaming Ukraine for the global energy shock and rising gas prices as a result of this war. Prices are too high. The American consumer got blown away under Joe Biden, 21.5 percent stated inflation, probably much higher for working Americans. We are going through an energy shock right now due to both the war in Ukraine because Ukraine has decided that they want to blow up Russian energy assets and refine products. So that is creating upward price pressure on a global basis and then the conflict in Iran and the conflict in Iran will end and prices will come down. Overall prices are coming down. Core inflation is very under control. Again, they're not coming down.

25:59It is true. Ukraine has used long-range drones to hit Russian oil infrastructure in recent months, but the war in Iran has virtually closed the straight-up war. Moose blocking about one-fifth of global oil imports and again blaming the victim here in the war. The Vladimir Putin started Eugene Robinson in Ukraine. Another, I guess not shocking anymore, though it should be development from this administration and just always deferring to Vladimir Putin, always deferring to Russia. Scott Besson again inviting the Russian finance minister to the G20 summit in Asheville, North Carolina this week, completely blind-sighting European allies. Yeah, actually what Besson said was shocking to me. I can't believe he went there and said it's Ukraine's fault that we have such high gas and oil prices that's absurd, that's a historical and it sounded frankly desperate. The claim that prices are coming down is clearly false. Look at the price of crude oil.

27:01Once again, it's inching up into the 90s, it's inching toward $100. And that is certainly that price is coming down. And yes, there is always this difference to Vladimir Putin, who let's face it on some level really admires and wants to be buddies with and it's described as strong and powerful and essentially a great leader. And that is absurd and it's actually obscene to think of Putin in that way. It denies the reality of the war in Ukraine, which was unprovoked and unjustified invasion by Vladimir Putin of a sovereign country, Ukraine and Ukraine is trying to fight back. I mean, that's just what happened and no amount of Trump or Besson or anybody else claiming

28:08otherwise is going to change that. I just think we should really emphasize and underscore your point that there is absolutely zero evidence that Ukraine is causing this and that it is the war in Iran, that is the primary and most significant driver of this increase in prices. And actually the output from Russia has remained pretty unchanged when you're looking at their oil imports. And they've been able to evade all of these sanctions. But David, I'm wondering if there's any other real levers that the administration can pull here other than these rhetorical games that they're playing to now try to blame Ukraine for their midterm head ache and whether or not they can actually do anything in time for November. Right, so I don't think economically you're going to do much for November. I think from a message perspective, you can do some things on the margins, right? I mean, there is some value for Republicans for Donald Trump to campaign for them in certain states and in certain districts where on the natural, the politics favors Republicans and the president can motivate some people to show up, right?

29:10So we shouldn't totally dismiss that. And I would bet that his rallies this fall will be strategically placed in red states with competitive Senate seats like Iowa, where again, even though Ashley Henson has such a tough fight, the fact is Donald Trump I think can be very helpful to her there where he's not going to be helpful for instance to Susan Collins and Maine or even Mark Wattley in North Carolina. So that's one thing they can do, but the economics at this point are pretty baked in because this is a ship that takes time to steer in turn. And even if the Iraq war actually ended today, right? I mean, I'd like to just declare myself the starting point, comfortable Los Angeles Lakers for the upcoming 2026, 2027 season and maybe we'll just make it so. But even if they, the war actually ends tomorrow, it takes time for oil prices to come down. They don't come down as fast as they go up. That's number one. Number two, people hired Donald Trump to fix inflation and they can blame Joe Biden.

30:13It's pretty standard practice for presidents to blame their predecessor. They can blame world events. That's also pretty standard practice. But really in a presidency, people are going to give a president some time and say, yeah, you know, obviously there are things that happened before they were in office. Let's give them time. We're now 18, 19 months in. The voters we've seen from data are done giving them time. And I think that barring big mistakes by Democrats, which could still happen. The cake is baked and they are where they are. David Drucker. Thank you as always. David's latest piece is up now online for Bloomberg. Jackie Alamane, great to see you. Thank you as well. We're watching the weekend at 7 a.m. Eastern right here on MS now. Coming up, the mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Roberto Alves joins the conversation. After dozens of recent ice arrests across his city, talk to the mayor about how he's dealing with that. Good morning, Joe. Come straight back. Join MS now live in Texas for our biggest event yet with Rachel Maddo, Chen Zaki, Michael

31:29Steele and more MS now live together in Texas. September 26th. Get tickets today at ms.now slash together. Crowds gathered last night in Danbury, Connecticut for a rally after ice agents arrested more than 60 people there last week. Hundreds joined the march through the downtown area, including both of the state's U.S. senators and the governor. The event cat what activist called a day without immigrants where businesses were encouraged to remain closed. Join us now, the mayor of Danbury, Roberto Alves. He also attended last night's rally. Mr. May, it's great to see you. Can you first let's talk about what has happened in your city, which is this incredibly vibrant multicultural city in Connecticut? How surprised you were to see these ice agents if you had warning that they were coming and then what happened when they did? So no surprise at all to see them. You know, with what we've seen having across the country in our diversity, we knew it

32:31was a matter of time, but how we feel, we're angry, we're scared, communities anxious, they're nervous, kids are afraid to go to school, people are afraid to go to work. So it also bringing people together, but it's just a trying time right now. It's a bustling city, as I said, which is kind of during this time been a little bit of a ghost town. People are scared to leave their houses. They don't know if they're going to be rounded up. We've talked about some of the stuff happening at school bus stops. Where parents would drop off kids and by the time the kid got out of school, their parent had been taken away. Can you describe some of what you've seen over the last week or so? Yeah, so it was just different tactics from the last year and a half, two years of the Trump administration. Last week was more of an intentional brutality to drive fear and division in the community. We had multiple, multiple detainments at grocery stores where families were shopping. Folks me detained with women and children in the car. The bus stop when a parent drops the kid off on the bus and then a bus driver sees what's going on and tries to pull out so the kids don't have to watch it.

33:34This is not who we are. An operation in front of a daycare, three to five year olds looking at somebody getting thrown on the ground that looks like their parents. What do we tell our children about who we are as a country? We're not going after our most serious criminals. The numbers show that already. Well, I was going to ask you about that. We've promised the American public was promised during the campaign that ICE was going to go after the worst of the worst to use their term, rapists, murders, thugs, drug dealers, all that. Do we have any sense of the criminal records or lack thereof of the people who've been arrested and denberry? Well, we have as a lack of any information. They're not sharing anything with us. What we see are what people are coming back and then the research or activists and volunteers are doing on their own showing that folks don't have this. I grew up undocumented. I got my citizenship in 2017. These are my neighbors. These are folks who have that shared experience I have. The fear I had growing up of being undocumented is very different than the fear these kids have because of that use of force. People getting tased. Windows being broken.

34:34This is something different. This is something new. We won't stand for it in Connecticut. So decidedly not the worst of the worst is the ICE operations expand. Talk to us about what sort of pushback you're able to provide here. Are you getting? I know the Senator Blumenthal has stood with you and those other city leaders. What is the federal government saying? Is there even any kind of dialogue being established here? Well, Congressman Schumann-Hays, Senator Murphy, Senator Blumenthal. Everybody is writing strongly-worded letters to the federal government. They're making phone calls, but what we need is a communication, a conversation, and answers back. What we're hearing are things like, well, we're not aware that this has happened. These aren't the things we do, but we're seeing it. That's what we're seeing on the ground. That's what the videos are showing. And hopefully things change now. The tactics change and we do get some answers. So to John's question, what is your recourse as the mayor? What is your recourse as a state? What is your recourse with the police force? We say we're not going to stand for this, which is, many would argue, the right stand to take. But what does that mean?

35:35How do you not stand for it? Well, after a week of fear, a week of uncertainty, a week of anxiety, what we had yesterday was a day of hope, right? What can we do? We stand together, right? Let's explain to people what we do know, what we don't know, what we can do, what we can't do. We're not going to be out there. We can't sit out there in the rest ICE agents because we don't like what they're doing. We know that. But what we can do is activate a base of volunteers. So now we have more people on more streets watching for ICE agents, warning folks of what's going on, rapid response team so they can help these folks after they get detained. I identify families right away, right? Take pictures, try to get some names so we can help them after. Because that's a whole other conversation that needs to be had on what's happening to folks after the team. And then second, at the end of the day, when I say over and over, we're only going to stop this at the ballot box. We're only going to stop this. The first part is November and then we have to limit or defund ICE and then we have to be the president to November from now. That's how we stop this. Mr. Mayor, spokesperson for DHS responded to the last night's rally in Danbury with this

36:36statement, quote, they should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from Connecticut, not vilifying law enforcement. While these people smear ICE law enforcement as arresting criminals and saving countless American lives, which are response. Last week was probably about 70 that we know of maybe even more, show us that they're criminals. I've been on the front line of this saying this from the beginning, if you're committing a serious crime, you get your day in court, you're allowed to process. And if you're proving guilty of serious crimes, then yes, let the process take place and deport these folks. But overwhelmingly, we are seeing that these aren't serious criminals. So I don't believe what they're saying is true. How can I trust an administration that is lied time and time again and given it's just empty words? And that's what that is. That's empty words. That's my response to that. Show us who they are then. Be open about it. And they won't. We've seen in cities across the country, including Minneapolis by ICE's own statistics, 75, 80, 90% of the people they arrest don't have criminal records.

37:36So as they move the goalposts in this administration about why someone here undocumented should be arrested, I'm curious what you think as someone who came here as a child undocumented and earned his citizenship of the argument though, well, they broke the law just by being here and that's enough for us to arrest them. What do you think of that? I think we have to address the problem that hasn't been fixed for decades now. Listen, even folks like me, we want secure borders. I came in and I was five years old. I had no choice. My parents didn't ask me what my opinion was. So we have to address that side of it. But then we have to acknowledge the fact that folks are contributing to society. They're shopping at our stores. A lot of them are paying taxes. These are folks who then assimilate into American culture like nobody does all over the, anywhere else in the world and become proud of Americans. So it's a return investment that you don't get in any other area. So let's encourage, let's vet them. We got to create some kind of path. Let's have that conversation. And Will, we should note the White House is just leaning in on this right now.

38:38After a sort of a quiet summer, they've ratcheted up deportation efforts. They think this is good politics ahead of the midterm because it'll excite their base, polls suggest otherwise. And it's of course towns like Danbury, but also here in New York City. Just two days ago, DHS Secretary Malin was here declaring the start of Operation Rotten Apple. And they're going to have increased enforcement and deportation programs here in the nation's largest city. And there's talk of other cities as well between now and November. The mayor of Danbury, Connecticut, Roberto Alves. Thank you very much. Danbury, as I said, is a great city. It's vibrant. It's diverse. Go to the mall. Go to the lake. Downtown, go see Danbury, Connecticut. Mr. Mayor, thanks so much. Good to see you. Appreciate great to see you again. Still ahead, MSNOW contributor Pablo Torrey joins the table to talk about the big breaking news out of sports this morning. The NBA's massive punishment for the Los Angeles Clippers coming on the heels of his Pulitzer Prize winning investigation into the franchise. Pablo joins us right after the break. Now you can watch Ali Velchee five nights a week in prime time on MSNOW as he takes

39:43command of the 11th hour. The Justice Department is facing its own legal obstacles over this case, putting today's stories in perspective. This one is perhaps one of the more interesting surprises. And tomorrow's headlines in focus. Economists are warning that American consumers are soon going to feel the hurt. The 11th hour with Ali Velchee weeknights at 11 PM Easter, not MSNOW.