'Trump was warned': Reports contradict Trump's claims of surprise by challenges in Iran

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Okay, today we woke up to the news.

Well, a lot of news, but one of the pieces of news we woke up to was the fact that Trump's

FBI director Cash Patel had been hacked.

A group claiming to be affiliated with an Iranian intelligence agency released a trove

of emails and photographs taken from a personal email account of Cash Patel's.

The FBI confirmed the hack, emphasizing that the stolen materials that were leaked were

quote, historical in nature.

As in, before he somehow found himself as the director of the FBI and that they don't

involve government information, as of now, as of what they've released.

Now, we're not going to show you the materials released by those hackers today because, frankly,

they're really not newsworthy.

And it appears the purpose of this hack was, of course, to embarrass Cash Patel.

Now, to be honest, though, nothing released today was really anywhere near as embarrassing

as what we already know about Cash Patel, what he has somehow put out himself in many

ways.

I mean, just last week, ProPublica reported that Cash Patel had been signing autographed

pictures of himself at the FBI Academy.

ProPublica also reported that Patel made these custom shoes.

Leave them on the screen, featuring the cash sign, the number nine, Patel is the ninth

director of the FBI, and the FBI motto.

So yeah, why not make some commemorative shoes about it, I guess?

As one does.

I mean, this is a guy who was caught guzzling beer and parting with the US Olympic hockey

team during a trip his spokesperson claimed was an official FBI trip to Milan for security

meetings, not what it appears to be, as far as I can see.

And this is a guy who has reportedly demanded that rotating FBI SWAT teams, teams trained

to arrest violent criminals and free hostages and fight terrorists, provide as much younger

girlfriend with personal security while she performs as a singer and runs errands.

This is guy who on more than one occasion ordered FBI security personnel to drive his girlfriends

allegedly drunk friends home after nights of partying.

Now this hacking group does not appear to have released the entirety of what they obtain

from Patel's personal email account, and if they ultimately release something newsworthy,

he will report on it.

But for now, the content here, this is my point, isn't the story, the hack itself is.

And that's not because the hack is surprising.

A lot of very high level US officials have had their personal data hack before.

The hack is the story here because precisely because of how unsurprising it is.

I mean, US officials have been warning about Iran's cyber capabilities for years now.

And after the US struck Iran last year back in June, Trump was repeatedly warned by his

own agencies that one of the primary ways Iran could strike back against the US was through

cyber attack.

Trump's Department of Homeland Security warned about it as did Sissa, the NSA, the Department

of Defense, and the FBI.

And nearly a year ago, all five of those agencies warned Trump about the danger of cyber

attacks from Iran.

But despite those warnings, Trump cut more than 1,000 jobs at Sissa, our country's top cyber

security agency.

Well, guess what the Trump administration started doing this week?

After they cut 1,000 Sissa jobs and started a war with a country known for cyber attacks.

Well, they announced plans to hire 300 more people at Sissa.

Oh, you need those guys after all?

Who could have predicted that one?

Maybe anyone.

Tomorrow marks one month of Trump's war with Iran.

And one of the defining features of this war so far has been the combination of how predictable

Iran's responses had been, and also how seemingly unprepared the Trump administration

has been in handling those responses.

I mean, just take, for example, a few of the warnings that Trump's top military adviser,

the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Cain, reportedly gave Trump before

he attacked Iran.

The Wall Street Journal reported that before the US one toward General Cain told Trump

that an American attack could prompt Iran to close the strait of hormones.

Trump reportedly said that he thought Iran would capitulate before closing the strait.

And that even if Iran tried the US military, they could handle it.

Well now the strait has been closed for nearly a month, strangling the global supply of everything

from oil to fertilizer to key components used in computer chips and prescription drugs.

Another thing Trump's top general, Dan Cain reportedly warned Trump about before the war,

was that it could lead to shortfalls in critical munitions, warning that there were so many

military targets in Iran trying to actually make a dent with deplete already low stockpiles.

Well guess what the Washington Post reported today?

The US has already fired more than 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles in this war, burning through

the weapons at a rate that is alarming to some Pentagon officials.

And just to put that in perspective, recent versions of Tomahawk missiles cost as much

as $3.6 million a piece, take up to two years to build, only a few hundred or manufactured

every year.

But we have already gone, gone through, used more than 850 in four weeks.

Another thing Trump's top military adviser reportedly warned him about before he started

this war, was that a lack of support from our allies would add significant risk to the

operation and to US personnel.

And last week, Trump called on our allies to help guard chips as they passed through

the strait of hormones, most refused.

Trump was reportedly furious.

I rate.

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham even said that he had never heard Trump so angry in

his life.

Then seemingly, I guess to save face, Trump insisted that actually the US didn't need

any help after all, which is clearly not the case.

I mean, take the fact that just today, Trump's Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, was in France

meeting with allies of ours that have not sent warships to the strait, trying to convince

them to join us.

Who could have predicted that our allies might not want to rush into a war with Iran?

Who could have predicted that an all-out war with Iran would dangerously deplete our nation's

munitions?

Who could have predicted that Iran would shut down the strait of hormones?

And who could have predicted that Iran would respond with cyber attacks?

The answer is anybody with knowledge of the region and military expertise.

The reason a president has the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the reason they have top advisors,

is to warn them to play out, to red team the consequences of their actions, as they're

making decisions, to help them understand what the impact of their decisions will be.

Now, I should note that after all that reporting came out about Dan Kane having warned Trump

about how disastrous a war with Iran could be, Trump denied it, said it was fake news,

and said that Kane actually thought a war with Iran would be, quote, easily won.

Now as that would general Kane actually thought, we don't know, but given all his warnings,

I seriously doubt it.

And now there's new reporting revealing that many within the White House are just going

along to get along, despite their own reservations about this war.

Current and former White House officials spoke to MSNAS Jake Trailer about disagreements

they had with how the administration was approaching the war with Iran, and while those

current and former White House officials felt fine disagreeing with the White House anonymously

in the press, they said that they do not share those same opinions within the walls of

the White House for fear of negative repercussions.

Even former White House officials saying, quote, so many people are afraid of being on the

outs that they are just drinking the Kool-Aid and going along with it.

Well, that's a dangerous situation to state the obvious.

In other words, the emperor has no clothes, but his aides are saying his clothes look

great anyway.

Except it's of course not Trump's outfit we're talking about here.

It's a war.

Now, in another gobsmacking quote, this one from a senior White House official, a current

senior White House official, that is, told MSNOW that Trump is, quote, getting a little

board with Iran.

It's not that he regrets it, this official said.

He's just bored and wants to move on.

Just to put that, keep that in your mind.

With the fact that human rights groups believe that nearly 1,500 civilians have been killed

in Iran so far, 13 U.S. service members have been killed to date.

More than 300 U.S. troops have been injured and tonight, the Wall Street Journal is reporting

that even more are injured, writing that 10 U.S. service members were wounded in an attack

on a Saudi air base.

Two of them were described as seriously wounded.

I wonder if Donald Trump is still bored.

I wonder.

Joining me now, two people who have worked in national security at the highest levels of

government, I had the pleasure of working with both of them.

They've advised presidents, brief presidents, and spoken on behalf of presidents.

John Brennan is the former director of the CIA and retired rear admiral John Kirby.

He's the former Pentagon press secretary and White House national security communications

advisor and state department spokesperson.

You've done basically every job and you are a multi-generational member of the military

as well.

Let me start with you, director Brennan, because you're here.

You have briefed many presidents, you've briefed many high-level officials on military

action, on the impact of it, on what's happening on the ground.

I can't imagine you've ever found one who was bored.

No.

And all the ones that I had briefed and have worked for were very interested in hearing

from the intelligence experts, hearing from the military advisors, taking very seriously

what the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff says, because that is the principal military

adviser to the president, and clearly General Cain, who's a professional soldier, and very,

very capable and competent, clearly saw and foresaw what was going to happen if we went

forward with his military operation against Iran.

So as you pointed out in the introduction, everything that we've seen over the past four

weeks is unsurprising.

And the fact that we are now in this mess, in this quagmire, with no good path forward

in terms of how we're going to extricate ourselves from this, nor achieve the objectives that

have been talked about inconsistently over the past several weeks.

It's again clear that this president has no sense, no understanding, what does really

care about the impacts, not just on the Gulf region and our financial energy situation,

but also in the lives of U.S. servicemen and women who are in harm's way now, because

he decided to go forward with a needless, unnecessary, and senseless war.

Admiral Kirby, let me bring you into this.

I mentioned this.

I mean, you have been a member of the military.

You have family members of both generations up and down who have been.

There's reporting that at least 10 Americans have been injured in an attack on a Saudi

airbase just today.

I think prior to this war, there may have been an underestimation by some, perhaps in

the White House, certainly out there about Iran's capabilities.

What does it tell us that they have been successful in hitting our bases?

Is it possibly that our missile defense capabilities are being strained?

Or what does it tell us from a military perspective?

I think there's a bunch of factors here, Jen.

One is that they, knowing that they were about to be attacked, and certainly there was

a long buildup as the conditions were set for military operations.

They probably squirreled some things away, hit them well.

They don't need a lot of time to fire off a drone or a missile.

You can do it from the back of a truck.

And so they are still capable at causing damage in these rather pin-pric attacks, but

they are lethal, as we've already seen.

So it's hard to defend against every single drone and every single missile that comes

at you.

And Iran still obviously has the capability to do that.

On the wounds, I mean, it's not uncommon, I certainly saw it in my time, that the wounds

and injuries don't necessarily all become apparent until sometimes days or even weeks

after an attack or a strike, just particularly when it comes to, for instance, traumatic brain

injuries.

I mean, what we'll see, but my sense is that the numbers of wounded and injured will

probably go up.

What about you, Director Brennan?

When you saw the news of them, the troops that have been impacted in Saudi Arabia, that

they've been successful in hitting a number of bases, it seems.

Well, I think it's jump-pointed out.

I think the Iranians have been very strategic in terms of husbanding some of their inventory

of missiles, rockets, drones, and others, so that they would wait until a lot of the

air defense capabilities in the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia, even in Israel, are going

to be depleted.

As they overwhelm some of these air defenses and pointed out how many patriot missiles have

been expended.

So again, I think the Iranians are being...

Well, let me pause you for a second, because I just want to put in perspective how many

they have used and how many we have used.

What does that kind of mean, as I just gave the numbers there?

Well, I think the number of strikes against Iran is up in the 16, 18,000 going after targets.

The number of munitions that have been used by the U.S. military is just astronomical.

And therefore, where are we getting those munitions from?

We're getting them from our stockpiles as well as from those munitions that we were sending

to Ukraine or whatever else.

But we need to have a certain amount of munitions and missiles and capabilities around the globe,

including in the area of China and Taiwan.

So as we are continuing to draw down these inventory, it really does not allow us to provide

the type of capabilities that we need in order to ensure that we're not just dealing

with the current crisis, but also we are trying to make sure that our security is not

going to be threatened and at risk in other areas as well.

Let me ask you, Admiral Kermit, there are now, as you know, thousands of U.S. troops deployed

to the region.

The Wall Street Journal reported last night that the Pentagon is contemplating sending

an additional 10,000 troops, as one former Marine interrogator and special office specials

told some of our Trump has not ordered large footprint military assets.

And either of his presidencies, without actually using those forces, we obviously don't

know what's next here entirely in part because we don't know why this war is being fought

or what's going to happen any given day.

But when you hear numbers like that, sometimes I think for a lot of people watching, what do

numbers like that mean?

And we keep seeing an additional several thousand being announced and sent.

It feels like every couple of days, how do you hear that?

It's a significant amount of ground troops.

After talking about two Marine Corps Expeditionary Units, each one is about 3500 Marines or so.

So you know, you're up to around 7,000, 8,000.

And then now we're talking maybe 10,000 or more Army soldiers as well.

That's a very significant ground force.

They are capable of a multitude of different missions.

The Marines are very good at Expeditionary Warfare about taking ground and holding it for

certain amounts of time.

These Army troops that would be coming in might have additional capabilities to bring and

could in fact maybe stay longer and sustain themselves on the beach for a quite amount of time.

I agree with the assessment that he hasn't ordered massive amounts of military into a region

without using it.

And we just saw that, of course, over the last four weeks when he assembled a tremendous

amount of air naval power to do what he's doing in Iran.

So the fact that these troops are being deployed tells me that they do have plans on the shelf.

Now, whether they'll execute those plans or if the negotiations go well, maybe they

can call it off.

But this doesn't look to me like some kind of a bluff or a negotiating tactic.

These are serious troops that conduct very, very significant missions on short notice.

And you don't send them.

They're obviously ready to go.

They're kind of a 9-1-1 force, but you don't send them if you don't intend to use them.

What are you listening for?

We all hear numbers and it feels like, wow, there are a lot of troops that are going to

the Middle East.

What else?

What kind of language or vernacular from the Pentagon?

Are you listening for where you think, okay, they're deploying these troops and they're

going to be fighting on the ground in Iran?

Yes.

So you listen for things like prepare to deploy orders.

This is where the Pentagon notifies units days or weeks in advance that to be ready.

And in order to do that, they often become public because you got to let these units know,

those units have to let their families know and their support infrastructure at home know.

So often that gets out into public.

So I'm listening for prepare to deploy orders and rumors and leaks about that because

I think that tells you a lot about not only what they're going to send, the capabilities

they want to send, but in what scale, what size.

So listen for prepare to deploy orders.

I think also now that the two groups of troops that we're talking about, Marines, who

are trained for these expeditionary ops and the 82nd airborne, which is the America's

9-1-1-4, an emergency force, they're designed for short term deployments.

In other words, get going quickly and get on the ground and then usually the mission doesn't

last that long.

So when I'm listening, I'm listening also for, are they sending logistics, are they sending

medical and medical service support?

Are they sending more aviation assets and what kind of aviation assets?

And then, of course, are they going to be sending traditional infantry ground units?

These are units that take a lot longer to mobilize and to get on station, but are able

to sustain themselves for a long period of time.

You start hearing about that and you're going to start to wonder just how much of a grounding

coercion they really want to try to employ here.

One of the questions I've been thinking about and it feels that they're talking about

negotiations, they're talking about obviously what's happening in Pakistan, what countries

are going to be involved?

Do you've been involved in some of these negotiations in the past?

It is not easy to just get a negotiated deal done with the Iranians to state the obvious

or it hasn't been historically and it could be a long process.

What happens if that negotiation does not work, does not go anywhere, is too slow for Trump's

tastes and he walks away?

What is the impact?

What is left in the region?

Well, I think it's the status quo anti as far as Iran's nuclear capabilities concerned.

This defiance of the United States refusals to agree to allow the strait of hormones to

be open to free international shipping.

There are so many things and as you pointed out, the Iranians are really hard tough negotiators

and with the decapitation of the senior leadership, it appears as though more hard-line elements

now have surfaced as being in charge of militaries, intelligence, security as well as the government

itself.

This is going to be a really tough negotiation and I'm not really all that hopeful that the

Iranians are going to concede any of those 15 points that supposedly the Trump administration

now has put forward.

Everyone, let me ask you just about how the Pentagon has been communicating about this

because Secretary Hickseth has obviously given a number of briefings.

He's berated the press.

They've moved the Pentagon press corps to or tried to move them to an annex.

They've kicked them out.

There have been a number of steps that have been taken.

You are somebody who's probably briefed from the Pentagon podium more than anyone else,

maybe even more than secretaries of defense.

What is stuck out to you about the lack of communication, about the war from the Pentagon

over the course of the last four weeks?

So I'll caveat this by saying I'm glad they're doing briefings.

I wish they were doing them more often and I wish that in the briefing room, there were

more traditional conventional media who would really bring with them the kinds of tough

questions that any policy needs to be scrutinized over, rather than outlets that are decidedly

of one elk and not necessarily conventional press.

That said, I feel like, well, I don't feel like, I know, it's self-defeating and I really

hope that Mr. Hickseth and the Pentagon leadership will come to think about their obligations

to the American people and to the press corps in a different way.

Now, I recognize they probably won't understand that, but I think it's actually doing a disservice

to themselves, to their ability to convince the American people, to have a narrative and

to hold their policies up to the scrutiny of an independent press.

I always thought, I took that podium for three different secretaries of defense and I always

felt like those briefings and that access, the constant interaction with the press corps

in the building every day, really made for better policymaking because you know how

these things are going to be viewed and aired in the media.

You know what the headlines are going to be if you're talking to reporters, you know

the angle they're going to approach that kind of policy with and it really does help inform

the process itself.

I think it makes it better and it's certainly more healthy and again, I think if you're

going to be spending this much money and you're going to be putting this many lives at risk

and I'm not saying, you know, that happens in more, I understand that, but if you're going

to do it, you have an obligation, it's not just an opportunity, it's an obligation

to explain to the American people why you're doing what you're doing and why you're spending

what you're spending and for what aims.

I will say that when I watch the Pentagon briefings and I do pay attention to them, General

Kane and actually to a degree, certainly Mr. Higgseth too, have been pretty consistent on

the limited objectives, the military objectives that they are trying to achieve and they briefed

to those objectives pretty consistently, but what gets confusing for the American people

is that the political leadership isn't always parroting those same messages and the messaging

at the political levels a little bit all over the map and so that makes it hard and makes

it hard to develop a cohesive narrative.

It makes it hard for the Pentagon, I think, to make the case that this is in fact important

in the national interest.

A lot of that, the fish rods at the head, as they say.

So Director Brennan, John Kirby, please stay where you are, we have to take a quick break,

but there's one more thing I want to ask you about and it's something, even one senior

Trump White House official just called cringe and disrespectful and gross, we'll talk about

it when we come back.

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But across the country, officials are pushing prayer into public schools and blurring

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Donald Trump is not the only one in the White House to attach from the war he started.

You can see the detachment from the war's human toll in the entire communication strategy.

On social media, the White House accounts have been trivializing the service of American

troops by turning war video into cheap content that makes it look like a video game or

turn it into something to put cartoon references on top of.

And the latest reporting from MS now is that the strategy has become a point of contention

even inside the White House.

One senior White House official told MS now quote, the war videos are cringe and disrespectful

and gross and that it makes me feel embarrassed.

No kidding.

We're back with John Brennan and John Kirby.

Okay, Admiral Kirby, let me as I continue to remind the audience who all know you, of course.

You've served in the military, you have children who've served in the military, you have family

members, parents who've served in the military.

I just want to ask you about this kind of from a personal perspective because when you

see these videos, I'm sure you've seen them, SpongeBob Squarepants, Call of Duty, it feels

we have the best military in the world, bar none.

It is trivializing, it feels, it does feel embarrassing, but what do you think about it?

I find it offensive.

We really need to be better than this when we're talking about war and peace, when we're

talking about the lives of America's sons and daughters who have been sent to a foreign

country to conduct war.

This is serious business.

It's the most serious business that an administration ever, ever does and it's the most serious decision

that any president ever makes and I would hope and I would besiege them to find a way

to communicate what they're achieving, what they're trying to achieve in ways that

doesn't trivialize the service and the sacrifice and now the loss and the injury to the men and

women that they're sending into harm's way.

I'm reminded of President Eisenhower, he hated war as only a soldier who has lived it,

can hate it, only as someone who has known its brutality, its futility, and its stupidity.

That's a man who also occupied the Oval Office but knew very well the high stakes of national

security and of war and I would just hope that we could bring a little bit of sobriety

back to the job of communicating this conflict.

Director Brennan, it's not just how they're communicating publicly, as you know.

We've long known that Donald Trump is not a policy wank that he doesn't have a lengthy

attention span for policy details but this week there was a new reporting that over the

course of the last few weeks during the war, during the PDB they've been starting it with

a two-minute montage of things blowing up during the war.

You have been, you have led those briefings, you've been part of putting together the materials,

briefing presidents, I just wonder what you think of that and what impact that kind of approach

has on how the president may approach this, how they're all approaching it.

It says to me that the White House, senior White House staff and advisors are not doing their job.

They're just feeding Donald Trump's narcissism, his self-centered approach to everything

and by just giving him videos of things blowing up, they're really not explaining to him

and I don't know whether or not he can comprehend or even cares about just how badly things are

going. Yes, we can blow everything up. Which is why when I think about going forward,

Donald Trump is just so identified with this war that, personally, I think the only path forward

is the 25th Amendment and I'm being very serious. As much as I don't like JD Vance's policies,

he is not somebody who's going to send you as servicemen and women into battle needlessly

and he's not going to sacrifice them. He also, I think, is going to be better able to actually

strike a deal with the Iranians to negotiate because the Iranians, I think, are determined

to embarrass Trump and to show that he is not going to win this war, that they are going to be

one, either ones who emerge victorious and also if Donald Trump continues to go down this path,

we're going to lose a lot of American soldiers and the Republican Party is going to be destroyed

in the process. How do we get to a JD Vance being in charge? If the cabinet, if the members of the

cabinet recognize just how badly things are going and watching that cabinet meeting yesterday,

listening to Donald Trump talk for almost five minutes about job business. Tell me you listen to

the whole thing in the car. Yeah, it's clear that the Donald Trump is not able to carry out the

responsibilities, the obligations of commander-in-chief and chief executive. It should be clear to

everybody and if we're going to try to save this country from going down the path of just having

more and more problems in the region, having more American servicemen and men die and just

devastating the global economy, I do think that they really have to be rethinking about whether or

not Donald Trump who watches those video games of bombs exploding, really need to rethink whether

or not this is the right way going forward. Dr. Brennan, Admiral Kirby, I think everybody watching

knows this, but you have both been in the room with so many presidents and secretaries and people

actually making these decisions. You have both people who haven't been afraid to speak the hard

truths and that's not happening right now, but I think it's so important for people to hear what

actually needs to happen and the big questions we really need to be focusing on. So thank you both

so much for being here. I really appreciate it, very informative. Okay, the legendary actor

and activist Jean Fonda is standing by. She held an event outside the Kennedy Center in

defense of the First Amendment today and she's headed to the flagship No Kings protest in Minnesota

tomorrow and as the opposition only becomes stronger and more unified in this country, we are seeing

shall we say a little less unity from Republicans right now. We'll have much more on that when we come back.

How many of you would like to see impeachment hearings?

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The annual conservative political conference known as CPAC is currently underway in Texas and

it's going to be rocking all weekend long. Everyone get excited. Now if you're not familiar with CPAC,

it is one of the largest and most influential right wing conferences in the country. And it's

typically a pretty good indicator of the current direction of the Republican Party and the broader

American conservative movement in the in the moment, which means that these days it's basically

a four day long MAGA rager filled with long winded deer leader like speeches praising Donald Trump

and discussions about the rights latest culture war issues and targets. Now just to give you a sense

of the vibes I'm talking about here are the names of just a few of the sessions this year.

Defeating communism and we mean it. Don't sharia my Texas. It worked on that one. Give them a button,

cigars, steaks and ivory mectin, a maha survival guide. The president will sue you now how the

legacy media was defeated, which literally was immediately and I love this part and with zero

hints of irony followed by the censorship industrial complex. Now the other thing to know about CPAC

is that it's kind of like a bizarre right wing comic con were conservative activist politicians

and personalities gathered together to rub elbows. You can see anyone from top elected Republican

politicians to key Trump administration officials like the number two guy at the Justice Department

Todd Blanche, he was speaking. You can see borders are Tom Homan and right wing media figures

like T. Steve Bannon. Heck you can't even see Trump pardoned seditionists and proud boys leader

and re-gatorial there. Senior palin around with adjudicated liar and disgraced former voter

patrol commander Gregory Bavino. Taken a little thumbs up photo together there.

The magazine were dreamed that it's CPAC everyone. That is what it is. But I have to say

things to feel a little different this year. Part of that is probably because Donald Trump himself

who hasn't missed CPAC in a decade isn't planning on attending. He's going to be hunkered down at

Mar-a-Lago this weekend instead which is a little surprising given his CPAC attendance record.

And given the fact that he really misses an opportunity to have a room full of his cult followers

clap for him. According to MSNOW reporter Rosa Flores, Trump's absence is part of the reason

why the halls have been emptier. But even setting aside the fact that Trump's not planning

on going, the CPAC crowd has been a little off this year. I mean take a look at what I mean.

Can someone bring some coffee out for the no effect? We've got to keep this house majority.

Yikes. That did not go as match-lapped plan. They got that one wrong by Magistandards twice.

Now whether that's an undercaffeinated crowd or whatever happened to there.

During this year's CPAC magazine is obviously not 100% on the same page on a few issues and

probably none of them are bigger than Trump's war with Iran. One young Trump voter told the

Washington Post, he ran on no new wars. There's a new war. He ran on making stuff affordable,

stuff less affordable. I'm less than pleased. That voter even went us far to say, as to say,

I'm considering not voting in the midterms. I mean can you blame him? Well Trump's base is

clearly divided right now. The cracks are showing. I mean just listen to Steve Bannon on the CPAC

stage earlier today. We're in a middle of a war right now. Let me say probably the start of a war.

The decision in going forward is obviously the commander in chiefs. But he's got to have people

have to have his back and you're only going to do that with full information. You have to be convinced.

All this debate goes on and who's right? Who's wrong? What's going to happen? It's a debate that has to

happen. Look, Trump's base is all mixed up right now. Mag is out of sorts and honestly,

it all seems a little low energy. But while that hot mess unfolds at CPAC across the country

in cities and towns and all of the states, the opposition to Trump and his administration is growing

and getting stronger and getting more unified. And tomorrow, that will be unfold display with a

third round of no Kings rallies planned nationwide. And what could turn out to be the largest

single day of protest in American history? Legendary actor and activist Jane Fonda will be attending

the flagship event in Minnesota and she joins me next.

On June 14th of last year, Donald Trump's birthday, more than five million people,

took to the streets all across the country for the first official no Kings protest against Trump

and his administration. And at the time, it was considered to be the third largest day of protest

in US history. Now, a few months later on October 18th, that record was broken when no Kings out

did themselves with a second nationwide protest. Organizers say roughly seven million people turned

out for that one. And now, as I'm sure you're aware, no Kings is gearing up for their third and

potentially largest protest yet. Tomorrow, Saturday, March 28th, over 3000 protests, 33,000 protests

are planned for all across the country. It is no secret that more Trump acts like an authoritarian,

the more he acts like an authoritarian or a king for that matter, the more Americans of all

stripes feel like they need to stand up against it. So, why you see demonstrations like the one

outside the Kennedy Center today in Washington, D.C., artists, musicians, writers, all speaking out

against attacks on the first amendment. And one of the organizers was the legendary actor and

longtime activist Jane Fonda, who should a very clear warning about what's at stake right now.

I want to say that the first amendment suffers greatly in times of war, as the government works

to crush internal dissent. Our parents, our forefathers fought and died for these rights,

for these freedoms. We must not sit by quietly and watch them taken away. If we wait to act,

if we hesitate out of fear or the feeling that it doesn't affect us, it may be too late.

Joining me now is the one and only Jane Fonda actor, activist, and founder of the modern committee

for the first amendment. Jane Fonda, it is such a pleasure to be speaking with you. I watched

your event today. We all watched your event today. And I should note for the audience,

you were in Washington, D.C., today, speaking outside the Kennedy Center for an event this

one I'm referring to in defense of free expression. So tell us about the event and the message you

were really trying to get across to people watching. Well, the attacks on the arts, on literature,

on film, on museums, the national endowment of the, all of these are under attack right now.

They're being defunded. They're being censored. They're being removed.

History, a special, especially racial history, the history of slavery is all being erased.

Now, and we wanted it because it's kind of like here and there,

siloed. We worried that people and the press don't see clearly enough the breadth and depth

of these attacks. And we have to understand what's happening. This is not normal. This does not

happen in a democracy. And we have to call it what it is. And we have to end it. We're the

committee for the first amendment. It's the first amendment for a reason. It's the most important.

It's the cornerstone of all democracies. It's freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of

religion, freedom of assembly, and freedom to protest, including the right to criticize our

president if we choose. All of this is under attack. Let me ask you about an aspect of this moment.

It's so challenging, but that is, I think, positive, which is the reaction, the activism we've

seen out there. You have been an activist for so many years. And we have now, tomorrow, the

No Kings protests may be very well the biggest one yet we've seen in during the Trump administration.

You're going to be appearing at the flagship rally in St. Paul. Why do you think the No Kings

movement specifically has been really able to galvanize and energize so many people thus far?

People are people feel desperate. People are, I mean, we're the majority. We are. So we have to act

like it. And they're not sure what to do. So the No Kings, these rallies are fun. They're like

a festive, you know? And it's like dipping your toe in. It's the first step. And so we should all

go tomorrow, but we shouldn't just go. We should bring five people. Bring people that we know that

have never been to a protest. It's like a first step. You know, you meet new friends, you build community.

It's, it's very important because it's not affecting his pocketbook. Trump maybe doesn't

care about the No Kings, but we do. It's important that we see how big our numbers are.

It's creating a community, I think, that so many people need. You became, you became an activist

as I think anybody watching knows, but just to remind people during the anti-war and civil rights

movements, which were both, of course, very violent, incredibly tumultuous times in our nation's

history. But last year you described the second Trump administration as the most frightening time

of your life. Just level set for people. What sets it apart from what you've seen over your

lifetime of activism? Well, I'm speaking from the vantage point of a white person.

I think black people in this country have experienced authoritarianism. I mean, Jim Crow,

where there were no rights for people who were black. This is the first time in the history of

the United States that an authoritarian regime has broken through. And worldwide, historians who

study these things, they all agree. It has never happened so fast in any industrialized democracy.

He is moving to consolidate very, very fast, which means that right now we have to use the tools

we have to stop it. You hear a lot from people and you may hear this, I'm so tired. I thought

during the first Trump administration, I just don't know if I have more in me. Even though there's

so many millions of people out there, give us some, give us some advice, give us a little quick

pep talk for people out there who feel tired. And for, given the longevity you've had as an activist

over the course of your life. I don't know if I'm going to do that, but I'll tell you something,

I am so grateful that I'm alive right now. This is such an important time to be alive. Because

it's in our hands, we can save the future. And I say, and it's literal save the future,

because this guy, it takes a bath in fossil fuels. The climate is being forgotten about. We are

facing an existential climate crisis. And fossil fuels are everywhere with this guy. So

we're fighting two existential fights and they're very connected. This is the time. We are the

ones that can create history. We can change what's happening. We are the majority. We don't have

a lot of time. So how, how exciting to be a grown up person right now, to be able to be part of

this. Because history, this has never happened before, which means that history is going to be very

much on top of this. They're going to know who was on which side. I don't want to be judged by

history and by my children and grandchildren. I'm not having done all I can. Everybody has a role.

Carpenters and Minneapolis are repairing the doors that ice, you know, push down. People,

babysitting, helping, there's a woman who's just given birth that gives her breast milk to the

immigrant child next door because the mother has been taken away. I mean, neighboring has become

the way to change the world. Neighboring is the new word that the Twin Cities has put into the

lexicon of resistance. Get to know your neighbor. Reach your arms out. Bring in people that you

may not fully agree with. It doesn't matter. As long as you believe in freedom, the right to speak,

the right to express yourself, even if you don't agree with it, this is a new possible world.

People are angry right now. The majority of people are fed up with the chaos and terror and

disruption and economy that's happening. We can change it. We can't, but we have to do it together.

Don't do it by yourself. Strengthen numbers. Join an organization. Join a church. It can be a synagogue.

It can be the neighborhood, but do study what's happening in Minneapolis and make it happen where

you are. Jane Fonda, you may not have intended a pep talk, but I think for any 22, 32, 42, 52-year-old

watching that, put it in their veins. That was such a dose of hope and, you know, hopefully

prompting some people to be active. Thank you for being here today for what you do. I'm not tired.

I'm so excited. I know. You're making it. I think you're making everybody watching.

Plan, they're looking up how to get involved tomorrow. I'm so grateful you could be here with us.

Thank you again for everything you've done and to borrow and beyond. Yes, absolutely. Thank you.

Quick reminder that Emma's now is going to have coverage of the No Kings protests all day long

tomorrow with reporters fanned out across the country. The last word is also going to be talking

a lot about the protests in the next hour. They also have former labor secretary Robert

Bryce standing by and we'll be right back. That's going to do it for me tonight. Thanks for

being with us. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion and protects us from government

imposed religion. But across the country, officials are pushing prayer into public schools and

blurring the line between church and state in ways the Constitution doesn't allow. The freedom

from religion foundation exists to hold the government to the law to keep public institutions

neutral on religion. Visit ffrf.us slash new year or text MS now to 511 511 text MS now to 511 511 to

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